we'll talk about how unemployment insurance works. we will look at the homeland security department budget. "washington journal" is next. . .

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] host: we will begin this morning with your thoughts on how the senate works. democrat, dial -- remember, you can send us an e- mail at journal@c-span.org or a tweet. let us start with "congress daily."

the white house did not run away from comments from house speaker pelosi, that it would be much smaller than the measure that passed in the house. it also says robert gibbs, white house press secretary, says the president has been very involved in working his proposal. this has been brought up in a number of meetings both over the weekend and this morning. the white house continues to demand an up and down vote on the white house reforms but continues to sidestep questions whether they support reconciliation to get the vote in the senate. that is "congress daily" this morning on health care. on jobs legislation, this is also "congress daily."

meanwhile, the senate monday began debate on a separate jobs

package estimated to cost about $150 billion. your thoughts this morning on how the senate works. harrisburg, pennsylvania. steve on the democratic line. caller: in the senate, too much power is given to states with the smaller population, states like kentucky and senators jim bunning. i live in states like california and pennsylvania with a larger population and i feel that i'm not given enough power and enough say.

the we don't have a true democracy because of the senate. we don't have proportional representation in the senate. it gives an unfair advantage, the senate does, to these lightly populated states and the conservatives and the republican party. states like north dakota, south dakota, midwestern states and the southern states, but -- they are over represented. it is really unfair and it is killing our democracy. it is on proportional representation. and the system has to change now. host: how should it be changed? yarmulkes of the senate is not proportional representative -- caller: the senate is not proportional rep. you don't give two votes to states like north dakota and kentucky. they should not be given the

same representation of states like california. unfair to the people of california. host: we got your point. william on the republican line. caller: how are you doing this morning? i'm not too highly educated. i'm a disabled veteran, but if you want to know how the senate works, all you have to do is read the constitution. i have a copy of it in my hand. it tells you how it is supposed to work. in reality, how it is working compared to how the constitution says it is supposed to, that is open for debate. if you want to know how it is supposed to be, just read the constitution. thank you, and you all have a great day. host: wisconsin, ken on the democratic line. caller: good morning. this over representation, congress puts enough people to cover portions of people.

as for mr. bunning and the republican party, they should not be allowed to just stop people from doing their business, just one person. and the republican party is not saying a word about it. one other thing. when people used to call in and say one battle word about president bush, you used to -- one little word about president bush, you used to hang up on them. now the bacall and and called president obama every word under the sun -- now people call in and called president obama every word under the sun. you never ask them a question about bush. every week it is, how is mr. obama doing? you never asked that about bush, ever. thank you. host: all right.

the caller mentioned senator bunning. he was on the floor and had an exchange what senate majority leader harry reid. first, let us show you what senator bunning had to say about why he is holding up this legislation, and then we will come back and show you what senator harry reid had to say. >> i support extending unemployment benefits, cobra benefits, flood insurance, i will fix, small business loans, network television for satellite viewers. if we can't find $10 billion to pay for something that we all support, we will never pay for anything on the floor of this u.s. senate. i have offered several ways to do this, including trying to

negotiate with the majority leader's staff. none have been successful. we cannot keep adding to the debt. it is over $14 trillion and going up fast. host: senator jim bunning, republican from kentucky, talking about why he has stopped this extension of tax provisions, including unemployment insurance, " or insurance, and other tax provisions from going forward in the senate. this is "the baltimore sun" on how can one senator do this. this is a side story. in a q&a on the side of the story, this is not truly a filibuster out of mr. smith goes to washington. instead, democratic and republican leaders saw to pass the extension bill quickly using a short cut requiring unanimous consent by all senators.

only jim bunning accepted the -- objective. unless the relenza they were either have the bill passed on a senate floor vote, where it could take 60 votes, or likely the case, the senate will include extensions in the bill in an larger package that will be voted on later this week. either way, bunning's actions will result in a delay that is expected to last only a matter of days. south carolina, fell on the independent line printout you think about how the senate votes? caller: i wanted to echo what was mentioned a few minutes ago, it is working exactly the way it is supposed to at least never close to the constitution. the senate is a stop-gap of the larger states dominating over the smaller states. that was the concern of the founders. they did not want the big states have all control. we don't live in a democracy, we

live in a republic. the states have rights and they have not -- are allowed to exercise the rights. the only thing that is wrong way they run the senate -- when they do a filibuster, but did not do one. i have a collegial filibuster as opposed to a situation where the act did the process, which i believe stopped back in the bush years. they would say we are going to have a filibuster but we never do it. they should make them spend consecutive hours all night long rotating shifts, do their filibuster if they are going to do it. host: all right. lafayette, louisiana. chris on the democrats' line. caller: good morning. the senate right now is not working too good but i will kind of go, but off what you are asking, how the senate should work. i think the senate should follow the lead of the president. if the president is putting out good agendas for the country,

the senate should follow what he is asking a was watching -- what he is asking. i was watching a mohammad ali movie and asked him to go to vietnam and he said, i did not have anything against those people, they did not do anything to me. of the american people should be fighting for me. president obama is the people's president. he wants us to leadúr' health he wants us to have a new grid of technology. he wants to have clean energy. he wants to get off dependence on a whale. what i mean by that is when the president is trying to lead this country and is asking the american people to help him fight, it would help the senate decide that we have to follow the president because this is what the american people want. host: chris, we will leave it there. david on the republican. -- line.

caller: the last caller -- i am sorry, they are there to represent us. the senate is not there to push the president's agenda. they are there to represent the people within the districts where they live. another thing, this is not a democracy, this is a republic. the one caller saying how these larger state should have more they say so, no. then we would have california and a couple of large populous states dictating policy to the entire nation. that is not what this country is about. once again, they represent us. they are supposed to be listening to the people and away what we ask of them and not to just be following -- the president is an elected official who is also supposed to be representing us, not leading us around by the nose. thank you. host: "wolpaw" has the story -- "roll call" has the story --

baltimore, maryland. christo, democratic line. caller: i am a very frustrated with the way the senate is working. i think they should push the bill through the senate. they did it when bush was in office. and -- how he allowed bush to push the taxes to benefit the rich people, it was not funded. and then the two wars, it was not funded. so let the democrats do what they have to do. there are a lot of hurting people out here and for him to be so selfish the way he is an axe a grant the way he is i think it is unconstitutional. host: @ a little bit more about

the politics and "usa today." within the story, it's the democrats, including senate majority leader harry reid tried to hold it as an example of gop efforts to hold up the democratic bill. colorado, earl of the republican line. caller: good morning. i say, god bless senator bunning. when you take into account the unfunded mandates that we have due to these so-called entitlement programs, we are more than $78 trillion in debt. we can't afford this and non stop spending, whether it comes from the republican side, democrat side. we've got to stop this. we are flushing ourselves down

the toilet. our nation is in trouble physically and anyone who stands up, no matter what their party affiliation, and says no more spending, i am holding these up, blocking it in the senate or the house, is a hero. host: of texas, brady on the independent line. caller: i would like to agree with the last caller. the spending has got to stop. we have gotten so far out of control that it is unreal. i am with him. anybody who will stand up and stop it -- and i thank you for your time. host: savannah, georgia, steve on the democratic line. caller: these republicans are the worst hypocrites, i mean, in the world. i am talking about in the world. they say one thing when the situation favors them and they switch right around and say something else when the

situation does not fit their purposes. the guy up there is holding up unemployment that will benefit people who are hurting right now and the he -- people are calling and talking about the country is in such a state. we can't do anything now as far as spending goes all of but sutton. all of the spending that has been going on before this president, all of a sudden everything, we have to stop everything right now. this is ridiculous. host: senate majority leader harry reid was on the floor yesterday talking about the package of tax provisions that expired sunday night. here is what he had to say. >> six times last week democrats asked to understand and unemployment benefits for a short time while working along

extension. six times republicans said know. they did not just say no to us -- that is, members of the senate. they said no to the families and states and all of our states. they count on us to respond in an emergency. this is an emergency. the republicans and senate are standing between these families -- host: we are asking you this morning to get your thoughts on how the senate works. shreveport, louisiana, randy on the independent line. caller: yes, ma'am. they set it up -- go by what the constitution says, everything would be running just smoke. -- smooth. the house and senate, they are a

bunch of puppets. this is a republic, like every other person has been saying that on this show. it joe mccarthy was right. we just have a bunch of kindness of their in washington and even at the local level as far as that goes. you might as well throw the constitution out and put the communist manifesto there. that is what we have. and the people are so dumb down they don't have a clue. they really don't. host: of this is "the washington times" this morning. ño?w+ñ?óo?ñño???ño?? house leaders have said they hope to pass the senate jobs

bill on tuesday. if that happens, the bill could be signed into law tuesday night early wednesday morning and ending the furloughs. that is "the washington times" this morning on how the two sides could get around this whole. this is from twitter is this morning from larry summers, white house economic adviser -- from reuters this morning. it says the blizzards of that affected much of the country are likely to distort the statistics so it will be very important to look past whenever the next figures are to gauge the underlying trend. atlanta, johnny on the democratic line. go ahead. caller: how are you doing? host: doing well. what are your thoughts about how the senate works? caller: i know how what works -- but i see what is taking place and i think the american people are the ones who understand what is going on.

to make it is all political. president obama in my opinion are really not trying to do anything, or even the democrats -- but going back to being political. they are forgetting themselves, they are also supposed to be doing what the people who sent them to washington to do. what they have broken it down to was a power struggle. if i was a democrat or republican, i would not want to put people out of work or money because of hard times now. how can input other families and kids out to pasture because of party differences. but this thing has got to such a point in my opinion -- just speaking my opinion -- they have

to do what the people, regardless of what state. host: we would leave it there and talk to people on the republican line from michigan. caller: i think the senate is working like it should actually. i wish you on c-span would play that -- there is a video montage out there of democrats, including president obama, talking about how long it would be to use of the nuclear option back a few years back when they were not in power. and a whole host of democrats -- but the only place you see it on fox or hear it on rush limbaugh. i think some of your callers don't even realize that reconciliation is the nuclear option because you are not doing a good job pointing that out. i would say the false of rage over senator bunning is ridiculous. everybody knows it was going to

be extended. i give him a pat on the back for pointing out that we are continuing to just add on to this horrible debt on our children and grandchildren. like he said, if you cannot find $10 billion to pay for something everybody agrees on, how can you find money for anything? police tried to play those -- and senator byrd, who even came up with reconciliation, said to push this bill throu'h without any co-sponsors or bipartisanship would be wrong. we have the far left progressive movement inside the democratic party pushing this. host: on your point, senator orrin hatch rights of this morning, the republican senator from utah in " the washington post" -- a health reform tactic that degrades democracy. he quotes senator robert byrd, democrat, who came up with a budget reconciliation. he also says --

that was senator orrin hatch. pikes bill, ky. john on the independent line.

caller: i am very glad somebody from kentucky had the guts to stand up and say we ought to start paying for things. somebody has to take a stand. as far as the other caller's comment about kentucky having two senators and the other states should have more, i believe the house of representatives takes care of that, which, based on population. could you imagine the mess the united states would be in if california had eight senators and they were all like nancy pelosi? lord, help this nation if somebody does not put their foot down and say we've got to start paying for things. somebody should pass a budget to where they had to balance the budget and -- i think the senate would work the way it is supposed to be. but this idea that bigger states of the have more say, they have that in the house. they don't need it in the senate. host of did you see this piece yesterday --

host: did you see this step yesterday running on cnn? cameras to follow senator jim bunning to the elevators in the senate to press him on why he was holding up the unemployment benefits and other tax provision -- did you see that? what did you think of that? caller: he gave an appropriate answer. plain and simple. you need to pay what you are spending, somebody needs to take a stand. it is pretty obvious that he did not have to p'swer that. host: we are showing you a little bit of the video. you can find it on abc.com and other website and cnn was showing it. philadelphia, tyrone of the democratic line. go ahead. caller: good morning. the question becomes, politics 101. if you are outsourcing all of your work, 90% of your work is going out of the country, how are you going to balance the budget? how can you balance the budget

when all of your money is leading the nation? i can't understand. you are going to continue to have gridlock if you don't have worked in the country and you are outsourcing to give tax breaks to yourself -- however you going to support your people? host: in other news this morning, let me tell you what is happening here in washington house. the capital and the white the supreme court today is taking up a gun case. "a gun case in need of explaining." he is asking for more of an explanation of this court case on guns. he says here --

that is the case on gun this morning. and the courses misses a case involving gtmo detainee's. it will not take up a case involving chinese muslims at guantanamo bay. "the wall street journal" and

"the washington post" and "the new york times" have opposing produce on how the court should rule on the gun case i was talking about. last fall call on how the senate votes. joe on the republican line. caller: yes, hi. i am not happy with what jim bunning is doing. i am myself laid off right now. i have to live week to week with these tax -- checks and we give tax breaks to the wealthy and bank bailouts and all i want to do is get my family through another week. i am not really sure what my party stands for any more, i really don't. host: are your unemployment benefits running out? caller: not yet. if i don't find a job before they do -- and no way to get an

extension, then what? host: how long have you been on unemployment benefits? caller: a good while, a good while, let us just put it that way. host: we will end it there. thanks, joe, for the phone call. we will get back to what the senate is doing this week when we talk to senator jeff bingaman from the mexico. but first we want to talk to a new walter from hot line to give us an update on -- amy walter from hot line to give us an update on texas. guest: it is primary day on texas and all lines are on the gubernatorial race, the republican side. the last poll shows rick perry, the governor -- by the way, the longest serving in texas history -- he has a pretty significant lead over his two republican opponents, senator kay bailey hutchison and republican form -- former party chair person.

he is up anywhere from a 11 up to 20 points. remember, texas has a run of so you have to get over 50% of the vote in order to move on to the general election. if he does not get 50%, he has a run off. the good news for rick perry, though, with some of the polling we have seen recently, when matched up against either medina or caylee hutcheson in a runoff, he is ahead with 52 per -- kay bailey hutchison and a runoff, eat is the head with 52%. but democrats, maybe they found a formula to finally picked up a victory in texas. obviously texas is a fast- growing state and they don't want to be sitting on the sidelines for much longer. bill white, democratic mayor of houston has a relatively easy primary of his own. he is expected to move out

without a runoff. he has been a pretty prodigious fund-raiser and hoping that he can portray rick perry, if that is indeed who he faces, as someone who is basically been there too long and is taking credit for a texas economy and a texas state of existence that he does not necessarily deserve credit for. it is a pretty tough climate, though, to be a democrat, not just because the democratic brand and washington has been beat up in recent weeks, but the point in texas, of course, is the state is not as bad off as many other states like florida or nevada who have really high home foreclosure rates or very high unemployment rates. so, the state is doing relatively well in this economy. that makes it a lot tougher for a challenger to say it is time to replace that incumbents. what he has told is that voters

are just simply looking for a change, a new face. but that is going to be a tough call in that case of course, there are many other races on the ballots in texas but none is expected to get the attention that the governor's race will be getting. obviously we have primaries for all the congressional districts and hot line will lead the winners of all of those on the hot line website tomorrow. and that is what we have from washington. host: we will have your letter on at our table. democrat from the mexico has a unique perspective of sitting bull on the finance committee and the health, education, labor and pensions committee, two committees that deal with health care and dealt with the legislation that passed the senate from the very beginning beard -- very beginning.

what do you want to hear from president obama on wednesday about the way forward on health care? guest: i assume he will give us some more detail as to how he hopes the house can proceed to make changes in what the senate has passed. the senate passed a bill that is objectionable to the house in some particulars, and and we need to have a real clear idea of what those are and see if there is a way to change the senate bill so and of house members feel comfortable with it so it can pass the house. host: what about getting republicans, or at least some republicans to come on board? what should be dropped from a health-care bill in order to maybe get some republican support and/or what should be added from the republican ideas? guest: i feel -- fear we've gotten it in a situation where the republicans had he essentially circled the wagons

and will oppose an effort to reform health care system this year, and least prior to the election. so i am not optimistic at this point. we spent a great deal of time earlier in the process, last year, meeting with republicans both in the health committee and the finance committing trying to take ideas and incorporate those into the bills, but at this point, i don't blow of any republicans who are willing to entertain the possibility of supporting a bill, but i could be wrong about that. host: since you have the experience of working with republicans, is there a republican idea out there, one or two, that you think is a good one and should be added? guest: i think there are several republican ideas that can be added and could be strengthened. 1. the idea of -- one of them is the idea of selling insurance across datelines.

if the standards so that people who buy insurance can actually get coverage for the kinds of things that they are going to get sick about, then i think you could have that. and we have a provision in the bill, in the senate-passed bill, that encourages that and encouraging state still had -- states to enter into a compact so you can have a cross border sales of insurance policies. the other major issue for republicans always is they want malpractice reform. we have a very modest provision in the senate bill that basically encourages states to experiment and to try ways to reduce litigation in this area. i think something more can be done on that issue as well. but again, i think the problem is that there is no change or no set of changes that i'm aware of that would bring republicans to

support the bill. so, at the incentive and for democrats to make changes at this point, additional changes to accommodate republicans, is pretty much gone because republicans have pretty much indicated they are not willing to support reform. host: if that is not the case then, do you support passing reconciliations told a monthly pass health care? guest: i think that would have to happen for healthcare to pass. i would support that. we have passed major legislation through reconciliation in the past and this would be another example. host: senator orrin hatch, your republican colleague from utah, writes that, yes, reconciliation has been used in the past but only related to the budgetary issues or if there is wide bipartisan support like welfare reform and a children's health insurance. guest: well, there was bipartisan support, there is no

question, for those, but there was not 60 votes for those. and the real issue is, are you going to use reconciliation in order to pass something that the majority in the senate -- there has to be a majority in favor -- or are you not? and i agreed that there have been other bills that have passed because of reconciliation that has some bipartisan support, but they did not have 60 votes. host: before we get to phone calls, we have been asking our viewers for the first 30 minutes of the show, their thoughts on how the senate works. what are your thoughts? guest: we have a lot of problems with the way the senate works today. there is no question. i think the filibuster has been overused and abused -- host: by both sides? guest: morva -- frank bling sense of this -- frankly, a sense of this congress started we have seen the most of use of

the process. you cannot get agreement to go ahead and vote on issues even where you have agreement that the provision you are trying to pass without pass without 60 votes. the issue we've got right now on jobs is an example of that, where we can't get agreement to vote. it is not that we disagree as to whether or not 60 votes should be required -- everybody says, fine. we are under arepaygo rules -- we are under paygo rules. host: you are talking about the tax provisions jim bunning put a hold on? but said if you cannot find a way to pay for this, $10 billion, then we cannot find a way to pay for anything in washington. guest: well, this is -- i mean, there is a difference of opinion here, in that virtually every economist in the country, whether liberal or conservative, will tell you that this is not the time to be tightening your

belt until we start creating jobs. what we are trying to do is to go ahead and maintain the basic safety net of unemployment benefits and health benefits for folks still out looking for jobs, and to do that without having to cut somewhere else, which is, as i say, virtually every economist tells you that is what we should be doing at this particular point in the recovery. we are trying to get this economy back on its feet so that job creation will be done by the private sector. host: kim is joining us from the democratic line from wisconsin. caller: good morning, everybody then i have more of a comment. -- good morning, everybody. i have more of a comment. people talk about opening state lines for insurance companies to sell to a job.

i don't believe it will work because there are only seven or eight major insurance companies. we have all of them in each of our states. if i called iowa, they will look at my tax base and give me a quote any way. they are the ones who are setting the prices. one would call the other one and say i will raise the price and they will raise the price, too. i don't think opening state lines will work. host: your thoughts? guest: the point we ought to eliminate the antitrust exemption that is currently enjoyed by insurance companies, health and insurance companies, i agree with. i think we should eliminate the antitrust exemption. i also agree with the point that the cost of insurance is going to vary from state to state depending upon the cost of buying health care services in each state.

that is something that we are not trying to legislate a change in the. and it would not be realistic to try to legislate a change in that. it would just cost much more to get medical treatment in new york city than it does in iowa, for example. host: johnson city, tennessee, on the republican line. caller: senator. this is a dj in johnson city of tennessee. when the man that road reconciliation bid, mr. byrd, says he does not think it should be used in this way, i don't see how the democrats can do that. and also, i am 100% service connected vietnam marine corps veteran. i'm on social security disability. we did not get a cola or a raise at all, but is it not true that

the senate and the congress, if you don't bring up your cola raise and vote on it, you automatically get it? i will take my answer off. thank you. a host of the first point on senator robert byrd, -- host: the first point on senator robert byrd. putting health reform legislation freight trains through congress is an outrage that ought to be resisted. guest: issing putting it on a freight train should be resisted -- i think putting it on a freight train should be resisted. senator byrd of voted as part of the 60 votes to pass the health care bill. no one is suggesting that that is not the appropriate course to have followed. the question is, are there changes that could be made that comply with the rules of reconciliation that affect the budgetary impact of that, then

we could do as part of reconciliation. so it would be consistent with the of byrd role. congress voted not to give itself any cost of living adjustment. the issue did come up earlier. the congress has voted not to do that. i assume frankly that the congress will vote to do that again this year. host: of houston, texas, nancy on the independent line. caller: good morning. i was calling because it is my opinion that all of our problems are not because legislation is not passed but that they -- too much legislation. in texas, our legislature meets every other year. it seems to me that if our federal congress would meet every other year, and have a year to be at home to know what the people are thinking, and

that is basically what i had to say. guest: i would certainly welcome the chance to spend a year at home. but i think the reality of a convert is the way things developed, there is so much going on involving the federal government and congressional action that it has become the practice to meet each year and it has become the practice to meet most of each year. it is possible we should go back and think some of that. but that would be a fairly major change from the way things have been happening for many decades. host: on their notes, there is a piece in "the baltimore sun" that that you were and others may be interested. why not vote from the districts

with skype and all the other technology, and that with the people have more access to you than the lobbyists in washington. what your thoughts? guest: i think we have every public, in the that people elect representatives will then make decisions on behalf of the electorate. that is the way the system works. i tend to think, you know, you could just go to every time an issue comes up for consideration on the senate floor, you could just is sent to do a national referendum on it. we have a telecommunications capability to do that today. i think that would not be a wise course. th%ujtr)ñ not that members spend too uuch time with each other working on issues. to a large extent, the problem is just the opposite. you do have a congress which

meets in many cases tuesday through thursday, and people rushed off to get to their home states for various events. that makes it difficult to have the kind of the liberal consideration of issues that i think leads to better results. host: back to health care, we have a tweaked -- tweet from one of our viewers. quoting the price, the cost of the health care bill. guest: you know, the president, i think, has tried to articulate or has articulated the reasons for passing health care reform. we need to do something about the growth in the cost of health care going forward, and this

bill begins to move us in that direction. it does not do as much as i would like to see it do it as far as controlling costs, but it does something significant in that area. it does reduce the deficit going forward. it doesn't expand coverage. and it does keep down the growth in the cost of premiums. all of those are good things to do. that is the impetus for trying to go ahead and pass a bill. host: maples springs, new york. joe on the democratic line. thank you, c-span, senator bingaman. caller: i am and lifelong democrat but i'm very close to change my affiliation to independent. this health care bill is nothing but a sham on the american people. the president has basically lost all credibility with most of his people on account of his policies. and the promises he broke from when he was campaigning.

he told the american people, no earmarks -- what we have? thousands of earmarks. then he says, well, the first one, the stimulus, well, that was needed. ok, maybe so. but the defense bill that went through, 3000 earmarks. host: let us stick to health care. if health care passes -- will exist as did this, as health care passes, how would you vote -- caller: republican or independent -- not democrat anymore. the majority people do not want this thing and they are ramming it down our throats. host: are you concerned about a democrat like that? guest: concerned, for sure. this is an issue that, when you talk to people, there is general concern about comprehensive health-care reform. at the same time, if you take

specific elements of health care reform and say what do you think about dealing with insurance policy abuses, people say, no, that ought to be dealt with. it what about trying to limit the growth in the cost of premiums, that ought to be done. so the various elements of the bill are generally supported by the american people. so, i think there has been a failure to adequately explain what is involved, and the bill is a very large, complex, multifaceted bill. so, the selling job is still ahead is health care passes, and it may not pass but i don't know. host: mobile, alabama on the republican line. ruth, good morning. you are on the air. are you with us? moving on to san diego, mark, independent line. caller: i was wondering if it

would be correct to say that but deliver several of the senate is really what is necessary here -- and that is what the role of the senate to that is performing. we constantly hear there is a third branch of government, the supreme court. if nothing in the constitution that even hints that the supreme court should have any role in making law whatsoever. the delivered several of the senate is what we are seeing right now beard of the problem with this health care bill is it has just been poorly defended by the president and the democrats as far as the criticisms that have been made against it, portraying it as a spending bill. this bill should have been a cake walk. the basic strategy should have been to use existing statistics that indicate that doctors are performing unnecessary procedures, unnecessary surgeries and make it clear to the public that there is a problem with doctors, doing some

perp walks to0arrest doctors, (5ñbué tiuááháo be anuáions of democrats and the doctors. y made a deal, it seems, and the presence somehow has hinted at them making some sort of agreemente%ei+ ãit just seems to me the whole thing has been handled very poorly to the point that the bill might even fail. it seems to me that there should have been wholesale support for the bill if the democrats had come forward and attacked the 18% of the gdp which is spending it as being something that the doctors are flooding our insurance industry would -- fraudulent claims to do surgery where the big money is and to steer patients that are being intentionally harmed by the doctors. host: the share his comments that this is not adequately

sold to the american people? is there a lesson learned from the process so far? guest: clearly i shared this view that we have not properly advocated for the bill and explain the benefits of the legislation i think to single out the doctors and say they are the problem i think is wrongheaded. we do have a health care delivery system which encourages more use of medical services rather than improved medical services. in fact, under medicare, of course, we reimburse on the basis of how many procedures you perform if you are a physician, rather than trying to reimburse on the basis of how many patients you can help to get well. we need to change that. a part of what this bill tries to do is to try to change that. and so, i think that the bill moves us in the right direction

in a great many different areas, and one is more efficient use of the health-care system and less duplication of services and health care system. host: this caller says he is doubtful it will pass. you said you are doubtful this will pass. can you give the viewers an idea of the likelihood of this might pass? guest: i can't, frankly. i think the real determination will be made in the house of representatives. the house, of course, has a very narrow margin of folks who support this bill. and a few of them are no longer there. the ones who voted for it last year and the question is, can you get enough votes in the house to go ahead and pass a series of changes to the senate- passed a bill on so that we then can go ahead and have the senate agreed to those changes. host: our viewers should be

watching the house deliberations? guest: i think that is where the action of going to occur. the house is able to agree to changes on the senate-passed bill, then i held the senate would go along with those. we need to look at it in detail and see where they are. but that is the process of the procedure that is going to be followed over the next few weeks, to try to do it that way. host: what do you hear on the senate side about the sun and accepting changes to the legislation that you passed barely? guest: i think people are waiting to see what the changes are. president obama has come out with a set of suggested changes that he presented a week or so ago. and frankly, i thought there was some constructive ideas and there. those were changes that i, at least, could support. but i don't know if that is exactly what the house is going to settle on.

host: new jersey, regina on the democratic line. caller: my pleasure. good morning. senator bingaman, i think the public needs a little clarification as to the use of reconciliation. i think we have a lot amiss in firms -- misinformed, under informed or uninformed if i'm not mistaken, the byrd ruling limited it to budget issues and has to be deficit neutral or decrease the deficit and a parliamentarian of the senate would go through the bill line by line to make sure that everything and the bill applies that way. my recollection it -- i did not know whether it was the first tax cuts of up wealthiest among us or the second one, during president bush's administration, it certainly was not deficit neutral. it cost a $1 trillion deficit. in one parliamentarian who said

it did not apply was fired. the other thing i would like to mention is, as far as the populist and their feelings about health care reform, it depends on the polling. when people are asked about a public option without using the terms public option, 70% are in agreement. i think it is quite clear the issue here is that named monopoly of health insurance companies are making medical care financially prohibitive. in every other developed nation in this world, basic health care for profit is illegal. host: regina, we will have to leave it there and get a

response from the senator. thanks. guest: her comments on the reconciliation process, i think rules are reasonably clear on what can be included in a reconciliation his bill. if we proceed to use a reconciliation bill to make changes and how carelessly and that has already passed, then i am confident that a parliamentarian will insist that we comply with all of those rules, and that is appropriate. host: just to be clear, the reconciliation would only be used for the changes to the senate bill. the senate bill has passed, the house just needs to pass the senate bill and reconciliation for changes. guest: of that is my understanding of the process we are trying to pursue at this point. that reconciliation would bring the senate passed a bill into line with requirements by house has set down host: -- has set

down. host: last phone call, north carolina, richard. caller: harry reid said at one time, every 10 minutes somebody dies because they don't have health care. that is 144 people a day, ok? 52,000 a year. anyway, you are not going to implement this bill for about four years, correct? guest: i think that is right, ok -- that is right. caller: look at how many people dying if you don't have health care. if you are going to put the bill through and pass it, you need to implement it now. guest: i think some other reason why the implementation has been put off for several years is because it will take that long to get this system up and structured. some other reason is the cost estimates of implementing its

earlier. host: to the caller's point, do you think it is a bit hypocritical sang people are dying because we are not present health care reform but the democratic bills would not put a lot of this in place for four years? guest: elwell, you could say that is hypocritical -- well, you could say that is hypocritical, but it is also hypocritical to say people are dying but we should not pass health care reform. this is a long-term reform of the health care delivery system in the country. i hope we can pass it in a form that implement it more quickly than the senate-passed bill calls for. if we are not able to, it is still very much worth doing. some of the provisions to take affect right away. a so, the bill begins to take affect, and the major provisions, the major subsidies and mandates for people to get

coverage and all will not occur under the senate bill until 2014. . also a democrat, announced it is today, that he would be challenging lincoln in the may 18 primary. he was a light in 2006 along with the popular governor mike

pbebe. he was often a budget adviser to clinton, former arkansas and governor. so he has some washington experience, but you will not hear about that in the campaign. he will be positioning himself as an outsider running against the establishment, criticizing plans to begin's approach colon health care, climate change -- blanche lincoln's approach to health care, climate change. the primary is just a few days away. there are a few liberals who are hoping, now that halter is in the race, that it will force lincoln to retire.

she already trails at this point many of the republicans planning to run against her in the republican primary. halter would probably weaken her position going into that race. no clear signs about which he plans to do, so we are looking forward to a pre bloody primary on that. [laughter] thank you. -- host: thank you. we have heard this morning about a package of tax provisions that expired sunday night. senator jim bunting holding up the package.

part of that is unemployment benefits. how when rosen is a visiting fellow at the peterson institute. he is here to give us some details on unemployment. let's begin with the expired debt extension of unemployment benefits. if it passes today, later in the week, will people, who were running out of unemployment insurance benefits be impacted? [applause] guest: and there are the three weeks that people are eligible if they lose their jobs. the second is something called extended benefits which works by a trigger. if the unemployment rate is above a certain rate. that trigger has gone on in about 30 states. that will not be affected.

the payment for the unemployment insurance is half by insurance, from the government. then there is a third tier, emergency unemployment insurance. that is a legislated by congress. that could be increased to 20 weeks, and that is what is now being jeopardized by the hold up. what is cleaner is people who entering unemployment will get their benefits, but if they are on their third extension, they own the one that could be filtered out. they are not taking new people into the emergency program. host: of those third tiered

people that you are talking about, is there a way that congress could back pay, and get over the delay? guest: we have done that in the past where there was a retroactive. we are 20 ease people's fears about this right now because of all the financial anxiety. what is being affected is the payment being made for next week. so it is unfair to say that the congress has a window to do something. it is not as if there were for loves that happened yesterday because of this. people are still going to get their checks this week, next week. if congress does not act by the end of next week, that could be a problem. host: let's look at the

unemployment system over all. how does it work? guest: first of all, we have the most stingy on employment service in the world. basic service is 26 weeks. right now the average payment is about $300 across the country, a week. some states pay more, some less. they take in some of their own money. that is the basic system. there is what i call the one- third printable. this is something the american people do not realize. on the investment get unemployment because there are stringent criteria.

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it is a shame that really need unemployment to keep them from getting those benefits. those benefits to feed people, keep people in their homes. it is not the same amount of money that you were making when you were working. it is less. host: is it half? caller: it is less than that. because of my job, my unemployment was $366 a week, but i was making $40,000 a year to go from what i was making to unemployment, to see unemployment, my kids need a place to live.

guest: this is unfortunately a good example. his governor reducedxd the fedel part of the unemployment insurance. i never understood why the governor's did that. it was paid for by the government. their argument was, we do not want to do it now because we are going to have to perpetuate it in the future, but it was only an emergency. here is an example of this person telling you that he had to pay a price. the second thing is, as he mentioned, he wanted to start his own business. we are trying hard to put people back to work, but we give no assistance to a self-employed person. they cannot pay into the system if their business does not work. this gentleman could have been helped. this is over the top.

he was getting unemployment benefits for 26 weeks. let's say that he starts his own business and we continue to pay him. instead of giving him a grant or loan, one not extend his unemployment until he begins his own business? but we do the opposite, we exempt them because of that. host: and john on the republican line. texas. [no audicaller: i am the college graduate and i cannot understand when they do this extension of unemployment benefits, those people that work, they are in the same vote i am in. why do they keep getting free money and now congress is talking about extending it through the year, and but college graduates like me who have loans to pay back, we are

left out in the cold. host: howard rosen? guest: we have a lot of the inequities in our system because we have all of these how the product requirements. we have this distortion that you mentioned. the unemployment rate for college graduates is one-third the unemployment rate for people who only have a high school diploma. the average is 5% for college graduates, 15% for those who finished high school. so we have a federal program that deals with averages. we are helping those people who are less educated because that is the way our system is. i would argue we need to target the needs of the individual.

let me add one other point. you do not pay unemployment insurance when you are working. we should be paying all the time, and we do not for social security -- we can make a voluntary payments -- but we should be paying into a national unemployment is down. here is someone who went to college, did not pay into the fund, and then we have a lot of money to assist people. host: an article countering your argument, talking about one to create a federal program in the town, it is tough to get rid of it. guest: as i mentioned, there were various qualifications for this. it was only four states with

high unemployment rate. it was not as if we were going to extend unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 56 weeks or something like that. so i would disagree with that person. in this country, we have an obsession with moral hazard. i know that is a technical term, but if the government is quick to do something, then we are not going to do what we need to do. if the government gives me unemployment, i'm going to sit at home and do nothing there is absolutely no research in the united states that suggests people stay unemployed longer because we pay them $300 a week. there is no evidence of that. there is evidence in other countries where they pay 80% of previous wages for a few years, but just because that happened there, does not mean it needs to

happen here. host: our next guest has a master's degree -- our guest has a master's degree from george washington university. caller: i agree. i am unemployed, have been for about one year. no, i am not sitting at home. i am trying to find a job. it is difficult. one thing that irritates me is when i see how this country has outsourced accounts and now they are figuring out that that was not a good idea. as far as job creation, i do not see that happening with all of these tax cuts to companies that have outsourced. the next thing is in regards to the unemployment insurance. i am still on a tear to -- tier

2. hopefully that can continue, but i feel bad for the people who are caught in the middle right now who have run out of their benefits. i am hoping they can expend more for those that have lost their benefits because they are in this wave of unemployment and they have run out of their benefits. host: just so the viewers understand, can you explain what tier 2 is? guest: we explained the third tier, where the government pays all of their benefits. as i mentioned, if you are in the system, she is already receiving part of that. she will be able to receive until the end of the 13 weeks. let's put some numbers to this. 1.2 million people who will be affected immediately if this bill does not go through by the

way, this is only a 30-day extension. they need to do a more permanent one. if this does not go through, and as i mentioned, people will start trickling out of the system, by june, it would affect 5 million people. you cannot just talk about unemployment insurance without talking about jobs. we have stopped investing in this country. i am not talking about investing in real estate, the stock market, but we do not invest in equipment for the country. we have to start getting companies, u.s. and foreign, to begin investing in plant and equipment. the second piece, if i could, we need to start shifting our

unemployment assistance not to compensate people for losing their jobs but to encourage them to go back to work. in the jobs bill that congress is thinking about, they are considering giving a payroll tax holiday. have the government pay for their social security and other contributions for a contemporary period of time to give incentives to and lawyers to hire people. that is great, but we also need the assistance. there are other schemes that we can do to do that. host: what about educating people to move away from manufacturing jobs into service jobs? guest: you can do that, and i agree with you. right now i am not worried about the composition of those jobs. we just cannot invest in this

country. -- do not invest in this country. we need to be investing in technology. host: kathleen on the democratic line. how unemployment insurance works. caller: i am totally baffled by this whole thing. i was watching the senate yesterday and was watching bunning. my brother works in the construction business. he has been out of work, probably two years. my son works two part-time jobs because he had his hours cut at one drop, and he is also going to school. he decided to further his degree because there are no full-time jobs right now.

i am worried about what they are going to do with this jobs bill. what are they thinking? i would love to see them thrown out of their job, see what it is like to live on $200 a week, pay for their own health care. i am going to get to a point where i will refuse to pay my taxes and have those republicans stood up there, look down and understand what we are going through. the fat cats in wall street, what is their payment package? they were bailed out. host: moving on to fred, middletown, connecticut caller: i have been in working for 20 years, never collected unemployment.

finally a few years ago i did have to. i have applications out but it it does not go through and they cut unemployment, what am i supposed to do? i have been working 20 years and now they want to cut benefits? and i do not understand. guest: i think it is important to put some numbers to this. currently, there are 14 million people who are unemployed. what is lost in the shuffle is there are probably another 8 million people who are working part-time because they cannot find full-time. there are another 8 million who have been unemployed for so long they have dropped out of the labor force. so this is something closer to 30 million people unemployed. we will hear a plan that rate this friday.

last month it was 9.7. there is great anticipation on wall street, but that number really underreports what is really happening in the economy. host: larry summers, the white house economic adviser, said that february would be higher for the blizzard, but do not gage to much into that. guest: this one will be an easy one to forecast because the blizzard happened during the week where they were serving household. i am not here to defend congress, but just so that we understand, we have a problem with our budget deficit. what senator bunning is saying is he is not opposed to extending unemployment, but we need to pay for it. we have lots of problems in the country.

we have an unemployment problem and we also have a budget problem. congress needs to figure out the best way to do that. host: next phone call. caller: on november 14 the president signed a bill that would create a tier 4. everyone would get 14 weeks. any state whose unemployment was 8.5% or above, the average from october through december, would it be good for an extra six weeks, making a total of 20 weeks. thank goodness i am in one of those states. i am currently working on the extra six weeks. those people whose unemployment was less than 8.5% only got 14 weeks which ended february 28. my second comment is, temporary

jobs, as these businesses are hiring within their company for these temporary positions. full-time people trying to make some extra dollars because their current estimate is not carrying them over. thirdly, the unemployment report for january was delayed until march 5, this coming friday. if this unemployment rate -- is this unemployment rate going to be for january and february? does that mean that february will not be reported until who knows when? guest: unfortunately, because our system has all of this bureaucratic stuff, and you seem to need a ph.d. to understand this, i want to keep it simple.

this does not affect the extended benefits that you get in every state. i know for some people may have different numbers, but the point is, there are 26 weeks, an extended program that works by a trigger, have funded by the government. it is this an emergency part that is affected. it is very technical. i am curious about the comment about the january report. we actually got that, but it gives me an opportunity to say that we were at 10% and went down to 9.7%. one of the reasons that it fell is because companies are laying off less workers. it is not because people are finding more jobs. it looks like employment is improving, which is a good thing. we should not take away from it.

but it does not suggest that we are creating jobs. unemployment will fluctuate this year, and we should not be taking one month to suggest we are on a downward path right now. we should not be upset when it goes up and down, because we are going to be in that pattern all year. host: next phone call. caller: i am a veteran. i was in iraq for four years. identified tours, i was -- i did five tours, i am a reservist. when i came back, my unemployment benefits eventually ran out. i was making about $280 a week. and this is happening to people that you are sending over there

to kill and take over their country, whatever the reason we are over there for, how are you going to treat your elderly, the students? why can we all work together? -- can't we all work together? people that are trained who will fix our infrastructure, that do not want to be on unemployment. guest: you suggest the real problem with unemployment is it is not based on individual needs. because we are in a bureaucratic system, we come up with this crazy criteria. unfortunately, the system is not flexible enough to deal with individual needs. he just came back from more,

will have a difficult time adjusting. i would argue that we should start talking about reforming unemployment, so that it is much better targeted toward individual needs, instead of this one size fits all. that is where you hear this criticism where you hear people say, why should i be assisting people who are sitting at home? maybe there are people who should not be getting unemployment insurance. maybe there are some people who should be getting more than they are. that is what we should be looking at. host: howard rosen, thank you. up next, we will speak to rosalind rock, the youngest and fourth woman -- roslyn brock, the youngest and fourth woman

president of the naacp. >> president obama will visit savannah technical college in georgia. he will announce a federal rebate program for energy- efficient home purchases. he returned to the white house later today. house majority leader steny hoyer speaking earlier today, says members of congress voting for health care legislation will be more than willing to defend it to voters in the fall. he feels the public supports and chip -- affordable insurance for all families. he added, he believes every tool build up the white house will release as a chance to get congressional passage. more on the findings of charlie rangel. john carter says he will introduce a resolution this week calling for the ways and means committee chairman to relinquish his gavel until the ethics committee completes their

investigation of his personal finances. meanwhile, two democrats have joined others in their party in calling for chairman charlie rangel to give up his gavel. the company says it is repairing more than one and half million vehicles across the world. the development comes as toyota faces more questions over its troubled safety records. top officials will appear before a senate panel today. live coverage begins at 10:00 eastern. >> t.r. reed has traveled all over the world. his books are on contemporary issues, including -- join our three-hour conversation with t.r. reid on sunday.

host: roslyn brock is the youngest and fourth woman to serve as the chairman of the naacp. talk about your collection. how did this come about? just, it has been a 25-year journey. -- guest: it has been a 25-year journey. i have been blessed to be able to do this. host: what is your goal, how do you want to change the naacp? guest: i want to make sure our policies, programs, and politics are more relevant for a new generation of civil rights advocates. we are also looking to cast our

net broader. we are a multiracial, multi- ethnic organization. we want everyone to see the naacp as their chief advocate, particularly those who have been left out of a prosperous society. host: there is social media, new ways of going about getting people on board. we saw with president obama's campaign tapping into the grass roots efforts in the internet. how does your group do that? guest: right now we are aggressively using social networking marketing to reach the young professionals. we are going to take a page from the campaign to ignite a new generation. we have individuals -- if we individuals who want to learn more about the naacp can

text message us. we are giving that to get our message out. host: this was a piece this morning in "washington post" and he says that president obama is not the president of any one group of americans -- guest: we believe president obama is doing a great job. he inherited a difficult economy, two wars.

he is not only the president of african-american people, but all americans. clearly, we have interests that we want him to be concerned about, but we recognize with everything on his plate, the need to have priorities. we are pleased he invited civil rights leadership to talk about jobs two weeks ago. we have an open-door policy where we are prepared to challenge the president when he is not on task with some of our agenda items, but we will start now stand with him. we are faced dutch supporter and a fierce opponent. house, the congressional black caucus is not quite willing yet to vote for a jobs bill in the house this week. it is much smaller than what the house passed earlier this year, and the congressional black

caucus is saying that this does not do enough for african- americans. do you agree with the cbc? should they continue to hold out? guest: perfection should not be the enemy of a good piece of legislation. host: so going forward with a smaller package? guest: americans are hurting, and we need to do whatever we can. host: we want to give the phone numbers to our viewers. we will get to your phone calls in just a few minutes. ms. brock is the fourth and

youngest woman to serve on the board of directors. guest: we set strategic policies for the organization. our executive and other that is the day to day person who works and implement the policies. host: you said congress needs to move forward with health care reform. how do you see the legislation being talked about, in general, helping the african-american community? guest: we are concerned about the 43 million people without insurance in this nation. disproportionately, they are people of color, children, and the elderly. we want a bill that is affordable and provide quality health care for americans. host: another issue being debated is extending unemployment insurance benefits. with african-american unemployment around 16.5%,

almost double the average across the nation, what are you doing this week to put the pressure on conagra's -- if at all -- in extending the benefits? guest: our washington bureau is engaged every day advocating for our civil rights agenda. we are concerned about the unemployment compensation that is not available to african- americans, but we are aggressively working and developing policies that will move an progressive agenda forward. we are looking on bridge loans, down creation, infrastructure support in urban areas. we want the administration and president to look at where the highest needs are. then develop strategic

employment opportunities that get all americans back to work. host: one other had done and what your reaction to, "washington post" -- what has been some of the problems with having had access to this program for african- americans? guest: we are actually in litigation with the bankers on wall street for predatory lending and home foreclosures. we are all over that issue and we are working aggressively to make sure it does not happen again. host: this program that the administration introduced, bar wars with little or no equity would have another year to take advantage of a refinancing program that has so far made little progress -- do you think

this program adequately addressed predatory lending? guest: nebraska program that seeks to provide additional opportunities is a good thing. host: seattle, eleanor. you are first. caller: i have one comment. they do not have the right to vote on muscleman vote to them in. -- unless someone votes them in. i think that should change. if you are born in the united states, you should be able to vote, if you are not a felon or whatever. we need to correct the sins of our fathers. i think that would help the country correct itself guest.

guest: if you could send that inquiry to our national office, we must certainly look into it. host: richard. republican line. caller: thank you for c-span. congratulations on your election, i wish you success. i would like to know the position of the naacp on illegal aliens. the chamber of commerce want to these people. it is on the bill. -- oncwants these people. years ago, someone with a high- school diploma could get a new good job and support their families, but not all the dutch are going overseas. i would like your comments on that.

just go to the naacp is a supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. we are aggressively working with the congress and with our state legislators to work on that issue. host: oklahoma. gary, on the independent line. colorado, good morning. glad to see you there at c-span. ma'am, i appreciate you stepping up, but i have a problem with most people who call themselves progressive. i do not believe in insulating people and economically. the liberal element of the democratic party -- they are not what they want to be, so i am a

tea party libertarian, what ever you want to call me. in regard to some of the far left liberals who like to make derogatory comments about tea party people, i would like to point out that [unintelligible] i live in the country here. native american unemployment is one out of two. they are the most put down people that i have ever experienced in my travels. my main question to you -- two questions. here in tulsa, around some of the bigger cities, martin luther king day has turned into a day

of violence. there was an incident the other day where a young man was shot, 100 people are around, and people were giving the and emergency officials a hard time while they were trying to attend to this guy. not one person saw the shooting. secondly, something about liberals and politicians in general, about the jobs bill. it gives credit to small businesses for hiring people, but all the people up there dealing with the jobs bill, if they do not have business to hire people, they cannot hire anybody. guest: i think he raised some good points about violence in our community.

what you can expect is a new and invigorated approached on how we approach issues. we will be talking about what we are against and what we're for. it is time for us to take responsibility and accountability for the social ills plaguing our community. the naacp is 101 years old. we are smart enough to know that we need to work with both parties in congress to affect real and sustainable change. so, thank you for your comments and i ask you to join the naacp in tossup. host: -- in tulsa. host: do you have an agenda, an outreach program right now? what does it look like? guest: we have a large group for

college students, and it is one of the fastest-growing portion of our organization. we are working to address issues of violence, and we are also working with them to be peacemakers. we took a delegation two years ago to italy to study done by lead approaches to settle conflicts. they are bringing those lessons -- we took lessons from the u.s. to italy. host: and the on the democratic line. caller: good morning. i have been a member of the naacp probably longer than how old you are. congratulations on your appointment. my comment this morning is, as you have said, that you would follow through on getting

college age students involved in the political process. all too often -- i know you have heard this before -- since barack obama became president, there is a thought process that maybe everything is ok, but it is the opposite. and i want to ask you, what concrete programs are you putting in immediately to get on college campuses so that these kids will vote in 2010? everyone will be there for 2012, but 2010 will be important. if the kids who supported barack obama in the past, if they do not vote for him now, his agenda will not happen. thank you. guest: we have a robust college

division. boater mobilization is one of the key components of the program. that is how i got started 25 years ago in richmond, virginia, doing grass-roots canvassing and mobilization. you are right. young people are the future of our nation, the future of this country, and we need to use all of their energy. six years ago i'd started a leadership summit to bring young professionals back into the naacp age 30 to 50. we will be meeting in may to discuss the social issues of our day and how we can address some of those problems. those who are in inheritors of the game are not coming back to become actively engaged in identifying solutions to the problem in our community. host: mike from denver, you are

on the air. caller: i apologize. i and a service member for 22 years. i wonder about the possibilities for women and men of that color in the service. affirmative action has really taken over. i did well on my tests but i was not advanced because i was not of color. host: affirmative action? guest: we have to find opportunities to level the playing field for all americans. in many respects, affirmative action is still needed. we do not live in a post-racial

society, and we need to seek equal access for all americans. host: tennessee. good morning. caller: good morning. during the inauguration of barack obama, he had rick warren deliver one of the prayers. i happened to see him on c-span right before the aat and he referred to rodney king as an evangelist. and then he quoted him and said, can't we all just get along? we have to find a way to do that. i believe i have something that

can help us to do that. it is a book i wrote. my name is arnold joseph white. the title of my book is "divine 9/11 intervention." you can read and downloaded for free at godislove.org. [laughter] host: moving on to danville, north carolina. caller: congratulations to you. it was nice to see an african- american become president. above like to see more become nurses. i have an idea for some of the problems. maybe if we could work together

instead of the just working for themselves, go back to the way we used to do things. that might help some of the problems in hospitals. there is a problem. guest: i agree. my health care policy has been -- i agree that nurses are the front line in health care. they are compassionate healers. we need to do a better job building a pipeline for nursing because there is clearly a nursing shortage. host: last phone call. frederick, maryland. caller: good morning. i no longer support the naacp as a black woman because i believe your organization has lost

focus. i do not understand why you are so involved in our country and getting comprehensive immigration reform passed, why you would support people who are here illegally over black people who are here struggling. i do not understand the problems you are focusing on now, illegal immigrants. if people take jobs that black youths used to have, at mcdonald's, cutting the grass for the neighbors, working construction, now illegals do that. i do not understand why you are supporting a comprehensive illegal immigration reform. guest: for individuals who are here, we are looking for opportunities for them to begin the pathway to citizenship.

clearly, we won all people who are here illegally to become citizens of our nation. when we say we support comprehensive immigration reform, we are not saying that we are for illegal immigration,, ever, we have to understand we are a nation of immigrants. individuals come to this nation taking life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. as an organization of more than 100 years that has tried to provide equal opportunity for all pursuing their dreams, i think it would be a disservice for us to say no. host: roslyn brock is the youngest chairwoman of the naacp, the fourth woman. we are going to open up the phones for the next 15 minutes. we can talk about anything we have spoken here, or anything

you have read in the newspapers. let me show you the phone numbers. but let me also show you this article from "the wall street journal." fed avoid clear path for obama -- you can see a picture of donald cohn. -- donald kohn.

open phones for the next 15 minutes or so. in other financial news this morning, here is the front page of "the wall street journal." -- senators have outlined a plan to create a new production unit within the fed. it says -- we will continue to watch out

story. open phones. new orleans, republican line. caller: good morning. what i want to speak to his green party. there are two things that i really do not like. one, they want to have tests so that you can vote. they also want state rights. that is going backwards. i live in the south, so that is like going back to state rights. .

caller: i want to tell my people of color that i have more color than any of you because i can only live in two countries, the united states of america, my country, and the state of israel. a person of color can live anywhere they wish to live. host: toledo, ohio, steve on the independent line, good morning. caller: my comment is on the last phone call that was made before the and they left before -- from the naacp.

the immigration issue is probably the largest issue facing our country right now because they are taking not only the jobs from the african- americans, but from everybody and they are not leaving that money in this country. they are not paying taxes on it. but they are taking down our welfare system, our educational system. and everything that they make is going back to their home country and they're not giving anything to our society, but they are taking from it and doing it and making it impossible for the rest of our society to take care of the americans that are here. host: wills point, tex., sandy on the republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. and just commented on how the president, in my view, is doing so far. he has notçó done a thing. health care is a joke. he is too liberal.

and we cannot have national prayer day, but he can have the atheist there for lunch. i just do not see why people are drawing down to him -- falling down to him. oh, and immigration. host: the front page of the "new york times" shows "data shows control problems in toyota's beyond recall." and there's a third hearing on capitol hill today before the senate commerce committee. they will be talking to toyota's chief quality officer. and this is in the "washington post" this morning. we will have live coverage starting at 2:30 p.m. eastern time here on c-span, and you can tune into that as well. open phones this morning for

about 10 more minutes. trenton, new jersey, artur on the democratic line, go ahead. caller: i would like to make two points. the first point is the young lady from the naacp, i have a problem with dividing all races and hughes and seeking out black professionals. the black community is in trouble in all levels and we get no longer say that we are just going to allow black professionals in or black opera show on individuals didn't. of the naacp, it is an organization for the advancement of people of color, i think people of all backgrounds should be allowed to participate. and the greater idea is that we complain that obama is not doing this, the democrats not doing this, the republicans, it is not about that.

as adults, we have a generation and we need to step up to to the plate as americans. i'm a veteran. i've fought in the first gulf war. i'm an american. i'm not just an african- american. this is my country. host: all right, arthur, we will leave it there. and a note to our viewers that mitt romney's new book has taken out a full page data. go to book tv to look for our interview with governor romney on his new book. rick on the independent line, good morning. caller: first, the jobs issue. have been politically active for 20, 25 years and watched c-span for a long time.

i was very active in fighting those treaties. the we talk about the health care bill that nobody has read. the gatt bill was 7 feet high and i do not think to this day anyone has read the whole thing. we have hypocrisy run wild in this country. i used to say we have capitalism run wild and government run wild, but there 1 in the same. one party thinks it does not smell so good. we have a bunch of traders upon the hill but of exported not only manufacturing, but the industrial base. that is what got us out of the great depression. host: here is the "washington

61% of republicans a major news organizations to a good job of covering all the important subjects that matter to me. the nation, meanwhile, is news hundred. çó many of you heard this morning that harold ford has decided not to challenge senator gillibrand in new york for that primary. he has an op ed in today's "new york times" on why he is not running for the senate.

try have examined this race in every possible way and if i run, the likely result will be a cruel and how the-democratic primary. pennsylvania, laura on the verge republican line -- on the republican line. caller: your guest is no longer there from the naacp? host: that is right. what is your question? caller: i think democrats and republicans agree on some basic things, but the objections from the house are those brave pro- life democrats who refuse to give up the stupak amendment language.

they do not want reproductive rights and abortion, killing unborn babies, in this health bill. over 40% of americans are pro- life. that is the gallup poll -- over 50% of americans are pro-life. that is the gallup poll from last year. the obama white house wants this agenda to be radical left and they want to give up health care for all because they want that to be part of the language. host: joining us on the democratic line a and atlanta, go ahead. caller: good morning, people keep bringing president obama for what is going on withçó the health care bill. he has only been in office a little over 14 months. if you pay attention in history class, you know you cannot do anything to a bill or anything else until it clears both houses of congress.

stop blaming the president for your failure of your elected officials from your home state and a room down doing their jobs. host: the front page of the "washington times" this morning has a headline "no sugarcoating in latin america" about an acquaintance visit. philadelphia inquirer as a piece -- a and next to that is a chart with key numbers in the iraq war. let's take a look at those as we go to the next phone call, said antonio, texas, rose,

independent line. caller: good morning, i really enjoyed watching c-span and the like to speak about the public option, i think we ought to push forward. if anyone has ever seen the subcommittee hearingsñjr on heah wendell potter, they would know what dire straits we are in. we really need reform. we do not need the bipartisanship. we need to move forward for the good of this country. host: man, virginia, republican line. your thoughts? -- richmond, virginia, republican line. your thoughts? caller: the first comment is that everybody cries about the illegal aliens, but if they want someone to cut the grass or someone to come in the house and

keep the baby, something like this, then that is okay. these politicians start talking about health care. they do not care about abortion. that is just a sympathetic thing that people talk about. but it is about money, folks. and you talk about barack obama. barack obama, simply put, is in damage control. he probably does not know where all of his bad boys are in the white house. he has got to do damage control. one more thing i've got to say, women have always been the sabres in the black community.

-- receivers in the black and energy. they're always the ones that have churches in their houses. the biggest problem has always been the men. i say, do not pay attention to what these guys want because they are really jealous of you. and you've got to push and do your thing. host: in other news this morning, postal service seeks five day delivery. the u.s. postal service will move this month from reducing mail delivery from six days a week to five. it is critical to reducing its massive debt. the postmaster general will be speaking today in washington about the new business model. we will cover it here on c-span. go to c-span.org to find out

when that will air. carl on the democratic line, go ahead. caller: i'm calling in to say that someone recently called in and said they were from denver and a submarine taylor. i, too,xd and a submarine to sailor. david brinkley was here in washington and what i'm complaining about, i guess, people are saying that the races are equal. -- the race is equal. it cannot be equal if you had a head start on me. if you want to give the break, but i have to be put in the same position beside you to run. we keep talking about partisanship, when in fact, told

shipp that we should be talking about is citizenship and -- the whole ship that we should be talking about his citizenship. host: alabama, debbie on the independent line. caller: i agree with the last caller, we should focus on american citizens first. everyone is complaining about the health care bill and one in two out in the abortion thing. i am not advocating abortion, but these are problems that have existed long before obama was put into office. i think we need to go back to the basic thing that nobody talks about, and that is putting daud back in the center of what is going on in our country. if we -- put god back in the center of a what is going on in our country. if we focus again on christ, then we can focus on jobs and loving one another. not because of a black woman or

a white woman or a mexican woman, but because we are concerned with each other. if we can get back to a place in this country where arafat true focus is on god and -- where our true focus is on god, then i think we will get back to the principles upon which it is founded. president host: obama will talk wednesday on the way forward. host-- host: president obama wil talk wednesday on the way forward. senator orrin hatch argues in an op-ed in the "washington post" -- washington, pa., a gene on the republican line. caller: this health care is all

right, but let's go back. loan modification for people's homes, you do not hear anything about it anymore. i have been in a trial timeframe now for nine months. they have ruined my credit. they have turned it into the credit bureau. my score has gone very weak. i cannot even buy a banana on credit. and they keep telling me it is in review. host: there is an article in the paper this morning saying the white house is going to extend the loan modification program to june, 2011. caller: they're going to extend it, but how long is it going to take them? there is still on my original mortgage like $3,000. they charge me $49 a month late fee. it is not fair. and the mortgage company, this government should not allow a

company like clinton mortgage to do business in it. host: back to the white house. this is a piece written this morning by charles covington and the associated press. ñi

huntsville, alabama, rose on the democratic line, good morning. caller: hi, i'm calling because it took me 45 years, do you hear me? 45 years to vote. i]i had never voted in myxd life until barack obama came into office. when i voted, voted totally democrat. right now, i am dealing with a situation here in huntsville, alabama, where i voted for a manned by the name of parker griffith. -- for a man by the name of parker griffith. parker griffith, i believe he had been a republican all along, but he claimed to be a democrat. when he got into the democrats see, all of a sudden he change

horses. çóthe number-ñrone, i feel thats wrong. i think he should give back all of the democrats money that was raised for him. and i also believe that what he did was wrong. nobody is making him do anything about it. i believe he needs to step down from his seat because it is a democrat seat. ñ)sññiuiçóçóñiñiñiiñiñrñksr v. and it is not fair that i have to deal with a "epublican when i voted democrat. for open phones. thanks for your phone call this i t)esidentñixd obama pro#osedñ0 billionçóçóñrñm/ budget for añn securit)rj year. we will talk about that with mickeyñko mccarterñiçó, a senir lan 9ui%qeut(v ñfiçó>> the associated press res

that the negotiators are close to resolving a stickingñi point over was shrewd. at issue is whether the government watchdogs should be freedom federal bank regulators. it would cover everythingñiñi fi credit card fees, paid a loans and mortgages. agreement onçó a nuclear weapons treaty. the talks areçó about a successr to the 1991 strategic arms reduction treaty, which limited the number of nuclear warheads each side could deploy. that treaty this -- a a treaty expired december 5 last year. china is not likely to respond ññá1iñixdçóçziçóñr prograyn that envoys' will discuss in beijing this week. ñithey have just arrived in

beijing. they will meetñpu)u$çó china's foreign minister and other leaders. five young muslim men from the washington d.c. metropolitan area were charged today on terror related offenses in pakistan. the charges include waging war against pakistan and plotting to attack the country. prosecutors presented their case earlier to a pakistani judge. the men were arrested earlier in punjabi province in december after a a a leaving behind a farewell video leaving behind scenes of war and casualty's and saying muslims must be defended. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> over 1000 high school students entered this year c- span documentary competition with a short video on one of our country's greatest strengths or a challenge the country is facing. we will announce the winners on march 10 and to the winning videos at studentcam -- order. >> "washington journal" continues.

-host: mickey mccarter is the senior correspondent for mellman security today. the budget that still has to be approved for 2011 is about $56.3 billion for the overall department. when you break that down, $11 billion for the customs and port -- customs and border, and so on. when you look at that, what does that say about the priorities for the omen security department? guest: the big increase in the fiscal 2011 budget proposal is for the transportation security and administration, and this is not a big surprise given the attempt on christmas day in detroit abdulmutallab -- by our abdulmutallab.

host: compare that was about 3% for the overall department in 2010. guest: indeed, the big increase will be at the tsa. we will see a lot of new technology going to try to capture explosives detection a bit better, perhaps, than traditional screen technologies might be able to. host: foreign technology, most of the money going toward what type of technology? there are guest: as been a lot of money in these whole body imaging devices. -- guest: there has been a lot of money invested in these whole body imaging devices. the obama administration plans to put those 1000 whole body in the jurors around the united states and have coverage for about 75% of the largest u.s. airports by the time they are done deploying them. host: give us some examples of

the largest u.s. airports. guest: j.f.k., o'hare, l.a.x., dulles -- some of these airports already have the technology and it has been installed sometimes in secondary screening locations. if for some reason there is a suspicious passenger, that you'll have to go through this secondary screening to go -- to be sure that you do not have any contraband on you. host: does that mean that if you are traveling through the airport in the next couple of years you are likely to go through body scanner? guest: indeed, but there when to shift them through what is being called privacy -- primary screening right now, meaning everyone is going to go through them. host: have they resolved privacy issues? guest: there was some criticism

initially that the anatomical detail in the x-ray might have been a little bit too high. people might not have been very comfortable with that. but now, with the software filters, the machine produces an image that looks more like a human character. it blurs our facial features and represents the human body without as much detail while still highlighting threaten to -- threat areas on the person. but the tsa is going to opt out of that if they are still uncomfortable. they can go through the traditional metal detector and receive a pat down instead. host: how much of this money increase is going toward the body image scanners? guest: a lot of the increase is going to the image scanners, about $700 million in total. some of that will go to hire new scanners and some will go to hire operators for the scanners

and some will go to reconfiguring airports. it goes one-third, one-third, one-third -- technology, people, construction. host: and where is the most emphasis beside tsa and what are the priorities for that agency? guest: it is interesting to see where the decreases are to make way for the new emphasis. in the coast guard, for example, there has been a lot of debate here -- the coast guard, as you said, is getting about $10 billion in fiscal 2011. about 1.5 billion will go towards building new coast guard cutters, coast guard aircraft that they say they need because they're old equipment is literally falling apart. -- because they're old equipment is literally falling apart. -- their old equipment is literally falling apart.

that budget would fund the national security cover, this is the big boat for the coast guard now. it will start designed for the workforce fleet, called the offshore control cotter, and that would be the medium range boat that they can use for multi-purpose. and it will also give them multi response cutters, which will be in short coats. host: the previous type of boats that the coastguard was using, and how many jobs will there be for this new type of cover? guest: what is happening in fiscal 2011 is that they're going to cut about five votes, which means fewer jobs, actually. the coast guard will lose about 1000 people. 773, i think is the exact number that has been floated. because of the decommissioning of its old boats.

host: and the companies that build these cutters, and where they are in certain districts'h in congress, what about them? kt security cover is being billed out of mississippi. the offshore patrol cover, which will actually be the largest acquisition in coast guard history, that contract will be awarded probably next year. the coast guard has been relying on what has been called the integrated and deep water system, which it has been winding down. ((áájt(urjrjp couple of companies got together -- a combination of a couple of companies got together to build those assets. and it has generally beenó viewd as not to have gone the way the coast guard would have liked out of the program it set up a new acquisition director and is counseling that contract in january of next year -- canceling the contract in january of next year.

a lot of these new contracts will go to new companies with new bids. host: mccarter: is a senior -- mickey mccarter is a senior correspondent with norlands security. the new budget still has to be approved by congress. will president obama get push back from members of congress? guest: he's getting a lot of push back on the coast guard because the budget would trim five water called maritime safety and security teams, one of which controls -- patrols new york harbor. again, the coast guard is cutting those because they want to be able to afford the new assets. a big loser in the fiscal 2011 budget in the eyes of congress so far has been border security. the customs and border protection agency is receiving

about $11 billion and a lot of the money is being shifted away from the virtual fence, the secure border initiative network as it is formally called. and it is because the offense has not come on schedule. that has not produced useful technology yet. host: can i stop you there? how much have they spent so far on this virtual offensive? guest-- a virtual fence? guest: several host: billion dollars and they are not going to -- guest: several billion dollars. host: and they are not going to continue? guest: there is very little money in the president's budget, enough to sustain the 53 mile segment that is going to be billed out. a lot of the technology is going to be mobile imaging technology that is easier to move around to

different areas. host: are you talking about unmanned drones, those sort of things? guest: actually, not so much. i think there will be a future emphasis on unmanned drones. border patrol has five or six at their disposal right now. a lot of those are flying on the northern border. what we are talking about in the mobile surveillance technology are really trucks outfitted with radar, other sensors, cameras, may be other hand-held devices that border patrol agents would be able to use in the field. host: one other area of this budget is first responders. jenna nepolitano was testifying last week on capitol -- janet nepolitano was testifying last week on capitol hill. guest: this is an area that congress is really sensitive to because it is something that

members can bring home to their district and they can say, i got my own town x amount of money in firefighter grants or police grants or what have you. grant proposal so far has been pretty flat. there have been about a -- has been about $4 billion under fema for local brands. the jobs bill before the senate right now would have about $500 million for firefighter grants. that is part of its justification. but overall, the grants would stay pretty flat, as far as they were in fiscal 2010. host: more on this budget, walter on the democratic line, what is your question? caller: i would like to ask mr. mccarter about a homeland security. my opinion is that we should be focusing more on our country.

i think when you looked at a tense -- attempts to monitor flights from other countries, we are depending on foreign countries to do that and i think it is very inefficient. and that no flightless, the last time i remember hearing about it was something like 2 million names. who can manage that? another thing on the body scan, i do not understand the necessity for this visual but you have. but you have a system that can accurately detect explosives and give you an alarm, what is the advantage to the bodies can? you have the information, you pull the subject to the side and you do a body search. guest: first to my want to talk about the overseas question. we cannot dictate, basically,

what airports overseas do. and that is obviously a problem for tsa because you want to stop threatening individuals and treading goods from coming into the country from abroad. we can encourage them and say, if you're a visa waiver nation, for example, you have a pretty high bar for checking of people getting into the u.s. we can give them incentives. we can give them a fast track of shared security program, information sharing, etc. to encourage them to adopt the standards we would like to see. to the whole body imaging, i would go back to the christmas day attempt. that would be terrorist had an explosive in his underwear. that is really hard to find. everyone will tell you that it is really hard to find. the whole body in the jurors -- the old body imaging manufacturers that i've talked to say they are fairly confident

that their devices would have found it. they do not know for sure because how would was packaged on the suspect has not been revealed in detail. but it is a powdery substance that is very or to detect. in theory, this would have been one of the few technologies that would have been able to pick that up. host: pat on the republican line. caller: yesterday there was a report sean about five times. how whites -- a report shown about five times. hawaii started checking i dug vacation. -- identification. some drug runners started coming through hawaii. a a reporter whewhen to macarthr park and in an hour he was able to have -- a reporter went to macarthur park and in an hour we was able to have an

identification card made. he could get a visa card, master card, anything he needed. it took an hour. and he showed them to the camera. host: are you familiar with this? guest: i am not familiar with this specific report, but i'm sure that it was a factual report. immigration and customs is the agency at the dhs that is responsible for patrolling illegal immigration and illegal activities like that inside u.s. borders. their budget is staying pretty flat. in fact, a lot of people is are arguing -- a lot of people are arguing that illegal immigration is less of a problem. it has dropped in the last year due to the bad economy, people going on, etc. as far as new initiatives in

fiscal 2011 budget, the department will be focusing more on intelligence operations in big metropolitan areas in particular where there might be the threat of illegal trafficking or illegal goods, perhaps like the ones described. the department will be working with law -- local law enforcement and other federal agencies to tackle those problems. host: ann on the republican line. caller: i have a question about this border fence between mexico and the u.s. that was a big waste of money. first of all, it cost over $400 million to build. it was my understanding it was going to be something like the berlin wall, but it is not. there are gaps in it and anyone can walk through. the secretary of homeland security stated that if you build a 50 foot wall, they will

find a 51 foot ladder to climb over and that is d/g what is happening. they are still coming through. now they are saying in my local newspaper that it is going to take another $400 million to repair. basically, led security has wasted $800 million on defense -- homeland security has wasted $800 million on a fence that is not working. i'm sorry, but all lead security has with a bunch of money that could have been used somewhere else. host: are her numbers correct? guest: i should think the department spent a lot more than that. there was an emergency appropriation for about $2 billion, most of which went to the fence a couple of years ago. it is about 650 miles of fence along the southern border. the department of defense has argued that they have put these

in the strategic areas where it would be easy for an illegal immigrant to disappear into difficult terrain. she mentioned the homeland security secretary who went governor of arizona and who said that show may 54 wall and i will show you a 51 foot ladder. she has reversed her opinion on that. it is very controversial. people do not like the idea and it does more the landscape for the residents there. -- it does marr the landscape for the residents there. but it does have the support of the government. host: the 2011 budget put out by the office of management and budget, the total percent, as we said, $56 billion for the overall budget. the spy charge shows things like

customs and border patrol getting a larger percentage, tsa as well. bob on the republican line, you are next. caller: i have a serious concern with tsa's practice of breaking open bags of -- for inspection. i think it is a clear violation of my fourth amendment right. i do have an answer, they can search your bags in your presence and then they can be secured for the rest of the flight. but as many times as i've gone to my congressman, they just ignore it. do you have a suggestion as to a remedy for this? guest: my first suggestion would be to talk to your congressman, which you have said you have done. there is generally support in congress for tsa's search and seizure capabilities and powers. as many complaints as that generates, generally speaking,

congress has been supportive of tsa. i guess where there is some debate now is where do they draw the line as far as electronic devices go? can they take the data from your laptop? can they take your blood vary from u.n. look at it? -- take your blackberry from you and look at it? host: the moment security department was created in 2002 after the september 11 attacks. it brought many agencies under one umbrella. compare president obama's budgets for dhs to president bush's budgets. how have the priorities changed? guest: so far, surprisingly the same. the tsa plan that we are talking about now was actually developed

largely under the bush administration. they had trials of the whole body mergers in 2007 and in 2008 concluded this was the way to go. immigration, again, very similar views between presidents bush and obama. both have been pushing for immigration reform, pushing for stronger enforcement either through mechanisms like the e- verify and employment data base or through immigration standards and making sure that people who apply for various things are here legally. host: on e-verify what is the status of that and how much money? guest: it is pretty much in line with what it has been receiving. there are advocates in congress who say it needs more to become more robust.

the -- there is a unit in dhs that is called immigration service's to run it. it checks social security numbers, basically. there was some reporting on this last week. it was found that it was pretty accurate about 93% of the time. it caught someone or did not catch someone properly. the other 6 or 7%, it would find illegal activity. ubasically, 93% of theçóñiñi tt here the u.s. çóthe other half, the 3.5% thatt has not resolved has drawn a lot of weeks. ñithat is the sort of thing the

they say we need moreñi money io this program so that we can get it closer to 100%. çóñiç4ost:çó weighing on the dec line, good morning. caller: you were talking about the coast guard cutters. a couple of years ago they were talking about how they were trained to modify a coastal cotter and make it a deed seek other where they were -- a coastal cotter and making it a deep sea gutter where they were basically -- a a coastal cutter sea cutter and there was a report that said these things were in danger of sinking at sea. they did like for five of them before they found that this company that was altering them

was botching the job and these covercutters were given away tor countries because there were no longer useful for the united states because they were so dangerous. my second question is, you were talking about the no-fly list. but the no-fly list was compiled at a time when basically, like in maryland, gov. ehrlich was using the technology to spy on peaceful protesters and that anti-government list and getting information on them. these were peaceful pupipeople e only beef was that for waging war against people who were no threat to us.

host: we're going to have to leave it there. any thoughts? guest: i do not know about the coast guard incidents that you brought up. but basically, all of the coast guard assets that they have are decades old, except for the new ones that have been coming on. basically, everything needs to be decommissioned eventually. the faster the coast guard can get to that, the happier they will be. also, the no-fly list, there is a new program called secure flights and has become operational this year. the idea there is to make sure that we get the right people on the no-fly list, people who actually pose a threat. and it should people still end up on the no-fly list somehow that should not, or by accident or what have you, then there are readjust procedures where you should be able to get yourself off the list. host: how much money has been

spent on the no-fly list, and the aggravation of all of the list out there between the fbi and the cia and getting them all to talk to each other, how much money has been spent on this type of list? guest: the integration of those databases has generally received somewhere in the hundred million dollar range, somewhere in the several hundred million dollars in the last couple of years. essentially, extending the capability of getting the information to hands of the field would cost more money. i do not know if there is money in the budget directly for that. but again, the idea is to get more detailed information on specific passengers to the checkpoint so that tsa screeners would be able to say right away, this is you, this is not you, because we have not just your name, but perhaps your age, some sort of physical description, your address.

host: suzanne on the independent line. caller: i have one common and one question. my comment is, i'm pretty sure that i know that 9/11 was a false flight operation. my question is, why do you need 22 more offices to open up a under homeland security? and why do we need homeland security? guest: i was at the pentagon on 9/11 and it was a lot changing experience. i will leave that at that. the thought of polman security is not a new idea. the idea was put together -- the thought of homeland security is not a new idea. the idea was put together before 9/11. the idea is that there were these similar assets that were doing a similar job, the coast guard, border patrol, that had some synergies and could come under one umbrella and do the job more effectively.

the border patrol in, that looking at the edge of the united states and beyond and making sure that there are not any threat materials or illegal drugs coming into the united states, i think that rationale has been basically proven to be correct. you've got border patrol, fema, coast guard and tsa working together under one roof. with the same basic mission, to keep out people and bad things from coming into the country. host: rocklin county, ellen on the republican line. caller: in 2003 or 2004, a member of the kennedy family made a documentary and in it she had a documentary that was called "imagine the unimaginable." it is really something that you should get to see because it will scare you to death. it was a show that have those two planes, instead of being

targeted for the twin towers, had targeted indian point, this whole section of the country with not be lawful -- would not be liable for up to 100 years. supposedly, the dome at indian point is a base -- is able to withstand the impact of a jet plane. the way they proved that is they took eight -- took an air force jet, which is a much smaller than a jumbo jet and to all of the fuel out of it and to put it into the wall and it still penetrated into the wall. host: are you familiar with this situation? guest: i am familiar, generally speaking, with the concern about nuclear facilities and volatile chemical facilities.

nuclear facilities actually fall under the nuclear regulatory commission and the national nuclear security administration, who put up standards for these facilities. there has been some back and forth as to whether or not the protection there is enough to stop the plane. basically, they have done a risk based analysis on which nuclear facilities would be at highest risk of being attacked in that manner and they have assured me when i've talked to them that the plans and security measures for dealing with that are good. the chemical facilities standards is an ongoing concern. the department of homeland security is overseeing that. basically, we are requiring private companies to come up with security plans to say, prove to was that somebody cannot fly a plane into your chemical plant -- proved to us that somebody can outfly planter

chemical plant in new jersey. so far, that plan has been rolling out slowly in the past couple of years. host: we are talking with mickey mccarter, but in a few minutes we will be bringing you the toyota hearings, day three. first hear a 10:00 a.m. to live on c-span and then later today around 2:30 p.m., the quality chief for toyota and is expected to testify as well. cleveland, tenn., forced on the democratic line, your next. -- forest on the democratic line, you are next. caller: business has been slowing down and things like that and we are finally getting

things straightened out here, but by god, we have problems, too, with immigration. what can we do to straighten that thing out and what does the 2010 census have to do with that? host: were you able to follow that? guest: of it. i have heard some reports that jurisdictions are asking everyone that lives there to fill out the sentence, saying that this is -- this is not get reported. if you are here illegally, we do not share this information with i.c.e. insofar as making certain that illegal immigrants are not taking jobs in depressed areas, again, the government has said that a lot of illegal immigrants are leaving. it has shifted its focus on how to do with that in the obama

administration. in the bush administration there were famous for doing these worksite rates, where they would go to a large manufacturing facility unexpected and arrest hundreds of illegal workers. now they are trying to be a little bit more quiet about it, bring the business in after an investigation, find them -- paul finefine them. the department has asked for the ability to levy more fines to have stronger enforcement powers. we will see where that goes. host:çó next call is out on the nannette line. çócaller-- on the independent l. caller: a couple of months ago they were talking about maybe our effectiveness with these bombs, the power in the underwear and everything else.

in looking at some old ways that law enforcement takes care of drugs and everything else, i wanted to ask mick if there is any way to get some canines in the airports. and one other question, what you think of the budget and whether it is going to pass? guest: where the canines are concerned, the homeland security secretary and members of congress are big fans. in fact, you will see more k-9 teams in the fiscal 2011 budgets in airports, railway stations or around the country. their ability to sniff out explosives material is extremely well-respected and we will see a lot more k-9 teams in the budget. what i think is going to happen with the budget is that congress will actually put a bit more money into it. as we were talking earlier, the

grants are an obvious place for individual members are going to have an interest in building up those funds. and there will possibly have some of concerns about the coast guard. they will finally have some concerns about border security and maybe even put some more money into tsa. there is a budget hearing on thursday at -- looking at tsa and what is going on with that. host: huntsville, william, republican line. caller: i have i do not see homeland security improving until we get rid of that idiot nepolitano. host: why do you say that? caller: because she is incompetent. host: can you point to an example? caller: do i have to or do you not know?

host: all right, we will leave it there. mickey mccarter, what is the reputation of how jenna nepolitano on capitol hill? pohick hough guest: she is well- respected on capitol hill -- guest: she is well-respected on capitol hill. sometimes she is a little too quick to say everything is ok when it is not. obama came out and basically apologized on her behalf and said there were big failures, etc., concerning the christmas day bombing. she is viewed as being very tough. and she is very tough -- was very tough as governor, which is why she was selected for this current position. again, i do not think there will be action against her as far as debating whether or not she should be removed. host: anthony on the democratic line in atlanta, good morning.

caller: i have one question, in dealing with a homeland security, now, we are trying to stop people from coming into the country and we are trying to regulate what flows in. why is this such a problem? we cannot stop drugs from coming into this country. howard going to stop people? guest: i do not cover the d.a. -- the da specifically, but i know there have been a lot of reports -- the dea specifically, but another have been a lot of reports from them in the recent past. i do not know what they claim to have been able to accomplish. i guess i would say that they have been trying to use a lot more intelligence, a lot more risk-driven analyses to figure out where they should put their resources to stop that things were bad people from coming in.