to open up u.s. airspace for unmanned drones. >> "washington journal" is next. ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> good morning. it is saturday, june 19. welcome to "washington journal." we are looking at spending in your area. if you have been watching, you just saw the president talked at columbus, ohio. he was talking about the voter

project from the stimulus. we want to find out from you, what evidence of stimulus spending is in your area, if any. the numbers are below at the bottom of the screen. you can also send us a message torture.tevia here is the address. you can also -- twitter. you can also send us an e-mail. there are the addresses. the story the way it appears in the financial times this month -- this morning.

also in the papers this morning, this news analysis in the "new york times."

i want to talk about that for the first 40 minutes of the program. find out if the evidence, if any, up stimulus spending in your area. the first call comes from michigan. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have seen several road projects, all in different counties in michigan.

the first is in crawford county. some kurds are being re-paved. in another countyc anotherurbs -- curbs being re-paved. there is sort of a bridge adjacent to saddle river. they have worked on that. i did see something in the grand rapids area. it was near the expressway exchange. they were doing something there. host: do you know of anybody in your area who has gotten a job or has been able to keep their job as a result of the stimulus spending? caller: i do not know that.

i have been traveling. i met a family home that my grandparents built. i am not in the community enough to know anyone. i know that last year when the stimulus package was passed, they were hoping for jobs at the usda. [unintelligible] i am happy to see what i have seen. some people are quite poor. host: we are going to move on to atlanta, georgia on the line for democrats. caller: this is my first time coming. there is evidence of stimulus spending in our area. host: what kind of evidence are you seeing? caller: it is pertaining to

public housing. they are giving funds to renovate apartments and it is all over georgia. there have been pictures seen all over the internet. it is really booming. how long it is going to last, i do not know. there has been a rundown apartment in public housing for years. now they are getting things they never had such as air conditioning. it is really great for the people who have dealt with public housing. host: the know anybody who has been able to move in at the new housing or worked on it? caller: there are tenants that are live there. they are upgrading.

new roof, air conditioning, anything that funds were not available to do. host: springfield, illinois, republican line. caller: there has been various road construction around the city especially around and states and highways. i work for a chiropractor. build a bridge. when they started it, half of it fell last fall. they had to clean up the mace -- mess and do it over. they are finishing this bridge and it has impacted my block of business. it is hard to get into this business. if you are going to stimulate the economy, through tax cuts

and some regulations on business. i do not think the way to do it is to put it out at the taxpayers' expense. it should be more through private means. host: more from the analysis in the "new york times."

we are talking about evidence of stimulus spending in your area. our next call comes on the independent line from grand rapids, michigan. caller: we have seen a lot of evidence here. there are widening the expressway. i just feel it is not money well spent. i do not know anybody who has gotten a job through this. it is evident and money being spent, but it is not release stimulating the economy. host: do you see increased activity in the area where the road work is being done? aside from the woodwork,

restaurants, otels, that kind of thing? host: there are restaurants that have gone out, but just as many have closed. there has been increased activity. they come and they go. i just feel that it is like the statement -- we cannot afford it at this time. i just feel it is not the right thing. host: republican line. charlotte, north carolina. is there any evidence of stimulus spending in your area? caller: not of great magnitude. some are still going out of business.

it is minimal to none. in this area, i know people that have been out of work for well over a year. some are going out of business every day. and -- i should say every week not every day. we have gone way down the wrong track. i am 73 years old. they have taken all of this money away. congress does not seem to have any problem spending money and sending it overseas and growing our governments. they should care more about the american citizens. i see the country going down hill for a very long time. now is on a mad rush to crash. host: he said we are on the

wrong road in the stimulus spending. what would be the right road for you? caller: the right road would have been to allow businesses and banks to continue on loaning money to small businesses, because that is where our jobs are. it would have been to take things by steps, not by a massive government takeover. i am from the old school. there is no such thing as too big to fail. look at what is coming out of gm, which the government took over. their cars in the latest poll are way down at the bottom as far as being the cars that american people want.

host: macon, ga., a democrat line. caller: good morning. i have seen plenty of evidence of stimulus money being pumped into our economy here. we have a military base adjacent to the spirit they are hiring over a hundred people right now -- adjacent to us, and they are hiring over 800 people right now. i am an aircraft mechanic. i do not know if any of that money goes into the stimulus is ending, but i am a government employee rice now. i was able to pay off my student loans -- government employee right now. i was able to pay off my student

loans. i have seen major road construction going on. a lot of people that i know of have gotten jobs and gone back to work. shops and businesses are opening up. the economy is picking up. host: billings, montana. caller: i was calling about the evidence of stimulus spending in our area, which is alive and well. in the city, we have needed four lanes for a long time, and it is finally happening. i believe that the economy has been pretty good here. more hiring has occurred because of this stimulus. "st: >> in this morning's

richmond times dispatch" there is an article by jeff schapiro. back to the phones. pennsylvania, independent line. caller: i do not see any signs of anything going on. host: where is your city? caller: [unintelligible] host: nothing has changed?

caller: i do not see much. this place has been forgotten about for the last 20 years as far as i'm concerned. host: inglewood, ohio, republican line. caller: last fall they had a black top job they did. it took about three days to do. i guess they paid a company $200,000 for it. the town i lived in has a surplus of money, they will pay for it themselves. that is all i have to say about it. host: talladega, fla., democrats.

caller: good morning. i was calling about the construction here. we have two big projects on hold for years in my town. there has of been anything going on around here. those projects are still on hold. host: are they road or building projects? caller: it is a bypass around the city. nothing is connecting the two inner stays together. -- interstates together. host: what do you think is holding it up? caller: i think it is the government. that is what i think it is.

host: we will take another look and what the president had to say yesterday in columbus, ohio, as he marked the 10,000 work project launched in the stimulus pratique -- package. >> they have put thousands of these workers to work. the local restaurants around here benefit from these crews being here to work. it means that instead of having to worry about where the next paychecks will come from, americans across the country are helping to build our future and their own future. as my friend joe biden has done a good job overseeing the

recovery act would say, this is a big deal. and i think it is fitting that we have reached the smallest town. this is a perfect example of the ordination that the be coverage act is driving all across the country. host: we are talking about evidence of stimulus spending in your area. our next call is from jacksonville, fla. on the independent line. caller: i see stimulus here in jacksonville. there is a big project going on in downtown, the new courthouse. there are a lot of contractors from out-of-town that have gotten on this project, so it makes it hard for locals to get jobs.

host: why you suppose they are letting this business go to out of towners as opposed to hiring more local people? caller: that question, i do not know why that is like that. i felt like the city of jacksonville should have went to the local contractors first to give them an opportunity to be on the job, so they can put the money back into the economy of jacksonville. i am presently working on the courthouse now. i am into professional caulking and waterproofing systems. host: democrats line. caller: i have been hired as an equipment operator on several stimulus jobs, construction,

which we desperately need. roads are crumbling and stuff. i was self-employed for the last several years. i did multiple residential jobs, but it went down. i was fortunate enough to go to a company with bigger jobs. what i would really like to say is this company is doing pretty good. when i hear guys talking that have nothing good to say about obama, but they are happy to be working on these federal road projects and is the. that is somewhat of a contradictory to me. host: in terms of length of time, how long is this project?

will you still be able to find work after this project is done? caller: presently, i am not working on one of the stimulus jobs. because the company does so many, they needed more help to work on some of the other projects. if it were not for the stimulus, they would i need me to help with the other jobs. host: this is from the " philadelphia enquirer."

you can read more about that in the paper. long island, new york. independent line. caller: good morning. my opinion is that the stimulus is not really doing much in this area. the usual road work, going on an expressway. they are not productive. you cannot show roadwork. it is not the end all cancer in my mind. i see this economy -- i hate to say it, but a lot of these major -- by the end of the year, some of these will be in trouble. i retired.

ifc -- i have seen where people are smacking their lips and funds come out, and things cease to exist. [unintelligible] the picture is not that good to me. gold is going up. the dollar is going down. but there is nothing in a big way that is productive. host: we will move on to mcgregor, texas, for republicans. caller: thanks for taking my call. i do see evidence in our area of construction. and also, i noticed gm is

building a new center to sell cars. i am concerned that while construction is good, when the job is over, it is over. who is going to survive with cars and why they had to move from the old place to the new place if we just had to bail them out. host: we have this message on twitter. back to the phones. arizona, and democrats line. caller: i do see a number of stimulus going on in our area. icy roads being paved, -- i see

roads being paid, a new car dealership, a friend of mine has a child care agency. they got notice that funding was not going to be coming from the state. then they got a notice that the funding was coming to her line of business. i see some turnaround. we have a lot of new construction. i see a number of businesses in our area. it seems to be predominately restaurant. i do not know if that is the best choice in this economy. i see actions. there are still some people out of work. but there is prosperity in our area.

host: in the "new york times" here is this headline. next up, fargo, north dakota, on our line for democrats. are you there? he is gone. let us go to detroit, michigan, independent line. caller: i do not see much evidence of stimulus in this area. i seek evidence of abuse in this area. i can give you an example. there are a lot of orange cones on the freeway. you do not see any work going on

during the week. on the weekend, saturday night, sunday night, you will see them working for double time or time and a half. it is the late hours on the weekend, but during the week, they are not doing anything. i see the money is being corrupted. these jobs are a dead end in this area. host: if they were working during the regular hours, would that cause problems with rush- hour traffic? caller: not really, because the detroit area has more freeways than any other city in the country. we have the least amount of jobs. that is not even an issue. what really strikes me is people in this country know this area has been the hardest hit. obama is playing the political

card. we went from bush, it will face fire to obama, a talking fraud. -- bold faced liar to obama, in talking fraud. host: take a look at to this article. also this morning in the "philadelphia enquirer with ir." her nomination, among other things, is part of the discussion in this week's edition of "newsmakers." senator patrick leahy will be

discussing this. here is what he had to say on the program regarding what he is doing to prepare for the hearing. >> i went to my farm house in vermont and sat under my favorite apple tree. it sounds silly, but i am away from the phone in the computer and the blackberry. i was able to sit there and read. i have been trying to do that evening's and weekends getting off quietly. i try to get away from the phone and the computer. members of my family, and black. -- call my blackberry my crack

berry. i am one of the few senators left in the whole hearing because of the questions i asked. host: you can see the entire interview on sunday, tomorrow, at 10:00 a.m. as o'clock p.m. eastern on c-span. it is also available online. you can also see it as an application for your iphone. back to the phones regarding our conversation of evidence of stimulus spending in your area. next is on our democrat line in illinois. caller: good morning. i was just calling to say that the stimulus in illinois, i do not see anything happening

really big. there are a few road construction going on. as far as the little businesses, not much. host: you think that will not be enough to help the economy in your area? caller: no, i do not. my employment is getting ready to exhaust. i know people who have gotten several extensions, but i have not gotten one. i do not know what i am going to do. nothing appears to help. host: what kind of work were you doing? caller: i was working in a factory producing automobile parts. host: so the automobile industry needs to jump-start for you to go back to work? caller: yes, anything. i am looking for anything right

now. host: in the washington journal, russia backs stronger rivals to dollars. next up, oklahoma city, oklahoma. on our line for democrats. caller: i am a first-time caller. i want to applaud you on this question. everybody in america is being charged with the stimulus package. here is a question that cuts eyes on the situation. i think it is wonderful that you

are asking this. i think it should expand to a constant question put to us. how does one tell that these little people live in the country and pay taxes -- how do we know if the project is going on if the stimulus money or corporate money for the bond issues previously passed -- how can we determine that? host: a lot of projects that have signs saying this project is a result of the stimulus package. you have not seen anything like that in your area? caller: i have not. there is construction and road repairing. there are buildings going up. i have no idea, and i have not seen any signs at all.

host: have you talked to any of your congressional people? caller: no, i can call their offices and they can give me information? host: that is what they are there for. caller: that is a good suggestion. i will do that. host: here is another article. troy, mich. on our line for independence. go ahead. caller: thank you for c-span. i have lived in the detroit area, and i have seen a great deal of activity because of the stimulus.

general motors, chrysler, ford, i have seen workers laid off because of the problems at general motors are now being called back to work. some companies are driving again. i do not know what we expect the president to do. stimulus money is being handed out. the republicans continue to criticize. host: thanks. we will leave it there. the "the wall street journal" has some criticisms of the president.

maybe not a criticism but an observation. here is what one person rights. also this morning in the "new york times" this op-ed by charles. he rides the thrill is gone.

back to the phones. illinois, an airline for republicans. caller: -- on our line for republicans. caller: i do not see any in illinois. 10.8% unemployment. the biggest stimulus could be every politician would take a 75% cut in pay. that would show they are there for the people instead of for their own pocket. that is about it. we are paying for the stimulus through taxes in the long run. host: when you go to the polls

in november, is the stimulus spending. to play a part in deciding if you will vote for year current representative -- going to play a part in deciding if you would vote for your current representative? caller: sure will. i do not know who currently is representing illinois right now. host: in the "washington post." here is this headline. a gust of georgia on our line for democrats. -- agusta, ga., on our line for democrats. please turn your tv down. caller: of as part of the

genocide plot by the government 10,000 zero -- 10 this -- 10,000 miles away in vietnam. action may mid 1980's to mid- 1990s, some people bought up space from maine to miami. i cannot understand how the chamber of commerce did not help anybody for 300 years. i know the truth about the government. hadn't they buy up all of the service stations and the south koreans are buying up all of the convenience stores in the black neighborhood. host: i feel like the train is going off the tracks.

thanks for the call. i want to take a little bit of time to show you a little bit of a videotaped story shot by our c-span crew that attended an expo for those seeking assistance as a result of the gulf oil spill in new orleans. it takes place in the suburb of louisiana. an environmental scientist is working with the oceanic atmospheric agency dealing with the contamination on the shoreline. here is a little bit about what they saw had to say. >> [unintelligible]

my name is yvonne. i am a technical specialist. national oceanographic and atmospheric administration. it is one of the federal agencies responding to the spill. contacted for them, i work through the call of kenya -- california office. i have been dealing with marine oil spills for 20 years now in kelli a one-year period -- now in california for one year -- for 20 years. there are teams made up a federal or state agency and a representative of bp. their job is to go out and evaluate shore impact. they will go out. if you look down here, there is a map. on the map, it will show where we have gone out during the scout.

they will decide, we will take a look at certain segments. you may have eight or nine teams that go out. out here, teams will go out anywhere -- any way they can get out there. they will do a track line. they will show you where they have gone. then they will try to characterize what they saw. they had about 15% coverage of oil. it was about 10 meters by 1,900 meters. it is and emulsify oil associated with the vegetation. in the second area, they had

about 6 meters by 700 meters and about 8%. the teams will go out in different areas and identify what they see. that information will come back to the command post. is will get downloaded and and put it. you can manipulate the data in a number of different ways. what we do with the data is we say, how do we need to go out to clean up the shore lines?treatml be based on the shoreline you have. what you do for a sandy beach would be different from what you do for a marsh. we develop recommendations based on the type of shoreline. we send out cleanup crews based on the stage we are in these bills. the harsh things about this particular spill is that we are in stage one. they have not been contained.

they continue to get oil. in the second stage, it is the bulk oil removal. you may go up to the area around a marcia where there is oil and bring it out through shallow water skimming. the third stage is what do you do for the long term mediation of the march? this will go on for as long as there is oil, and then you go into the cleanup and points. what does the habitat need to have so that it meets those end points and is back to the way it was either prior or similar to the way it was before the spill.

"washington journal" continues. host: joining us from that gingrich, louisiana is a lieutenant, a retired general -- rouge,l louisiana a retired general. he has joined us to give us insight and perspective on the response of bp and what they need to do. he is currently a cnn contributor. thanks for joining us on the program. caller: the morning. host: -- guest: good morning. host: in the "tampa tribune would recce said we should fight the oil spill like it is need --

tampa tribune", you said we should fight the oil spill like it is world war iii. tell me about that. caller: we need to continue to turn it around. by the time we got the facts on what was going on, bp had a brand with this like a gulf oil spill as opposed to the bp oil spill. host: here is this headline. base from your observation, who is in charge of this situation? caller: i think the situation that continues to confuse people is bp saying what is going to

get it done and what is not. it done. many are confused. the president was not in the louisiana. if a governor that is in charge with what happens in the state, -- at the end of the day, it is bp that approves whether or not something is going to happen. that has to change. host: we are talking with a retired lieutenant general for the next 45 minutes. we like to get too involved in it the response to the gulf coast oil spill. the numbers are at the bottom of your screen. we are taking your messages

through e-mail and twitter. if you were in charge of this operation, before we get into that, tell me about how the response to this bp situation and oil spill is different than the response to hurricane katrina? guest: katrina was a week of attendees and operations and intense operations in the city. this is a much want revenge. people lost their lives. homes were lost. this is an environmental based tragedy where you have millions being destroyed. while both of them are national

disasters, katrina had a letter signed by the president that was designed to take care of the people suffering from the effects of the disaster. this is being handled differently under the laws created from the exxon valdez. bp is based on the failure of equipment and the explosion that left 11 people dead. both are major tragedies. the bp oil spill could have a bigger impact on the gulf and the way of life. host: if you get a call from president obama saying i want you to take over running this operation, what is the first thing you want to do? guest: let us change that question to say, what would be

my ideas to move forward? i would switch the philosophy of defending the shoreline to attack in the oil before it reaches the shoreline. in the last couple of days, they need to organize forces to attack the oil. they need to find it using small boats or vessels of opportunity. bring in the department of defense and use the army small boats to go out. they have a satellite based system and responders to see where it is. finding oil and bring the skimmers to set the oil out.

that is a 24/7 operation. i would say to support the government. when they ask for something, it is being ordered and delivered as opposed to going through fema. the constitution -- the governor is in charge of the state. right now, their hands are tied. they have to wait for bp approval every time they want to do something to protect the shoreline. we need to fix that. need more control in terms of dod assets that can be used. there are not enough boats on the ground to fight the oil it the ocean to the shoreline and

the three lines -- miles out where the governors have authority. host: let us go to the phones. red bank, new jersey, on our line for independence. -- independents. caller: i have to agree with the general. i do not see enough books on the shores. -- boots on the shores. they need to create more jobs and to send people out there and start cleaning this thing up. guest: i could not agree more. there is still people in the fishing business and associated businesses that have not gotten jobs along the coast that could use those jobs. i agree with you.

we eventually might get there, but it is a slow process. host: our next call comes from our democrats line, oklahoma. caller: i was calling to confirm or agree with what the general is saying. there has not been the urgency needed to take care of the situation. hopefully, they are gearing up for that. there should be more activity being done. there seems to be a sense of urgency than what we have seen over the last few weeks. guest: in the last five or 10 days, there has been a change about to happen.

the admiral is on the ground and directing the operation. there seems to be a plan. do not confuse a plan with execution. i think what the people living in the gulf are looking for is how our words meet our actions. how is our video meeting our idea. what is said on television does not match what is being seen on the ground. we want to decide and analyze and act. right now, there is a disconnect from analyzing, the sighting, and acting. that is the frustration that people continue to see. i expect it to get better. give the assets to the general, so they can work with these

county and other officials said that we can kill let oil before it hits the shoreline. host: virginia, independent line. caller: i would like to tell the general he is right about stopping the oil out there. i think we should stop it at the whole. like it at the hole. until we do that, we will have major problems. i would like to hear his comments about that. guest: i think he is a spot on. the first job is to plug it, and

set the oil out. right behind that is to get the oil out of the water as soon as it comes out. more of that is being done. is job one. whhole host: here is a headline. what are your thoughts on that? guest: i am not an oil expert. let us take that promise and see if we can turn it into action. seeing is believing. host: indiana and. caller: i have a comment and then a question. bp, their control of information

about this whole event, their denial of existence about underwater plumes, which is more oil. we are trying to understand what is going on. can you clarify exactly why it is in the position to call the shots? this is an obvious danger for national security. why can't they tell bp what will be done? it should be simple. we can move in. guest: that is the direction of the government. the approach that was taken was based on the loss created with the exxon about these.

it says, you spilled the oil, you clean it and pay for it. somewhere along the way, that became the tagline. you are responsible, bp, for cleaning this oil up and paying for it. some are confusing that responsibility with authority in who is ultimately responsible. ultimately, the government is responsible. it happened on federal land. the american people voted for congress, governors, president to form a government that would protect us. it should keep us secure in our homes and state. i think that confusion led people to stop believing that while the government said it was in charge, bp had to pay.

let us not confuse with who has to pay and who is ultimately responsible. we need to try to turn that around. bp has to pay, but it is the government that will have to call the shots and priorities and resources this thing. whatever it takes, they will get the money back from bp. host: we are talking about the response to the gulf coast oil spill. .

they have landing decks on them where you could have hell copters and they could really assist in the command and control. and they could get satellite respondents to every boat out there so you could see where all your assets are and you can start charting the oil and you can see them on the computer screen, where is the oil, where are the boats.

so eliminate that gap in where the oil is and where you need to go skimming so we take the pressure tauf shoreline and then empower the governors, whatever they need using any technology they can develop to skim that up. but i do also believe that we get those young navy engineers out there with the vessels and army folks who also have vessels, they will figure out more innovative ways to get that oil up. that's just the way our military is. we've been doing that from the history of our country and we get them into the fight and we will see a difference in terms of command and control and how we get that oil up. >> host: in the "wall street journal" they have a story, oysters, a northerly staples -- norlse staple.

in traveling around louisiana in norls and new oreleens and where you are, what are you seeing this is starting to affect people on shore? guest: well, i rode down just a few days ago always way down to venyiss, and you should see the number of fishing boats that are still tied, fishing boats that would normally be out in the ocean now capturing a bountiful harvest, they are tied up at the dock. that's a sad sight. and the number of people who

are still hoping to get work but people are trying to adjust to the idea of not being fishermen but now maybe having to go out as a laboror as opposed to being their own businessmen now having to submit themselves as contractors, using their boats to try to adapt to find the oil and then get the oil out of the water. it is unnerving also when you go around and you talk to the restaurant people who serve all this great food in louisiana because they are concerned about what is going to happen in the future to this great gulf fishing industry, which provides the fresh food, the big difference in seafood is that when it comes out of the ocean, it comes out in the morning and it's on the table of a restaurant that night. you know you have something special when you come to this region and you parts pate. and there is still a lot of

that good seafood available because there's other parts of the gulf that they are still able to harvest in. but you see the tides turning in the attitude of the people because they see a possibility of a way of life changing. and a culture change based on this spill. host: let's take this call from pennsylvania. john on our line. go ahead. caller: good morning. when will fema get involved? guest: i don't know. we could see some action here with this 20 billion and how they're going to disburse it. i sure hope they don't do like they did in katrina and brought someone in to run the road home program and that was a mistake. so i hope they set this system uptor disbursele, existing distuitions inside the government, which is fema being one of them.

small business administration being one, and existing banks. this is not rocket science. we ought not go out and try to create somethings that so complicated that it further fruss traits the people from the time they apply to the time they get checks. we have an unemployment system that passed checks out to our folks when they need them. i hope we go go out and create something new that eats up the money that tries to create something new. host: what do you see as fema's initial response to this and their overall responsibility in this situation? guest: well in this case i know they've been working in support to a limited degree, but they actually respond once you vote to staff nite. the staff nite gets invoked

when the governor requests a declaration for a disaster. something has happened. and you see them happen almost monthly now with the tornadoes and floods we've been having. so the gove requests, to the president, and the president approves, there by empowering the governor to use the laws and funds that come out of the stafford act to take care of the people and to make sure they have a place to stay, they have food, and they help people get back in their homes and help small businesses open back up. that's what the stafford act, that's the intent and that's generally how it's been used. but in this case, we have not declared this a national disaster. we are using the laws that were associated with exxon valdez as a way to deal with this, oil incident. that's why you see admiral

allen and the coast guard in charge of dealing with this. that's the way it's set up by the government. but fema is -- i know they're capable of doing it but they normally respond once the stafford act has been invoked. host: next up, north carolina. al on our line for republicans. you're on the washington journal with retired lieutenant general russell honore. caller: good morning, first, i would like to thank you for your service to our country. i'm a marine veteran myself. the question is, why hasn't the spill been contained? i heard the president saying we're doing everything we can. i heard them say they're ordering skimmer boats and booms. there's open spill response teams at every major installation up and down the east coast, west coast, great lakes that are just sitting

idle. skimmer boats, cherry point, north carolina has a skimmer boat, two barges, recovery barges with bladder tanks in them. the smaller boats, they've got boom, qualified people, these themes are already osha quality. they could send theems teams down to coast, train the people, get their qualifications, and then order the booms and order replacement barges, order the skimmers to replace those that were sent down instead of waiting six to eight weeks for a skimmer to come to the gulf coast. i just can't understand why they're sitting idle. and no one seems to know they are. guest: sounds like a good plan to me. we've got to get everything to the fight. i think people use the word mobilize really know the

associated, they haven't seemed to study that part of history much. they say mobilize for war. we did mobilize the country to a degree during katrina for a period of three or four weeks to ensure all the people were out and everybody was in a safe place and then we went back and dealt with the remains. i mean, anything we asked for was provided once we put the command and control in place to make it happen. so we've got to continue to work the command and control, use technology to figure out where the oil is, maneuver the boats there, and get everything into the fight. and we haven't done that yet. and the indication of that is because we still have got assets in the navy, the marines, and the army that could make a difference down there. and i don't know yet why we haven't employed them. host: next up, north carolina.

on our line for democrats. go ahead. caller: there's two ways to plug that hole. you can either put a plug down there and hammer them into the pipe and stick it up. or you put a pipe with a cutoff valve and go around over it. and when they get it down there so far, shut the valve off and that's it if they ain't got the equipment to do it, ballard does. host: sounds like you've got experience in this, sir. caller: no. just figuring it out. host: general, your thoughts on that comment? guest: i tell you what, thousands of people who are partnering how to do this and myself i receive two or three e-mails a day with good ideas that we forward on through louisiana system and they are forwarded up to bp. but there are people that just

go to show to the heart, people want to help. how do we turn those ideas into action? and right now, the coast guard a week or so ago has set up a call center. so i would recommend to the gentleman call it in, get somebody -- if you don't have the skills, send it to me, send it to bp, which has the call center you can send it in to. but act now. get that idea in there. and let's keep them coming. but i do think the future of how we are going to deal with this oil probably has not been invented yet. and within the, as we go forward into this crisis to mitigate the effects of that oil, we will invest new science, we're going to invent new business opportunities to deal with oil one once it hits the water. and we need to capture and and get those technologies which will create jobs, a whole bunch of jobs cleaning that oil out of the ocean.

host: sir, tell me about one or two of the ideas that you've gotten from people who have e-mailed you and that you have passed on eets aer to government sources or to the people at bp. guest: i had a young man from lake charles who worked in the oil industry, he gave me a sketch of some barges that would set over the oil as it comes up and then with the jim the oil right there on the scene through use of a series of barges that had some drapes at the bottom of it. and as the oil comes up, and again, i have not -- i don't work in the oil business but his description and his animation is the oil comes sort of straight up from the hole and his idea was to put some deep well barges there that sort of create a pool right there in the ocean over the top and immediately scr skimmers skimming the oil off. that was one.

and tortsdze one was the product multiplication type products that cause the oil to dissipate in the water using biological but emulls if is the oil as opposed to having it in its current state. and, again, i'm not expert to analyze these but we took them all and passed them on. host: next up is frirks, virginia, on our line for republicans. go ahead. caller: good morning. kind of a question, comment. i'm just trying to understand why it takes so long, with all the technology that we have, all the resources that we have in the this country, have a large military, why we can't stop the leak and clean it up. and we have such a high unemployment rate in this country, you think there would be kind of a silver lining where we could get people back to work. but i just, that's kind of, i am having a hard time

understanding why we can't move on this and take care of it. we've got a loot of resources and -- lot of resources. and with technology nowadays, i don't know why we can't stop the leak and take care of it. guest: trust me, having been faced with a few possible tests doing my 37 year career, if this was easy it would have been done already. this is hard work. some would say, looking back at all the reasons why we got to where we are, but trust me, nobody wants to get that hose stopped more than the united states government and bp itself. this is costing them a ton of money, as it should, but the downside of it is the impact it is having on the gulf. so this is hard work as we say in the army, hard government work, and if it was easy it would have been done. so i do believe in my heart that they are trying as hard as

they can to close it and let's hope and pray that those engineers who are sweating at the brow out there working day and night to try to figure it out, get it figured out and make it happen as soon as possible so we can start focusing on the impact of the oil that's already in the gulf. and i do believe that we will find more innovative ways just like the costa machine and others, it will spur innovation and n business and thought that people will go out and figure out ways how we're going to get rid of this oil. and we need to move on with that as quick as we can. host: the general mentioned his career just a few seconds ago. he retired from the army on january 11, 2008. during his tenure in the service he was the 33rd commanding general of the army at fort gill lam, georgia. also the task force katrina, and homeland security u.s. northern command. he is also served a variety of

command and staff positions. back to the phones. alabama on our line for independents, ted, you are on with lieutenant general russell honore. caller: you did a fine job with katrina. i was down there after you left and redid the crours there courthouse. but if you all don't hurry up and do something quick, you're going to ruin the whole gulf. i've lived in georgia just about all my life, moved to alabama. you keep dragging your feet, you know, not doing what you need to do as quickly as you can do it, the whole gulf is going to be ruined. and lieutenant, you've been down there yourself. you've seen the beaches. you know how it is. why have a meeting with congress when you're trying to decide what needs to be done? hurry and get it done. by the time you decide and have meetings about what needs to be

done, the beaches and the gulf is going to be ruined. and you know, maybe somebody needs to just take the bull by the horns and just run with it quick. it ain't going to be a matter of time before it's ruined. and it's probably already ruined. host: how close to the gulf are you and what's the first thing that you would like to see done? caller: well, dalton's about probably 70 miles from pans right on the man ma city. host: do you work in any kind of related industry down there eetsdz anywhere seafood or fishing or the oil business? caller: i'm in the pressure washing businesses up here. but really doesn't relate too much about what needs to be done there. host: then what's the first thing that you would like to see done? caller: i would like to see somebody mobilize something and get it in there quickly and get it done, maybe more at the source than at the beaches. but all this bureaucracy and

who did what, when it got done, let's have a meeting in congress and let's start pointing fingers, quit pointing fingers. like the lieutenant did, he took the bull by the horn and ran with it. host: general, sounds like mobilization is the key word. guest: we've got to give some context to what that mobile ation is. we use that word mobilize. we are going f going on the offense. but the key thing we have to spend a little time explaining to the american people because i think the more we tell them what we are doing in a nonbureaucratic context, they will give us their sorpt. we need to spend more time talking about how we're going to do this, how we're going to find it. then we have the methods on the ground at the shoreline to empower those who are

protecting our fragile shorlse where the oysters and the shrimp and the breeding grounds of the pelingens are located, to get the machines. there's no good idea that should be turned away to determine how do we protect the shorlse sand how do we protect and clean the animals and how do we restore our beaches. right now it does not respond the needs of the governors. the governors are in charge of the land. most have the national guard out there. the national guard is doing great work, innovative work. but the national guard is trained and equipped for land-based operations. this is why we need to bring the rest of the military in and help provide that command and control. then empower the go no, sir through the stafford act for them to request something and then get order.

so they could use those assets, use those contracts to protect the shoreline. that needs to happen quick and we need to spend a little more time explaining to the american people how we are doing that and go from talking to action, go from talking to walking and make stuff happen and by putting more command and control in place in each state with the power to command and control. right now, our system is set up still based on a mother may i. we want to do this. everybody studies it and then we've got to go ask bp. we should stop asking bp for resources to get this job done along the shoreline. bp needs to be providing the vessels, but the shoreline defense should be left to the governors and empower them to get the equipment and the man power they need to get the job done. host: sir, there's an editorial

in this morning's "wall street journal" that a addresses what's on a lot of folks' mind and that would be suspension of the jones act. tell us your understanding of what the jones act is and the fact that it was actually suspended during hurricane katrina recoverry. guest: it has to do with the preparation and use of american-owned vessels when doing work for the united states host: and they are talking about suspending the jones act so they could bring in foreign flagged vessels so they can do some of the cleanup. guest: i've said before on many occasions. based on the experience with katrina and other disasters we dealt with before that, the number one thing you've got to do when you go into a disaster a figure out what rules you're going to break, because most of the rules and laws were based with normal operation.

and when you go into a disaster they won't work. i remember an incident in katrina where we were about to fly all the citizens, the survivors from the convention center and they had a call from one of my officers that the t.s.a. people wanted to wait because they wanted to get more scanners. i said no, they have been standing around for eight days, they are tired. they need to get someplace where they can be taken someplace to get take incare of. the other was that same operation that we were about the fly people out. the pilots said we can't put the people on the plane because we don't have a manifest. i said we're going to waive the manifest. we're going to put the people on the plane. these are americans. these are our people. they need to get to a place where they can get taken care

of. so as in the case of this oil spill, we continue to try to go by the rules of what i call peacetime rules. so we asked the osha guy, what do you think, how long, what can you do? then we ask the corps engineers? oh, we've got to get the books out, we've got to study this. what are we doing? it's a berm. can the berm cause more harm than the oil? i think not. so we are using peace timte rules to fight a war and they don't work. in a disaster when people's lives, property, animals and a way of life are at risk, some of these rules are hindering the operation. it's like let me see your fire extinguisher, and is it up to standard. some of that is just stupid. you've got to break some of these rules if you're going to respond in a disaster. host: we've got about another six minutes left in this segment. our next call comes from

carterville, illinois. ken on our line for republicans. go ahead. caller: good morning. rob, you stole my thunder about the jones act. there are 13 countries that want to come in and help and obama won't suspend the jones act. to me that won't make any sense. he should have been on this day one. the dutch and some other ones wanted to come day one but he was too busy campaigning, playing golf and doing this and that and being at the show of the beatles. that's how i feel. i think the oil should never have got to shore. if he would have been on the ball. thank you. host: thanks for your call. general, we're going to move on to louisiana on our line for democrats. go ahead. caller: hello. i'm from louisiana. we're so thankful that you have answered the call to come here when we know that you believe mobilize the troops and people on the ground. and all the residents will be

behind you. we thank you for that. now my question is this. do you think there's a possibility or any possibility that this oil could come up to lake poven train or lake importantly paul? thank you, sir, for your answer. guest: that's a good question. and you know what? it's one of the worst case scenarios. i think there is a possibility. if we were to have another katrina, i remind you that katrina surge from katrina, that water that continues to push as it churns and the hurricanes do, i think that put almost a 17-foot rise in the water and moved it into the lake. so there is a possibility that we could get a black wave, meaning the oil coming in through the lake and making the

whole situation even worse. and i remind folks that katrina put a wall of water 30 foot high into biloxi, which again will speak to the fear of the black wave. that's why we have to get that oil out of the water. that's why i e keep talking to the point of let's get that command and control structure. we've got to move federal workers into each parish. we need to enforce our naurds there and do it before hurricane season comes. we can't afford to pull this team together and start an exchange of business cards after the hurricane comes. you think it's bad now, wait until the hurricane comes. and they will come and they will have an impact. so we have to work every hour, every minute as we said during katrina, they're looking at a calendar and we are looking at a watch. we have got to get this thing

moving, organize government, place federal workers in there that will be in the pairishes for years. unlike what we did in katrina where federal workers came in, spent a month and they went back home. no. we need to move those teams in. everybody from health and human service to labor to fema. they need to come and start moving into these parishes and these counties and create a central integrated place, a one stop center to take care of these people, because this is going to go on for years. but we need to do it before hurricane season. the idea of a hurricane with a surge could really make a difference. host: general, we need to get this last call in from georgia on our line for republicans. steve, go ahead. caller: president obama or the admiral and giving them your

ideas. and would you consider being the liaison for bp? guest: i will help in any way i can and right now i'm helping by trying to give some analysis by what i'm seeing and hearing on the ground as well as to give ideas. i'm not much about looking back and parsing blame. at this point i think people looking for solutions, and every good idea needs to be considered and enacted upon, and meet with the governors and give them what they need to protect the shoreline. but we need the military mobilized and get them to provide the command and control and the spotlight overhead systems so we can see where that oil is so we can go out and get it. but i will help in any way i can. host: lieutenant general honore coming to us from louisiana this morning. thank you for being on the washington journal. and we also want to remind our viewers and listeners that we

will have a segment on the jones act on tomorrow's edition of the washington journal. coming up, a discussion on new credit card rules. but first, a look at the past week through the eyes of the few of the nation's editorial cartoonists.

host: joining us today to talk about credit cards. guest: thank you for having me. host: last week you had an article. tell us what that's all about.

guest: so the federal reserve issued some new rules over the past week that set new regulations on how much your credit card company can charge you when you violate the terms of your contract either by having a late payment, maybe by spending more than you should be spending because you have gone over your limit. and what that does is sets a $25 cap on any penalty fee that your card may charge you for the first time that you violate the terms of your contract. if you have a second violation within six billing cycles, the cap is now $35. and that's a real change from some previously when card companies frequently would charge maybe 35, 36, 37 for some of these late payments and for these overlimit fees. host: why did the fed feel the need to cap these? guest: they had to. last year congress passed the credit card act which instituted a whole wave of reform which they could address

interest rates and the ways they could address fees that they charge to you. so part of what the law required was that the federal reserve look at these penalty fees and determine what is a reasonable rate for these fees and the fed just issued their rules last week. host: give us an example of what an unreasonable fee would have been before this law. guest: frequently, folks might have made a late payment. they might have been just one day late or so on their payment. and the federal reserve said now that that fee can only be $25 or 30 where previously it might have been more than that. in addition, what the federal reserve said is that the fee cannot exceed the amount of the violation. so they're capped at 25, 30. but on top of that if you go over your spending limit by $2 by purchasing a cup of coffee, your fee cannot exceed that $2

overlimit spending. so they really said that people are getting mad because they're making a small violation but they're getting hit with a big penalty. host: we're talking about new rules. if you would like to get involved in the conversation, give us a call. so what's the response been so far from the banking and credit industry? guest: they knew this was coming down the pipeline. so they're saying this is something that they understand, they're ready to deal with and handle. certainly now that the regulations have been put in place, they're not complaining too much about them. however, what they have said is there is going to be trade-offs. if their fees are being capped and the revenue is being capped in one area, that might mean they're going to have to make it up in oods place. and we've seen that by issuers

maybe reinstituting annual fees, maybe raising interest rates for even payers who were in good standing. so that in some way this money is going to be made up. host: another thing you've been writing about that was in the post on thursday, june 10, is swipe fees. tell us what are swipe fees and why are those in the news this week? guest: swipe fees are something that sounds very simple but in actuality it's very complicated. what is being called swipe fees or interchange fee is a fee that the card processors such as visa and master card charge on behalf of issuers every time you use your debit or credit card at a retailer. the retailer then pays a small fee, probably about 2% of the purchase price, to banks as a sort of thank you for letting us accepting your card. now, this is obviously

something that merchants do not want to pay for small dollar purchases in particular using your card or debit card to buy a piece of gum or that cup of coffee. they're saying that sometimes this can eat into their profits and make that purchase unprofitable for them. so they've been fighting this for a very long time. and senator durbin offered an amendment to the financial regulatory reform bill that would direct the federal reserve once again to take a look at these fees and determine are they actually reasonable and proportional to the costs that are actually incurred in the transaction. host: so has action been taken on the swipe fees yet or is this something they're looking at? guest: the senate has approved the amendment to the financial reg bill. and right now, the house and the senate are working to reconcile the two versions of the bill, the version that passed the senate that includes the swipe fee amendment and the version of the house that does not. host: let's go to the phones. our first call comes from

buffalo, new york on our line for republicans. lieu seel, go ahead. caller: yes. i have a credit card from bank of america and i look at just to pay the bills, i don't want their advertisements. and come to find out they were charging me -- and this is since january, 46%. right on there. every time i buy anything it's 46%. this has got to the point where people are going to get rid of their cards and probably won't use them any more. host: your i just want to make sure i understand this. your interest rate is 46%? caller: yes. guest: well, i have two pieces of news for you that you may find helpful. one thing that the federal reserve is directing card companies to do is to

reevaluate any rate increases that have gone into effect since the beginning of the year to determine whether or not those rate increases are actually warranted. so your card company should be looking at that 46% interest rate and perhaps making a readjustment to that. the other thing that i should tell you is that credit card companies are now prohibited from raising rates on existing balances. so what that means is if that you do not charge anything else to this credit card and you keep it as it is, the companies can cl not raise the rate on that balance that you already have outstanding so that it won't go any higher than 46% if you stop charging purchases to that card. so those are some things to consider. you may also want to consider, 46% interest rate a balance transfer to get that rate down. host: to the card companies say that they need to charge this 46% interest rate or are they just doing it because they can get away with it?

guest: i don't know if they would say they need to, but they do say they need to charge higher interest rates because their revenue is being limited in other areas. i have seen some reports that say that all of these changes to interest rates and penalty fees can cost the industry as much as $11 billion. so obviously there is revenue that is being limited. they say they want to make it up. now, whether or not they really need to make it up or whether they can deal with a little less profit, you will have to ask them. host: next up, baltimore, maryland. mike on our line for independents. caller: i want to thank you for c-span. my question, i'm not really -- too familiar with the whole credit card thing. but from what a commercial i heard before, the commercial was something like if you've got bills and they're pretty high, we erase the debt for you or something like that. are you familiar with what i'm

talking about? guest: there are a number of programs that you can use to help reduce your card debt especially if you are in a position where it's just become unmanageable. what i would say to you, i don't know the size of your debt and you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. but what i would say to you is the most important thing that any credit card expert or personal finance expert will tell you is to keep making payments, keep paying as much as you can toward that balance because the last thing that you want is for that payment to go into collections and for you to be in even worse situation. but there are a number of agencies, credit counseling agencies that are involved that can help you figure out how to manage your debt. but there's a lot of controversy around that because there are some unsavory businesses out there and there's a lot of controversy right now particularly around debt settlement companies. so i would encourage you to do your research around which companies and make sure you're

dealing with a legitimate if i remember. host: santa monica. caller: i've got a quick story that could be helpful to your viewers. i owed about ten grand on my chase and bave card bank of america card and both offered an teaser. 2% rate for six months. i sold some securities to pay off amounts that i owed both to those card companies so i could free up the balance to take advantage of the teaser rate. and as soon as i did it, both banks said thanks for paying us off, i tried cashing the checks and they both said by the way we've reduced your line of credit from 15,000 to 500. and my fico is still as score is still high, my credit is good. i'm just a small businessman. but both of them said we just looked at your debt profile and

you had too much debt. they have no right to market those checks to people and then bounce them and throw them into disarray when their small business people. guest: so they lowered your limit after you tried to use the checks so the checks are no longer any good? host: he's already been disconnected. let's assume that he said yes. guest: well, one thing that card companies have been doing is they have been reducing rates because they found that there are many risky customers in their port follow yos and that was many of them were defaulting or becoming drink went on their loans and so that was causing them to lose quite a bit of money and to disburse some of this consumer lending that we've been seeing. i would say that there may have been some delay in the time that he got the checks and the time that he tried to cash them so maybe there was some reduction of limit there. but i know that has been a big problem that many small business owners have complained about seeing their limits

dramatically decreased as card companies try to mitigate their risk. host::is there anything happening either in capitol hill or in state legislation that will help ameliorate this situation? guest: well one thing the act does is it sets a time limit on promotional teaser rates that i believe that they must exist for something like six months. so that previously they might have a teaser rate that might last juff just a couple of months or eight weeks or something like that so that it gives a consumer a little more time to be confident that this is the rate that i'm going to be paying before any changes are made . host: is there anything in this legislation that defines how far you can go over and above that teaser rate once the time limit expires? so let's say in this gentleman's case i believe he had a 2% interest rate for six months. is there anything that says well after that six months you can't automatically jack it up to the 46% that the earlier

caller had? guest: there isn't, actually. and that's one of the things that consumer advocates say is the short coming of some of this regulation, that there is no sort of proportionality when it comes to interest rate increases. it limits when they can do it but not necessarily how much they can do it. host: back to the phones. chicago, illinois on our line for democrats. jan, on with elan. caller: good morning, c-span. i went out of town about a month ago and i sort of overspent on my bank of america card. and i think i was like a negative $1.50. i didn't really pay attention to it. i forgot about it. and i noticed they had $35 overdraft fee and i was upset because i said $35 for $1.50. i mean, come on. and i almost wasn't able to get it taken off, but i told them,

i said, i don't normally go over my balance but they took it off. i said, i thought they passed a law where if it's $1.50, it won't be $35. so are you saying now that there won't be $35 fees for $1.50 any more? guest: actually, you unfortunately just missed the implementation of the law. the law goes into effect on july 1 for all new accounts and until august 15 for existing accounts. and basically what it says is that if you want to participate in overdraft, then you have to opt into that service. if you don't want to participate in overdraft, then the bank will simply decline your card if you do not have enough money in your account to pay for the purchase. many banks have started implementing some of this and i'm surprised to actually hear that you had an issue with bank of america because they already started rolling out some of these programs.

but july 1 is really the beginning of the implementation. host: next up, another call from chig, this time maurna. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. the thing that really bothers me about the credit cards is that mer charts are evidently forced to, they can't charge a different price for cash purchases when in fact so all of us are paying for people that use credit cards and there used to be when credit cards first came out, you were charged more for the privilege of using a credit card. and then somehow the cards were able to put into their contracts with the merchants that the merchants were not allowed to inform people that the price for a cash purchase

was less. and i just think that there's a real wrongness to that. and then basically dishonest practice. guest: the durbin amendment that passed in the senate that's being considered right now actually allows retailers to offer a discount for different forms of payment. so they could offer a discount if you payed by cash, by check. some merchants say that they already have this ability that visa and master card and the payment net borks allow them to do this but few do because it's kind of a headache. but certainly that is the case. it is cheaper for the retailer if you pay with cash or you pay with check as opposed to using a card, particularly one that might have a program attached to it. if you go overseas and you shop at other countries you might find they do offer these discounts. so there is some precedent for it out there in the durbin amendment is one way that they are trying to address this.

host: oven sunday you wrote recently glimmers of a new, more fiscally responsible consumers have emerged. the number of late payments on cards dropped to a six-month low in mch according to fitch ratings. the personal savings rate has recovered to 3.6% after falling for two months. american express says more customers are making more than the minimum payment and paying off their debt faster. the nation's outstanding credit card debt has fallen by about 100 billion over the past year. it seems like these stiff penalties were getting people to make their payments and now that the penalties are going to be less will we see a relaxing among the consumers on getting their payments made on time? or going beyond their limits? guest: that's a really interesting question. and it's actually something that the fed tried to address. so as the fed was crafting its regulations around the caps on the penalty fees, they tried to

really sort of strike a balance. at least they say they tried to strike a balance between not putting an onerous fee on consumers again that 40 fee for the $2 cup of coffee. but at the same time, part of the penalty is a deterrent. and knowing that you may have be facing this big fee, you may not do that action. s that actually something that they are trying to balance. host: next up, colorado springs. caller: thank you for taking my call. my situation was i had a seers card and apparently you could purchase an item that particular item you could go one year with no interest. and we tried real hard and almost had it paid off but what was very interesting was there were other purchases in between. and when that contract period ended, it went from 12% to 29% with no reason. my question is, with this bill

they have passed, why do they allow the card companies a whole year to upset everyone's lifestyle? so now i can barely afford because the minimum payments have raised i can barely afford to make payments now. and if i didn't have help, i would definitely be out of my home just to pay the credit cards due to the fees. and every single card just jumped welcome back that year. why didn't they grand father this. host: you knew when you signed on to use this card that these fees were going do go up in a year. right? kiveragets no. not the interest rate. the balance was really small. but they changed the entire interest rate. i knew they would charge the interest on the unpaid balance but they increased the interest rate as well. host: but that wasn't spelled out to you before you signed up? caller: no. the minute the government said we are going to put you guys in check, every single card for

over a two month period started raising their interest rates. host: thanks for your call. guest: there were some legislative attempts to sort of speed up the implementation of the law. the law passed last spring and we are just still now getting to some of the regulations and how that's going to be playing out and there were attempts to say this is taking way too long. we want card companies to make these changes now. obviously the industry said these are huge changes that we haven't seen and we need time to make it work within our systems. so there was, again, that balancing act between law makers saying consumers need this relief now and card companies saying we want to push this out, we need time to comply with the law. but there are many stories of card companies raising rates on different cards in advance of the law because it will become more difficult for them to raise those rates after the law

took effect. host: y l an began her career as a writer and has been with the "washington post" since 2002. she also teaches journalism at the university of maryland in college park. next up, cincinnati, ohio. caller: i just had a comment that it's kind of interesting to me that our government makes decisions as to private industry and what they can charge and thot charge but never placing the responsibility on the consumer. i mean, i have credit cards and throughout my life i make sure that i have some money to pay for it. we seem to foster this idea that it's owed to people to go out and buy things that they can't afford. then when they get in trouble, everybody else pays for it. we all do. whatever happens out there when the individuals go ahead for

their own personal, if it's a needs for food that's one thing. but we're living in this society where we've got to have everything today. it wasn't like that 30 years ago. you did without until you could afford it. now we're in this messy situation as well as the government. they do the same thing only they just take it. and all of a sudden they're in debt because they're using beyond their means. and yet we still don't put the responsibility towards the consumer. i just don't understand how people can think that's correct or i didn't read the paper or you can be sure when that lady that just indicated she didn't know. i bet if she went back and read the contract she would find out that they had that in there. it's their responsibility to know these things. i mean, i have gone over before or maybe made a late payment one month. and because my credit is good i called. they waived the fee. and at least one time.

so you have to stay on top of things. and if you are spending beyond your means you are going to suffer the consequences. host: what would you say is a reasonable fee for going over your limit or being late on a payment? caller: i would need to see myself, you know, get to that point. it's like speeding. i don't want to pay a ticket. there are just things that we have to be within ourselves just people -- i don't know. just dignified people that do the right thing and understand. you know, certainly i know people that have ten credit cards. they just keep buying and keep whatever. in the end, everybody pace. nobody looks at that. host: thanks for your call. guest: i think what you will find is a that that people don't learn a lesson until something bad happens to them. and that's what we're seeing now. is that folks got dinged. either they got the late

payments or they had some trouble with their card and now they're realizing a negative savings rate isn't going to cut it that we need to put more money away, we need to be more fiscally responsible. and the real question i think is that right now that's sort of the mood among consumers to be frugal and fiscally responsible. but how long is that really going to last and how much is this really changing consumer behavior long term? host: next up, mary on our line from ohio. caller: hi. i'm actually a realist. i'm looking at the banking industry as a corporate for financial oppression to your average american consumer. and we can all dance around saying like the lady who just spoke people who live beyond their means they should read their disclosure statements. now, all these products are designed, these financial products are designed for your

average consumer prey upon your average consumer. and, you know, and i think that a lot of the money that's generated from this is actually given to c.e.o. bonuses and shareholders concerns. not for the welfare of the average american to make ends meet, you know, when they advertise free checking, that's designed for people who are uneducated in this banking financial unethical industry to go, they know these people are eventually going to bounce a check or this kind of a thing and these fees are going to -- this is a fee-based prey upon consumer world and i mean

americans. and i just, like i said, i'm a realist and i think that we all just -- with all this rhetoric and all this speak trying to make the consumer the ultimate person of responsibility is wrong and should be addressed. host: from your perspective, what's the solution to this problem? caller: well, first of all, elizabeth warren, the harvard law professor who is in the oversight committee for tarp, she has definitely, she is someone to listen to. she is an authority on this subject. and i would say consumer protection like they have this federal reserve finally is doing some cracking down because the general american person is becoming aware, they are waking up. so, yeah, the consumer protection laws and they actually the third party agencies are looking over these

regulators probably need another agency to look after them as well. i think that a lot of checks and balances. and maybe this america can be savelyadged. guest: well, they are certainly debating that issue right now as part of the financial regulatory reform bill. one of the things they are looking at is creating a consumer financial protection agency or depending on where it is houseds that dedicated to protecting consumers around these issues, drafting these types of regulations, offering these types of recommendations. and as the caller seemed to suggest one of the persons, whose name has been floated is ms. warren. so this is obviously something that congress is looking at. again, we will see where it ends up. host: your assessment, you mentioned the senate house conferees have been working this past week on the financial

regulatory reform. give us your assessment on what they have accomplished this week and preview what we might expect to see. guest: well, the scope of the entire reg reform sbill a little beyond my purview but what i will tell you is that one of the things that has been hotly debated is this interchange in spike fee issue. that's scheduled to come up during the conference on tuesday and it's something that has been hotly debated. there have been lobbyists swarming the hill and even appeals by folks such as bob johnson and russell simmons weighing in on this debate. you might be surprised that they would. so i think that hopefully by early next week we might at least have some beginnings of answers around some of the sticking points. host: we want to remind our viewers and listeners that c-span has been covering the conference meetings all of last week. you can find the information on our website as well as the schedule for next week will be

covering that next week as well, the details are on our web site c-span.org. next up, cincinnati, ohio. caller: how are you doing? host: go ahead. caller: good morning. i heard the other lady from cincinnati, she must live on the west side of town. i read my financial information as well, and i'm retired, three-year state employee. however, i had a heart attack earlier this year. and i had my card from capital one and i wasn't able to make the payment and i was more worried about my life than anything else. at any rate, within a span of 30 to 60 days, they went from a

$39 overdraft all the way -- i'm sorry fee. and they added other fees up to $212 from that january to the end of that february. and that's when i decided i frankly told them that i had not signed up for financial rape and as it stands right now my only comment is that as i told them i'm willing to go to court because i think there is some fine points of this bill regardless of what anyone says about the balancing act. life is reality and things come in to play. and i think there is some things that congress missed and i think in is some things that the credit card companies were able to get their way about. and i think we need to look at i again. thank you. . .

are there prospects of more court challenges as a result of the action has been taken by congress? guest: i have not heard of a

groundswell of legal challenges for some of these practices. what i have heard more from people who have turned to outside groups, again some of these credit counseling groups, that management groups, and dealing with them and trying to grapple with their debt and the concerns about them. host: what about the other side? any concern that banks and businesses may go to the courts and save the government cannot determine how much we charge. it is out of their feel the responsibility and they wanted taken away. guest: this is something they have accepted. when the regulations began taking effect, they said they were ready for this new day for consumers. we are ready to help them make better financial decisions. they accept this is the new reality. around the interchange fee,

there are currently court battles being fought between peace and mastercard and the retailers. there are still lining. host: next up linda from taxes on our republican line. caller: good morning. i guess want to say that i think that financial bill was totally incorrect. i have been on both sides of the credit issues. at one time, i did not even want to look at my credits for. when this bill went through, i had a very nice credit score with various interest rates. thanks to that financial bill, all of my interest rates went up. one went from 9.9% to 16.5% at a time when only thing i used this

for was paying doctor bills and taxes. the 80% that were not being hit, you did them a disservice by passing them bill. when my interest rates started going up, i just toured canceling cards. it really made it hard considering i had just been diagnosed with cancer and had major hospital bills coming for. host: linda, as you were cancelling these cards, what kind of incentives were the company's giving you to either stay with them or what incentives for you getting from new companies to go and use their credit cards? guest: absolute -- caller: absolutely none. the employees that i talked to would go to a manager, but the

manager would say, "oh, well." i have cancelled 01. it had a variable rate. it is not my favorite card, but i am not totally without one. that is not to say that just recently i got one where if you pay an offer than one year -- pay it off within one year you have 0%. the mix -- the minute than 0% goes into go to 29%. guest: that is a complaint among consumers who are in good standing in terms of their credit. previously under the old system, credit companies charged a low interest-rate if you were a good customer and a high interest rate if you were a bad customer. now that is leveling off. the risk is customers are no longer having the really hi-fis

but the trade-off is that the better customers have to pay a little bit more. thanks to said that as a trade- off that congress is willing to make. host: thomas on our independent line. caller: think you for taking my call. i have a comment on the recent passing of the buildings are really, the only thing really wrong was the time that it went into effect. it should have went into effect as soon as it was signed sow the raising of the high fees on the credit cards would not have happened. also, i have found recently in a few years ago that ended when a transaction -- that at the point of transaction, when you use cards and retailers, i did not know that the retailer was having to pay for the transaction themselves.

they were having to pay for the rewards of those cards. could you explain to me why that has been put on the retailer and cannot possibly the cardholder for the insurer? thank you. guest: that has typically been the way that the system works. the reason is because retailers sort of paid a fee for accepting a visa card, mastercard, or a credit card. now that it has become a significant source of revenue for banks and card issuers. the fees can range. there is a whole schedule of fees that can range from 1% on some transactions to as action as high as 5% on other transactions. this is something they have fought for a very long time. as they see other forms of revenue they become more limited

in their making sure that they keep them. host: there is another part of his statement. is there any reason there was a time period between when the law was signed to when it went into effect? was that to give people a chance to adjust to this? the banking industry would say they need time to comply. they need to reconfigure their risk models. some lawmakers argue they did not need that much time. . host: on our line for democrats, go ahead. caller: think it's for c-span. i have been the one side to the other. you use cash and keep your credit card for just in case. that seems to work out better.

guest: that is something a lot of people are doing. retailers like wal-mart are saying they are seeing more cash payments as people try to balance their budgets host:. -- balance their budgets. caller: i have the evidence. my opinion is that several of these issues -- issuers charge you indiscriminately. they find some other loophole angeles specifically say they cannot do that either. most people with the balance in you can hold them on the phone, it just goes into the washing they do not notice the charges. these people living paycheck to

paycheck, i call-up, i argue, and they take all of these charges back. they bet on the fact that most of these people will not do that. specifically i have one bank has issued me two cards. one is for direct deposit and my paycheck when i get paid. one is for the direct positive when i am not working. some of the charges they put on the one that i directly deposit and i am responsible for the charges. i can do the exact same transactions and they will not put them on because specifically if the $40.90 to card -- if i have $40 on the card, i will charge $20.20 dollars and then

get charged another $3 and then i will have a overdraft fee. they will not to be the second $20 because they do not want to argue the state parks and money. i brought them up to them at chase bank. they did knowledge of the program those two cards differently. i think that is unconscionable. guest: after they disappear from another, one of the consumer advocates is that this is like playing whack a mole. the fees will just come up somewhere else. the banks will say that they are a company and there is nothing wrong with charging for services they provide witches making money. host: if you want to read more

with the financial goings on in the country, you can read it on "the washington post host." if you are at the university of maryland, you can find her teaching there. thank you for being the guest:. thank you. host: 1 become back, a discussion on the use of bronze in u.s. airspace. this is the "washington journal." >> this weekend on c-span2's

"booktv," charles bowden chronicles of mexico. after that, a vietnam veteran that took him 30 years to publish. find the entire weekend schedule at booktv.com. join us on twitter. >> he was a volatile, emotional, very complicated young man. he was very adventurist. he was 25 and having adventure. >> take a new look at alexis de tocqueville. that is sunday on c-span. supreme court justice clarence thomas on the prospect of a new justice.

>> to bring in a family member, it changes the family. it is different. it is different today than what it was when i first got here. i have to admit that you grew very fond of the court. you spend a long time here. >> the confirmation hearings for a landing can start june 28. -- the confirmation hearings for elena kagan the start june 28. these provide any insight about the court. they are available now in the hardcover and also as an e-book. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us is joan lowy. who are opening of u.s. airspace? guest: a permanent homeland

security, department of defense, law enforcement agencies, the coast guard, customs and the border patrol, and manufacturers who want to sell these things to the government. they would like to have permission to do this so they can make a lot of profit. there are researchers come universities that have proposals to gather various types of information. cattle ranchers were like to use them to count their cattle. energy firms want to monitor pipelines. host: it is not just border security, policing, and that kind of thing? guest: the ones out there and now, the few of them, they already have permission and are primarily used for government and law enforcement. host: we were talking during the

break that there are two different categories of aircraft. most of them are referred to as drones. you say there are two different kinds, drones and the other one? explain the differences. guest: drones are like robots. you program them, they go, they fly, they do a specific mission and they come back, land, or whatever you tell them to do. remotely control the aircraft are the other kind. that is mainly what people want to use. remote control the aircraft as a controller on the ground which the cali pilot. they can be thousands of miles away but they essentially fly the aircraft. host: the concerns for those who are opposed are what? guest: safety is a big issue.

there are two primary safety concerns. the first is that the planes will run into another aircraft of their because you do not have a pilot on board looking all- around able to spot and other aircraft. a hot air balloon, a glider, there are a lot of things up there in the sky. the second as communications. they're concerned that something happens and air traffic control, another pilot needs to communicate that there could be a delay between reaching from contacting, or a loss of communication and contacting the ground controller. host: if you are a pilot inside of an actual plane, you do not know if the drone or unmanned vehicle coming towards you is one of the program robots or if

it has someone looking for its television camera and can actually dug away. guest: they can sort of doubt, but there is concern that he does not really have the visual capability of a pilot actually sitting in the cockpit. there is a difference. aerospace, how is all sliced and diced, is very complicated. airliners, cargo jets, often york learjet its have equipment on board -- often your learjets have a warning systems of a plane coming to close. but your little cessna or whatever else up there in unrestricted lower altitude air space, they do not have that sort of thing. there is a concern particularly among private plane owners that

there is a possibility of a collision with some of these aircraft. host: we're talking with the use of drums and unmanned vehicles in u.s. airspace with joan lowy. the numbers are on your screen to get involved in the conversation. you can also send us an e-mail or twitter. you know the addresses. send us an e-mail or a message via twitter. how much testing for discussion is going to be done with regards to allowing drones and unmanned vehicles in u.s. airspace before the faa actually have to make a final decision? guest: there has been discussion

going on for years. they started granting limited access on a case by case basis in 2005. we are talking small numbers. now the requests are really starting to come in and there are still handling there is on the case. his bassist baker particularly the defense department is very frustrated with this -- particularly the defense department is very frustrated with this. there is a lot of pressure from congress, industry, other agencies to speed things up and come up with regulations that will provide a more widespread access. there are working on this. it is going to be a while. they have targeted next year for coming upper with regulations to allow the very small unmanned

aircraft. they can be the size of your fist. they can fly through your window. it can be smaller than a model airplane. they come in all sizes. the can be as big as a small airliner. the very small ones, they're talking about regulations next year. host: our first call comes in salt lake city, utah, on the democrat line. welcome to the program. caller: we have had run at least for the past year flying for in utah. when they go through there is a high frequency vibration. the cause is a severe headache. do you know about that? do these cause health problems? host: whole lot. are you still there? do you know what they are being used for in utah? guecaller: we have military in

the desert and it is probably for homeland security. host: thank you for your call. guest: i am not aware of any health problems associated with drones or unmanned aircraft. however, after i wrote a story that ran on a wire monday, i did get a call from someone up in the boston area who mentioned the same thing. i do not know if that means anything. host: brunswick, maine, on our independent line. jack, go ahead. caller: i have a question. to in the government will be responsible for overseeing what they are using the drums for? will be -- will we leave -- will we be looking out our windows in the interest of nafta -- national security? guest: there are privacy

concerns. i do not think that any of the permissions for the aircraft that are flying so far have generated those kinds of concerns. most of them are being limited in their activities to areas that do not have a lot of air traffic for population. people are raising concerns that in the future when you have some of these other kinds of activities with drones and unmanned aircraft, law enforcement, where do you draw the line? will they have infrared cameras? there are so many useful and possible societal benefits that you can see and people are really excited about them. at the same time, there are all kinds of easily imagine the abuses.

balancing that and protecting against the abuses at the same time you encourage the good uses is the challenge. host: in the past season of the series on fox, "24," they were using grounds to follow the good and bad guys on new york city. they would get information back like the lettering on license plates or what color jacket the person was wearing, shoes, very detailed kind of things. how much of this is based in fact and how much is total fiction? guest: there are some unmanned aircraft that can fly 60,000 feet and had the capability of identifying objects the size of a milk carton from that height. [laughter] you can do a lot with them. host: 1, oklahoma.

go ahead. -- lawton, okla. caller: what i am worried about is the imaging. is any of the cancer causing? does this have anything to do with with the sec tried to open the bandwidth for? that high range of band width does cause cancer. military equipment has never meant to be friendly to whoever it is being used against. it just makes me think of an issue of profiling here. it is not ok for law enforcement, but the military is already doing that. that belongs somewhere else. not here. guest: i understand the privacy concerns. i am not aware of any health concerns with the technology. that does not mean that maybe there are not, but i personally am not aware of that.

there are a lot of things they can be used for that would not be what you think of as military uses. they have used them to spot forest fires when there are just starting said they can target resources. there are tornadoes researchers then went to send them into certain kinds of weather conditions so they can develop a better understanding of what causes tornadoes, how their cause, and so forth. they want to use them to map, geography, so there are all kinds of non-military uses as well. host: birmingham, alabama, on our independent line. caller: good morning. i submit to you that you said

the biggest danger would be other aircraft. that cannot -- the biggest danger is this. there are laws being passed to cause this country -- that are making it illegal for us to film police in their duties and doing their actions. it does not matter how far away from you they are, there are passing laws so we cannot even sell them. people are being thrown in jail for monitoring police actions. you, in your own admission, said these are being used for police enforcement. i submit to you any time a government goes ahead and passes laws that the citizens themselves -- when they are allowed to film us but we cannot

film them, that is not a democracy. it is tyranny. you in promoting these things are a tyrant. host: we will leave it a guest: there. good. -- guest: good. i do not know what to say. host: in your article on monday, you were quoting saying the faa administrator, hank krakowski, told european aviation officials, "we are having constant conversations and discussions, particularly with the departments of defense and homeland security, the figure out how we can do this safely with all different sizes of vehicles." is there anything you have seen or read so far that when the midsize or parameters on the

size of vehicles -- read so far that would limit the size or parameters? guest: in a way, yes. our national airspace system, aviation system, they have regulations developed over 50 years. if you want to fly a plane, the regulations start with the manufacturer, the production, the design, who is qualified to fly them, where you can take off from. there's a tremendous body of regulation for manned aircraft. there are no regulations specific to unmanned aircraft. they're trying to play catch-up. the first call is to do regulations for the very small unmanned aircraft because there is a general feeling that they

present perhaps most challenging safety questions. that does not mean they do not present safety questions. host: when you say small, bigger than a breadbox? guest: it can be the size of a backpack. the faa is working on testing a particular kind of unmanned aircraft that is about 50 pounds. it really varies. there are talking about some that are the size of your fist. host: do they have regulations regarding the remote control aircraft that you can buy at a hobby shop? what is the difference? if you are talking about brown's the size of a backpack, i have seen some of these remote control planes that are the size of a giant condor. guest: someone at the faa told me that they have regulations

for model mayor plans. i did not think so. it does not exactly have regulations that are required in a legal sense. they have long had safety guidance for model airplanes. they do not want them within 50 miles of an airport. they do not want them over a certain altitude. they want to keep them low and away from other air traffic. when you think about it, you do not want a plane running into one of these things because even though they are small in the think it would just smash into bits, not necessarily. plans are traveling very fast. -- planes are traveling very fast. the force is much greater rather than if way they were -- rather than if they were going slower. if these can bring down an

airliner like u.s. airways flight 549 that went into the hudson, there is no reason why a small unmanned aircraft cannot do the same thing. host: back to the phones and a conversation with joan lowy. our next call comes from pennsylvania. i do not think a pronounced the town correctly. caller: that is the way and is. if they can afford to put a drum in the air, they can afford an anti collision device in its whether they are driving eight tooted $50,000 us not for a drawn. they can make these small because we do have a man of industries. that is my point. host: do you have any experience in flying? caller: i spent four yeers in

the navy. i spent a lot of time in the air all over the world. i am not a pilot. guest: their people to agree that there should be certain requirements. maybe they should have [inaudible] i have heard people say that the wait may be too much. i do not think it was so much cost but wait. -- cost but weight. some of the anti-collision equipment can be too heavy. that is a collision avoidance system. if there are two airliners 20,000 feet and they come with them, as ticket is with the -- i think it is within 5 miles, warnings go off right away if they are on a collision course.

they are flying at very high speeds. they can close the distance of a couple miles just like that. host: phoenix, ariz., on our line for republicans. caller: i have a question. i am a city bus driver. they use our videotapes on our buses all the time to litigate accidents. sometimes they had used the video tapes on our buses on the local news depending on what they are reporting. my question to you is when the drum is out there looking for the forest fire, is it possible they will say, while you are out of their, we look -- we are looking for drug activity out there. host: have they ever used videotapes from your boss to prosecute criminal activity there in phoenix? caller: yes. host: really?

guest: right now, whether the aircraft complies depends on what kind of specific operations they have been given. they're dealing with permissions for people who have permission to fly these things on the case by case basis now. almost every application comes very specific restrictions. they cannot fly over a force looking for a forest fire and then decide flying over a house to see if there is illegal activity. they are not supposed to do it. that is not how it works. how this will work in the future is an open question. host: savannah, ga., on our line for independence. caller: a question, well, two questions. first, which administration allows this to happen? how is this possibly

constitutional? host: which administration allows drones to go up? caller: yes. guest: the first started granting permission for the grounds in 2005 so that would have been the previous administration. the rate of applications coming in has increased in recent years. the more success they have had with jones, the military has had with the drones, the greater the demand. the technology is moving forward and people turn -- people are coming out with new designs, proposals for how they can be used. the interest has increased. drums have been around for a long time. -- drones have been around for a long time. equusearch has picked up in the decade. permission to fly in civilian

aerospace, they started granting more general position -- mark general permission in 2005. host: what has been the response by the faa to opening of these guys to grounds? are they supportive of this? r the opposing? guest: a lot of them are frustrated with the faa. they feel members of congress are frustrated with them and there have been complaints. they feel they are moving very slow on this. it sounds like the faa is not anti-unmanned aircraft, but they're being conscious because of the safety issues. host: union, south carolina, on our line for republicans. go ahead. caller: i agree with having the drums. i did not see any problem with

this if you do it right. let them catch you. i am glad they are out there to save a forest fires and things like that. i think that is good. i think they ought to be flying over the border to try and catch people. we have so many illegals over here. if you are doing good and you are not breaking the law, you should have no problem. host: joan lowy says some of these are the size of a backpack or a laptop. if you wake up one morning and you see one flying around your house in union, south carolina, and it has the local police department alone or the air force, or the army. you will not have any questions?

caller: no. guest: there is tremendous enthusiasm in some places about this. some people are demanding that the faa move faster. in taxes, but for a couple years they have been using these along the border in arizona and new mexico. they have not in texas. the governor, rick perry, the two senators and some members of the texas congressional delegation has been raising a real fuss in putting pressure on the fha to go faster. there is a hold on the nominee for the number two spot at the faa by one of the texas senator's because they want these along the texas border with mexico. they want to spot illegal aliens, drug smuggling, whenever.

the faa has given permission for some use along the taxes-mexico border. -- texas-mexico border. there are people lead their demand in them. we wanted the grounds. host: what is the administration's response? what is their position? guest: i have not heard the white house say anything about this. the faa as part of the administration. their response has been that we want to do this and create a way to do it safely. there is a sense that the gentleman from the faa, krakowski, he says he is very excited because this will

revolutionize aviation or be a dramatic a change in aviation as the introduction of jet engines in the 1950 proxy and 1960's. host: next is mike in california on our line for democrats. caller: good morning. i have a few questions. i know that in vietnam they use them. there is, i believe, some umv's. he was pretty instrumental on this. the nuclear safety ministration wanted to use them to monitor nuclear reactive material. i think the big problem is the altitude issues and the lack of control with aircraft apology.

the bigger, longer range elements of this is that it is like google earth using the mapping technologies like. -- like bing. will we are seeing with the google maps where the vehicles are driving around with tons of unintended consequences. these are just vehicles. how do we discern this? how will this be clarified? how many individuals who work in the government now understand what to do with all this? thank you. i will take my questions offline. guest: the caller raises all good questions. those are all on answered questions right now. -- those are all unanswered

questions right now. we are waiting for the faa, but i do not know if they can answer privacy concerns. someone else is going to have to deal with that part. the head of challenges just dealing with the safety question. host: would congress be able to write legislation to limit the as are set up guidelines as to where they can be used and what they can be used for? guest: that is awfully technical for congress. what they are doing right now, that is best left to the technical expertise over at the faa. what they're doing in the congress is the have legislation to push the faa saying that you have a plan to integrate these with specific mileposts and dates where things will happen.

there is an faa reauthorization bill moving through congress renown then deals with their budget and future planning -- moving through congress right now that deals with their budget. the house would say, ok you have until 2013 to, but the plan. host: what is the house went to come up with the plan? guest: i think they want the faa to have more time. they throw in a caveat saying, "secretary of transportation, if they can do that sooner make them." host: go ahead. caller: the military has a strategic plan and specific purpose for drums. as far as morals and ethics are

concerned, if the general public were to get ahold of these drones, there has to be controls with something like this. i would agree that maybe that is what the faa is mostly concerned with. i think that is about it. guest: you raise an interesting question. i had not thought about it, but we have a lot of companies out there making a new and different types of drones in all kinds of sizes with all kinds of different capabilities. who is to say that only people with positive and as it will be the ones who have the user control of them. host: you say the ntsb and held a forum on safety concerns about unmanned aircraft after one

crashed in arizona. they had inadvertently cut off the plane's field. tell us more about this action. was anyone hurt? guest: no one was hurt. it happened in a very remote, and populated area of arizona. it just crashed. host: what was this being used for? guest: at that time, i think it was more experimental looking towards use for the border patrol. the firm started granting permission in arizona back in 2005. it was one of the first cases of trying to use them along the border. what you have is people who pilot these things that can become distracted is like a pilot in the cockpit can become distracted. ground control can become

distracted, make an error. in this case, they cut off the fuel to the aircraft. host: were their repercussions? guest: people think, wow, we need safety possibilities because of one crashes in a war zone you do not want that to happen. you do not want to lose the aircraft. you excepted there are a certain amount of risks, but you do not want that to happen in a pivilian area. that is a question with safety issues. on host: this the ntsb plan on having any more forums to look at the as of pilotless aircraft -- to look at pilotless aircraft?

guest: if there are more accidents, the ntsb will investigate. i do not think they have anything scheduled right now in terms of forums. when the issues is also the qualifications of the people who control the aircraft. they are going to be called the pilots. there is a move to give them the same kind of respect, education, training, and trust that you give a pilot in the cockpit. some of the aeronautical schools, and brittle -- embry riddle, are beginning to offer courses for pilots. by the way, there is a lot of

feeling around for the right terminology and how to describe these formerly controlled vehicles. they used to call them unmanned aerial vehicles. the term lately has been unmanned aircraft systems because they wanted to convey that it is not just a plain in the sky but it is also a controller, the apparatus. some people want to use uninhabited. the person on the high ground is a human. there's a lot of dealing. host: back to the funds. wilson, n.c., on our line for independents. caller: i think the browns will do good over the ocean. up -- i think the drones will do good over the ocean. i do not believe in them being over the cities. there is a safety issue with

that. i have a suggestion for c-span. please listen to me. i think you should have a show on how to plug that oil leak. have callers called in and pick his brain. i think c-span has a very small audience -- a very smart audience, so it seems maybe we could come up with something. the last thing i might say, which is the most important, please do not cut me off. i have a suggestion i put into bp over a month and a half ago and i never got a response. if we would announce an umbrella of plug on the end of a snake and lay it down the compression type all the way down to a well reservoir and open it up and back it out, the pressure of the well will push that right up against that wall. that would fill it. we have the --

it is only 11,000 pounds of pressure down there. you do not have to have a real big plug to hold the pressure back. then, after that we cement it and seal it for good. i think it would be a very good idea if you had a show on that and then people would know what we need to do and you would have the minds of all the people who listen and watches c-span to call in asking the sky questions. host: we will leave it there. joe on our line for repuulicans out of spring city, pennsylvania. caller: i live within 10 miles of the nuclear power plant in leverage. i think the brown is an ideal -- i think the drone is an ideal thing to monitor it. if there is any kind of problem,

i think it is an excellent idea. it is a wave of the future. probably 50 years from now we will see a lot of on manned aircraft, bigger and better. thank you. guest: they say that drums for unmanned aircraft are good for just about anything that is a dirty, dangerous, doll -- dull where you might not want to use a person. they are often cheaper to purchase the than a manned aircraft. there are a lot of advantages. host: has the military raid in on the use of bronze in u.s. airspace? had they waited in -- weighed in? guest: there pushing the faa.

they had a big meeting with the faa one year ago to try and push them to go faster. the wood to create new rules and have a plan to let them use them in civilian air space. they already contest them in restricted airspace. a lot of places around the country over military facilities have restricted air space. civilian aircraft cannot fly there. the military is free to do with the one. they can test these as much and use them as much as possible. that apparently wants more areas to do this than that. host: in california, richard on our line for democrats. caller: thank you for c-span. i am a first-time caller. i notice to have been talking

about the smaller size drones, printer and a smaller. out here we have the global hot. would your guest like to talk about that, please? guest: i wish i could. i am aware of the global hot, i've -- global hawk, but i do not know a lot about it. caller: i am a civilian. i do not know a lot about them. we have a base out here. they also operate them overseas. i am wondering how they get them if they do not fly them over u.s. airspace. guest: it is an interesting question. i assume they have to, but maybe not. maybe they transport them by ground. i honestly do not know much about the defense use of these aircraft because i do not cover defense issues. i cover civil aviation.

mostly i am writing about airliners, small planes and things like that. i am just beginning to write about unmanned aircraft because it is just beginning to become an issue. host: richard, thank you for calling. speaking of civilians, has anyone spoken to capt. sullenberger? guest: i have not seen him quoted on this. it is interesting that this is coming up now. there has been so much discussion since the crash of the continental express 3407, the regional airliner where 50 people were killed about the role of pilots and how the pilots in profession is

diminishing in terms of being an attractive career for people because they are getting paid less, they are being worked really hard, life is just getting more and more difficult. airlines are cutting corners. now, at the same time, you are having this growth of unmanned aircraft. nobody is suggesting, and most people think they will never come where you have people using unmanned aircraft in transportation. there is a feeling that most people will never be really comfortable unless there is a pilot in the cockpit. host: from park ridge, ill., on our line for republicans. caller: think you for taking my call. i agree with some of the points. there are many things going on with airspace redesign and the

next generation involving the management of aircraft within our great space. being a retired law enforcement and former military, i have already made this suggestion to our delegation that drones would help with enforcement. just this morning, there is a sheriff in mexico that was in an area that approximately 60 miles north of the border is now going to be allowed to run free. he told his officers to stay out of the region. are we slowly but surely giving up our borders here to the illegals who are crossing 1000 of them per night? we need browns. we need inspection, enforcement. if that will get the fear of them, that is fine by me. thank you for taking my call. host: joan lowy?

guest: there are some of possibilities. one report i saw said that the dhahran patrols and -- the drone patrols were not having a higher rate of spotting than the manned aircraft patrols. we have yet -- i do not know if we have done this enough yet to say it really helps more. that was not my impression from the report. the report is a couple of years old and technology and learning about using these has improved. host: let's take this last call from okeechobee, fla.. caller: i have two things. someone mentioned google earth. what aboutel