recession has affected the african-american community. he will discuss last year's oil spill in the gulf of mexico. a look at the pentagon budget after that. ♪ host: one year ago today, a pulp -- an oil rig in the gulf of mexico exploded, killing 11 workers and spilling 5 million barrels of oil into the gulf. this is the image that american's offer more than 80 days. the company estimates they will spend at least $13 billion on cleanup. bp has played out $4 billion to individuals and businesses so far.

its cash flow last year, 30 billion. criminal charges brought by the justice of farming, -- just as the bargain, zero. criminal cases, the -- civil cases, one. one year later on the gulf of mexico oil spill. putting up the lines, gulf coast residents first. we want to know if things are back to normal, what you think of those. the laws enacted or the lack thereof, permits, drilling, we want to hear from all of you. let me show you how this story plays out in the gulf coast newspapers. here is the "louisiana advocate."

here is the "montgomery advertiser." i hope for a better summer. 33% is the percentage of safe travel dollars. 193 pages in the ps report explaining who was responsible for the disaster. $2.6 million -- 2.6 million gallons of oil estimated to leak into the gold per day. one year later, a delicate healing. we want to hear from you all. bob is a democrat. what you think about the gulf coast oil spill? caller: some people might accuse me of what i'm about to say to be a typical new york northers

-- northeasterner. or maybe not. maybe some southerners are westerners will agree. government controls regulation. there will be a lot of people out there saying, we do not need more regulation. it is a drag on the economy and the government ought to get out of the way. but look at the pictures you are showing now. the disaster. that is what you get when you have a lack, a lapse in regulation and a lapse in oversight. campaign contributions of the root of all people, whether the oil industry or wall street. as a democrat, i would become my two-party member if they took on the cause of corporate campaign contributions which is

running our economy, and we have to get the money out of politics. host: barry, a democrat. caller: i really am serious as to why our government continues to allow bp to pump oil when it is my understanding that they orchestrated the release of the terrorist that blew up the plane, that killed 249 people, 100 of which were american citizen, yet they released this terrorist to pump oil from syria. our government continues to allow us to pump oil in this country. it seems unpatriotic to me. host: robert is an independent in clayton, ga.. caller: i watched 04 the journal came on. they had a show with bromwich on theire.

he talked about what they were doing. it sounded like lip service to me. and this is abysmal what is happening. like you said, no one has been brought to justice on this. it is the worst disaster that one can imagine and to add insult to injury, what is going on in libya right now, it is terrible. host: for our viewers who are now watching, this morning let me show you what michael bromwich, the director for the bureau of ocean energy management regulation and enforcement on future drilling procedures. he was at an event in washington yesterday. >> unlike year ago, when we watched in agony as bp tried to improvise a response to the macondo well, they must have the ability to shut down the blowout and capture oil flowing from a wild well. that is a huge advance.

host: the gulf of oil -- the bulk of mexico oil spill one year later. gulf coast residents dial in the first number. all others, called the second number. we would really like to hear from you. gulf coast residents, what is a white today. as the oil on the speeches, are things that to normal and not? we would like to hear from you. a reporter with the associated press joins us. let me begin with the ap story out of new orleans, put out yesterday. taking a look at the situation one year later. in the story, the report is that the government tuesday opened the last of the waters closed after the massive spill. what is the update on this? guest: there has been the reopening of federal waters for some time over the last six to nine months.

they have been opening areas for fishing as they become convinced that there is no more oil there or at least no more oil that is going to harm the fish and allow for fishing to continue. this was the next logical step in their eyes. host: what is the impact of this on the economy and overall to opening up these waters over the last year, since it has still stop? guest: fishermen had been hit hard and they are still suffering because the cat is not as pliable as it should be. that -- to catch is not as plentiful as it should be. in some cases, especially distributors and other parts of the country, there might be a perception that goal seafood is not safe. everyone across the border -- across the government says that it is safe and yet there is the

perception that it is not. that is spelling trouble for people along the gulf even a year later. host: restaurants outside this area are not purchasing and seafood. guest: restaurants supplied by distributors in this area but not in this area, in some cases they are not purchasing it or not enough. that is something that has been hurting the seafood industry in the gulf for several months. host: what about lawsuits? we talked about that at the top this morning. giving the numbers, 350 lawsuits filed. the justice department is not doing criminal charges yet. what is the update on that? guest: those suits are all consolidated in a one batch in federal court here in new orleans. it is still running through the system. there will be a trial in 2012

and the purpose is to determine who is liable and what percentage of liability each company held. today is a deadline for people to tell the court that they want to be part of that trial, as far as transocean is concerned. transocean is seeking to limit its liability. bp waived the cap, which was $75 million. it is passed it long ago so that is moot. transocean is seeking to limited and there is going to be a tron a share. host: transocean is a company that owned the rig. guest: there were leasing it to bp. -- that gulf's states, there were some indication yesterday relative to florida, i am not sure what happened there, but there are as

you said more than 300 lawsuits filed by everyone from fisherman to the tourism industry, to hotel owners and so on. host: what about the numerous investigations done by commissions here in washington, and universities investigating this -- what has -- from what they down, how will the findings impact this lawsuit? guest: there have been several investigations that reached a conclusion. there was the presidential commission that was appointed by obama and shared by former -- chaired by former senate term if cramm -- senator gramm. obviously their problems for bp, but that all that the industry as a whole or systemic failure.

the management decisions and decisions with regard to drilling and capping this well, plugging this well. at the time that the gas came up and caused the explosion, there was also an investigation still ongoing involving the u.s. coast guard and the bureau of ocean management channel. they held several rounds of hearings and they have not announced any conclusions yet but they have been particularly focused on the safety cultures within the oil and gas industry. they have been technically focused on the blowout preventers that failed to prevent oil from going up into the sea. and the firm hired by the government to test that the vice determined -- that device

determined that there was a design flaw that caused it not to work as it was intended. there has been concerns that they might need to overhaul blowout preventers everywhere. they certainly have not made any announcements about any plans to do that. in fact, the maker of the blowout preventer that failed in the deepwater horizon case has defended the integrity of its blowout preventers at the federal hearings recently. host: how much does bp expects to spend overall on claims, on lawsuits, on cleanup efforts? guest: they've estimated total liability, they set aside $20 billion for this claims fund, it is only paid out $3.8 billion so far. they spent close to $20 billion already on cleanup costs.

damages and so forth, payments to the communities and everyone else, and of course, there are fines and penalties that they may still face from the federal government. that number could balloon even higher. it is really uncertain now exactly how much is going to be. they are hoping to get some of the other companies involved to pitch in. there is going to be a lot of legal fights surrounding that. it is something that will be determined at least in part during that trial next year. host: and profits for the company? did they have enough to cover these expenses? guest: they do, and a year later, they seem to be prospering in some respects again. the quarterly profit in february, more than $5 billion, and when oil prices rise as they have been for across america for several months, that benefits

the oil industry. the in charge more for their oil. gasoline goes up, so that increases their profits. that is certainly good for them. they have started to give dividends again to shareholders. they are exploring for new resources and various parts of the world, from the arctic and india. they are getting back to business as usual. they have not abandoned the gulf but the number of response workers is down significantly. it was 48,000 at the height. it is about 2000 at the end of march. things are certainly moving on. host: to they have permits to drill now in the gulf? guest: they applied for one and the last we heard it had not been approved yet. they have applied for others, and already the largest leaseholder of any competitor in the gulf, they are a big player.

they intend to stay in the gulf. host: harry weber, president obama put out a statement on the gulf coast bill. he noted that there were nearly 2000 responders actively working in the gulf to aid the ongoing recovery effort. can you speak to that? is there oil still coming up on the beaches and in the marshes? guest: there is definitely oil. the number of parts along coastal louisiana and other areas, of the gulf, it continues to wash up. it continues to damage marshes, and other areas around the fragile coastline. there are many people within state and local government to continue to be very concerned. some believe that the cleanup needs to be more aggressive. the actual recovery needs to be more aggressive. bp says it is doing all that it

can, and we will just have to see what happens. but certainly there are plenty of people that are not happy. host: harry weber with the associated press, thank you for your time. as the to a gulf coast resident. welcome to the conversation. caller: thank you for having me. i would like to say that the $20 billion into this fund and there is only $3 billion out here. [unintelligible] have tried to take care of those people's property. people did not break their property because the rent was down. a couple of things like to say there is oil that comes up on the beach. i have stepped on and and that stains you. people do not understand. i've never seen how it stains you. they do not want to tell anybody

because they want to keep people coming here. host: 10, are people still coming? are there tours there? guest: [unintelligible] tim, we're having a hard time hearing you. we're moving on to marcel. caller: america may not be the best by the numbers right now but it is definitely the best place. go, america. as far as the gulf coast oil spill goes, i spend -- i live in st. petersburg florida. it's not close to the accident. but there is very much oil on the beaches here. the tourism that happened, part of this is the bp restoration money and it is harder for those

who have worked for satellite operators to get that kind of money. they seem to have had a buffer. if they do not have people right now, they have a chat paying for that. host: sorry about that. i think we lost you. caller: good morning. i just have a question that everyone in america should ask. their government and their companies. during coverage of this oil spill, at the end we heard there were 10,000 wells capped. i want to know, who owns these wells and why are they cap? they could bring the price down as gasoline. this is ridiculous. host: scottsdale, ariz., a republican. what are your thoughts? caller: i am with that guy that

spoke just before me. yes, if we are bankrupt, i don't think it will matter how bad the environment is. we have to start drilling. we have to start building. we have to start cutting down trees and building houses, and we have to keep producing. if we go bankrupt, it does not matter. it will be the worst disaster that makes this bill look like nothing compared to a bankrupt united states. i think we better start drilling and we better uncap those wells. host: richard, a gulf coast resident in gulfport, mississippi. what is it like? caller: it is getting better. but the truth is, when bp gave $20 billion to the government fund and put fine gold in charge, that was pretty much the in for residents down here. host: why is that? caller: once you got it tied up with him, he gets to make the

decision. he is getting like $700,000 out of this every year. or maybe more, i do not know what he is making but he is making a ton. and the people down here, i drive a taxi. i hauled all the people off the research vessels out of port here. and those people told me that there is a two-inch thick slick of oil on the floor of the gulf of mexico that extends 4 miles. foresters are wiped out, seafood is virtually wiped up. tourism is finally coming back a little. but people here realize that if you have connections, and you've got money from bp. but if you did not, if you are just a peon working out here in the tourist industry, you're screwed. they do not care. host: you are referring to can fineberg, the administrator. what are you hearing. did you file a claim to get

money? or do you know people who have? what are they saying about the process? caller: i filed a claim last july. i received about three trees worth the paper telling me that they are still working on my case. some people here got money quick because they have connections. and other people here to document their losses just like i can have that paper work telling us they are still working on our claim. host: and what exactly was your claim? caller: i lost four months. i drive a taxi, i work the airport, i mainly work the tourist section. and that virtually shut it down. it virtually shut it down. this is how dumb double less host: before the oil spill, how much did you make in a day?

caller: of around $300 a day. now $120 a day. and that is on a good day. more than up 50% loss. host: more from president obama statement this morning. he says that we continue to hold bp and others accountable for the damage they have done in the painful losses they have cause. we're monitoring seafood to ensure its continued safety and implementing aggressive new reforms. we need to expand development of our own renewal -- our own energy resources. alabama, go ahead. caller: how are you this morning? i this a lot in the gulf of mexico. -- five fish a lot in the gulf of mexico. at least once a month. the gulf oil spill shut down the fishing, but would not let us go out of the passer anything.

then they would open it up and then close the day down because you could see oil. paul whole thing is, my question is, why are we not drilling on land where if we had a blowout, it could be contained, and why have we pushed oil companies so far off shore to be able to drill? this was an accident. they should be -- there should be safeguards to keep it from happening again. but we definitely need to get these permits issued so that we can have our own oil. host: "national journal" crunch the numbers on the impact on the oil and gas industry in the gulf coast area. in 2009, --

that is according to the "national journal." long island, new york, anthony, a democratic column. what do you think one year later? caller: tomorrow is earth day. and once again we have another catastrophe delivered by industry to us. the nuclear industry in japan. no amount of oil could never be cleaned up. the industry constantly promises that these types of accidents do not happen. they have safeguards just like in japan. once again industry has delivered another blow to the

environment. no amount of money could ever give back what they have taken away, and destroyed where you eat is so devastating to human kind as well as wildlife to do not have a say in this whatsoever. host: let me jump in and get your response to this story. more than three dozen scientists grade the gulf's big picture held a 68 on average. what is remarkable as it -- that is the few points below 71 they gave last summer before this bill. and it is improvement from the 65 given back in october. it is almost back to the point to the grade that scientist david before this bill. caller: but you can never trust these people. they always have a financial interest. more important, last year's c- span at the studentcam winners were they advocated for nuclear

energy. they said house that it was. remember those three girls? i wish you would have them back on the show and have them say what they think now about the safety of nuclear power. what is going on in japan is going to devastate the ocean, it really is. and there is nothing you can do to stop it because of where it is located, on an island. and alas c-span, anytime you haven't guessed that advocates for nuclear energy, please ask how come they cannot store the waste below the water table in yucca mountain. if it is not safe there, why can you save it -- stored other places? host: you might be interested in watching that studentcam documentary. going to c-span.org, you can find the studentcam link there. also know our website, the link to our video library where you can find the hours and hours of

coverage that we did here on this network of the gulf coast oil spill. the investigations, the commission hearings, the hearings on capitol hill as well. democrat, rockville, md., what are your thoughts? caller: good morning. good morning to you and good morning to your listeners. and the united states of america and the western hemisphere. my report, i respect science. however, no scientific findings can absolute measure in any way the residual effects of this catastrophic at the system destruction. it is beyond our reach. no politician, and the president, no governor, they give as propaganda upon propaganda. the chemical disaster that it has harbored will take many years to clean up.

and i tell you, we will keep on tearing this environment down to where you will not be able to get a drink of water at the tap. you have to realize, you spilled oil, not milk. that is not chocolate milk. that is oil, something beyond the measure of the fecosystem. host: these images were from one years ago where the oil rig exploded in the gulf of mexico and the oil spill for more than 80 days. we're talking about that. the ceo of bp price in today's "wall street journal," the lessons of deepwater horizon. where do we stand with regard to our commitments? we are paying claims. bp said aside $20 billion to compensate. so far more than 5 billion claims and payments have been

paid out. in cooperation with federal and state government scientists, we are conducting a thorough assessment of the environmental impact. he goes on to write this, the global demand for energy will rise. nearly 40% by 2013, roughly twice the energy consumption of the entire u.s. 7% are coming from deep water, something that will rise to 10% by the end of this decade. we need more effective equipment and the capability to deal with a blowout in the deep water.

new orleans, gloria, good morning. caller: i'm just calling to say that as far as working offshore as i did for 25 years, it was probably the only job that pays you good wages. as far as the permit thing goes, the majority of oil companies still have permits that they do not use. they just do not use them. most of the people in the gulf coast did the claims and filled it out. it was a simple thing, tw of pages. -- two pages. they were going foreclosure. as long as you agreed to take 20,000, you pretty much got paid. as far as the oil on the floor, it is still there. there is still oil out there. host: here is the "washington post." how to handle all those trillions of dollars.

china has trillions of dollars in reserve. the situation has become unmanageable. lock up mineral rights around the world? spending on imports? sock it away under a mattress and let the pile keep growing? that is the question for china. here is the "wall street journal." china is accelerating efforts to push the currency into the world market. its currency is at the center. more on the economy. obama, is the deficit deal. he will continue today to california for two days. facebook, a town hall meeting, he will meet with employees there to talk about his plan for the debt. also a pullout this morning saying that there is little

backing for debt rimini's. there is widespread public reluctance to slash medicare, medicaid, and military spending to deal with a growing national debt. and then also this morning, a story on that sec decision that we talked about yesterday here on the "washington journal." the treasury department is trying to persuade the sec not to downgrade u.s. debt from stable to negative. that is in the "washington post." and editorial on the s&p alarm. they said that given the debt performance, we say let 1000 fire bell rings. the pending need to raise the federal debt limit. they go on to write that the debt limit vote should include some sort of long-term agreement on spending. that is the "washington post"

editorial this morning. louisiana, a gulf coast resident. what you think about this bill one year later? what has your life been like? david, are you with us? go ahead. caller: the gulf this polluted still. what really upsets me, they had the dragging in skimming for oil where there was no oil. all day long, on my lawn. -- on my long. the word dropping hazardous disbursements were they told the not too. the hazardous disbursements, why did they use those? because there -- because it was for reed, and you had the by the

ones that were non-hazardous. it helped them have made richard quarterly profit. they have run the world. host: will go to eddington, n.c., john, an independent college. caller: you had a caller that said we ought to cut more trees and build more houses. i think we are addicted to natural disasters and man-made disasters. we have plenty of oil. all we have to do is use what we have now. as forest trees go, i have been in construction all my life. my relatives are on one of the biggest lumber companies in the world. with alternatives that. we have steel and iron. we have alternatives to all this. let's stop destroying this planet. host: more negative news for the faa. an aircraft aborted landing with

michelle obama. it came too close to a military transport plane. it was aborted still abort -- was ordered to abort its landing. it was returning when the boeing 737 jet they were in came within 3 miles of a boeing c-17. it was lining up to land at andrews air force base. because the wings had severe turbulence, others are required to state 5 miles away. there were too close then rules allow and they were opening an investigation for the national transport safety board is also examining the incident but has not decided to open a formal investigation. the first lady's jet was nearing andrews outside d.c. use by the president and his family. it was directed to get too close to that military jet. a second controller saw the plans were too close and ordered

the 737 to climb instead of land. it was an error by controllers and reduce the margin of safety, it did not appear to put fighter aircraft in imminent danger. in los angeles, a democrat. one year later, the gulf coast oil spill. caller: the optical pistol polluted and they're trying to get president obama to give -- get bp to drill more and more. as soon as another oil spill happens, the first thing the republicans are going to say is that, well, it was not for president obama, the permit to drill, we would have another was there. they're trying to get things to blame on president obama. and he stopped them from drilling because there was an oil spill. host: we're listening. i think we are losing you, james.

a democrat, you're next. and we lost joe as well. here is more in the papers. the situation in the gulf coast one year later. "usa today" says that there are not enough rental reservations. it is down at least 25% compared to last year. and then also here is the "wall street journal" this morning with their story. this is the story yesterday, halliburton emerges from cult disaster unscathed. that is the headline -- cult disaster unscathed. that is the headline from the "wall street journal." another newspaper, it is down 13% from 2010. the drilling suspension along with the new, slower permitting process will result in a loss of about 375,000 barrels of oil a day during that is roughly equivalent to one-third of the

production in libya that remain shut down because of political turmoil there. it goes on to say that bp production stands at 300,000 barrels, the equivalent down from more than 400,000 before the spill. chevron corp. produced 260,000 barrels of oil and natural gas a day from the cult and 2010. lisbon, ohio, richard, an independent. good morning. caller: i like to present a couple of images here. i saw a picture of the pelican, i've seen it a thousand days. drenched in oil right on the beach? you can only see one of its size.

i studied that idea the day and i saw the fear and confusion. i have never seen so much in any eye in my life. here's another thing to envisioned. the day tony hayward when on television and made the statement that he would like to have his life back. well, let me tell you something, mr. hayward. if god came to me right now and said i will fix that england -- i am sorry, pelican. all cleanup will up and put him in a safe place and he will live a long and happy life with his bride, but in order to do that, i will have to take mr. hayward out. this is directed to you. that pelican had so much intrinsic value to this planet than you do. you were so far beneath that one pelican that i would actually allowed god at my command, and my decision to why you off the face of this planet just to get

the oil off of one pelican. host: that is richard from lisbon, ohio. back to the "wall street journal." offshore regulators said only add four new inspectors in the years since the deepwater horizon explosion. it raises concern about federal oversight. 15 an hour responsible for more than 3500 -- 60 inspectors are now responsible for more than 3500 drilling rigs. also in today's open " washington post," the federal page, a question and answer with thad allen, the commandant of the coast guard and the man in charge of the gulf coast oil

spill, the cleanup and the efforts there. he is interviewed in this piece. he is now one of several organizations and teaches at george washington university. cape cod, i then, democrat. morning. caller: one thing i have learned from c-span this month they really shocked me was that japan, their use of energy is 90% efficient, and in america, do you know what our rate is? 36%. can you imagine how in the desert and you had a leak in your water supply and you're letting 64% just go into the sand and do not fix that? these oil companies are so evil. they are the enemy of america. they are the enemy of humanity. and all the politicians here are bought and paid for. we need a constitutional amendment that will make all

political contributions of any type illegal, completely. can you imagine no more raising money from politicians? they cannot even use their own money. we need a different system. the oil companies are the enemy, and the idea that a country like ours is wasting 64% of its energy, that is the real issue, not this drill, baby, drill nonsense. host: an update on the situation in libya. the "financial times" says that we can fulfill our mission without nato help. that is the financial times reported on the situation in libya. also, the washington post. the british to in clause libyan rebels. -- to advise it libyan rebels. as nato and its allies struggle to break the stalemate with that

directly joining the fight on the ground. the british decision -- also, on the military, front page, or plans call away from afghanistan. no u.s. general has spent more time in afghanistan and david rodriguez. the story says that he will not be leading the war in afghanistan. that is the "washington post" front-page story. more on libya, the "washington times."

libyan rebels will receive $25 million from the united states. it is providing that in nonlethal aid. one more phone call here this morning about the gulf of mexico oil spill one year later. this go to michael who lives down there in pensacola. go ahead. caller: i just want to say, this whole incident serves as the perfect example from washington to take notice of the dire need of government regulations for these powerful companies in these types of businesses. this would not have happened in norway are other countries do to their more concern for the environment. this is all halliburton problem. people like dick cheney and their cronies, they spent -- a set all of this kind of thing up, they delight -- they delayed true progress for profit -- they

delayed true progress for profit. they are getting less and less regulation put on them and they lobby for this constantly. meanwhile, the country is just being destroyed, environmentally. host: that was michael. we will pick up this conversation again here of around 8:15 a.m. eastern time. we're talking to two members of congress from the gulf coast region. we will continue to take your phone calls again. if you are interested in the commission hearings and investigations done on the gulf coast owes go, go to our website, c-span.org, and our video library. there is a link in the upper right-hand corner. you can go to that and view many of the thousands of hours that we did here on c-span covering that. we will continue the conversation a little bit later. coming up next, benjamin jealous, president and ceo of the naacp.

we will be right back. ♪ ♪ >> this weekend on c-span2, and a covered a fair, of accounting of paul and julia child's career in world war ii. a fresh look at the legend of america's first president and the bond -- debunks several

myths. alike, beginning with the arrival of missionaries. find a complete schedule and get our schedule e-mailed to you. >> today the ipod it mini is no more. no! i don't take it away? i give you the ipod nano. >> in his monologue, but mike daisey comments on the world debt -- as he sees it. his latest evolves apple and america's love of technology. >> all my monologues, obsessions. they are in collusion with one another. >> find out more sunday night on c-span. you can also download padcosts.

it is one of our many signature interview programs available on c-span.org/podcast. >> c-span is congressional directory. inside, new and returning house and senate members, with contact information, including twitter addresses, district maps, and committee assignments. information on the white house, supreme court justices, and governors. order online at c-span.org/shop. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we want to welcome back to the wbc," benjamin jealous, president of the naacp. let's start with the unemployment rate for the black community. we have seen that number dropped overall: 9%, but it has not dropped that much for the african-american community. guest: we are stuck in this

country right now. we have a whole bunch of folks who frankly need the same thing that we did in the great depression to get out of that great recession. we need to be focused on creating jobs. right now the debate in congress has been how to spend less money. you can look over to the u.k. to see what happens. in the midst of a recession coming you try to fix things by spending less. you end up with much lower consumer demand and much lower job generation. " we need for congress to be focused on, job creation, go back and look at what we did in the great depression to get out of the great recession. one thing that happens in times like this, the discrimination goes up. q c people attract around the family and social network. the people that they know good jobs first. people outside that have a much harder time.

and as the economy starts to get slightly better, more and more people stop -- who had stopped looking for work start for you have a push and pull their. the poll is going back, and then what pushes it up is that people they were not counted, not searching, because they had given up and now they are starting to push back in. host: you and other african- american leaders met with the president a year ago urging him to specifically address the unemployment issue for minorities, poor communities. at that point may come in the unemployment rate was 16.5%. to a if you look at the most recent statistics, not much of a difference. hispanic or latino, 11.3%.

what grade would you give president obama on tackling the issue that you urged him to do one year ago? guest: this congress, we would give a very low grade. if you look at first term, the first congress that he worked with, every major push was about jobs. health care was about jobs and job quality. dealing with the financial crisis was about jobs. dealing with the huge stimulus that he was able to push through was about jobs. dealing with issues of discrimination and exclusion, and one of the things we talked about was the need to have a need for every federally funded job -- right now when you bought into a federally funded job center, if you will see up to 30% of the jobs they are hiring for in your area. 7% are invisible to you because

they are done by contractors not required to post. in a country where it is possible for some much of our federal money to be spent in a way, it is so non transparent, it locks up communities like cars. that is something he can fix directly. host: he has not done it so far. guest: the regulation has been proposed and it will be done by this summer. but this problem has existed at least for my entire lifetime as the federal government shift more to contractors from federal workers. and it has never been solved. it is finally being solved. you see him posted a big stimulus, you see him push through health care, you see a big push to make sure that small business people the best minority small business can do the same contras.

but the congress is trying to push the same mistakes that the u.k. may. they're going back and say that we have been through this once before, how did we get out of it? instead, they are saying, let's use this economist playbook that wherever it has been used, it has become a nightmare, and that is the problem, congress. host: what about the president? what is his grade? guest: it is hard for me to separate the two. " we need is a massive investment in jobs and you do not get that without the president. his leadership with this congress is not good. host: so a low-grade for both. guest: certainly of low grade for the country as a whole. what is going to take to get us out of this recession is for the country to spend more. congress will have to make the

first move. host: when you look at those in -- unemployment numbers for the african-american community, does that translate into lower enthusiasm for the president when it comes to his reelection in 2012? guest: people and our community know that we're not dealing with a three-year depression. we're dealing with the 40 year depression. every president in my lifetime has come and gone out what that situation. finally we have a president that seems to get it and has been pushing congress. and you see a lot more from the governors, too. one of the big concerns with the whole stimulus was that we had mayor's in mississippi, rowe used to be the managing editor of the main black newspaper, saying, do not send it to the governor. senate to us and we would get it to the people. barbour took money that was

meant for katrina to rebuild his porch. of all the leaders that i've met with, the governors, the heads of congress, the president himself, he is the one that gets it the most. host: you mention a regulation that will be put into effect and then -- guest: it will be put into place this summer. it will ensure that all veterans in this country can see all federal funded jobs. it is the effect of having that all people can see all federally funded jobs. for which folks are currently hiring in the area. right now, if you are a taxpayer in your down in your luck and you go into a taxpayer-funded jobs center annually c of the 30% of the taxpayer-funded jobs, -- and you only see 30% of

the taxpayer-funded jobs, it is outrageous. that they would only say that much that their test. dollars are funding in their area. host: this is a regulation that the administration will put into effect. what else are you hearing that they plan to do over the next year for minorities and poor communities? guest: a big push right now to expand access for small business people, a real focus of small people -- small business people of color to get better contracts. that is huge. there is a lot of frustration with congress over this budget. there is a lot of frustration with the state's right now. there is an assault on what the people have right now.

unfortunately, we're being forced to play defense. the reality is that we need a different conversation in this country that comes down to groups like ours getting people to raise their voices and say, it is not enough for us in a recession to play defense. we need to play offense. we need to create jobs and go back to those values that got us out of the great depression and use them to get us out of the great recession. host: a republican in queens, new york. you're on the air with benjamin jealous. caller: a quick comment and then a question. every person hearing my voice right now has a family member in prison. what is the naacp doing about this very great problem in our community? and also, going back a century now, over 100 years, malcolm x and martin luther king have all been condemned by the

organization of the naacp. allied to take -- would you like to take the opportunity to set the record straight on the way that the naacp dealt with these great men who helped us with black pride and pride in africa? host: he is not there. guest: right now in this country, a black person is five times more likely to be in prison than in south africa at the height of apartheid. not only has our country taken over their former glory as the r.rld's largest incarcerate h we take it to a entirely different level. it is bankrupting our country. we have a report called misplaced priorities that shows

how it is choking public universities and the stabilizing families in america. it is something that we have to be concerned about because it is not making a safer. we actually got grover norquist to stand up with us with a passionate statement from newt gingrich to join us. these policies have failed us miserably. they are wasting a whole bunch of money. our country needs to do something different. we evening that the head of a large -- the largest prison unit in the country to stand up with us and say not only that, but we need to take the money we are wasting and give it to our public universities. in california when i was a kid, they spent 11% on public universities. now it is 11% on prisons and 7.5% on public universities. that is a huge turnaround. they used to be the best universities in the world. it is no longer the case. they are squandering money

trying to solve social problems with prison. there ways to do it that are more humane. with regards to the great leader, you can look back at the record of the naacp. we have always been supportive and involved. what did they argue about? they argue about whether blacks should stay in this country are laid. we are unapologetic about saying that blacks ought to be a part of this country. i have family on both sides. we have been here, and we will stay in this country. and will stay in the country. if you look at malcolm x at the end of his life when he was assassinated and assassinated by members of the country itself, he was becoming much closer to the mainstream of civil-rights

purity and i think he is a great man. it is worth studying. quite frankly, they are some of the greatest leaders this country has had, if some of the most controversial. and host: let's look at the recent numbers to came up with. 1 million of the 2.3 million incarcerated it is represented by african-americans. 500,000 black fathers currently incarcerated. one out of six african-american men have spent time in prison. what should the administration be doing about this? guest: one of the remarkable things about this country is that we tend to use rates at the he same rate. take crack.

then you look at who gets busted for using crack. 85% of people busted for using crack this by% of whites. that tells us we have two very different law enforcement strategies. if you are white or rich it basically says to go to rehab. if you are poor or black, you go to prison. we know dollar for dollar is seven times more effective. we do it anyway. it is really time for congress -- senator jim wright has proposed that we actually look at drug sentencing, criminal justice from top to bottom all at once and proposed a whole raft of changes. the state of georgia is seeking to go there right now.

one of the fascinating dynamics in this country right now is we're seeing career issues from southern republican leaders banned from northern democrats. and in texas there are 18 smart on crime bills moving. the state of georgia, the governor is proposing a look at criminal justice policy. it goes much further. it is actually classic conservative play. it says let's do what is most affected. host: here is a tweet -- tony on the independent line. caller: i want to talk about jobs today. i basically want to say as long

as we keep asking people to provide jobs for us, we will always be at the tail end of the line as it pertains to getting jobs. we need to talk about entrepreneurship. we need to take matters into our own hands and create our own jobs so we do not always have to go hand in hand looking for a job. it is really our problem to solve, not president barack obama us. -- not president obama's. guest: when i talk about contractors, that is what i am talking about. this administration is doing a lot to make it easier. we will be doing speedskating where you have contractors a whole bunch of some ubcontractors introducing

them. we are trying to help make sure that people actually know each other and connect and do business together. at the same time, you make a great point. one of the things that we really push young people to do is to actually build upon and continue the tradition of small business ownership in our communities. we spend a lot of time helping young people across the country in our 200 programs learn how to draft business models, so that they actually go into college thinking about the small business people and come out with a great head start. host: tyrone, republican from louisiana. i want to piggyback on what tony said. we do go hand in hand with these other people from the federal government asking them to give us money. we are not self-sufficient.

my point is if we localize how the money is created, at the congress people are supposed to create our buddy. our money. we will not have the deficit's going through the roof. if we get the congress to reclaim their responsibility for print and regulating the currency, then we can hold these people accountable. my point to you is does the ncaa -- n.c.a.a. go to the black conference and talk to the representatives and impress upon them to get the responsibility back to the congress from the federal reserve banks who we do not know, who cannot see and hold accountable? i think that will help the black people. have our local representatives responsible. guest: one theme that came up

is the issue of accountability pyridin that is. that is so often we focus on across the country. we told congress people accountable to their communities. with regard to that you have a good point. host: leonardo on the democratic line. good morning. caller: i am just trying to figure out the naacp's role, because they have been very quiet as far as, well, i do not see no real leadership. all i see is follow worse. -- follwers. this guy will get all kinds of excuses about why. he did not hear the whole conversation and that, but that was the game they played on him. guest: sure.

think you for calling about that. we were the last to make the mistake in the first to apologize. we pushed the white house to apologize, and it follows suit and did. we pushed the usda to apologize and they follow through and did. we worked very closely together now -- we work very closely together now. both of us are very concerned about the fight to end poverty and rural areas. she would say we cannot let moments like this distract and divide us. we saw a situation where a right-wing attacker group was trying to destroy us by destroying her, and we were ultimately able to keep both from happening. i am one of those people but have beene she should offered her old job back, but we

push for that, and it offered her a job, unfortunately i do not think they offered her the right job. host: barbara, new york, a democratic line. caller: this is a comment. you do not have to respond. you oned in to complement t not being called into the interrogation techniques by greta. most of the time is spent challenging, undermining, pinpointing the articles and challenges. black people will survive. the same thing is happening to the mainstream of america today is that they are crying and grasping and demanding for what has been happening to black centuries. all th

do not complain, go out and pull yourself up by your bootstraps and take responsibility. guest: in this country we rely on government where they play a key role in making sure people have jobs. i think the calller makes a very people try toat get the black community to encourage us to hold this president accountable for everything, and we know. we have dealt with dozens of presidents. he was the first black president. from the point he was elected to the day of his inauguration,

then he became the 44th president. we had great pride in him, but we also know he is no more powerful than any of the past presidents we have dealt with. on an issue like job creation, congress will have to decide that it is job one. at the end of the day, 535 people who really determine how we spend our money and whether we will continue this pattern of basically bankrupting the nation, and then say we have to cut social services. when push came and we had a huge surplus. we will able to predict the future of medicare. -- when bush came in, we had a huge surplus. then they get a huge windfall to the richest 1% in this country, and look where we are now the two things are very connected.

listen to the people now that say we need to tickle unions from working people and medicare from grandma. they understand the first step is to bankrupt the coffers. then you cry bankruptcy. unfortunately 536 people, if there was one that was all powerful, the president would be high on the list, but that is not what he is. host: two more phone calls. in depend on the line from philadelphia. -- independent on the line from philadelphia. caller: i wanted to say i think the questions are appropriate in the facts are straight. other middle-class organizations have accepted the fact that in order for mr. obama to be successful he cannot be challenged, criticized. as long as you except that, we

have to be placed at the back of the line. we will always be at the bottom. i think it is a very sad dynamic that people of this caliber could accept that kind of dynamic that issues cannot be addressed at the risk of losing white voters. spend all day making sure our pitissues are addressed. we focus on the issues that are most urgent work communities, and not based on class. we put up a billboard in los angeles and welcome to the u.s., 25% of the world's prisoners. in bold indictment of words things are in this country in the state of leadership in this country. we have pushed forward and pushed hard to make sure this issue of mass incarceration is dealt with. pushing hard to make sure the fact that black children are

15% are 50% of the new hiv kids are dealt with. we are pushing hard to make sure the issue of joblessness is dealt with. again, those who would push us into confrontation with the president when it is congress who makes the decision are encouraging as to wallow and destruction. it is time for us to be clear about who has the power to make the decision on the federal budget, the decision to make the 1% pay their top fair share. we are right to focus on congress. host: before we let you go, we will return to our conversation about the gulf coast one year later. i want to get your thoughts on it before we leave. guest: i was down there several months ago stand on the beach

looking at an oil slick in my feet started to sink and they ended up an oil. that is the metaphor for the whole thing. you'd think you are on land, but you are really 1 inch above oil. we put out a white paper today. it is there on our site. it is calling on bp to take full responsibility for this disastrous situation in the gulf. there are huge physical and mental health problems that are not being addressed. we're seeing resources plummet as tax revenues have plummeted in the area even further than one could expect during a recession, and the need to go through the roof. we have seen a big increase in domestic violence. the reality is that the company needs to take greater responsibility for the long-

term effects and really push to make sure the billions that have set aside -- you said earlier, 5 billion only gets out to the community that needs them. we have to remember, unless you have lived in the region as i have, it is hard to understand. these folks are absolutely tied to this environment. it is not like when you lose a at one factory, youyou ca cannot just drive 20 miles to the next factory. host: thank you for your time this morning. we're going to return to the gulf coast area one year later. and 30 minutes we will talk to kathy captors, a democrat from

florida. first, we will talk to don john fleming. he is a republican from louisiana. we will talk to him coming up next. we will be right back. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> may 1. your questions for chapman university president and co- founder of "reason" magazine. he will take your calls, emails, and tweets live sunday on may 1. >> you are watching c-span, bringing you politics and public affairs. every morning it is "washington journal."

weekdays watch live coverage of the u.s. house. weeknight, congressional hearings and policy forums. also, supreme court oral arguments. on the weekend, our signature interview programs. on sundays, newsmakers, q&a, and prime minister's questions from the british house of commons. you can also watch our programming any time at c- span.org. c-span, washington your way. a public service created by american cable companies. [inaudible] nano.ive you that i applaupod >> in his monologue, mike daisy

examines apple and americans' love of technology. >> all of my monologues come out of my obsession. find out more about his obsession sunday night on c-span q&a. you can also download pot cass. it is one of our many signature interview programs available online at c-span.org/podcast. >> "washington journal" continues. host: john fleming is a loo republican from louisiana. let me again with an editorial. they write this --

what do you think, congressman? guest: there is no question that the bp spill was an absolute disaster. it showed a lot of complacency on the part of bp. you are right, the response plan was totally inadequate, partly because there have been tens of thousands of wells drilled over the years, and because nothing serious had ever gone wrong.

there was no experience. how do you handle a deep water, high-pressure spill? and the solutions had to be invented right there on the spot going forward. the government did its part in worsening the disaster. the m.m.a. thought was responsible for the oversight, minerals management service, they actually had non-cents a cool things such as a what to do with -- non-sensicle things like what to do with walruses when there are no walruses and the gulf of mexico. having said that, a lot of new technologies have been

developed in response to that. the other thing is there are many other rigs out there that have been drilling. they have done just fine and done a good job. right after this spill began, the president brought 10 scientific experts together and said what should we do? each and every one of them said we have a lot to do, but we should not put a moratorium on drilling. despite that, the president did it slapped a moratorium on the deep water drilling and shallow water. the secretary follow through with that. we asked that those be lifted, and there were lawsuits, and in fact the secretary was found in contempt of court for continuing the moratoriums. finally, slowly but surely a few permits have been issued. i think we are up to nine at

this point. even the government through its issuing of permits is acknowledging it is ok to drill again, but we still need to follow through on analyzing what went wrong, what was a core problem that led to the disaster, and what can we do in the future? in the meantime, we are seeing tens of thousands of jobs that have been killed off and rigs that have now left and gone to brazil, nigeria and egypt, and taken jobs with them. in the case of brazil, our government is giving brazil money to help them with their offshore drilling. what will eventually happen is we will buy back from brazil oil that is being drilled off their shores under more relaxed rules and regulations than we have. they have our jobs and we will pay them for oil but should be

drilled off of our shore. we really have a lot to do to get the gulf of mexico back up in terms of drilling. finally, i will add that our oil production now has dropped from 1.7 million barrels per day in the gulf of mexico down to 1.5 million barrels in dropping quickly. it will drop another 250,000 barrels per day in the coming year. even if we started issuing permits at the same rate we have in the past, it will continue downward for a period of time before it returns. host: john fleming is our guest this morning. we are splitting up the phone line to louisiana residents and all others. let's go to stan, a resident in panama city. caller: i love c-span.

i watch it all the time. i realized something that when they gave out all of the money from bp, everybody went down and they filled up the paper and were getting about 5000 per piece. they signed off on having any lawsuits toward bp. i told a friend of mine did you put any money back to paying your taxes? he more or less did not. the end of the tax period has come. in the newspaper we have over 1000 people that went to the department of justice for fraud. i figured that bp will probably assault these people in trying to get their money back because they waited until after the tax line so that they would get their money.

i think it was like 54,000 different claims. they will sift through them and they will get their money back. guest: well, i am not absolutely sure of the calller's point, but i will say that we had a field hearing in louisiana earlier this week, the committee of natural resources, and we heard testimony from folks who come from the oil and gas industry, those who come from the fishing industry, and one thing that really rained true is that while mr. feinberg, who is responsible for analyzing the damages in compensating businesses and individuals for the damage, that employees are getting paid for let's say restaurants and so forth that are now up and operating. the actual see food businesses

seem to be in many cases put on hold. in one cases -- in one case, a shrimp company has applied 10 times and not received a response. they are told that the paperwork is lost. we understand that of $20 billion that was set aside for compensation, only 2.5 billion has been spent so far, and there seems to be a certain level of chaos. we are going to be asking mr. feinberg to come back and speak to us on this issue and to really delve into and perhaps hold his feet to the fire as to why claims are not being processed in a timely way. host: the numbers seem to vary. bob lovely of bp rights today that they have paid out 5 billion -- bob dudley of bp

today that they have paid out 5 billion. in guest: any way you divided, it is only a fraction of the 20 billion. we are now only a year down the road in companies are telling me they're having to go to credit lines to stay up, hoping some way they will be compensated. we met with mr. feinberg early on and what he said it would be his approach, he is also the person who took care of the 9/11 people affected from the disaster that happened there and is well respected for having done a good job, but what we're hearing is that first he would write checks to get people through, maybe $25,000 at a time, even if their claim had very little documentation.

then he would come back around and require more documentation for a final settlement. what we're hearing is some people have received no funds hatsoever.te i think it is uneven. we need to get to the bottom of this. this is not bp. this is mr. feinberg, who is paid by bp but accountable to those who have been injured in this. i think we still have issues of competency we need to deal with. there are over 3000 employees apparently, and that is a big operation. we need to get to the bottom of this. we need to be sure that businesses get timely payments, because if you are not making money in business, then you are losing your assets of the business may never return. >> there was a piece last week in "the washington post."

they reported this -- should there be an investigation into companies and individuals who received a large payout without documentation or proper reason to get the money? guest: absolutely. i do not think that anyone has committed -- that has committed fraud or abuse should be rewarded. i think they should be prosecuted. be know there wewill always companies and people that will take advantage of the situation, and that is the reason why the innocent are hurt in this, because you have to be careful and analyze everything

that comes through. there are many people with legitimate claims that do not get reimbursement in a timely way as they should. this is just another example, what you are pointing out. i do not know about corruption and insider dealing. i am from the northern part of louisiana, so i am not on the ground where a lot of this is happening. so i do not have personal knowledge of these things. and on the other hand, i know human nature and i know these things happen when you have a disaster. host: that is a tweet from one viewers. talk about your district a little bit. was it impacted in directly from this situation? guest: not at all. he is quite right. my district is the largest deposit of natural gas in north

america, and in fact, the fourth largest in the world. our problem is just opposite. we have such plentiful product that we cannot move it fast enough, and therefore the prices are low, and it is very difficult for companies to profitably bring it out of the ground. for us we feel that because natural gas is such a clean hydrocarbon and has so many applications for the future that we need to transition to private vehicles that operate on natural gas. we need to have natural gas pumps spread across the country. if you were to fill your car today with natural gas, it would be about $1.80 per gallon. you can see how cost-effective that is. that would take the pressure off of gasoline costs. ours is just the reverse.

our problem is the prices are too low and becomes unprofitable to bring it out of the ground. back to the original question, i served on natural resources. offshore drilling is part of our jurisdiction, so i have been involved in this from the very beginning. we have had a number of hearings. while i do not live on the shoreline or coast line, i have been very closely involved with this, also with my colleague and friend, congressman landry who does live in that area. we have had a number of hearings. it is interesting that a lot of these hearings have to do with trying to get permitting to speed up. we're going to keep having hearings as long as we can get permits out of them. host: we are happy to have john fleming as our guest this morning. what will be talking to a democrat from florida -- we will

be talking to a democrat from florida. in caller: hello, c-span, and hello america. before this catastrophe happened, i was investigating all war -- a war between the oil industry in the fishing industry. as soon as that explosion happened, i called the department of homeland security and said this was purposely done. the magic plan is to turn the mexico into a dead zone. the strategically positioned under water rising to spew the oil all over the gulf so what types of the fishing industry and the tourist industry. guest: actually, that is nonsense. this was a terrible accident.

11 individuals, part of louisiana family died on that. many others were injured. it is certainly a stain on our memory. you know what is interesting is even though there was millions of gallons of oil spilled, it had very little impact on the fishing industry directly. what has happened is it has created a perception that there is tainted product, when in fact we are processing plenty of oysters, plenty of shrimp, and most of the coast line did not see oil spill at all. the safest seafood you will find today is off the shore of louisiana. that is one of the things we're asking help with is to help get the word out. we want to ask them to help us

advertise that very fact, because there is no seafood product that is tested any more than that off the shore of louisiana. my message to folks is come on down, because we have some of the biggest, juiciest shrimp you confined. it is delicious and absolutely safe and clean. to louisiana. ng caller: i am a first-time calller, long time you weviewer. a couple of quick points. first of all, this disaster would never have occurred if we put in place the regulation that we see in norway, sweden, and some of the other countries. secondly, we are hearing a lot of misinformation in terms of the overall context. thousands of leases are held up in the gulf of mexico by the oil companies, and they are not

drilling on them, and they want to tie up even more leases. this is a way to help control the market. the most disturbing thing was the vote you took a couple of weeks ago. since 1996, we have received a zero royalties from most of the deepwater drilling that was set up to originally encouraged a deepwater drilling. with oil prices where they are, my question to you is why did you think the residents of louisiana and the rest of the country do not deserve to have royalties paid by these international companies when they are drilling and our deep water? -- in our deep water? guest: i am a little confused by the question. he is suggesting that somehow i did not feel that revenues or taxes should be paid to louisiana as a result of drilling. i have never said that, nor believe that.

there is severance taxes, and of course there are jurisdictional issues. some states, their jurisdiction those 3 miles offshore, some 12 miles. a lot of those things are determined in state government. i am part of the federal government. i believe louisiana should get its fair share of severance taxes from the drilling. i forget what the first part of his question was. and host: he was talking about companies tying up leases and not using them. guest: that is a common statement that is made. what i remind people is when a company leases lands offshore or on the ground itself, it has to lease it in certain size parcells, and then it goes in and does testing and so forth. they go to that part of the

leased property where the optimal opportunities are to get oil or gas or whatever product they are looking for, so you have to throw out a wide net in order to find what you are looking for. obviously, even though there me hundreds of thousands of acres that are least, it would make no sense to randomly drilled throughout those areas. you have to go where the oil is. you are always going to have leasing that goes far beyond what the drilling is. that is just the nature. we do not have a perfect size to know where the oil is. remember, the leased land is being paid for. someone is in in revenue from that. in many cases the state. we see this on dry land also. the truth is, until we perfect exactly how we find oil that is

as much as 2 miles below the surface, we have to throw out a wider net. that is why more land is leased than what we drove on. -- than what we drill on. host: let's go to philadelphia. you are up. caller: i want to make four statements. one is the misconception by so many callers that believe we have to drill more in order to lower the price of gas, when in fact the middle east is stating that because demand is so low that they will cut back on supply. that is my first point. my second point is, isn't there some way that our country could drill for the oil and develop a better blowout preventer? host: we will have to leave it there.

let's give the congressman to respond. -- get the congressman to respond. guest: the price of oil is a supply and demand issue. whether we are drilling more here or in other countries, the more that goes on the market, the lower the price. the cartel's try to manipulate that so their profit margins are as high as they can be. you cannot blame them for doing that. one way to break the back of the cartel's is to be less dependent on foreign oil. we have dropped from 30% dependency to 60% on foreign oil. today if you add coal, natural gas, and oil together, the united states has more product than any other country in the world by far, including saudi arabia, so we have plenty here, but we put handcuffs on ourselves to keep from exploiting those natural resources.

host: here is a tweet the ones to get your thoughts on whether or not it is fun to energy and resources and development to move off of fossil fuels as quickly as possible? guest: i think it makes sense to do that. i and my republican colleagues believe and all above strategy. we believe if wind it makes sense economically, let's do wind. the problem is the technologies are dancing in the areas of hydrocarbons. it is also fuels -- fossil fuels where it is cheaper. -- the problem is the inhnologies are at advanciadvag the areas of hydrocarbons.

what we're finding is there are many people that want to push the price of gasoline up word and subsidize alternatives in order to even things out, but that makes no sense. we think the marketplace should determine the winners and losers, but at the same time we should use the advancing technologies to make hydrocarbons as clean as possible, and we have done that to a tremendous degree. host: denham springs, louisiana. byron. caller: thank you. congressman, you are not being truthful with the people of the united states. first, you can check with the department of labor, there was no massive loss of oif jobs in h he oil fields. one of thewere

first to go on fox news and the man $20 billion from bp. you said that was communistic or something like that. guest: well, i would have to disagree with the calller. we have lost several big rigs, and the jobs go with them. there are several companies that are sold for companies that provide the riggings, the piping, transportation back-and- forth. one in particular, and i cannot give you the name, is already filing for bankruptcy. jobs have left the state, and it is the level to tens of thousands, and we're losing more every day. and i do not know how to respond to his second statement. i have never referred to anybody as being a communist. host: john fleming of louisiana.

thank you for your time. this conversation continues, the gulf coast oil spill one year later. we will be right back. and >> let's meet another top winner in the student cam competition. this year's team was to address an issue that held them to understand the role of federal government. now we go to lisa who submitted a documentary. why did you choose this event? >> we sat down and wrote a list of all the things federal government did in our community, and transportation was one of them. from there we went to a car dealership. we went and talked to them and

realized how much the bailout affected the community and her family. >> how did it affect her family in the community as a whole? -- and the community as a whole? >> her family gives a lot of money to the college. they give a lot of money to the chamber of commerce, and the loan -- without the bailout, her family probably would not still be in business, because of lot of dealerships were closing down, and in a small town, the dealership would have been one of them to close. without that her family probably would have to find a whole new source of income. >> what did you learn about the

way that government spending works? >> professor is so intelligent. he sat down and explained how the congress and how the house and senate would vote to determine the amount of spending that they use or that went on for the big three bailout. >> before the bailout, how did you view the role of federal government in your community? >> before i did the documentary, i did not think the federal government had much role in my life. after doing the documentary i realize the big three bailout really affected my community and would have affected my family. >> how is your view change of the role of federal permit in your life and community? >> i realized that the federal

government still affects my family and community. i have learned so much that i did not know, like how the government votes on spending their money and without the big three bailout the car industry would have crashed and affected my film partner and her family. >> what should people take away from watching your video? >> i think they should be thankful that the government care so much. i know there was republican opposition to this, but i think they should really be painful that the government made the big three bailout. -- be thankful that the government made the big three bailout. >> thank you very much.

but take a look at a portion of documentary, "the drive of bailout."hree >> the role of butter government has always been controversial. >> government is by the people, for the people. government is the people. they take our taxes and try to use it in a way that will help the people. >> even though i personally believe in a limited government, this was a decision that probably had to be made in favor of the auto industry. >> you can see the entire video and all of the winning documentary's at studentcam.org.

continue the conversation at our facebook and twitter pages. host: joining us is a democrat from florida and code-share of in gulf coast caucus an congress. let me begin with a headline in tampa. can you explain what this means for florida? guest: unfortunately, it appears florida will use a little bilose bit of leverage. there is a lawsuit with the district judge says he will determine the liability of trans ocesocean. it may not be the be all and all of deadlines, but it is highlighting the lackadaisical

approach of our new governor. we have been urging him to be more aggressive in protecting the taxpayers. other states and communities have filed claims against bp and the other responsible parties, and it is unfortunate he has taken this tool out of his arsenal. we need leadership at the state level that will be as aggressive as possible in protecting the taxpayers. in florida we are $3 billion behind in our state budget. everyone believes it would be reasonable to be aggressively asking the responsible payments to make an interim payment for lost revenue caused by the disaster last year. host: an attorney is quoted in the peace saying they could sue transocean or bp anytime.

guest: that is true. we need to be aggressively going after these parties. we cannot wait until 2013 to make up a lot of the lost revenue. at the state level they are laying off teachers and cut other jobs. in a state where we have such a high unemployment rate, we need to fight for every dime to recover damages as possible. host: what has been done by congress in response to the gulf coast spill? guest: shortly after the disaster last year, the house adopted safety measures for ocean drilling. that stalled in the senate unfortunately. the obama administration did pick up a number of those measures and incorporated them into new roles for the administrative agencies, the department of interior in the new agencies that oversee drilling in federal waters.

the drilling to be overseen by mms.sed to be overseen by the agency was corrupt. there were not living up to the standards we expect. that agency was dissolved and broken up into two, so you did not have one agency that was collecting royalties and also doing the job making sure all safety standards are met. that has been divided in two. the congress has a lot more to do when it comes to response to the obp oil disaster. the big one is to follow-up on the recommendations of the secretary who led a response

study. and then the oil spill task force chaired by bill reilly and bill graham. they have recommended that 80% of the fines and penalties to be paid by bp and the other responsible parties under the clean water act go to the gulf coast, but congress has to pass a law that designates 80% of the fines and penalties go to the gulf coast, otherwise they will simply go to the u.s. treasury and not devoted to economic and in our mental restoration of the gulf. host: according to a paper, senator gramm gave that piece of legislation less than a 50% chance of getting through congress. guest: that was unfortunate. that is why we have come together in a bipartisan effort to form the new gulf coast caucus.

my friends and colleagues from louisiana have just formed the new gulf coast caucus to bring all members from the gulf coast states together with the overriding goal to fight for the passage of the 80% designation of the clean water act fines and penalties. we are trying now to galvanize all of the members, republicans and democrats from florida, alabama, louisiana, texas, to come together. we have more political power when we are all working together and pulling in the same direction. that is what it is going to take to accomplish that goal of following through on the recommendation to get 80% of the fines and penalties devoted to where the damage occurred. host: our first call comes from texas. go ahead. caller: i have been waiting a long time. actually i wanted to address the previous guest, but i would like

to go ahead and make the statement. the theme is senator daniel moynihan made this phrase. you are in title to your own opinion, but not your own facts. many times i hear these folks talking about the fact that we need to drill, drill. actually, oil companies, and i am very familiar with that, use every opportunity to spike the price of gas. for example, libya, is the perfect example. they produced just over 1 million barrels per day, and they certainly do not sell it all to us, and most folks do not realize all you have to do is get on the computer and find the american companies sell over 1 billion barrels per day. tell me why is that the case? i would like to address that. guest: thank you very much.

cut it from the state of florida where our economy is so tied to tourism we are very sensitive to the impact of price gouging. it seems like every summer with the summer driving season the prices go up for a gallon of gasoline. why is that happening every summer driving season? our long-term commitment in need for energy in this country is going to have to become more diverse. while domestic drilling will continue to be very important, we have got to diversify the way we fuel our cars. this will be the first model year where consumers have some very significant choices of new electric vehicles. the volt, the hybrids, i think

over the next decade you will see an explosion in those types of vehicles. they are little more expensive, but think if gas is up $4 per gallon, the cost savings over time. there is also a very significant tax credit. i think it is $7,500 for the purchase of those electric vehicles. it is really the whole transportation sector that over the next couple of decades we have to look to ways to wean ourselves off of oil. whether it is foreign or domestic. we simply cannot afford to be wedded to oil and gas for the long-term. host: maggie in new jersey on the democratic line. good morning. caller: this is the outcome of 30 years of brainwashing propaganda that government is the problem and the enemy.

then these same people expect to be elected and the voters believe it. without regulation, and effective regulation, people that do not work for the corporations are supposed to be regulating but have the true interest of the country. if you are depending on your governor, who is responsible for the biggest heist against medicare in the medicare states, i would not bank on that happening. the price of gas is not affected by supply. it is affected by speculation. our mercantile exchange should be limited to farmers and the companies that own it. host: congress woman, any thoughts? guest: i think the calller is mostly right. the unfortunate circumstances

with this disaster one year ago is that industry was not ready for this type of disaster. unfortunately government was not ready as well. we have heard for many years many of the oil companies have insisted that drilling deep in the ocean is safe. they said it is safe, say, they wanted to come closer to the beautiful beaches, the west coast of florida. a lot of us were saying it is so risky, we did not really go. even though there was a lot propaganda, there really were a lot of accidents, not to the scale of the deepwater horizon, but many still suffer robbed of gulf -- many spills throughout the gulf get in 2004, i believe, there were rigs that were bent over and toppled and

week. if before we pushed to come closer to many of our treasured places in the chesapeake bay or the west coast of florida, there are some places that should be simply off limits as they go deeper and deeper down into the ocean at the deepwater horizon, that major disaster happened -- ocean. the deepwater horizon, that major disaster happened miles under the water. we still do not have an understanding of the impact at that depth. until we get those questions answered, we need to be careful with expanding new wells. host: david is a democrat in arcadia, florida. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would like to make a couple of statements. florida has been controlled by

republicans for several years, and they have kept the oil from an being drilled here on the coast, and i think them for that. -- thank them for that. they just put in a solar plant that the president came and visited but they cannot expanded because the republicans will not allow it. the other congressman, his statement that all of the above -- he is not telling the truth. host: we will go to brandy in st. louis, missouri. good morning. are you there? we have to mow lawns. john is a democrat in the eureka springs, arkansas. caller: energy has been a pet

subject for me. blanche lincoln, the democrat from arkansas was chairman of the agricultural committee and had a derivative bill that was supposed to help better regulates the commodities market, yet we still see the price of oil being manipulated and we are paying extremely high prices at the pump. i have heard not only if president obama but previous presidents say we have no energy policy, and we do have an energy policy. it is to continue the monopoly he and the stranglehold that it presents not only to our environment, but to the working class public that cannot afford to pay these high energy prices. my question is, what the heck happened? if you do not see any democrat or any republican commenting on this, or crying foul. host: congressman kathy castor?

guest: you have made a number of good points. right now, the hottest topic in washington is the debt and the deficit, and one of the main points of contention is the large tax subsidies that the taxpayers all across america paid to the oil companies. i believe it is about $39 billion per year. the oil companies are the most profitable corporations all across the globe and in our country. many of us are questioning if they make more profits than any other business in america, why are the american tax payers, at a time when we are challenged with rising debt, why are we subsidizing those oil companies? i think that money can be better spent either bringing them all back to pay down the debt and the deficit, or at least carving off a little bit to invest in

the new clean energies of the future. one of the things that the navy secretary from mississippi said in the wake of the deepwater horizon blowout is that it is time to commit the gulf coast to some of those new clean energy technologies. the caller from arcadia, florida, is correct. i was out at that beautiful, new solar plant. this is the sunshine state. we need to harness those technologies. we have provided some incentives rather than going to the older energy of oil and gas, and provided a little more to clean energy, and said the other subsidies back. host: billy is a resident of the gulf coast, and jackson, alabama, is where he is located.

caller: thank you. i worked in the oil field in south alabama. they drill about 150 miles from the coast. they can regulate that two army pull up 100 barrels of oil a day. they get it regulated. that is why you oil companies are ripping off the american people. host: congressman, your thoughts on that? guest: is interesting. i know there is a lot of political pressure to expand drilling, and that might leave you with the impression that there are not many places to drill, but there are actually more leases available now for oil drilling than ever before, even in the wake of the deepwater horizon block. the obama administration has

granted new drilling wells in the gulf. coming from the state of florida, if we want the administration to be very careful in doing that. i understand domestic oil supply will need to be a large part of our portfolio going forward, but we need to plan ahead for the new technologies and realize that the economy in the state of florida is based on tourism, clean water, and clean beaches. we have made different decisions in florida over history. we did not industrialized our coastline. we do not have any rigs off of our beaches. that is fine for other states that have chosen to go the other path. i want those technologies to be safe with the most up-to-date safety standards, and making sure the workers on those rigs are protected, but we saw that even with a disaster of the scale of the deepwater horizon

hundreds of miles away from the state of florida, it substantially impacted our economy. i have a roundtable discussion yesterday with small-business owners from hotels, motels, and the chamber of commerce on the gulf coast beaches, and they said the perception of oil washing up to florida beaches really hurt them last summer. they are concerned that the summer tourists will not come back this year. the timing could not have been worse because we have a high unemployment rate. we are just coming out of the economic recession, and then this blowout. we are still struggling here, even though the beaches here in florida are beautiful. they are clean. the seafood is safe. it is the most tested in the world. people should be confident spending their vacations here, but we are going to need all of the help we could get to recover economically, and then

study the long-term environmental damage because there is so much that is not known with a disaster of this magnitude host: we will go to great gull, north carolina. crystal is joining us. caller: i do not know if this question has asked, but i hear a lot of the republicans calling in and even on capitol hill with regards to drilling and to keep drilling. my question is, they talk about drilling here on our land, but from my understanding the oil goes are marked -- market. his own by opec. they set the prices. they keep saying that like we could set the prices, if we drill here, we could get it for such a low price. could you explain the process

for me please? guest: there are a lot of factors that go into the price that we all pay at the pump. they say right now the uptick in gas prices his caused largely by the growing demand in china and india. china and india did not suffer the economic recession that we did here, in the united states, and their economies are growing, and the demand there is going to increase. that will raise our prices, unfortunately. also, all of the uprisings in the middle east have caused a bit of instability throb that oil-producing area. i understand that saudi arabia has insured that their oil fields continue to slow, but in algeria and libya and there are questions there. he really highlights how we have to plan ahead -- it really

highlights how we have to plan ahead for new, clean energy solutions. the vehicles that have options other than pulling up to the gas tank -- plugging in your car, requiring our vehicles to get higher gas mileage -- that is one of the first things president obama did. all americans have got to conserve. that is one easy thing that we could do in this country when we face such huge challenges. i think we are up to those challenges, and if you turn off the lights, if you plan your trip to not keep your foot on the gas pedal -- if we all did that, that would save us money as well. host: we go to ocala, florida. doug, good morning. caller: how're you doing?

host: good, question or comment? caller: there are so many. halliburton failed. the mining management failed. the government failed. everybody failed. bp knew they had problems on that well. i do not know if you all saw bob "60 minutes" program. there were people on the well that new what was going on. there were so many levels where people could have stopped that disaster. he is not -- it is a shame that not one person could have -- did not stand up and say "wait a minute, we need to stop." if they could have stopped the process. host: we have your point. you are breaking up. let's get a response. guest: this anniversary of the bp deepwater horizon disaster

give us an opportunity to reflect upon those failures all across the board in industry and government, too. it gives us an opportunity to think about how we prevent these types of disasters from ever happening again. it gives us an opportunity to say -- "what has been done by leadership at the federal, state, and local level to fight for the damages that are due to taxpayers? what is being done to ensure that the environment -- that we restore the beautiful white lines of louisiana and the gulf coast?" we have a lot of work to do there. it has been painfully slow. i'm afraid that the longer we go without a real, long term

comprehensive effort of gulf coast restoration, the more difficult and costly it will be. bp needs to be making these payments to our businesses, the gulf coast claims facility. that facility has to work more efficiently in a more fair fashion. we have small businesses here in florida, where the oil did not hit, but they are barely hanging on. we lost small businesses and jobs. we need to ramp up the pressure on ken feinberg and the gulf coast claims system to pave the reasonable amounts that are due to business owners. then, on the environmental response, there are so many questions not answered. if we see so many possible impact to sea turtles, dolphins, to the fish, we need to have our scientists gathering data and

testing the water. and there were millions of gallons of toxic the spartans. we do not have a good handle on the long-term impact to the food chain and what really happens when you have a disaster like that at such depths, 1 mile under the sea. we cannot let this anniversary pass without a renewed commitment to get all of these things done. host: representative kathy castor is our guest this morning, marking the one-year anniversary of the gulf coast oil spill. the images we have shown new are from one year ago today. we will go to bill, and jacksonville, florida. you are on the air. caller: good morning. you guys love to talk about the oil subsidies that oil companies get.

well, who made those laws? the government did. is that right? guest: that is right. it is a point of contention between democrats and republicans as we get into the discussions and debates over the debt and deficits. under the democratic budget that did not pass last week, we took those subsidies back and we plowed back into deficit reduction. under the paul ryan, republican plan, they kept the subsidies for big oil. host: we go to columbia, tenn., an independent. caller: good morning, greta. i appreciate your guest from florida. there are three points i would like to address. it has to do with the oil spill and something even more important relating to the oil spill. it is the hypocrisy and the lack

of transparency and accountability from all three branches of our government. we know that america is supposed to be one of the most powerful nations in the world. it is blessed in resources and technology, and all of the other things. let's think, for example, under the bullish era we had -- george bush era, we had oil gouging at $4 a gallon -- a gallon. now, we have republicans say this is a part of capitalism. all of the time, it was a bunch of lying hypocrisy. the same about the republicans today is they like to think that corporations like wal-mart, which is actually capitalizing so many businesses away from

small businesses. host: that as well. let's hear from are not in birmingham, kelli -- birmingham, alabama. caller: great to hear from you guys. like another alabama residents, who spoke about the free flow of oil that will companies are given for exploration, they use that oil for exploration and capital. why can we not take the royalties back to where they were before, where royalties cannot be taken off of the first barrel polled? then, we would not have this problem. guest: i think those callers are right. we need to get them to a reasonable level of royalties. remember, the oil that comes from federal waters belongs to

taxpayers. the corporations and the oil companies that drill and get permits that allow them to do that, and they have a large investment in that equipment and the employees, but they need to compensate the taxpayer through their royalty payments through a very fair extent. those royalty levels are too low. that could be something we look at to tackle the debt and deficit as well for the most profitable corporations in america. should they still be getting those large tax breaks at a time when we need to be paying down the debt? some have cut medicare privatization on the table in washington. host: kathy castor, thank you for talking to our viewers this morning. guest: thank you. please, plans to visit florida. the beaches are clean.

we need of a summer visitors we can get. host: also, a reminder, we covered thousands of hours of this oil spill, and you can go to our video library x c- span.org. coming up, we the that the debt commission. our focus today is military spending. >> an update on the headlines. homeland security secretary janet napolitano speaking earlier on "today" on nbc, says she does not believe the problem with air traffic controllers is exposing a potential vulnerability for terrorists. she said it is important that the transportation department and the faa to conduct an internal review to look at what is going on in the air traffic community. it comes just days after the

first lady michelle obama was forced to avoid a landing because it was too close to a cargo plane. thomas this morning from senator john kyl on the debt and deficit. he said that the success of the new panel on deficit reduction could depend on whether congress decides to raise the debt ceiling. the arizona republican, who was named to the new bipartisan panel on deficit reduction this week, says the white house wants a decision on the debt ceiling by the city toll of june. the panel was established -- by the end of june. the panel was established last week by the president. the president of france, nicolas sarkozy, says france will intensify airstrikes in libya at the request of opposition forces, and the foreign ministry is also announcing the have liaison officers john -- on the ground in the rubble-held city of benghazi, but they insist

they're not ready to send ground troops. mihill acknowledges that air strikes alone cannot stop the heavy shelling -- natal acknowledges that the air strikes alone cannot stop the heavy shelling by gaddafi's forces. >> one day, steve jobs is doing a keynote and he says"today, the ipod mini is no more." everybody is like "no, don't take it away." then he says "i give you the ipod nano." >> in his monologues, mike daisey comments on the world as he sees it. his latest, "the agony and the ecstasy of steve jobs" exam months apple and americans' love of technology. >> my monologues this them out of my obsessions. >> find out more on sunday night.

it is one of our many signature interview programs available online ed -- at c-span.org. >> "washington journal" continues host: this week, we have been taking a look at what the bipartisan fiscal commission recommended when it comes to the nation's debt. monday we talked about the russian -- spending. yesterday, we talk about medicare and medicaid. tomorrow we will be talking about the proposal to overhaul the tax code. we will have commission member alice rivlin. on friday we will wrap up the sufficient -- the series talking about social security solvency. today, our focus is military spending. kate brannen is a congressional correspondent with the defense news.

let me begin by showing our viewers this pie chart. discretionary spending in the 2010 budget. defense mix of 20%. can you describe that number for our viewers? how large is the pentagon budget? guest: it takes up two thirds. that is one of the reasons why the commission felt it could not be ignored. in the overall budget, defense spending, like you said, his 20%. in 2010, if you include war spending, which was $660 billion, and to put that in context, it is close to what all other countries combined spend on defense. that puts the number in a global context. host: this is discretionary spending. this is not mandatory. what is the difference?

guest: it means that it is up to the whim of the president and congress what they want to allocate. it is not a fixed cost. his important to remember that within the defense budget there are some mandatory costs. when 10th of the overall budget goes toward military health care. those costs are mandatory, and they are growing faster than the rate of inflation within the defense budget. they are starting to crowd out other accounts like he quit in the force, and base maintenance. -- equipping the force and base maintenance. host: do they look at this and say something needs to be done? guest: they did, particularly the two co-chairs, erskine bowles, and alan simpson. they found that military pay and health benefits, specifically

retiree health benefits that are , that theorking age growth of those costs are not sustainable on the path that they are on, like in the larger national budget was medicare and medicaid. host: let's look at what the commission proposed when it comes to the military's spending. it requires an equal percentage you cuts from defense and non- defense spending. did they give a number? guest: for security spending, which is interesting because it is different than defense spending, it includes the department of veterans affairs, the state department, usid -- over a 10-year period, $1 trillion in talks. they required equal from both sides in security and not

security. host: we have a graphic. defense spending, not war but the department of homeland security, the department of veterans affairs, the state department, international affairs -- that is what constitutes security spending. why is there a distinction between the two? guest: i am not sure why the difference exists, but basically when you are talking about a $1 trillion cut to the defense budget alone, that would be significant, and it is significant even when you are talking about all of the security apparatus of the government. spread out over all of those federal agencies, it becomes a smaller portion for the pentagon. host: the commission also recommended a cap on discretionary defense spending through 2020. what did they have to say about that? gee, it amounts to about $1

trillion over 10 years. they also put in place, or would like to put in place enforcement mechanisms. it is one thing to call for a cut in spending, but if there recommendation comes into being, they make it difficult for congress to spend -- to pass a spending bill that would exceed those caps. host: what does it say about more spending? guest: is excluded from the overall cap. they think it should be dealt with differently at the same time, they asked the president to limit the war spending annually. while the defense budget gets kept, war expenditures do not move into there and start to climb. host: does that mean if there recommendations would not -- were put into effect there would not be visa emergency bills for iraq, afghanistan, etc.? guest: you would still see those bills.

they recommend a much stricter definition of what it is to limit what is in those bills, you would still see those bills. host: let's get to phone calls. steve is a republican. virginia. you are our first phone call, talking about military spending, and what the debt commission had to say about having to tackle the deficit. ahead. caller: good morning. i'm originally from texas, but i am in virginia practicing for a tournament. i wanted to talk about -- talk to the guest. since he says we spend more than all other countries combined on our military, people need to understand we are under attack. people want to kill us every day. if they cut this out, bring our

troops home, and protect those, what are we going to do? host: is there anything in these recommendations that would hobble the military? guest: it is definitely a good point. both the some symbols commission, and the -- the bowles-simpson commission, and a separate commission say you could make these cuts and still keep a globally superior force because of a spending is so much larger than other countries. he does raise a good point. the other thing that has come up on the hill with operations in libya is france and england have felt they could not go it alone. is it because they need us politically, or dwight -- do they need our military capability? the point has been raised that

these countries are freeloading off of our military budgets. host: we will go to indianapolis, call, an independent scholar. you are next. -- paul, an independent caller. caller: i look the defense expenditures from 1990 until 2007, when i retired, and i wanted to back up that we spend 25%-30% of our budget spent -- protecting very wealthy nations such as south korea, which spend of less than 1% of their gdp and defense and expect the united states to defend them. they rarely contribute much when the united states needs their help. i have no objection to distending smaller nations that simply cannot afford a defense budget, but france, england, and

germany have no excuse for continuing to freeload. any excuse for that freeloading and did when the wall came down. host: you were an auditor did you say? caller: yes. host: there are those that have been critical for not being accountable for the amount of money they spend, and not being willing to give congress a breakdown of where the money goes. is that true? caller: it is true that they have failed to put together financial statements that could be audited since they have been required simply because -- the official reason is because the accounting systems -- there are far too many. there are 400 different accounting systems that do not talk to each other. they have been trying all of this time to create single accounting systems gao will

bless, which is a great past. host: what is the unofficial reason? caller: my opinion is they do not want people to know where the money is being spent. we know in general on how much we are spending on buying equipment, especially on personnel costs. those could be traced with great accuracy, but i think the smaller organizations that do not want people to know how they're spending their money because they have a tendency to move around pot-to-pot. host: what would surprise people about the budget since you have been in the needy gritty and up the numbers? caller: the amount spent on personnel, direct or indirect, the amount we spend compared to what china does per person, which is virtually nil, which is why our budget looks so much

bigger than theirs, and the other thing is we have a tendency. during the carter years we hollowed out the force by buying expensive high-ticket items such as submarines we did not have the need for, but refused to buy spare parts, and something that would keep the force of up to snuff, which is one reason why george w. bush had to spend massive amounts of money when he got into office. he would of had to spend that 9/11 or not. host: what about the debate over things like the big ticket items we care debate about in congress now? caller: i think the congressional committee should make good decisions on the needs, but you have to be very careful. for example, the sea wolf -- we had just finished the cold war.

we have no idea for a -- no need for a submarine built specifically for the cold war, but it costs huge amounts of money. christopher dodd had a lot of people in connecticut who had jobs related to the sea walls. host: we will leave it there. james is a republican. you are on the air. caller: as a republican, i have no problem cutting defense spending. in this digital age-no excuse why systems are not integrated in a way that makes best use of our resources, whether it is account and inventory. host: let's get a response from kate brannen. what is the military doing on this? do they have problems with computer technology related problems? -- items? guest: if they have

redundancies. there was a report looking at duplication, and it found a number of areas in the pentagon, which each service having a medical demand, to isr drones across the board. especially, like paul, with accounting systems, there could be savings identified. host: here is a tweet. are you familiar with this? guest: i am not familiar with the 2.3 trillionths figure. one of the reasons why the deficit has grown so large as the cost of the wars in iraq and afghanistan and there was not an associated tax increase.

host: i think that is what the viewer is referring to. we will go on to woodbridge, virginia. kevin is an independent. caller: somebody called in and said the reason why we need a military budget is because so many countries hate us. my question is why is it so many countries hate us? i love all countries around the world. i try to figure out what makes all these other countries take us where we need to build a large military budget? the government really does not build weapons. as lockheed martin and these big companies. if we cut the budget, some people would lose their jobs, and that is what they do not want to do. guest: the pentagon budget definitely supplies a lot of jobs to a lot of americans in the country, and a lot of the big weapons programs are big jobs programs, which is often brought up on capitol hill.

as for why countries hate us, i think last week the president announced a fundamental review of military roles and missions, and that will be a discussion of u.s. foreign policy. oftentimes, if the defense budget discussions our foreign- policy discussions in disguise. host: roanoke park, california. go ahead. caller: can you tell me anything about the program you have? there are billions of dollars that go into appropriations for the weapons of mass this the -- destruction program in alaska? guest: i do not know anything off of the top of my head. host: democratic caller, len, go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my

call. i know our borders need to be safe. across the land is another story. why we get into it, i cannot say, and neither can you, really. anyhow, how much is it per dollar that we spend for a military person to protect our country, let it be a broad or here? host: do you know the answer to that one? guest: i would venture a guess, but i am afraid i might be wrong. i think the congressional research service might use a number that is roughly $160,000 or $180,000, but i am afraid i am not entirely sure. he bring up a good point about the cost of military personnel. once in the fiscal commission found and the pentagon itself said is that we are not using our personnel in the most

effective way. if they are our most expensive personnel, and a lot of them are -- 40% of our active duty force has not deployed and is doing what is considered commercial service back in the states. the idea is that civilians would be a much less-expensive way to do some of those roles, and that would free up military personnel for combat roles, therefore your people would have to deploy as often. host: is the commission recommended that you lower the number of active duty in the military because you have civilian, company contractors takeover those jobs, there for the military is not paying for benefits? guest: the panel definitely says that it has to be considered, and as operations in iraq wind down, for structures in the army and marine corps is likely to fall. the idea is to move personnel

out of jobs they do not necessarily have to be doing and replace them with civilians. host: in response to an earlier caller -- oklahoma city, joseph, a republican. good morning. caller: i have an idea about saving money on the defense budget. if we could raise the money -- the bar, stop letting people in the military that do not belong here. host: what do you mean by that? caller: people that are too old, out of shape, gangster mentalities, they want to smoke dope, they want to beat their wives -- people like that do not belong here. wearing the uniform is an honor. host: what has the pentagon said about that? guest: recruiting for the

military has become easier, so their standards could go up. with that said, they have had trouble with overweight and high school diplomas, and things like that, but recently, they say the standards have gone up because the poles have been much bigger. host: we will go to mike, a democrat in charleston, south carolina. caller: the way the strategy is laid out, many of times the department of defense is forced to acquire weapons systems they do not want to buy, but it is mandated by congress. how do we get around this problem? guest: it is tricky. you see it over the fight for the alternative engine. secretary gates has said they do not need it, but the hill continues to put it in the budget. it is a constant battle between

the pentagon and capitol hill. i am sure this will continue. host: "the new york times" editorial weighs in on this debate. they say the budget plan would spend $7.50 trillion on the military, and that does not include the cost of actual war fighting. host: that is "the new york times" opinion. "the washington post" is out with a new poll looking at the death that finds little backing for dead remedies, saying that the public is reluctant to slash spending when it comes to medicare, medicaid, and military spending as well. they found 56% are opposed to

cutting military spending. deer lodge, mantegna, -- montana, go ahead. independent color. caller: a lot of the money the defense budget is under is under thev.a. system. those are some of the first cuts they will make, cutting veterans' benefits. the government has made a promise to us veterans. the people that are complaining about needing to make cuts, those are the cuts they're wrong going to need to be made. they're not want to make specific cuts in what they're doing overseas. host: what would be the impact of those cuts? caller: veterans care is going to go down. now, we are running short- staffed because they do not want to hire more people because of this. host: kate brannen?

guest: stephen briggs of the good point about the veterans affairs budget. -- stephen brings up a good point about the veterans affairs budget. there is a difference between the veterans affairs and the pentagon budget. for the most part, of veterans affairs is dealt with separately. i spoke to senator simpson yesterday and he says he believes the commission put the plan does take care of soldiers, and he differentiated the difference between a military retiree who was never seen combat, and day veteran who has a disability or a wound from iraq or afghanistan. when approaching this problem of military health care, it is important to keep these categories in mind -- the difference between a combat vet and a lifelong benefits to retirees. host: jeanette is next.

a republican. caller: hi, ladies. how are you? i have friends and family that our military, and we have always been proud of that. one thing icy that stresses me, -- that i see, especially when you talk about budget, is the recruit people that want to learn a skill in serving that capacity. they spend months paying them, and pain for the schools to train them, and then they end up moving them and their families halfway around the world cared to do that, and have them work another job. is there not a better way? can we not flesh that money down the toilet? host: is that something the commission but that they you have heard about?

guest: i have heard about that. the issue is to incentivize the young recruits to stay in the military, to put their training to use. it is a good point. host: mayfield, ky, john, a democratic caller. good morning. caller: good morning. god bless our troops. i was wondering what percentage of the cost is used for fuel and oil, and also, if they set up the army corps of engineers, or some part of the military to purchase leach's -- leases on the oil where they would be able to drill it themselves, refinance themselves, and use it for defense and security, how much that might lower the actual cost on our primary use of it in security and otherwise since the cost of oil is based on how much we use as americans.

host: we will be there. kate brannen, el do you know the number? guest: i do not know the number, but the military has a huge appetite for oil, and it is part of the budget they do not have any control on. there is a huge focus on becoming more efficient and fuel independent. host: norwalk, connecticut. anne is next. caller: would you let me finish, i want to segue into the oil. host: we are running out of time. if you could stick to the topic, that would be helpful. caller: i saw a piece of how much we put into the military, yet we are still spending money put into aircraft we do not need. i think it is wasteful and reckless, and i think other countries would look upon us in a different light instead if --

is instead of this bullying, pounding our chests, if we would sit down with them, and asked their opinions on how to clean up the gulf oil spill and how to talk for global warming in the future. the only way to do this is to get dennis is an inch to throw his hat in the ring. host: here is a tweet . joshed is a democrat. you're next. caller: paul, that gentleman was knowledgeable, but he only reference carter and christopher dodd. he forgot five or six other presidents, and tried lot as a lot of military facilities in his area. my question is, we seem to be

doing a lot of private contractors as far as military is concerned, where we have men and women that go overseas, put their lives on the lines, and do not make the same amount of money. will congress to address contractors? guest: they would like to. he had asked the pentagon for the total number of contractors that are employed, and they have not been able to come up with a number. congress is starting to h.a.r.p. on this and say you need to tell us how many contractors you employed. it is definitely a big issue as we start to tackle these issues. host: did the commission address that at all? guest: they did. they are critical of the fact that the pentagon does not have insight into this key figure. host: when other aspect of the recommendation -- overseas contingency operations. what are they?

guest: that is president obama is a new name for the war spending bills. under president bush, it was called the global war on care, and both the name change -- on terror, the name change was partly to make the definition of emergency spending a little more strict so things cannot creep into the budget. host: we will go to louisville, ky on our line for republicans. caller: i wanted to address the comment about letting civilians takeover activities that the military performs in the states. i just want to ask, what would she have the military personnel do when they are not actively engaged in a conflict? they need something to do to

keep them occupied. host: go ahead, kate brannen? guest: it is a good question, and i believe the idea is to free them up for training, schooling. a lot of that has lagged behind a street said have to deploy over and over again. -- lagged behind as troops have had to deploy over and over again. i think it would free them up for other opportunities. host: here is a tweet . guest: i believe in "the new york times" editorial they said it grew by 50% over the last decade. it certainly is an important figure to keep in mind as you look at defense spending. it has ballooned since 9/11, and

the idea is to bring it back. host: that editorial says that annual budgets have grown by 50% in the past decade, and that is apart from the more than $1 trillion spent in operations and are iraq and afghanistan. we will go to alabama. ed, an independent scholar. caller: good morning. the bulk of the defense spending is spent in the united states, is that not right? guest: that is definitely true. caller: if you cut defense spending at the way some folks are talking, what effect would that have on jobs and on employment in the united states? guest: i think it would have some impact without a doubt on jobs, but it would also create savings that could be spent elsewhere that could create jobs. i am not sure the overall net impact.

host: i walk. george, a republican. caller: good morning. in listening to your talking about trying to cut defense by adding contract team of private people -- i read an article in "newsweek" sometime ago that secretary gates wrote. he indicated that it is senseless with the cost of things, because if he wanted to get to one of his officers on the ground directly to them, he would have to go through 32 levels of bureaucracy. we do not need the private sector in the military. we need to go left to the pentagon and so forth, and get to the bottom of this waste. that is my opinion. host: we will move on to florida. harry is a democrat.

caller: hello. i'm glad you put into perspective how much we spent compared to the entire world. if we were to downsize some of our military overseas, and transfer them to, let's say, the national guard, or spread them out through the states, our border control, our coastguard -- all of those wendy's and locally. the -- would be spent locally. they do pay taxes. we would do that through attrition without hurting the economy and the military. thank you. host: kate brannen, any thoughts? guest: i wanted to go back to george's point. the commission did not say transfer military personnel and make them contractors. actually, to use military

civilians, which is part of the defense department that people forget about. i do not mean the private sector. host: will go on to john, a democrat in bedford, virginia. good morning. caller: i have a question. all of the wars that we have fought overbought oil situation in the far east over there, why is it that those countries over there are not repaying back to the united states in oil royalties because they say de -- they do not have money to pay us back for protecting them? they could pay us back in oil royalties, and that would cut back the oil prices and things that people here in the united states are having to pay. host: a lot of discussion this morning as we continue our look

at the debt and focusing on military spending. several callers have brought efficiencies at the pentagon. a program note -- we will be covering the undersecretary of defense at the heritage foundation today, talking about pentagon efficiency initiatives. go to our site, c-span.org, for more information. we will go to louisiana. a republican. go ahead. caller: thank you for c-span. i cannot believe how people do not like our military. every time we get a bunch of far-lefties in the house or the senate, or anywhere else, they dragged down our military, and they want to cut their money. let me tell you, my son has been in the military for 21 years. he is a colonel. he has been all over the world

to protect this country. you do not realize living in this country what it means to have our military worked so hard and so many get killed from people that hate us. i just heard this morning on the another channel that we are giving -- obama is giving $2 billion to libya, the ones that we do not know anything about, trying to fight them over there. we need that money for our military and our home. now, please, you all stop running down our military. thank you. host: kate brannen, any thoughts? guest: it is important to keep in mind that the national fiscal commission was made up of both democrats and republicans. senator simpson is a republican senator, and he was there. paul ryan's budget which was passed by the house last week,

while he meets the request for 2012 for the parent -- defense spending, he includes language that says things need to be on the table. we have people on both sides of the aisle taking a closer look at defense spending. host: kate brannen is a correspondent with defense news. thank you for talking about military spending. we appreciate that. we'll continue looking at what the deficit commission had to say, its recommendation for tackling the nation's debt and deficit. tomorrow, we'll be talking with alice rivlin about the overall -- overhaul tax policies, and then we'll wrap up the series looking at social security solvency with our guest andy stern. the present will be departing around 10:00 a.m. this morning in route to san francisco. he arrives