a preview of president obama's speech and immigration this afternoon with the head of the national hispanic leadership agenda. we will also be joined here by the army corps of engineers to take your questions about the near-record flood levels on the mississippi river. "washington host: house speaker john boehner lays down the gop's marker on raising the debt ceiling. that is our focus this morning on today's "washington journal." we will get your reaction and your thoughts in just a moment. first, here's a part of last night's speech by speaker boehner. >> it is true that allowing americans to default would be irresponsible. it would be more irresponsible

to raise the debt limit without simultaneously taking steps to reduce spending and to reform the budget process. to increase the debt limit without simultaneously addressing the drivers of our debt, in defiance of the will of the american people, would be monumentally arrogant and i think massively irresponsible. it would send a signal to investors and entrepreneurs everywhere that america is still not serious about dealing with our spending addiction. i think it would erode confidence in our economy and reduce the certainty for small businesses. i frankly think it would kill even more american jobs. let me be as clear as i can be. without the significant spending cuts and changes in the way we

spend the american people's money, there will be no increase in the debt limit. host: we want to get your reaction to speaker boehner's speech and comments last night. here is what "the baltimore sun" had to say this morning.

joe biden will be joining that group looking at the deficit and debt. we will be seen if anything comes out of that meeting. this is a reminder to you. senator max baucus, treasury secretary geithner, gene sperling, congressman eric kanter, and the omb director are all part of those discussions. back to "the baltimore sun" about speaker boehner's speech. it says "there must be honest conversations about the health care program."

we will show you a little bit of that press conference, as well. first, let's go to your thoughts. margaret, an independent in indiana. what do you think? caller: i believe that the republicans are really trying to defeat obama and they are taking it out on the classes -- the poor people in the middle class -- to benefit themselves. host: margaret, are you still there? caller: yes. host: did you finish up? caller: yes. host: we will go on to mike in

fredericksburg, virginia. caller: i have a question and comment. my question is, is it ever going to be time to stop raising the debt ceiling? speaker boehner is right that the entitlements are what is driving the debt. i do not think that speaker boehner or anybody else really wants to stand up and tell the truth about the situation. we have created a society that is like a million people that depend on a check of some sort from the federal government. the federal government simply does not have the money and cannot raise the money to do this. it is beyond their power to do this constitutionally. we have reached a point where this cannot be fixed without hurting people. nobody wants to face the fact that if we are really going to fix this problem, people are

going to be hurt, and yet it must be fixed. host: are you referring to medicare and medicaid? caller: i am. i am also referring to social security. i'm 58. i will be heard. i have to say i'm more concerned about the generations coming behind us and the sustainability -- not of the programs, but of the dollar. the currency has been undermined. people are wondering why in the world gold is $1,500 an ounce. the reason is because the currency has been undermined. if we do not stop undermining the currency, all of these arguments will be moot. there will reason for any kind of economy unless the currency means something. host: me show you what's speaker boehner to say about entitlement programs. reforms thato

will preserve medicare and medicaid. let me repeat this because it is a crucial point in this debate. if we do nothing, seniors benefits will in fact be cut. to those that say the economy is too weak to take on the challenge of an, a reform, i will simply say they have it backwards. the truth is that making fundamental reforms to these programs would be good for our economy and good for the next generation. host: let's go to john in pennsylvania -- an independent. go ahead. caller: yeah, this is nothing more than pandering. boehner did this before the 2010 election. he went up and told wall street he was going to deregulate

everything and do away with dodd frank. all he is doing is pandering to the bankers and wall street. we've had this for 30 years. why people continue to listen to this stuff is beyond me. host: we have had what for 30 years? caller: the same idea of de regulation, cut this, cut that, and none of it has worked. i do not know why people even buy into this at all or why the republicans continue to push it. the reason is, that's where the money comes from for their campaigns. it is bribery. that's all it is. bribery to get elected to retain or regain power. host: a democrat, you're on the air. good morning. caller: hello. i believe china has manipulated the currency. they have counterfeited our

goods. they have used illegal workers and sweatshops. they have done all these things to us. i think we should sue them. host: what does it mean to the issue of raising the debt ceiling? caller: this would take care of the debt. if we assume them, we would not owe them any money anymore. that would be the same -- we would do the same with india or anybody else. if we had a company in the united states that did that, one company would sue another company for a copy in their patterns and goods and all that. it would be the same thing as if a company was in the united states. host: let's hear from a republican in colorado springs. what do you think about speaker boehner's comments last night? caller: i thought it was interesting. we have all heard it before. we know we have to raise taxes.

we cannot just cut, unless we go to some of these other areas. with all this other money that contributes to campaigns -- it smells like this contract that all these republicans have signed. i'm thinking the republican party will stand by this contract and not with the american people. i will be voting democrat in 2012 for sure. host: have you always voted republican? caller: no, it depends. my family was republican and i think the reasons why they voted republican no longer exist. for me, with the tea party and all the other things that have been going on in the last three years, i am really discouraged with the republican party. it does not resemble anything

that i feel i can stand by any more. we have to raise taxes on the wealthy. they do not pay their fair share of taxes because of all the right of san deductions that they have. host: that's the point that "the baltimore sun" made. host: also, we will see senate republicans 2012 budget put out by senator toomey, republican

from pennsylvania. we told about the founding fathers -- tea party founding fathers group. it were yesterday at the national press club. here is the reverend temple on the gop holding the promise on the debt ceiling. >> we are telling boehner and all the house republicans, they came into office with tea party help. we now expect them to hold the ceiling on the national debt. they can sit on their hands and do nothing, which might be easy for them. if they do nothing, we will not add to our national debt. stop raisingg -- the national debt and this excessive, huge government spending, which is bankrupting our nation and endangering the lives of our children and grandchildren. bachmannhelle kaufme

supported what they have to say yesterday. she said -- host: we will go to baltimore. doug, in independent, go ahead. caller: good morning. i agree with the speaker, but i do not believe anything is going to happen. i also believe that the federal government really needs to start cutting jobs. 20 million people lost their jobs in the united states. it's time for the federal government to start cutting back on jobs. host: what do you mean when you said you do not think anything will happen? caller: they are going to do

whatever they want to do. that is the bottom line. it is embarrassing, but we really need to cut back on government spending. we really do. i do not believe it will happen. i would also like to talk about the economy a little bit. the environment. in france, they have a new car coming out. it is a compressed air car. it runs off of air. it is made in france. i think that would really help the whole world out. as pretty much all i have to say. host: dave, a democrat in pasadena, california. you are on the air. caller: good morning. it is pasadena, maryland. first of all, i do not know why anybody who would believe what the speaker says being that he was one of the leaders in congress that brought us to the point where we are. it seems like only in politics experience does not count. i would rather have somebody who

knows what they're doing rather than somebody who put us in the whole. social security, as it stands alone, without the government borrowing money, is in the plus side. there's a trust fund of $2.4 trillion. it produces more than enough money to pay all the benefits it pays every year. there's nothing wrong with the social security. they just keep borrowing money from it. host: "the washington times" on tax cuts says -- and here is "the new york times" on boehner's speech last night. they say that senate democrat charles schumer of new york accused speaker boehner of playing with fire.

he was quoted in seeing "the idea of refusing to raise the debt ceiling should be taken off the table." and then here is from page of "politico" this morning -- and here's the front page of this morning. the story continues. they say "speaker boehner insisted that the spending

reductions should be actual cuts and program reforms, not broad deficit or debt targets." "without changes to medicare, it may be hard to reach boehner's goal of trillions in spending cuts." "republicans do not one serious cuts in defense spending, which leaves a small part of the government to further trim if medicare and social security are excluded."

mark, a republican in mississippi. go ahead. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: this has a lot to do with what the speaker said last night. i'm a working man. i have to be at work at 7:00 a.m. this is my basic question to i wonder how many career politicians have got a check book in their back pocket. you, me, and everybody else -- if we are writing checks and we know we do not have any money in our accounts, that's a felony and you go to prison. they do it every day. here is something i really do not understand. when you look at entitlements -- i went to work when i was 69 high school and i work for 30 years. -- when i was 16 in high school and i worked for 30 years. i know people will have never done a thing in their lives. they are drawing medicaid, food stamps, social security.

i will tell you what. if you really want to solve this problem, they need to take a hard look at who is getting this money that does not deserve the it. host: "the new york times" reports that when asked if he would entertain a short-term increase in the debt limit if no deal was reached, "mr. boehner was noncommittal." that this "the new york times" are and that. the senate welcomed in the newest member from nevada. he was appointed to finish the term. representative joe donnelly of indian announced he would run for the senate -- of indiana announced he would run for the senate. that's also in "the new york times" this morning.

richard, an independent, you are next. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: congress is living up to their own standards again. they will do or say anything except what they should do, cut the size of government. there's plenty of room to cut government. take the department of energy, for instance. and they were established in 1988, i believe, by reagan to decrease our dependence on foreign oil. at that time, we depended -- 20% of our oil came from other countries. today, 30% of our oil comes from other countries. cost $26 billion to run that agency. they have somewhere around 20,000 employees and they -- i believe they have another 100,000 of the contract --

100,000 that they contract. we are lied to on a daily basis by these career politicians that refuse to do what the people want them to do. host: we read from the front page of "politico" this morning that speaker boehner may have been miscalculating -- it could be an unattainable bar. "the wall street journal" has a different take on it.

host: new jersey, a democrat, go ahead. caller: good morning. how are you? host: good morning. caller: as for speaker boehner's comments, i hoping knows better than what he is saying. he is playing with fire. host: how so, dennis? --ler: we cannot default cannot not raise the debt limit. if we lose full faith and credit in the united states, the past major recession will look like a party. we will go into a major depression for decades that will make the first major depression look like a party. we have a different world now. host: how do you know that?

caller: how do i know that? the entire world is is itself on what the united states economy does. we are the largest democracy financially. just look at what happened in the world recession because of our recession and how it affected the recession. it will do the same thing in the depression. if the people of the world, whose trust in the united states paying off their bills, paying off their treasury notes, that's where all their money is right now because they are free to put it in the markets. host: dennis, what is the debt ceiling vote is just a clean vote and it does not include anything on spending and

tackling our nation's deficit and debt? what kind of message do you think that was sent to creditors and investors that -- would sent to creditors and investors that we're serious about tackling the debt? caller: as obama showed, the juggling many different things at one time -- the planning of the raid, telling jokes on saturday night, dealing with raising money, flying around the country -- the congress and senate must -- the house and senate must juggle many things at one time, too. it should be a standalone vote. these other issues -- again, it is playing with fire.

is not settled in days, you'll start to see the stock market tumble. everybody that got back to where they initially invested in their -- the original investment -- you got most of your money. it is gone. it is gone. host: president obama travels to el paso, texas later this afternoon at about 3:30 p.m. eastern time. he is expected to give a speech on immigration policy. the white house says he will push for comprehensive immigration reform -- for bipartisan cooperation on that issue. this is from "the washington

times" about immigration. we will talk about that issue later on coming up in a program about 8:30 a.m. eastern time with a hispanic leader out of new york. our coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. of that speech. another headline on immigration this morning comes out of arizona. "arizona takes its immigration-law fight to the

supreme court" is the headline in "the washington times." let's go to a republican. good morning. caller: what the guy from this is a base set -- the guy from mississippi said we can reform welfare. a couple years ago, when my wife was working, a lady that was working with her was drawing welfare. she was selling her welfare occurred to pay her car payment -- her welfare card to pay her car payment. she was trying to get more hours. she made the comment, "i cannot get full-time hours because i

will give up my benefits." host: some people say even if you cut spending for welfare, you will not even get close. caller: i tried to report it to the social services office. they said they could not do anything about this because everybody was doing its. there's another example. my wife was doing her job and somebody came in and -- multiple families live in one house and had multiple cards. how can one person have multiple cards from different families. this kind of stuff needs to be looked into. this is one way they can cut down on a lot of this stuff. host: joe, an independent in pennsylvania. caller: how are you doing? host: good morning. caller: i'm appalled by the speaker of the house.

i think he should be ashamed to make a statement with medicare and social security and his comment that the older seniors that can afford to pay their share should pay their share. and then he wants to turn around and say that we are not going to cut taxes, we are not going to raise them. he is going to take all those cuts so that his tax and, at the end of the year is less than the minimum lower class pay -- . host: let's listen to what the speaker had to say about tax cuts. >> a myth is that in order to balance the budget that we need to raise taxes. the truth is, we will never balance the budget unless we cut

spending and have real economic growth. we will never have real economic growth if we are going to raise taxes on those in america who create jobs. host: larry, a democrat in tennessee. what is your reaction to speaker boehner's speech last night calling for spending cuts? caller: i would like the american public to realize that we have elected the democrats and republicans in the past and they have both built up the debt and they have both made the rules that we live by in the american government. now we need to be adults and act

like adults and pay our bills. if it takes us to raise our taxes, we need to raise our taxes. host: larry, how old are you? caller: i am 62 years old. i have a son in the army and i'm a working man. i put my boys through college. host: two stories for you on newt gingrich, the former speaker, and his potential presidential bid. here is "the washington times" this morning.

host: here is "the new york times" front page story about mr. newt gingrich. constantly together at book signings, screenings.

she is the voice on his audio books and her face is all over his 2012 website." also, front page of "the new york times" -- this story. above the fold, it says mr. obama's decision to increase the size of the force sent into pakistan shows he was willing to risk a military confrontation with a close ally in order to capture or kill the leader of al-qaeda. senior officials said two teams of specialists were on standby." host: let's go to new york. frank, a republican. what you think about speaker boehner's calls for spending cuts that surpassed the debt

rise? caller: i agree with everything boehner said and the tea party. you had a topic not too long ago akin to this, would you trust more to manage the financial situation in the country? all one has to do is look at our big cities that are democrat run. they are on the verge of bankruptcy. taxing the rich has become a cliche. there's not a big difference between the amount of money the democrats want to be taxed and the republicans do not want them to be taxed to create jobs. it has become a cliche and it as used -- and it is used as propaganda. yeah, i am all for newt. i am all for the tea party. look at our big cities. look at what the democrats did

to them. thank you very much. host: john, an independent scholar in wisconsin. caller: thank you. i am an independence. -- i am an independent. we have to raise taxes. if you make the tax increases $1 million or above, these people will not be hurt. what are they going to do with it? our jobs are in decline. manufacturing is going to china. host: an update in the flooding in mississippi this morning from the associated press. "the national weather service says the mississippi river has crested." we'll talk about this later on in the program.

at 9:15 a.m. eastern time, we will talk to an army corps of engineer rep. let's go to new hampshire. nancy is a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: doing well. caller: i think it's a major hypocrisy on boehner's part. this is the first time under president obama that they have talked about raising the debt ceiling. the second time was during the bush. the same republicans voted to raise the debt ceiling. how come it is all the sudden a big problem? c-span would do as a big favor if you would run some programs comparing reality, instead of responding to fox topics. i find it very frustrating. i watch a lot of c-span. it has really changed. one of the commons that was made recently was that reagan lowered the tax rate from 70%

down to 30%. one of the reasons they always had a high tax was that during wartime, you stop the profiteering. there was no reason to profiteer because you would be taxed. families maxed out credit cards. they ran out of money. why did we have such a problem with foreclosures? families were desperate. we maxed out credit cards in order to exist. i think that is very irresponsible for c-span to promote anti-president obama programming during wartime. what happened to us being at war and needed to support the president? host: this is the front page of "the financial times" about the situation in greece. host: that is front page of "the

financial times" this morning. we told you that senator patrick toomey will unveil the republicans' budget for 2012 today. the headline on that is "republicans split s toomey pla avoidsn -- world republican split" host caller: now they're talking about pushing out the age, which they have party pushed out to 65 or 67. there needs to be a bill passed. from what i understand, there's no law that keeps the government from going to the social security trust fund and using that money like they have over the years. they have used something like $4 trillion out of our social security trust fund. it needs to be put back.

nobody ever talks about putting the money back into the trust fund that has been borrowed from us. innings to go back on the trust fund and there would be no problem with -- it needs to go back into the trust fund and there would be no problem with social security. just go after all this fraudulent claims. that will make up any money they need in medicare. host: this is "the washington post" this morning. "bair plans to leave her post." also this morning, the front page of "the wall street journal" this morning has the story.

host: also, some of you might be interested in this headline this morning. "the pakistani leader sides with military." "the price minister defended the country's military -- the prime minister defended the country's military." we have that at c-span.org. you can watch the speech. let's go to dayton, ohio. tom, an independent. go ahead. caller: with all the outrage we have over ge not paying taxes,

how can anybody say that taxes are too high? if we were going to a war or something, democrats and republicans would get together and take care of it. why can't the democrats and republicans, who are both goting -- why can't they into the house and go in and take half of their money and do that to every corporation? host: "the new york times" editorial weighs in on rail funds. he claimed he was doing a huge favor for the national treasury. let's go to seattle.

david, a democrat. what did you make of speaker boehner's speech last night? david? caller: i would like to make a comment. i think we should rescind the bush tax cuts. i think that has really hurt this economy. $700 billion a thing in the caribbean. people are not touching that at all. 1.5% or 2% is not enough. we need to start going after these people who do not pay any taxes -- in the caribbean or somewhere else. host: steve, a republican in phoenix. go ahead. caller: they always talk about having everything on the table.

the difference politicians say that, but in never seems to come to that where they do put everything on the table. i think they should come up with a committee where they actually put everything on the table and then they go through it and they do it including the tax cuts. i do not think it is fair to put everything on the table except the tax thing. we need to have it all. they never followed through. it seems to me like the politicians are always thinking of their own interests, instead of the interest of the american people. i think somebody like donald trump -- he is not talking politics. he's talking more leadership, like with china. host: what did you make of the talkingeaker boehner

about all of this and what you think about his political calculations? do you think he raise the bar to high? caller: like i said, yes, it is something where we are going to have to make concessions. it seems like they keep saying they will put everything on the table and then they never do. do we need a committee that will actually put everything on the table? they are just saying that. it's a political statement. it is a great idea, but they're not doing it. somebody has to make them put everything on the table, including the tax situation. the rich people need to pay more. there has to be another factor. host: we are going to take a short break. we will continue this conversation with congressman bob latta. in about 40 minutes, we'll talk with the chairman of the national hispanic leadership

agenda. we will talk about the president's speech on immigration policy later this afternoon. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ >> this weekend on c-span2, in "a reason to believe" deval pathrick talks about his life. william cohen shares his

insights on "money and power." you can now access our programming time with the c-span radio iphone app. you can also listen to our signature interview programs. download it for free from the app store. weekend, experience american history on c-span3. hear first-person accounts from people who have shaped the modern america on oral history. travel to important battlefields to learn about key figures and events. every weekend, visit college classrooms across the nation as

professors tell them to america's past. and the presidency. american history tv on c-span3, all we can come every weekend. get our complete schedules online and sign up to have them e-mailed to you. >> "washington journal" continues. host: bob latta is our guest. he is a republican of ohio. he's here to talk about a lot of different issues. let me begin with speaker boehner's speech last night. "politico" frames it like this. "it is a risky proposition that could force john boehner to accept less."

do you share that concern? guest: first and foremost, we need to do something about the debt ceiling. the president thinks we're going to of a clean bill. i think that is fantasy. if you look at the polling theyrs, they are seeaying want a massive reductions in federal spending. host: are you standing behind your leader, speaker boehner? will you also require $2 trillion in spending cuts? guest: i was stuck in an airport coming back, so i did not hear the speech. the number one thing is that we do not have spending reductions. over the last several years, under speaker pelosi, with $5 trillion added to the national debt, we need to continue on with that. host: it sounds like you're not ready to go as far as the speaker did last night. guest: without having exactly what the speaker said -- the

people back home say we cannot keep passing this down to our kids and their kids. the top thing you have to do is reduce the spending. i'm not exactly sure what the speaker said his numbers were. he needs to set the bar somewhere. if you look back at the presidents several years ago -- it was irresponsible to raise the debt ceiling. we'll have to do something. i think the american people understand that we will have to do something with the debt ceiling. at the same time, we cannot keep business as usual. host: if the debt ceiling number what trillion, if that's congress comes up with, and then you have $2 trillion to go along with that, how you do that in two years? >>guest: first and foremost, go

back to the 2008 level. that's when all the massive spending started with stimulus and bailouts tear get you have to take those numbers back to we set8 and that's where the base. host: "politico" says without changes to medicare, it may be hard to reach boehner's goal of trillions in spending cuts. should medicare be on the table as part of the debt ceiling vote? guest: the budget we came out with several weeks ago, first and foremost, we said we have to save medicare. the projections are that by the end of the decade, medicare will be broke and we cannot have that happen. we said that first and foremost, we want to make sure that anybody 55 and older would -- we would protect everything they have right now under medicare and we have to make sure that

the net generation can have something after that. if we do not people -- though not understand this. they understand the out-of- control spending. when i'm speaking to people, one of the questions i asked people -- do you believe your kids will have a better future than you have? 50 people or 100 people, i rarely have one or two people raise their hands. people back home understand this and they want washington to do something now. host: you voted for paul ryan's budget, which is a tenured to 12 year plan -- and-year to 12-year plan. can you cut without looking at medicare? guest: you have to start going back and looking at where the baseline is. a lot of people think that we can do things by sleight of hand

sometimes. you cannot. you have to lead a true, honest discussion with the american people. how can we get this thing under control? if we do not, -- again, you have to go back to the 2008 number. look at the massive spending we have from 2008 forward. we have 24% increases for a lot of the federal budgets across the board for the last two cycles. that is untenable. it's also untenable to say that some of them got over 80% increases. host: is that something you can agree to, if the debt ceiling vote came along the levels of 2008? guest: that's what we're talking about. go back to 2008 levels. that is where the massive spending increases occurred. host: how far does that get you? guest: if you go back to what we

were spending during speaker policy -- you are looking at $5 trillion increase over four years during speaker pelosi. host: republicans are split on the medicare plan put out by paul ryan. what did you hear when you were home over the last break about this? guest: i come from the largest agricultural district in the state of ohio and i represent the second-largest manufacturing district in the state of ohio. the people i represent -- i heard one thing -- gas prices. it is taking every extra dollar out of a lot of people's pockets. i spoke to a gentleman the other day who said he was filling up his car. he saw a woman who was filling

up her car. he went in and paid for her. she came out and tried. she said that now she had money to get through the next week. a lot of people are living hand to mouth right now. fuel prices are one of the big concerns right now. host: you introduced new legislation last week. what would your bill do to reduce the price of the pump? guest: this is almost like deja vu all over again. we were talking about this in 2008. the american people said we had to do something. and then we had the financial crisis occur later in the year and some things they did off when we were talking about gasoline and oil. i think gas prices per barrel went up over $5 per barrel yesterday at one time. we have to do several things.

one, we have to get -- the president -- the permit moratorium in the gulf of mexico. you cannot cut off everything that he saw going on in the gulf. we have to get these permitting processes going to we have to make sure that folks can get leases. we have to make sure these lawsuits that come on the leases -- we cannot have those things going on. we need to make sure we have oil refinery capacity. if we produce more oil but you do not have any place to refine it, it is worthless. host: bob latta is our guest, republican of ohio.

we are talking about the debt ceiling, the economy, and gas prices related to the economy. on your legislation, how do you streamline the process for these permits in the outer continental shelf? are you jettison in the reviews that were put into place after the bp oil spill? guest: we have a three-step process. one is for more risky types of permits. there is a three step process. the number one thing, we need somebody doing something. we cannot slow up the whole process. you can look at the world economy, especially with china -- the number two or the number

one consumer or user of energy -- we cannot have that. the united states has got to produce more oil so we can take care of ourselves. host: without additional reviews on these companies, can you give the american people more confidence that the american people are prepared to respond to a summer oil spill that we saw last summer? guest: through the hayward testimony in energy and commerce -- a long, long tapering we have a problem in two ways. one is from their side. also, what was going on on the federal review cypriot who was checking? who were the regulators? did they do their jobs? host: if your bill was passed tomorrow, when would the price of the pump go down? guest: it would almost be immediate. if the world started seeing that the united states is taking care of itself, then you would see the price go down. then there would be more oil on the market.

host: this about your regulation in "toledo b lade." why would they need this the taken away guest: if you look at who is out there drilling, you have the smaller companies. i think 95% of our wells are drilled by smaller companies. that is -- there are a lot of small, individuals drilling. in my home county, we used to be the area where oil was discovered. we are now finding -- yesterday, i found that they are out pumping again in my home county. host: we will keep talking about this. first, let me bring in our viewers.

leah, an independent from georgia. go ahead. caller: good morning. i would like to quickly touch on some topics with the congressman, if you can give me a moment. first, concerning the debt ceiling, you said you voted for congressman ryan's budget plan. is it not true that the numbers contained in his plan require that the debt ceiling is raised? have a new and every house republican already voted to raise the debt ceiling? secondly, when it comes to oil production, it does not matter how many leases we grant and how many how much drilling is going on because that oil does not go on the american market. it goes on the world market. how is increased drilling going to bring down oil prices? aren't these higher oil prices part of speculation? host: congressman?

guest: first and foremost, talking about paul ryan's budget, this is like the queen mary out there. we need to slow this thing down and it will not be overnight. you understand i'm looking at the graphs and charts that it will take several years to start to slow down this process before we say we can get the deficit under control and finally get the debt under control in the years to come. yes, we understood that that's going to happen. we also understand that we are looking at reducing the deficit by about $4.4 trillion over the next 10 years and also having about $2.2 trillion in reductions in spending during that period of time. if you do not drill, there will be a situation, especially in china, and yesterday in "the

wall street journal", there is a large middle class forming in china. we have to have a greater demand known as the chinese going across the globe looking for oil, especially in the middle east. we have to make sure we have oil right here in this country at the same time. host: democrat caller. caller: my house has had a significant loss in income. we made cuts. we cut out $149 worth in cable. we do not get a premium meets. when that did not work, i got another job. i think you can correct our budget problems, with no increase in revenues, but only with tax cuts and cutting programs.

i have one statement and one question. i do not know why we should trust the republicans to be doing the right thing, when you drove us into the ditch to begin with. are you aware that in 2004, president bush passed tax madams moms -- maximums of war contractors a 7%. could you collect the 16% that i pay as an impoverished american from these rich contractors? guest: if you are talking about raising taxes -- i come from ohio. if we say we will raise taxes, and i do not care on what industry, you do not to do it during this time.

i go through many companies a day, small and large. individuals put 25 years of their life into it. i ask one question. if you could give me one sentence to take back to washington, what would it be? one gentleman says tell washington to quit killing the of entrepreneur worse. entrepreneurs. of host: the argument he made about the fragility of the economy is

the same that the democrats make. right now, our economy is still weak. you cannot stop the spending to affected the economy. guest: when we payoff, it will cost $1.20 trillion. now we are talking about incentives. stimulus is a bad word. i talk to people that want job creators. we cannot raise taxes. we cannot have more of government regulations. they have looked at what has happened to the obama care legislation in the past. the federal government is not creating any jobs. we burn money down here. we have to get those dollars

back home so people can reinvest them into their communities. host: republican line. caller: we do not act like americans anymore. it is a shame. we should grow together. raising taxes is ridiculous. we are not creating jobs but losing them. guess who is raising the taxes on the rich? 47% do not pay taxes. the rich people are going to move out. i do my homework. the oil and everything else, send that money to brazil, while americans are sitting down, and they want a baby drill in alaska. we have so many resources.

host: what would your legislation do? guest: it would open it up. we went up to the north slope previously. we are looking at opening up 1.5 million acres. they are looking at only using about two dozen acres, because of the different type -- 2,000 acres, because of the different type of drilling you can do. drilling would be done during the winter months. they put these eyes roads on the tundra. we have about 200 billion

barrels of oil that is recoverable, onshore and offshore in the united states. it would last about 29 years. $1.20 -- 1.2 trillion in oil shale, we could be self- sufficient in this country. we cannot keep sending our dollars overseas. we have creditors at 4.4 trillion. one of these days, the country is going to say we are not going to buy any more american debt. we do not have to rely on someone from around the world. host: there was a second vote on raising the debt limit under democratic control. it comes around this time clean,

will you vote to know? guest: absolutely. a majority of democrats will probably vote no on something like that. one of the greatest things i get to do is go to schools and to talk to kids. 50 to 100 kids are standing out there. they will have the same opportunity that my generation has had. it is not what you did for us but to us. host: here is a question for you. do republican leaders bring a cola increase, especially for

seniors? guest: we have not gotten an increase. i think the first thing you need to do is look at the inflation out there. some of these reports could be checking on if prices are going up in a second area. when they are looking at it, they are not getting the right numbers out there. host: michael, independent in dc caller: i do not hear anyone talking about a solution. my solution is why don't you give china a 14 trillion worth of american real estate to pay

them back. what was put up for collateral? why don't you give $14 trillion worth of property to china? guest: it was a $4.40 trillion. we are looking at the american taxpayer paying it back. there is in good faith that we will pay these debts back. host: north carolina, a democrat line. caller: some do not want to waste taxes. they say all of these tax breaks create jobs.

trying jobwe creation to past debts -- tax breaks? host: more tax breaks for companies that create jobs? caller: right. guest: that is a good question. let's say a company says they will go in and create a certain number of jobs. we have to make sure they create it. if not, we have to give the money back. if you did not create the tax -- if you did not create them, give the money back. host: maryland. caller: when i was 63, and

uninsured drunken driver hit me. i was on medicaid. when i turned 65, they put me on medicare. i pay $97 a month. i have a copayment on all of my prescriptions. if i go to a doctor other than my primary, i have to pay copayment. why? when you say you are going to help seniors. i live on less than $700 a month. my sons have to help me. guest: the medicare problem is -- program is for seniors. we are working on legislation that passed out of the house. we want to make sure they aren't guaranteed under the program. if we do not to do anything by the end of this decade, we will

have a program that is broke. so security will be probed by the year 2027. we need to make sure these programs are around for the future. host: here is an e-mail. [unintelligible] guest: know, we will not. i have two solar plants in my district. i can see it from my backyard from bowling green, ohio. when you look at the manufacturing base that i have

in the midwest, we have to have a base load capacity. that is when a plant turns on its machines and they will be going on. it comes from coal, natural gas, and nuclear. if you look at automobiles out here, if we had battery cars, how would we charge them up? some would have to be plugged in, into an outlet. it will take some time. we will work toward that. host: a congressman tim bishop was on the show talking about his legislation, which was big oil welfare of repeal act. here is what he had to say. >> it would repeal one of the

tax credits that the oil companies enjoyed that are impossible to justify. it would repeal the domestic manufacturing past credits, which allows the oil companies to reduce their income prior to assessing their tax liability by as much as 9%. these subsidies were first put in place in 2004. it was less per gallon than it is now. even president bush said once oil hits $50 a barrel, it could justify the subsidy. . a recently retired president of dutch oil said the same thing. this is something we need to do. it would save the taxpayer billions of dollars each year. host: what about his argument?

guest: who is helping? host: the top five under his legislation. guest: you raise taxes where we need more commodity on the market. we look at things differently. it is an area that consumes a lot of energy. we look on the amount of energy in on these plans. plant managers are among those asked these questions. some drive 50 miles one way to work at a factory. we will tell these companies, we will put more taxes on you or do something else.

it is a real problem. host: michigan, and jack, independent. caller: i would like to make comments and then as a question. they talk about putting everything on the table. why not tort reform or subsidies to special interests? gas companies or oil drilling companies. why don't they do something there? host: republicans say everything is on the table but then take tax breaks for oil companies off the table. guest: i am not sure what he went by tort reform. we need to make sure that we have -- that we expedite these

lawsuits said they do not drag on year after year. that would speed things up and make the process faster and cleaner. and should we be drilling and are able to get out there? caller: why do we do our taxes a little bit different? there is the alternative minimum tax. why isn't business, especially big business also liable to such a question on their tax returns? guest: i do my own taxes. i get to that part on the program and he watched the

number in the top go in the wrong direction as it calculates what the amp is. when you look at the business taxes, how much will get passed on. -- passed on? we will have to increase prices to people who buy whatever they produce. at the same time, we have to pay more in taxes. so i cannot hire five more people, so we will have a tougher economy. business taxes are passed through to the end user. what ever you buy from them, you will pay a higher tax for them. host: fairfax, va., welcome to

the conversation. caller: if they spend as much money on traffic enforcement as they do on sec enforcement, that would probably take care of the deficit, wouldn't it? guest: that is a good question. we are holding hearings to find out job creation. a lot of it is the regulatory side. when you look at the regulations the epa has imposed on businesses and communities, it is slowing things down. we have to get that under control. we want to make sure we have clean air, water, and a certain limit that you cannot go higher that you will not get any benefit from it.

businesses in my area, the regulations imposed on them by the federal government are preventing them from going out in creating jobs and putting more people back to work. these are ongoing. i hear three things from my constituents. the taxes, regulation, and obama care legislation. you can also throw in gas prices. host: democrat, south gate, michigan. caller: my wife just got a job here a few months ago. she is half an hour away from the job. we have lost so many jobs in this area downriver that people

have to drive to get jobs. she cannot afford to go to work. the pay is so low and the fuel is so high. a previous caller mentioned fuel, the price of fuel. is the price because of speculation? guest: you have to look at the overall picture. when we should have been producing to get ahead of this curve, we did not do anything. when you look at the chinese becoming either the no. 1 or no. two consumer of energy in the world, there is going to be greater demand out there.

oil is used for gasoline, petrochemicals. there is great demand across the world for these things. until we start producing more oil in this country, and gas prices will go up. the worst i saw at home is $4.15 back in 2008. we broke that a weeks ago at $4.16. host: here is a headline in the wall street journal.

would your legislation have safety measures included in it to deal with chemicals, methane gas, etc. getting into the drinking water? guest: anything we do, we want to make sure it is done safely. the population is expanded. it is not like it was 100 years ago. it is spread out. host: in this story, here is what the last paragraph says. host wyoming. caller: i live in a republican

oriented place in our nation. you know wyoming, don't you? guest: i have been there once. host: are you still there? caller: i live in carbon county, was ailing. it is a rich in natural gas. most of the oil is gone now. there is a refinery nearby. this is what has happened where i live in an energy producing county. the economy is based on energy production, mainly natural gas. the population has fallen here. since 2000, a boom occurred in the final years of the bush and

administration. host: we are running out of time. can you get your point? caller: i live in an energy producing part of our country. people are still broke and out of work here. the unemployment rate is high. the population has decreased because people have left. how can i believe anything that you say about energy production? guest: we should find other uses for natural gas. look in the metropolitan area. one thing is how you get the product out. we can run ever buses and taxicabs and light trucks in doing delivery so that they only

have to refuel once a day and run on natural gas. we can find other uses for it. host: republican, texas. caller: it must be difficult to be in congress now to keep up the good fight. i give the speaker and a for his leadership. we need his leadership in government during these difficult times. we had time frames where we ran into financial constraints. the president of our company would say we will cut 10% across the board in every department. if anyone has a problem with it, let me know, and we will have some one step in and take up the reins.

i think it is time for leadership at the top. someone has to take a stand. even though democracy is complicated and complex, it is the best form of government in the world. i am optimistic that we can solve these problems. guest: families understand that you have to tighten the belt. when times are better, you do not. the federal government does not have -- there is not a constraint on the final -- federal government. i think 49 of the states have something in their constitution that you have to have a balanced budget. we had to go in there and start cutting when our budget was not

balanced. nobody can say notion washington, because there is no constraint. host: ohio. caller: i have a comment for the representative latta and a question. the natural gas, for the methane getting into the drinking water, he said that he was going to have legislation bidding regulations to the builders to make sure the drinking water is safe. he commented earlier that the

companies were complaining about the fact that there is too much regulation already. how can the representative come out and say we are raising taxes on corporations and those that are very wealthy, when we are not raising them. we are asking them to start paying what they are supposed to be paying? guest: there is a streets -- 3 step process in our legislation. there are some that may be more risky and have to meet a higher standard. there is a difference on the question of taxes in this country. 53% paying taxes, 47% not.

we have to go back and say what are we really doing in this country? who is running this country? is the people not the federal government. i have a voting card in my wallet. it is the most expensive credit card in my wallet. it is not my money, but your money. many say i have this great idea. they get their companies going. we will say to these people, great job and then take money away from it. then the same people say i am not going to do anything else. i am not going to hire anybody else.

some say i worked so hard to get where i am at. i would like to get a profit out of its. in washington, the word profit has become a dirty word. host: thanks for talking with us. up next, we turn our attention to immigration policy and obama's speech later on today. here is an update on c-span radio. >> 32 past the hour eastern. the house speaker will be marked -- will say tax cuts are off the table. he said he does not think congress can take money from someone who would invest in our economy and hand it over to the government. he commented on u.s. and pakistani relations after the

death of osama bin laden. there are questions over what pakistani snail or did not know about osama bin laden being in the country. the speaker said he thinks pakistan has been a real asset on the war on terrorism. pakistani officials say u.s. missiles have killed three of budget militants along the afghan border. it is the second missile strike since the raid last week that killed osama bin laden. >> this june on "in depth" the balance between security and liberty. the limits on international law. your questions and comments for eric posner. he will take your calls, emails, and tweets. that is on book tv, sunday, june

5. >> every morning, "washington journal" our live call-in program connecting you to officials, politicians, and journalists. also supreme court oral arguments. on the weekend, see our signature interview program. saturday, the communicators, and a sunday, newsmakers, q&a, and prime minister -- prime minister questions from the house of commons. you can see this on our c-span video library. c-span, washington your way, created by -- as a public service by cable companies. host: lillian rodriguez lopez joins us from new york office morning.

we will talk about president obama's speech today. let me begin with the "washington times". debates about to restart on the mexican border. some say the president's campaign on the promise that he will put forth an emigration bill says that he has so far failed. do you agree or disagree? guest: i wish the president had started with the immigration legislation before we went to health care reform. i think that took a lot more time than the administration expected. there was a promise to start with immigration reform. there has been a lot of conversation and debate. we still have time if the

political will is there. the political will in the care given the importance of the issue into the communities impacted by it. host: a congressman has been saying that it is not going to happen when it comes to immigration reform. the you disagree? guest: i think there is enough time. i have a lot of respect for congressman gutierrez. i have found his counsel and guidance. we need to push forward. it is one of the most pressing issues that we have. we have a lot of people not doing well because we do not have immigration reform addressed at the dream act and addresses of jobs and salaries and the unfairness in the system.

i understand what the congressman is saying, but it is my job to keep pushing. host: if there is no deal before the 2012 election, what will the impact before president obama at the ballot box? guest: it remains to be seen. there are a lot of people upset. they want immigration reform to go through congress. it is not just on the president, but it is also on congress and both parties, particularly the republican party. in december, the dream act, it was very disappointing. some democrats did not vote on it. overwhelmingly, it was voted down by the republican party. everyone is responsible to rally around this issue.

everyone must react. not just the latino community but other immigration communities must react to push the debate forward. host: some are calling on the president to halt the deportation. is this what hispanic voters need to see before the election? guest: that is true. others have called on the president to use his executive authority to stop deportations and give some administrative believe. we know it is not the complete answer. it will not solve the entire equation around immigration reform. it would give immediate relief to the most needy, particularly the dram act students -- dream act students, one of the key constituents.

we support that. we asked the president to continue to consider that. all of this has repercussions in the elections. it is more than just the immigration committee. it affects the latino community in some anyways when you think about the hate crimes, the anti- latino legislation that seems to be coming up across the country that has been so harmful to some many communities. host: president obama has pulled hispanic americans -- been polled on support from despair -- hispanic americans. it has dropped by almost 50%.

guest: i do not think the president would be usurping congress' authority. he has had a series of meetings and spoke in miami dade last weekend. i think he has been very clear that he wants congress to take action. he has been trying to push them through a bipartisan solution. in the absence of that current activity at the congressional level -- he can take it at this time if he believes it is important. it does not solve everything. but with the undocumented students born -- brought here as

a young child, if you're under the age of 15, you should be entitled to an opportunity to pursue higher education. we are graduating about 65,000 of those students every year. host: there are recent numbers on the unauthorized population. there was a peak of 12 million in 2007. it is now at 11 million. it is about 5% of the labor force. let me ask you about the 11 million figure that some are talking about right now. they say it is not the front burner issue that it once was. we see this unauthorized immigrant population go down.

guest: i do not know how you can discount 11 million people and say that it is not a front burner issue. people are returning to their countries of origin. the economy has been difficult in the united states in a globally as well. i think that has 1 impact. there have been more border security measures. you have to be careful about the number. 11 million people living in the united states seeking opportunities here and asylum and a better life. host: is deportation working? it is the 11 million number reflective of deportation? guest: in certain respects, let's talk about the

deportation. it has been difficult. there have been many individuals, hundreds of thousands that have been unfairly targeted for deportation. i go back to the dream act, where young people have been taken out of the country, we turned to homelands. they do not know. they grew up here. deportation has identified some convicted felons returned to their countries of origin. that is not the majority of people here. it is not reflected in the 11 million. it is not reflective of the 800,000 that have been deported. we should have comprehensive immigration reform that really looks at some of the key elements surrounding the dream so we can make sure we are

getting all of the outcomes that we want. at the end of the day, let's think about the the the immigrants in this country paying property taxes, income taxes. they have dollars going into the social security system. they do provide purchasing power and a substantial labor pool that we require in this country. we need to have immigration reform so that it is a carefully thought out. we need to be very strategic on the way we do things in this country and the way we view community. the immigrant community is important. host: lillian rodriguez lopez is our guest. we are talking about the speech that president obama will be

giving on immigration policy today. that is going to be at 3:30 p.m. eastern time, live coverage on c-span 3. what specifically do you want him to say today? guest: i want him to be very forceful, about what we value as a country and called for congress to move on immigration reform legislation this here in this congress. i think it is critically important for this country. we cannot ignore the 11 million people living here. the dream act legislation will be reintroduced on wednesday. we have another opportunity. we do not always get it right, but we have the opportunity to come back and try to get it right. the president has really been

raising the volume, talking to stakeholders, business communities. he is calling on leaders from all different communities, trying to get people to understand that now that we have health care reform, there needs to be active immigration reform. host: who will introduce the dream at the legislation on wednesday? guest: i think it will be senator durbin. there are 27 co-sponsors. i do not have the names right now. [inaudible] we need to really look at who are the elected officials and legislatures -- legislators

blocking these important pieces of a lot. -- law. we need to think about critical issues. immigration reform is one. we care about jobs, the economy, health care, education, economic development. you cannot leave something so important just sitting there as if it were not affecting lives. it is affecting lives every day. it affects my life. host: household? how so? guest: i was in a state in the southwest and someone asked me when i arrived. i said three days ago. he said no when did you arrive

in the country? i set up wholly arrive before you did. there is -- i probably a rirrivd before you did. there is bias and discrimination. that is not who we are as a country. that is why immigration reform is so important. we have to embrace our values again. we are all here because of the energy come innovation, and creativity of all of the immigrants that came in. this is not a latino issues. there are immigrants coming in from asia, europe, from all around the world. some documented and undocumented from our country. when you think about the history

of the latino community, the mexican american community was here in the 1800's. the porter rican community was here in the 1870's. people have invested in the american fabric and should have opportunities to be recognized valued.i host: 60% of the total population, a 43 per -- 16% of the total population, a 43% growth since 2000. republican line. caller: i am a bilingual

caucasian 36-year-old american citizen. i feel it is important to be bilingual with a neighboring country of mexico and having our neighbors here. it is no surprise that this country is in economic dire straits. that is especially down here in california, los angeles, san diego. we have a severe flood of chicanos from mexico because of the situation down there. i believe why they are coming. they want opportunities. they have a passion to promote this. there is such a severe flood coming in. how are we going to pay for it either? how are the health and social services. to be paid for?

-- going to be paid for? maybe there should be a tax or insurance and maybe sponsor states to have immigrants come to different parts of the country. you cannot get a good mexican food in kansas. guest: they are paying into different systems. they are not pulling money out of security. they are not pulling taxes out of the state of -- state or federal system. immigration reform has taken border security as the first step. the president and the administration has done a lot to secure the border around california, arizona, texas.

janet napolitano has talked about the fact that they have been able to put measures in. let me go back to the economic impact. they are paying into the system. if we help legalize people, we did a couple of good things. we do not have the cheap labor and wages. we do not allow people to be exported. we integrated them into the system. i know what it is to pay in taxes and other programs. regarding health care, we did something i was not happy with. i've wanted undocumented immigrants to buy into health care changes. -- health insurance. it would have helped to stop the

overwhelming cost of health care. we have been in a global crisis with the economy. it is felt all around the world. this was not caused by the undocumented population in the united states. it was caused by other factors relating to banking and the market crisis. we did not have a strong enough domestic policy over the past eight years. i think we have learned a lesson as a country to deal with domestic programs and maintain safety nets and the things we have to watch out for here. host: independent line, new jersey. caller: i find giving illegal

aliens amnesty is wrong. who is one to pay me the $300,000 that illegal aliens have cost may the last three years in the construction business? my local tax is going up here. and documents -- undocumenteds do not belong here. [inaudible] host: where does the 300,000 figure come from? caller: increase in cost of work

in compensation because illegals are not covered. margaret continue to go up along with everything else. -- my rates continue to go up along with everything else. guest: no one has suggested that there should be an amnesty program. all of the major proposals that have been put forth in washington, d.c. have included a long waiting time frame, fines, a lot of requirements on any individual that wants to become a legal resident of the united states. there have been conversations about what do we do when you have 11 million undocumented immigrants? are you going to deport all of these people? there is also a concern on how

we allow people to come into the country. that is part of the larger conversation and picture. regarding the other issues he raised, that is why we need to make people legal so we can put them into all of the remarks that exist around health, safety, insurance, and the things we think are important relating to business in this country. we cannot have it both ways. we cannot say we do not want them here but we want the labor, we do not want the labor. host: south carolina, democrats line. caller: i think the biggest problem with the -- getting immigration policy passed -- i am for america.

where does the law enforcement fit in at? wants to giveect people things that our children do not qualify for such as in state tuition and things like that. the biggest problem is people are marching through our streets [unintelligible] how do you demand something when you break into someone's country? guest: i am the mother of a daughter that is a freshman in college. i understand the high cost of educating someone and having a

college graduate in this country. most all of the dream at students were born here when they were at an age where they were not in control. for the most part, they do not know any other country but the united states, because they were born here so young. as it relates to access and resources for college education, these students account for 2% of the college eligible students we have in this country. on the in-state tuition, everyone should be entitled to it. we have it in new york. other states have been looking into it aggressively. the issue is keeping them out of that. our kids can get in the state

tuition if they are a resident of the state. studies have proven that a college graduate earned $1 million more in terms of their average life earnings than other students. i think we want students in this country that are able to be high potential earners and keep us globally competitive. we also need to be globally competitive in terms of industries, population, a lot of things that we care about, even military presence. if they are not in college, they need to do military service. that is one of the proposals that was out there. either you are studying or serving this country. host: unpaid hospital tabs.

that is the story on one page today. caller: i recently a couple of years got diagnosed as bipolar, so since i did not have insurance i have to go to the county hospital, and i notice while i was there that 60% of the people are illegal aliens in do not have any english on them. i went because i have been unemployed, i went to get food stamps, the majority of the

people getting food stamps are illegal aliens. host: how you know that? -- how do you know that? they have to get someone who speaks spanish to fill out the form. evidence is in your eyes is they do not speak english? forer: the laws are there their protection. that takes away from the schools. teachers are having to spend more time with students to do not speak english. i have been out of school long time. they are replacing water pipes in our neighborhoods. host: i think we got your point. the issue of not speaking english. guest: i want to say clearly i

live in a global city. first of all, i am sorry about your illness, but the fact that people do not speak english fluently or are more comfortable speaking in their native language does not mean they are here illegally. if you came to new york you would find you have hundreds of languages that are spoken. people have been here for decades. they are here illegally and are speaking italian, arab, chinese. it is just their language of comfort. i believe in bilingualism as well, but it is not an indicator. trust me, it is not an indicator of being an american citizen. my bike -- my grandmother died at 89 into like to speak in spanish, and she was an american citizen. -- and she liked to speak in

spanish, and she was an american citizen. caller: for the past 200 years, every immigrant that has come here there has been racism by the rich and multinational corporations that are coming here, taking our resources and wetlands and everything else, destroying them. how will we have enough food for 360 million people of multinational corporations are born to be raping our lands, killing our fish, destroying the economy, and then blaming it on the poor and minorities? this country has been run by white people for over 200 years. they have destroyed the presidency when push came in office. cheney made a deal with the arabs. we need to stick together is a multinational that has immigrants coming here.

we are a shining beacon on the planet. and hosguest: moving on to new . go ahead. caller: i take offense with undocumented. they are illegal. i do not think undocumented workers, students come anything should have anything that the u.s. citizen does not. i do not care what color they are, whether they are pink, purple or whatever. host: what do you mean, have what u.s. citizen does not have? caller: i mean the dream act. everyone is responsible for their own actions. host: what would they be getting that u.s. citizens do not get? caller: they do not get in state

tuition or anything else of they are not qualified. host: let's clarify what the dream act is. guest: the dream act creates an opportunity to actually attend college. they will not give federal support for it, it just means they can attend state universities. they can already attend a private universities, but they are not subsidized in those settings. what really happens is when they graduate -- i want to be really clear about this, because i think this is critically important. you have dream act students other self-educating. they are going to school and paying for their tuition. this is about the fact that when they graduate they cannot get jobs because they are not a legal status. the gentleman when he talked about in-state tuition, he confused the issue a little bit.

this is about creating a path for citizenship for these students to have been here since they were very young. if they graduate, and many of them do on their own with their own success stories, they are unable to get a job because they are undocumented. that is what we are really talking about. giving them away to grow into legal status. it would not happen overnight. it is not an amnesty. it is just humane. if i were taken from here to another country when i was two or three-years old, yes it is the action of my parents, but i am a human being. we have to treat people with human dignity and humanity everyone them to prosper and be productive in life. steve is watching in

maryland. an independent. caller: i totally have no issue with people wanting opportunity and coming to the united states, but there is a very clear process on how to do that. and i just want to know and deal with the 11 million illegal immigrants. how can you or your organization provoke it is ok for these people to break the law and expect to still gained the respect of an american citizen? guest: steve, i am not promoting the people break any law. we have 11 million people here who have come from all over the world looking for better opportunities. what i am asking for is congress and the president, and i was asking not just president obama, but president bush before him to

look at the scenarios, look at the framework for immigration policy in this country and to make a decision to be definitive how we're going to integrate those people into the fabric of this country, or i think it would be really a possible -- hostile to think we're going to deport 11 million people. the other thing that people do not realize is a lot of time people to enter the country illegally. -- to enter the country a leagulegally. what i am asking for is all of the great minds we have and the leaders in washington, including the former president who attempted in 2006 and the current president, to come up with a viable solution that does not leave this group of people

in a limbo status as they are now. we are not going to support them, and i think we need to understand as a country, just like there are other scenarios that we do not appreciate around health care or what happened in the banking industry, but we do not say let's take homes away from every single person, we say we have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, use our best minds and come up was solutions to move this country forward. this is one of the other critical issues. a're talking about promoting fair immigration policy that stabilizes this population of people, and in addition to stabilizing them, the border security and border control. host: president obama will have a speech at 3:30 eastern time.

live coverage on c-span. kathleen, a democrat in michigan. your up next. go ahead. caller: good morning. i was listening with interest. there are two ways to look at this. you are either left here legally or e legally. -- you are either here legally or illegally. if you are here illegally, go back. it is really quite simple. you gloss over every time someone says the legal, but it has to be that way. we cannot keep going across the border. host: what about this notion of just going back? guest: i have a problem right now with having kathleen equate people coming here, crossing the

border, looking for more opportunities with murder. i was taken back with that comparison. i understand they have come in, some legally and have gone out of status. they are here. what we do know what to do lose come up with a viable solution for integrating people into this country and securing the borders. i have not heard one member of congress say that he wants to look to deport all 11 million people. it is not a solution. host: what is the economic impact of that? guest: the economic impact, i cannot even remember the numbers that were stated at one point in the hundreds of millions of trying to take everyone in deport them.

the other thing is now you also have mixed families. you have people who have married u.s. citizens, have children that are u.s. citizens. this is also on multi-cultural, multi global, multiracial united states. we would also be tearing families apart. again, it is a very complex issue. if it is your son who was married to someone who came here as a guest worker or student visa and stayed here out of status because they fell in love, and now it is your grandchild, would you do it the same way or differently? host: there are four questions that need to be answered on this issue. i just want you to answer one of them, that is what requirements

will illegal immigrants have to meet in order to be on the path toward citizenship? guest: part of the discussion has been awaitintehe waitin g period. we would hope you could do of between eight to 10 years. the other thing is there has been conversation about paying to the and fines government for being here. there is some conversation about whether or not people could pay back taxes. once you have the waiting time, the fines, civil penalties, and then some discussion about the whole issue of taxes, i think that is a program that could

conceivably be workable. i do not think it touchback provision works for communities. we do not have good immigration laws, and it takes a very long time to move in and out. that is what we are really dealing with. people do not leave their loved ones because there are static about leaving their families back home. they are doing it because there is pretty much desperate. host: 1 last phone call from texas. caller: having lived in dallas, texas, since 1969 and witnessing firsthand the devastation brought to the stake by the inflows of the illegal aliens i have to say i am entirely unsympathetic to them or other cause for amnesty. i think the 11 million figure that gets thrown about so often is bogus. i think there that many in

california alone. the total number is probably closer to 38 million. we should reinstate president eisenhower's operation wetback and deport as many of them as we can. host: let me ask you before we go about republican support for some sort of immigration reform bill. who could support that type of bill in the senate? guest: at some point we were hearing lindsey gramm was a supporter. we are still looking to see. i also heard kay bailey hutchison who was looking closely at the idea of developing this nation around immigration reform. i want to make sure that all of the viewers and listeners are very clear that this is a two- pronged approach.

we need to have immigration policy and have immigration reform, but it is being coupled with border control and border security that this administration has taken very seriously so you have a lot more border agents, border task forces, a lot of infrastructure and technology. crime rates are down around the southwest borders in el paso and austin and a lot of other cities. they have 100% preview on anything that moves in or out of this country through the mexico/u.s. border. there is a lot but is being done around border control, and you also have a record number of deportation. if people are found to be convicted criminals or commit a crime, they are being taken out of the u.s., but we do have to remember who we are as a

country, and what our dennises was, and that it is important to really look at this issue properly and with less fear and quite frankly less a motion. host: share of the national hispanic leadership agenda thank you for your time. coming up next army corps of engineer will take your questions about their response to the rising flood levels. first, a news update from c-span radio. >> more on immigration. today a federal judge hears arguments on a new utah law that lets police checked the citizenship status of any one day arrest. to civil rights groups are suing to stop the law. they say the law is modeled after an arizona law currently before the federal courts and that the implementation could lead to racial profiling. president obama talking about

immigration reform today in texas. you can hear his remarks later on c-span radio. smart phone tracking devices the subject of a senate hearing this morning. the hearing is scheduled after researchers revealed last month phoneshones and andrew forintod for keeping track of users' locations. the number of people the fbi targeted with national security letters more than doubled last year to more than 14,000. the letters allow the bureau to collect sensitive information. the letters are controversial because there is north korea's sovereignty of the process. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> this june, the balance between security and liberty. the difficulties of the climate change treaty in the difficulties of international

law. your questions for eric posey there. -- eric posner. >> every weekend experience american history. 48 hours of people and events telling the american story. hear first-person accounts of people who have shaped america's history. travel to important battlefields to learn about key figures and events that shaped an era during the 150 anniversary of the civil war. every weekend visit college classrooms as professors delve into america's past. the presidency, focusing on americans president's policies

and legacies as told through historic speeches and personal insights. american history tv on c-span3. get the complete schedule online and scheduled to have them e- mailed to you using c-span alert. host: we are back with the contingency director at the army corps of engineers. here to take your questions about the rising mississippi river. the latest from the national weather service this morning is that the mississippi river has crested at around 48 feet. what is the situation on the ground right now? guest: i am with the u.s. army corps of engineers and homeland security, so that is looking at all of the disaster support throughout this country in the contingency support to the battlefield.

so we're really busy right now. besides that, and i will talking about the flooding in the second, we have a lot of people that were impacted by the tornadoes that came through this of the few weeks ago. we have people on the ground that are working in alabama for debris and temporary housing. we have completed a temporary power mission and processed and sent those folks back home. we had a very wide scale water distribution center. we completed that over the weekend. we have a lot of the citizens that are trying to deal with the aftermath of the tornado for quite some time. let's talk about the flooding. this year has been an an ordinary year. the missouri river, and most recently the ohio, tennessee, mississippi. we have had in those rare verve

valleys as much as six times the amount of precipitation in normally get at this time of year. the last couple of weeks with over 6% normal precipitation, there is a lot of water. all of these river systems are connected and work together, so we have a big system of reservoirs, lock and dams, levees, flood walls that we look at between us and other federal agencies, partners in the states. everyone working together to say what can we do to deal with the best we can this incredible amount of water that is coming through? last night i just got back from a couple days in the ohio river valley looking at what we're doing to help the local people in kentucky. we were over in illinois. it is just amazing the way these

communities are all working together on these active efforts with the state and federal partners to deal with this the best they can. it's just really strikes me every time i am out and see what our communities do. to the we're hearing the news this morning that the water has crested. -- host: we are hearing the news this morning that the water has crested. what does that mean? guest: the crest means the highest stage that is predicted by the national weather service. it will take a while for it to go back down, because there is a lot of water. host: how long? guest: we do not know. it could be the next few weeks of a possibly into june before it starts to recede. the reason is the river is so full right now, and these backwaters that normally dream into the river, they have

dreamed very slowly. but we are looking at probably going into june would still high water levels. the good news is the crest has passed memphis. host: our folks in the clear or are the folks downstream need to be concerned about what happens next? guest: the folks downstream are watching it very closely. the crest will still have to vicksburg.xper i looked at the prediction for this morning, and the crest in new orleans, that crest is expected on the 23rd of may at 19.5 feet, which is a pretty high crest for that area. it we look across the whole system cover we're seeing real low as we have not seen since the flood of 1927. in memphis the crest today is

half a foot below the historic level. >> what are the worst-case scenarios as the water continues downstream? guest: there is a system along the main stem of the mississippi river. we have several opportunities to influence or to reduce the amount of flooding that can occur. the first of one of those is the old river structure that is always open. there is a control structure and an artillery structures. it is a flood way. we had to open that up last week to allow some relief to that system. the third one is the one that is outside new orleans between new orleans and baton rouge. that is putting fresh water into the salt water basin. we started opening that up yesterday morning.

the last time we opened it was in 2008. normally we brought that up -- we opened up roughly every seven years. i just went to alaska and just went to washington, so i was down there the last time we opened it. host: when you open these up, what does that mean for the folks that live around them? guest: 41 a carry, the saarland's we own. there is no flooding the the cause to people by opening of bonnie carrie. -- for bonnie carrie. the next one we're looking at closely is organza. it is also a flood way. that is below that larouche. -- baton rouge.

that is a correlation to go to rain. if you have a host of its richest, fishing camps, they may or may not be above the water. this would prevent baton rouge and new orleans from being flooded. this is a flood plain. the last time we opened up organza was in 1973. we do not use a very often. host: when will that decision be made? guest: general walsh is the commander on the ground. he is gathering all of the engineering data and talking with our folks in with the governor and so forth, and based on the engineering data and the

river flows, he will make the decision. he has not made the decision yet. what we're doing is letting people know this could happen. we have put out inundation maps. besides from organza, there are areas outside the area that will be flooded anyway. we want to let them know they could have a lot of water. host: can people follow your decision making on the facebook page? guest: yes. it is being kept up-to-date. you can get real time reports of what is going on, the decision making, as it is happening, maps, projections. i cannot emphasize enough that people need to listen to local officials. if they give evacuation orders, people need to follow it. >> the evacuation orders are given by the states, by the locals. they are the ones that make the decisions.

>> operation watershed 2011. it is linked on our website. we have the director of contingency operations for the army corps. we're talking about their response to the mississippi floods. we are dividing the phone lines east-central in mount pacific. and we of a special line for those impacted by the floods. a lain in tacoma, washington. -- elaine in tacoma, washington. and caller: i would like to say this is what they did to westering trucking to train appeared and they actually destroyed the levy in some of the same ways they're doing now, and you see what happened with that's when they try to pick winners and losers. i do not support that. i think it is kind of malicious on the people that would be

getting the short end of the stick. my second comment is i think this is the tha hand of god at work. this is ridiculous. host: what about the decision to blow up levees? there was resistance when you blew up a levee last monday. what goes into that decision? guest: it is so hard to make decisions like that. that is a flood way we bit -- built in the early 1930's and had three sections of the levies that were designed to be removed if they had to. we actually pumped elected -- liquid explosive in to remove those parts of the levee. we purchased easements for 70 years knowing that at one time we could have to remove parts of

the levies to allow the flow way to be flooded. there were 103,000 acres that were flooded, but in doing that, 2.5 million acres that were not. it is all by relieving the system. what happens to the lands that were flooded, do they get compensated? guest: i am an engineer. there are very complicated legalities. the federal government is looking at that to say what type of competition would be available. >> under what law is the army corps also rise to blow up a levee? we say blow up a levee, but what we're really do is offering a levy as a flood plan. it is no design we have miles of pipeline through the levee. we physically removed part of the levee.

as far as the authorities, there are several authorities. the core of engineer has authority. there is the flood control act of 1937 at. there are numerous flood control act. the mississippi river commission that was established in 1879 where the authority is with the chief of engineers and the mississippi river commission, and in this case general walls. we're looking at all of the engineering considerations as well as the river stages and the gauges of all of that, there is a very deliver decisionmaking that led to that. and i was illinois over the past couple of days, and there are always numerous sites to stories, and the folks up there were telling us why did you wait so long?

there are so many people that are impacted by this. you should have removed those sections a day or two earlier. so we have to remember there are so many people that are impacted by all of this. the lady on the phone said what other nation is giving us, which is an incredible amount of water. host: hi, my uncle walter was in charge of the levee. when he retired, he said the city fathers and real-estate people wanted to move to levy's closer to open the land up for development and tax purposes, and the army corps of engineer what have a larger budget during that. one of these days there were to find that they needed the land. that is what is happening now, they're using that land. guest: thank you for your family

service. you make a really good point in that what is real realistic floodplain management? should you allow development on they couldu know 1 very possibly be flooded. it is a hard call, and i think people get complacent and they realize -- when they realize there could be in extreme weather event. host: what is the budget for the army corps of engineers for this response in itself. do you know how much the core is spending? -- corps is spending? guest: right now we of spent around 30 million for all of the flood of flight issues.

but the amount of work is yet to come. we need to look at what needs to be restored and how do we do that? we will have to look and see what makes sense. what type of work we need to do next. right now we need to finish dealing with the flood fights. caller: as you know, as a native of new orleans we constantly look at all of these kinds of events through the prism of katrina. i myself had 10 feet of water in my house. i have been able to get my house back, but there is a great fear,

and that has not even begun to press it is the lady that is present. be hurricanes, now it is water. certainly the other areas, i think many of here selfishly are not greatly concerned that this kind of decision is the sooner rather than later, and that this is really not a political matter, but a matter that affects all of us as people, and we hope there would certainly be a greater level of corp. this time than there was with the train up. thank you for your call. i have lived in new orleans twice. i just in the past four years there. i understand the culture and how people feel and a lot of my friends and co-workers went through the same type of things

that james has. this is the u.s. army corps of the engineers, and we are engineers, so everything we do is considering the science and technology, the river stages some of the states of the levee systems -- we have to put all that together and then make the best decision we can. we work closely with the elected officials, because they need to know what we think and how we make decisions and so forth. as we go through all of that, when we mind up making a decision, it is really from the engineers. caller: good morning. the first question i wanted to ask you was i was reading an article about the army corps of engineers actually incorporating climatic change data to see whether or not our system is set up for the new climate. the of the question is that our levee system here in california

is just a disaster waiting to happen, as well as here in bakersfield. we have lake isabella and isabella is a terrible day and that is getting ready to break. -- isabella dam that is getting ready to break. guest: at one time in my career i spent several years in sacramento working in the california area as the chief of construction operations for the corps of engineers. i am familiar with the areas he mentioned. first, on climate change, one of the things that hurricane katrina told us is if we went back and completely revamped of the design standards. as we are redesigning the systems, in particular the hurricane system that is near milestone completion in new orleans, a pocket change is part

of that change as we try to project how height flood walls have to be. the second thing is, and california, which has a very intricate levee system, in some places it is very complex to figure out whether vegetation makes a difference in terms of the levy, that is another lesson we have been applauding working closely with the state of juicy up the levees need to be improved. this is really true in many. another thing we have done over the past several years is we have a very active diem safety program where we take our most critical facilities. ctive dam safety program

where we take our most critical facilities and figure out how to make them safer. we're working on that right now. host: this is the map across the stage where there are levees and the different states. we're showing our viewers california where there is quite a bit of green on the map. caller: all of the problems go back to when our decidedly smart for fathers decided to live on the river. somehow we have managed to let people build on it. i live in an area with the southern part of my town discovered by dikes. dykes. so when the water comes down, it

has no place to go other than if my area is fairly high, i do not get it. all of the surrounding areas that feed into it, the little towns get flooded because the water cannot allow the natural way. host: we will leave it there. this is a tweet -- what you think about the rebuilding and the code? guest: i think it is hard. in this case we're talking about decades of decisions. maybe the decision should have been differently at the beginning of the 1900's to restrict development, but you have people, and people make decisions about where to live. then you also have to be very cognizant of the risk. there is always residual risk of

no matter where you live. so folks need to try to get as part of the can about where to live, and the local governor since -- governance to think about development. what we're facing right now, but no matter what it is hard to make the right decisions. caller: going back for a moment to climate change. how can they calculate the legislatorsther so the uppe would have guidelines. my question is, how have these

calculations been made? guest: you asked me several questions that one time. i will speak from the u.s. army corps of engineer standpoint. as we are designing products and systems, we are using the effect of climate change as best as we can and the design criteria for that. we are putting together the cost of the program, the cost of the program and those effective climate changes are in the cost of that. so what we're asking for the upper priscian necessary to carry out the work, we of the costs included in it. host: morgan city, indiana. cynthia. caller: i am calling in about the more danza. nine times out of 10 we're going under. -- moreganza.

we do not even know about these -- host: i think we lost to there. she was referring to the spillway. what happens to her city and others? guest: there is an area within the floodway where there are structures. the governor has already been out speaking publicly for the last week, letting people know the flooding could occur, and they need to be aware of it and do a voluntary evacuation. on our facebook page we do have a of trying to project the amount of flooding that occur should we open it up. also in the area outside of this floodway with a lot of smaller towns that would be flooded anyway, but are subject to

backwater flooding. there is no place for the water to go, so it comes around. this will affect people even more. host: operation watershed 2011. caller: i was just calling because my has-been's on goal, he lives out in missouri. he lives close to the kansas. he came home on mother's day and said it was still raining out there. i was calling to find out how much damage you think it is going to do out there. host: can we predict and the damage at this point? guest: i do not think we can, but we still have high water. what the national forecast to see what the weather is quite to

do. a looks like we're in a little bit of a dry spell. the river has crested in memphis and the water is moving downturn. we're looking for a crest to occur in new orleans and baton rouge. with the amount of water that is out there, it is likely june before we see the damage is to land and people effectively. host: here is a tweet -- guest: good question. i wish i had enough money in the entire universe to do some of these things. seriously, there are ways to relieve part of the pressure on the tributaries, and that is why

we have the floodways. that is flood plain that management and action. then we have control structures. we have national flood ways. to take it across arizona would be quite a challenge. that would be totally redoing the land use of the entire country. it is not something that could be done lightly or easily. host: we are talking about the army corps is response to mississippi flooding. response top's mississippi flooding. caller: i was wondering if you said you study those levees and katrina. were there people pre-warned

down there? >guest: i did not say that, because that is not correct. i know from living in new orleans there is no lot of anxiety with what has happened with the big hurricanes in the 60's and hurricane katrina and hurricane rita, which a lot of people do not talk about. what happened with katrina is levees there were breached. that is when the storm passed, and when the flood waters give way, 75% of the watering -- the water they get through had to do with the damaged flood walls. since then, we have redone design calculations. instead of designing for a massive storm, we have rebuilt the system design for over 150 storms that have numerous tracks. there is no comparison.

some of the examples of that is the system was only partially complete. they had of 12% surge. it will take a lot of time for people to realize the benefits of the system that is in place now. we have revised our standards, and we have put a lot of resiliency in their so if they ever get it, the system will hold. getting back to the mississippi river flooding. that tributary flooding is another resilience system. those levees get over top, and their tributaries about water that feed into that that cannot drain out because the amount of water. what we're seeing is the system is resilience. we have the folks that are out there 24 hours a day. they are going up and down levees, looking for seepage, anything that could be harmless,

and together with local authorities they are beefing up and the areas where we think could be vulnerable. this is a 24-hour per day operation. we do the best we can to minimize the effect on the public. good morning. i was just thinking about pipelines where a network was run all across the united states that would divert water to the everglades and death valley and be for irrigation of fires and stuff like that. host: maria and miami, florida. go ahead. caller: i have a question. i was wondering why it if the storms come through the ocean inland, why just keep building

natituret let muggimother do it's course? guest: most of the time we're talking about topical events or hurricanes. dependent of the water temperature, the conditions of the ocean is the amount of surge or the amount of water we will see coming into a coastal area. there is a lot of things you could do to minimize the effect of that search for people who live around this. that is why you hear about elevating buildings and having floor tile in setup carpet and make sure your boarding up the windows and vents. it is a great peopplace to live

it is also making the best choices you can. host: as the water moves down to the gulf of mexico, what impact could this have on the oil spill we saw last spring? guest: first, we do not think it would have any impact. this is river flooding. the restoration efforts for the environment, for the effect of an oil spill are still going on. there is a big gulf oil restoration task force that is working in several states. they're still working on the type of projects you could do to restore some of the environmental features as a result of the oil spill. the other thing we're talking about is -- host: any concern dealing with it be washed out to the ocean? guest: no. there is a concern with the utilities and all of the refineries.

those are what you have floodways so you do not have this widespread impact to industry and people at the vader population centers and so forth. host: rock spring, mary. caller: good morning. i figured with all of the floodwaters, i figured just get one of those pipelines were all of the drought is out. host: we are talked-about that a little bit earlier. chris and indiana. go ahead. caller: my opinion is the floods that happened in mississippi, the lady made a comment earlier that she wished she had all of the money to fix all the things. well, i do, too, but we do not

have no money because it is very strange that we do not have no money, because we know where it all goes, but when we need help, do we get help? no, we do not get no help whatsoever from nobody. host: the 2011 budget request was 4.9 billion overall for the agency. i notice you are wearing a u.s. army pin. why is that? guest: i am a member of the senior executive service with the army. host: the army corps of engineer is part of the u.s. army? guest: yes. we have an incredible mission, a worldwide mission. we're basically the public works engineers in this country, but we basically work all over the mission. we support the armed forces. i deployed myself as well to iraq a few years ago.

our folks voluntarily go out into construction on the ground come on the battlefield in support of this nation. we do a lot of humanitarian assistance. we just sent folks to new zealand to help out with building buildings that were affected by the earthquake in christchurch. we decide folks that went to australia that helped with flooding measures at the airport. those are recent examples of some of the things we do. the u.s. army -- u.s. army of engineers supports the army but also the air force, lots of other departments and agencies, as well as the civil the permit we have in this country. host: there are more than 37 million so far that have been devoted to the flood fight along the mississippi river. baltimore, cynthia, go ahead. caller: i would just like to say

my heart goes out to the people who are involved in this mess that was man-made. somebody new this was happening and was going to happen down the line. how can he set up there looking like he is looking, it is disgusting. host: let's talk about as the water goes down stream, what is the army corps considering doing? levees that may need to be removed or spillways that need to be removed? as it continues down towards new orleans in louisiana and to the gulf of mexico what is on the table? guest: as it continues, there are few places where we have the ability to influence the amount of water that goes into the mississippi. the water we're working on right now is [inaudible]

we expect to have them all open by the end of the week so we can relieve the water moving down the river. the next place is the mor ganza spillway. there are still get there. we are considering having to do that. based on the engineering and reverse stages in the amount of flow. we have not made that decision yet. that is another place we could do that. host: how much advance warning with the people get? guest: the people have been getting the news of the possibility for the past week. it is a very slow operation. you did not just open up all of the dates and it comes gushing out. you open it up very slowly so people have time to get out if they have to.

there is also a black bear that we have to move. it will be a very slow opening, but as soon as we make the decision we will let people know so they will have time to look ahead, move things out if they need to and so forth. host: here is a tweet from a viewer -- it is all very hard, and it is a matter of national investment in water infrastructure. we cooperate with a lot of other countries. -- we collaborate with a lot of other countries. it takes a huge event or a calamity for people to react and try to put better systems in place, so that is what we're doing. a lot of things we're seeing is

a result of decisions that were made decades ago. the sacramento area does have an area with the levees have been improved somewhat, but they have a long way to go, and that is one of the reasons why california is working closely with us to see what other improvements can be made and how to make them. host: let's talk about the conditions of levees across the mississippi river. what was the condition? guest: the tributary project was authorized in 1928, so we have been working on it for decades. we have a crew that does assessment along the levees. when we get close to what we see as flooding, then we ramp up efforts to look at it further. what we're seeing is the system is in good shape. we have had some areas where we have had seepage. we have been buffing up those vulnerable areas so they will be