he made his presidential run officials earlier this week. in about 45 minutes, the head of the u.s. energy information administration will talk about gas prices. also, a look at federal spending, the house budget committee vice chairman will speak. host: good morning and welcome to the "washington journal" on friday may 13, 2011. it has been a busy week for the 2012 presidential campaign. president obama made a major speech, newt gingrich got in the race. mitt romney defended his healthcare position. the wife of the indiana governor made a public appearance. we will roll that all into our discussion to ask you about what qualities you would be looking for in a presidential candidate

in 2012. lines.are our phone as we start off we are just two hours today. house of representatives coming in. we noticed that columnist peggy noonan has the same idea for her column. the headline is, it is off to the races, what voters are looking for in next year's presidential nominee. we will share what she thinks and we would like to hear from you. i think it is possible that this year because of the special nature of the times, we live through unprecedented and ongoing crises it the economy and foreign policy. the american people may be less interested in the personal

stories and family situations of those running for president than in the past. they will be interested but they won't seem as serious or decisive as they sometimes have been. the kufrpbt air of crisis may make such things look like a luxury the country can ill afford. i think americans but particularly the current crisis will be generally inclined to give pretty much everyone a break as long as it is all mischief confined to the past. that is what did in skwrpb edwards. it -- john edwards. americans will come down on you hard for that. first the thought of what you might be looking for in a presidential candidate in 2012. throughout this time we will mix in individual yes. we will begin with president obama had traveled to el paso, texas, to make a policy speech on immigration. >> we have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very republicans who said they

supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcing it. all the stuff they asked for we've done. but even though we answered the concerns, i have to say i suspect there is still going to be some who are trying to move the goal post on us one more time. they said we needed to triple the border patrol. they will want a higher fence, maybe they will need a moat. maybe they want alligators in the moat. they will never be satisfied. and i understand that. that is politics. host: that is president obama in a major policy address on immigration reform. we will mix in the g.o.p. presidential homes as well. but let's get to some telephone

calls with the question, what qualities will you be looking for as we get in the 2012 election. the first skaul -- call is from missouri, pam, a democrat. caller: i want somebody [inaudible] host: how will you be able to gauge that? caller: i can't tell you because i'm a democrat. but i don't know if i will pull one in 2012 or not. whoever runs is going to have to really -- i don't know. because our country is it trouble. host: what are the two most important issues for you? caller: uh, how to get the cost of living down. the gas prices, get them back down to where people can afford to go to work and take their kids places.

we need somebody in that has never been in politics before. somebody new. host: we have invited the administrator of the u.s. energy information administration an economist from duke university. he has been working for the administration since 2009. the job is the statistics that go into energy prices. we have invited him to help you and us understand more about what are the factors that affect energy prices, particularly oil and gas. at 7:45 eastern. what are you looking for in your 2012 presidential candidate? next taylor, michigan, sherry, a republican. caller: good morning. i'm an 83-year-old woman and i have never been so disgust ed.

i have been up watching these oil people. it is another attempt by this administration to destroy and manipulate this country into his social ideals. we do not need a shadow government which is what we have with all of these rada czars. host: let's translate that into the next vote. what will you be looking for in a candidate? caller: i willing looking for a candidate this wants to raise the values the country was founded on. obama is not believing in them and he is trying to destroy the country from the inside. host: you have lived a long time. caller: i'm in my late 80's. i won't last much longer but they have destroyed the basis of this country. they are trying to destroy the basis of this country. what is wrong with making a

profit? why are we not supposed to make a profit? who is going to hire these people unless they are making a profit and want to open up jobs for the people that are losing their homes. these people that are -- host: we are going to interrupt you at that point. thanks for calling. another presidential person makes it official. we will listen to "good morning america" with ron paul announcing his intentions. let's listen for a bit. >> i think the time is right. >> this is a big step for you, congressman. congratulations. as i said at the beginning you are not afraid to court controversy. right now just yesterday we showed it in john carl's piece you came out against the way president obama conducted the raid against osama bin laden. more than 90% of the american public support it. against it? >> well, i was talking about the

procedure. i endorse the idea of going after him. i supported going into afghanistan. host: our thanks to abc news for letting us step in. he is going to new hampshire -- he is in new hampshire now and will make a speech which c-span will be covering this morning that builds on his announcement and talks about his hopes for the presidential bid. we are asking what qualities you are looking for in a 2012 candidate. ann is a democrat from silver spring, maryland. caller: i would say that the people who wrote the constitution come out of the enlightenment and commitment to reason. unfortunately, they were also hypocrites because they allowed slavery and the hypocrisy is built into the united states and is a difficulty. right now we have a politics of

which is also breeding monsters because we have a electorate who can't tell the difference 2010 -- between rhetoric and evidence and how they are being manipulated and it is very sad. i would say a major issue is public education because we have to remember that part of what happens to pakistan was the underfunding and defunding of public education and that led to the taliban. host: so you have described your concerns. what qualities are you looking for in a candidate? caller: i'm looking for a who is reasonable, realistic and who is not a hypocrite. who does tphnot -- who will be brave enough to buck the tide in this country that came out of our own madrases when schools were desegregated and we got all

of these religious all-white schools our education went did you know the tube. we have a population who doesn't understand things. i want a president who is reasonable and brave enough to get up and really talk about the american constitution and where it came from and what the ideals are of our country. host: you made that point earlier. from twitter bill tweets this. mitt romney went to ann arbor, michigan, to the medical complex to deliver an explanation about his healthcare position and why he supported the plan in massachusetts. let's listen to a little bit of that. >> i also recognize a lot of pundits are saying that i should stand up and say this whole thing was a mistake, that it was a bone headed idea and i should

admit it was a mistake and walk away. i presume a lot of folks would clue that would be good for me politically. there is only one problem, it wouldn't be honest. i did what i believed was right for the people of my state and i'm going it describe for you now what i believe would be right for the people of the united states, which is quite different plan. host: governor romney yesterday. newspapers full of coverage of the story and reaction. we will spend a minute showing that to you to get a sense of how his speech played. home state paper "boston globe" romney says he stands by the law. critics open fire against fatal flaw is the secondary column. romney defends massachusetts health plan but concedes flaws in "new york times." he said he sought to defuse it by addressing it frankly and acknowledging the difficult

politics addressing calls from conservatives to apologize for the law saying he was aware some believe it would be good for me politically but there is only problem with that, it wouldn't be honest. front page of the "washington post" romney walks fine line on healthcare law and he was attempting to lay it rest criticism of the law he put into place as governor of massachusetts. she goes on to say this will not be an easy pivot. to the "washington times" i was right, obama wrong on healthcare reform. he writes still in a speech in a lecture hall at university of michigan mr. romney defended the individual mandate that was the crux of his plan in massachusetts and is the centerpiece of the law obama signed last year but is anathema to many republican primary voters.

"u.s.a. today" they call it threading a needle. massachusetts republican -- healthcare overhaul and denies resemblance to obama's version. from the editorial pages, romney vows to dismantle obama care rings hollow. the illogic of defending his own healthcare plan. "wall street journal" romney's daredevil act on healthcare, tries to bridge the unbridgeable and he himself responds to the "wall street journal" editorial today's paper and they have printed that as well. he writes i was not surprised to read yet another editorial in the journal criticizing the reform we enacted in massachusetts. concludes by saying a one size fits all that raises taxes and ignores the differences between states signores problem.

next call is to detroit. what you are looking for in a presidential candidate in 2012. good morning, jesse. caller: good morning. i'm looking for the truth. i think we have a great president because i'm working and most of my family are working because of his strong attitude toward general motors and doing the things that are right for the american people. i watched this president and listened where he destroyed a dictator without a single loss, without a single casualty. they got bin laden and no casualties. i don't know how a president can be so strong and dedicated to doing what is right for america than this president. i looked at him on the

gulfstream and he took his attorney general in there and laid down the law and did the things that are right for america. and as far as the criticism from the hypocrites like romney and -- you know, it dent make sense because -- it doesn't make sense because i remember romney in detroit. he didn't create jobs. we called him a vampire because he destroyed jobs, they laid off worke workers, sent the work out of the country. host: are you talking about his father, governor romney? >> i'm talking about governor romney. american motors. cut the pension money. we were struggling. he didn't create jobs. he doesn't know who he is because you can take his record and running con games on the american people. host: let's hear the next caller from mclean in the washington

suburbs, david is on. caller: hi, how are you? if you would allow me the same amount of time as most of the gue guests -- host: we will do our best. people are appears to talk. caller: there was a study done where basically the political of countries were put on a matrix and the democratic party is one point to the right and republican party is three points tots right. i was a republican many years and the last two cycles i voted democratic and i will likely vote for president obama again. i will point out that all of this rhetoric is just unfounded. i don't understand what a person has to do right in order to have so some things that we can all agree on.

you have people going on stage and talking about obama wants to destroy the country, yet they are not willing to raise the debt ceiling and play chicken with it to get their ideological point across. host: what are the qualities about president obama -- caller: he is very decisive. he is a visionary leaders. he has a vision. visions take a long time to occur. you had the 80-year-old woman calling him a social ills. people have to call lies what it is. how is it that the democratically elected president of the united states is compared it socialist marxist communist? he is a determined leader. he is wise beyond his years. he would like to do what he

feels is right and we elected him. so why can we not at least give him a chance? he was elected. host: thanks, david. qualities about president obama that he would like to see him re-elected. we are talking about the 2012 candidate and qualities you are looking for in the man or woman you would like to see win the nomination and office. we are hoping to stay away from politics and policy as you tell what you are looking for. here is a tweet. a candidate honest, transparent, clean background, one who believes in and follows the constitution. one who praises our greatness. th that is stella. next is lawrence a republican in eureka, california. good morning. you have to turn the tv volume down. caller: good morning. ok, girl -- host: you are out of here. sorry about that. on to lincoln, nebraska.

shawn, democrat, go ahead. caller: except for the last guy i agree with the last couple of people. i do not see where the negativity comes from. i'm voting to give this current administration another four years. i do not give my vote or my funds to negativity. thank you. host: thank you. next up is jonesville, virginia. floyd is a republican there. what are you looking for in a 2012 candidate? caller: i'm looking for somebody that ain't a flip-flopper. i have watched the candidates flip-flop on issues. there is one ain't announced yet and that is mike huckabee. i think he stood true to his values and i like him. i sure wouldn't vote for barack obama because i wouldn't put my finger to the voting. host: what if huckabee doesn't get in the race.

is there any in the current crop you like? caller: i'm hoping he will get in. i met at one of his book signings and wrote him a letter. i think he will get in. if he don't i will have to hunt another but it won't be barack obama. host: next is roseland, virginia, independent. what are you looking for? caller: i'm looking for qualities that ron paul exhibits. he is going to announce at 8:00 on abc. host: we already had it on. caller: that was the manchester, new hampshire. host: we had him on abc and he announced. we are splitting hairs. he is in the race. caller: but he is not going to be elected because the juan williams of fox news channel wrote very good analysis on saying why he drives republican

white house campaigns. but he says his views make the establishment scream. so, whoever is going to be the got to be endorsed by those who won't endorse ron paul. they will endorse virginia's governor because he could unite the people and he's gotten good press recently. so, even when paul called for legalization of marijuana, heroin and cocaine the people of south carolina cheered. so there is not a problem there. i support his views but he is not going to be nominated. host: annuity nut -- newt made it official and he is set to speak tonight to the republican party of georgia. we will be covering that on

c-span. we will listen to a little of with he had to say. >> i worked to reform welfare, balance the budget, control spending, cut taxes to create economic growth. unemployment came down from 5.6% it under 4%. we balanced the budget and paid off debt. we have done it before and we can do it again. no one our help because person in the oval office can get this done. we americans are going to have to talk together, work together, find solutions and insist on imposing the solutions on those forces that don't want to change. there are some who don't mind if america becomes a wreck as long as they dominate the wreckage. host: his campaign video on the this week. some republican reaction to him. we will return to peggy noonan who writes it is off to the

races. he is vigorous and compelling explainer of conservative positions and he will be interesting in debate but, well, i have yet to meet a gingrich 2012 supporter. he drew a vivid response in the clinton years and he will draw crowds and they will get his autograph but not choose him for president. in the washington times note to newt too much baggage. a columnist at the "washington says mr. gingrich's candidacy however is a dollar short and day late. time has passed him. we are asking what qualities you are looking for in a 2012 candidate. we go to georgia next. edward is a democrat there. you are on, edward. caller: yes, i'm looking for a president that, from day one, is

willing to be a one-term president. they all say that but when they get in the white house first thing you think of is getting re-elected. they want to run back to their party and wrap themselves in that. someone that is willing to be a president for everyone and be honest and do what they know is right and not what the party wants them to do and govern from that. if you are a one-term president, you are a one-term president. do what you can instead of doing two terms and doing nothing. host: oklahoma city next, james an independence. what qualities are you looking for? caller: i think a particular quality that i would like in my president is he knows his job and doesn't exceed it and doesn't lead folks into believe being he is doing things that he is not by the constitution. the other is heart. considering that a president is,

you know, our president would be head of the strongest military on the planet it would be nice to have a president with heart, that looks toward -- that has more of a solemn view in the use of military, not quite the -- i don't want to use the word liberal, but feel free to send our troops and commit them for 50 to 100 years. i would like a president with more heart. i think our approach to other and people of the world -- we could lead by a better example. and a president who knows his job. what does that mean, knowing your job? stay within the constitutional limits? is that what you mean? caller: well, absolutely. if that could be done any more. i'm not sure. yes, and a lot of folks and a

lot of the public depends on the president to be more than he needs to be or more than he is allowed to be, or they will blame him too often for things that are not even in his control. you any, congress or the supreme court will do something and they will blame the president. a president doesn't mind stepping back from that if it goes out of his duty to the people. host: let's pick up on your concern about use of troops. los angel "los angeles times" and tribune story david cloud reporting from washington u.s. to limit afghan forces growth. the subhead is the move may help cur curb cost. this is david cloud reporting from washington. after months of internal deliberation the obama administration has decided to limit the expansion of afghan army and police forces the next 18 months largely to hold down the cost of training, equipping and paying them.

this decision which has not been announced also appears to signal president obama may approve only a modest reduction of u.s. troops in afghanistan this summer. u.s. officials said that thursday. with fewer afghan troops david patraeus is expected to argue against a phaeupbmajor draw dow nearly 100,000 u.s. troops in the country. they said patraeus and other senior officers favor limiting the scale of chicago the pace of u.s. pullout to preserve fragile security gains in the south and east where the taliban presence is strong. that is the tribune paper, "los angeles times" and their exclusive piece. next is a tweet on presidential qualities for 2012. vivian says i want a president that works with both sides, compromise but don't sell out the american people. marion, ohio, rich, republican there. good morning. caller: how are you doing?

host: great. caller: we need a candidate that understand understands it is jobs, jobs, jobs, interviewstudio -- and re budget. when we are having budget problems and we have challenges we don't try to mess up our immigration and put $2 trillion in debt on the budget. they have to respect the budget or we are not going to get anywhere. host: thank you. minnesota, former governor tim pawlenty has a big story in the "wall street journal" attracting wealthy donors. he remains little known beyond his home state but he has begun to line up wealthy donors. even as he draws low single digit support he has amassed a substantial roster of well connected g.o.p. donors and

fund-raisers in his quest. there preference could pose a challenge it mitt romney. he has used experience as the 2008 candidate and background to build what is regarded as the largest network of high impact fund-raisers in the 2012 contest. back it calls, fairmonfairmont, virginia, george, a democrat. caller: i'm an 81-year-old man and this president has ruined his own chances for a second term. he turned the reins over to mrs. pelosi and mr. reid and let them run wild with the deficit and they have put this country in the worst, worst position it has been in 100 years. i think that a president shouldn't worry about getting re-elected. he should worry about going in office and doing his job and

knowing what the constitution is, which this president doesn't know what the constitution stands for because he approximately gists to everybody all -- apologizes to everybody and downgrades the country. every time he goes someplace he downgrades the country. i don't believe he is a democrat. host: scott republican big sandy, texas. what qualities are you looking for? caller: i'm looking for a passionate love and appreciation of liberty, market economics and common sense. this president has shown zero in any of those qualities. i have never heard the word liberty cross his lips one time. host: who among the presidential hopefuls is catching your eye? caller: newt probably second. santorum and daniels are all about the same. i would love to see john boulton get in the race.

host: donald trump had a speech wednesday in new hampshire. here is a little bit of it. >> i go back and i'm a republican and i'm doing -- you know i haven't even announced whether or not i'm running. the republicans don't like it because i'm not in the club. i'm not in this club. you can't be in that club. that club is not what is going to make us, in my opinion, a great country again. host: let me share some donald trump reporting in the morning newspapers. this is the "new york post" nbc's primary concern is pushing donald trump to make up his maintained about whether he wants to be a reality so host or run for president. before they announced lineup sunday. if he re-ups with "celebrity apprentice" he would have to say

good-bye to entering the race as he couldn't continue. while plenty of people think his presidential aspirations are a stunt it boost ratings, nbc has been calling him making offers that are said to touch $60 million according to sources. it is unclear if this would represent a multi-year deal. that is the "new york post" today. front page of "new york times," buying a trump property or so they thought, this is a story for many middle class americans the most coveted brand in real esta estate, donald trump. from the new york city towers that bears his name in cities lake tampa, philadelphia, clamoring to buy into his development for a chance to own a piece of his empire. but he is trying to cash in on the name and has entered in arrangements that home buyers describe as deliberately

deceptive to exploit the thing that drew them to his buildings, their faith in him. the last if you years according to interviews and court documents the real estate mogul has aggressively marketed high-rises as trump markets even making appearances at the properties to woo buyers. a strong indication of his involvement as a developer generated waves of commands of media attention. but when they encountered financial problems people who had investments lost and here is an example of one. billboard for a failed real estate project in mexico to which donald trump licensed his name. "new yorke insuran-- that is times." you saw him perhaps at the white house correspondent dinner when seth myers took him on with many of his jokes. a source has a piece about that this morning. in other news they write donald

trump has offered another for his grim face during the dinner in nashua. he explained that he was not sure how to react when president obama and seth myers started making jokes about him. i looked at my wife and said is this good or bad. am i supposed to be honored or hide under the table. so i just sat there and listened it -- listened and took it in. rockaway, minnesota, larry, independent, on the air. caller: good morning. i believe my former governor tim paul leapty -- pawlenty has the property qualities. one thing he has done in minnesota, in minnesota you can't tip in the hospitality industry. because of him the tips are counted against the wages and taxed. so there was enough to have a

new stadium. there is no better quality ever. we have to squeeze the poor borrows the rich just don't have enough. donald trump. they are begging for more. we have to squeeze these poor people that are making under $10,000 a year. my goodness, folks, that is where all the money is. host: you did well with all of that with your tongue in cheek? caller: of course not. i can't wait to seat poor squeezed. host: fort myers, florida. renee a democrat. caller: my whole family are staunch republicans and i became a democrat to vote for obama and i'm so glad i did and i hope he runs again. i really admire the man. host: we are looking for qualities. what do you like about him?

caller: he is wise and way ahead of his team and he loves the people. he brings religion in it, you know, believe in god. it is even written on our money, you know, in god we trust. he is a wonderful family man and they care about the people. sorry for him that he was handed such a raw deal from the bush administration, but it has taken him three or four years to his hrough that to show stuff. he's finally shown what a wonderful president he is and he needs center four years to even do better. you for the call. this on twitter i want somebody who doesn't parade his ego out ahead of his body. one other person not yet in the race but being highly speculated about is indiana governor mitch daniels. he didn't have an event this week but his wife sherry did.

here is the front page of the indianapolis star this morning. on the stump without the campai specific leaves big question unanswered. i will show you local coverage of it. >> turned attention to the first lady sherry daniels. she reminisced about her time at the state fair and summarized her love of child literacy. >> i appreciate the encouragement you have given mitch. >> it would affect everyone. >> took solace in that and turned attention to the first lady. she reminisced about her time at the state fair and summarized her love for child literacy and good heart health. >> we thank them for letting us show some of their coverage. her speech. here is the "washington post" coverage. she showed she is not shy.

wife of potential presidential spot late.n the it is the members of the party had their way daniels would have announced his bid thursday when he was on stage most of them stood up and waved signs saying run, mitch, run. he spoke of the speculation but only to tamp it down. it was his wife cheri daniels who was under scrutiny as a potential obstacle. they have a somewhat unusually marital history. in 1993 they divorce and she moved to california. her husband stayed in indiana with their four daughters. a year later they reconciled. later on the specific was short on politics and long on the indiana state fair but while there was no sign of her feelings about 2012 it gave a hint of the kind of campaigner she would be. other daniels coverage, the columnist who leans to the left

point of view run mitch run the appeal of the daniels candidacy, she said i hope he wins the republican nomination. i can't imagine voting for him but it with improve the campaign and make president obama a better candidate. that is ruth marcus. a couple more minutes for telephone calls. are you looking for in a 2012 candidate? next is minneapolis, rich, republican. caller: i would like to see someone to put a 25% tariff on the chinese goods coming into this country. host: you are talking policy and i'm looking for qualities. what do you see in a leader? caller: a leader? well, i saw someone like ronald reagan who put an import quota japanese cars coming in the 1980's. i think that qualities i like are like contrary to the other

caller tim pawlenty. he is honest. he cut the unemployment rate here in minnesota at 6%. much lower than the rest of the country. i think tim pawlenty is my number one choice, or donald trump. host: thank you. next is casper, wyoming. mark an independent. caller: good morning. i would like to see a candidate th that is not so politically correct. i would like to see somebody with the guts to make decisions that are going to hurt some people but going to help most of us as a whole. i like a lot of what i hear from tkopbltd trump. -- donald trump. i'm afraid he is not thick skinned enough to do the job. i would like to see somebody who is not afraid to make the united states come from a position of

power rather than pandering to everybody in the world and apologizing. we have nothing to apologize for. i would like to see somebody that is willing to bring our boys home, protect our own borders and quit being the police state that we have become to the rest of the world. host: thank you. former utah governor john huntsman who was president obama's ambassador to china gave a commencement address that people were watching this week. we will look at that. >> i know there are many in china who think their time has co come, that america's best days are over and there are probably some in this country who have lost confidence and think that china is the next best thing. but these people aren't seeing things from my earlier vantage point of 10,000 miles away. the real test of a nation is not

how well it does when times are good but how well it does when times are tough. the way i saw it from overseas, america's passes remain as strong today as ever. host: john huntsman last saturday. also from the newspapers this morning, deadline u.s. seeks to continue war in libya. president obama and his heal advisors are deliberating about how the united states military may lawfully continue participating in nato's bombing campaign in libya after next week when the air war will reach a heal deadline for terminating operations not authorized by congress. under the war powers resolution act a president must terminate the operation 60 days after he notified lawmakers about the introduction of armed forces. the libya campaign will reach that mark on may 20. we have just a couple of minutes left. important news from the senate yesterday on the ethics investigation in now resigned

senator john ensign. we will listen to senator boxer who is the chair of the ethics committee. >> we depolesed or -- deposed or interviewed 72 witnesses. we issued 32 subpoenas for documents. we reviewed more than a half million documents including a large number that were initially withheld from the committee. host: here are the stories in the hometown papers. ethics panel says ensign violated law. case returns to justice departme department. from the las vegas review journal he faces more trouble. he violated laws suggesting prosecution. the senate panel said they would have reamed ex-us -- recommended ex-puplgs if he were still a sitting senator. last time that occurred was 1862. we are looking for your qualities for a 2012 presidential candidate.

let's hear from hollywood, florida. this is reed who is a democrat. are you there? i'm sorry, we will move on. we will go to don, independent in spring, texas. caller: i think somebody is being just halfway honest with the american public in dealing with foreign countries and our so-called free trade that might, you know, just give us an equal chance. i'm glad you brought up that huntsman. you look at how we are doing with china. it is ridiculous. all of these trade representatives who dealt with china the last 40 years should be tried for treason. that is the honest truth. and these presidents that backed them up, put them in that position, should be tried as we well. thank you. host: the "chicago tribune" has

a profile of the new mirror rahm emanuel's parents. you see their picture and headline emanuel's parents put family and state as far first. chicago caller is from an independent. good morning. caller: good morning. quali equality of -- i'm looking for the equalities of senator tom coburn of oklahoma. i have listened to him several times speaking. he is very sincere, very honest and really wants to some the country's problems. talking about government waste and duplication of programs. he is very honest. host: thank you for your call. last voice on the question. we will have hrts of time to --

lots of time to talk about it next month. our next segment is with the head of the u.s. energy information administration. he is going to help us understand what affects the price you pay at the pump. we will listen to the oil executive one of our callers who were on capitol hill yesterday defending the oil industry tax breaks. we will listen to that. >> fossil fuels have and will continue to represent more than 80% of the energy deposits required around the world. one of the key things that is important for our country is natural gas, which over the last several years the technology that we are blessed with a great deal of natural gas. some think for decades or centuries to come. so, we are applying a lot of research and development. how we can develop natural gas, even cleaner and more efficiently and we think that is -- our country is well blessed with these resources.

>> we think of oil and gas as the main driver in our business but on top of that and incremental alternative energy, we have invested $7 billion the last several years, most in the u.s., around wind, biofuels, solar and carbon sequestration. it is a growing business. it is difficult but it is greg. >> thank you. >> we do consider ourselves an energy company and i would tell you as a company we want to be the most innovative and competitive energy company in the world. we have been in all of the businesses that have been mentioned -- wind, solar, hydrogen, others. the one that is emerging is biofuels. we have recently formed a $12

billion joint development around current technologior producing large scale amounts of biofuel and adding to this intense research and development we have been doing to take that to the next level. host: from yesterday's hearings let me introduce you to our guest this morning. be hear to talk about what really affects gasoline prices. administrator of the u.s. energy information administration. thank you for being here. you are the seventh person to hold that job. when was the agency formed and what are your tasks? guest: the energy information administration was formed in response to the oil crisis of 1973-1974, the same period of time when the department of energy was brought together. it has been in existence a number of decades. one of the initial missions and continuing missions is to attract oil production, consumption, gasoline prices and consumption. our general role within the government is to collect,

analyze and communicate independent and impartial energy information. the purpose is to inform policy makers, to inform industry decision makers and help improve decisions and inform the broader public about energy and interaction with the economy and environment. host: your home base is duke university, currently only leave from the nicholas school of the environment. since taking this job what is it like being inside the government as you look at the statistics? guest: i was the duke -- at duke university a couple of years but i used to be based here at a think tank in environmental energy and economics. i'm familiar with washington but it is interesting to be here. the role that that kind of organization can play in terms of helping to inform decisions is very rewarding.

this is a time when the need for improved energy information analysis is critical. we see it in oil markets and broader energy policy. we see it in environmental poli just with respect to petroleum but electricity and other parts of the energy system. it is an interesting miss and important place to be as there are critical decisions made. host: staying with your organization before we get in the numbers, you have been one of the many places with budget cuts. what is the total of the money, what percentage could be more appropriate and what affect will it have on the numbers you are generating? guest: in fiscal year 2011 we did have a significant cut to our budget. it was about a 14% to 15% reduction over what our funds were last year, coming more than halfway through the years it has a magazine any fiduciary impact. because at e.i.a. we don't make

grants all the money goes to federal employees, paying their salaries or support services that support us with our analysis operations. we have had to act quickly to balance our budget this year. we are needing to cancel a number of surveys this year to balance that budget. we are hoping that it recovers next year. we have a significant increase at least that has been appropriate with our f.y. 2012 budget. some of the near-term impacts which we've put up on the website so it is clear it respondents and users of the data, there's been a significant impact. some examples are the commercial building energy consumption survey which is the sole source of data on energy in commercial buildings used by architects, builders, those interested in improving efficiency. we had to cancel that this year. time we have data is 2003.

due to lack of funds we will cancel that. there are other surveys on the oil side, our annual report on oil and gas reserves we will have to postpone for next year. there are other studies such as the international energy outlook that we will not be able to produce. we are adjust being as best we can to the situation and hope that the importance of the work we do is recognized and, if not, we will do our best to be efficient and work with what we have in producing information to help inform decisions. host: let's go from that to the topic at hand which is the gas price americans have been paying. can you explain to people why goes prices have spicked in recent weeks under -- spiked in recent weeks and why they are trerpding down? guest: there are four major components. the cost of crude oil in gasoline. refiners have to purchase it to make gas and other products. there is the cost of refiners

beyond the cost of oil. so you take the difference between the wholesale price they sell at and cost of crude they have to purchase to make gasoline. that is two components, cost of crude and refiner margin. then there is the cost of distributing and selling goon through retail stations. that is a third component. is a federal and state taxes. the federal and state taxes part has tended to be very constant at about 41 to 42 cents a gallon. 18.4 cents gallon federal and 23 cent average on state but the state tax varies considerably. so the difference there is state level taxes. if you compare the lowest to the highest it could be more than 30 cents per gallon. that is relatively stable so that is not a reason for changes although there is a explanation

for regional variation. the major cause of the recent increases in goes is twofold. one is increased cost of crude oil. so, crude oil had come up last year in the third quarter but was around $90 to $100 a barrel coming into 2011. since then we have had a number of things happen particularly unrest in the middle east and north africa. this started with tunisia and moved to egypt. but the largest impact on crude oil prices has been since libya because of those countries libya is the largest oil producer. produce normally about 1.8 million barrels a day of liquid the principal part of is crude oil and export about 1.5 million barrels a day. that is all off line. they are not exporting much. so that is a significant supply side hit to the global market

which has in turn raised prices. prices have come up from the $100 up to $115 to $125 per barrel. they have come down but we are still seek the impact -- seek the impact in the retail prices. that is the first component. the second component is increases in refinery margins. this is due it both planned and unplanned outages at refineries in the gulf coast and northeast. each year typically in the spring season refineries bring down their refineries for routine maintenance. this is called planned outages. but we have had a significant number of unplanned outages. those two combined have significantly brought down gasoline stocks in most regions of the country except the west coast and rocky mountain area which are normal or above

normal. so we have depleted inventory of gain which have really driven up well sale prices of gasoline beyond what the oil price alone would warrant. in addition, the recent concern about flood iing along the mississippi river has not yet significantly impacted refineries but in is a concern it could. that has had some upward impact on wholesale gas prices the last several weeks. these two components, higher oil prices and higher wholesale gas prices due to refinery down turn and low inventories has led to increases in prices. as of this morning, the retail price of regular gasoline reported by triple a was $3.98 a gallon and it has been there for a while now. host: i have an historical praise chart. 60-month average from 2006 to now. you can see the wide

fluctuations. it took a big dip in 2008 is that all consumption driven? guest: right. the significant drop after the financial crisis which was due to the economic downturn there was not just a u.s. but global economic downturn. that significantly reduced demand for refined petroleum and oil and that really brought down the price of oil and gas. host: we are seeing now from all the news reporting that consumption in the united states is down because of high prices. if consumption is down how will that affect prices? guest: one of the reasons why the price of oil has come down in recent days is concern about the demand for gasoline and other refined products coming down. it is a bit like reading tea leaves. it is unclear how there has been a demand affect. a number of indicators pointing in that direction. we put out weekly numbers which

are closely tracked by markets. that has been indicating a signaling of a decline in demand. how this unfold the next self months we need to see. the weekly data tends to be more variable than monthly data. the international energy agency has also brought down its forecast for demand increases the next year or two. overall compared to last year, we are still forecasting increased consumption of petroleum products this year relative to last year and increase next year. it is more the rate of increase may be diminished somewhat potentially due to higher prices but also the other element is not just the price of oil and price of gasoline, it is also the outlook for the economy as a whole. there are two competing factors. how fast will global economies grow and how high is the price of the product. those two factors can point in

different directions or the same direction. the last week or so they seem to be pointing in the same direction, which tended to underpin lower prices. host: we would like your calls and your questions by e-mail. or you can tweet us. we would welcome your participation. we do have a tweet asking are you going to take questions about energy or gas at the pump? talking about goes doesn't just address the problems. widening the conversation, can you tell our audience about alternative fall use as a percentage of energy consumption in the united states? how are we trending? guest: trending up. raceway inaudible -- renewable fuels like ethanol or wind power or solar, geothermal, that is

one of the fastest growing parts of the u.s. energy system. they are starting from a relative small base. currently the overall system over 80% of our energy comes froms fossil fuels. so another part of that is nuclear power then 9% or so is renewable including things like biofuels for transportation and renewable electricity sources. we expect that we're focused on gasoline. ethanol. ethanol has increased significantly over the past several years. it is up to about 10% of our gasoline consumption. when you go to buy regular gasoline, it is typically mixed about 10%. this has been mixed by a number of different factors. there is a tax credit for ethanol, which encourages at the

mall production. we now have a renewable fuel standard for ethanol and other biofuels which is slated to increase the amount of biofuels over the next decade or up to a significant increase over that period of time. a third factor is higher prices of oil. host: the department of agriculture has a role in by a fall -- in biofuel. the u.s. department of agriculture released its may world supply and demand estimates which call for corn production to reach 30.5 billion bushels in 2011.

host: you work with the agriculture department because ethanol as part of the energy equation. guest: we tended to collect our own statistics on capital. one thing we have been doing over the past few years is that we have had to change our statistical collection to better incorporate ethanol into our balances of our petroleum oil supply. one of the things that there is an interagency group on the statistical side is to improve coordination of agricultural statistics and energy statistics. we do work with them but we collect our own data of biofuel use. host: ohio, an independent,

jeanne. caller: how is it the oil companies, to own the oil? it is all in the hands of shell and exxon and its private companies? did they purchased the land outright? was there any taxpayer money involved? are these really american companies? do they have any obligations to act in the interest of the american people in terms of not just taking advantage of us at the pump? guest: in terms of ownership of oil resources, this varies significantly around the world. in many countries, there are national oil companies, which are government-related entities which control all of the oil and gas resources. that is in contrast to what is

typically called international oil companies, which would include companies like exxon, bp, and shell which are traded. there is a history of the private sector development of oil and gas resources. this is quite generic within the united states system that the private sector tends to control the means of production. in terms of ownership, this varies by where the resources are located. if you are offshore, that tends to be a federal resource owned by the united states of america. it is least two oil companies who then pay a royalty and bonuses in order to extract that oil. there is also some parts of offshore resources which are close to the short which are

controlled and owned by the state. they tend to charge royalties and other fees to get the public share of the oil resources. onshore, it depends if you're on federal land. if you're on privately owned land, those resources tend to be owned by the land owner. in some cases, it could be owned by somebody else and the oil company pays for the right to extract those resources. it varies. a vast majority of resources internationally -- this would be companies like other government- owned entities, one in brazil and other companies. in the united states, it is privately held. host: phil, a republican from west virginia. caller: the cost to get the oil

of the ground is not changing. it is artificial increases in price. not much petroleum transaction on the market. you said who owned the oil and such. the refineries are charging more money based on the artificial increase. they are charging calls up prices based on the artificial increase. when we see at the pumps, all the oil in the tanks and the refined products in the tanks -- when the price goes down, they say we have to keep the price up. how was the artificial pricing control the market?

guest: you pull up two important margins in the pricing equation. one is what determines the price of oil and the other is what determines the wholesale price of gasoline. you are correct there is -- there can be significant difference between the cost of lifting oil out of the ground and the price at which oil trades at any point in time. the price tends to be set at the marginal bounds, not at the average barrel or not the cheapest barrel. in the middle east, there are some inexpensive oil and in a cost $10 or less per barrel to extract. that is not what determines the price of oil because of that is not the incremental barrel. what drives it is what it costs to get your next barrel of oil. if you start focusing on deep

water, offshore resources we start focusing on extracting oil from things like canadian oil, it is higher than the cheapest barrel to extract. in addition to these factors of cost, over short periods of time, other factors kenaf an influence on the price of oil -- other factors can have an influence on the price of oil. there is interrelationships at times with the exchange rates, with other movements in broader commodity markets. there has been over the past several weeks, commodities have been moving together. oil has been moving with silver and other commodities. there aren't just current cost but concerns about potential future disruptions, which is summit that has entered into the past couple of months with what

is going on in the middle east and north africa. the cost of the less expense of oil is not setting the marginal price. there is also -- you need to focus on the margin. one of the key things driving wholesale gasoline prices are historically low inventories for gasoline in everywhere east of the rockies. a significant part of this is due to its refineries being down. if you have a refinery that is down, you are not earning a lot of money. if a refinery is running, you are making better than typical margins. we have constraint refinery supplies and we have very little inventory. this is something that we expect to work out over the next several weeks and months. if conditions stay the way they are right now, i think retail

gasoline prices have peaked and will probably go down. the impacts of flooding in the midwest turns out to be worse than markets think they are going to be, that could have an effect. or those concerns could fall and prices could fall faster than we think. host: here are some statistics. there are many on the website of the energy a myth -- the energy information administration. these are oil petroleum imports. canada, 21%. saudi arabia, 8.6%. host: let me move on to where oil is produced in the united states. this statistic -- the largest oil-producing state is texas.

host: here is a chart about the sources of net petroleum. guest: we do not sell -- where a significant net importer of crude oil. there's a small amount of oil that was exported from alaska because it is far away from the lower 48. my recollection is that we don't export any oil. there may be some cross-border flows with mexico. if you have a mexican refinery who may use u.s. crude oil, it could go over to mexico and then come back to the united states

refine. if we do have any net export of crude oil, it is very small. host: oregon, ted. caller: i guess my question would be, all american business has been forced to become more efficient and cost effective, i am wondering, when is the last time an american oil company has built a brand-new, state-of-the- art refineries in the continental united states? i will take your answer offline. guest: if you look back to 2004, 2005, 2006, there was a tight capacity of refiner in the united states. there was a concern that the u.s. did not have enough refining capacity. there were a number of projects put into place. a significant new refinery that has opened.

it was the refinery down in the gulf coast. significant capacity there. a joint venture between the u.s. and international companies. we have seen a declining need for u.s. capacity. a few years ago, we are concerned about not having enough refineries. that concern has abated. the utilization rate has come down significantly. we have seen actual and announced retirements of u.s. refining capacities. we're not expect it will need u.s. refining capacity. the growth in u.s. demand for liquids to run transportation has flattened out significant. if you look at our longer-term projections, we're not expecting the demand for liquid fuels to increase a lot.

we expected demand for the detroit part of that to be flat -- we expect the demand for the petroleum part of that to be flat. host: this is another graphic from the u.s. energy information administration and it is based on the retail price of $2.34. host: a lot of people are interested in that profit question. host: what percentage of the 11% is profit? this is at $2.34. guest: it is almost better to

think of how many since per gallon -- of how many cents per gallon. the distribution and retailing costs and profits tends to be fairly stable, 25 to 30 cents per gallon. the oil part fluctuates the most. it is higher than 60% now because the oil price has gone up. the share of oil is higher been 60% now. the refinery cost and profit tends to fluctuate. it would be a higher percentage than in the chart now. the price of oil has come up. -- has gone up. up. profits have gone

there have been shut downs over the past couple of months. host: people are wondering if you can dissecting the percentages. guest: you can do this with some lag. it is difficult to do this in real time. you have to dissect how much the refiners are paying for crude oil. how much they have to pay for all the different kinds of crude they buy. they may be building or expanding are changing their capacities. there is -- there are pieces of that come with a lag. refiners who are still operating that have not experienced shutdowns, their profit margins have increased. withare able to operate consistent supply.

you take the difference between the wholesale price of gasoline and subtract off the cost of crude oil and you, the difference. that has increased significantly since the beginning of the year. host: "houston chronicle" is so big in texas. the hearing yesterday was front- page news in that newspaper. we're talking with dr. richard newell, the head of the u.s. energy information administration. he is an economist. we're learning more about price at the pump. next is a call from san antonio. mike, and independence -- an independent.

caller: if a gallon of gasoline is $4, it makes $120 a barrel. how much gasoline do you get from a barrel of oil? guest: you are on the right path. there is 42 gallons per barrel. if you try to translate retail gasoline prices, which are around $4 a gallon, and you try to understand the role of loyoi, you are going about it the right way. if refiners are paying about $110 per barrel, you subtract that by 42. then you have another $1.40 of

the retail cost. the other components are the 42 cents for state and federal taxes. you have the retail and distribution costs and profits, 25 to 30 cents per gallon. then the refinery margin. that amount is a typically high right now because of shutdowns and low inventory levels in gasoline. host: "the washington post" has a related story. i will point it out to you. lots of details there. the cost of making more fuel- efficient cars. last question for you is from jim. the official stance on peak oil.

guest: peak oil is a concept that has evolved over time. the earliest manifestations had to do more with supply-side concern, that we work -- we didn't have enough oil in the ground to meet the demand for oil. we don't think when you take into account conventional oil resources, if you take into account unconventional accounts like venezuela heavy crude and biofuels, other sources, we do not see an issue over the next couple decades. our projections go to the year 2035. we think there are sufficient oil resources to meet oil demand over that period at the prices we project. you have the price balancing oil and demand -- supply and demand. peak oil demand.

we have seen in the united states, our highest petroleum consumption was back in 2005, 2006. our projections, we do not see petroleum consumption getting back up to that level over the next 20 years or so. there has been a general notion and some think will demand may have peaked in those countries, but that is different from the notion that we're running out of oil supplies in the ground from which there are very significant hydrocarbon resources. the main question is what is the cost to produce them and whether or not the environmental consequences of producing some types of resources are acceptable to society. host: lots of big questions. thank you for understanding to the debate. we have our last guest of the morning ready to join us in the steel. congressman scott garrett, republican of new jersey.

he's the chairman of the capital markets subcommittee and very involved in republican study groups. we will be talking with him about the debt ceiling. we will be right back. >> a complete guide to the first session of congress. returning members with contact information including twitter addresses and committee assignments. and information on the white house, supreme court justices, and governors. order online.

june, the difficulties of the climate change treaty. your questions for eric posner. his books include "the perils of global legalism." live sunday on "book tv." this weekend, a talk about the deepwater horizon rig which killed 11. it released millions of barrels of oil into the gulf of mexico. he recounts his life from the south side to the massachusetts governor's office. william cohen shares is insights on the money and power. look for the complete the and

at booktv.org. >> fall the house and senate when you want. -- follow the house and senate when you want. we have daily schedules, a full list of members, plus video of house and senate sessions, and progress of bills and votes. congressional chronicle. >> "washington journal" continues. host: congressman scott garrett from new jersey joins us. big headlines. "house republicans question the august deadline." guest: this is an urgent matter that we need to address. this is coming upper that and

much more ahead when we get started this morning right here on "today." is the 13th -- -- if possible time between may of next week until sometime in august when we have to come to grips with the issue. it is in the hands of congress to begin to address the issue. it is in the hands of the administration. they are the ones who are responsible for making sure we bills.e to pay airbour on the one hand, we do not want to renege on the obligations. we don't want to renege on the debt. on the other hand, it would be just as bad if we continue on the spending spree that we have been on for the last several years and decades and not try to address that.

if we continue on the mark on spending, the uptick and not try to rain again. let's try to do what you and i do and everybody else does and that is live within our means. host: are likely to left budget passed this year? guest: we have the ryan budget. it is a budget that puts us on a slight path to more sustainable level. it is over to the senate. this is the first time ever. we have the whole cr situation. the democrats did not pass a budget. it is up to harry reid now. host: 60 ryan budget was passed, we have seen more and more stories -- since the program budget was passed, we'll see more stories about freshman concerned about tackling the big medicare overhaul.

can you give us a glimpse of the debate and where people are expressing concern? guest: i think -- you mentioned the freshened. i think the freshmen take it from a larger perspective. it goes back to your first question as to how we address the larger issue of the debt limit. the came to washington on a platform to say we're part of the solution. we're not part of the big spenders. i think most of them realize that to move on it sustainable level, you have to tackle the entitlements. paul's plan does that. it does that in a way that does not affect benefits for senior citizens. i think the majority of the freshmen would say that we need to attack those things and you cannot pushed off into the future. harry reid said with regard to

social security, i want to tackle social security. do it fort wanted to fourdo it 20 years. >> there is more detail in the article. "they felt there were sold a bill of goods." this could make it harder for john boehner to win votes.

guest: it is the latter point that is the good point. i'm not a freshman. i think they realize that we can strengthen speaker boehner's hand when he speaks to the president. when it comes to the issue of making sure that the treasury secretary is paying the bills, that rests downstream at the white house's door. speaker been a's hand is strengthened -- speaker boehner's hand is strengthened. we cannot address this debt limit by a clean vote. we need to tackle spending promised at the same time. that strengthens in t. host: i want to play one clip. we like to play ben bernanke

talking about the debt limit. >> using the debt limit as a bargaining chip is quite risky. we don't know exactly what would happen if the debt limit was not approved. there are significant operational problems, legal problems associated with making sure the debt is paid. even if the debt is paid, there is the issue of market confidence and how the market will respond to the risk of default or even the defaults on non-debt obligations. i think it is a risky approach not to raise the debt limit in a reasonable -- at a reasonable time. host: i would like to have you put your hat on as chairman of the financial markets subcommittee. addressed specifically the market reaction, the face of the

creditors of the -- the faith of the creditors. guest: we should be certain of one thing. the treasury secretary has the authority to it seemed to pay the interest on the dead, regardless of what congress does -- to pay the interest on the debt. the constitutional authority to do so. we know that there's sufficient money coming in to least pay for the debt interest obligations every month plus some additional moneys as well. that is one issue that the chairman should put aside. i think the markets are pretty intelligent with regard to this. they know congress needs to grapple with this. they know the white house and congress will.

do want us to put the federal budget on a sustainable path. if the fed chairman was sitting with us, he would agree that we need to grapple with the debt limit and we need to grapple with the fact that we're spending more money than we are taking in. we are borrowing 42 cents on every dollar. we keep taking money right now and pay for the debt and entitlements and we would not have any other money. host: this is the history of the u.s. debt limit. you can see it starts peaking in the 1970's. you can see the rise until current date in 2011. let's take telephone calls for congressman scott garrett. john, a republican. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call.

i have a comment and the question. the question is, we have 8 million to 10 million immigrants in the country right now. we're talking about bringing back our g.i.'s from afghanistan and overseas. i'm service veteran. when i came back from vietnam, we cannot find jobs. where do you think these people are going to find a job when they come back? i am disappointed with my party, which is republican. i'm disappointed with it because they are not acting like adults. thank you and i will take my comments off the line. guest: i want to say thank you for your service to our nation , for your 23 years of service.

with regard to the issue of the party not acting like adults, on some matters, i concur with you. in certain areas, there have been promised over the years did i have been in congress for a little over eight years. i disagree with our party and the leadership at times on some of the spending issues. that is why i voted against some budgets in the past when the republicans were in charge. i thought we were at that time spending more than we should, that we had to right the ship with regard to fiscal issues. i think the party has turned a course. the freshmen are realized we have to put things right. i hope the administration will be working with us in this regard. host: this is another charge. the red lines are the debt

limit. this is over the past 11 years. we are talking with congressman scott garrett. this is adam from vermont on our independent line. caller: i am an 18-year-old and i'm concerned about the debt problem. i do not think we would be $one trillion in debt -- host: not contributing to our debate this morning. start the, you are on the air -- dorothy, you're on the air. caller: i am concerned about this country as a whole. i am an american, too. i'm concerned about the fighting. the same people that are in

office or in their eight years ago when they decided to pay for two wars. the middle class is bearing the burden. at some point, somebody has to wake up and just talk plane, just like i am -- and just talk plain. people are concerned about the country. host: this is all about politics. guest: there is a lot of politics going on with this. there are all sorts of reason for that. that weight saying should talk plainly about this. if you come to some of these hearings, they get into such highbrow terms and terminology. these acronyms and the try to talk around you on the issues.

it is simple when you think about it. we have to live our lives under a budget. we cannot spend more than we take in. we cannot run up our credit cards. we know there is a day of reckoning. we have to pay those credit cards. under both parties and both administrations, spending more than we have, and that is why the charts you showed it demonstrates that. now we've come to the point where the that amount is just so high in the interest we are paying on the debt is going through the roof. -- or the debts amount -- where the debt amount is just so high. i saw a cartoon in a newspaper it showed a husband and wife in their living room and the wife is looking at your credit card we'veent and seays, "

reached the limit on credit card. i guess we have to raise our debt limit." the husband says, "it's like congress." -- just like congress. host: jim, a republican. caller: thank you for taking my call. the debt limit needs to be expanded. it needs to -- there needs to be extreme cuts in spending. the debt limit is not sustainable. the half a trillion dollars taken out of medicare needs to be put back. guest: we need to address that

issue and raise the debt limit at some point. you need to cut cap and balance. you need to make significant cuts right now in the 2012 budget. you need to put a statutory cap in place and say that going forward, there will be a lock on the books that says you have to live within your means -- there will be a law on the books that says you have to live within your means. a balanced budget amendment to the u.s. constitution so it doesn't matter who is in power. because it is it would put in place a provision that says you have to have a balanced budget. we have that in the state of new jersey. we should have that in the government, as well.

guest: sure. if you have the chart, you would seek the debt started raising before that. host: this one? guest: if you let a chart the one back even further, that which showed that we have been increasing the debt all along. host: this is the debt limit and the actual debt. guest: where is the bush years? host: not still here. guest: there is been a huge rise. bush goes up after that. under the democratic administration, it is going up at a straighter path, increasing even more.

now it is going up dramatically during the obama administration. host: we have a couple of minutes left with the congressman. michigan. this is charles, a democrat. caller: i am a democrat. i'm not happy with democrats, either. my reasoning behind that is, they talk about they want to have a fiscal budget, but if you years ago, they had a lot of republicans and democrats voted on, giving themselves raises and then changing the retirement -- i believe it it is to two years for full retirement for a politician. i mean, technically, i do not

see how politicians that have not been doing their job -- they have allowed corporate america to do what they want. there is no oversight. these people are not doing their jobs. host: thank you. guest: part of the benefits are urban myths. my mother sends me e-mails and says, is this true, scott? what is that website -- snoops? they will tell you about the urban mass -- myths. yes, we do pay into social security. those things that go around our urban myths. you raise something about the salaries. we do not get pay increases for the past term or so.

yes, there has been misspending of money in washington, and that goes back to the ultimate issue that we're talking about. sure we put our fiscal house in order if we raise the debt limit -- should we put our fiscal house in order? host: jackson, michigan, a republican. caller: talking about social security being ticut. they have not given us cost-of- living allowance. there are 45 millions that: social security and take those two years and that is manager million dollars each and every month -- $900 million. guest: the issuance social security. -- the issue on social security.

if you are receiving social security, there is no one in washington from the white house to the senate to the house of representatives, there is no one in washington who says that social security for you should be cut. that is another one of those urban myths or internet myths. ifey were saying that things on a changed at some point in time with regard to social security, that the benefits, that the money will not be the is in the program to pay current and future retirees. something needs to be done to fix the system now, not to cut your benefits or to change your benefits or to do anything with regard to your system with social security. but to make sure that people like me -- i don't get social security. i am under 55. for future retirees, changes will be made.

host: richmond, virginia, greg. caller: i am not sure what we're talking about this. it sounds like it is going to happen. the talk is that this will happen, they will raise the debt limit whether we want them to were not. i'm not sure what the debate is about because it sells like this is a done deal -- it sounds like this is a done deal. guest: it is a long thing from a done deal. if a bill came to the floor this afternoon to raise the debt limit without any provisions, there is a number of people who would vote no. i would vote no. we need to say would cut spending significantly.

we to put caps in place and balance the budget. it is not a done deal. if you are concerned, you should speak to your member of congress. put a system in place that will put us in a path to balance the budget. host: you have a schedule. guest: i have to go vote. host: we have 15 more minutes until the house comes in session. we'll continue to take your telephone calls to let me show you the debt ceiling chart in ""the wall street journal" this morning. it could take extraordinary measures to buy time before the u.s. would default on august 2. let's look to those measures.

host: those of the steps to delayed until august 2. below that is a chart that says what some of the gop have suggested. selling government assets. gold reserves stand at three under 75 billion-- $375 billion. the other option is the possibility of doing nothing. interest rates would rise. contracts would plummet. security beneficiaries and medicare costs if nothing is done either to address the debt

limit. that debate will continue throughout the summer as the deadline has been extended to early august. knoxville, tennessee. joan is a democrat. good morning to you. move onto southern pines in north carolina. caller: good morning. this morning i'm calling about my social security. i'm wondering if we'll get any more raises. i have not had one in about three years. host: i cannot answer that question. the congressman was just talking about social security with a prior call. manassas, virginia. i am sorry. we cannot hear you. we move onto manchester, new jersey.

caller: i don't know why anybody with common sense can see the format for social security is obsolete. people cannot live past 65. now people are living into their minibus -- 90's. people had large families. who pays the social security is the recipients. you don't have the population because of people not having children. so the money is not there. thank you. host: thank you. mitch mcconnell has not been a vocal on this and has now stepped into the debt limit debate. this is a piece in "the new york times" today.

host: next this a democrat. good morning, darryl. open phones or you can talk about the debt limit. caller: the republicans last year, one daywon the house -- when they won the house, their mantra was jobs, jobs, jobs. the criticize the president about not creating jobs -- they

criticized the president about not creating jobs. their whole policy was jobs, jobs, jobs. now to do not about creating jobs so that the government will have more income, more tax revenues, so that we can work on the debt. it is a matter of a two different philosophies. the republican party is pessimistic and they cannot see future where people are working hard, paying taxes, and paying down the debt. they have a pessimistic future where this country does not create jobs, people are becoming worse off and worse off and they just need to cut, cut, cut while their living high on the hog. i am 52 years old.

they stress these policies are not going to hurt the current recipients of social security. i have worked all my life. and i'mjust screwed going to have to wait longer to get it. the pessimistic attitude that says the government will be receiving just as much income now -- not a better future, not the future where everybody is working or a lot more people are working, but one in which people are saying that we're not making more money and we're not getting people back to work so we better start cutting, cutting, cutting. host: thank you. we have to go. this is "the baltimore sun." "gop works on leverage to

extract spending cuts." host: the divided over the role of the government deepens. host: that is from "the baltimore sun" this morning. we have about seven or eight minutes left. let me share a tweet with you. this is from barry.

host: there you go. we have lots of activity in the twitter audience. we want to talk about a new area of social media that c-span is wrapping up. four square. it depends on your location. t-mobile platform which allows you to check in from various locations -- it is a mobile platform. if you visit five of the various c-span sites, you can earn that c-span badge the huge assault on the screen. we have a list of locations that we're involved in. places like the washington monument, the capital and others. you'll learn some history

provided by c-span and you can earn your way to thef foursquare badge. phoenix, arizona. greg, an independent. caller: everything costs more now. hotre going from steak to dogs in this country. congress needs to open their books and go down the line and see that -- cut things in the books and have a good weekend. host: ohio as we close out our from "washington journal morning." caller: one thing about the

republicans is they never talk about raising taxes on the wealthy. the want to balance the budget on the backs of the poor. there is a 5% surtax on everybody making $1 million or more, it would balance the budget almost overnight. the congressman you head-on, when somebody called about the bush tax cuts, his first reaction was to laugh. he does not want to take away the bush tax cuts. we cannot get them back. they want to cut spending on the poor. look at states like wisconsin. the first thing they did was cut corporate taxes. then they went out and smash the unions. republicans want to let the

wealthy stay. taxes on the wealthy of the lowest they have had in decades. that is why they are getting rich. wall street billionaires don't pay taxes on their money. they don't give backlights the industrials. the robber barons -- these guys do nothing to live off of the fat of the land. host: there is a profile in "the new york times" this morning. he has been in office 21 months as the u.s. attorney and is made a major impact on corporate crime. suggesting that he would take a seat in the courtroom in the last row of the gallery to watch

a trial that they had. "his presence signals the chief federal prosecutor in manhattan was back as the sheriff of wall street." judy, a republican. caller: good morning. i have three things to say. i hope they don't raise -- whenever it is. we have to get rid of government in washington and we have to bring back the manufacturing jobs to the country again to get us back in shape. thank you. host: middleburg, florida. josh, a democrat. caller: good morning.

a couple of quick comments. i find it hard to believe a congressman can relate to someone who works like a dog for $30,000 a year. the next time these that mantra that families have to cut the budget, can you bring up the point that families do not have to pay for defense is or pay for families that are experiencing flood disasters. families to not take care of the country. you showed where the dept went from 2001 to 2009. does it say how much barack obama was putting the cost of health care and the war on that? host: there are no explanations.

time.running at a beaumont, texas. this is alan. caller: thank you for taking my call. we will never balance the budget like the way it is going. be real about it. host: last voice this morning will be kim. hello, kim. are you there? sorry about that. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

me made several cautious statements that made them to believe that they would take the first steps to democracy in their ancient land. mr. schiff: they saw social debate in syria which continued to some degree until the fall of 2001 when the government sharply reversed course and ended what is known as the demascus spring. intelligence officers joined with hezbollah in murdering lebanese prime minister and provoking a war with israel in the summer of 2006. now the assad regime has turned

on its own people who have been inspired by their fellow constituents. we must use every economic tool to end this dictatorship and i urge president obama -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. schiff: to end the corruption and brutality of the assad regime. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from north carolina rise? ms. foxx: i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. one of the joys of representing an area like northwest california is participating in the many unique and volunteered power community celebrations that happened throughout the year. last weekend i had the honor of attending the jonesville jubilee that marked the town's 200th anniversary. this event celebrated the distinct history and culture of the town of jonesville and brought out the local community to participate and recall the past. i was very impressed by the huge array of activities, the fantastic turnout and the volunteers who pulled it off. the weekend-long event featured

the civil war and wagon train, campouts and actors, the opening of the history center, the civil war mill and historic displays from communities throughout the area. this could hardly have been a better event and the many volunteers who made it possible are to be praised by their dedication and hard work. it's what is so great about our country. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? mr. sires: i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. sires: mr. speaker, i rise today to express my outrage over this weekend's religious violence in egypt. despite january's calls for freedom and democracy, religious minorities in egypt, such as the christians, are facing attacks. on saturday, a religious clash

broke out in cairo involving an estimated 2,000 people. six muslims and six christians were dead. the catholic christians are demanding freedom and respect. i am concerned that even with egypt's transitions, the rights remain limited and the interim government is not doing enough to protect the lives of their citizens. catholic christians should not be injured or killed. violence in the name of religion is unacceptable. when -- but when governments do not sufficiently adress such behavior it is far more troubling. the united states must stand firmly with the country of egypt and they must be taught human rights and respect through religion. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered.

>> thank you, mr. speaker. today i want to introduce the setting new priorities in education spending act, the first in a series of proposal to reform education in america. mr. duncan: there is a need to help education. eighth graders lack basic reading and math skills. only 70% graduate high school. meanwhile, federal education is at an all-time high. the department of education administrators only a few programs. many are duplicative. others was a poor use of taxpayer funds. it's time to trim the fat. today i'll introduce -- not defund beeliminate 43 wasteful k-12 jax programs. mr. hunter: at a time when approximately 1/3 of american fourth graders can't read, we must concentrate on education initiatives that have the track record of putting the needs of students first. i urge my colleagues to prioritize the education and setting new spending act. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman

from north carolina rise? mr. butterfield: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. butterfield: i want to thank agencies, both state and federal, who have responded to the devastation caused by the april 16 tosheds in my district in eastern north carolina. their response has been effective and we are on the road to recovery. i also thank president obama for his quick response in issuing his presidential deck collaration, declaring these -- declarations, declaring these a disaster. i call it presidential leadership. as we go back to our districts today i urge my colleagues to listen to the demand of the american people that we work together in a bipartisan manner to meet the great challenges of our day. we will never get the federal government in balance until democratic and republican leaders sit together and reconcile their differences and take bold steps. i urge my colleagues to stop telling their constituents that we will balance the budget by simply cutting nondefense

discretionary spending. that's doing a disservice to your constituents and to mine. please have a productive work period. let's return on may 23 and begin that process. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. cicilline: mr. speaker, i rise today to recognize rhode island's small business person of the year, catt lynn devlin, who owns and operates all about home care in middletown, rhode island. the company provides seniors the opportunity to live at home in their golden years and offers additional assistance for those who moving to assisted living or to nursing homes. not only are they putting people back to work and growing their operation, but they're helping our seniors in middletown, new port and bristol to live independently at the same time. i congratulate james sylvester, the recipient of the u.s. small business administration 2011 phoenix award for small business disaster recovery. mr. sylvester was recognized for his efforts to rebuild his

business while helping his community recover as a volunteer firefighter following the april, 2010, floods in rhode island. i commend these small business owners for their great contribution to rhode island's economy and pleased to honor their work. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.r. 754. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. pursuant to house resolution 264 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of h.r. 754. will the gentleman from utah, mr. bishop, kindly take the chair?

the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the further consideration of h.r. 754 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the united states government, the community management account and the central intelligence agency retirement and disability system, and for other purposes. the chair: when the committee of the whole rose on thursday, may 12, 2011, a request for record the vote on amendment number 8 printed in house report 112-75 offered by the gentleman from delaware, mr. carney, had been postponed. it is now in order to consider amendment number 9, printed in house report 112-75. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. reed: mr. chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 9,

printed in house report number 112-75, offered by mr. reed of new york. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 264, the gentleman from new york, mr. reed, and a member opposed, will each control 15 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. speaker, i rise today to join with my colleague, mr. grim -- grimm, from new york, to offer an amendment for the brave members of the intelligence community for their role to kill osama bin laden on may 1, 2011. as we know osama bin laden was killed on may 1 by members of seal team 6. the heroics of this seal team have been well documented in the press over the past weeks. but the work of other professionals in the intelligence community is less well-known and has received less attention. bringing osama bin laden to justice was the result of over 10 years of hard work and dedication. this historic operation was truly a team effort and an

achievement shared by members of every intelligence agency in our entire armed forces. the diligent painstaking work of our intelligent services made possible the recent successful action carried out by our military against osama bin laden. for this reason mr. grimm and i feel the intelligence community is also deserving of recognition as a whole. they work long hours in distant parts of the world, far from their families, far from their friends, to keep our country safe. when the members of the american intelligence community do their job, no one really knows about it. they are silent warriors who keep us safe. they are deserving of our deepest gratitude. mr. chairman, this amendment does exactly that. it commends our intelligence community for a job well-done in bringing osama bin laden to justice. thanks to the diligence of these intelligence professionals, the world is a safer place without osama bin laden. mr. speaker, even though osama bin laden has been brought to justice, the war on terror is not over.

this amendment commends the men and women of the intelligence community for committing themselves to defeating, disrupting, and dismantling al qaeda and all terrorist organizations that will do harm to our great nation. this amendment also reaffirms our commitment to using the capabilities and skills of the intelligence community to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat terrorism once and for all from the face of this earth. mr. chairman, i urge my colleagues to vote yes on this amendment and at this point in time i'm glad to yield to my friend from new york -- i'm sorry, reserve the balance of my time. thank you. the chair: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland rise. mr. ruppersberger: i rise to claim time in opposition to this amendment even though i am not opposed. 9 killing of osama bin laden was a great achievement for our intelligence professionals who have been working to eliminate a threat to our national security for years. osama bin laden was a terrorist

leader who was responsible for killing thousands of inknow september americans, moms, dad, brothers, sisters, friends, and loved ones. as we all know 9/11 changed america forever. on may 1, 2011, our military and intelligence professionals took extraordinary steps, people from c.i.a., n.s.a., n.g.a. and elsewhere worked together as a team to get this job done. the mission was risky but was executed with great skill and precision. these professionals risked their lives to keep the country safe and no americans were lost. the men and women who carried out this operation exemplified an extraordinary courage of those who serve our nation, including our special operations. the countless intelligence and counterterrorism professionals who have pursued bin laden for years have the satisfaction of a job well done. i'm glad we are able to honor those intelligence professionals and intelligence authorization act including the military professionals and a grateful nation thanks you, them, for their service.

i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: mr. chairman, at this time i'm glad to yield as much time as he may consume, my great colleague from new york, mr. gibson. the chair: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. gibson: i thank the speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. it's great to be here on the floor today and i see we have the chair and ranking member of the intelligence committee today, too. it's an honor to be in their presence. we are here today, this amendment, to commend and honor the hardworking professionals in our intelligence community on the successful operation against osama bin laden. the leader of al qaeda, who attacked our country on the 11th of september of 2001. and from my experiences in the army deployed forward in iraq, i know counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations are difficult, complex, and requiring detailed analytical

work to establish patterns, situational awareness, and understanding. fortunately for us we have the very best. from the tactical to the operational to the strategic level, our intel community is filled with incredibly talented people. the strength of any organization. i recently had the opportunity to meet with the director of the c.i.a. and the director of the f.b.i. to hear from them and to praise those that work in those organizations. today we expand that to all those involved in the intelligence community. in uniform, out of uniform, here in the congress, all the way across. and going forward we know that we are going to need organizational changes to consolidate the intel community which has grown significantly since the 11th of september, but fortunately for us, we have the smartest, most knowledgeable professionals in the world who will help us make those reforms so that we can continue to protect our cherished way of life. so once again congratulations to

all those who serve in the intelligence organizations. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment and may god bless america. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from maryland. mr. ruppersberger: at this time i'd like to recognize the gentleman from new york, mr. nadler, for three minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. nadler: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, i rise in support of the grimm-reed amendment to commend the intelligence community for eliminating osama bin laden. mr. chairman, the killing of osama bin laden is the most significant victory over our most significant enemy. it deserves recognition in the halls of congress. that is why i was disappointed that the house republican leadership chose not to bring up something similar to senate resolution 159. that resolution recognizes the hard work by all facets of our government from the president to the military to the intelligence community. it honors the victims of 9/11 and their families. and it is bipartisan. having passed the senate 97-0. i felt this type of resolution would be an appropriate vehicle with which to commend those

responsible for the death of bin laden so i filed it as an amendment with the rules committee. but it was held not to be germane. i also filed the more narrow version with the rules committee, a version that commended only the members of the intelligence community. the the amendment before us is identical word for word to the version i originally filed with the rules committee. i am gratified that they saw the merit in the wording that we drafted. while it does not adequately honor all those responsible for our great victory over al qaeda, the president and the military, in addition to the intelligence community, it does allow the house to express its appreciation and commendation to the intelligence community and therefore i support it. the row cent death of osama bin laden is a measure of justice that was long overdue. hopefully it will bring some comfort to the victims of 9/11 and their families, many of whom live in my district where the world trade center was located. i ask all members to support the amendment.

i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: at this point in time i'm seeking unanimous consent to submit a statement from my colleague, mr. grimm, on this amendment. the chair: the gentleman's comments will be covered under general leave. mr. reed: thank you. at this point in time, mr. chairman, i'd like to yield as much time as he may consume to the chairman of the intelligence committee, my colleague from michigan. the chair: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. rogers: thank you very much. i congratulate mr. reed on the amendment. i think it's wholly appropriate that we commend all of the intelligence services and our elite special forces who participated in bringing osama bin laden to justice. and it really wasn't a victory over one person or one leader, but a blow to the entire network, to the belief system of those that believe violence, killing innocent men, women, and children of all religions is a way to promote your political

gains. if you think about the incredible accomplishment that happened after and started really after 9/11, we had to make up for huge gaps in human intelligence and they, through the help of this body, and this congress, and president bush and then on to president obama began to reassemble the abilities and capabilities of our intelligence community. through interrogations, information was developed about how al qaeda works. it is understood its logistics, how it finances and recruits and moves people. it recruits people to do suicide bombers. it plans operations. all of that came in the early days. then five years ago through an interrogation, there was a little piece of information, a nickname applied to an alias, with someone who was hanging around other folks who were probably using nicknames applied to an alias who may be a courier for osama bin laden. through all of our collection

agencies, signals intelligence, satellite intelligence, other forms of intelligence, a case was slowly and surely developed that finally allowed with a few lucky breaks and some great determination from our intelligence community the ability to locate the place where they believe osama bin laden was hiding out. once that was determined, they brought in our special forces community who did an exceptional and superb job in bringing him to justice in what was a difficult mission. so i want to compliment mr. reed and mr. grimm for bringing this amendment forward. to give a small sense of recognition to all of the work on behalf of the entire intelligence and special forces community, and the soldiers, too, who risk their lives in holding ground in places like afghanistan to re-establish security there so that al qaeda won't find safe haven there when

they leave. all of those things and all of those capabilities are incredibly important. all of that service and all of that sacrifice led to last sup's successful event. let us not forget al qaeda may be hurt, lost their operational and inspirational leader, but they are not down. this is not the time to back off. this is not the time to say we should do other things or maybe we shouldn't be places at all. this is the time to step on the gas and break the back of al qaeda as a threat to the world as we move forward. again i want to congratulate mr. reed and mr. grimm. i would wholeheartedly support this amendment. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from maryland. mr. ruppersberger: first, i thank you for your comments. mr. chairman, we will work together on behalf of our country. it was a great day for america when we brought bin laden to justice. i think weeb week be proud of the accomplishments of our military, all the americans

involved in helping to bring this individual to justice. as the chairman said, we have a lot more to do, but let the word go out to the world that if you come and you attempt to attack or kill americans, we will find you and we will bring you to justice. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back or reserves? mr. ruppersberger: i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: at this point in time we are prepared to close. we have no further speakers. the chair: the gentleman from maryland yields back. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. reed: thank you, mr. chairman. i want to rise today in closing to offered my support for this amendment. i want to make sure the record is extremely clear. when mr. nadler in his comments seeking and commenting on his support of this amendment indicated that this rule, the rules committee was going to rule this -- his proposed amendment out of order for being nongermane, the member of the rules committee, i know that the chairman of the rules committee had indicated that he was more

than willing to accept mr. nadler's amendment, germane amendment, but that amendment was withdrawn by mr. nadler. so i want the record to be very clear that we on this side of the aisle were ready and very eager to support the amendment offered by mr. nadler. mr. grimm and i sought to make sure that this amendment was brought to the floor of this house because it is right to stand here in this floor to recognize the intelligence community that had such a great success in the taking and bringing to justice of osama bin laden. so we ask that the record be clear on the issue. that all of our colleagues rise today across the nation we take the moment to recognize and applaud the efforts of our intelligence community. that the men and women who workday in and day out in silence with little recognition are recognized for at least one moment here on the floor of the house and in the official records of this great body for the great work that they do.

and that we applaud and we will always remember and honor that work on a regular basis in our thoughts and in our prayers. so i urge my colleagues to join us and support this amendment. at this point in time i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from new york yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from new york. so many as are in favor say aye those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. mr. reed: i ask for a recorded vote on that. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further poe seedings on the amendment -- proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from new york will be postponed. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, proceedings will now resume on those amendments printed in house report 112-75 on which further proceedings were

postponed in the following order -- amendment number 1 by mr. rogers of michigan, amendment number 5 by mr. gibson of new york, amendment number 7 by mr. hinchey of new york, amendment number 8 by mr. carney of delaware, amendment number 9 by mr. reed of new york. the chair will reduce to five minutes the minimum time for elect tropic -- electronic votes after the first series of votes. the question is on the amendment 1 offered by mr. rogers of michigan, on which the -- a recorded vote was ordered and on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1 offered by mr. rogers of michigan. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted.

a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordereordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. most of the debate happened on this bill yesterday. we expect there will be a series of seven votes this time around and that the conclusion new house will conclude their district work printer brick. while the house continues voted this morning, a couple of notable security activities on the house agenda, including behind-the-scenes work on a draft fiscal 2012 homeland security spending bill, over all cuts. the house military construction veterans the administration

subcommittee marking up a draft, 2012 bill. house republicans will be getting a briefing from fbi director robert mahler extending key provisions in the patriot act that expire may 27. so we have a series of seven boats, beginning with amendments and then vote for final passage. while this note is under way, a discussion on one of the most pressing items on the congressional agenda, it possible increase in the nation's debt ceiling. from this morning's "washington journal." from new jersey joins us. big headlines. "house republicans we are realizingguest: this is r that we need to address.

this is comi upper that and much more ahead when we get started this morning right here on "today." is the 13th -- -- if possible time bween may of next week until sometime in august when we have to come to grs with the issue. it is in the hands of congress to begin to address the issue. it is in the hands of the administration. they are the ones who are responsible for making sure we bills.e to pay airbour on the one hand, we do not want to renege on the obligations. we don't want to renege on the debt. on the other hand, it uld be just as bad if we continue on the spending spree that we have been on for the last several years and decades and not try to

address that. if we continue on the mark on spending, the uptick and not try to rain again. let's try to do what you and i do and everybody else does and that is live within our means. host: are likely to left budget passed this year? guest: we have the ryan budget. it is a budget that puts us on a slight path to more sustainable level. it is over tthe senate. this is the first time ever. we have the whole cr situation. the democrats did not pass a budget. it is up to harry reid now. host: 60 ryan budget was passed, we have seen more and more stories - since the program budget was passed, we'll see more stories about freshman concerned about tackling the big

medicare overhaul. can you give us a glimpse of the debate and where people are expressing concern? guest: i think -- you mentioned the freshened. i think the freshmen take it from a larger perspective. it goes back to your first question as to how we address the larger issue of the debt limit. the came to washington on a platform to say we're part of the solution. we're not part of the big spenders. i think most of them realize that to move on it sustainable level, you have to tackle the entitlements. paul's plan does that. it does that in a way that does not affect benefits for senior citizens. i think the majority of the freshmen would say that we need to attack those things and you cannot pushed off into the

future. harry reid said with regard to social security, i want to tackle social security. do it fort wanted to fourdo it 20 years. >> there is more detail in the article. "they felt there were sold a bill of goods." this could make it harder for john boehner to win votes.

guest: it is the latter point that is the good point. i'm not a freshman. i think they realize that we can strengthen speaker boehner's hand when he speaks to the president. when it comes to the issue of making sure that the treasury secretary is paying the bills, that rests downstream at the white house's door. speaker been 's hand is strengthened -- speaker boehner's hand is strengthened. we cannot address this debt limit by clean vote. we need to tackle spending promised at the same time. that strengthens in t. host: i want to play one clip.

we like to play ben bernanke talking about the debt limit. >> using the debt limit as a rgaining chip is quite risky. we don't know exactly what would happen if the debt limit was not approved. there are significant operational problems, legal problems associated with making su the debt is paid. even if the debt is paid, there is the issue of market confidence and how the market will respond to the risk of default or even the defaults on non-debt obligations. i think it is a risky approach not to raise the debt limit in a reasonable -- at a reasonable time. host: i would like to have you put your hat on as chairman of the financial markets subcommittee. addressed specifically the market reaction, the face of the

creditors of the -- the faith of the creditors. guest: we should be certain of one thing. the treasury secretary has the authority to it seemed to pay the interest on the dead, regardless of what congress does -- to pay the interest on the debt. the constitutional authority to do so. know that there's sufficient money coming in to least pay for the debt interest obligations every month plus some additional moneys as well. that is one issue that the chairman should put aside. i think the markets are pretty intelligent with regard to this. they know congress needs to grapple with this. they know the white house and

congress will. do want us to put the federal budget on a sustainable path. if the fed chairman was sitting with us, he would agree that we need to grapple with the debt limit and we need to grapple with the fact that we're spending more money than we are taking in. we are borrowing 42 cents on every dollar. we keep taking money right now and pay for the debt and entitlements and we would not have any other money. host: this is the history of the u.s. debt limit. you can see it starts peaking in the 1970's. you can see the risentil current date in 2011. let's take telephone calls for congressman scott garrett. john, a republican. caller: good morning.

thank you for taking my call. i have a comment and the question. the question is, we have 8 million to 10 million immigrants in the country right now. we're talking about bringing back our g.i.'s from afghanistan and overseas. i'm service veteran. when i came back from vietnam, we cannot find jobs. where do you think these people are going to find a job when they come back? i am disappointed with my party, whichs republican. i'm disappointed with it because they are not acting like adults. thank you and i will take my comments off the line. guest: i want to say thank you for your service to our nation ,

for your 23 years of service. with regard to the issue of the party not acting like adults, on some matters, i concur with you. in certain areas, there have been promised over the years did i have been in congress for a little over eight years. i disagree with our party and the leadership at times on some of the spending issues. that is why i voted against some budgets in the past when the republicans were in charge. i thought we were at that time spending more than we should, th we had to right the ship with regard to fiscal issues. i think the party has turned a course. the freshmen are realized we have to put things right. i hope the administration will be working with us in this regard. host: this is another charge.

the red lines are the debt limit. this is over the past 11 years. we are talking with congressman scott garrett. this is adam from vermont on our independent line. caller: i am an 18-year-old and i'm concerned about the debt problem. i do not think we would be $one trillion in debt -- host: not contributing to our debate this morning. start the, you are on the air -- dorothy, you're on the air. caller: i am concerned about this country as a whole. i am an americ, too. i'm concerned about the fighting.

the same people that are in office or in their eight years ago when they decided to pay for two wars. the middle class is bearing the burden. at some point, somebody has to wake up and just talk plane, just like i am -- and just talk plain. people are concerned about the country. host: this is all about politics. guest: there is a lot of politics going on with this. there are all sorts of reason for that. that weight saying should talk plainly about this. if you come to some of these hearings, they g into such highbrow terms and terminology. these acronyms and the try to talk around you on the issues.

it is simple when you think about it. we have to live our lives under a budget. we cannot spend more than we ke in. we cannot run up our credit cards. we know there is a day of reckoning. we have to pay those credit card under both parties and both administrations, spending more than we have, and that is why the charts you showed it demonstrates that. now we've come to the point where the that amount is just so high in the interest we are paying on the debt is going through the roof. -- or the debts amount -- where the debt amount is just so high. i saw a cartoon in a newspaper it showed a husbd and wife in their living room and the wife

is looking at your credit card we'veent and seays, " reached the limit on credit card. i guess we have to raise our debt limit." the husband says, "it's like congress." -- just like congress. host: jim, a republican. caller: thank you for takinmy call. the debt limit needs to be expanded. it needs to -- there needs to be extreme cuts in spending. the debt limit is not sustainable. the half a trillion dollars taken out of medicare needs to be put back.

guest: we need to address that issue and raise the debt limit at some point. you need to cut cap and balance. you need to make significant cuts right now in the 2012 budget. you need to put a statutory cap in place and say that going forward, there will be a lock on the books that says you have to live within your means -- there will be a law on theooks that says you have to live within your means. a balanced budget amendment to the u.s. constitution so it doesn't matter who is in power. because it is it would put in place a provision that says you have to have a balanced budget. we have that in the state of new jersey. we should have that in the government, as well.

guest: sure. if you have the chart, you would seek the debt started raising before that. host: this one? guest: if you let a chart the one back even further, that which showed that we have been increasing the debt all along. ho: this is the debt limit and the actual debt. guest: where is the bush years? host: not still here. guest: there is been a huge rise. bush goes up after that. under the democratic administration, it is going up at a straighter path, increasing evenore.

now it is going up dramatically during the obama administration. host: we have a couple of minutes left with the congressman. michigan. this is charles, a democrat. caller: i am a democrat. i'm not happy with democrats, either. my reasoning behind that is, they talk about they want to have a fiscal budget, but if you years ago, they had a lot of republicans and democrats voted on, giving themselves raises and then changing the retirement -- i believe it it is to two years for full retirement for a politician. i mean, technically, i do not

seeow politicians that have not been doing their job -- they have allowed corporate america to do what they want. there is no oversight. these people are not doing their jobs. host: thank you. guest: part of the benefits are urban myths. my mother sends me e-mails and says, is this true, scott? what is that website -- snoops? they will tell you about the urban mass -- myths. yes, we do pay into social security. those things that go around our urban myths. you raise something about the salaries. we do not get pay increases for

the past term or so. yes, there has been misspending of money in washington, and that goes back to the ultimate issue that we're talking about. sure we put our fiscal house in der if we raise the debt limit -- should we put our fiscal house in order? host: jackson, michigan, a republican. caller: talking about social security being ticut. they have not given us cost-of- living allowance. there are 45 millions that: social security and take those two years and that is manager million dollars each and every month -- $900 million. guest: the issuance social security. -- the issue on social security.

if you are receiving social security, there is no one in washington from the white house to the senate to the house of represtatives, there is no one in washington who says that social security for you should be cut. that is another one of those urban myths or internet myths. ifey were saying that things on a changed atome point in time with regard to social securit that the benefits, that the money will not be the is in the program to pay current and future retirees. something needs to be done to fix the system now, not to cut your benefits or to change your benefits or to do anything with regard to your system with social security. but to make sure that people like me -- i don't get social security. i am under 55. for future retirees, changes

will be made. host: richmond, virginia, greg. caller: i am not sure what we're talking about this. it sounds like it is going to happen. the talks that this will happen, they will raise the debt limit whether we want them to were not. i'm not sure what the debate is about because it sells like this is a done deal -- it sounds like this is a done deal. guest: it is a long thing from a done deal. if a bill came to the floor this afternoon to raise the debt limit without any provisions, there is a number of people who would vote no. i would vote no. we need to say would cut

spending significantly. we to put caps in place and balance the budget. it is not a done deal. if you are concerned, you should speak to your member of congress. put a system in placehat will put us in a path to balance the budget.