host: president obama heads out west for a couple of days starting today. he'll make stops in nevada, california, and colorado. some of the news reporting, of course, suggests he's campaigning for re-election, but other headlines talk about his new economic drive now that his jobs plan is stalling in congress. that's the way one headline put it. want to get your thoughts this morning. the mantra this week from the white house will be, we can't wait. you'll hear that a lot this week. what do you think of the president's economic approach right now? there will be a new drive this week that we'll give you details on. of course, you can talk about the approach of congress as well. the house is back in session this week. the senate is outer this week. here are the numbers to call -- 202-737-0002 for republicans.

202-737-0001 for democrats. and independents, 202-628-0205. this story in the new york income times, the headline says, jobs plan stalled, obama to try new economic drive.

host: that's the background there, president headed out west today. what do you think? rodney, democratic caller from indiana, welcome to the program. you're up first.

caller: hello. host: yes, sir. caller: yeah, well, i think that he's got a good program. you know, you can't just cut our way out of where we're at. we need to create some jobs. i'm 66 years old, and it always seemed like if the government would create, spend a little money, it created jobs, and in the long run, brought our economy back. host: so how do you feel about this whole jobs plan put out a while ago by the president? doesn't seem to be moving in congress. caller: well, i feel like it's a good plan or a good start, but like i say, until i change or we get a change in the house of representatives, through the democratic side or something, because they're not really interested in me or the public or jobs. they're interested in defeating

our president. host: all right, rodney. larry is on the phone now from mississippi, another democrat. good morning to you, larry. caller: good morning. i agree with that first caller. they're not interested in creating jobs, they'll defeat him no matter what. and the voters must remember this when the election 2012 come around, that republicans voted against them and they must remember to vote against the republicans. america, please remember this. thank you, and have a great day. host: plenty more times for your calls. in the piece here this morning, they write --

host: our first republican caller of the morning from orlando. go ahead, please. caller: yes, what i thought about the jobs plan, i think it's a great idea, but you see us republicans, we made a big mistake by not accepting the jobs plan. and we made a big mistake because now president obama is going to drag out the jobs plan, he's going to do it piece by piece over these months, and the american people are going to actually know what's in the bill. and that plays to our disadvantage. we should have taken the bill, accepted it, you know, if it worked, it worked. if it didn't work, it didn't work, because the american people forget. they have short memories. now we're going to drag it all out. that's my opinion. host: a little bit more on the political side from this piece this morning --

host: we need bold, bipartisan action in congress, said mr. obama's communications director. host: here's a little bit from john mccain recently on the president's three-day jobs tour that he took. here's what he had to say. >> so, the president has taken

to the road. i mean, he spent a number of minutes attacking our plan, and i understand that. i think he has the, certainly in a political venue, the right and privilege to do that. i think the question might be, though, is that appropriate on the taxpayers' dime since it is clearly campaigning. one of the reasons why americans and and i my colleagues are a bit skeptical is because we've seen this movie before. saw this movie before. it feels a little bit like something we've heard before. in fact, let me give you a few quotes. we all know the failure of the last stimulus bill. we all know that the president said and his economic advisors, if we pass the last stimulus bill, that unemployment would be at a maximum of 8.8%. it's obviously we know now,

stuck at over 9%. they said that it would create millions of jobs. we all know that it didn't. it said that it would stimulate our economy, and we know that it hasn't. host: senator mccain on the president's recent trip. he is taking another one today, nevada, colorado, california. we'll like to bring you coverage during the week. here's a little bit more via "the wall street journal," lead story about the home lending program, more we'll hear about today.

host: to gregory, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: doing fine. what are your thoughts? caller: well, i think this is not the best plan, but it's a start any time you're working with the republicans. i think a lot of times your plan has to be watered down. but we have to remember, mitch mcconnell said when he first came in office that the number one goal for republicans, number one goal was to make sure he stays a one-time president and defeat him. and so, number one goal is for america to come out of this recession, you know, they didn't say that. they just wanted to defeat

obama. also want to say that, on his foreign policy, they couldn't -- you see how you got bin laden and he made the right decision on libya and got several high-ranking terrorists. they couldn't stop that but they can stop his economic stuff. that's what's stirring the country now. host: president headed out west today on economic matters. next call, we'll hear from senator mcconnell in just a moment, but janesville, wisconsin. scott, independent. you're up now. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: i think that we really should look to our government for creating jobs, because when they create jobs, they're just government jobs. and essentially taxpayers pay for them. we need to stop and look around and just accept the fact this unemployment rate is going to be this way for a long time,

and there's nothing we can do about it. host: nothing at all? the government has no role? what are the options here? caller: the options are to not bail out all these big, high roll there's got us into this mess. they should have never bailed out the banks. they should never have bailed out g.m. they should have let everything fall into place, and we would be hurting, but we would be working. we would be working our butts off. host: thanks four calling. orange county, new york, george, republican. what do you make of this latest effort by the president as written in the "new york times" today? caller: the new program's just like the old program. remember when he said, oh, all those shovel-ready jobs weren't shovel ready? well, they're still not shovel ready. while we need billions of dollars for infrastructure, what about the billions of dollars we already have?

what about the billions of dollars in taxes that are collected for road maintenance and all this other stuff that we already have? almost all of these jobs that he's talking about, most of them are going to be for teachers. there's, i think, 16,000 police . teachers and police have always been a local issue. he's just doing it so those groups that support the democrats are going to refund that money back to him and support his campaign. i don't see him having jobs for other people around here, pharmacists or somebody that has a long-care job or something like that. i don't see a long-care job stimulus or construction stimulus other than what they have for the teachers and constructions for the renovation of some bridges or whatever, which we already have

and we're already paying for. host: all right. that was george from orange county, new york. in addition to phone numbers, phone calls, which are on the bottom of the screen, you can also weigh in via facebook and twitter, as always. facebook address is facebook.com/cspan. do not use the hyphen there. it's facebook.com/cspan. and our twitter address, @twitter.com/cspanwj. here is vice president biden from the sunday show yesterday on economic matters. >> that's part of this jobs bill is providing us the ability for us to go out there and help people refinance. there's about six million people who are at 6% mortgages, above 6%. if they can refinance at 4%, if the fees were waived, and we're able from a federal level to have some impact on that. that would save the average

homeowner $2,000 a year. that may be the difference between being able to stay in the house and not being able to stay in the house. in addition to that, we continue to work with agencies. we can't directly control federal agencies, to loosen the restrictions on the ability to refinance. and we're continuing to try to work with banks so they can get in the business of actually doing what we think they should have been doing much more of, and that is sitting down and renegotiating with people who are about to go under. host: and to this tweet this morning, obama's with the we can't wait" initial active is another step toward transforming our government into a style in the tradition of castro and chavez. that's via twitter. back to the "new york times" piece, they write, by resorting to executive actions, using his authority to oversee federal laws and agencies, mr. obama seems intent on showing that he is not powerless in the face of republican opposition, but is trying to strengthen the economy and help americans in

trouble. aides said mr. obama would announce at least one initiative each week through the rest of the year, including steps to help returning veterans and small businesses. yet the officials acknowledge that the coming policy changes, executive orders, and agency actions are generally less far-reaching than the legislative proposals now before congress. chicago, larry, independent. from what you heard so far, what do you think? caller: good morning. thank you for taking the call. host: you bet. caller: i think that with the executive powers the president has, we have a glut of houses that are already foreclosed, and when people are losing their homes, they don't repair them, they don't fix them. so if there is an act railroad reinstitution of what was called the housing act of 1968, we'd be able to get these people to be able to refinance them with federal aid, help them with their payments. that will put people back to work repairing these houses.

we'll take people that are homeless and put them into houses under the housing act. i think that doing something is better than doing nothing. there's no perfect plan out there now. there's no perfect jobs bill that is available. but we have to get a start, and we need to start now. host: california, veronica, democrat. good morning to you. caller: i am very much in favor of president obama's bill, but i think right now, america, we can't do anything right now except the john boehner america. he has gotten 99% of what he wanted, and he is very, very happy, so, you know, let's look at it, if president obama got 99% of what he wanted, how happy would america be? so let's lose john boehner's america for a while, ok? thank you. host: cape cod, massachusetts, head on the republican line. good morning.

caller: yes, good morning. for all the republican haters out there, let me give you some current events some somehow are not really being broadcast by the government. mr. obama is sending over a half a billion dollars to finland to build an electric car. along with that half a billion dollars, finland is going to get 500 jobs out of this. these are taxpayer dollars. but if you're sitting in front of a computer, google finland, electric car. to make it worse, this car is going to cost $97,000. is this part of obama's job bill to improve the economy of finland? thank you. host: here is the "new york times" headline, jobs plan stalled, obama to try new economic drive. he's headed out west today to nevada, california, colorado. today he is supposed to be talking about a home lending program being revamped, and

he'll talk about other things during the week. "we can't wait" is the phrase you're going hear a lot from the president. florida, marge, independent. what do you say? caller: hi. in florida here, the unemployment rate is higher than the national average. the last jobs bill did not work at all. it was aimed at basically single mothers and giving them 12 to 18-month jobs. at the end of 18 months, then they were unemployed again. governor scott now has to spend time and human resource to look at these workforce florida centers that were part of the stimulus package, because they are run inefficiently. now, president obama might see this jobs bill and his push for it, and just pulling at straws for re-election. he was first supporting no child left behind, and then just a few months ago he said, no, we need scrap that.

miraculously, bringing the troops home, less than a year before re-election. he needs to really instead -- and he all the people in washington there -- need to really look at the problem and come up with a viable economic plan. buddy romer, who is on the republican ticket, isn't being given any air time at all. he is a harvard graduate with an economics degree, having been in the banking business, former governor of louisiana, and congressman in washington, and i just don't know why these great minds of ours are not being tapped into. host: what are you hearing from buddy romer that you like? caller: from buddy? well, he wants to make sure that the trade with china is evened out, and also, he wants, you know, american -- produce and had purchased here in the united states. and also, even the export and imports that we have with other

countries. and i really appreciate your last caller bringing to light the electric car with finland. it's things like that that you never hear about in the mainstream news. host: marge, thanks, from florida. craig crawford will be with us in about 25 minutes, political blogger, longtime political writer and observer. he'll talk about the g.o.p. candidates and the president's approach this week as we look ahead to campaign 2012. here is senator mitch mcconnell on the white house approach, this from the cnn program yesterday. >> there's shame to mention any of the things that they do with republicans because it steps on their storyline. their storyline is that there must be some villain out there who's keeping this administration from succeeding. look, the president's been in office now almost three years. we've had a chance to look at his performance. the vice president said this election was going to be a

choice. it will be a referendum, a referendum on the president and his performance, and i think they have concluded that the economy is not going to look a whole lot better a year from now, and to they're looking around for anybody else to blame other than themselves for the place that they find themselves in. host: and referring to the president, lori writes, yes, he can. dump congress, mr. president. you don't need them. use your executive powers to help americans. and chris writes, you mean he might even try to come up with an idea that will actually work? can't wait to see it. of course, none of this is obama's fault, right? he does nothing but blame other people for his failed policies. karen is on the line from garner, north carolina, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: good morning. how are you? caller: fine, thank you. i'm kind of tired of these ill-informed republicans say obama's not doing anything and he's not a leader.

he's done a lot of great things, great foreign policies. the reason he can't do anything here is because our republican congress refuses to sign any bills. since 2010, i don't believe they passed anything for jobs. and they're doing it because they do notment him to be president next time, and that is a shame. we cannot be a good country, a successful country if we're constantly going back and -- oh, i'm sorry. i lost my train of thought. host: karen, you've gone ahead ask made your point. we appreciate your contribution to the program. let's hear from trip now on the line for independents from valdosta, georgia. caller: hi. how are you? host: doing fine. how are you? caller: good. thanks for taking my call. one of the previous callers said something about it was better to do something than nothing.

the reason we have so many boomeds and busts is because the government tries to do something. the whole thing of obama offering an initiative every day for the next two or three month social security just all very political. it's just nothing more than just a part of the political campaign. host: louisville, kentucky. pat, republican. what do you make about this latest approach by the president on jobs and the economy? caller: i don't like his spiel, doesn't really have what's going to pass. it's political. and president obama challenged the republicans to bring forth his jobs bill. mitch mcconnell is the reason it went to the senate, and there's not enough republicans. remember, there's a minority, some democrats that voted

against it, but republicans were united defeating it. but it wasn't passed by his democrats, the reason it failed. so i really get tired of that, and to the lady that said the uninformed republicans, well, republicans didn't get the house of representatives until 2011. they were in the minority in 2010. that's wrong all the time. host: that was pat from kentucky there. a couple of emails this morning. pass this bill, we can't wait. this from a president who put jobs at the bottom of his priority list for 2 1/2 years. that's from stanley from lawton, oklahoma. another email says, this one from paul, the republicans took control of the house with the promise of creating jobs. now they won't even allow a

plan to come to the floor. enough said. lots more economic-related news in the papers today, of course, including this story in today tosmede it's actually about medicaid and hospital stays. their lead story says states are going to limit hospital stays now. a growing number of states are sharply limiting stays under medicaid to as few as 10 days a year to control rising costs of the health insurance program for the poor and the disabled. overeast, the "new york times," the off-lead talks about european leaders confronting basics of their debt dilemma. rising tide, we're reading this morning, --

host: there are several stories in the papers today about how all of that may be affecting us here in the u.s. even more directly and possibly harshly sometime soon. spring hill, florida, chris, independent caller. hi there. caller: hi. thanks for taking my call. here's the problem i think people don't understand, and i think this is a good thing that our economy, even a bad economy, is far too big for the government to throw money at and fix. i mean, $800 billion, which sounds like a lot of money, would be like if you make $50,000 a year and you're really having a hard time, hey, i'm going help you, fix things for you. i'm going to give you -- actually not even 3,000, but $2,700. per month? per year?

no, just one time. that will fix all your problems. of course it's not going to work. but that's a good thing, because they want the private sector economy to be much bigger than the government, which it is. and to say throwing half that much at it is somehow going to fix it when twice as much didn't is ridiculous. now, on the other hand, that same rich relative had control over things that cost you money like your bills or things that we strict you from doing business, well, that could help you. you see, the government does have the ability to hurt the private sector. doesn't have the ability to really help it, but it doesn't have the ability to hurt it. we have to hurt it less. that's what we have to do, less taxation, corporate tax, sorry, the only higher corporate tax in the world is in japan, and they subsidize their industry, so it's really not a fair comparison. and regulations as well. regulations and taxation that

the government imposes on the private sector is too difficult. that's the only thing, even if it wasn't too difficult, it's the only thing that the government can do to help the private sector. the government has the ability to hurt the private sector, not the ability to help it. it just would hurt it less. host: we'll do this for about 15 more minutes, and then talk politics with craig crawford. we have a call from morris on the republican line from san diego. hey there. caller: good morning. i was just wondering when it was that our president became king obama instead of president obama. host: what do you mean by that? caller: well, i just seem to be thinking that the only thing that stands in his way from accomplishing what he wants to accomplish is the constitution, but the healthcare bill is unconstitutional, and now he wants to just pick and choose things that he wants to make law. is he going to run this by congress along the way

somewhere, or is this just going to be whatever he deems to be the right thing to do? but i think that obama is getting a little bit nervous, to be honest with you, and i think the as the election approaches, he's not only going to get more nervous, but downright mean, and i think he's going to lose his cool. our president isn't the cool customer that he tries to lead everyone to believe he is, and he's going to snap pretty soon, but the fix is already in for 2012, but i guarantee you obama is a one-term president and all these democrats are praising all the things he's done for us. they're going to wake up on election day and they'll be sing a new tune. host: lots more of your calls this morning on twitter. if the republicans think the president's jobs bill don't work, go ahead and prove him wrong. pass the bill, one viewer writes. one, though we do expect passage this week, it deals with a contractor withholding tax. it's actually something the

president mentioned in his jobs speech. looks like it may be passing both bodies of congress and going back to the white house. contractor tax withholding not a simple fix. this is a below the fold story in the "washington times" --

host: the house is expected to take up this item a little later this week. we actually come in at 2:00 today to start their legislative week, and this contractor withholding bill is coming up later in the week. senate's out this week, by the way. the president is headed out west, which is the subject here . orange county, new york, once again. victor, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. i just feel that it's a lot of jobs that's available. they brought this house

swapping and took money out to buy houses and cars and upgrades. serve american homeowners, create jobs, so i just feel americans need to stop with that. i'm a democrat. i do think the president -- unemployment has been at 9% -- just have to build with it. this is inspired by doing things, i felt this jobs bill and do anything else, and getting a job. only get to get worse. thank you.

host: to the marketplace section of the "wall street journal" today, the headline says lean companies are ready to cut. they write, despite another quarter of robust profits and ominous impulses stirring at many big companies, restructuring, in a sign that executives see a rockier road ahead -- host: job woes worry the troops ark cording to one republican. he's not ease hig way into this job. congressman bob turner has returned from a four-day secret tour of afghanistan. turner, a republican from queens, an army vet, said a pressing concern for some of the troops is landing a job

when they come back home -- that's in "the new york post." to "the washington post" now, the small business administration is proposing new rules for contracts. host: cincinnati, ronald, thanks for waiting. good morning. caller: thank you. ok, what about -- ok, so you got the filibuster in the senate, you got the house of representatives controls the money. so obama really has no contact with the money other than going

through the congress. think of it this way. they've already sold you out anyway. you got to kill the economy. well, what's happened? they killed the economy. who suffers for that? the people. so people, you got to wake up, and they think, ok, he gets out there for these people to start signing on these treats. thank you. host: john, good morning. caller: good morning. just a couple of quick comments , the first being the so-called business environment that is being discussed over the last few callers. it was actually predicated back in 2000, 2001, which ultimately led us into the disaster in 2008.

put that in mind, president obama is doing the best he can with the filibuster situation in the senate to try to get some type of movement on the jobs bill, and my last comment is, in regards to the stimulus, the original stimulus, it did work. it stopped the loss of job, which was about 700,000 per month, and our g.d.p. did increase, but not by much, but it did increase. and that's all i had to say, thank you. host: all right, thanks. getting that call from new hampshire reminds us that we're covering mitt romney today. he's going to do some filing up in new hampshire today, but hold a rally with some folks as part of our campaign 2010 coverage, and we are reading that he will get the endorsement of former governor sununu today. that's some news that broke over the weekend. so we'll get you air time of the mitt romney event a little bit later today. here's the front page of "the

guardian," one of the many dramatic photos following the earthquake in turkey. hundreds feared dead in a building collapse. up to 1,000 people feared dead as of this printing of this story after the powerful quake. it was 7.2. it strurk near the iranian border yesterday. the epicenter was below theville -- below a village, and at least 10 buildings were razed. there are so many dead, it's a quote, said the mayor of one town. we need urgent aid, we need medics. rescue workers and residents are struggling to free people using their bare hands, some of the write-up in "the guardian" today, video courtesy of reuters. we can take this next call on economic matters from lawrenceville, georgia. ed, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say that every democrat crawl caller that called in that said they wanted obama's jobs bill, they never read it. just because it's got the word

jobs on the front of it doesn't mean that there's any jobs. and all obama is doing is taking a hunk of money out of the economy and shuffling it around to another point in the economy. it doesn't help. he's taking from people and then giving to other people, and that's not going to solve the problem. host: what will, caller? caller: what's going to solve the problem is if he lowers the corporate tax rate. and he won't do it. he just refuses to do it. host: all right, moving on to houston. independent caller, hi there. caller: yes, good morning. how are you? host: i'm doing fine. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to make a few statements. i'm a 57-year-old black woman. i voted for obama in the last election. i voted for change. i voted for many years and many presidential elections, some

bad, some good. and i am just so frustrated, i don't understand. obama ran on change, and that seemed to have been a four-letter dirty word. now i think all of us see change is hard. whether democrats or republicans are independent, we all have to come together. this is america. all of us are suffering, and i don't know what the answer is. it doesn't appear even the most intelligent people don't know what the answer is. but we've got to do something. i mean, the unemployment just keeps going up. there's got to be an answer, but if we keep saying no, no, democrats, or no, no republicans, we will continue to suffer. i don't believe the answer is a new president, because the same

problems are going to be there. what is going to be the miracle that happens, if a republican is in office, i just don't understand it. we are all americans. we need to work together. host: that was mariah from -- sorry, we'll try to squeeze in a couple of other stories here while we have these four or five minutes left. "new york times," kirchner heading to easy victory in argentina's re-election, riding a wave of economic prosperity in her quest to continue the dynasty begun by her late husband, former president, nestor kirchner. they're talking about an ample margin of victory in the "new york times" and other papers. "new york daily news" has this headline, "libya to be ruled by muslim law."

host: yesterday tunisians cast their ballots. voting lines wrapped around street corners sunday. parents brought children to witness the milestone, the first truly free vote in tunisia's history and the first election of the arab spring, which began in a small north african nation and sent shock waves throughout the region. also, the "baltimore sun" following up on the secretary of state hillary clinton telling iran, hands off iraq.

host: here's our next call from detroit, mike, democrat, on the economy and the president's push out west this week. what do you make of it? caller: great. back our president up. but remember, president obama had initiatives several years ago. it was called the high-speed rail initiative. now, the railroad industry globally is closing in on a trillion dollar industry that includes the infrastructure for rail, locomotives, passenger cars, stations, all the infrastructures and technology that goes with it. now, the united states once had almost 100,000 trains and hillway stations. amtrak only has 500, and the size of the amtrak network, which is about 25,000 miles, is what the u.s. had in 1856 before the civil war. to rebuild that system would mean thousands of stations would be built, as many contracts would work, many engineers, many cities would be tied back together again.

got to remember, our conservative secretary of transportation, ray lahood, is 100% behind it, and president vice president bide suspect 100% behind it. this is a great initiative. it would put many high-paying jobs and would tie our cities back together again. that it is an american icon, the railroad industry. that's what tied the country together initially. we have to be behind this, and we'd be proud to rebuild the system. it will be the best in the world. host: ok, mike. want to get a couple of other points in. in one other iraq story, because you're probably going to hear about a report coming out today, a government report from stuart bowen, head of the inspector general for iraq reconstruction, somebody familiar to our viewers. he's been on this program numerous times. the headline says -- in this report, they're going to write a key piece of

america's enduring presence in iraq, a multimillion dollar program to train police officers, could become a bottomless pit. they need to obtain assurances from iraqi officials about the program's future, this according to a new federal watchdog report, which is coming out today. last couple of calls, moab, utah, j.l. on the republican line, talking here about the economy and the president's current week to change some law , and, as he put it, maybe get jobs going. caller: thank you to c-span. appreciate you taking my call. i don't know where we got the idea that the government is good at creating jobs, with the exception of the c.c.c. in the 1920's and 1930's. they haven't been a real good job creator, and i don't know why they think they can do it now. if i'm wrong, i can't have --

you guys still there? host: yeah, go ahead and fin, up. you're breaking up there, but see if we can hear you. caller: ok. and the guy talking about the high-speed rail, i think demand should be the thing that drives the economy, so if there's a demand for high-speed rail, then we would have it. there's not. the amtrak is subsidized hugely by the government. it can't run on its own, so there's not a demand for it there. it's not the government's job to create jobs. the government should be protecting our borders. host: ok. one last call here from paul, independent from tampa. go ahead, paul. caller: hey, how you doing? host: fine. caller: i have basically two ways -- hello? host: yeah, we can hear you, paul. go ahead. caller: yeah, one is instead of

spending money like you want to spend on teachers and police, he could use it to spend it on border guards and help in arizona, border security. these are things that maybe the republicans would support, border security, finish the border fence, have the border guards. that would be one way to get some public sector jobs. the other way would be, he should immediately expand energy production, gas, oil, maybe start building more nuclear power plants, 50 nuclear power plants like john mccain proposed during his campaign. he wanted to build 100 nuclear power plants. this would put people back to work and something the republicans would probably support. that's the way i see it. host: all right. here's the headline one more time in the "new york times," "the jobs plan stalled? congress." the president is to try a new economic drive. he's headed to nevada, california, colorado this week. campaigning, of course, as some folks are putting it, but also

talking policy, economy, jobs, and that type of thing. we'll track the president's actions this week. look for at least some coverage here on the c-span networks during the week the house of representatives is back in session today, for legislation. the senate is out ought week. coming up after this segment, we will talk with political blogger craig crawford on his efforts. be right back. >> middle and high school students, it's time to goes those cameras rolling for this year's c-span student video cam

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departments. >> sensitive personal and classified data stored by the federal government is at high risk of cyberattack. that's the finding of a just-released g.a.o. report. find out more where the head of information security issues, tonight on "the communicators" at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us at the table, a familiar face to c-span viewers, craig crawford, political blogger. craigcrawford.com is where you're writing these days. you've been observing for years and years, and we wanted to get your take first on what we just talked about with the viewers. that's the president's push out west this week. a new economic drive, the "new york times" puts it. will this resonate? guest: well, it's part of an overall strategy going back to a speech to congress. he laid it all out that he proposed big bill he knew they wouldn't pass. now they're breaking it up into

little pieces that he knows isn't going to pass. it's sort of a soft legislation routine in a way, keep flinging these things on the floor of the senate and seeing them fail . but the strategy is to portray republicans as not doing anything, as being against jobs. now this economic drive you're talking about is the next phase in his strategy, which is to come out with incremental executive orders, different things he can do without congress to show that he is waking up every day worrying about jobs, and so there will be incremental things, but they'll mean something. they're going to give students a break on paying back their student loans to some extent, help homeowners in trouble refinance, and, you know, if you get veterans jobs, some of the returning troops, it will be a lot of incremental things, and they're going to drag them out bit by bit. but then over time what the american people are seeing is that the president is doing something within his own power

about jobs and republicans aren't. host: and we can't wait is the mantra we're going to hear this week. guest: it's gone from pass this bill to we can't wait. we can't wait not to pass this bill. host: how about the g.o.p. push back on what? what do you expect to hear this week? guest: well, the two sides are so entrenched in their talking points that it's like a broken record, you know what i mean? you just hear it over and over. the republican response is, you know, raising taxes is the way to go, cut taxes, cut regulation. i was listening to your callers earlier before i came on, it's just an absolute mirror of the split between republicans and democrats, elected officials, as with your callers. and you look at the polling, you know, gallup did a pretty comprehensive study showing the country just plainly is divided on the question of government's role in creating jobs. and, of course, it splits down partisan lines. about the same number of americans say the government

plays a role how to create jobs, infrastructure, spending, and the republicans say, no it's not the government's job. it's all about cutting taxes and regulation and freeing business to hire people. host: one of our earlier callsers said the president is scared, the white house must be desperate. what's your sense of the feeling over there with this election basically a year from now? guest: yeah, it's just all about that now. i mean, i wish this was really about jobs. i don't think it is. i mean, what we've got because of this split electorate and the huge divide between republicans and democrats is they are now tactically working on this issue and not really the issue itself on the democratic side, on president obama's side. they keep throwing that millionaire's tax in there, in every one of these proposals, trying to get money for police officers and firemen last week, upcoming, the infrastructure bill, $60 billion they want for

that. in each one of these, they put this little poison pill, really, in those things, a .7% increase in taxes on people who make over a million dollars. and they know every republican in the senate is going to vote against that every time. so it's almost like they're designing these votes to lose because they think they win in the long run because it shows republicans aren't doing anything. host: phone numbers for our guest, craig crawford of craigcrawford.com, a political blogger. you may also remember him from being editor in chief of the hotline, the "orlando sentinel's" main guy near washington for a while. that's called a bureau chief. guest: bureau chief. host: we're talking about the president's re-election strategy. we'll bring republicans into the game here. if you go to craigcrawford.com, you'll see his posting from the other day, and the headline

says, iraq, not obama. what are you writing here? guest: i was very interested in that substory, and it's not the main line for most americans. they're just glad the troops are coming home. they don't care how it happens. but the substory, the only reason this happened is because the administration could not work out a deal with iraq on immunity for troops. and that they actually had been negotiating to extend the time table they earlier agreed to, but it was clear, given the administration, people were making it pretty clear, reading between the lines, they did not want to bring these troops home on this time table. it's not their choice. so i think a lot of americans can thank the iraqi parliament. host: so plug politics back into iraq and the killing of gaddafi, any benefit, breaks, bump, whatever word you want to use for the president with all this? guest: the drudge report called it the kill bounce for

president obama. it wasn't much. there was an up tick in gallup, but, i mean, the fact remains and the president's biggest problem going into this re-election is the last six reputable national polls, average them together, he's around 51% disapproval. in fact, all of them but one were over 50%. he is looking at a country that likes him personally, but consistently -- i mean, he's had the last two worst approval ratings, and he got a little bounce over bin laden, and that didn't last, so i don't think there's going to be much of a kill bounce down the road on gaddafi, unless people think the overall picture in the middle east has gone better. probably the best thing that's happened with this presidency are the things hillary clinton has been in charge of, oddly

enough, some of the arab spring in egypt and libya and a few others, mostly foreign affairs. host: first call, chicago, herman, democrat, good morning. caller: yeah, i just want to ask your guest, talk about how the democratic party had the president down in 2010 when they didn't vote for the mid-term. and then the republicans and tea party get in there and now the president has no help. guest: yeah. you have really nailed one right on the head, because that is exactly what happened in 2010. the obama coalition, if you want to call it, younger voters, ethnic voters, a lot of new voters who came out in 2008, it was a very different electorate in 2008 than we'd seen in a long, long time, maybe going back to 1960. and those folks came out for him, it's clear now, because in 2010 so many of them just disappeared, as the caller said. that was the big difference in democrats losing a lot of seats

in congress. and my theory is that -- and i don't know if there's enough of it, but my theory is a lot of those voters come back when he's on the ballot. what we learned was they weren't activist enough or interested enough to vote in mid-term elections that he's want involved in. so, if he can bring them out, that's a big tide of voters that can make a difference. host: "usa today" writes about younger voters today. obama moves to revive ties with younger voters. outreach aims at campuses, social media, lots of different groups reported on today. generation depap with a question mark, a little charlotte here that says the president has the highest approval rating of those 18 to 29 years old. and it goes down pretty much as it gets into the senior years, senior ages. mr. crawford, "the washington times" also talks about hispanic voters and how they're standing at a fork in the road.

the subheadline says dissolution with obama, but wary of g.o.p. on immigration. give us your thoughts. guest: well, i'd be wary of some of the things they say. that's been fascinating to watch in the republican side, romney trying so hard not to lean too far to the liberal point of view on immigration for fear of antagonizing the tea party, but not so far that in the general election he can't appeal to hispanic voters. a lot of people in the republican party realize that this is over. i mean, this business of attacking illegal immigrants, as they keep calling them, in the debate, illegals, which not a great way to appeal to them to start with. that's not the politically correct term for it. host: next call, north judson, north carolina. you're on with mr. crawford. good morning.

caller: good morning. yes, i -- yes, hi. i hear you real good. i thought you could hear me too. host: we can hear you now. go ahead, please. caller: ok, thank you. i'm cincinnati here. anyways, i'm just thinking about all the troops coming home, which i have been praying for this day, but i'm also extremely, extremely worried about a lot of them winding up in the streets, because there is no way neither side has got enough jobs to place all those poor women and men out there. i know there's not. so, i mean, i'm just so, so worried about that. and god knows, we all want them home safe, and i pray to god they all got parents or somebody that they can go to, you know? i don't want to hear about no more of them troops out in the street, you know, without a

guest: the president is on top of that. lady announced something like 170-some companies admitting to hiring thousands of the returning troops. the president wants a tax credit for employers who hire veterans. they've got a lot of things going on. a lot of these things are indecree mental. but it's all he can do with this republican congress. but he hears you. he's trying to do some things. host: let's hear from cumberland, maryland. hi, philip. caller: hello. i would like to tell mr. crawford he doesn't have his act together. guest: what do you mean? caller: mitch mcconnell, he said his main objective didn't have anything to do with the economy, creating jobs, anything. it had to do with defeating barack obama. that came out of his mouth. guest: you bet. i don't disagree with that. he definitely said that.

caller: well, and they've been doing a very good job doing that. the heck with the country. put that on the back burner. but i would like to remind him that our first $1 trillion deficit came with the republican administration. and before he left office, we had a $3.4 trillion deficit. guest: yeah. i remember covering the campaign when reagan beat jimmy carter. the big issue in that was reagan was attacking jimmy carter for his $50 billion deficit. now they would cheer for a $50 billion deficit. and reagan went on. talk about that money here, let's talk about the president's fundraising if we can. the president reportedly at at $86.2 million. he raised that much money. he has $61.4 million cash on hand. guest: well, look at some of the things they're doing with it.

he transferred i think something like $10 million to the democratic national committee. and they spent $8 million on television ads pushing this jobs bill, half of everything that the d.n.c. spent. and it's not clear that it did any good. the jobs bill is still failing. so by that score, i would say this money, a lot of it is going to get wasted. what i hate about presidential campaigns now, and every one gets worse, is we're just transferring money to television space. that's what it is. that's what it is. i personally think those ads should be free that television stations should be required, to some extend, run ads so that people without money could get some exposure. host: for the g.o.p. side, you tweeted recently about rick perry. wrote that perry has for the

flat tax graveyard. guest: i have seen so many candidates desperately clinging to that. i don't see it changing. i have watched steve forbes talk about it endlessly, and some presidential campaign a while back. i forget what year he ran. it only gets a certain -- it's like a mature market in a way. there's a certain niche of voters who love to talk about the flat tax and listen to candidates talk about it. but then when everybody else starts looking at the details it's like, wait a second, no more mortgage reduction and all of those other things? and then, of course, once you start making exceptions, it ends up just as complicated as before. so i think it's a kennard that desperate candidates use. there's a whole lot more candidates who lost elections talking about the flat tax. host: what do you make of the g.o.p --

guest: i love them. just think they are a riot. you know why? i figured it out. i was in orlando for the debate there. and what's great about the debate rules this season -- i don't recall this in the past. they're letting the crowds react. they're not telling the crowds to shut up. i don't like when journalists moderate in the first place. but when they would turn around and admonish the crowd to be quiet, i just hated to see journalists put in that position. but now they're letting these crowds react. i know some of it got a little -- backfired on the republicans. but in general, i think it energizes the candidates. it makes it more interesting to watch. they're just lively. other things, you have so many candidates in the republican race who kind of have nothing to lose. so they're not being real careful. newt gingrich is running for speaking fees. he's very intelligent at these things of the but he's just not

guarding his words at all. so that makes for a lot of lively expense. host: so i'm not sure if you had a chance to see chris' piece in the "post" but, for everything that's going one-handed grab the g.o.p. side and with the question, the -- with the question is is he beatable? guest: i think if they don't go crazy -- if they let the tea party point of view completely control what their ticket looks like, they're not going to be. and they don't like to hear that, but i believe it. democrats when they get in trouble historically have always -- even if the voters aren't inclined in their direction, they are often are able to eke out elections by scaring people about where the republicans are going. sort of -- a democratic

operative once told me it's called the thelma and louise strategy. even if they're kind of leaning towards the philosophy, point of view of the republicans -- and, of course, gold water was probably a great example of that when johnson turned him into a nuclear warmonger. even though people liked what he was saying, they were afraid of him. that's what obama is going to try to do with all of those millions and multis of dollars we talked about. but i think republicans -- i'll just throw out one example. i think romney and mitch daniels as a republican ticket won't excite the tea party so much, but that would be a very difficult ticket for obama to scare people about. on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. my question is for you gentlemen and my fellow americans.

would it not behoove all of our people if we could contact our congressmen and have them sponsor a bill that would mandate equal trade with all countries? this would do two things -- would this do or not do two things in that it would bring manufacturing back to america and create jobs and in that way solve all of these things that we're talking about? guest: one thing about equal trade goes to fair trade. caller: it would be like this. we -- sell to china the amount of stuff they sell us and all over the country. whatever they sell us, we would have to be selling back in dollar amounts. and that would cause and effect us to bring our jobs back here because it doesn't have -- they

would have to start buying from us as we buy from them. guest: the only thing to that is i don't think we can do that iewn halt rail -- iewn lattimore rally. i get your draft. i'm a little surprised the free trade bills got passed in time recently. there was very little public debate over that. was pretty major stuff. and, of course, democrats kind of wanted to do it quietly because labor unions don't like it, the free trade. but that may do more for jobs than anything else. some people argue it's going to export jobs. that was a good jobs issue related to those trade agreements that got very little discussion. host: we are looking at the president's re-election strategy with craig crawford of craigcrawford.com. and, of course, lending in to the republicans as well here. denver, colorado. oscar. independent. you're on the air now. caller: thank you for taking my call.

mr. crawford, hello. guest: hello. the president is heading your way this week. caller: thank you. guest: watch out. caller: i have a triple question. it's one that's been mentioned throughout this whole debate. and you talked about it earlier in your interview. the rich people are supposed to be job creators, quote/unquote. republicans seem to hang their hat on that, most i hear seem to favor that. if they were such job creators, it doesn't seem to me like they're doing a very good job. i think personally we ought to tax the hell out of them. guest: the evidence isn't very good there, i agree. another part of the problem is you know, you got companies and corporate america sitting on trillions in cash that they're not spending for jobs, obviously. you've got the big banks sitting on all kinds of money that they won't loan so what's holding them back?

now, what i keep hearing -- i went to the summit, the republican debate in orlando, like i said, and talking to a lot of conservative activists and thinkers there. their argument is that obama has created a climate of uncertainty for business leaders, not knowing what their taxes are going to be, what the regulations are going to look like, and they're just holding back. and the argument i keep hearing is -- in fact, gingrich makes this explicitly in his stomp speech, the minute you elect a republican administration in congress, companies will start hiring again. there are a lot of people who aren't going to buy that. but a lot of these republicans at these events are convinced that that's the case. once corporate america sees a friendly administration in congress, they'll start hiring people again. i don't know. that's just what they're saying.

and it's tracking among republican voters whether they can spin that to independent voters to believe. it's a big question. but i think if they could, then they've got a real shot. host: one of the events you said you watched was the freedom event. guest: on c-span. host: you tweeted about that as well. g.o.p.ars spoke yesterday at the des moines animal learning center. put that in quotes for some reason. guest: you have it at the bottom of your screen because that's what you do. but every time i saw that, it just cracked me up. i kept thinking, are the animals learning anything? host: then you write in brackets, insert joke. what are you saying there? guest: i could only think of the setup. i couldn't think of the punch line. so sometimes i throw it out there to the tweet land and see if somebody else i just -- somebody tweeted back to me "are the animals learning anything?"

i didn't mean much by it. it was humorous to me. the animal learning -- the idea of animals sitting around learning. host: to new hampshire, mitt romney will file papers, do a rally. we'll have coverage on tape later. then we're hearing about another big endorsement for him. guest: yeah. point i noticed this morning, he came out and defended marco rupio and his little flap over family history i thought that was interesting because a lot of people seem to think he would be a potential running mate for romney. it doesn't necessarily confirm that, but it was interesting to see romney going out of his way to help out rubio. new hampshire is romney's to lose and then some he's so far ahead there. huntsman is almost a new hampshire-only strategy now.

i think what's going happen is iowa is going to go some other direction. i don't know if they'll go with somebody like kaine as they did -- with cain as they did in the past, with roberts son and huckabee. but iowa will go the most conservative route, perhaps. and new hampshire, romney. south carolina becomes a bit of a widower decider. and then you get to florida, which i think is the whole campaign. i'm from florida and i've been accused of being biased with the spin, but i think it happened last time i think romney about lost to mccain of that race would have been decided lighter and maybe in romney's favor. he only lost to mccain for half a percentage point. so florida was the decider then,

and i think it will be again. the other states will set the table. host: romney gets the endorsement today. how significant is that? guest: we saw that coming. we knew the big name in new hampshire politics for sure. i don't think among insiders to new hampshire this is a big shock. everything's going his way, romney's way, in new hampshire. it's his neighboring state, after all. i think the real question for him is what to do about iowa. it's the only old dilemma for so many front running candidates. it was for hillary. do you play there and if you leave, then it looks like a big loss. do you write it off? do you write it off like giuliani did? you're out of the picture. it's always a tough choice. what i'm sensing from watching

romney and hiring people and different things is they've decided to make a play in iowa. the conservative side is so divided right now. thee events i've been going to, you have your supporters, gingrich, they're really screwed up and there's no real consensus. they'll decide late like they always do, but there's no real consensus. if this stays that way -- that vote, which is maybe 40%, 50% of the vote, republican caucuses in iowa. if that's divided four ways like that, romney could even win iowa. host: colorado springs. pat, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm calling concerned that i was listening to the tv over the weekend and about people have already forgot about our last

eight years with the republicans. that's one thing. i have two sons that served in the service. those kids go over there. they do not come back the way they were before they went over there. guest: where did they serve? caller: they served in iraq, eight years each. both of our boys. and when they came home, they were totally different. they tell you they would not wish that war on their worst enemies. and people done forgot about. and then listening to the republicans talking about we shouldn't have brought our boys home this early and on. those are not their boys. those are our boys that they're sending over there. and another thing, like i said with the jobs, prove the man wrong if y'all feel that way. put the job act out there and see. that's all we want, a try. and then on top of that, one more last thing and then i'll

hang up. the republicans are about the money. all we want to do is divide. they're about the rich people, themselves. because you got to know they're making good money up on that hill. stop and think about the last eight years under the republicans before you start saying so much about this president. it's not about this president. it's about our country. because everybody crying about china. china is doing fine. this country is the one. host: let's hear from our guests. guest: i think you ought to have her on the show. that was a very articulate comment. she represents the kind of voter who i think obama will get -- back to the polls, excited, working. and that is an argument that he can use with those voters, don't forget the eight years that came before me.

the media kind of makes fun of him when he tries to do that. but there are voters out there. in their minds, we create the 2008 dynamic, he'll bring a lot of those folks back. host: he will also see the voters who have seen this type of headline. this is "the hill." most voters say u.s. is in decline. it's a new poll from "the hill" showing the american spirit has been zapped. overwhelming number of those best current dribbles presage a longer, deeper fall. guest: i think that is what occupying wall street is all about. people saying, what do they want? well, it's not their job to solve the problem. to identify the problems, widespread ones, heart felt ones.

and maybe resentment is a strong word, but resentment is what a couple of these callers have expressed about the rich and powerful getting breaks that they're not getting. it's not that they resent them for being rich, but that they see politicians coddling them so that when it comes to actual solutions to these things. that i think is what is driving the feeling that the country is in decline, that this appearing middle class and the disparity between poor and rich. host: moving on to karl now, berkeley springs, virginia. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. mr. crawford, i had a chance to speak to you the last time you was on c-span. guest: where are you from? caller: berkeley springs, west virginia. i'm assuming you have read this

jobs bill that the president has put out there. is that correct? guest: well, what i read -- if you read the actual text of these bills, it's a little harder to get through them, understand everything i know that's not going to play well with you, probably. but the outlines and the numbers, i look at those numbers like the congressional quarterly. but what i really wait for in these kind of bills is the budget office. when they score the bills. the thing to read. that's where you really learn what the bills are all about and what the potential effects might be. host: anything else, karl? caller: you were talking about a poison pill and a bill. what about the fact that he put in there for the union

stating that every job that was created had to be paid according to -- [indiscernible]. and then for the lawyers he put a phrase in there saying that any new person that was hired had to have been unemployed for over a year so that he's telling the companies who they can to hire and who they can't hire, whether they're qualified or not. i would like to know what you think about the obama administration telling boeing that they cannot open a factory in south carolina. sir, you have to change. you're still way out there in left field. thank you. guest: well, i like berkeley springs, west virginia, by the way. i'll give you that much. i think a lot of those provisions, you're right, but they're also guaranteeing no chance of a bipartisan solution

which i'm not sure, at this point anyway, the president even wants. host: maryland, robert. thank you for waiting. you're an independent. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i'm fine. caller: i was just listening to this conversation, the gentleman from berkeley springs, from cumberland, maryland, denver, colorado, colorado springs, lady. all of these people are saying the same things. that this man d.c. people think that this men who are willing to destroy themselves -- you know, proved that during the civil war. and all over the world people have ousted people who think like this gentleman. and this is the 21st century. the 20th century outdated these kinds of people. it would not last, people who think like him who are willing to destroy our country in the interest of preserving their own way. thinking -- their own way of

thinking with the destruction of other people. it's past. it's outdated. guest: i think pat buchanan i think haze very controversial book out now. there's a whole chapter about the decline of the white people or something. and it's all about -- i think he calls it the american suicide or something like that. it's kind of like what you're talking about. the feeling among those like him and those who view him in following that somehow their culture is under attack and losing power and influence. but i haven't really seen that as being true. host: as we look at strategy we at a couple of other postings by craig craw. -- crawford. you think g.o.p. occupied spin

backfires. guest: what happens there. we saw the pictures. i think -- it kind of gets back to this pat buchanan cultural war stuff. they looked at it and said, oh my god, it's the hippies again. they put that in their mind and thought they could immediately demonize it, criticize it and ridicule it. and then you see some of the language change, even canter, after they saw some of the polling -- i'm guessing. that the public was not as outraged by these protesters as they had expected them to be so then they started saying things like, well it represents a wider, widespread -- here's the thing. i think they had a chance in the beginning to spin this movement into an anti--- at least

convince some independents that it's all -- unrest directed at obama. couldn't convince everybody of that. but i think they were too quick to demonize that movement. host: you also wrote that even that obama dises the obama character. guest: he had a proposal -- when they went to congress with the obama care in the beginning, they put some things in there that they didn't really properly score. and it turned out -- they are now voluntarily pulling some of those provisions out which sort of opens the pandora's box with some pretty important provisions, too, that really upset a lot of the senior groups that had been talked into

supporting obamacare in the first place because of those provision that they are now taking out. host: greg from new york city, manhattan. greg is a democrat. hi there. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: i hope i'll be able to say what i'm going to say without getting a dial tone. the perception that media wants to put out there that the obama support system is stagnant is a facade. there's no way in the world that the momentum that this man had in 2008 has been diluted. that being, certain segments of this population in our country are so upsell the that a man that looks like this man is in the office that they actually believe they can put anybody up against president obama, a michelle bachmann, a mitt romney who's attached to the mormon society, controlled by the mormon church -- get "the

inconvenient truth," the mormon's took down proposition, whatever it was, for the gay rights in california. yes. and there's a story behind that movie, the documentary, that details exactly how the inner work into the mormon church actually operates. president obama would have had a better health care system if rahm emmanuel didn't mess up saying, oh, i can get the republicans on my side. guest: the deal they made with the devil. made kind of a gentleman's agreement with the insurance industry. that's what led to the president not supporting the public option or going further in the way the government insured health care. but back to your comment. i agree with you. i think that obama -- as i was saying earlier, i think that obama coalition does come back or could come back in the election. my point was they didn't show up

in the mid-term election. and that's when the media began -- saying they disappeared forever. i don't think so. i just think they are obama centric voters. and he wasn't on the ballot. and what we learned is they'll vote for him, but they're not going to vote for somebody you tell them to vote for. host: columbia, maryland, now. brad, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to talk about herman kaine's 999 plan. guest: 90899. -- 9099. caller: but it's gotten a lot of chatter. it's the only thing i've heard that addresses what the people people -- complaining about. and that is the politicians being connected to our government and being taken care of our government. we have too many politicians taking money from the government. if you cut that back and take away all the deduction that have

been put in over the years, you could really address it. the other thing that i like about it is it doesn't affect business taxes. if we want to improve our balance in trade with china, we have to do something to avoid the tradition of jobs going overseas. we can't keep making up more and more expenses to do business here and expecting that we're going to employ americans. guest: i think that plan was very good for starting a discussion. i think it -- as people look at the details and realize how many people's taxes would actually go up, now he's tweaking it a bit. but here's my problem with plans and presidential campaigns. i'd like to know how you're going to get it passed, as much as what you're going to passes. have we not learned over and over again when they get all of these blueprints and the

192-page plans for this, that or the other, then they get up and say, we get here, and this part of congress just changed a part. and it's all about -- i don't think presidential voters look hard at the qualifications and the skills of the potential president in managing congress, in getting things through congress. it doesn't mean they have to be from washington. maybe a governor who's got a good record of it. but i never see voters focus -- they focus on what the plans are. and the movie does this, too. but what's going to get any of this passed? what i don't see herman caine having the ability to getting something this radical through congress. and if that's the case, this discussion is sort of moot. host: one more guest. independent. celia. hi. caller: hi. thankthank you for taking my ca.

i see you all the time, and i'm really thrilled. but what i want to say is, i faxed a paper i did to one of president obama's speechwriterss in 2010, and a wrote a piece on the democratic vote page to remind the voters to believe. i think he asked if we can affect change. just look at the wall street focus right now. obama-biden 2012 sticker because i still believe, i think -- i would campaign for him again and easily could win re-election. i was just wondering what you thought. guest: that's the sort of

outreach and message that will work to bring back voters from 2008 who carried him over the top. as i said before, a lot of people assume they're gone because they didn't show up in the mid-term elections in 2010. but i think we've had a couple of callers like this one indicates that are still out there. host: craig crawford, currently political blogger. can you read him at craigcrawford.com. got a lively forum of commenters on there. we welcome people to come on. we have a good time. we even share recipes. host: thanks for coming on. we'll see you next time. guest: good to be here. host: we will take a short time-out. then we're going to talk with a representative of the opportunity finance network talking about create jobs u.s.a. we'll talk about that and take more of your calls. >> it's 8:32 a.m. eastern. the u.s. bass bass to syria, robert ford, returned to

washington over the weekend because of security concerns. state department spokesman mark toner is blaming the syrian president's government for, quote, credible threats against his personal safety. meanwhile, defense secretary leon panetta is warning iran not to mettle in iraq now that u.s. troops are leaving the country. he went on to say that iraq's defense forces are capable of holding iran off, adding that they have dealt with the iranian extremist groups before. as for the global economy, international stock markets have bounced back as european leaders are working their way towards a plan to address the debt crisis there. asian markets are up on strong economic news from china and japan. ahead of the opening bell, dow futures are up about 20 points. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> middle and high school students, it's time to get those cameras rolling for this year's

c-span video cam competition. the theme, "the constitution and you." get it to c-span by january 20 and you could win the grand prize of $5,000. for complete details, go to studentcam.org. >> our review, which we issued last week in our report, identified that weaknesses existed in key security controls at each of the 24 major federal agency departments. >> sensitive, personal, and classified data stored by the federal government is at high risk of cyber attack. that's the finding of a just released g.a.o. report. find out more with the head of information securities, greg wilshusen tonight on "the communicators" on c-span2. "washington journal" continues. host: more about jobs now. on your screen, mark inspire peopley, c -- pinske, c.e.o., to

talk to us about something called the create jobs for u.s.a. initiative. thanks for joining us. explain this new initiative. all about? guest: i'm happy to. thanks for having me on. we have partnered with starbucks to try to raise capital that will help finance job creation and job retention across the united states. very simply, the way it works is anyone who wants to make a donation of $5 or more can do that. and they can do that either on the web at createjobsforusa.org or by going into a starbucks store. and those who do will receive a red, white, and blue wrist band. but the real purpose is it will come to opportunity finance network which will quickly turn around and put that money back out into communities through a network of things called community development financial institutions or cdfi's. and those cdfi's are in the business of financing community businesses broadly defined.

that includes retail and manufacturing. but it also includes nonprofit businesses, affordable housing developers, commercial real estate developers, that sort of thing. and that money will go out quickly, in the form of loans primarily, to support businesses either in growth phase or in job retention phase or in some start-up phase. host: our guest will be with us for 40 minutes. he is in philadelphia. he is the c.e.o. of the opportunity finance network, create jobs for u.s.a. is their with starbucks, as he just laid out. we'll put phone numbers on the bottom of the screen as we talk about the best way to raise jobs in this country. republicans, democrats, independents have their separate lines here. we'll get to your calls in a couple of minutes. first of all, what is the opportunity finance network? how did you come into being? >> opportunity finance network is a network with these things called community development financial institutions, cdfi's,

which are private financial that lend to create benefits for low-income, low-wealth, and other disadvantaged communities. what we do. that's what we've been doing for about 30 years, and what we'll continue to do. opportunity finance network is a financial intermediary. we finance some of these cdfi's. we also provide training. and we do some work around policy to support cdfi's. so we're all about the cdfi's. host: our guest has been c.e.o. of the opportunity finance network since 1995. explain how the partnership with starbucks came into being. guest: it's actually a and a fairlytory quick story. we, opportunity finance network, have been out in communities all over this country in urban places, rural places, native markets. and what we keep hearing from folks is that they want to be able to do something. they want to be able to help. and we recognize that there are people who need help. similarly when we connected with starbucks, we heard from the chairman and c.e.o. of starbucks

to stores anding hearing the same thing. that people felt like if they could do something, they would do something. so starbucks approached us. we had had some conversations with them over the years. they approached us and said, can we do something together? is there a way that we can raise money a little bit at a time and put it together and have a significant impact on job creation and job retention in this country? and, of course, that's what our cd finance network aids are do -- cdfi's are doing, through the last few years they have continued lending and lending successfully for community businesses. they're getting repaid. they're repaying the investors. so it was an easy connection to make. it all started in august, late august, in fact. it happened fairly quickly when we started some conversations. and i think it was really clear to both of us in the beginning that it made a lot of sense. starbucks wanted to be able to use its scale for good. and that meant that it was able to connect with a lot of people, both through its stores but also through its ability to

communicate outward what we were trying to do. and we had that ability to put that money to work really quickly. here was that if we could find a way for anybody who had $5 to share, to help someone who didn't have $5 to spare, it was worth doing. so we're setting out to do that. we launched on november 1, a week from tomorrow, we will go live on the website and in the starbucks stores. and people will be able to make donations. and we will quickly turn that money around through the cd finance network -- cdfi so that it's getting deployed into communities. host: howard schultz, head of starbucks said, i found myself growing more and more frustrations at the lack of cooperation and irresponsibility of elected officials has they have put part san agendas above the people's agenda. this is not the leadership we have come to expect nor deserve.

guest: i think that what we're focused on is less about the talk that's going on and more about what we can do. that's what this partnership is about. i think it came out -- it came out of howard's frustration, which you described. there's no question that we're stuck in some of our policy and politics. we're stuck in some of our lending. and we need to move forward. what we're trying to do isn't whole solution. it can't pretend to be the whole solution. but it can be part of the solution. and perhaps it will jump-start the solution. so what we're trying to do is worry, in a sense, about what's not happen and focus on what can happen what we know and what we know from our work over the years with cd finance network's, is that 99% of the american people just want a chance, an opportunity, to move forward. an opportunity to get a job. an opportunity to do something. we're trying to respond to that. host: first call comes from los angeles. it's amanda, democrat. good morning.

caller: hi. i have two statements to make. one is for the host, and one is for your guest. for the host, i thought the host supposed to stay neutral. when craig crawford was on, you made a statement about obama being desperate. i thought the host was supposed to stay neutral. are, caller. what i was doing was referring to an earlier caller who said that. if i wasn't clear, that's my fault. that was the moment there. but keep going. caller: it made you sound like you're a tea bagger, and that really annoyed me. and for your guest, i want to tell you i appreciate everything you guys are doing. i would go there even if you weren't promoting this. so trust me. me and my girlfriends, we will

go, put in our $5 even not to buy anything, we'll do that. thank you very much. host: explain how a $5 donation at a starbucks will turn into something significant. explain how this all works. guest: sure. i'm happy to do that. and thank you, amanda, for that. i'm glad you like starbucks. but for people who choose to, they can go online. they don't need to go to starbucks to donate their money. but what happens is this money, because it comes in as a donation, it passes through my organization, 100% of the money that's donated goes into the community. so there's no money taken off for overhead or anything on our end. it goes into the cdfi as a grant what that means is that the cdfi can take that money and borrow money against it and lend that total money. so on average, the $5 that comes in will support about $35 of lending. so a $5 donation, whether it's a

or online as amanda and her friends or anybody else, each $5 will support about $35 of new lending that will happen as a result of that. and that $35 coupled with other $35, right, will -- all together will support financing of all types. it will support, you know, micro enterprises, very small businesses, but will also support larger manufacturing companies. and it will do that based on what's happening in the markets where we are. our cdfi's are in every state of the country and are working in all kinds of certain situations. host: with the initial fundraising goals and how you expect this to grow what are the broad goals? guest: we were very fortunate and the starbucks foundation launched this with a $5 million the job, the create jobs for u.s.a. fund so right from the beginning we have $5 million to start with. it's very hard for us to know exactly what's going to happen.

if my experience in talking to folks is right, we think we'll raise tens of millions of dollars for sure. and that money, you know, every $10 million will support, you know, about -- our hope is that we can produce hundreds of millions of dollars of new financing to create and maintain jobs. host: lake placid. jason. caller: how are you doing? host: good. caller: i have a question for opportunity finance network what is the contact number about securing funding for these projects? guest: a great question. thank you for asking, jason. you can call us by phone. but the easiest way is to go online to opportunityfinancenet. -- opportunityfinance.net. at the bottom of the page there's something called the cdfi locator.

you click on that, tell them you're in florida, and it will pop up all the cdfi's in florida right now. you can reach out to them. if you want to call us, 215-320-4310, and we will try to make a connection for you with the cdfi. of course, you have to work with the cdfi in your community to arrange the financing. but that's what we're in the business of doing. we hope we can help you. host: our guest is the c.e.o. of the opportunity finance network and serves on the reserve board of governors. this is from 2003 to 2005. back in 2002 president george w. bush appointed him to the cdfi fund advisory board at the department of treasury where he served until 2006. las vegas, our next call. roy, republican. good morning. caller: good morning.

devil's advocate. i'm wondering, since this is a private organization if the financial statements are open for viewing, and what the salary of the people that are administering this office, what they make. you. guest: thank you. it's not deaf quit's advocate. -- devil's advocate. we welcome your question. the financial statements are available. our i.r.s. form is publicly available. i actually couldn't tell you. it's a great question about average salary, and it's something i will get. i couldn't tell you off the top of my head what the average salary of folks are. but our books are open. anybody is welcome to look at them. again, if you contact us or you e-mail us -- and i'll give you my e-mail directly. mpinsky at

opportunityfinance.net. we will get that information four. host: you mentioned this program will start in about a week on november 1. besides programs like this, how are you getting the word out? guest: there's a whole range of activities going on. we announced we were going do this back on october 23rd through the media, let the media know about it. we've seen widespread attention that it's coming. but around november 1 there will be a concerted effort to spread the word through advertising, on tv and in print, online, we're using social media, facebook, twitter and others to spread the word about this. there's been significant media interest as well about that. so we think that there will be pretty broad awareness of what we're trying to do. and we hope that that results only in donations to create jobs for u.s.a.'s fund but also in businesses that are looking for financing.

our experience has been, through the cdfi's, that there are a lot of businesses out there that are deserving of finance and are having a tough time getting it. so we do want to hear from businesses. we do want to match them up with cdfi's, provide financing, if the deal works. host: i was going to ask what you thought of the current climate for business landing. want to speak more broadly about the conditions in the country? guest: sure. there's no question that there's been a credit crunch that has gone on for several years now. that's the product of a lot of things. and there's no question that small business finance is tougher to come by now than it was a few years ago. there are some indications from some of the big banks, at least, that they are trying to step up their small business lending, and we encourage that. we want them in the game. and we're pleased to see that, and we hope that's right. but we have a hole to dig out of here. there's been a significant backlog of demand. and unfortunately what's happened over the last few years is that we have lost businesses.

we hear -- one of the things that's happened to cd finance network's all over the country is that we've started hearing from businesses that were previously banked but no longer able to get credit from banks. that caused them to run into problems. cdfi's tried to step up where we could. it wasn't always possible. but we know there's demand. we see strong and steady, high level of demand, far exceeding our ability to supply it today. we're hoping create jobs u.s.a. will help and we'll be able to respond to more businesses. but there's no question that that business demand is there. and even as big banks, small banks, credit unions, anybody else out there trying to lend, it's going to take us several years at least, at least, to get small business decreed yet flow back to where it needs to be in this country.

host: do you want to speak about the whole debate in washington? any thoughts? host: without going into the individual components, we see it it -- we need the government to be sort of moving aggressively to try to support job creation and retention. we need the private sector, corporate sector, to be doing all that it can. it's one of the points that howard has raised that corporations should be using their resources to create jobs in the extent they can. and we need things like this. we need things that like create jobs u.s.a. that have a philanthropic sense but sort of intend to contribute to this effort so improbably not the person who can tell you whether certain tax incentives are the right way to go it or whether direct expenditure is the right way. it's a complicated problem.

but i know that we can't do it. we're not going to be able to do it alone. government can't do it alone. and the public sector can't do it alone. so we want everybody sort -- host: we have mike on the line. thank you. caller: good morning, gentlemen. sir, i need to ask you really, ok -- i'll try to stay serious here. my concern really with starbucks in terms of whatever type of job creation we're talking about, is that we don't end up -- hopefully the focus is hopefully with the returning troops and doing something with creating jobs for these guys, men and women. but quite honestly i hope we don't end up seeing just a lot of more -- well, returning vets serving coffee. i hope we come up with something a little bit more creative.

there's the old louis black joke that starbucks in houston was the cause, basically, end of the universe why? because we have too many starbucks running around. mind you, i love the coffee, but, hey it's day after coffee for me. host: we get the point. to the caller, the main point about jobs for veterans is actually a comment we've heard several times on the program this morning what are your thoughts? guest: well, i couldn't agree more. obviously i hope we're creating jobs for veterans who serve our country. i hope we can do that and create jobs that are appropriate for them. there's no question that veterans who come back from service have a skill set that's incredibly valuable. and i hope we can find a way to put them to work in a way that's appropriate. i certainly don't think and

don't think the folks at starbucks think they should be working serving coffee. that's not our goal here. in fact, the financing that's going to happen through this program is not into financing starbucks. the goals of this financing is to create jobs in places where they're appropriate in the local market conditions and whether they will create jobs in those places. obviously that's going to affect veterans and service members and whenever are they come home. there are cdfi aids that have a -- cdfi's that have a greater focus on returning veterans and veterans from prior service. is something we care about. and we care a lot about the quality of the jobs. we want jobs that are going to be good jobs that are going to help people support their families, help them savor get ahead, start a business if that's what they want to do. i take the point. i think it's a valid point. host: there is a tweet here. one viewer says your plan is

just a business welfare program. be giving money to we people, consumers, who will create demand by spending it. what do you think? guest: we support businesses that are generally owned or started by low-income folks in an effort to give them an opportunity to build their own wealth so that's the molt yo of what we're doing. in a different way, it's what we're expert at. we're not in the business of giving money to individuals for themselves. we're in the business of supporting community businesses. i would think that what the tweeter is suggesting might be something that is probably more what government can do or should do, perhaps. but that's just not what we do. that's not what cdfi's do. as i said earlier, we're not going to be the whole solution. there's no question demand is what this is about our hope is by retaining jobs, we're giving more people the ability and confidence to spend money, to, you know, support their family

whether it's on housing or food or anything like that. that, in turn, will be what promise the economy. there's no question about that. host: let's hear from a a call other than the republican line. caller: i'm a small business owner. i've struggled for quite a few years without the help of any banks or financial institutions. by the way, you're right. they're not there to help us at this point. my problem is the word job creation. it's used very loosely all through washington. you don't create a job. if you have a new product, a demand for the new product, and somebody to make it that is creating a new job. increasing starbucks or kentucky fried is not creating jobs.

host: let me ask, what kind of small business are you in? caller: polyurethane molding. host: how many folks do you employ? caller: two. host: and you said business has been not so great? caller: i've had to move from upper middle class down to lower middle class, borderline. that should tell you the whole story. host: what do you think your prospects are then? caller: for myself, just to tread water. everybody talks about how president clinton had a balanced budget, surplus. he's the one that signed us away when he jumped the gun and signed the free trade agreement with china, even though they had no child labor laws, no slave labor laws, no osha -- they just

have no regulations at all. and then they get a 25% tariff. so it's totally unfair trade. host: mr. pinsky, what would you say to david in ohio who says he's basically trudging along without the help of any government? guest: well, i think, david, your story is a story that we hear a lot from small businesses that are struggling. demand is low. it makes it hard. i wouldn't disagree with you. i agree with you that it's demand for products. having good product and having demand for it creates jobs. what we can do is provide the financing so that business can be positioned to take advantage of that. whether that's a labor force question or whether that's a supply chain question or whether that's a marketing question. right? is there may be demand out there that businesses need help

finding. so you're absolutely right about that. i want to touch on that. and i think this is a tough business environment in general. i don't know your industry well enough to know the challenges that were created by the competition with china. there's no question that there are imbalances in how we manage business here and what the government does and what happens in other countries that, you know, contribute, may create jobs for small businesses. having said that, our experience that most small business owners, you know, they may have their frustrations, they may have things that have caused them problems in the past. what they really want to do is be successful in what they do. they want to produce the best products or the best services they possibly can. and i'm sure you do. and they want to find the market for them. you know, we try to be as prague

3459ic -- as pragmatic as we can amidst the challenges that are distractions for small business owners. so you know, i don't know the specifics of your business. if you want to get in touch with us, i'd like to know more about your business. i don't know that you want help from a financial institution or you don't. you said that you hadn't had any help from financial institutions in the past. maybe that's by choice. but if it's something that a cdfi could help, we'd be interested in talking. host: our guest is mark pinsky, c.e.o. of opportunity finance network here talking to us about a partnership with starbucks beginning next week to launch the create jobs for u.s.a. program. here's a look at the opportunity finance website. this organization, we are indivisible. you can see the tab, create jobs

for u.s.a., createjobsforusa.org is another place you can go. pat on the independent line, good morning. caller: good morning. good-- mr. pinsky. i have often wondered, i hear the politicians saying that this small businesses -- the small businesses are the ones that create the jobs. i have heard on c-span, callers stating that they hire two people, three people, and then, of course, one gentleman a couple of months ago said that he did not hire anybody. he just runs his business himself. are there any guidelines on the qualifications of how many people -- how many jobs that this company might have to hire?

and, also, what do you think about that statement that the small businesses create the jobs? >> two -- host: two points. guest: those are great questions. thank you pitch to the second point, first, small businesses -- thank you. to the second point first, small businesses are a great job creators did you can have a lot of small businesses hiring a few people -- small businesses are a great job creator. morgan have a lot of businesses hiring in a few people. the pace of growth can be great. that is where you get significant job creation. we also have to look, broadly, about where jobs come from. one of the things we do in create jobs for u.s.a., for example, is support non-profit businesses. nonprofit businesses are

surprisingly large percentage of jobs in this country, about 8%. that might be a social-service provider, a charter school, a child care facility, an arts facility, and so we took a broad view of what it means to do that. having said that, to your first question, there is no requirement for what are financing -- there is no number on the number of jobs that need to exist in a business or be created in the business. having said that, we do prioritize in the way we're going to fund the cdfi's and the way the cdfi's are going to finance businesses. we do prioritize those that have greater job creation or job retention potential. that is when we are going to look at very closely in the -- closely. they will need to demonstrate demand for financing. we will look at the demand to see of it is likely to create fewer jobs or more jobs. we want the money to be as productive as possible.

it is your $5, i think you have the right to make it -- to expect it to be as productive as possible. we will go -- the money will go to who will create the most jobs. host: i want to get your take on the second part. they ask, "will create jobs for u.s.a. below-paying jobs or living-wage jobs? are there regulations in place to prevent borrowing fraud?" guest: i'll answer the first question first -- we aspire to create living-wage jobs. that is in the mission of what cdfi's do. create good opportunities, not opportunities that the people stuck -- get people stuck. there are a range of provisions in place. in some cdfi's, there are regulations in terms of lending. in some, there are not.

some are determined by the marketplace. we have been masters of different types, ranging from -- we have investors of different types, ranging from lending institutions to others. they will put requirements and enforce them. in that sense, it is a marketplace solution. the lending of all cdfi's -- it is no secret. you can hear about our financials. the cdfi's financials are available. there is a fund that provides some support to cdfi's, helping to ensure that what cdfi's do, or those that participate in the program do, they get the public scrutiny, but the regulation varies depending on the type of cdfi. host: let's hear from anne in

north carolina, a democrat. good morning. caller: are you talking about 1 million jobs, two million jobs? have you received any pushback from the republican party on this? their premise is to not create any jobs because it might help the economy, which will in turn help the president. host: thanks. mark pinsky. guest: the into the first one is the number of jobs that are going to be graded -- the answer to the first one is the number of jobs that are going to be created will depend on the money that is donated. we do not know how much it will be. we knew a couple of things -- know a couple of things but it takes about $21,000 on average to create or retain a job. you can do the math. the $5 million-contribution that starbucks made to kick this off, the starbucks foundation made to kick this off will be about

1,700 jobs as we go through this. is will take some time to know whether that is the case -- it will take some time to know whether that is the case or not. we are creating a jobs counter. we will take the number of dollars that are donated. of the track on a periodic basis. that will be tracked on a periodic basis. we will get an estimate of how many jobs we expect to create. if you're going to donate $5, we think you have the right to know, with a little more accuracy, what is going on. we will ask cdfi's to track the data. after 12 months, after a cdfi receives funding from create jobs for u.s.a., we will do a jobs audit.

have an independent, third-party agency that will go out -- we have an independent, third-party agency that will go out and look at how the money was used. we want to be a parent -- transparent, accountable. the second question, we have not received push-back from anybody. we have received support across the board. i think there's a lot of excitement and enthusiasm that americans can help american. that is sort of a fundamental tenet of what america is about. we think there's going to be broad support. we expected to be bipartisan support -- expect it to be bipartisan support. historically, cdfi's received bipartisan support. they are simply pragmatic solutions to real problems that affect real people everyday. host: there is another tweet. how did you come up with $5 as opposed to something smaller

like $1? where did you come up with the figure? guest: there was not a lot of magic to the $5 figure. we thought that was a reasonable, minimal amount for people to donate. again, we understand that some people do not have $5 to spare or $5 to share. and, frankly, those are the folks we want to help. it is a modest amount for most people. we know that it is not for some people. we hope that we can help them. host: one other tweet. perhaps you've covered this in an earlier answer. is starbucks putting up matching funds as part of this program? guest: they're putting up seed funds. the $5 million donated by the starbucks foundation was intended to seed this effort and get things rolling.

the program launches on november 1. people can start making donations. we want to start creating jobs before we have a chance to take in an account for that money and put it all back out. having said that, i should say that the starbucks foundation also is providing support in the form of -- i said earlier that 100% of every donation we get, every $5 we get from a 100% of that will go through to the committee -- community, the cdfi, and it multiplied with -- into $35 of financing. they are covering the incidental costs for ofn of making sure this gets done right. their support goes beyond the $5 million. the bolus to create -- the goal is to -- what howard schultz told me, as he talked to folks in the stores, working,

customers, and what i get told all the time, in communities in rural south dakota, urban los angeles, anywhere else, what i hear is that those people who feel like they are in a position to help are looking for ways to help, are looking for a means to do something. host: last couple of calls coming up for mark pinsky. homewood, ill., you are on first. caller: one of the things that has just write to me is the way the government has treated -- griped me is the way the government has treated -- in this country. we have lost half of our manufacturing jobs in the last 10 or 12 years. republicans passed nafta to open the doors. of course, bill clinton signed a bill. there is both democrat and republican -- signed the bill. there is both democrat and republican responsibility for this. i want to see the government

protecting the manufacturing base, rather than allowing it to be sent overseas. the chinese should protect their own economies. their manipulation of their currency and by duties that they charge for people shipping into china. one of these days, when the working middle class realizes that they are not middle-class anymore because of those manufacturing jobs that made them middle-class no longer being available to them, they are going to see a lot of unrest. it is not going to happen soon, but, ultimately, i think you are going to be faced with that. i would hope that the federal government would get ouf -- off their square one and start protecting the american factory worker. host: statement there. any response? guest: there is not a question

that there's a lot of distrust, upset, turmoil in the workplace and in the jobs market. i certainly acknowledge that and think that we need to do something and they nation -- something as a nation. again, what we're focused on -- i cannot be responsible for what government should or should not do -- we want to help people, whether it is non-profit, manufacturing, house construction -- we want to support those folks who are trying to create and retain jobs. host: last call on the line, brings a bill, mich. -- greensville, michigan. good morning. caller: how many people does it take to be considered a small business? 1 to 500 is considered a small business, am i correct? guest: there are lots of different numbers, but that is fine.

people define a different ways, but that is fine. caller: my next comment is, the problem obama is having, all the racist, republican senators from the south are making it their mission not to help him with the economy or anything else. they want him to bail. -- fail. have a good day. host: final comment from our guest in philadelphia about this program, which you hope will lead to lots of lending. what are your best hopes here? guest: our hope is that what we're doing well help to motivate and spur individuals to action, help motivate businesses, help but it correlation -- help motivate corporations, help motivate the government. we are committed to doing this. starbucks is committed to doing this for an extended period of time, as long as is needed. we will be happy to put

ourselves out of business when the economy comes back. we hope that happens sooner rather than later. we're trying to tap into what we think is the fundamental spirit of americans helping americans. we hear people want to do it. we think people will do it. it will give people a reason to sort of look up and look forward and, together, hopefully we can create and retain jobs for the usa. host: mark pinsky is the seal of the opportunity finance network -- the ceo of the opportunity finance network. we appreciate your time. guest: my pleasure. thank you. host: coming up, a look at your money. our guest will be nirvi shah of "education week." lots more of your calls as we wrap up the program. in the meantime, more news from c-span radio. >> it is 9:14 a.m. eastern. an update on the situation in

libya. the country's transitional leader, speaking at a news conference earlier today, said the national transitional council is forming a committee to investigate the death of muammar gaddafi. this after the u.s. and other international powers pressed an investigation of its conflicting reports of how the dictator died. as natal parks of operations in libya, reports today from the organization -- as nato wraps up operations in libya, reports today from the organization -- the joint operation targeted the haqqani network. nato says the operation "significantly disrupted insurgent operations." in a statement today from wikileaks, it said it will stop publishing for a while to focus on fundraising. the announcement said the halt is needed in order to deal with a financial blockade imposed by companies, including visa, mastercard, western union, and paypal.

the companies canceled their agreements with the site after the publishing of those cables last year. >> every weekend, left the c- span network's be your source for public affairs, nonfiction books, and history. c-span2 has booked tv with the latest nonfiction books and authors. american history to bv, showcasing the history and people that shaped our country. the c-span networks -- it is washington coming your way. -- it is washington, your way. >> our report was issued last week. it showed there were issues that each of the major federal agencies and departments. >> sentinel -- a sensitive personal -- find out more from

greg wilshusen on "the communicators." c-span2 at 8:00 p.m. >> "washington journal" continues. host: every monday at this time, we feature a segment called " your money with brac today, we're talking about special- education funding -- called "your money." today, we're talking about special-a k -- special-education funding. how difficult is it to find? guest: it is up to schools and local people that are actually out in the states to determine whether a child has a disability or not. it can be anything from a learning disability to something very severe like cerebral palsy or down's syndrome. it is a huge, broad range, which

is part of the challenge in figuring out to as the disabilities and how to help them. host: give us a recent history of federal funding for disabilities -- disabled children in the schools. how has it worked in the past? guest: all of history with special education is relatively recent. the individuals with disabilities education act was greeted in 1975, which is pretty -- created in 1975, which is pretty current. it has been contentious since then. there were complaints that the federal government was paying so much money to take care of these kids. problem is, it has not been fulfilled. it is a huge program. $11.5 billion this year. it is a pretty big federal program. it is definitely controversial. host: tell us more about the controversy.

guest: you have school districts that are, especially right now, in dire financial straits. special-education services are generally more expensive than providing a typical education for a typical child who may not need additional services like therapy, speech-art language therapy, extra time to do certain subjects, more intensive support -- the kind of thing. there is a little bit of friction lucknow with school districts saying -- friction right now with a school district saying, we do not have the money -- there's a little bit of friction right now with the school districts saying that they do not have the money. host: nirvi shah writes about education, school violence, nutrition, among other topics. we will put the phone numbers on the bottom of the screen to weigh in on this.

we have a fourth line this morning just for parents and teachers. 202-628-0184. let's look deeper at some of the numbers, at least for this upcoming -- for the education department for fiscal year 2012, asking for $12.9 billion for special education and rehabilitative services. tell us more about that request. host: that would be a little bit more than the current amount. there are some caveats. the the current continuing resolution that was good through november 18 -- the current continuing resolution that was continued through november 18

actually ended up cutting special education. when congress is passing the fiscal year 2012 budget, if they keep things level, it is actually going to be a cut. there are some in the special- education community who are looking for that money to be restored, especially because the senate, in their present -- in their budget, has wanted to keep funding level. people believe that the senate will keep special-education whole or increase it. host: help us break down these numbers a bit more. well. $9 million -- $12.9 billion. what happens with the money? guest: there are different formulas -- based on the number of students, the types of disabilities those students have. generally, if you have a

disability like cerebrum policy or down syndrome, which keep picking on -- sorry role palsy -- server policy -- cerebral whichor down's syndrome, two i keep picking on -- host: $3.5 billion for rehab services and disability research. national activities? guest: federal funding, things like pad -- parent education centers, one in every state, for example. those are some of the national activities. host: $30 million or something called promise -- what is that? -- $30 million for something called promise. what is that? guest: i haven't read all of the

line items, so i cannot comment. host: this info comes from the education department. you mention that, if this were to pass, it is how big an increase from current funds? guest: it would be a small- percentage increase. for the special-education community, any increase is a good one. there is still the long term goal of having 40% of special education funding coming from the federal government. we are a long way from that. it is only about 16% right now. there have been some proposals about how to get to the 40%. it would take years. it is kind of up in the air. host: what is the general feeling about a figure like $12.9 billion? how much might really be needed? guest: the 40% that special- education advocates would like to see is -- it is the "excess"

costs -- and that does not include the "excess" costs. again, the senate proposal is to keep funding level. the house is to increase spending. the thought is that special education is something that is important and it should not be cut, certainly, but it really remains to be seen. i think there is a fight that will happen with education -- special-education funding, because it depends on what other funding could be cut to boost special-education spending. host: if they cannot act by november -- we're hearing about all of these traders across the board. should we assume that this is part of those cuts? guest: there is the potential for special education and other education programs to be caught

in a much more detrimental way for fiscal year 2012. i think states and districts will not be happy to hear that. special education -- special- needs do notudents' change from year to year. host: we have a lot more to learn, but we want to get some viewers into the forum. our guest is nirvi shah of "education week." we have a former student in special education on the line. caller: i grew up through the school system. i had an occupational therapist and a speech therapist as well. i have mild cerebral palsy. my mom worked for a program in delaware. i would like just as much focus to be put on who they choose for instructors as supervisors and

administrators, up and down the line. we are failing. we're spending money to improve resources, but we're kind of being malnourished for the next two or three generations just because the money is not there. host: can you speak to who is teaching -- when you speak to who is teaching special- education students, are you speaking from observation or experience? caller: both my experience and other students who were never, in fully-integrated classrooms, it was never really there -- there. you need someone to be a bridge. people to settle for mediocre. it is just not fair. host: thank you for sharing your situation. are there rules and guidelines

and regulations attached to things like teachers? guest: there definitely are. this is part of a larger debate about teacher quality and education. the no child left behind law put into place some highly- qualified teacher regulations that special-education teachers have to meet. it has been applied unevenly across the country. there is definitely a push to increase the quality of special- educators -- special education editors -- special-education educators in the classroom. they want to increase the amount to challenge these kids see in their curriculum. as far as funding specifically tied to that. if we look at that act that was deleted in the senate last week, there was a proposed amendment to do away with the quality standards or special educators -- for special

educators. there would probably be -- i think that teaching community that produces educators would probably like to see more money spent on quality of -- improving educator quality. host: for those teachers educated? are they specially trained -- how are those teachers educated? how are they specially trained? guest: educators need as much money -- as much education and special-education teachers. the tracks need to be more integrated than they are. host: to a brownstone in maryland -- to maryland now >> good morning -- to maryland now , good morning. caller: i was on a school board from 1985 to 1999.

during that time, two things happened. one, the prison population went up, so that took a lot of school money. the other thing that happened was special education. the problem for a school district is there is no wiggle room in special education. for instance, there were times when teachers were laid off, but we hired special education teachers. there were times when -- it might be toward the end of the school year and the 16th person came along for the special education class, and, in a regular education class, you could that changed the number per pupil, but not in special education. the other thing that i wonder about is, how much to parents -- and do parents see schools not doing as well for the regular-

education students, turning toward charters and other things? i wonder what effect -- it is kind of irony that, for the passion that people have for special education, there is some harm done. i think there has to be some recognition that there needs to be some wiggle room. in accommodating special- education students to the point where, toward the end of my tenure as a board member, we were talking about things like, for teachers, they had to take programs in case they had a medical leave-fragile student, in other words, a student who could possibly die in the classroom. these are things that people are very passionate about. in terms of public schools, i just think that maybe we need to be a little bit -- there needs

to be some leeway. host: thank you for calling. nirvi shah. guest: the department just issued some informal guidance, some regulation that does, for the first time, allow some of that with a room that the caller was asking for four school districts did they can cut special-education -- for for school districts. they can cut special-education funding. typically, it is supposed to be released able -- really stable. it is contentious. it does pick parents against one another. -- picked -- pict parents againt one another. parents of children with disabilities an advocate for children with disabilities will say that, if these kids are educated well -- parents of

children with disabilities and advocates for children with disabilities will say that, if these kids are ieducated well, they can better integrate with society. host: brian online. good morning. caller: thank you. my question is geared toward elementary. is there funding that is totally separate for an adult is printing a disability that maybe wants to attend further education -- for an adult experiencing a disability that maybe wants to attend for their education? -- wants to attend further education? let's go to our guest. guest: when you turn 22, the

program no longer applies. for students going on to college, there is a separate pot of funding. i am not familiar with it. it is less entrenched law with special education. host: richard, go ahead, sir. caller: i was calling from shelbyville, tennessee. host: yeah, richard, go ahead. caller: this boy is a twin. we was born with spina bifida or something of that sort. they are around 10 years old now. they had but one of them in a -- had to put one of them in a

wheel chair. i did not know how that would work. host: what would you like to ask the guests specifically -- guest specifically? guecaller: is there any assistance they could get? host: i'm not sure there is enough information. anything you want to add? caller: his mother teaches school. his father pastors and church -- a church. i did not know whether there was any assistance he could receive. host: this might speak to how people can find out what is out there. guest: if the diagnosis of spina bifida -- the school should be able to provide accommodations for him to go from class to

class. if he needs assistance with in the classroom, that should be built into his individual education program, the iep. that should be addressed at the individual school level. host: $12.9 billion as the current education department proposal for the new fiscal year -- $12.9 billion is the current education department proposal for the new fiscal year. this clear 2012 -- fiscal year 2012, no, this would be current year funding, $11.5 billion. it was the same the year before. pretty much a stable amount of money, averaging around $1,750 per child. what kind of rules, what kind of

accountability, what kind of assessments to the kids under these programs -- are the required -- are required? guest: it is up to local- education agencies to find students that need services. they have to find the kids coming evaluate the kids -- they have to find the kids, to evaluate the kids. if it on the potential for disability, the act to provide the services. they have to make sure -- they have to provide the services. they have to make sure the services are being provided in the right way. some parents feel like schools are not knowing enough -- are not really enough. schools feel like they're being asked to do too much. it is pretty intensive. it requires that students with

disabilities be tested annually in the same subjects that other students are tested in a, reading, math -- are tested in, reading, math. students with cognitive disabilities do not have to take those same tests. there has been a lot of controversy. parents want their children to be pushed just as hard as any other child. other parents believe their kids are being tested inappropriately because it is not the right test for their kid. host: here is an interesting question through eighth week. -- through a tweet. think the current model -- there is evidence that

children with disabilities are graduating with high school, getting regular diplomas, getting jobs, going to college. these are things that did not happen in nearly as frequent numbers before the individuals with disabilities education act was passed. i do not know about science. there are kids in schools, moving on to the real world. host: gloria is on the line from weatherford, texas. caller: i am a medical social worker. i am almost 88 years old. believe me, i have kept up with the educational process. my first experience with that was in my home town of corpus christi. it was a nurse that, all of a sudden, she had to take care of her grandchildren. her grandchildren have been raised in san antonio.

they were in special ed. she put them in school. she started going to as the meetings -- going to the meetings with the teachers. one of the teachers said dewar, -- i said to her, i cannot understand or those children are in special ed -- i cannot understand why those children are in special ed. who ever made a decision in san antonio, then passed the child belonged to corpus christi -- whoever made the decision in san antonio then passed the child along to corpus christi. i told her to have them tested properly. they took them out of it. i have worked as a medical social worker. i have worked with people with cerebral palsy. i have friends in the california. i lived there for awhile.

larry -- he was so crippled. in california, they do have many programs, which i think could be started in every state. they do not have it here in texas. larry got some sort of a computer. he could not talk, walk, or do anything like that. when i left california, i had left some money for him. severalt seen him in months. i was planning to move. when i was there, all of a sudden, i get this little note. he had some sort of computer, i think that he could blow into, and he gives me this little message, "thank you, gloria. i really appreciate what you did. i hope everything goes well with

you," and that sort of thing. he could not even smile. do you know that larry, eventually, with that program -- he was living in a group home with people just like him. they had girlfriends. they had parties. they had all kinds of things. they provided transportation for him. i guess it was with a little computer. i was back in texas. he was earning money. host: thank you, gloria. story there. guest: let me answer the first point about going from district to district. generally, a district will look at -- if a child is in special education in a prior district, they will look at that before deciding to take the child out of special education. the types of services may vary from district to district.

there was a little bit of confusion on my part. she was saying, this job can read. lots of children in special- education programs can read. they are very academic elite adept -- academically adapt. they may just need additional support. these children of have potential. we should keep that in mind. there's a second point that was really interesting. technology is coming a long way. you hear about children with autism, for example, using the ipad, communicating with technology that did not exist 10 years ago. some of these kids who were trapped in themselves and did not have a way to communicate. they could not express themselves. technology is coming a long way to changing the lives of children with disabilities, for sure. host: it makes me want ask about private input in all of this. we have been talked about

federal funding. are there partnerships out there that you want to speak about? guest: there are. there are private contractors, therapists, students to go to private schools, essentially, that the districts are paying for because they cannot afford the care that the child needs. private placements are probably more common than some people would like to see. there are also private foundations and organizations that are contributing to advancing education for children with disabilities. those dollars are probably very much needed. host: who are the biggest voices? who should we continue to watch? guest: in the senate, senator harkin has been applauded as an advocate for children with disabilities. he has proposed a bill that would allow that 40% funding of

special education at the federal level, using tobacco taxes. he has proposed the bill before and has not necessarily got an attraction. there is a companion bill for that in the house. there is also a separate bill in the house by a colorado congressman, proposing cutting defense spending in order to get more spending for special education. there is definitely a lot going on. i am not sure in the current, and, though, if -- current climate, though, if an increase is likely. host: we hear from grand rapids, michigan. kate. welcome to the program. caller: hi. i want to make a comment. i am returning without -- child with a -- i have a child with a learning disability, or, as i like to call it, a learning difficulty. with the increasing class size

and the teachers and special- education teachers are becoming -- with the increasing class size, the teachers and special- education teachers are becoming more creative. they are getting lost in all the information and all the things that they need to do to address the child's needs. when you have a child with a lot of unique differences, addressing all the other kids that have unique differences, too, that don't have iep's, that time is an issue. and we have to hire a special advocate in order to get the means address -- needs addressed for our child. when we did that, instead of the school district been created in addressing our child's needs, the appropriate accommodations are being made

for our child. we have a happier child, and we can see progress. i worry about the defunding that is going on, the increasing class size. lots of kids have issues. it is not just children with iep's. teachers are concerned with all of the kids. they are trying to spread their time and dollars around for everybody. i think kids get lost, those that have really severe learning disabilities get lost in that group. it needs to be appropriately addressed. we need to help get help for your child -- for children. host: let's hear from our guest.

guest: parents of children with disabilities have to become their own advocates. i think a special-education teachers, in particular, are absolutely -- i think that special-education teachers, in particular, are absolutely strapped. this paper work is supposed to be updated annually, which some districts do not manage to get around to. districts are making changes to special education because of the budgets -- budget crunch. i remember talking to one woman who worked hard to move her children out of the segregated setting over the last several years. because of budget cuts, she was going to be facing having a group of kids from kindergarten through sixth grade with all different kinds of means in the same classroom all day long because it was simply cheaper for t the cheaper districtso do because it was simply cheaper for the school district to do.

host: we have been talking about federal money. can you speak to anything that the states are doing that is noteworthy in this area? guest: i'm not sure it is a good thing, but one thing that is noteworthy, federal and state -- they asked if they can cut special-education funding. they have already have the ability to ask for waivers, but they have never really taken the opportunity to do that, because they have expected a no from the federal department of education did a couple of states have actually requested that permission -- of education. a couple of states have actually requested that permission and continents. gotten it.on and ofte the money is money. therapy costs money.

special services cost money. something asked to give -- something has to give. host: are there enough teacher specializing in special and coming into the work force -- special ed coming into the work force? guest: no. i think being a special- education teacher is probably particularly taxing. you hear about teachers last in not more than one or to get years. i am not sure -- lasting not more than one are two years. i am not sure special-education teachers last even that long. if they have the opportunity to take something else, they might take it, unless they are particularly passionate or dedicated. host: we have a caller from fresno, california, a democrat.

caller: i was wondering if they have investigators to go up to some of the schools where they have distributed money for disability improvement, like for wheelchair access for kids in public schools, where they can go to the restrooms, auditoriums, different things like that. the older schools are not all equipped for wheelchair access. yet they have funds thta they -- that they be improving and the school building each year, but it seems like they do not do it -- they should be improving the school building each year, but it seems like they do not do it until the parents of a problem. they notice that it is not twitter accessible for the children or the parents or grandparents -- it is not wheelchair accessible for the children or the parents or grandparents.

it seems like somebody is misusing funds that they have sent to the school to improve, you know, the school. host: nirvi shah? guest: modern facilities, newer schools are built under the ada guidelines. older schools tend to not be retrofitted angeles times has a -- retrofitted until a child has a particular need. the department of justice has been looking into violations of the ada. there are some cities that have been asked to make wholesale changes to their government buildings and that kind of thing. i am not sure if that would apply specifically to schools. in terms of investigators, i think there is definitely -- there are some facilities that are not updated until a child would need to present themselves -- child with special needs

presents themselves. host: to the republic and line =-- republican line. good morning? caller: i have a child who -- when she was starting school, she wasn't tested. she stayed in kindergarten or pre-k for three years. i kept all her papers. everything she did was exactly the same every year. they labeled her ebd because the principal said they would get more money that way. she was never tested by a doctor. my child had a vision problem. all that money -- they would put

children in special education so that they would get more money from the state. it is a disgrace the way they do these children. my child did not even have a special-education teacher. she was not even qualified. they told me that she was -- the put your as -- they put her as ebd without even telling me what ebd stood for. they told me if i did not put her on ritalin, they would kick her out of the school. i went to the doctor. i found out my child had a vision problem. those years of education for that child have caused damage to her because of the -- also, the

doctor said she needed large print. she could not test correctly because she could not see the boxes to color them in. when i found out most children -- they put them in the room -- classroom, close the door, and the children sit and look at the wall all day. this is what our money goes for. the federal government should not be giving money. it should be going to the states. states should be doing the schools. it is really bad. these job and are not learning anything -- these children are not learning anything. host: let's hear from our guest.

guest: to say that every child is getting what they need would be an overstatement, for sure. there are some safeguards built in. parents have the required to -- have the right to request a hearing. they should take that into consideration. not every parent can afford to hire a lawyer, but there might be a parent advocate that could help them out. i am very sorry to hear about that callers situation -- caller's situation. host: we have one more call, but i want to ask about the debate in congress. where to using things headed -- do you see things headed? guest: i think it will be an interesting time. advocates are waiting to see what will happen with the continuing resolution. whether or not full funding is addresses is a whole, separate

isue. i am looking forward to watch what is going on myself. hopefully, it is not to bloody of a battle -- too bloody of a battle. host: janet in green bay, go ahead. caller: i am a substitute teacher. i have substituted for a lot of special-education teachers. i have been doing this for 12 years. there is a focus on mainstreaming. a lot of kids cannot focus as it is. they have so much trouble concentrating. anything distract them. they cannot keep up. this idea that they have to keep the kids in with the other kids does not seem to be very effective to me. i hear a lot of frustration from the special-said teachers, a lot of frustration from the regular teachers. -- special-ed teachers, a lot of frustration from the regular

teachers. i'm wondering if that is a national trend. guest: the idea is that people live in the world together. we do not live in separate boxes of special-education people on the street and to the good people on this street. it is an educational-strategy -- and typical people live on the street. it is an educational strategy based on the real-world. host: our guest has been special-education reporter for "education week." she is nirvi shah. thank you very much for spending time with us this morning and giving us the update on special- education funding. you can continue to watch the debate in the senate and house here on c-span and c-span2. we appreciate your calls. we'll be back tomorrow, as we are, every day, 7:00 a.m. eastern time. enjoy the rest of your day. we will see you back here tomorrow. [captioning performed by

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the u.s. house gavels in four legislative work starting at 2:00 eastern today. members will consider a number of energy and environment bills, including one to prevent the u.s. from taking part in european union rules regarding airplane in missions. later, payments to government contractors. this afternoon, the house armed services committee holds a hearing on the current state of the defense industrial base. the committee will think from -- hear from think tank and analysts. >> our review which we released last week identified weaknesses existed in key security controls at each of the major federal agencies and departments. departments. >>