to marry in somebody, i am a pretty good guide to settle down with. he is pretty good across the board. he has a good track record. he is somebody that can win races. not be hunk, but he is the guy that is going to be there and provide a good stable foundation >> can you do that at dance halls? >> not for 23 years now. we have seven children, so i have not been doing much of that. >> we thank you very much for coming in. we like to do this with our candidates so that the readers have a better picture of them. we appreciate anybody that comes to new hampshire and recognizes the primary. it is important. >> i have said this, you folks play an incredibly important

role. not a candidate with her personal money or a lot of financial backing. you give the candidate, the person and his ideas, his record, the opportunity to be successful. it is ideas, it is the person face-to-face that makes a difference in these states. people say you are not doing well in the polls but the people of new hampshire have not made their decision yet. we feel good with the work i have done, doing the town hall meetings. i really do believe in my heart that it will make a difference and new hampshire will prove itself again, as i will, to be the place where they do the job of picking the right guy for president. >> thank you for coming in. john has to go to work now. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> [inaudible conversations]

>> our road to the white house coverage continues now. we will be going to phoenix to hear from republican presidential candidate herman cain response to the latest allegation of sexual harassment. a woman detailed accounts of unwanted advances by mr. cain yesterday. here is how the associated press is writing about it. taking direct aim at an accuser, the campaign today detailed the personal financial troubles of one of the women that says she was sexually harassed by the presidential candidate. it comes ahead of his first public event in response of these accusations. the press conference is getting underway momentarily.

the associated press writes that her, increasingly under fire, herman cain looked to undercut the credibility of the woman whose allegations of sexual advances are threatening his presidential campaign. in scottsdale, ariz., we will get underway shortly. >> good afternoon.

i am one of the lawyers for herman cain. i have been practicing law in georgia for over 34 years. and i have had the opportunity in my practice of law to represent female victims of sexual harassment. serious, legitimate claims of sexual harassment are not settled for value. i have also had the opportunity in my practice to represent the victims of sexual assault. when they have come to my law office, i did not take them out and parade them in front of the cameras in a national press conference and arrange for them to go on a campaign with the media to give one interview

after another after another. they result of their claims in a court of law. i have also had the privilege to represent a number of innocent victims accused by the media of serious crimes, false accusations. where those individuals found themselves on trial in the court of public opinion. on trial in the court of public opinion where there are no rules. the rules are made up by the media. there are no procedures designed to safeguard the integrity of process, to ensure that a fiar and -- a fair and a just

result is achieved. herman cain finds himself, over the course of the last several days, now on trial in the court of public opinion. falsely accused. first by anonymous sources. and now, yesterday, by sharon bideck, who chose to come forward, for whatever reason, after 14 years when recollections have faded, witnesses cannot be located. for the first time. for the first time in 14 years. to tell her story to a third

person for the first time. and now herman cain in the court of public opinion has to respond not to immiscible evidence, he has to respond to hearsay. he has to respond to rumors and speculation. he is not affording the opportunity to me to cross- examine the accusers. he he is not afforded the safeguards that is part of our system of justice. he comes before you today to defend his reputation. a reputation that he has felt

-- built over 40 years of being a good and decent man, and a successful business person. i asked you afford him fairness. and that you view his efforts to defend his reputation and his good name by maintaining common sense. and remembering your own life experience to decide whether or not a story that is so inherently improbable on its face should be utilized by others with their own agendas to reputation. man's it is my privilege to represent him, it is my privilege to step aside from this podium and let

you hear from him, herman cain. >> good afternoon. i am herman cain, and i am running for president of the united states of america. butrmally don't have notes, in this case, i wanted to make sure that i did not miss any points that i needed to cover today. secondly, i chose to address these accusations directly rather than try to do it through a series of continuous statements. or spokespeople. because that is the person that herman cain is. to take my message directly to the people. with respect to the most recent

accusation, i have never acted inappropriately with anyone. period. i saw miss allred and her client yesterday in the news conference for the very first time. i sat with my staff members as they got to the microphone. my first response in my mind and reaction was, i don't even know who this woman is. secondly, i did not recognize the name at all. the time that she referenced was during the time that i was the ceo and president of the national restaurant association. it's headquartered in

washington, d.c. where about 150 workers worked. we have about 150 people in chicago where she said she worked for the educational foundation. i tried to remember if i recognized her and i didn't. i tried to remember if i remember that name, and i didn't. the charges and the accusations i absolutely reject. they simply didn't happen. they simply did not happen. for decades, the american people have wanted a businessman and the white house -- in the white house and not just another politician.

for decades, what the politicians have been doing is kicking the can down the road, trammell little bit here and there. simply gotroblems worse. when a businessman by the name of herman cain stepped forward, here i am. i know from the american people that i have talked with and spoken with over the last several months, we are not going to allow washington or politics to deny me the opportunity to represent this great nation. and as far as these accusations causing me to back off and maybe withdraw from this presidential primary race? ain't gonna happen. i am doing this for the american people and for the children and the grandchildren.

i will not be deterred by false, anonymous, incorrect accusations. america believes that washington is broken. america believes that our system of getting elected as a broken -- is broken. in part, it is. in another part, it's not. as long as we have decency and honesty in the electoral process, it will work. when we allow the seat and false accusations -- deceit and false accusations to rue the day and distract us, that part is broken. nine days ago, the media started to beat me up covering anonymous accusers. yesterday, another accuser came forward, identified themselves,

went on tv, and made some other allegations. was it tough last week? yes. hasn't been tough the last couple of days? yes. that is one thing that herman cain that the american people know and value, just because it is tough, there is no reason for me not to do what i feel i have to do. because what the american people have said to me during these turbulent times, we will get through this. we will get through this. the fact is, these anonymous allegations are false and another democrat machine in america has brought forth another woman to bring false accusations. statements. many exceed common sense and they certainly exceed the

standards of decency and america -- in america. i have been married for 43 years to my wife. 43 years i have been married to my wife. after watching that press conference yesterday, i called her and i said, sweetheart, d.c. it? she said yes. i said, what do you think? my wife said, and this is a direct quote. i have known you for 46 years because we were engaged for two years. that doesn't even sound like anything you would ever do to anyone. sexual harassment accusations are serious. respect for women and all people i have worked with or people that have worked for me over the years has been a top priority with respect to me. now, my family fully supports my

candidacy. they know the man that i am. they have been with me all their lives, they know who i am, they know the man that i am. however, i ask that the media not to drag my family into this. they are not running for president. some members of your profession have even stalked my family members. calling members of my family and extended family members. i asked you, as professionals, to direct your questions, your criticisms toward me. not my family. my reputation is something that i have worked over 40 years to build up. i have managed to many entities, many companies, i have

managed organizations with thousands and thousands and thousands of employees. now that i am running for the highest office in the land, accusation after accusation, some anonymous, some not so anonymous, are now coming to light. this is not a surprise. this was expected. but i will vigorously defend my reputation because i will not allow false accusations to compromise or in any way look badly on my character or integrity. this is why i have decided to address these issues directly and forthrightly. i will repeat. i have never acted

inappropriately with anyone. period. and these accusations that were revealed yesterday simply did not happen. we are going to take some questions. jd gordon, my communications vice president, we will take a few questions. >> when you ask your question, state your name and your media agency, please. >> and use the microphone. >> from cbs news, i would like ask you a two-part question. is it appropriate for a candidate's character to come under a microscope and a campaign? you are now in a he said, she said situation. they are diametrically opposing each other. as distasteful as it may be, would you be willing to do a lie

detector test? >> yes, i absolutely would. but i will not do that unless i have a good reason to do that. that was one of the comments i made and i would share that with my attorney. i would be willing to do a lie detector test and i believe the character and candidate -- of a candidate should come under a microscope. not accusations. facts. >> reuters news agency. a poll showed 40% of a few less favorably after seeing monday's accusations from sharon bialek. how can you convince non- supporters to vote for you? got you don't need 100% of the voters, you need a 51%. it is natural that some voters

will be turned off by the mere mention of the accusations. that is normal and that is expected. all you have to do is look at campaigns historically and you can identify those situations where some members of the public, some of the electorate are going to be influenced by the court of public opinion in formulating their impression. and the good news for me and my campaign is that most of my supporters have not reacted to this in terms of belief. many of them have expressed their outpouring of support for the fact that these incidents simply did not happen. rebuilding trust on the part of some people, yes, that would be a challenge. i want to continue to represent those that support me and those that are willing to look at the

facts and not heresay. >> it's robin from the "l.a. times." yesterday, you called these charges insignificant stuff. anyone who has worked in a restaurant environment knows that sexual harassment can be commonplace. q. you believe sexual harassment is real? what did you see, how did you deal with it? >> sexual harassment is a very serious charge. in no way have i tried to minimize sexual harassment in the workplace. have i led many organizations? yes. i have seen instances where it could be interpreted as sexual harassment and if i saw it and if it were an employee or a direct report of mine, i dealt with immediately, before the

other person perceived it as an infringement of their privacy. i might add, it's not just men that potentially sexual harass women. i have also seen situations where women have attempted to sexually harass men. it is very serious. i wanted to make sure it was something that was not tolerated under any organization i was responsible for. >> abc news, mr. cain. now another woman has come forward that worked with you at the restaurant association, karen. she is a spokesperson at the treasury department and has come forward directly. what do you say to her as something that is still working in the u.s. government? are the allegations not true, is she lying?

>> to the best of my recollection, since you have mentioned that name, that was the one that filed a complaint but it was found to be baseless. the accusations were made of sexual harassment. they were found baseless. there was no legal settlement. there was an agreement between that lady and the national restaurant association. it was treated as a personnel matter because there was no basis to her accusations. those are the facts. >> [inaudible] >> when she made her accusations, they were found to be baseless and she could not find anyone to corroborate her story. the restaurant association handle the -- handled it.

it ended up being an agreement and not a settlement. let me clarify that point. i have been criticized that i have changed my story. when the firestorm started a week ago monday, i was presented with the accusation that some settlement was made. that means to me that there were legal implications. during that same day, i recall after all those years that there was an agreement, that is what businesses find with employees that are departing the company. settlement implies legal implications. all of the legal implications or accusations were found to be baseless. >> wall street journal. still, mr. cain, there are four

women that have accused you. how do you explain that? are they making it up? is that possible? where do you think this is coming from? >> i happen to think where it is coming from is that some people don't want to see herman cain did the republican nomination and some people don't want herman cain to become president of the united states of america. as you know, when you run for the height in the land, there will be accusations that come out of the word work -- woodwork. there will probably be others, not because i am aware of any, but because the machine to keep a businessman out of the white house is going to be relentless. if they continue to come, i will continue to respond. i can't answer why.

those that made these anonymous accusations and to those that put their face auntie -- on tv to try to slander my integrity and my character, i can't tell you what their motivation is other than to stop herman cain. i believe that the american people are saying that they are not going to let that happen. >> fox 10 news here in phoenix. mitt romney says he finds these accusations to be disturbing. can you react to that? >> sure. sexual harassment is a very serious matter. i find the accusation is disturbing, but false. i don't believe a of arom and areney -- governor romney was saying he thought i was guilty, but yes, they are disturbing.

it distracts us from taking out a message to the american people. it distracts from the republican primary process. he is right, but i don't think he was saying i was disturbing because i have been accused. i know and his integrity that he was referring to the fact that it was disturbing that these accusations are not factually based, they are disturbing to this process. >> fox news, you made several mentions of the democratic machine. who are these people? who is involved? is it a conspiracy? >> i can't say it is a conspiracy. we don't have a f definiteactual definitive,ve factual proof. we have thoguhts -- thoughts

that there might be someone behind this. we have not been able to point any fingers or placing blame at this point. when we step back and look at the fact that there are no facts, no factual evidence to back this up, we can only infer that someone is trying to basically wreck my character. like the other gentleman alluded to, plant doubt in the mind of a lot of people. >> nbc news, i'm just curious. what role did you think sharon bialek's past financial troubles play in her allegations against you? >> she claims that her past financial situation, the number of lawsuits she has been involved in, she claims it does not play a role in her coming forward.

i can't respond any further than that. that is her claim. from a common-sense standpoint, one would have to ask that it might not have been to motivation for her being subjected to this. >> cnn. for the terms of the case that was found baseless, who found it to be baseless? why was she paid tens of thousands of dollars? >> i am not sure of the tens of thousands of dollars that you are referring to. it was negotiations between -- i am only referring to the one lady that filed the charges. that is the only one i can respond to. she got an attorney and she and her attorneys who negotiated with the attorneys for the national restaurant association

it was a situation back-and- forth, coming to the conclusion that it should and with some sort of personnel separation agreement. >> [inaudible] >> she worked at the restaurant association for a period of time. i recall that she was -- i did not have regular interaction although periodically i would see her. she reported to one of my vice presidents so she would attend the planning meetings. i would not only bring in my direct report, i would bring in the next level down. that was the interaction in terms of me seeing her on a regular basis.

during that particular period of today there are 14 million people working in the industry. i have spent most of my time traveling and giving speeches around the country as well as other speeches. i was not in the office a lot. i was out in the field more than i was in the office. >> national journal. you have said today, there was a financial agreement that you did not originally remember and now you say he sha of rememberedron -- you don't remember >> that is a possibility, but it is a remote possibility. i'm not an expert on how the brain works, but i do know that i sat there and went over and over and over in my mind, do i know this lady?

the answer kept coming up as know. i watched her again when she appeared on fox news doing this interview, trying to remember, do i know her? i did not recognize a face, i did not recognize the name, nor the voiceprint is a possibility, yes. i happen to think it's a remote possibility. one of the people of things have worked with me will tell you is that i'm pretty good at remembering people. especially people who have had a positive impact in my life for a positive impact on my business. i'm pretty good remembering people who i met and to have made some sort of impression on me. in this particular case, i seriously doubt if i'm going to have an a-ha moment later and say the oes. >> i'm with the "new york times.

can you tell us what you were accused of specifically and what your interactions were specifically? came close to answering that. this is your press conference where you're going to level with us and tell us what happened. tell us what you are accused of and what really happened. this is your chance. >> i can only recall one thing i was aware of that was called sexual harassment. the one thing i remember that i remembered during the day when all of this broke loose was that one day in my office at the national restaurant association, i was standing next to her and gestured standing near her like this, you are the same height as my wife because my wife comes up to my chin.

that's the one gesture i remember. the door was open, my secretary was sitting there. it wasn't anything behind closed doors. i compared it to my wife's height, and of story. other things that might have been in the accusations, i'm not even aware of. that one i remember because that was the one my general counsel came to me and said the one that appears to be, the one she was most upset about was that. i can't tell you anymore because i don't recall any more. she did not react at the time. let me say this, folks, in closing, thank you for your patience. thank you for us have an opportunity to share my perspective on this. this nation faces tremendous crises. i would hope we could get back

to sharing with the american people solutions to the problems we face. we are not going to allow ourselves to continuously be distracted by these sort of incidents. i will respond to them, but we cannot slow this campaign down when we need to be dealing with our economic crisis, are spending crisis, our energy crisis, our foreign policy crisis, illegal immigration crisis, and a crisis of leadership in the white house in washington d.c. that's what i'm going to continue to focus on behalf of the american people. not for me, but for the grandkids. thank you very much for your attendance. [applause] >> republican presidential candidate, herman cain, denies

sexual harassment allegations, saying he has never acted appropriately around anyone. you can see is a press conference again tonight at 8:00 eastern, here on c-span. on thursday, james murdock, executive chairman of news international, will testify before a british committee for the second time of the ongoing visit -- ongoing british phone hacking scandal. if new evidence has been made which contradicts some of his original testimony. you can see live coverage of his comments at 6:00 a.m. eastern on thursday on c-span2. >> extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. let me remind you all that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. >> he lost the 1964 presidential election to lyndon johnson, but

barry goldwater's idea and candor galvanized the conservative movement. he is featured this week on the c-span series, "the contenders." that live on friday at 8:00 eastern. >> president obama traveled to pennsylvania today where he announced new rules for head start programs. under the new rules, low performing head start programs are required to compete for federal funds. nationally, there are nearly 1600 head start and early head start programs providing early learning services to nearly 1 million children. this is 15 minutes.

>> thank you. thank you. thank you, everybody, please have a seat. it is great to be here, great to be in the of philly area. i was told not to mention football. [laughter] so i'm not going to say anything about football while i'm here because i know this is a sensitive subject. [laughter] this is why i have secret service along. [laughter] i want to start by acknowledging some of the folks who are with me here today. first of all, i want to thank one of our finest public servants in this country. , but a great friend

somebody cares passionately about the health and welfare of our kids and families, catherine sibelius, our secretary of health and human services. [applause] i want to acknowledge the mayor of yadon, delores jones butler is in the house. [applause] to of my favorite members of congress. [applause] and one of my favorite former members of congress in writing is going to be doing big things here in pennsylvania is here, i guess i can't call your congressman -- it's all right? congressman murphy. [applause] i had a chance to say hello to the mayor when i landed in

philadelphia. he could not be with us this morning. i guess there are few things going on here today. i wished him well. he's a great partner of ours. i also wanted to say thank you to a [reading names] all of the staff and teachers here. they are doing a great job. [applause] i had a chance to visit one of the classrooms here and i have to say it got me a little choked up. they are just so huggable at this age. they are still huggable, but there 5 foot 9 and 5 feet tall -- but obviously, you've got a lot to handle when you are here. the teachers and staff who are

here wouldn't be doing this for the money. they are doing this out of love for children. all of you do it because you know what it comes to learning and growing, this is an absolutely critical time in a child's life. we know that 3-year-old and 4- year-old to go to high quality preschools, including our best head start programs, are less likely to repeat a grade and less likely to need special education. there are more likely to graduate from high school and then there appears to did not get this service. this makes early education one of our best investments in america's future. [applause] one of the best. right out of the gate, it helps prepare our kids for a competition that has never been

tougher. a competition for good, middle- class, well paying jobs. we're competing with countries like china, south korea, europe, all of which are serious about educating their children. so the time when a company is able to move anywhere they want in the world and will make a decision based on where they can find the most highly skilled workforce, it is imperative we make sure the united states is the place where we've got the best trained and best educated young people. that is a priority. [applause] this is not and should not be a democratic party or republican priority. this is an american priority. [applause] it is an economic imperative. our future depends on it.

people understand this outside of washington, which is why we have been able to work with democratic and republican governors on our effort to strengthen education from cradle to career, not only with more money, but with reforms that challenge schools to develop higher standards and the best practices for teaching and learning. unfortunately in congress right now, it's a different story. the republicans in washington have been trying to get our investments in education. nearly every republican in the house voted for a budget that would have cut hundreds of thousands of children from headstart. they have tried to cut programs for college students. they just voted against a jobs bill that would have put 400,000 teachers back in the classroom.

their argument is we do not have the money. what i said as we can make these investments in our children without adding to the deficit simply by asking people to make more than $1 million a year to pay all little more in taxes. not right now, but starting in 2013. it is the right thing to do for our kids, the right thing to do for our country, but so far, they have said no. it's not just on issues that cost money. so far, congress has failed to move on fixing of a child left behind despite the fact we of shown bipartisan reforms working in states right now, reforms praised not only by democrats but also by republicans. after trying for months to work with congress on education, we decided to take matters into our own hands because our future is

at stake. our children deserve action and we cannot wait for congress any longer. we cannot wait to make sure our schools give every child a chance to compete with young people around the world. in september, i announced it states exceed the high standards left by notre left behind, they've got the flexibility to build on the reforms they have already made. we cannot wait to help more young people get to college so two weeks ago, i announced changes that would lower student loan payments for around 1.6 million americans. [applause] we cannot wait to give more of our youngest children the same basic opportunities we want all children to have. that we want for our children. that is why today, i'm announcing a new rule that will improve the quality of head

start programs around the country. [applause] i firmly believe head start is an outstanding program and a critical investment. the crew -- that children who have the chance to get to the best head start programs have an experience akin little changed their lives for years to come. we are making today's announcement because we believe every child in headstart deserves that same chance. under the old rules governing head start, there just was not enough accountability. if a program was not providing kids with quality services, there was no incentive to improve. under the new rules, programs are going to be regularly evaluated against a set of clear, high standards. if a program meets the standards, and we believe the majority of headstart program as well, then their grants will be

renewed, but if a program is not giving children the support they need to be ready for school, and classrooms are unsafe, if finances are not in order, if kids are not learning what they need to learn, other organizations will be able to compete for that grand. we're not going to put money into programs that don't work. we will take money and put an end to programs that do. if a group is going to do a better job, they need that support. if a group will do a better job serving the kids in our communities than the -- then they will have that chance. this is the first time in history that head start programs will be truly held accountable for performance in the classroom. we know raising the bar is not always an easy thing to do, but it is the right thing to do. children in headstart deserve the best services we have to

offer and we know head start programs can meet this challenge. because of this rule another executive actions we have taken, more children will have the chance to study hard, do well in school, a graduate on time, go to college without crushing debt and more americans will grow up to the scientists, and evaders, ended -- innovators and entrepreneurs. more businesses will be able to find skilled workers. of course, there's no substitute for congress doing its job. these two congressmen are doing their job, but -- [applause] but they need some help. congress still needs to fix no child left behind. congress still needs to cut teachers back in the classroom where they belong. [applause]

congress still needs to act, but if congress continues to -- continues to only stand for dysfunction and away, i'm going to move ahead without them. [applause] i have told my administration i want you to keep on looking for actions we can take without congress, steps that can save consumers money and make the government more efficient and responsive and help heal the economy, improve our education and health care systems -- we want to work with congress, but we are not going to wait. i think this is the right thing to do, not just as president, but i is the right thing to do as a parent. i know there are some things i cannot guarantee my kids, but i can do my best to make certain they get a chance to succeed or fail on their own merits.

just like i did. i can do everything in my power to ensure their children grow up in a country where anything is possible as long as you are willing to work for it. that's what my mom and grandparents wanted for me. that's what i want for my children. it is the promise every generation has made to those who came after. we can be the first generation to break that promise. we have to prove we are tougher than the times we live in and bigger than the policy -- politics of the moment. we have to prepare children for the challenges of tomorrow and that's what's being done at this wonderful facility. we want to replicate these all across the country. we are proud of what you're doing and give the president has got your back. thank you very much, everybody. [applause]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> herman cain today said he would not drop his bid for the republican presidential nomination in the face of allegations of an appropriate sexual behavior. you can see his remarks tonight at 8:00 eastern, here on c-span. >> i would restructure assets that if you got 26 weeks of unemployment, the next time you go back and apply, you only get 13 weeks. after you get 13 weeks, it will be seven and a half weeks. make it a diminishing benefits because that's going to make you work a little harder to get out there to try and find a job. >> this is one of the places where we do approach it differently. i would say from the -- from day

one, if you don't sign up for a training program, you don't get any money. i would connect the unemployed to the jobs. we have millions of jobs we cannot fill in the country right now because we have an older work force that's not trained for the new kinds of jobs and we pay the older work force to do nothing for 99 weeks while we try to figure out how to find money to train people for the jobs we cannot sell. from day one, do you want to go get trained and your goal should be to get trained as fast as possible to go out and get a full-time job to move back onto the track and then worry about how many weeks there on a because it would have to do something every single day to get any. >> if you missed the debate from this past weekend, you can watch any time on line at the c-span video library. is just one of thousands of videos of every c-span program aired since 1987.

all archived and searchable, it is washington, your way. >> of voters in several states are going to the polls today, including residents of kentucky and mississippi. those states are holding the elections for governor. there is a discussion on "washington journal" on the impact of voter i.d. laws and the impact on the 2012 election. host: what is going on here in multiple states and what's going on behind them? guest: the idea is to put the

kind of security in the voting place that is in many other areas of the country today. i had to show a photo id to get into the lobby of the c-span studios today. that is the kind of security we need in the polling place. photo id laws are intended to stop impersonation, voting under fraudulent registration forms, double voting and potential voting by illegal aliens, people who are not citizens. >> if you look at the map, a voter identification requirements, states in green have strict photo id laws. the ones in yellow, have photo id laws and the states in gray have no voter i.d. law. according to the state of law got total states with a voter i.d. laws, there are seven states with strict laws and

seven -- 16 with non-photo id. why are these not a good idea in your opinion? >> there is no problem here in terms of if you talk about what is the main justification. it is a voter impersonation fraud. that is the first saying mentioned. there are hardly any instances of voter impersonation treat just a handful in the past 10 years. host: where does that evidence come from? guest: from the professors looking out at what the department of justice has done and asking questions of state and local prosecutors. we only get a handful of instances. meanwhile, these laws disenfranchise many people. studies have shown anywhere from at the low end, more than 1% all

the way to 10% to 15%. if you had it a national requirement, that would disenfranchise 20 million people host: no evidence of voter fraud? guest: let's talk about mississippi. anyone who has any doubts can pull up a case under the voting rights act in 2007 by the justice department. the defendant in that case was convicted of all kinds of violations of the voting rights act. he is also engaged in voter fraud. there was testimony by former deputy sheriff, an african- american, how he would as the defendant in that case polling -- telling a young black woman she should go into the polling place, could use any name, no one would question her, and how could she do it and get away with it? because mississippi has no voter i.d. law.

host: there was a piece by former congressman -- he says -- host: i have been asked to provide funds for it and i am confident it has changed at least a few close election results. this comes from someone who used to fight against voter i.d. laws and now believes they need to be in place. >> again, the evidence is not really out there. if you look at this case that is being cited, you did not have any documented instances of voter impersonation fraud. on top of that, mr. brown was part of the elections apparatus. most of the time where you see voter fraud is when there are

people on the inside involved. it's not individual voters going out and saying i'm going to change the results of an election. if you think about it, what would you have to do to affect an election by voter impersonation scheme? you'd have to have a large group of people. you'd have to have them go down to the polls, be willing to engage in fraud, have them vote on behalf of other people and have them vote before the actual voter comes in. and you would have to have a situation where poll workers would not know who they voter was. if you think about it, that's a free and efficient way to commit fraud in the elections. i don't want the conversation to focus on voter i.d. laws because there are lots of other things going on and ways we can modernize the election process and some other laws that really

make it difficult for people to vote like a lot florida just passed among other things, the florida law requires voter registration groups to turn in their registration forms within two days after they have gotten the form from the voter. in practical terms, that makes it pretty much impossible to contract -- to contract a voter registration drive. he had the league of women voters say they're going to get out of the business and there's no reason for whatsoever. it also limits early voting. one of the things that happened in that 2008 election is that people went out to vote early in florida. on the sunday before the election, african americans who are about 11% of the elector in florida were 30% of voters who voted early that sunday. now, they have taken away early voting on the sunday before that election.

counties don't even have the discretion to offer early voting. guest: there are a couple of problems with what john just said. the whole reason for getting completed ballots back to election officials was there is a huge problem with third party organizations, particulate acorn, holding onto completed a voter registration forms, sometimes for months, and then turning them in at the last moment, just before the deadline, or after the deadline had passed which disenfranchised people who thought they had gotten registered, there simply asking these organizations to turn in completed forms so these people will get registered. >> florida had a 10-day rule and they changed it to today's. if a voter registration group held on to a card for 20 days, they would get in trouble. the federal government, under

the national voter registration act, a loud public assistance agencies five days. so why do voter registration groups only have two days? the reason as some people don't want there to the third party registration in florida. >> you are wearing your i voted in arlington sticker today. what were you voting for? >> in virginia, they have a lot of state-level races. the senate, state senate, the house of delegates, and arlington county, the sheriff, the school board, virginia is one of those states with a lot of elections and what most people consider to be an off cycle year. >> your group's efforts on the voter i.d. laws -- a lot of these are on the books. some go back five years. so what are you telling people

to do in order to either get around the laws or go with them? >> we run a program called election protection. it is a program designed to help voters navigate the process. we used legal volunteers like lawyers, paralegals and law students to help in that process. we provide legal support and work with groups on the ground. national groups like the naacp, and groups to give advice as far as how to go about navigating the system. what sort of identification is required and how do you go about getting at? if you look at our website, it has resources and we have what we call a map of shame, which is where these voters oppression laws have been passed or proposed and, we provide

information as to how the alleged ago but if you have one of these laws, how do you go about voting? guest: obviously, in some states, it is too late, but there is a minority of states that have these laws. we would like to stop here and hopefully this letter will be one piece in terms of making the case why these laws are poor things. partisana purely issue. there are republicans out there, notably in ohio, the secretary of state has come out against government issued a voter

identification requirements. host: what about the efforts to try to stop these laws? >> i always want to laugh at the claim that this is a voter suppression. the constituents of these democratic congressman do not agree with the position they're taken. if you look at the polling on this, you will find voters across the board, whites, hispanics, blacks, they all support voter i.d.. as for voter suppression, the voter i.d. laws have been in place in georgia and indiana for five years. they've had numerous local alexian's, presidential actions. for five years, the committee has been predicting this would depress the turnout of african- american voters are democratic voters. if you look at the actual turnout after the loss went into effect, it did not depress the turnout of african-americans.

in georgia, the 2010 elections -- abolish not on the ballot. the number of registered african-american voting was up 7% from 2006 when there was no voter i.d. law in effect. organizations sued in federal court and their cases were eventually thrown out. the judges made a point in both cases of saying the plaintiffs claimed there were hundreds of thousands of people in each state that did not have photo i.d. and would not be able to vote. they could not produce a single witness in either case who either did not have a photo i.d. or could not get one that both states issue -- all of these states are providing free photo ids for those who don't have one. >> our first call is on the republican line from long island, new york.

caller: i have a friend whose mother lived with them. when she died about five years ago, my friend continues to receive absentee ballots. my friend called the first year she received it. she called whoever takes care of that and they said just rip it up. then she called three more times and with the same thing, she just gave up. i'm wondering s that's more of an administrative problem or would any of the discussions today, would any of the things cover something like that? guest: clearly this is an industry problem. this is a great example of a situation where we are talking about something that is maybe being done incorrectly, but it is not the voter. it's not your friend.

your friend is trying to do the right thing and that's what citizens in most situations do, they tried to do the right thing. it is the election officials not doing their jobs in terms of not issuing absentee ballots anymore. host: would you disagree with that? guest: know, i agree. absentee ballot fraud is unfortunately a problem in this country and there have been lots of cases of that kind of fraud. what is going on in new york is that many states have passed this law that is a permanent absentee ballot. i think that's a bad idea. once you sign up, they send it to you without you requesting it every election. i think that's a bad idea because that lead to situations like we're talking about. if you need absentee ballot because you are old or sick or can i get to the polls, you should get one. but he should have to request one be sent to you and that's how it should be dead in the states.

caller: i want to know if a person is denied his right to vote and he is a citizen of this country, should he pay income tax or should he revolt and sell all my money back that i put them? fact -- that i put in? guest: no one in georgia is being denied a right to vote. turnout has gone up of african- americans in the state in every election since the voter i.d. law went into effect. it is not an issue in this state right now. guest: i'm not going to say people shouldn't pay their taxes, but your question raises a good point. we have all these means of finding people and identify the -- and identify them.

why don't we come up with a list that the government knows who are voting age and that would dramatically increase the number of people are registered to vote. it doesn't make sense that in the 21st century we are using a 19th century type of a voting system which puts the onus on voters to go out and register to vote. why not use all of the information the government has on us and use that as a way to get more people on the rolls and getting more people voting? host: a question from ohio on the republican line. caller: in this day and age, what this last guy said, this is ridiculous -- putting the onus on the voter? if you want to vote, let him do it. this government is going to do everything for you is ridiculous. w.c. why the 2010 election went the way it was? over here in ohio, we are trying to put on the thing were voters

can vote to see it. 70% of the people here want voter i.d., even if it's just to people ripping the system, that will help out. if people can't afford it and you say why don't the democrats get a kiddy together and buy it for them and give them food in the morning when they go there, this is crazy. host: let's hear from tony in missouri, and independent. caller: i just wanted to let you know -- i worked for the obama campaign in 2008 and there are a whole bunch of us out here trying to make sure the democrats and independents get a chance to vote. you keep working as hard as you can to steal those rights and some of us will keep working as hard as we can to keep them. host: before you go, what are you doing on that voter i.d.? does missouri have a voter i.d.

law? according to this chart, it does not have a photo requirements. guest: they have a referendum that will change and amend the constitution to allow voter i.d.. i want to point out that the whole idea of this is to keep democrats from voting is untrue. indiana had a huge increase in democratic turnout in the 2008 election. in the 2010 election, had more african-americans voting. they had more in the 2010 election that in the 2008 election which was a banner year for black turnout. this idea its intended to keep democrats from voting is not true. guest: can i make a couple of points? the reason missouri does not have a photo id lot is that missouri passed one, but it was

found unconstitutional by the missouri supreme court. second, my colleague to keep talking about what has happened in georgia. just because voter turnout increases does not mean it's not having an effect. if you look to the 2008 election and compared to the 2004 election, black turnout was up slightly. but of course, you that african- american running from a major political party and ultimately end up getting elected president great white turnout went down in 2008 from 2004. does that mean the voter i.d. law prevented a lot of white voters from the voters -- from voting? not necessarily. don't take something that correlates and says that is the cause. it is quite possible that in georgia, the number of voters would have been even greater had there not been ideal law.

the real reason why the number in georgia has gone way up as georgia has allowed for early voting. over half of the voters who voted in the 2008 election in georgia voted either early or by absentee voting. that was not true in 2004. host: i have to get more phone calls here. let me go to vicki, who is a democrat in new york. caller: any time any fraud is going on, it is with the workers. you have to get a whole bunch of people to come out and get them to vote. [inaudible] who was tallying votes? the workers. the fault was on the workers.

guest: let me talk about the early voting issue. this is a relatively new phenomenon and something states have put in in the past few years. several studies have been done looking at early voting. american university, not exactly a partisan place concluded early voting does not increase turnout. all of does is make it more convenient for people who are going to vote anyway. the idea that somehow this is going to hurt turnout if there are only 13 days to vote before election day rather than 15 days, it's not supported by that data. i talk about turnout in georgia because for years, groups were predicting turnout would godown if voter i.d. law went into effect. that did not happen. that's one of the reasons the walls are an asset today.

the courts have thrown out the lawsuits filed against them. host: jerry, independent from tacoma. caller: washington state does not require photo id for voting. recently, applicants for voter i.d. had been comparing jury pool data to voting records. because proof of citizenship is required to serve on a jury in washington state, many in the jury pool have been removed from jury duty when they are screened for citizenship. you compare those names to voter data and it has found in some of the small rural counties up to 50 people who were removed for a jury pools had in fact voted in previous elections. i thought that was interesting data.

if these people say no one is out there voting illegally is incorrect, i'm wondering if any other states are comparing jury pool data to voting records? guest: that is what they have done in washington state, comparing the jury pool to the voter records, that a way where you might people to find some non-citizens who have not voted and that's a much better way of going about it as opposed to having a law that requires documentation of citizenship in order to register to vote. there have been places that have done this -- arizona has done this. they found a handful of voters who fell into that category. for's a legitimate way election officials and law enforcement officials to find

instances of people who should not be voting. host: let me give you some more information about strict photo id lot verses just photo id law. there are several states with these laws and that means voters must show a photo id to vote. voters who are unable to show the id can vote on a provisional ballots counted only if they returned within several days to show photo id. if you live in one of the seven states with a photo id law, voters are asked to show a photo i.d. and order to vote. those who are unable to show photo id are still able to vote if they meet certain other criteria. next call is a republican from south carolina. caller: i have a beef with the gentleman trying to use scare tactics here -- in south

carolina, a primary state coming up, let the people do what they pose to do and be registered and have photo ids and it be legal. don't leave it up to the government. guest: south carolina is another one of the states that has passed a photo id law. it's currently up in from of the department of justice for review. we have not seen problems caused by voter impersonation and that's what the photo id prevents. we know there are going to be some voters. the exact number, nobody knows. but it is at least 1%, that enough to turn an election or affect a lot of people. i want to quickly go back to the georgia case. two things to note -- first, the

first ideologue georgia passed that struck down because it did not allow for a free i.t. -- free i.t.. second, the plaintiffs were unable to bring 40 witnesses to did not have identification. we brought forth several witnesses, a number of who could not testify at trial because there are not close to the courthouse. they were at nursing homes and were elderly, but they submitted affidavits and we had someone testify at trial that he did not have an id. guest: i'm sorry, that's not what the judge said in a court decision. anybody can read a court decision and see that's not true. i want to go back quickly to an earlier caller and the problem of non-citizens voting and registering in elections. that's a problem all over the country. there was a report not many years ago that said in just one united states district court.

, at least 3% of the people called for jury duty were not u.s. citizens. there are some states that are heavy the clerks of the court notified election officials about this, but not enough states are doing it and that's something that ought to be done to clean up voter registration rolls and get non-citizens off of them. host: the next call is from a democrat in brooksville, florida. caller: good morning, c-span. florida, the problem florida has had with voters and florida currently has prior to the state legislator passing this new law already had a voter i.d. law. the new law requires people not be able to vote as early as they were before. i'm wondering what's the purpose of passing such legislation?

it seems to me that instead of encouraging people to vote, they are discouraging people. >> i would not agree. i don't know the exact reasons why florida passed that law, but election officials will tell you it's extremely expensive to do early voting and makes it harder for us to have the kind of transparent elections' we should have when parties have poll watchers at all the polling places. it's difficult to get enough poll watchers for both parties to cover both sides for lengthy times before the elections. several academics will tell you they don't think early voting is a good idea. when voters go to the polls, they don't have the same information. if something happens to days before election day, some kind of information comes out about a candidate that is damaging that people should know, everyone who

early voted, it's too late to change the ballot and make a different choice. whereas if we all go in on election day, we go in with the same kind of information and that makes for a better choice on election day. host: an independent scholar from peoria, ill.. caller: it must be terrible for your guest to try to change something that is never going to change. i was in law enforcement in the 1960's in california where i grew up and we used to arrest mexican nationals. there was a time when things started to change. we would send them back over the border under title 8. but there were so many that after awhile which started releasing them out of the jail. that's when the explosions started. prior to that, my mother married a mexican national. i turned around and saw the or mexicans everywhere, myself

included, but i'm american. he's trying to stop something -- he created people like kim and big business and agriculture. in georgia, alabama and the rest of the states, you might as well give it up because things are going to change what you like it not. the demographic in this country's going to change and if you don't play nice, we may not lead you states. you can do your voter i.d. laws, it's too late. guest: if you look at what happened in that 2008 election and you look at states that allowed for early voting in an expanded way for the first time, states like north carolina, georgia, florida, and -- florida was not the first time, but you see how many people voted, it completely defies the idea that early voting does not affect voter turnout. simple logic will tell you offering people a number of days

in which they can vote as opposed to one day in which they could vote, more people are going to vote and that's in effect what happened. if a county wants to have early voting on a sunday before an election, and makes no sense whatsoever. i don't know what news comes out in the last two days of going to change and election. that should not be a reason for preventing early voting. this is about the voters and allowing them to have the opportunity to vote. it makes no sense whatsoever to not allow -- if they want to do early voting the sunday before the election to go ahead and do it. what: i'm not quite sure the caller was blaming me for. i don't think i responsible for the fact we have almost 11 million illegal aliens in the united states. quite frankly, i am a son of emigrants. i've first generation a -- i'm a

first generation american, but i believe we need to control our borders. they should not be able to register and vote and get away with it. host: a call on the republican line from savannah, georgia. think they you don't pay these union members and radicals to go into states, like to be the 99% and just cause trouble. if they can pay them to come in and do that, why don't they pay people to go and vote illegally? my sister was in north carolina with her cousin and she was waiting on him and they came out and asked her if she's a democrat republican she said of republican. she eyed me as she said she's a democrat. she said i'm from georgia. and they said the issue can, so don't tell me they don't try to

change the election results. guest: if your relative would have came in and tried to vote, her name would not have been on the registration list. she would not have been able to vote. certainly if anybody engages in vote buying, that is not going to be affected by government issued photo id law. it is completely illegal, it should be prosecuted, and it has been prosecuted whereas been found. caller: i agree with the caller before last. early voter turnout is an incentive for the voters. if this is not voter

suppression, i do not know what is. and why can college -- can college students not vote? guest: in georgia, where the caller is from, students who have a student i.d. are able to use that id to vote. it is not exempt students from being able to vote. caller: early voting is a waste of funds. you can vote from the convenience of your home. as for id, i say yes. unique id to drive, to buy liquor, why not vote? most countries around the world

require national id. why be behind the trend? host: he mentions the early voting is a waste of money. can you speak to that? guest: most election officials will say that they like early voting. among other things, it takes the pressure off election day. you know the lines we saw in ohio in 2004? elections were not being administered in a way that was constitutional. after some legal victories, we were able to settle the case. in 2008, one of the things that made a huge difference, up was that there were fewer people voting on election day. with all of the people voting early, there was a lot less stress on the system. you did not have people standing

in line for six, seven, eight hours because there were not enough people at the polls to deal with the turnout. i think if you polled election officials, they would be in favor of doing early voting because it put less stress on them. if you want to talk about cost, ideas expensive. states have to offer free id or it is a poll tax. the state of wisconsin, when trying to figure out how much the photo id law cost, estimated it to be $5 million. remember, this is a big issue in wisconsin, in terms of what the state budget is. it seems like a poor decision from a financial perspective. host: senior legal fellow at heritage foundation and a lawyer

for the committee for civil rights are our guests. the topic is voter i.d. laws. before we begin this discussion with viewers, you said you used to work together at the just department. -- justice department. what are you doing a run there? guest: i was an attorney in the voting section. at some point in time, around 2003, he moved to what is called the front office of the civil rights division and you reviewed -- he reviewed the issues that the voting section brought up. yes, i can identify some specific things that i will not talk about where there were specific disagreements in terms

of points of view. i left in 2003. host: do you want to add to that? caller: just that i was a career attorney at the justice department and became counsel to the attorney general for civil rights. caller: why is it such a problem for these people to get id? when they need welfare or medicare or anything like that, they have id. we have a corn and things like that. it is the same people every time. we know that the cheating is going on. you can tell by who is complaining about it. host: what about the point you need an id to do anything? guest: there are people, elderly, students, poor people, the do not have id, the do not

need id in terms of their daily living. about half the african-american males in the milwaukee area did not have a driver's license. these are people who do not have cars, who do not need idea in terms of their daily living. voting is a fundamental right. that is different than buying liquor at the liquor store. it is different than getting on a plane, the you can get on a plane without a governm issued id. it is a fundamental right and we need to protect it as that right and do things to enhance that right in the system like allowing for automatic registration, like when somebody moves having their registration move with them, and like

allowing for things like being able to actually vote on election day. one thing i do not understand in the states that have issued these government id laws is why do they not allow people to vote on election day who have not registered before? one of the things that breaks my heart is that every year we have people that call in right before the election who want to vote, they want to know about voting, and their state does not allow for same-day registration and we have to tell them you cannot vote in this election. is heartbreaking to hear that. georgia has government issued photo identification. why not allow people to register and vote on election day? host: when you look at this map, the yellow and green states who have strict voter i.d. laws as well as regular voter i.d.

laws, do they contain exceptions? guest: they certainly do. there are exceptions for people who are disabled physically and mentally. the law that was passed in missouri had an exception for anyone born before 1941, sir yes, there are exceptions built into it. and there are safeguards. in indiana, you've 10 days to come in and get an id. look, we're the only western democracy that does not require an id to vote. even mexico, which has a much larger population in poverty than the united states, requires a photo id, and a lot of people crowded the implementation of that in 1990's with why the first opposition candidate was finally elected after something like 60 years. they had that happen smoothly without any of the kind of problems that john and others

keep predicting we're going to have. host: jeff sanders says, is there any voter sampling done to discover fraud or does it require an accusation? guest: i'm not aware of any voter sampling has been done. people that see or witness or hear about voter fraud should contact their local district attorney, but i am not aware of any polling that has been done. guest: in fact, that is one of the problems. it is hard to detect. there's a big problem going on right now and indiana because they have discovered that many of the signatures on petitions that put barack obama on the ballot were forgeries. election officials did not find that. a student doing research did. that point that the difficulty of finding some of the fraud

occurs in the whole election process. host: let's go to west virginia, patrick, an independent scholar. caller: thank you to the gentleman for bringing such divergent perspectives. that is the beauty of c-span. i love it. in my career prior to retirement, i had the honor and pleasure of serving as a public educator. the last 15-18 years, i served as a school counselor. i sought time after time, particularly in the more rural counties, that as was alluded to poor people do not have vehicles. poor people do not have a driver's license. poor people only have to have a social security card or a birth certificate to get the needed support, and that is my

perspective. this is another means to move the separation from the haves and have-nots. host: what do you think? guest: again, i disagree with that. indiana put in all kinds of special education effort and they put an effort to do -- for example, georgia had a mobile van drove to rural areas of the country to help people get id. they had a long education program. they spent a lot of money going out and finding individuals who did not have an id to give them ideas. the result was that they really did not have a problem. thell find when you compare number of individuals who have driver's licenses and not a

photo ids, in the majority of states, there are more drivers licenses issued than registered voters, and that is true in the country oas a whole. caller: i do not understand why anyone would have a problem with voter i.d.. it is well known that we a lot of illegal aliens in the country, and they should not have the right to vote. host: what is your take on that? guest: again, there are not a lot of instances of people who are undocumented trying to vote, and the reason why is because the penalties are harsh. it is not a very good judgment to take a risk of voting and being prosecuted and then spending years in jail over it. most people who are undocumented are looking for ways to stay on

the down low, not in terms of the way to get themselves out there. i think it is important, and patrick, i appreciate you calling because you are giving a voice out there to people who do not have a voice, and it is very much appreciated. you're talking about your own experience of being at their in rural west virginia. that is important. let's talk about the georgia mobile van. the concept of the state of georgia which goes on for hundreds of miles and has millions of people, having won mobile van out there to register voters would be laughable if it were not so pathetic and sad in terms of not really making a genuine effort to go out there and identify people who need id and supply id for them. host: rose, a republican in

memphis, tennessee. good morning. caller: i find this whole thing laughable. we know he does too. we are a country of communication. there can be communication all over. it is easy to understand and be taught and understand the law. it is easy to find a way of getting id and pre registering so that you do not have to worry about illegal voting. we know for a fact, and he does to -- to sit there and absolutely deny the fact that there is illegal voting is just dishonest. host: let me give you a chance to respond quickly. guest: i am not saying it never happens. i am saying is very rarely happens. if you look at the law enforcement record, it rarely

happens. in terms of id, for the majority of people, they have the idea already. for those who do not, it is a major imposition. caller: i am from ride outside of baltimore, a big inner-city. the examples you named, you named african-americans. i take offense to that. many young african american who can i get an idea does not deserve the right to -- any young african american who cannot get an id does not deserve the right to vote. we worked too hard to get the vote. if you had a check to cash and needed an id, you would be running to line up to get the

id. please do not keep using african americans as an excuse. it is appalling. guest: let me actually say, someone who agrees with what the caller said is the african- american state senator of rhode island. he was the chief sponsor of the rhode island photo id law that just past. he wrote an article in which he basically says the same thing. he got upset at people making claims that african-americans could not comply with this rule, would not be able to get an id. he sponsored the bill because he said he had seen voter fraud and he believed i.t. was necessary and that the african-american population could comply with

that law just like everybody else. caller: voter i.d. is a waste of tax dollars in my view. if mexicans already have voter i.d. in mexico, then why is there such a problem with them coming across the border? if they have id, we should know who they are and put them in the system. host: waste of time. guest: i disagree. i will leave it there. caller: i think that having voter i.d. laws is not discriminatory against anybody. just about any state in the union will provide you with a state-issued id for anywhere

between $5-$15. i mean, i am unemployed and i have stayed id. i can find that. i do not mean poll taxes or testing, but i believe that having an informed electorate is just as important as having a legal voting electorate. i think people should have to pass the u.s. citizenship test in order to be able to vote. i mean, it is ridiculous uninformed people are allowed to make decisions on how the country is run. host: deidre has this week. this is such a ridiculous issue. there has always been fraud, always will be. not that difficult to get a

photo id. guest: again, the instances of fraud are few. the cost to individuals to get it and to the states to implement it is extensive to deal with a problem that is nonexistence -- nonexistent. we have to look at the system as a whole. we have to look at ways to make elections better and more sensible. host: do we have any data on how much it does cost on average to get a photo i.d. and how much it costs the state to issue it? guest: there are two pieces. in some cases, you have to provide other documents to get a photo id, so it might require a birth certificate. that could be anywhere from $10- $75. on top of that, the cost of the ids themselves vary between states.

i have seen them as low as $5, as high as $50. then there is the time associated. there is a very good story regarding a woman from tennessee who is in her 90's. tennessee pass the photo id law, and she brought everything with her, including her birth certificate, down to the motor vehicle office, and it took her three times because among other things the birth certificate had her name prior to when she was married, and she had to go back and get the marriage certificate. it is putting people who have been in this country their entire lives, who have been -- who have done their job the citizens, and in their later years, making them sit for hours at a motor vehicle office just in order to register to vote. host: 1 last phone call, a

republican from illinois. caller: i am a hancock county board member. in the election with george bush and al gore, what came out of that was that everyone had to buy new voting machines. they cost as $800,000. the federal government paid for four hundred thousand dollars. a year later, we had to buy handicap voting machines. they cost as $400,000 and we have never had anybody use them. i do not see where there is any kind of people who don't have the right to go read -- right to vote. these new machines can be hacked because they are all the same and all computerized. host: final thoughts.

guest: voter i.d. is a common- sense requirement. it is one that the majority of the american people believe in and think is the correct thing to do. the courts and large majority agreed. the turnout in elections in states that have voter i.d. have shown that all of these states that voter i.d. will be a problem have proven untrue. guest: voter i.d. does not serve a useful purpose in terms of stopping voter fraud. it is expensive, and if we are looking to improve the system, there are much better ways of doing it, things like expanding early voting in using the information the government has already to get people registered to vote as opposed to looking at these laws. host: press is both for talking to our viewers. we appreciate it -- thank you both for talking to our viewers. we appreciate it.

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> tomorrow on "washington journal," a conversation about the sexual harassment accusations against herman cain. later, our military week series continues live from arlington national cemetery with the superintendent of arlington national cemetery. "washington journal" is live every morning starting at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. republican presidential candidate herman cain answered questions about sexual harassment allegations late this afternoon, saying he would be willing to take a lie-detector test to prove he is being truthful when he says he has never behaved inappropriately with anyone. but he said he will not submit to such an examination without good reason. you can see his press conference tonight at 8:00 eastern here on

c-span. public-school teachers testified before the senate education committee today on revamping the "no child left behind" law. the senate is expected to vote on changes to the law before the end of the year. here is part of the hearing. you can see it in its entirety at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. come to order. >> for the last two years, this committee has held 10 hearings on the full range of issues covering no child left behind.

we of participated in lengthy negotiations. my republican -- with my republican colleagues, which resulted in a bill that was voted out of committee two weeks ago. we are resetting our national goal of students obtaining proficiency to ensuring that students graduate from high school prepared for college and a career. second, closing the title i loophole. third, developing rigorous teacher and principal at the valuation support systems with the goal of continuous structural improvement. fourth, turning a laser light focus on high schools a graduate less than 60% of their students are the real change can occur in these schools and students who attend them and set their

academic trajectories on a new course. i am eager to hear each of your perspectives on how we can provide states, districts and schools with the tools they need to help all students succeed. i believe we have provided some of those tools in our bill, but i am sure there are others who believe more biwork can be done. we must reauthorize to get out from under the ineffective no child left behind act. i expect roundtable participants will discuss things they like about nclb and our bill, and things they would like to see changed. i thank all of our participants for being here today. i will now turn to the ranking

member of our committee who has been a strong partner in our work on reauthorization. >> thank you, mr. chairman. last month's markup of the elementary and secondary education act was a major step forward in the reauthorization process, which has been stagnant over the last four years since no child left behind's authorization lapsed. i expect there will be many more changes to the bill that we voted out of committee in order to gain broad support from both sides of the aisle and to further improve the draft. marking of the bill was the first step in the reauthorization process. there was a lot of work to get that bill to mark a. we receive testimony from over 70 witnesses, including the secretary of education, students, principals and teachers. we hosted a website where people from all across the united

states could express views and solutions. each senator has heard from constituents as to the concerns, fixes and changes needed to improve the no child left behind lot. now that we have marked up the bill in committee, we are holding this roundtable to get input on the bill. we want to hear about what else we need to do to improve the bill as we move forward. i want to thank the panelists, each of them comes from a vastly different background, and who can provide a range of observations on both the current law and the draft bill that was voted out of committee last month. today, we will continue the conversation of identifying problems on the ground and how we can create a policy that provides flexibility for innovative approaches in the state. i am also interested in hearing about the aspects of no child left behind at the panelists believe should be retained as we move forward. there are many criticisms, but

there are positives that we can point to as well. it invited parents to take a more active role in their child's education. i think that has been retained while shifting the emphasis from bad schools back to seeing that no child is left out. by shining a light on the children rather than just the school and by making sure the data were broadly available to parents, teachers, principals and taxpayers, it can have all the access they needed to make informed decisions about children, not just about schools. that is a profound development, and when i am committed to building upon as we move forward. while no child left behind pushed us to learn about and address many of the shortcomings in our schools, it also applied strict one-size-fits-all rules. in the bill that we considered in committee, we removed most of the federal mandates and asked states to intervene only in

those schools with the largest achievement gap. however, parents and teachers will know how their children are doing because of the information's that will be reported for every child. we want the results to follow the child so subsequent teachers can make a difference. for all other schools, we have told states that they must take the lead by returning responsibility for accountability that expect students to be college and career ready to determine what makes the most sense having the goal for students entering college without the need for remediation is a golden requires intensive, step-by- step, planning, not some markers as to whether the student is prepared on the day they graduate. they will design rubrics that get the students on this path. they do not need micromanagement

that says how they should reach each milestone. we have learned that they did not handle this responsibility very well through accountability systems focus on schools. the bill attempts to remove no child left behind's footprint and returned it to the state where it belongs. i do not support 100% of the bill. i would have is a more active -- i would have supported a smaller federal role. this is the essence of working to get something done, the broader senate and congress. and a more prepared work force moving forward so action can be taken instead of wasted debate. this is another step in that process. we will be further informed as more voices are involved.

i will support greater transparency to parents the reporting on the child's performance. we need more emphasis on seeing that each child is getting the education we promised. i was disappointed with the three goals. and i encourage my colleagues to work together if we plan to move the legislation to the president's desk. thank you for working with me on this hearing. i look forward to continuing discussion.ntialve >> let me introduce each of our participants. i know some light to weigh in with the introductions. -- some like to throw and introductions. we have the director of education policy studies for public policy research. he is the officer of the

column and executive educator of education next. next is the director of the board of directors. he has developed a national educational policies. i would now invite the senate paul to and reduce the next person. >> she is a gifted and talented teacher and one of the great successes of our public education. i really am glad that we are able to have this hearing to talk about the bill to get your

input and understanding and your input as to how we can change it and make no child left behind more of a -- less of a burden. thank you for coming. >> next we have the idaho superintendent. he currently serves as president elect of the council of chief state school officers. he will serve as president beginning on could 2012. next is a senior vice president for government elections. she does work with seals. she is responsible for the federal and state policy activities and is co-chair of the citizens for disability education task force.

next i would ask a signature alexander for an introduction. >> we welcome charles seaton from memphis. he decided he wanted to work with children in memphis. he works with exceptional children. he is involved as every child is right now. welcome. >> next i would invite senator hagan/ >> thank you. i am proud to have an opportunity to introduce an old friend of mine, it brought north carolina iian.

although dr. gruire is here, he has done this across the board. he is a coach and the haskell printable. i first met him in 2000 when he became superintendent of my hometown in north carolina. i represent that county. during his eight years, dr. grier led to less than 3%. he increase the graduation rate to 80%. he received this from the deficit and bryant foundation and the center for creative leadership to help trade

bleeders and establish one of the first early college high schools. -- help train leaders and establish the first early college high schoo then he continued his track record in san diego where he reduce the jobbery by 50%. in 2009, he became superintendent of the houston independent school district with more than two minutes thousand students. his initiatives continue to produce results for schools and students. last month it was announced that they landed 87 schools on day 2011 lift. he was the leader among the states. honored tod adnd

welcome my old friend. thank you. cried thank you. -- >> thank you. amanda danks. do she teaches special education in baltimore schools and teaches at a school for students to a severe disabilities. current currently teaches at a school for students are medical fragiled. in addition, she also serves as a resident advisor for new special education teachers. and works with students of autism. next to amanda, mr. formally known ceo one for civil-rights. conference, he also

heads up the leadership conference education fund. prior to these roles, mr. henderson was the washington buerau director of the naacp. >> i would like to welcome today, allen thomas, preside of madison high school in richmond, kentucky, vice president of the kentucky association of secondary school principals. this year, he was the kentucky principal of the year. and he has spent time working in his school on focus and finish program. which identifies struggling seniors. we're very happy to have principal thomas here with us today. >> thank you very much. thank you all for being here for this very important discussion. >> mr. hess and mr. shur i'm told you might have to leave

early. thank you. beforee start, let me explain the format of the roundtable. i'll ask a question of one of panelists. that person will answer. if one of the panelists wants to respond, take your name tent and put it on its head like that. so, i know to call on you. if a committee member wants to ask a question or a follow-up or an intervention, i ask them to do the same. so, we usually have a lot of fol whox want to talk. i'll recognize someone and we'll continue the conversation. it won't be like a formal hearing, although it's being recorded. we'll try to keep the discussion flowing. hope the rest will be a good in depth conversation regarding the bill.

i just also ask that everyone to refrain from giving speeches. if they're a couple minutes long, that's okay. but long speeches. so, given that wemay lose you early, i'll start with mr. schnur. can you tell us what the strengths on of the bill or how you think it could b improved? >> thank you so much. it's an honor to be with you. you're tackling one of the most pressing priorities for country and the blend of addressing education as both a national priority and a state and local responsibility is delicate one. i understand there are issues at play on this bill. i have been in dozensnd dozens of schools aund the country working to improve low-achieving

schools, urban schools and rural schools, i think we have some lessons emerged from those. when we looked at the schools, we analyzed, we have schools that are making dramatic progress. kids who many people in the society don't think achieve, we have actual examples. we're getting dramatic progress. we have leaders from schools -- we have nalszed the difference. one, in all of the schools that have been progress, there are high expectations what the kids can achieve. specific expectations. for success in college and career. secondly, there's a focus on the school on a constant improvement

on teacher and feedback to improve the quality of teaching regularly in the cool. because teachers aren't just born. you have some great teachers. teachers who are working at it can make dramatic improvement when there's the proper feedback. third, we see cultures of intense cultures of high expectation and personal respsibility. for all kids. you can't legislatio late that from the federal level. the kind of culture that can drive high expectations and fourth, we see adequate funding for the teacher program. it makes an enormous difference to help prcipals make improvements. schools are struggling for that little bit of extra money to make improvement. fifth and finally there's leadership. leadership at the local level,

which is inhibited from too many regulations. i think it's a big issue that you are rightly addressing. what i think can impre the bill, the requirement to college and career-ready standards are so important. having somethinging is, most of these schools don't have these expectations. the second, the competitive grant programs focused on talent. on principals and teachers. the pathways program, trying to train principals and teachers for their institutions. third is the prioritization of low-achieving schools. if you got flexibility, that's a priority in this bill. finally it's important that you got to fix some of the prescription and the mindset of no child left behind.

to address leadership at the local level. two issues, two significant concerns about the bill that i would pay a lot of attention to if i were in your shoes in the senate, working on impring this bill, fit, lot of discussion about teacher and principal evaluation, i realize some say that should be mandated. i think i would recommend improving on the current bill, by putting in place a very substantial incentive. not a requirement. a very substantial incentive. perhaps taking as much as 50% of the title ii program to support competitive grants. design and use these systems. someone is building on senator alexander bill. the incentive is there but could be large. you could put up enough funding that every state would be able to get funds. only 42% of title ii right now is used for teacher professional

development. i think you could get more funds through this approach to get professional development. right now, title ii isn't working very well. state-driven systems on a competitive basis you get a lot more bang for your buck. i think there needs to more press on the performance targets. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> you gave me five things, high ek peck takes, cultural responsibility. accurate funding and leadership. what i understand, under cultural and personal responsibility comes the subset of families. in other words, we always focus on schools. we know what influees a kid's ability to learn a desire to learn is what happens outside the school.

so, what role does the family play in that list of yours? in those successful schools. >> it's huge. as a dad of a 6-year-old and 4-year-old and 2-year-old, i walk my kid to school every day. the schools that we have seen, driven big results do find ways to really engage parents in taking responsibility to drive improvement for kids. most parents want the best for their kids and a lot of them don't ha >> for more, you can see all of the senate education committee at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. a closer look at the u.s. military. a series continues today with examination of the air force. this is 40 minutes.

host: it is military week. on friday we will talk about who serves on our nation's armed forces. the role and mission of the air force. we are welcoming the general whose welcoming the chief a staffer's to show to japan plans. what do you do? >> i focus on the strategic planning par of the deal. will the fed what the air force with the collapse years from now.

-- we look at how the air force will look at this. >> we will be more modernized we hope. our equipment has gotten old. we hope to put some more money in. greatstill be based on american and. rely on those skills. >> what will this look like in 20 years? >> we will have added a new tanker to replace our aging one. we will have modernize our space constellation.

>> if you look at the 2012 budget, the total about 119 billion. in order to reach the goals that you just outlined, while your budget need to be in year from here on out on? guest: we start by planning with the ones we think we will need. it is what they ask this is due at a moderate risk. we know we will have less money. then we plan it. with where we think will be available. we continue to work to advocate for our strategy. host: there was a story yesterday with the pentagon of date. he said he is looking at

potential reductions to a major weapon systems. he is considering cutting the purchases. what does that mean for you? >> we are dependent on this. this is a small alternative. when understand this will depend on how much they cost and how well the contractor doesn't. it we will plan for a certain number. we will look at other options. we'll find a way to do this. callerhost: how mangy currently? , 81 to have? >> no. received eight. we are just in the early stages of the program. we hope to acquire over 1500. across the joint force, the goal

is under 2500. international customers are expected to buy more. host: have they ever seen combat? guest: they chain normal pilot and not as test pilots. >> what has held back for combat? >> it takes a long time. it takes longer than we will like them to. it is something that has never been done. they have new things. is a way that has never been done before. they can communicate directly with each other and with the other plants around it.

software took longer than you thought. >> how much does it cost? guest: if you average the cost across the program, it would be somewhere around $85 million each. if you add in the research and development costs, it would be more than that. host: many have heard about the debate about an alternative engine for the f-35. where does that stand? guest: that is a policy decision that would be made in congress by the department of defense. the program is to buy one engine right now. host: where does it stand in congress? guest: congress is marking up the budget for f y 2012 and the senate has taken steps to delay the program a little bit. the department is looking at

options to do that. our goal is to buy airplanes that meet the requirements and that are ready to go and we will buy them when they are produced incapable of doing the mission. host: where talking with major general james holmes. our focus this morning is on the u.s. air force and we have a separate line set aside from active and retired air force. you talked about what the air force would look like 20 years from now. how do drowns fit into the picture? guest: we call it remote piloted aircraft. the air force has dramatically expanded are remotely piloted aircraft over the last couple of years in order to provide what we call full motion video and intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance support and a joint force in the wars we are fighting for it we built a pretty quickly to fly and 58. it involves more than one aircraft.

we're providing about 1200 hours per day for the commanders to support their operation. we will continue to build up and provide 65 of those and see where the requirement texas from there. we are flying about 175 remotely piloted aircraft with most of those being in combat host: where? guest: in iraq and afghanistan and over other places where u.s. forces are operating. host: we read a lot in the papers about the secret drone attacks. we read that the cia is the one ordering them. to the orders come from the cia and then down to the air force? guest: the air force flies remotely powered aircraft in support of our traditional military for. this we are active in the places i talked about. i am not really ready to comment on what the other government

organizations might be doing. host: are these all run by the air force or does the cia have their own fleet of drones? guest: the air force has a fleet that flies with our conventional ground forces. host: is there a relationship between the cia and the air force? guest: the air force has developed aircraft and there are other government users that use the aircraft. host: the mq1 predator, there are 165 m mq9, there are 82, but global clock has 12. when you mq1b predator --the rq-4 costs us $37.6 million. explain the costs. what goes into it? guest: the predator was our first generation of a remotely powered aircraft. it was great -- out that with

sensors to see in close detail what is happening on the ground later, we armed with a small missile, the hellfire missile. the reaper is the next generation which is a bigger airplane. it has a larger engine and can carry a heavier payload. it can go longer distances to do things for the ground commander. the rq-4 is a longer range, are l2 system that does not provide the full motion video directly to ground commanders. it is more of a traditional reconnaissance airplane to

host: what is the future? guest: those three airplanes will continue to support ground commanders and move into the future into other roles. we will see what the need and demand is out there for unmanned aircraft we are looking at all the areas they might be employed. we will go where the needs of the country take us. host: are these ever deployed over our country? guest: they are used for things like humanitarian relief after major storms. they can fly out and use their sensors to find out what is happening where communications or power is out. we make sure we do that sadly we work with the faa to make sure they're happy and comfortable with any operation we do. host: our first phone call is from retired air force in wisconsin. caller: it is fascinating what

those remote control plans do. i am wondering what kind of power plants that have? are they electric? are they turbine engines? guest: the mq-1 has a reciprocating engine like you would see on a smaller airplane or on a pleasure craft like a jet ski or snow mobilet. he mz-9 runs on jet fuel and is more sophisticated as and therq-4 uses a jet engine. host: arizona, chris, independent caller. caller: i am a retired navy commander, a naval aviator. one thing that is bothering me

is the fact that we have a reduction in force structure and both squadrons flown, battle groups, and the army manpower. is there going to be a corresponding reduction in missions assigned? if these are not in balance, i think you can agree we are going to get some people hurt if we have to have a conflict guest: with this first round of cuts, we have worked hard as a department across the joint services to apply strategy and make sure we can continue to do the missions across the military that our country asks us to do. we may not be able to do them in as many places at the same time. we will strive to make sure we can do the best we can with the money our country gives us. host: here is a tweed --

guest: we have forces that operate in the air across the military. the air assets in the army and navy and marine corps fly in direct support of the mission of those services. the air force flies across the theater and has more of a theater perspective and is responsible for providing air superiority across the theater and being able to reach out and strike targets across the world, providing a global intelligence and surveillance and reconnaissance. they provide the air leg of our nuclear deterrent operation. there is some redundancy, we use here place for different focuses but we work together to get the joint force commanders objectives. host: every public and in north carolina, you are on the air. caller: i want to know about it will we get into any kind of thing like nasa and get that regenerated to boost the

economy? i think that could really help. we could integrated into the military and the production of materials and go up there with drones and stuff. what is that possibility? guest: that is a great question. we like to think we are responsible for superiority and exporting that space environment. we're focused on the future but space systems are very expensive. part of our efforts to improve our acquisition process are focused on the things we need to operate in space. reduced budgets will cause us to continue to think of innovative things. we will focus on maintaining the capabilities we currently provide host: a reference to the defense secretary panetta

and there are reports that he is looking at different aspects to meet the $450 billion in cuts to the pentagon budget. one of them is looking at the work force of the military. he talked about cut across the army and marines but he did not mention the air force. this is the miami herald -- where will the job cuts come from? guest: the specific plan is the civilian jobs. we're looking at options that will bring us down to a set number. people have exceeded our retention goals and people want to stay and continue to work in the air force. as a look at budget cuts across the board, we will have to look at cuts and are active duty force and look at cuts in our reserve and guard force and look at cuts in our civilian

force. we have an effort going on to see where there are inefficiencies and where we might reduce our civilian forces. host: what will that mean? guest: we have about 335 active duty air man, about 75,000 reservists, 150,000 civilians. at the course gets smaller, it would like your airplanes, we will need fewer people to do the maintenance that is done by civilians and support operations. if we get smaller, we will need less of that support. host: what will the drawdown in iraq and afghanistan mean for those numbers? according to the u.s. air force, there are about 9000 at the 34 u.s. air force airmen in afghanistan and about 1910 in iraq. this comes in the u.s. air force. what is the reduction in the work force mean when you talk

about drawdowns? guest: the air force went to war in the middle east when saddam hussein invaded kuwait more than 20 years ago. we have been there the whole time since then. when 500,000 troops invaded kuwait, the air force stayed. the air force was there on the second attack on kuwait and as a drawdown happens, we think the air force will get smaller but not proportionately to the reduction in ground forces. we are generally the first guys in and alaskas out that we expect we will remain -- maintain a presence. -- we are generally the first guys in and of the last guys out and we expect we will remain a presence. we will be present around the world particularly in the pacific to provide security and stability. host: when you think about 20 years from now and your budget, how will things be different?

leon panetta also said yesterday he is looking at retirement and health care benefits as well as ways to cut. how much does it cost the air force for retirement and health- care benefits? what does that do your budget 20 years from now? guest: personnel costs are a big part of our budget and secretary panetta said it is important to take a balanced approach to making defense cuts which means we cannot take a call from personnel or from readiness or all from structure or from modernization. we will have to spread that across. there are several groups studying potential changes to compensation with retirement being one part of that. only about 17% of military people serve 20 years and earned a retirement. it is spread across people who have served for at least 20 years and serve their country

and picked up and move their country around the world and we still think it is a unique service that requires you make compensation. host: that is a big cost the military. guest: we think the retirement benefit is appropriate. if you join the air force at age 18 and to serve for 20 years, you retire just under 40 and go into another career. officers would be in the mid- 40's. expenses in providing the benefit or expanding a lengthening life and the medical benefits are also a great part of what goes into the personal costs. host: robert is retired air force in chicopee, massachusetts. caller: since we've got the drones flying air to my submissions, how far away are we from flying air to air with drones.

i think it would be a tremendous cost savings. thank you for your comments. guest: thank you for the question. it is true that for combat employment of our remotely powered aircraft, it has been in error to brown moat which makes it aircraft dropping a weapon or shooting a rocket at a target on the ground. air-to-air combat has stayed a manned mission. the situation is so fluid and changes so fast that we rely on a person to be in the loop to decide before you pull the trigger whether you are shooting at the right target or not. that is a complex air to their environment. we're looking at new ways to improve our efficiency and become better at what we do. it requires a whole lot of judgment in air to air like

dropping bombs with troops in contact and that will continue to require a person in duluth. host: here isa tweet -- guest: right now, we are building the aircraft to demand. we have the capability to turn our airplanes into drones that were used as targets and other functions. to be able to fully control the airplane, we need a person in the loop to do that. host: what is the biggest advantage between amanda aircraft f-35 and f-22 and unmanned? guest: the report and stay out there for a long time, beyond

the entrance of a human pilot. they can remain effective for a long period of time. for the manned aircraft, instead of being able to look for a sensor and where it is pointed on the ground, if i am in that airplane, i can turn and look left and right and look at the ground and other places. i can look and see what is happening 1 mile away by looking out the window, i can see the other aircraft out there. i can apply my judgment to that whole picture instead of just the information presented to me by censors. host: does that apply to civilian casualties? guest: we think is important to have a person in the loop when we are dropping bombs. the overwhelming majority of the bombs were dropped in the current conflict in iraq and afghanistan are dropped in coordination with ground commanders. they are dropped after a 9-line is delivered.

that tells where the target is and where the friendly forces are in if there are any restrictions if there might be civilians. we work hard to continue to avoid them. host: retired air force, tulsa, okla., good morning. caller: i have two quick questions. i am trying to find out about the plan to change the [unintelligible] will there be a change for the military retirement system in the air force?

guest: in congress, they are examining bills to control tri- care costs and they're talking about the limiting enrollment in tri-care5 which may be the program you are involved in which offers the fewest co-pays for retirees. there's also talk about increasing the payment, the annual payment that retirees make to participate in the process. that will be up to congress to decide. secretary panetta and the air force leadership have said they think it is important that whatever we do with cuts to maintain our force within the budget, we need to keep faith with those who served and those who are serving now. i think that leadership is strongly oriented to protect your retirement benefits. host: republican in pittsburgh sent us this e-mail --

guest: i'm not exactly sure what we're talking about. our military resources in general remain under a military command structure that reports for the secretary of defense. we are partnering more and more with state. as a move forward in iraq and the hand of the mission at the end of this year, a state will take the lead in our mission in iraq. will work closely with state who is the lead agency for international affairs and relations in the united states government. i think our systems will remain under the control of the department of defense. host: even at a handoff? guest: yes perry keyhole host: arlington , va. ♪ caller: good morning. i want to thank you for the great cooperation between the polish air force and the american air force.

we purchased the f-16 of some of the blackhawks are manufactured in poland at an extremely advanced facility. thank you for the cooperation. i come from an aviation family. [unintelligible] i have one idea about recruitment in america. and modern pentathlon was crucial in the 1970's and 1980's and it was a military sport sponsored by the u.s. military. there is a great facility out of san antonio, texas. military does not sponsor of this sport anymore.

it would be a great idea in spending -- instead of spending money on race cars to promote the sport in the future. guest: the polish military has a great tradition and the air force is expanding its cooperation with the polish air force as you indicated. my service in afghanistan i worked closely with a polish brigade that was deployed to afghanistan and made many great friends and comrades their part of the united states and poland will continue to work together to bring us together. i think general george patton was an elective medal winner in the pentathlon as a military officer. the military sponsors some international competition programs with world-class athletes that compete in the olympics sports, so far, we are meeting our retention goals in the air force and across the military services and we take a

look at that recruiting budget, trying to spend enough to make sure we meet our retention goals but not more than we need to spend to do that. it is a great idea and i will take a back and talk to my friends in the pentagon. host: here is a tweet -- guest: that's a great question. the current wars are being fought against enemies that don't have air forces. united states air force killed there are forces in the first invasion of iraq. saddam had same had about 800 fighter bombers that were decimated on the ground. in the tenures in between the two airports, the air force covered the no-fly zone over iraq and prevented the iraqi air force from flying into places where we did not want them.

in the early hours of iraqi freedom, the rest of the air force in iraq was destroyed. in the early hours of the afghan war, the afghan air force was destroyed. the last time an american soldier on the ground was attacked from the air was in 1951 over korea. we take that responsibility very seriously. as people adapt to the way the u.s. fights wars, we see people starting to spend their money on ideas we call anti-access and area denial strategies. anti-access is designed to keep the u.s. from entering a region to be able to project force there. area denial strategies are designed to keep u.s. forces from maneuvering in that area. to be able to operate in those high threat areas takes a joint strike fighter and the f-22. the air forces are not functional but there are other air force is growing and becoming more complex and capable.

host: i want to show our viewers what the joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey said recently about the high- tech joint strike fighter. >> i am supportive without caveat of the development of the fifth generation fighter. i am concerned about whether we go forward in this and learn if we can afford all three. i am eager to learn more about that. i have great respect for general amiss' judgment. this creates some fiscal challenges for us. host: can you explain that a little bit? are talking about two separate things? guest: the f-35 and the f-22 are called fifth generation fighters. the f-35 is a joint project being bought by the air force and marines and navy.

they are by slightly different versions. the conventional take off and landing version is designed to operate off of six runways and the way the air force operates. the marines are pursuing a short-term take off. the navy is pursuing a carrier- based aircraft. there is some increased cost in buying three different versions. each services are evaluating what the requirement is. the navy has a continuing requirement to be able to fly fifth generation of fate carrier decks of a have to have a special version.

the air force version is the furthest alon in the test program. it will be the least expensive and the most efficient to operate of the three versions. host: i assume the air force stays committed to that request? guest: absolutely. host: what do you think will happen? who will not get their aircraft? guest: h service and the department of defense will have to decide -- each service and the department of defense will have to decide. within these current cuts called for services believe they can afford some number of airplanes. the number will depend on how much the cost and of being of the program. host: it may be that each branch gets its aircraft but the get less of what they requested? guest: that may be. host: when will that decision be made to? guest: those decisions will be made based on the performance of the program and the cuts that we deal with and the budget topline.

host: are we talking about this year or next year? guest: probably not this year. there is a lot of turbulence this year because we are still marking up the 2012 budget and we don't know exactly what we can spend next year. we will be on a continuing resolution for a while. the 2013 budget has a comprehensive review to look at our strategy before we commit to spending money in 2013. guys like me and all four services are planning on the budget without any rebel -- resolution on 2012 and 2013. we'll let the budget settle down and see what we can actually spent for defense and will have to make some decisions after that. host: adam is a retired air force member in jackson, michigan. caller: i would like to know if the drawn pilots -- drone pilots go through the traditional route.

host: do they go through traditional training? guest: we have a mix. they're all graduates of our pilot training and they have flown other aircraft and the came to join the program. we did some experiments with taking guys straight out of our normal pilot training and putting them into remotely piloted aircraft programs. we have done some experiments also with a specialized program that trains people to fly only remotely piloted aircraft and that includes some time flying real airplanes to make sure they understand what it is like and they are familiar with that environment. it is less expensive and focus on flying the remotely piloted aircraft. host: we have heard of the strict criteria there is for those who actually fly air force aircraft. you have to have a certain

height and vision. do those things apply to those that are flying remotely? guest: there still remains strict criteria for doing it. you can relax some of that a little bit if you're not putting a person in the airplane. the height and weight and size restrictions are made so that you can fit into a cockpit. some of those are not as important when you are flying an airplane remotely. host: what about the intelligence criteria for flying? guest: we have been able to be very proactive. we have volunteers to fly the airplanes so we can be very selective on the people we bring in. a large percentage of our's come from the air force academy after a four-year education. the company reserve officer training corps at universities around the country and we use officer training school to bring people in who have completed college to make up the difference in numbers and we can fine-tune that every year.

host: is there was this a big area in this country were on manned aircraft is being flown? are they all in one area of the country? guest: we're spreading them out a little bit. most of them were out in nevada original and we train crews there and we had a remote flying operation from there but we are spreading the mission and to other places. we now have training units in new mexico and spreading into the international guard for flying the aircraft and learning how to fly and what we call the remote split operation were the crews are using satellite communications to fly airplanes over iraq and afghanistan. host: ledger -- let's get your response to this headline -- guest: what i understand is that they're moving data from one computer system to another and using a mobile drive like a thumb drive and that got infected with a piece of software.

my understanding is that it never threatened the operation of the system and would never threatened the network because the systems are maintained separately it as a consequence of things that we all deal with across america as we learn how to maintain the integrity of our data and networks and keep them safe from the international creditors that prey on networks and from the commercial criminals that prey on our networks. host: we have a few minutes left as we continue military week here on "washington journal." we're focusing on the air force today. democratic caller next. caller: thank you for your service. what are some of the differences between the f-22 and the f-35? how they stack up against the f-15 or 16? guest: thank you for the question.

the f-22 came earlier and it was focused primarily on the air-to-air combat environment. it has air to ground capabilities but it was designed to allow us to accomplish air superiority the way we think it should be done which is to fly over and airfields and they can fight -- and make him fight but prevent him from taking off. the f-22 can super crews which means it can fly faster than supersonic cruise without using afterburners. the avionics are integrated into the airplane where they talk to each other and make the pilot's job sample that has a reduced cross-section which has an advantage over surface to air threats.

the joint strike fighter makes some changes. the avionics are now integrated between multiple airplanes better so they can share information with each other and help the crews be more effective. if you compare the f-22 tot he f-15, the f-22 is far superior. we have found that if you pare the advance with f-15's, to gather it can make the f-15 superior to new threats. host: when and where did you fly the f-15? guest: i began in 1981 and i flew in tidewater, va. and on the open now in japan were my oldest daughter was born i also flew in new mexico where my son was born and back at langley and i flew the strike eagle version, the air to ground version in north carolina and as a wing commander of bagram airbase in afghanistan.

host: can you make this quick? caller: thank you for serving and good morning, great. we are a military family and my brother just retired. regarding the budget of the air force -- host: will have to stick to one questions. caller: i understand civilian jobs will be cut. will this be u.s. only or worldwide? how much more military will be on food stamps? guest: we will need less of the civilian support. we will have to get smaller

across the board. it is a concern as we get smaller in the air force and the military with budget cuts that we will be asking all americans to remember that airmen, soldiers, sailors, and marines, their brothers and sisters, their spouses -- they will need your support as they come home from wars and return to civilian life and they will need your support as they move from a military career back into the civilian world. thank you for saying thanks. the best thing you can do for our returning service people is to listen to them and give them a chance to talk about what they have done and where they have been and help them in your local community, thank you. host: thank you for talking to our viewers. guest: to is a pleasure to be here. host: tomorrow, we will be live from arlington national cemetery to learn about its operations