will talk about the benghazi attack. he is the author of "exit the kernel hole in the secret history of the libyan revolution -- "exit the host: a busy day with lawmakers dealing with many high profile issues but the house of representatives will see a moment of silence for oklahoma, where a tornado killed at least four. aesident obama has signed disaster declaration and he will address the nation at 10:00 a.m.. the national weather service classified yesterday's tornado s an ef4, the second most

powerful. we will get your thoughts to the response. we want to hear from oklahoma residents, 202-585-3883. send us your comments to twitter got, or post them on facebook.com. me begin with oklahoma, courtesy of the museum here in washington. this is their headline --

heras "tulsa world." "tulsa world," - - also this morning, another headline -- hear from the washington post, this is what they are reporting. the quote they have --

a republican from oklahoma says -- the president signing a disaster declaration last night for five

counties in oklahoma. press" "the detroit free this morning -- from president obama's a disaster declaration this is what the white house put out last night. it says -- that is what is included in the

disaster declaration signed by the president last night. the ap story about the oklahoma disaster though it -- oklahoma disaster that was put out last night. the storm was so massive that it will take time to establish communications between rescuers and state officials. we are getting your take this morning on some state and federal -- on state and federal response. remember we want to hear from oklahoma residents if you can call on this morning. we would like to get your thoughts on this.

202-585-3883. michele in woodbury, new choosy, you are up first. >> they should naturally get everything they need but in the future the government should look into reinforced concrete buildings. the pioneers made homes in the hillside. i think they should explore so it should not be tragic each time except for the concrete slabs left. >> do you think that should be a state regulation in a state like oklahoma, which is in a tornado alley and the surrounding state in that area? should that be a federal regulation? caller: i think it should. here in the east coast, the only thing that stands up to it are

reinforced concrete. host: robert from west jordan, utah, a democratic caller. caller: good morning. if thest wondering republicans are going to hold up the money that is needed like they did for hurricane sandy. the reason i'm calling is followingmoved here hurricane sandy and i just want to know whether or not the ofple in that red state going to hold up the funding in the house. think there should be no scrutiny of the money, that it should just be given out? caller: it is imperative.

you can see the disaster. .t should be funded host: what is the best way to do that in your opinion? toler: i think it should go it shouldgovernment be followed through the local government host:, president obama addressing the nation, here is "usa today's" story -- rob from detroit michigan on the

republican line. what are your thoughts? caller: while he has basically got his three scandals right now, mother nature is down to do do worse.s bound to i think we are going to be taking off track as far as the republican committee is concerned. host: this is the last week before memorial day week -- before memorial day recess. capitol hill is busy with an irs hearing, dealing with multinational companies not paying taxes in the united states. do you think this toward the sidelines all of that? i think it is going to be the same thing as --

caller: i think this is going to be the same thing as chris christie in new jersey. every town looks bad. i think we're. be throwing more government money at it. host: what you think about that? should the money go quickly to the areas devastated caller: those people are devastated. there has to be something but unfortunately i think it is going to take the cause of the three scandals that we have. it will be signed guard. host: we look to be some news about the irs hearing this weekend in washington. some more news on what happened in benghazi, as well. let me take some phone calls from all of you.

mario in florida, a democratic caller, what is your city? caller: my point is every time we have these tornadoes we end up building the same houses with light structure. i think it is time to raise those housing codes like they did in florida. i feel sorry for these people but they need to address this in the future. host: what are the housing codes? caller: and talking about concrete with iron bar houses. it may not be able to take up

to 201 speed but it can take up to 125. these houses are peeper houses. as it took to earlier the president has dispatched craig fugate. janet napolitano had this to say in a statement, "as search and arrest -- as search and rescue efforts continue -- you go to tony in oklahoma. where are you in relation to moore, oklahoma? caller: it is east. host: we impacted at all? caller: i lost everything.

host: in 1999? caller: on sunday. we lost everything. we ran around try to get help from the red cost -- from the red cross and we were just given the runaround. we lost everything we owned in that tornado. host: where are you now? caller: i am at a hotel. the tribe i belong to put me into a hotel. host: what have they told you about what they can provide? caller: we have friends trying to help us but we are wondering how we can get help. right now we are temporarily out of a home. what should the state

response be? helpr: bishop be able to everybody, whether we were renters or not. host: you were a renter? caller: yes. and i have no idea of my renter had insurance or not. that is our past we lost. host: 3 you a round in 1999? caller: yes. can compare the two? caller: this one was worse. host: how so? caller: it leveled most of the park and hit more yesterday. in 1999 we were lucky we did not get hit. this year we did. host: host: thank you for calling in. we will go to james in danville,

virginia. amazingi think it is the way these democrats are blaming anything they can on the republicans, especially this. they want to say it is because they will not give them funding. if the democrats are going to try and throw all of that extra port into a bill for hurricane sandy a lot more will get done. we are quick to return to this discussion about the oklahoma tornadoes. first let me go through some headlines, here is "the hill politico reporting this morning

-- also happening up on capitol hill today, here is "the financial times " frontpage --

the ceo of apple is scheduled to testify on that. this is from " the the wall street journal" -- it also says that apple did not break the law.

here is "the washington post closed " -- "the washington post" -- that is testimony happening on capitolppening hill. go to c-span.org for more

information. also happening, the washington post reports that the supreme court said on monday it will review whether in new york town council that starts with most of its meetings with a christian prayer violates the separation of church and state. on immigration reform, said new york times this morning has a profile piece on senator warren hatch, as he emerges as a big -- er on the overhaul

the senate judiciary committee continues today. coverings, we will be the senate finance committee at 10:00 a.m. on [video clip] .- on c-span3 live today at 10:00 a.m. eastern time on c-span3. a busy day on capitol hill today. lawmakers in the house will be pausing for the residents of oklahoma. we turn to you to get your take on the response to the tornadoes. an independent caller from

oklahoma city, what was it like yesterday? caller: it happened real quick. warning a two hour period after -- a two hour warning period -- 2 hour warning . it looks like a b-52 came through with a bunch of bums. it was a mile wide of the ground. you had a two-hour warning. how did that come to you? it was about two o'clock the sirens sounded. i am only 10 miles north.

had the storm watch on tv at about 1:00. it went through those schools at 3:20. host: the sirens you mentioned -- president had 16 minutes to get to safety before the ef4 hit. host: it was the least an hour before that you knew what was happening. it was pretty bad. we have over 50 people dead and

hundreds injured. pretty bad. host: what happened to your home? caller: nothing happened to mine. i am 8 miles north of it. it up from west to east, trying to cost the interstate -- trying to cross the interstate. .t is pretty bad host host: we have had a caller saying we need to think about how we build houses and their needs to be regulations. what you think? caller: i have been here my whole life and i cannot know it would help a whole lot. it would be great if you could build their houses an f5 is giong to n -- if you could build better houses. an f5 is going to knock down

anything. host: what do you think the state response should be? what do people need? caller: the disney to help get the debris cleared away. place to a temporary live, like those trailers or so. i just cannot believe that our senators voted against the aid .or sandy hook have so common that disasters in oklahoma with the and all the tornadoes that. the we need some kind of immediate aid. concerned that

there could be -- that now the oklahoma senators will have to go and ask for aid from their fellow colleagues and there could be resistance because they voted against aid for hurricane sandy? caller: that definitely could happen. we justunderstand why think maybe somebody ought to try to help a little. we have thousands of homeless here and hundreds and went to the hospital. it will take two or three years to rebuild. host: how long after 1999 did it take before you saw more areas back to what it was before? was it two or three years or longer? caller: 3 or four years.

after this type of thing say they are not going to live there anymore? caller: they stay. we just live with them. in california they live with earthquakes, here we live with twisters. these can get a lot worse. when i was growing up we could .et an f1 4 f2 host: you think it is getting worse? where are you on climate change? do you think that has something to do with it? caller: it probably does. i will guarantee you that the climate is different than it was four years ago. these tornadoes are a lot more vicious. thank you for calling in.

kelly is calling in from florida. caller: i remember hurricane katrina. believe americans must help each other no matter what cost. the i am 68 years old, have been an environmentalist since i was 20. i knew then that water pollution and deforestation would lead to global warming. global warming does not mean it is hot all the time, it means huge shifts in temperatures and increased activities in storms and tornadoes. the greedy corporations have used their powers to step down information from getting out. i blame religious zealots who believe all catastrophes are bible prophesy is and they will not hold the republicans and billionaires' accountable. host: an independent, from indiana. caller: hello.

i am really concerned when the things like these happen like hurricane sandy and hurricane katrina, like was mentioned earlier. -- now is of politics not the time for that. people are hurting, people have lost their lives and children. that is horrible. those of us that claim to the christian need to show that christianity now. blaming.t the time for now's the time for us as americans to come together, show our love to one another, and help. host: mike from eldon, oklahoma. where is that? about 60 miles to

70 miles south of the devastation. host: what are your thoughts caller: -- what are your thoughts? caller: our entire oklahoma delegation voted entirely against the help that is needed in the north east. it is like, is coming back to haunt us. -- it is like karma is coming back to haunt us. -- that is exactly what this is. i think we should at least appoint an independent administrator of funds whenever those funds to come through.

it just seems like the way oklahoma politics works is if you are not a donor on their the you're not going to be first or the priority. host: are you a democrat or republican? caller: i am a democrat. that is the way to oklahoma politics have gotten. host: you are the second caller to say that oklahoma senators voted against funds for hurricane sandy. caller: we not only hear about it on local reports. it just lets the social host: networks people are talking about that? caller: yes. -- it is just social networks.

host: people are talking about that? caller: yes. up there inot right the donor list you are not the priority. host: if you are interested, thereouse.gov, if you go you can see it president -- you can see a picture of president obama. the governor spoke with governor fallon to express concern over those affected by the severe weather. you will see at the top of this, resources and information for those affected by oklahoma tournedos. -- by oklahoma tournedos. tornados.a let us go to rich in ohio.

seems like we need to learn from other storms we have. we start to load the pork up very fast and installs the bills. in new jersey that was one of the main problems. but finally came through and help most. very little went to the real problem. they have to get -- they have to stop putting aggressive ideas on this. other things we should probably learned is it is quite happen every storm. towers theyrtable can put up with the generators if they can think on that. it is important with emergencies in families being able to talk to each other. they should also be required to have chargers so you can charge yourself off pretty easily.

your cell phone pretty easily. when there is a flood commission dated taken out -- they get taken out. i will hear your answer. host: our producer found a story in "the huffington post close " -- "the huntington post" --

let me go to norman in maryland. an independent college. what are your thoughts? caller: i called the comment on something that you and an earlier caller said. what disturbs me is the whole relief for hurricane sandy -- senators and representatives, whether it be either party, are to vote-- are forced against the funding. people need to understand cause and effect. you cannot keep pushing your agenda on an emergency situation. this is a time all americans should come together. when they start trying to pack you are vote -- you are forced to vote against it.

my comment is. the other caller touched on it. thank you for taking my call. "usa today" has this -- and on dave in madison, heights -- in

madison heights, michigan. caller: thank you for taking my call. this is a devastating thing. my heart goes out to all the people. we are all americans.

we are all in this together. that congress hold in the purse strings are going to -- the republicans will load it up just like hurricane sandy. it is a red state. it is going to show the american people just who's who in congress. i hope it backfires on the republicans, i think they are the cause of everything. be one caller from ohio must a. fox news dure because he had it all wrong. john mccain bloated sandy with so much pork. they had to vote on it. beo not think there should any vote on it. this is a disaster for americans, disaster relief.

do not leave it on red cross. congress, do your job. host: let me get your response to this. -- i think that will be the end of his career if he fights for that. americans are focused in on what the republicans have done, what they are doing, how to cheat, lie, how they totally abuse the american middle class. . think that'll be his downfall host: he will not be running

again. " -- baltimore sun

we will be covering that hearing live at o'clock a.m. this morning. yorkis a story in the new times -- many of you mentioned the impact of tornadoes may have on

the high-profile investigations being done by congress and the irs rejected by congress with the irs and benghazi -- "usa today" has this -- a couple of polls for you this morning about that. back to your phone calls, what should be the response on the federal level? oklahoma, tell us your story. when i was watching the

devastation and this big tornado. i was in 1999, it was an f4. i could not believe it was happening all over again. what a blessing that everyone was all right. there was a lot of damage, a lot -- ives that were lost think the lord for -- i thank the lord for our president bush, and for president obama. my sister lives in moore and i

haven't heard anything. i live here, i'm the oldest of 6. i'm so glad we do have fema and i'm glad they are there on the to assess.d ready i thank the lord that our president of the united states does come to the local areas and cities and states when disaster happens. host: i want to hear from lamont, he is from oklahoma. what is the name of your city? caller: i am in the debt, oklahoma. ada oklahoma.

democrats and republicans need to stop fighting each other over this mess. we have all of these dead people and lives missing. i have a little girl that i worried about yesterday. thatletting everybody know this is not that serious. we need to come together. host: how did you find out about her safety -- what was the process like? caller: my little girl's face in oklahoma city. at first i was trying to call her and all of the lines were dead. i drove up there. was looking at the news -- when the tornado

hit a lot of people were going to schools try to get to their kids and the security would not let them. some of the schools got flattened. we are blessed and we need to accept all of the funding we can get. host: ran the in-city, wisconsin. -- brandy in wisconsin. house one of the bill to call for the san the victims. the money went all over the united states and all over the world. let us see how fast the senate can get some and written up so that these people can get some aid. democrat andthe

republican stuff. but the money where the people need it. let us get together united states. i get so sick of listening to c- span -- stick up for the republicans more. tot: coming up we will talk a democrat and republican. congressman john delaney will discuss the democratic agenda leading into the august recess and then a republican frank wolf of virginia will talk about his special committee to investigate the attacks on the u.s. consulate in libya. we'll be right back. ♪

>> in 1848 we have an unusual and remarkable situation. andenly gold is discovered the reason why the cantonese was the first to hear about it is because there was already chinese here. in a flash thousands of men began to board ships to head for the cool mountain. -- for the cold mountain area -- for the gold mountain. reality was nobody saw. when they began to look for it they found it in abundance.

very quickly that surface gold was all taken up. but what was to happen was we in 1849 this is the situation. you will see that the bay is completely filled with ships. these were there because first the passengers got off to look for gold and then the sailors got off to look for gold, abandoning their ships. who has a right to mine for the gold? california was an american territory. they began to push out everyone else. andody who wasn't american the chinese was amongst us. >> from san francisco cost

chinatown, looking at the chinese immigration experience, part of three days of american history tv on the memorial day weekend. " "washington journal continues. >> we are joined by john delaney. let me begin by the oklahoma tornadoes. it is looking likely that there will be emergency aid by congress. what form should that take? will there be offsets? >> it is early to get into the details. we should be supporting those communities that have been devastated by a terrible tragedy. our prayers go out to everyone in those communities. i think we should be doing what ever we can to help them.

i refer to my colleagues in the oklahoma delegation to be providing recommendations. i have not seen what is going on but i expect we will get good recommendations from the oklahoma delegation. i think congress should be leaning forward to support those that have been devastated by this terrible tragedy. think there is a role for the government to help these people. i want to stand up and do what i can. host: you have this week of legislative activity and then you have memorial day recess. should this a happen this week? guest: i think if the oklahoma delegation -- i want to follow their lead and i would be supportive of a happening as soon as this week if that is appropriate. host: let me move on to the irs -- the president apparently did t arn whatap t

irs. the top council new but jack lew did not know. what do you make of that? guest: i did not have an opinion on whether or not president should have known about this. he did no sooner. i think is important information. this is an independent investigation. the rule is you let them run their full course. if they ever come your way you simply say you want to support the investigation. i cannot speak specifically about when it is appropriate for people in the white house to know what is going on based on the results. host: has the president been strong on this? guest: i think he has. it is a point that merits a

strong statement. activity is incredibly inappropriate. people should expect much more -- inactivity is incredibly inappropriate. people should expect more from their government. i think the language should be as strong as it can be. we should make sure the people who are responsible are held responsible and accountable. i think the language should be strong. there is not a place we can be stronger -- host: what you make about the questions on what happened in benghazi and libya? what does this do to his second term agenda? guest: at think the president has a good second term agenda. these are things he obviously has to deal with. we are early in the second term and i expect him to be focused

on the agenda very soon as we work on the unpleasantries we are dealing with. host: what should be the top priorities? guest: think this country faces some serious economic challenges and it is a country where we need a strategy. we will create jobs that have a good standard of living. i think that is a dominant agenda. in a competitive world, a world that has been completely changed by technology, can reposition our country and its industries to compete successfully? i think that should be the dominant agenda of the president and congress. here is politico --

apple to sing this is about corporate tax rate in this country. is when to push back -- is going to push back. guest: there are multiple dimensions. apple is an extraordinarily successful company. it is one of the most successful entrepreneurial stories in the history of this country. positive.n incredibly i think the story underscores the need for comprehensive corporate tax reform. our tax cut was designed to reflect the nature of business from a different era. now we are in a technology- age.led dat i think this shines a spotlight on what we need comprehensive

corporate tax reform. immigratione reform, other priorities that the president wants to get through. what is the political reality of an overhaul of the tax code? guest: i think an overhaul of the tax code should be brought about in the context of the grand bargain deal we all talk about. i think the best way to think about overhauling our tax code is in that context. there is clearly work to do there. before it came to congress i was in the private sector so i think i appreciate most the importance of structure in this country. we need to change the long term fiscal project three. to do that we need certain entitlement forms. we need to look at our spending priorities in prioritizing based

on realities and where we want to be investing on -- investing as a country. of that should be dealt with a grand bargain. the edition won't get additional revenues in a smart way unless we reform the tax cuts. i consider it partial of a grand bargain deficit deal. your privateout sector experience. guest: i started two companies that became publicly traded companies. i started my first company in 1993 and became a public company in 1996. i sold it on fin 1999. intarted the second company 2000. it became a public company in 2003 and its finances small to midsize businesses across the country.

has 700 employees and operations across the country. we finance small businesses in the excess of 10 million. career building businesses, focusing on financing small to midsize businesses. createdy career i have 10,000 jobs. host: we have some health care questions coming up. and let us get the viewers. christine in new jersey, democratic caller. caller: good morning. -- don't teeth we should get the official story from power seven in 9/11?

from nine tower 7 in host: 9/11 where are you giving this information? caller: there are a lot of people talking about it online. guest: obviously that was a tragic day for our country. it is a day we all remember with sorrow for all those people that lost their lives and it was a real turning point in many ways for our country both domestically and internationally. .t remains an emotional day for our generation it will be like pearl harbor for the generation before. there is a lot of discussion and dialogue about what happened and how it was handled.

last week.e memorial even that is still a highly charged emotional discussion about what the memorial should have been built there or not. i think we are going to be living with a lot of the motions around the terrible tragedy we lost so many americans and discussions about it. i think it will be part of the dialogue around that very significant day. host: david on republican line in jacksonville, north carolina. caller: how are we going to fund all of this stuff -- with the abuses that have been going on in the last couple of weeks, i think it is time to kill the 16th amendment and do away with

is something you will find everyone keeps saying they and fix it and stuff. if you have a cancer the only it is to cut it out and to basically heal and do else.hing if something is violating or challenging the very republic in which we live we need another system like a fair tax or flat or anything along that line. uest: i don't believe our internal revenue service should be abusing our citizens and i feel that mericans way. i was as outraged as you were to had occurred with respect to groups tarbgtded by the i.r.s. vigilant and demand reforms and accountability. comprehensive tax reform on the individual and corporate level. with youhink i'm quite in terms of repealing the 16th definitely t i

believe we need comprehensive tax reform to improve the system hopefully something we will get to work on in this congress. eufpi.r.s. be in rolling out the affordable care act? the i.r.s. is a very large organization and what particularly in cincinnati is something that demands our attention and we should ity and make sure something like this never happens again. i don't think that should lead to the conclusion they are not in a position to do other assignments they are working on. sure we e need to make deal with this issue and be very but i don't think means all 100,000 people are things.appropriate

host: so you are confident in the i.r.s.? guest: again, i think the people that work at the i.r.s. work hard and do a job.fic i think what happened was terrible so i don't have confidence completely because we see things like this. but any large organization, happen e things that that you don't approve of. what happened was terrible but i'm not ready to say everything is inappropriate. is from the "wall street journal" this morning, role of health law navigators under fire. it says their role has come under question from republicans criticized the plan to educate people on the new legislation. h.h.s. secretary has drawn fire for conversations with ealth industry executives in which she encouraged them to help the nonprofit organization to publ e campaign publicize the benefit. t said it was inappropriate to

turn to outside groups. piece it is a very large of legislation. i agree with it. i think there are wonderful of it. like most large scale there are imperfections and we should be working to improve the things are wrong so we have the pwbest legislation we can have. rolling out is complicated and involves lots of boots on the round making sure it is implemented but it involves an educational effort. i have to reason to doubt what is doing as it relates to communicating just so is.ple understand what it we get questions about that. people don't understand what it is sometimes. making sure we have good communication and transparency anything that is large and complex. say the person who writes critics see the of theors as potential competitors to and ance brokers

effectively federal government employees who should be subject rigorous screening. is republican led house planning the grill the h.h.s. bout the program in a hearing today in a private briefing last month aides said they were told be no criminal background checks for of theors they hold a ts if high school diploma. appropriate? guest: i content say i understand how it all works but with re charged responsibility from the government to execute a rollout. high uld hold them to a standard. host: background checks? uest: again i can't speak specifically but that means a lot of things. asic level of checks is appropriate for everything. host: larry in franklin, north caller., independent caller: yes. i would like to ask you two in. one isthey wrote the law

n 1959 by the i.r.s. taxes it said exclusively to help people out. the hrlaw .s. changed the final four c's, whatever they are. didchanged the law and what give the i.r.s. right to this?ining number two, why don't we containing the situation we make law that anything that is purchased with state, local and ederal taxes be manufactured here in the united states? or whatever they would have to set up manufacturing facility to make taxes. we buy with our that was my question. guest: i think creating both and requirements particularly if federal dollars to buy things manufactured in the united states is something i'm generally supportive of. alreadyseveral of those

on the books and there is a lot f discussion about those types of provisions as we roll out new legislation. like things to be manufactured in the united states because that creates u.s. jobs. we should be supporting the initiatives provided the procured in the united states and made in the united states because not everything is currently united ured in the states. but i'm supportive of those efforts. we should be doing things in to encourage manufacturing and job creation. a lot about is this area, u.s. competitors be g the things we should doing as a country to make sure our private sector -- because sector creates the jobs. the government levels the playing fields and creates the but the private sector creates jobs and we need a thriving private is an and manufacturing

incredibly important part of that. i agree with where you are going. the specifics o of the tax code, our tax code i complex.is overly we have 300 items of tax, something like 200 or 250 items deductions. it is incredibly complex and needs to be reformed and simplified. i can't speak specifically about what happened in the late all i know is the tax code is always being change and and one thing we should focus on is to reform it. caller from leesburg, virginia. democratic caller. caller: good morning. my question is a follow-up up to gentleman who called had is o willing to repeal the 16th amendment. i'm willing to people the second amendment and if they are on board we can review all of our amendments and see how they apply.

guest: so, we have a constitutional process for both the constitution and repealing the constitution and very things are always emotional issues and it is great public debate it talk about them and people express their opinion. one protection is free speech have lots of different opinions on different amendments. feel'm glad you called and so passionate about these issues and that is what is great about becauseities to be here we hear lots of different opinions. to goone on twitter wants back to the oklahoma tornadoes. is it the role of the federal aid americans, a philosophical question about the of government? guest: i do. i think one thing that is honest t is to have an discussion about the role of government. believe government has a role as to economic matters to level sure aying field, make

business conducts itself fairly and consumers are protected and things to create a competitive environment. it is not to yet the jobs. tend to be someone who has somewhat of a rigid definition government in domestic economic matters but americans in need with tragedies that is a central role of our government. an example of when shone the ent has celebratest when we -- brightest we show the spirit of generosity and compassion. the oklahoma situation my colleagues and i and do what werd can and everything we can to help those people in oklahoma. i expect you will see an outpouring of support from the of ican people in terms generosity. because that is what has begined a s country when there's

tragedy which is government supports the people and our fellow citizens through a spirit of generosity and kindsness support. think there is a role for governme government. host: you have taken particular interest in infrastructure spending. on that topic, this is tweeted building the orts keystone partnership line. republicans have argued this is shovel ready project. guest: i'm not a supporter because i don't think it our energy priorities for the future. i'm a big supporter of construction and i'm about to introduce one of the largest infrastructure bills congress in a long time and it has bipartisan among members of congress and outside groups and it requires no appropriations government which i know we will talk about. can build up to $750 of and could cause an infrastructure revolution in put millions to

work. as it relates to the specifics pipeline, i don't believe we will look back in the fullness of time and have a few pipeline was a particularly good investment as it relates to policy.ure energy host: your rebuilds america act corporate earnings, utilizespple and that, private public partnerships. of $50 million bonds. guest: we set up the $50 astructure fund with billion of bonds. not money from taxpayers or dollars.ted the bonds it sells to corporations are long term with rate and not guaranteed by the government. as incentive to buy the bonds low rate, y are very nongovernment guaranteed investment we provide companies ith an opportunity to

repatriate a certain amount of overseas cash. estimated almost $2 trillion overseas. them an opportunity to repatriate in it a tax-free matter. a path for repatriation that will create by having the companies put aside a certain amount of that money to infrastructure. he $50 billion that is collected through the sale of bonds capitalizes the america and it is ure fund organized as an insurance company and it can question up $750 billion of debt issuance y local government, states, municipalities, counties, special purpose infrastructure country es around the and build infrastructure. the american society of civil engineers estimates we have a $2 infrastructure hole. this legislation could fill up does hird of that and it it without appropriations, no taxpayer money and ultimate participates.e

host: you are dropping the bill this week? guest: yes, bipartisan support. how many republicans? guest: eight democrats, eight republicans. sweet it to be symmetric confidential calendar -- symmetrical. when we file it you won't be able of the see the side aisle that was filed on. colleagues ork with to create jobs and put americans back to work. host: any republican on board could get you a vote from the g.o.p. leadership in the house? guest: yes. not disclosing names because we have not dropped the bill yet. profile republican you think can convince leadership that do this? had conversation with many in leadership on both sides of the aisle about the bill. they are very constructive on it. nfrastructure is an area where

there is bipartisan support. people understand that we need to invest in the infrastructure and it will y create enormous amount of jobs short term and long term by the country more competitive. the question is how to pay for it. ur legislation the partnership to build america act has a way without any appropriations from support t, no taxpayer by leveraging private kphal and etting it -- capital to get it to work and it could transform investment in the united states. to your more go website. uest: partnership to build america. host: ron is next from texas, republican caller. good morning. interested in your opening -- i understand what you are aying as far as the simplification of the tax code. of the got the people country are the ones make the nobody understands how

to even file their taxes it is frustrating. i agree with the statement that and justto be repealed your thoughts are about making it simpler. like it needs to be way simpler. guest: i agree. it needs to be reformed. i think we've 300 items of tax deductions0 items of and it just strikes me that that's an overly complicated syst system. for people and it is very complicated and doesn't have to be that complicated. unintended consequences from the level of complication outcomes that don't ake sense and i think a

simplification and overhaul of the code to reflect the reality a goal of omy with making it simpler for tax and creating more revenues that is smart for the country. should be our standard. i don't think our friends in the tax preparation business would because the tement problem with the tax posed the of it is americans pay a lot minute to have taxes prepared. system. very complicated i would prefer to have that in the pockets of average americans and small businesses. simplifying it would save money easier to making it file tax returns. deductions and it it is the fair thing to do for americans. avoid unintended consequences and i think it ould be very good for the economy. i'm a big supporter of omprehensive reform and the chairman of the ways and means committee wants comprehensive and m and he is a good man

has good ideas. host: a couple of tweets on corporate taxes. made if we limit why not grow the economy and then repatriation doesn't work. a scam. corporations always claim they create jobs they don't. just dodge paying taxes. partnership to build america we create a path repatriate s to provided they invest in build being the infrastructure. can ever say jobs won't be be created through the create.tion path we i think our legislation does concerns dress the which is will jobs be created. taxes, i corporate think there is an intermediate step. we need to lower corporate tax but eliminate deductions.

minimum d be at a potentially could be revenue positive and would go forward increasing competitiveness. the competitiveness points is a point.levant i don't think we have to go to ero corporate income tax to be more competitive. there's an intermediate step where we lower the rate, the system, eliminate deductions that levels the field and would result in if you are unusual outcomes like we see in the apple details. the way, apple's c.e.o. will testify today before the and e homeland security governmental affairs permanent investigation subcommittee. put out ahe ones that report that made headlines this orning that apple and other multinational companies have avoided u.s. taxes. will be the c.e.o. there to push back and we will covering it.

american hero on twitter wants keystone ck about the pipeline. why fix the infrastructure if we fuel t allowed to pipe in to run it? relates to energy north america has an opportunity which nergy independent if you turn back five or 10 years we were to say that on would levision people have thought we are crazy. the natural gas revolution is stunning. we are doing enough to talk up the potential rom this natural gas refuse laws. i come to this being a huge smart clean natural gas exploration including being it.e to export i'm in favor of embracing the that is nergy future available to this country, which would like to see heavy emphasis on renewables but i would like to see natural gas be embraced to bridge us there. just not -- it is not clear

that the keystone pipeline fits that strategy. he keystone pipeline puts us toward more oil dependency and a lot of it will be exportedment it through some of our cherished lands and it and it is not d even u.s. oil in terms of production. but that doesn't mean we should not embrace natural gas which i hink -- i don't actually think as a country we are talking that up. are some k, there popular economic signs. nterest rates low, markets high, individual balance sheets in good shape. healthcare costs are starting to under control. then we have this energy two-on-one. an energy opportunity is utter revolution in terms of the opportunity to lower the cost of clean and p energy make our businesses more competitive. said given all you just

when the federal reserve what will youfies ask him? guest: the continued monetary to make sure it is akhaefrg objectives. the fed is held to an unusual which is different than other parts of the world where regulate or provide monetary policy but have to creation. job i want to make sure that the chairman believes that his ctions are actually accomplishing the goal of job creation. it is my sense that congress to stimulate job cession with policies that would be sphrt policies like the bill i'm ture proposing. i think that with create more jobs than continued fed easing. i think the chairman to some extent has his hands tied required by mandate to do things to yet jobs easing ink a lot of while it is not the most efficient and is a blunt he feels required

based on the mandate. so i want to tease this out to i e sure he believes and suspect i know the answer that he thinks congress could do more stimulate the economy, which would give him more flexibility to have the policies he has had. having said that, i think the bernanke, i man post-crisis ions were smart. i do question and i wrote an whether the most recent easing is really necessary and really should we focusing on making sure congress does things to create jobs because at this point we diminishing returns with the fed. host: the "miami herald" website has this testimony. he will be on capitol hill ednesday before the joint economic committee and release minutes of the most recent policy meeting. could alter the prevailing backdrop in financial markets. albuquerque, new mexico,

independent caller. thanks for waiting. morning, ood congressman delaney. was told one thing that you started a business and you have been in business quite a while. remember i started a business years ago and i remember reading i filed a corporation and i other king at c-3 and that but what i remember to file that paper work for the to the ion you send it state corporation commission but all of these tea parties say sending it the i.r.s. i never sent it to the i.r.s. to go to the corporation commission. saw if you get a i nce it watch that, what remember is what steven

colbert's lawyer said. [inaudible]?ing dale, i think that you ave created a for profit corporation is my sense. if you do, you file with the corporation commission typically and then you simply get a taxpayer number and fill tax returns and pay the taxes. f you fill for a nonprofit status you not only file with the local state corporation but file with the i.r.s. to achieve nonprofit status. i think that is the difference situation and -- between your situation and what happened with some organizations exempt status. host: gail from maryland. democratic caller. you are on the air. caller: good morning, congressman. just about

everything you have said specially about the keystone partnersh pipeline. i'm very concerned about the ecology. of this eing all radical weather and we have the republicans denying science on this. i would also like to say that i like to correct the caller ed representative schumer. the additional agencies that to get some money in urricane sandy were all had toed that that money be spent on sandy-related expenses. additionally, i would like to say that i think these religious and pac groups shouldn't get any tax exemptionless. see these meg a million

television who call themselves reverends rolling in oney and don't have to pay taxes. we are not all christians we are not all uslims, we are baptists. religion was to be kept out of ur government and out of our politics and it is one of our iggest problems is that the republicans have chipped away at the separation of church and state. host: congressman, your reaction. . a couple of questions there. maintain a hould separation of church and state. i do think religious organizations organizations it is appropriate to receive tax exempt status that r and i don't think actually compromises the separation of church and state. most intrigued about what is going on environmentally and to mind my view this is an enormous economic opportunity for us. one of the people that do

believe that climate change is a has the potential to have very negative consequences or our country and our world including from a geopolitical perspective. in you look at the trends where us, science is pretty clear. 98% of serious scientists weieve this is happening and have an opportunity if we're pro-active of addressing this difference. but i also think it is an enormous business opportunity as a country and we can be leader in what some people the advanced energy economy because i think it is a communieconomic opportunity. way energy is conserved in this country 25 years from now different.ry in all of those areas there is significant economic opportunities. inwe have the right policies place i think that we can be a leader. it involves very significant investment and

federal level that will change behavior in a way that will encourage economic lead to a and cleaner energy future. think that natural gas to me is an important component of this and needs to be embringsed embraced and it is a bridge it a much cleaner more energy future. two of the most important numbers to be successful are of of money and cost energy. we can keep the cost of energy long term. that is an opportunity we never thought we would have. can be cleaner and environment cleaner. so it is a huge opportunity. and the job creation opportunity could be one of the great american growth industries the next 20 to 25 years. so i'm very much a pro business, pro job oriented individual all of these areas and think we should lean on our front foot. sure the keystone fits

in well. come to this thinking from an economic perspective where i don't see how keystone fits well future that i see which is a much more robust advanced where we're y energy independent, energy costs is -- our energy environment is improved. washington times editorial talking about the level of ca-2 saying researchers have found it has by great lens d in the human condition including 75% al population growth, and doubling of life expectancy in the developed world. the impact of this co-2 seems to be minimal. tweeted. how does your bipartisan bill compare to the kerry hutchinson ank prosal ure from last congress?

-- bipartisan er bill has many attributes. it is larger. five to 10 times the size of the infrastructure banks bell -- bill. it can provide loans like the is designed e bank but more significantly it will tkpwerguarantor and in that regard it is different. the biggest difference is our bill is not funded with taxpayer money. appropriations toward our bill. it is funded by private taxorations and giving them incentive by allowing them to earnings. overseas a bigger infrastructure financing proposal by an order no ive to tenfold with government money. the prior bills have involved appropriations. also push more responsibility

down to the state and local overnments and it has a more independent board and is not really an arm of government. almost an independent nonprofit organization. more independence, larger and taxpayer friendly. host: i want to get your tax new york stockwo exchange companies this is the money investing section of the board treet journal" the of jpmorgan chase will decide jamie dimon keeps his dual job. do you have any thoughts on that? he has done a good job managing them through i financial crisis so if were a shareholder voting i would vote for him to allow him to keep both titles. it is a decision for the jpmorgan shareholders, not members of congress. answered that more as a private citizen than as a member of congress. of congress rs should stay away from this debit speaking as a

private citizen he has done a at job and i will leave it that. host: we will talk about it omorrow in our last hour as part of the spotlight on the magazine series. you very muchhank for talking to our viewers. guest: thank you. ost: up next we will here from virginia republican frank wolf. we will talk about his idea to committee to cial investigate the benghazi attack update.t the news >> it is 8:32 eastern. shulman appears this morning before the stat finance committee to answer questions the agency targeting tea party groups. lawmakers want to know what the commissioner knew and when he knew it. 10:00 eting starts at a.m. eastern and c-span radio will air it. urning to oklahoma, federal emergency management director is

to insure the state that resources are being properly deployed. noler just tweeted three national urban search and rescue teams have been activated for support with other personnel. we will hear from the president this morning on the devastating tornado near oklahoma city which last count 51 people. the president has already disaster.a major he's meeting this morning with his disaster response team before making remarks which you as well on c-span radio following "washington journal." latest e some of the headlines on c-span radio. the way s the parlor, it looked during james campaign. 1880 it was the tprl parlor and bush parlor and family room. they spent a lot of time with their children. adored their children very

much. children.two they died before the family moved here. had the e children benefit of having two very stronglynt parents who believed in education. books were very person to james lucretia and their children loved to read. by the fireould sit miss and -- fireplace and read loud. we are here in the family dining room. n the center of the table is the interesting art piece. an award at the philadelphia centennial. tkpgarfield adored her time at and would write pages of what she saw at the site. think of her as this artistic lady. intelligent very

and loved the sciences. > conversation on lucretia garfield is available on the websi website. for the next -- une in monday on the program about frances cleveland. host: we are back with congressman frank wolf republican of virginia serves on the appropriations subcommittee on commerce, justice and science investigation he into the benghazi attack. with the begin oklahoma tornado what should the and nse be from congress how quickly should congress act? do youity there even should be you think there should be emergency aid? guest: my heart goes out to the people. the news last night and this morning. i think there ought to be a response. supported the effort with regard to sandy. i think that there has to be response andmental

i would urge every individual to sort of do what they can. you look at the devastation and death, there but of god it could hit any region. realize d parts of new jersey that had never had storms there will be a federal response and should be and hopefully there will be an where we response help the people. and an't but watch particularly the school and hospital. ing.s devastate host: the president will address the nation at 10:00 after he update from his emergency response team. we will cover that on c-span. senator has said that he will demand offsets to any aid that goes to oklahoma. do you agree with him?

guest: i don't know what he said so i won't comment. t ink that i would like to t who tom, who serves on the appropriations committee as the subcommittee chairman and i think tom was kind of the leader and supportive on the sandy issue, too. so i think that we will look at what we do on the house and look at tom and also congressman langford and those that -- i think this hit mr. cole's district and i believe he actually lives in that town. host: i think he lives in moore. guest: i think we will help. i supported t tom, who serves on the appropriations committee as the subcommittee chairman and i think tom was kind of the leader and supportive on the sandy issue, too. so i think that we will look at what we do on the house and look at tom and also congressman langford and those that -- i

think this hit mr. cole's district and i believe he actually lives in that town. host: i think he lives in moore. guest: i think we will help. i supported sandy. host: in the past have you thought there would be offsets. you can.ou can these people are just going to be there and we just can't allow -- i think there is a lot of opportunity for individuals i would everyone to help. host: a lot happening on capitol this week. do you think congress can move quickly and get some sort of aid passed and out the door this week? guest: i can't say this week. host: you have been around a long time. guest: i think that congress quickly.ond host: this is a press release by office. wolf's statement on breaking news about benghazi reiterates select committee. why a select committee to look into this? guest: i think so far congress has failed and there is failure on the part of the administration. lost four people. benghazi was a battlefield. four men dead. yesterday i met with another family member. i have met with four family who have been e kill

killed. we need to take people from the armed services committee because the department of defense was involved. we need people from the intel committee because we know the involved. who gave the order to stand down. that was. c.i.a. annex. people from the foreign who ha affairs people the state department were involved. f.b.i. d agency is the who is doing the investigation and they are in the justice department. we need people from the reform committee and even the homeland committee and a select committee is what we have done in the past. together -- it doesn't cost any more money. e bring staff from each committee and have a 90-day set-up. we know pretty much kind of what happened. we know who to call. was on the who ground at the scene has been subpoenaed. negative s not a thing. it is before thing because i represent many federal employees. employee or federal contractor and you have two kids and mortgage in arlington county house you are 52 years old,

maybe one is going to college you have a big tuition, you can't risk your year. unless you are subpoenaed under in friendly subpoena and you can ounsel whereby be protected, because as you know this administration has een very aggressive in going after performance. we see the story they went out and ellow with fox news they have deep pockets. fox can defend him. if you are a gs-15 working c.i.a. state department, you have no defense. to have a select committee to subpoena people because the stories are frightening. and whatever is done must be done publicly. to have public hearings so the american people know what went on and all the people in ongress, not just those that serve on a particular committee, know what we should do to make sure it never happens again. does the investigation

start over with a select committee? guest: it does not. work that good darrell isis's committee has done. it focuses like a laser beam. ight now it will be looking at tomorrow the i.r.s. issue. hen i think they will be looking at other issues. host: health care. guest: health care. need to focus. when families come in to see me yesterday want to know what happened. they don't know what happened. they can't find out. blowers are calling and people are saying we have a story to tell what happened. i think that you build on the good work the others have done select g together a committee staff from each of day committees and 90 -- segment get an outside staff director to coordinate it or one provide that and have public hearings whereby the lastly, people can --

it must be bipartisan. if you do this to look like it s one party, it will not be successful. host: john boehner was asked bout this idea of a select committ committee. [video clip] >> i have confidence in our five doing the that are investigation. they understand very clearly me that we have a very serious and solemn obligation to of what e truth happened. i have confidence in our committees and our chairman to continue to pursue this. i will let them make the decisions about with the next steps are. isis and o chairman the members of the oversight a fabulous jobid in a long day of hearings of that ing more information frankly we haven't had of what eight months.

there will be more hearings an information. host: your reaction. guest: the family members want a select committee. the "wall street journal" has supported a select committee. will has supported a select committee. many people who have supported it. i have here a list of all the committees we have had. e have had them for many important issues like terrorism but also on irrelevant issues house beauty parlor. that is when you bring them together, set a tame limit, existing staffs. you need people with clearances with respect to what is takes place at the c.i.a. i believe that is the best way to beit and hearings need public. host: there is headline recently you are saying that -- were quoted saying boehner complicit if this

select committee is blocked. guest: i think the congress will complicit if it is not found out what went on. in an apple blossom parade two weeks ago with red mcdaniel. he was a prisoner of war, hero, probably tortured p.o.w. an most any other in vietnam. as we were getting the cars ready to leave he was lamenting political leadership in national security and said i wonder if the is worthy eadership of or sons and daughters who are willing to give their lives. i think we need a select eight months. need to do everything we can to find out what public hearing will bring expertise, people from the armed services committee, why didn't the defense department engage. we need to bring in performance

who have need to do intelligenc c.e.a. nd, why did the -- what did they do, who give the stand down order. too much emphasis on talking points and things we ave to find out what happened and why they didn't rescue them. know if it would be a hostage situation or eight or nine ours, eight days or in iran 400 days. benghazi witness points finger at clinton on lapses in security. a star witness said the former secretary hillary clinton ambassador rdered chris stevens to set up a permanent post and should have about deteriorating security. what do you make of that? guest: well, i haven't seen the i don't think i want to get into the blame game. i know what happened based on men and talked to who have there.at were

but i think that the american people should know. i think there's an opportunity public them in on a subpoena them and give them the opportunity to tell their story and we will find out. host: is your opinion different from with we have heard so far about this? yes, it is -- well, i don't think it is appropriato a for me to say what individuals who want to be subpoenaed. i had a person the other day who wants to be subpoenaed almost as mechanism to defend themselves. it is important to bring in who were there on the who experienced this and can say what happened rather third-hand and give them the opportunity to tell their story publicly. skpwhr benghazi happened because authorize fused to funding for embassy security and -- blames the white house an state department. . that is not adequate.

the decision was made at the state department whether they hould have done things but the funding issue is not the issue., rescue the men that were there? host: overall because this is a u.s. in "new york times" takes steps to add security to embassies because of ecommendations mid by the independent review, former mbassador deter pickering east investigate the price tag proposed after this $1.4 billion. congress go forward with more funding for embassy security? going to hink you are have it make sure you are unding embassy security adequately. you cannot send a man or woman and nottile environment give security. benghazi was basically a war zone. elements. you had al qaeda and groups. you have to give necessary security. not only in that region but many regions.

host: we have this tweet. o foreign embassies need permission from someone to bring troops to the united states to consulate?r guest: yes. but their consulates have never been under attack in the united states. host: whether does this main his point? guest: i'm not sure what he means because i think we should have again in to rescue our men. ost: how would that have transpired? guest: i think that what the hearings with bring out. there were facilities, there if you ple that believe read the letter from the the forces consulate? guest: in mogadishu, he had 700 special operations people sign a letter indicating that they wanted to have public hearings where we could find out what happened and their different ideas put out there. we have to bring the -- into public hearings and find out who ordered them to down.

host: an independent caller from sterling, virginia. caller: good to talk to you. i'm a regular listener and viewer for over 10 years. frank, i'm a constituent of yours and voted for you. i voted for president obama, too so i'm kind of blame for the gridlock of washington. wanted to thank you for your efforts on rank, i'm sudan and getting omar out of power. as far as ben goes si, because mogadishu, it is a zi because c.i.a. outpost it will be hard getting at the truth. read a lot but i think probably was used to vet who we could trust in libya and was n't and the c.i.a. trying to do this and it was not as safe as it should have been and i don't think it was wise stevens to be over there

not secured it was properly and i have a hard time believe being that they couldn't get there. i think it could have been done there quicker. you can have the hearings but i the c.i.a. is going to tone wall a lot of truth on this. guest: you raise a lot of good points. . -- the c.i.a. will probably be public hearings. but there were men that were lost. many of these people were certain agencies of our government. , ty woods's father came in and he favors a select committee. wants to find out what happened. ean smith's mom who lives in san diego, favors a select committee. two other family members me whose names i have not used because they have not have approached

me. that is why i think we have to bring in the men who were on the ground at the time at both the consulate and e let them testify under oath and to be m have the ability subpoenaed where they feel comfortable. heal counsel hem who will be -- legal counsel to they h them to make sure do not lose their jobs. host: these men on the ground are these the ones you said want testify? guest: yes. host: you represent them? represent them. host: here is a statement. c.i.a. who called off the military helped the attack.f the benghazi true? guest: we are going it find out. that is the purpose of the hearing. who did call off the attack? did what i think is not really that important. we want to find out.

t went from the consulate to the annex to where and then but we want to find out. hey did not make an effort to rescue them. the question is who mid that decision -- who made the decision not to send a team. when you hear some of the of what the men who were left there went through it is a american heroes, what hey have done but a story of abandonment also. so i think we want to bring them testify what happened and who gave the orders so the american people and the congress can know thiske sure something like doesn't happen again. or you do everything you can to make sure it doesn't happen again. tkpls frome line for ohio s -- democrats from is larry. you are on the air. go ahead. ask, r: i would like to

when they get done having their 40th or 50th vote on obama care quit playing around with these benghazi attacks they know what happened. not fooling anybody. republicans doing bsolutely nothing but wasting our time and wasting our money in washington. t one time i was a republican and i'm so glad that i left the do nothing party of the republicans. a response.get guest: i think the republicans have done a lot of things. to the bottom of t. we have to deal with the death and deficit. f you want to find out what we ought to be doing we ought it be coming together in a bipartisan the simpson ng bowles recommendations. i think the work of those two one a a republican and

democrat put together the pportunity but there's in the enough support in either party. but a lot of good things have wen done but it is important get control of the debt and deficit. the meantime we can find out what happened with regard to the i.r.s. know.id they was that directly targeting certain people? doesn't that frighten you to i.r.s. can be used for a political agenda? ho in the justice department approved the subpoena, the taking of the a.p. records or the rosen records? benghazi?volved in why did they not aid these men. we can do several things at the ame time but thank you for the call. host: we will go it denese in new york. excuse me. caller: no, this is denise. thanks for taking my call. i want to say i totally agree with you. this administration

s so corrupt, they tried to ver what happened in bengha gs gassy. i think people want to know what of ened and i'm tired democrats and liberals saying nobody cares about what happened was done on the up and up. it wasn't. towas covered up and we want know what happened over there. tirede lied to and we are of being lied to by this administration. i will -- host: we will leave it there. this was said. that we were s meddling in another country we ad no business being there and american lives were lost. guest: well, the obama administration had people there certain reasons which we they were to, but there and the men there were calling for assistant. and were calling for aid

somebody to come rescue them. an unbelievable story of what happened. i think it is important for several reasons. that the rtant congress know to see if there is anything different we should be embassies as you asked earlier, making sure we give the necessary resources at embassy but also important for the american people to know. the one caller before -- under my best friend is a democratic member, former congressman tony hall. we are very close. i have a record bipartisanship. if you don't find out you will never know. so we see a situation that i are beginning to lose trust in the government. is -- in benghazi there are a lot of questions but if you answers. with the i.r.s. a lot of questions but phenomena answered.

my point is there are so many other issues going on that the is doing committee immigration, the foreign affairs committee is working on else.ing he armed services committee is working on sequestration. t is time to bring together good people. we could get a great chairman. mick rogers from michigan would chairman. mike mccall from texas would be a great chairman. has signed on to this proposal? you can't be doing everything in that one committee. -- then n opportunity you bring in performance with aside 90 together, set days, have public hearings and -- the "wall street journal" says let it know. host: it is says of said that pickering who co-chaired

the investigation into the state actions will make his appearance after an increasingly esty exchange of correspondence. e and his vice chairman originally insisted on giving only public testimony to the a full e before committee hearing. does he not want testimony from pickering? i think there should be public testimony for everyone. all of the closed door hearings, violating any national security. is important for people to know. the more public hearings there are the better. khroefp hearings on this are not good. issa who peak for mr. opposes my select me. hat is why i want a select committee with public hearings, subpoena people not in an aggressive negative way but in a positive way

where you offer them the lose tion that they won't their job and give them heal counsel. a mr. pickering has distinguished record and public hearing.are host: he will be giving a deposition thursday. that is a tool committees use allowing the what the it understand witness knows before taking public testimony. guest: depositions are but public hearings are important. is : richard an independent up next from texas. caller: thank you so much. opportunity to talk. i have couple of questions as an teacher.ired history the republican supreme court majority passed a law or said it was unconstitutional to leave orporations out of the

democracy. hen you have a law that gives power to the supreme then we turn and support the people over there and countries and then you come back and want to blame president obama. host: we will get a response. not cut the we do funds -- that is not accurate. we have given the ability to the state department to push those funds around. we have a problem in the country of a at and tested. $16.7 trillion of debt. $.41 of every dollar we spend, we are borrowing. we are borrowing from china. china who has kept the ships

under house arrest, protestant pastors in jail, persecuting tibetans. china is spying upon us. the country is broke. we have to get control of the debt and deficit. this is not about that, but the answer isn't what i have voted on on the number of cases is the simpson-bowles commission which puts everything on the table -- everything on the table, and in a bipartisan way comes up. president obama supported the simpson-bowles commission, set them up, and then when they came out with recommendations he ignored them. the president failed on leadership when he walked away from simpson-bowles. the way to deal with all of these problems is a bipartisan way. simpson-bowles, and up or down vote, and reform. there is domestic discretion that is being squeezed. we do not need to cut cancer research. we need to reform the entitlements, if you will.

if you want to get into that, we have an economic crisis, debt and deficit, and we need to deal with it. the simpson-bowles to mission provides. it also closes tax loopholes, if you will, and actually lowers the tax rates. but i guess is for another day. , new york,ck democrats line. caller: there is so much you have addressed that i would love to address, but there's no time for anything. certainly i believe the economic crisis was created by the kind of greed that was set up during the last administration. at i agree with you, we need select committee. when are we going to get a select committee and show people that we care about those 54 missions that were invaded during the bush administration? the 13 americans who were killed during the bush administration? fox saidat riley -- that that was during wars, but i

know that eight of them are during the war. i do not know why that would make any difference. that 13 americans were killed. 54 times the breaches occurred. and you sit here and talk about and ghazi, which was a horrible tragedy, but what happened to the others -- you sit here and talk about in ghazi, which was a horrible tragedy. but what happened to the others? back to benghazi, we need a select committee. the family members would like to see a select committee. many of the people involved on the ground would like to see the opportunity for them to come and testify. you put together a select committee in a bipartisan way, making sure that there are people from both political parties, each one can call their witnesses to find out what happened. i do not think we should be afraid of the truth. we should try to find out what happened so we can, one, make

sure it never happens again. we will do everything we can to make sure never happens again. secondly, make sure sure the american people know what happened. host: an e-mail from one of our viewers -- why ambassador stevens was there on that day. it says, let's be honest, no one was ordered to go to benghazi on that specific day, and he went by his choosing. guest: that is accurate, he did. athink that is why we need select committee to hold the hearings and ask these questions. there have been different thoughts and different ideas, but i do not think i will get into it right here. but we need to find out -- it was 9/11 era there are indications that the same people connected with the attack on the american embassy in egypt were connected to the attack on the american industry and yemen, also connected to the attack at the refinery in

algeria, also connected with regard to the attack in benghazi. secondly, the tunisians arrested someone, and the fbi sent a team out to tunisia to talk to them. the fbi said on the ground for five weeks. we give to nietzsche $320 million of aid -- we give aid.ia $320 million of senator graham said he would threaten the a to tunisia. then they invited the fbi back. they had three hours with the man. his lawyer was there and the government was there, and they since released him. we cannot even find it. secondly, the egyptian government, the morsi government, they have a person who has been arrested, and they will not allow the fbi team to talk to him. there are so many questions as to why they were there. it was on 9/11, and that was not a very great day to be in

places like that. but the connectivity of the groups -- that is why you need to have public hearings. host: another issue for you since he serve on appropriations for justice department as well. here is a washington times report -- u.s. attorney leaked memo in retaliation to an atf .gent he was then retaliated against for and a memo leaked in retaliation. what do you know about this? can you explain? this: i have not seen story, but there is great into meditation with regard to the federal workforce -- great intimidation with regard to the federal workforce. you have things being done at the justice department that people never thought would be done there. we had an ig investigation going on with regard to the black panther thing up in

philadelphia. problem's with regards to the office of civil rights. been alder, there have number of problems. i do not know that that is the specific case, but there is a fear -- back to the issue, that is why you need to subpoena people i'm a friendly subpoena so they have the ability to come in and say what they know and also get them council. if you are a federal employee, to hire outside counsel with some of the charges, you would have to literally mortgage your house. so you have to provide some means of protection. many federal employees would like to come in, would like to be whistleblowers, would like to be protected. unless there is a subpoena, they cannot come in. host: should eric holder remain at his job? guest: i think that will be up to eric holder and the president. i do not think he has done a good job. he has done a disaster with regard to some areas.

one example, senator kennedy, who has since passed away, bobby scott from virginia, myself, introduced a bill to deal with prison rape. a bill to reform the prison system. the prison system is dysfunctional. it is dysfunctional. the number of people who go into prisons who are raped is -- we passed a bipartisan bill, totally bipartisan. it took eric holder four years to implement it. if you read the "new york times" yesterday, the number of people who have been raped in prison -- eric holder, just this one move. another thing is you cannot put a man in prison or a woman in prison for 15 years and not give them work, rehabilitation, a job, drug rehab. the number of people who are working in federal prisons has dropped to almost an all-time low, all during eric

holder's time. the prisons are dysfunctional. personally i do not think he has done a great job. but i do not think that is for me to say. that is between him and the president. you bring up the president issue -- the prison issue -- >guest: it is a big issue. i am putting in a bill, it artisan -- bipartisan bill. after someoneit who was part of the nixon administration who set up the prison fellowship and has done a lot of work in prisons. but to look at the prison system, rehabilitation, work, sentencing -- yet, our prisons are dysfunctional. yet, the whole prison system is under eric holder. he has done nothing. but that bill will be put in in the next couple weeks. host: republican of virginia

serves for commerce, justice, and science, cochairman of the tom lantos human rights commission. a big issue for you. i want to get your take on syria. here is the wall street journal .his morning a the syrian army is close to reclaiming a rebel held city, amplifying pressure on the president to find a way to alter the course of events in this widening civil war. three i was in the region months ago. we were in lebanon and egypt. we went down the lebanese- syrian border. a number of people from syria came out to meet with us. rife for the chris -- life for the christians is brutal. they lived in fear. we are seeing the christian population of the middle east dropped her medically. i had a bill in with a democrat to set up a special envoy for

advocating for christians and other religious minorities in the middle east, in syria, in iran, iraq. we passed the house 401-20. it was blocked in the senate. a former senator from my state blocks it and senator kerry opposed it. now the administration opposed -- it ishristians scary what is happening. this one family cannot -- we will not mention their name. they said there are many jihadist that have now taken over some of the fighting, people connected to al qaeda, people from afghanistan, people from chechnya come up people from other places. i think the administration missed an opportunity early. we have now lost 80,000 people. the christian community, the sunni community -- many of them lived in fear. now you see the worst let -- spreading over into lebanon.

lebanon has one million refugees. the population of lebanon is only 4 million. we visited people, families, they were sunni, 19 living in a garage. the they lived in fear. a number of christian families who have been forced out. nowmask is -- damascus is being destroyed. the obama the at -- administration missed an opportunity early on. whosome of the very people are now fighting against -- assad was bad. a song should have gone and should go -- assad should have gone and should go. assad is connected to iran. but we should have gotten a nearly. obama, on human rights, i think the obama administration has been a failure. a in sudan. president bush did a great job

with sudan. a special envoy has left the state department, and it has been two months and obama administration has not appointed a special envoy. a genocide still continues and therefore -- in darfur. they are bringing someone into washington to talk to this administration. this administration has not spoken on with regard to people of faith. there are 102 tibetans that have set themselves aflame now in china. they have not spoken up with regard to north korea. they have a very weak policy with regard to vietnam. the american embassy in vietnam should be an island of freedom. the vietnamese do not consider it an island of freedom. it is not very friendly to them. with regard to human rights and religious freedom, this administration has been a failure. host: boots on the ground in syria? guest: no, absolutely not. host: let's get back to our

viewers. david in north carolina. caller: thank you. i have some questions for olf who sits onwil the subcommittees from the 10th this together virginia. years old and served in vietnam. , andch all these meetings i just cannot understand how they can stonewall and leave investigations -- i have watched every one of them. you have got eric holder in fast and furious. he clams up because the president claimed executive rivulets. therefore he is shut up. then the ap scandal. he week uses himself, but it is nowhere in writing. he says, well, i recuse myself. this administration promised to

be the most transparent in history. yet, the advisors to this administration tell him nothing. she'll on the old tv program hogans heroes. he knows nothing. guest: that is why we need a select committee, bipartisan, set time, subpoena people, and this is very important, public hearing. there must be public hearings. we are finished with closed- door, back room hearings. they need to be public. the: 153 cosponsors for select committee. what do you think is in the of this happening? guest: i do not know. i will continue to push. the general and special operations people favor it. the navy seals favors it. the wall street journal favors it. george will favored it. i think the american people favor it.

whether he gets done or not, i will continue to push. i honestly believe in my heart of hearts if we do not do it, the american people will never know what went on. host: the gop nominating convention -- how did it go? tell me about your experience. guest: i drove down saturday morning, got back saturday night. peopleere about 8700 there. we made a nomination for governor. host: right, and the lieutenant governor. this is a cnn piece, outspoken and provocative conservative who emerged from the convention is the party's nominee for lieutenant, once compared to land parented to two clucks klux klan.the ku an attorney from testing made the comment to black christians posted on youtube last year. do you stand by the nomination?

see that andnot will not comment. i think he will be a good candidate. i think he will talk about the importance of how we can make for jenny at the best state that we can live in. i also had a conversation within the other day day. he is very interested in prison reform. the state of virginia needs to do a lot with regard to prison reform. we need to make sure all the men and women in prison have the opportunity to work. we need to make sure there is not prison rate. i think he will talk about issues dealing with the poor and vulnerable. host: the washington post says abortion is likely to be a issue in that race. guest: hard to say. host: are you concerned at all with this nomination? guest: we will have to see. , thank you forf coming on the washington journal. i appreciate your time. we're going to keep our topic on benghazi, libya.

we're going to be talking to ethan chorin, a former foreign service officer in libya. we will talk about the history and culture of that country and the region. first a news update from c-span radio. >> a former irs commissioner goes before members of congress today. the senate finance committee wants to know why douglas shulman and not tell congress that his agents had been singling out conservative political groups for additional scrutiny when they apply for tax-exempt status. you can watch the hearing live on c-span three at 10:00 a.m. eastern or listen to it here on c-span radio. another senate panels of apple incorporated is avoiding paying billions of dollars in u.s. taxes, but the world's most valuable company says it is complying with the laws and pays, in their words, an extraordinary amount in taxes to the u.s. government. the ceo of apple is scheduled to testify this morning to explain their tax strategy. you can watch it live at 9:30

a.m. eastern on our website c- span.org. an update from cbs this morning on the oklahoma tornado. they tweet out that the oklahoma governor commenting on search and rescue efforts says it would be "incredible if anybody survived collapsed holdings." meanwhile, a tweet that the oklahoma medical examiner now puts the death toll in more, oklahoma at 24, not 51, saying some victims were double counted. we will hear more on the recovery efforts and 45 minutes from president obama. you can hear the president live on c-span radio. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. is the parlor. this is the way it looked 1880 campaign.'s this was both a formal parlor in family room, served as both. they spent a lot of time with their children. they have lost two children to infancy.

those children died before the family moved here. and all five children had the benefit of having to do very intelligent parents who strongly believed in education. also very important to james and his wife, their children loved to read as well. the family would sit by the fireplace and read to one another, often times out loud in the evening. that was one of their favorite activities. we are here in the family dining room. in the center of the table is this very interesting art he's. -- art piece. thectually won an award at philadelphia centennial. mrs. garfield adored her time at the exhibition. she would write pages and pages of what she saw. a lot of people think of this as this very artistic lady. she was also very intelligent

and loved the sciences. >> a conversation on lucretia garfield now available on our website c-span.org/firstladies. watch monday on our next program on first lady frances cleveland. "washington journal" continues. host: to san francisco where ethan chorin is joining us from where he served as a foreign service officer in libya from of "the2006, author hidden history of the libyan revolution." you wrote recently in the the new york times that deeper blame for an gauzy -- in that, you write that the spectacle in washington over the terrorist attack last september 11 in benghazi, libya is focusing on the wrong issue. why do you say that? guest: i think this whole question of what exactly happened in benghazi and who thised what points and

partisan mess that has taken place due track's attention from some very key, one of which that thect intervention itself, in my view, was with relatively well executed. in the groundake for the united states in terms of the arab spring. there was a full context to the libyan revolution that has not been adequately emphasized. there are lots of lessons from the attack and from the intervention itself with regards to other u.s. intervention in post-conflict environments. host: you write that washington misunderstood libya, thought that after the military strikes that the country would right itself. what did you mean? guest: i am not sure we actually thought that it would right itself. but i do not think we were prepared for what would come

next. i think libya has always been a bit of a sideshow. what happened in 2003 against the backdrop of an extremely messy campaign in iraq and afghanistan. could you repeat the question? host: you wrote about the military strikes that the country did. i am wondering what should have happened after gadhafi was removed from power? guest: i think one of the main issues is that we have never really fully understood the dynamics within libya. there was also u.s. foreign policy for many years, sanctions .ating back to the late 1980's

and we do not really understand the dynamics. we do not understand how .ragile gadhafi really was that is in the context of a whole range of misunderstandings of what was going on demographically and socially in the region. what were some of those misunderstandings demographically in the region? guest: in retrospect, everything is crystal clear, but the signs were there for quite sometime,, particularly in libya, that there was a great amount of local discontent. just as they were escalating attacks against targets in and , libya, an benghazi series of events took place in the 1990's which were indicative of rising islamist influence in the east and mass popular discontent. massacre the 1996

which we were somewhat aware but not of the details. there was a very large protest and a series of lynchings in 2002. there was the 2006 rebellion .iots in benghazi, libya then, ironically, was also the result of -- supposed to have been a result of a protest, spontaneous protest against the italian minister wearing a t- shirt emblazoned with the danish cartoons him a -- imitating the prophets. that turned out to be an orchestrated effort by qaddafi

himself. a series of dynamics and context which i think are being -- were not fully understood. essentially, one thing we do not understand was the importance of an gauzy, libya -- benghazi to the social lab -- social fabric of libya. ,nce the revolution was over the administrative functions moved back to tripoli, leaving benghazi without the attention that many felt they deserved. after decades of oppression and neglect, and i think there was a critical time or services -- the libyan government needed to be able to demonstrate that it was providing some basic services and responding to the needs of the people. the longer that that goes on,

the longer that you have openings for foreign elements, local discontent, local criminal elements to pick up speed and otherwise might have been the best chance for successful arab spring movement. what was ambassador stephens' viewpoint on benghazi? i had a few conversations with him about this, one during the course of a long interview for my book, and he was very much convinced of the importance benghazi to the future stability and cohesion of libya. i think when you are looking at -- i am speculating here, but looking the reasons why ambassador stevens wasn't benghazi,- was in

part of it was because too little attention was being paid to the eastern region and if libya's rebuilding efforts were to succeed, more attention need to be -- and needed to be paid to the infrastructure, social, and other needs of that region. >> you write that benghazi is not only the traditional cultural capital of libya but also the seed of its oil wealth, critical to the rebellion against colonel gadhafi but also cultivating extremists. the interesting thing is that there is a contrast, obviously. on one hand, benghazi is a port city, close to cultural centers of cairo and alexandria. on one hand it is a highly

conservative society. on the other hand it is a crossroads. it has been said, yet the commercial -- it is the commercial capital of libya essentially. it could be the commercial capital of libya and it is certainly located near much of its oil wealth. so there are a lot of contrasts there. is the idea that it is not a fertile environment for extremists. the rebellion against gadhafi was the seat of the rebellion against the coffee. in that capacity, some of these extremist elements were supported because they seemed to be successful in challenging gadhafi and attempting to assassinate him on many occasions.

as the chaos. here is one of the important points. the fact that the attention shifted back to tripoli where you have warring militias and everyone trying to stake out their position and a political piece of the pie, the situation in benghazi seem to get quite, was on the up tick. ostensibly, it was much more calm than tripoli was. just a few2012, months before the attack, there had been a series of local council elections which went off without a hitch. there were seen to be a model collective% tow

participatory process. the same time, you had elements that were attempting to e their own, advanc agenda. with the lack of firm central control, these elements were succeeding in focusing their attention on high value for targets unsettling scores with former gadhafi regime members. this trend was intensifying for quite some months. host: we are talking with ethan "exit the author of colonel: the hidden history of the libyan revoluation -- revolution." we want to give you a tweet. "u.s. ambassador christopher stevens turned down offers of more security twice. was he authorized to accept?"

guest: again, i have heard several different views on what security resources ambassador stevens requested or deny. without the context, it is difficult to say what is going on there. what i can say from personal experience and having spoken to him on that day about security arrangements for a meeting that would take place the next day was that this was not -- did not get the impression this was something he took lightly. my former colleagues have told me, at the state department, that he had asked for security, that there were concerns. i have to say projecting back to my own experience in libya from 2004 to 2006. tohat a lot of attention issues of security is not something that is specific to the obama administration.

i think there were issues back then. not specific to libya. there has been this constant tension between congress and various arms of the government for funding for security. and that this has been something that has been a political casualty. "the new yorkte in times" that from the outside it seemed almost inexplicable that mr. stephens was in benghazi on the anniversary of 9/11. what is protocol? what you know about why he chose to be there on that specific date? guest: i am not sure i want to speculate because i do not have full information. i and several of my colleagues have gone into benghazi several times during previous months, and ostensibly this security - super- officially, things looked like there were getting better. around that and

particular day, 9/11, were full of the anniversary security -- there were other significant dates in the calendar that were problematic from the security point of view. there was an intense local security alert. i was personally very uneasy about going in. at the same time, we did not have the same profile as ambassador stevens, but we knew that there were risks to going in there then. host: let me get to phone calls. austin, texas, democratic caller. go ahead. caller: it seems to me that the people of libya had to know obama was on their side. thiskes more sense that right was infiltrated with maybe throw thelement to fire bomb.

why were the people of libya want to kill the ambassador to is trying to help them? guest: i think that is a good -- an interesting point. because affectively it i think what happened there was that the perpetrators of this act or part of a very small minority of empowerwho were also and h by outside elements and enriched by circumstances that have no countervailing, strong enough force to stop them. host: a tweet. was the benghazi attack against the cia or diplomat or both? guest: again, that that benghazi had been effectively left to its nascentces by -- by a

government, and the fact that we, the united states, did not take adequate precautions to protect our installations gave an opportunity for a small eventuallyfanatics to destabilize the process that they saw what benefits, chaos would benefit them. host: ron, louisiana, independent caller. caller: yes, we are constantly worrying about the scandal. but the republicans should be ashamed of themselves. covington, louisiana, we have the likes of a republican judge, and a d.a. there runs a kangaroo court, that withhold and restrict evidence, forces defenders, forcesplea.

host: can you tie that to what we are talking about? caller: here we are always worried about scandals outside the country. but in the country, our courts, the previous individual was previous individualthe jail. -- previous individual talking about the sale. host: independent caller, go ahead. caller: why is every country that we seem to go into from iraq to afghanistan to pakistan to libya and egypt that we are always at a fight and deals overoil, and if not, it's a war, and as the present person, uh, uh, well, uh, and they are for the question of why. guest: to your question about

oil, even though libya is an oil our country, i believe intervention had very little to do with oil directly. in fact, it had a lot more to do with trying to make our intervention in iraq look like it had positive side effects. to ironically deepen -- we believe gadhafi had the intelligence about extremist elements throughout africa. the fact that we were bitten by those very elements in benghazi is heavily ironic. is where myhat point about context is worth stressing. host: ethan chorin, about context, a little bit more. explain to viewers the difference between benghazi and tripoli and why that is important to understand. gadhafi'spoli was

seat of power and during the course of his 42 years of rule, many, this is the place that his, uh, was far more friendly to him then benghazi, even though his revolution also started ostensibly in benghazi. the fact is over the course of time, benghazi became the seat of disaffection with his rule, to a whole bunch, related social-tribal-political factors. and the process continued and snowballed during the 1990's. as far as gadhafi was concerned, benghazi was almost like a province in revolt. and h respondede with collective

punishment, withholding infrastructure, and various other kinds of support. a lowern benghazi was tripoli. thsaan and the massacre that occurred in 1996 which was a prison massacre of 1250 people, most of whom the prison was in tripoli, but most of the word from the east. that compounded the problem. society, whent you have that many people that come from a concentrated area, it's going to have a tremendous impact on perceptions towards the center. host: ethan chorin, former foreign service officer. author on libya. and director at berkeley

research group of law and economics consultancy firm, our guest for the next 20 minutes. will go to our caller, republican and michigan. good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. cards,eason in the covering up for jihadists? which is what i think has been done, and has been an attack on america's sovereignty and should be in place. as far as investigations go -- host: you shook your head at that. guest: at this point, i have been following the news quite carefully and read all 100 pages of e-mails, but i hav e no reason to believe, senator ieinstein put this nightciely, do not see any efforts to willfully deceive. and compared to issues that have

come up in the previous iministration, again, here would say context is paramount, that the real issue here was why were those installations not protected? why did we not follow through on what had started to be our framing move, response to the arab spring? and i believe a lot of that has to do with systemic issues, not partisan ones, as in these are processes that have been going on for decades under republican and democratic administrations. host: what do you mean by processes it? give us a window into the state department. guest: first of all, it is no secret at this printer that the installations in benghazi were -- ely, you know, ci clandestine operations or they

there were multiple agencies acting out there. i think the cia, the state department, other departments don't tend to speak to each other and communicate an accord may as well as they might. and of those issues and the withe not to be slapped accusations of falling down on the job are part of what comes into the shading if that took place of the talking poinst. and that is something that is very unfortunate. the: a star witness says secretary of state personally ordered ambassador chris stevens to set up a permanent post and should have known about deteriorating security. do you agree? guest: i think former secretary

clinton has taken general responsibility for being at the helm all this happened. necessarily believe, again, that the circumstances was veryd herself in much different than other secretaries of state have found themselves in when something horrible happens. and i do believe, that although benghazi was critical, this could happen to as easily in yemen, saudi arabia, and a number of other places. while i was in tripoli posted under the bush should ministration we had some similar, i cannot go into the details, but we had similar issues and profiles. i think the state department deserves more resources. i think the state department needs to push hard for more resources. these systemicf

issues sprang from the different perceptions with in congress and the is departments as to priorities for funding. it is a very disingenuous for people to come out and say, things should have been better, at least on the security front, one of funding is not there. host: "the new york times" reports that the u.s. takes steps to add security at embassies. san francisco, democratic cholera. caller: thanks for taking my call. my question revolves around the actual reasons that the u.s. went into libya and decided to intervene. as you know from the u.n. resolution and all of that process of us finally getting to the point of bombing libya, that

ort there was nothing, our original goal seemed to be to get rid of gadhafi, whereas that was not in the u.n. resolutions. it seemed like are going in and bombing number one was against our own constitution because there was no declaration of war. and number two, why did we go in there? i think it had very little to do with humanitarian intervention, but it had to do with much larger geopolitical things, especially the economics of africa. host: ethan chorin? guest: i do think it had to do with broader geopolitical issues. it itdisagreed that ostensibly had to do with -- i disagree that it had to do with economic considerations. it is well documented that there was a tremendous amount of disagreement within the obama administration, dod, the

department, nsc, about what to do about libya. we were in a situation where all of these results are happening simultaneously. we have to think about what was going on in syria. tunisia.d fallen in egypt was a sticky situation. libya looked like a place in which the united states could reasonably have a positive impact. host: ethan chorin, we want to know on the question of what happened here, the reasons for going in, he tweets. was a mistake to allow gadhafi to go down after he gave up nuclear weapons? guest: to go down? guest: he puts go down in

quotes. after the give up nuclear weapons. guest: this is the subject matter of my book. the issue of why we went into -- a narrative about why we've made up with gadhafi is very different in reality than what has been portrayed. we made up with gadhafi. again, my belief is largely because the international sanctions and the will to enforce the were crumbling. we had a horrible situation unfolding in iraq. and there looked to be an opportunity to flip a rogue state. it had very little to do, and i have read all the public sources i get my hands on, with weapons of mass destruction gadhafi was very far from weapons of mass destruction. and that simply was not a factor, at least not a. major

host: rachel in texas, independent. caller: everybody wants to know what did obam do, and was the at the white house? we knew the twin towers were target. when the first plane hit, bush was in the classroom. when the second plane hit, he was still sitting in the classroom. we went after the fbi and the cia because they had conflicting stories. the twin towers was a target. so we had a hearing. i am trying to figure out why the fbi and the cia did not have their stories -- they did not go after bush. they said we should not attack the president. host: rachel, you think that is a precedent for an investigation here? caller: i do.

there are other embassies that have been hit. reagan had one hit. last bush had one hit. i just do not understand it. host: ethan chorin? guest: i think there were couple of questions in there, but the question, if i'm understanding, but the question of what the president knew when and what the appropriate response would be seems to be one of them. thatat point, i would say once the attack had taken place, this was an issue of great contention, there probably was not a heck of a lot that could have been done differently. with every action comes a risk and i am not sure that, again, once the event took place, that necessarily poor decisions were made. my issue was more with our stance over the course of the

previous years and months. and our inability, or relative lack of ability to respond nimbly and quickly to a post- conflict environment. in terms of blame, again, i think that the accountability review board came up with some very correct, reasonable assumptions. there are still lots of facts out there, facts and fiction that need to be sifted through. and you know, there is some serious communications issues. host: brain, michigan, independent caller -- brian. caller: hi. i spent a lot of time in the navy, matter to rein in saudi arabia and tunisia, off the coast of libya for weeks on end, but that is not my point. the only way you can learn about the middle east and when i came

back i explained it to my family this way -- and i have to watch my words in america because we try to please everyone. i worked with muslims. the only way i learned was to walk the streets by myself, not system.uddy and i remember speaking with an elderly muslim man, and he knew i was american after a little bit and surprising to me, he could speak english. but anyway, to my greater point, you cout cut the tension with a knife in bahrain. i asked him if you and i were on the same street when i was walking towards you, and you knew that i was a non-muslim, that is how i worded it, how would you want this to go? he says, i wish you were on the other side of the street. we as americans, we believe that

if we are nice and honest and things of that nature, that somehow things are going to work out okay. but i would say, ethan, when you are there with an entourage, and i respect your service, the only way you can learn about the muslim people is to walk the streets and be there by yourself. host: mr. chorin? guest: i full agree with you. i think more of that, ideally, what happened. when i was in libya, this was a bit of a golden age when we head -- in terms of u.s.0-libyan, relations on a basic level, i have personally a great deal of freedom to travel around the country by myself. and talk to many, many people. that window close fairly quickly as political considerations came into play. but i do think that you are absolutely right.

mutual understanding and knowledge of all of the other cultures is absolutely critical to good policy formulation. host: we have less than 10 minutes, so i am trying to get and more phone calls. deborah in richmond, virginia, our line for democrats. what i do not understand is those courtroom and that died, they have the freedom of coming and going whenever they wanted to do it. they were soldier. if they knew something was getting ready to go down, why did they not hop on a plane and get the h out of there? the thing that you have to understand is, we can noticanized, we are supposed to americanize the entire world. we need to start respecting other cultures and let them do what they want to do. host: ethan chorin? with: well, i fully agree

that, and i would be the last person to say that we should be inly in force or telling terms of boots on the ground or to run the libyans how their business. in terms of what, the possible reductions could have been by the group in benghazi, especially, they were ambushed. largeroes to the question of security stance and what exactly were attempting to accomplish in benghazi and how. host: tony in louisiana, independent caller. you are on the air with ethan chorin. caller: good morning. i am wondering about our response to the attack in libya and wondering if perhaps in our haste to unseat gadhafi we did

not actually are in the wrong side. and -- arm the wrong side. they were talking about the stinger missiles we know we were looking for. even though the cia told us not to, it is a known fact that the state department approved that. sense is thaton the state department was going back in there to get those missiles. host: ethan chorin, do you have any thoughts on that, any insight? guest: i am not quite sure of the question, other than were not -- we were not fully prepared for what came after the intervention, and i agree with that. not just by the united states, but the international community. all of this relates to something that was -- a responsibility to protect, which was the original

motivation -- the trigger for intervention in libya. there was a very high probability of a matter of a series massacre in benghazi. and, even though there were a range of other reasons why we may have favored that intervention, that was certainly one of them. is a corollary to that responsibility to rebuild. and that is also a loaded term that requires consensus to the degree that international organizations are loathe to build. host: ethan chorin, to one of her points, and a tweet about lling ourhy are we seeling ou best jets and janks to the muslim brotherhood? guest: as in, we had a relationship with gadhafi. while the united states i do not believe sold a large amount of

weapons to gadhafi after the approchement, -- there was hundreds of millions of dollars and counterinsurgency, s small arms, the surveillance equipment to be sold by other parties to libya. so there are no truly innocent parties in this. s far as arming the, the consequences of intervention elements,xtremist there again, that is the issue of what did you do, short of a full out invasion certain it was not, or boots on the ground, to assist a fragile state- building process. i do think there were a number of things that could have been done. and one of those is obviously paying a lot of attention to

security of our own presence there. mobile, alabama. independent caller. caller: i want to give a rebuff to any of the democrats who said bush -- host: i will have to ask you to make it real quick. caller: nobody lied about the attacks on embassies that happened when bush was in office. the difference was in benghazi there was lie after lie. this is my question, bush gave favored trade status to benghazi. hisraised gadhafi for achievements in being the leader in africa. what changed? the thing that change was that libya did not want to accept money from the central bank's. host: ethan chorin, can you weigh in on? this real quick guest: there is too much in

there to respond to. is an le issue of -- it emotionally and politically charged discussion. we need to get away from that and figure out how we respond to post as complex environments? what can we do with it arab spring? and how can we protect our diplomats in the future? host: ethan chorin, writes in "the new york times" recently. confined his peace, "the deeper blame for benghazi." author of "exit the colonel: the hidden history of the libyan revolution." thank you for your time this morning. and now live coverage of the hoe the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. e clerk: the speaker's room, washeds, may 21, 2013. i hereby appoint the honorable daniel webster to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a. boehner, ea