transportation for america, discusses how the federal government engages the safety of bridges and funding for repairs and upkeep. washington journal is next. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning and welcome to "washington journal" on this monday, june 3. the house and senate return to washington today, facing an agenda that includes investigations into the irs, immigration reform, and an agriculture bill. later this week president obama will meet with the china president at a summit in california. we would like to hear from you this morning. what should the u.s. relationship with china be? here are the numbers to call.

you can also find online, send us a tweet, and we can share that on the air, or join the conversation on facebook. . you can also e-mail us we are asking you this morning if president obama's meeting with chinese president -- what should the u.s. relationship be with china? here is "usa today's close " previewing the meeting -- subjects include a chinese as a notch, north korea's and nuclear program, and bitter disputes over asian islands will present challenges to president obama --

the cbs news is saying that the shirt-sleeved summit is getting plenty of attention. president obama will try to press the recessed button on relations with the chinese president. "the new york times" yesterday unveiled the story --

what should the u.s. relationship with china belike? on the military front the wall street journal says that chinese and the military chiefs of breaking the ice, even if tensions rise between the u.s. and chinese military over cyber- spying. american and chinese military chiefs at a security conference in singapore are not showing it. it is the thorniest issue at the moment.

"the washington post" looks back at history at t and m and square. scare --nd amend tiananmen square. in the two and a half decades since the protest's violent and the china government has largely scrubbed the dixons the protests -- since the protests chinesent end and the

government has largely scrapped it from history. let us go to new york on our independent line. caller: i think our relationship with china -- i think it is a communist state. i blame the issinger-nixon presidency for recognizing the communist state. i do not think we should have any relationship with china. folks writingour to us on the facebook page has a different opinion. matt says - - caller: that's fair. what about the christians being

persecuted in china? they do not allow the practice of religion in the communist state. it is a communist state, it is a pictorial. dictatorial. do not know why we consider them of any importance. host: here is what tom said on facebook. diana, port allen louisiana, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. what your thoughts? caller: where i live is from the port off of the greater capt. rouge. understand why we are

so indebted to china when we are at their greatest exporters. if anything at and we should have a very good relationship. taxes are so high and i know that here in our community when the walmart opened up, everything was made in the u.s.a. and u.s.a. products were easy to have and now everything is made in taiwan, china, vietnam, so i cannot understand why there is such a disconnect between them holding us hostage and just being so indebted to them and why we do not have a more equal opportunity to purchase things made here. and why our economy is so flooded with their products. and they are cheaply made. that is my concern, why there is

such a disconnect between the products made here and germany and china. comes insonally what from china. almost everything comes in from china. ingenuityported our but we have not exported our goods. we did not make the goods here anymore. that is why we should have a good relationship with china but it should be more fair trade. host: that is diana's opinion in u louisiana. here are the numbers to call. some more facebook comments --

from michigan, brad, an independent. caller: double for taking my call. i am from flint. devastated by the moving of companies like general mortises -- like general mortars to places like china. america needs to take care of little. i do not get why we need to be involved with countries that can basically turn on us and annihilate us. -- if these rich people think it is time that we american people decide, "hey look, we need to take care of our homes.

china will not allow most of our products in their." i do not get the relationship with china. i do not get this idea that we should be trading like that. i think it is time we started thinking about homes and to -- wet where we deal with need to take care of our own. host: from north carolina, ralph, a democrat, go ahead. caller: i would like an investigation on who first bought from china and i would like to and also know how we are going to go about picking these people. we should have been told that united states did not have this kind of money. that is what i would like to

know. host: what you think the relationship should be from here on out going for it? think they are stealing technology from this country, we should go ahead and quit dealing with them altogether. i really wish that president obama when he first got into the white house would have paid them off and we would not have to do with them. host: we will see the president meeting with chinese president later on this meat -- later on this week in california. here is a professor at business at the university of maryland --

that is one opinion on how the obama administration's relationship with china in particular has affected the economy. what is your opinion and which the u.s. relationship be moving forward? steve from michigan on the independent line. i think that our relationship with china is shocking as to what i read in the paper. they are reaping all of the financial rewards of the war in iraq. our boys and girls died over there, blood was shed. and what do we have with china reaping the benefits of our blood? what you read in your newspaper, mr. obama is an

abject failure. he is inept and does not belong in the white house. i am an engineer. i hear about his intelligence and how smart he is. in a chess table between him and i i would beat him in 10 moves. we need a new president that can do the job. host: what we're doing the job look like on china? -- what would doing the job look like on china? i would not allow them to take over all of our manufacturing jobs. we need to educate our children and have worked in factories -- mathematics, science, technology. it is outrageous what is happening to our children in these public schools. host: let me throw this question

to you. here's a comment from john twitter -- what you think about the average american's relationship with china? what do you think about your purchases and where your money goes? caller: if you want to compare buying at wal-mart to okaying everything that happens in china, that to me is a stretch. what i consider that should not be it is allowing our manufacturing to go over there instead of keeping it here in this country. jeep was going to china and everyone called it a big lie. after the election went to china. host: here is a store that last caller was mentioning.

from "the new york times" today -- steve, oklahoma city, an independent, hello. think the relationship with china needs to be straightened out. we need to talk to our own companies and the largest corporations in america. the fallacy, as they say, if we manufacture over here they cannot make any money.

well that is not true. they will not make as much money. you cannot tell me cannot sell a $95 a pair of sneakers and did not make money. that is what they are doing and they are killing america. host: what the thing about the international relationship? what would you see -- what would you like the president to say to the president of china but this week? -- later this week? caller: paid in full. host: let us go to john in florida, republican. this is a typical example of the three police, korea,iran, north knowing we have a really weak president.

ronald reagan was president this would not be happening. that is all i have to say. saw a news about the company -- a meat company. here is the latest peace from reuters.

nardo in virginia, independent line. you are on the air. caller: i was calling about a guy that call from michigan. he was talking about getting a president that can do the job but he refused to acknowledge the fact that george bush got us into it. has so much oil from iraq is because of the war in iraq created by george bush. the conservatives do not want to give george bush the credit that is due to him, especially when it is really bad. host: before we let you go, what you think about u.s.-type relationship moving forward? caller: we have to get it moving. our manufacturing is not coming back. the deal they have with walmart

-- it seems like we have to figure out a way to coexist. we are not going to exist on the planet by ourselves. we have to figure out a way to make it work. asheville, north carolina, republicans line. caller: the talk to you. as far as our relationship with china goes, if wey hack our computers should respond when they attack us. that is a no-printer. as far as the best of it goes, i hear a bunch of people calling saying we should not send jobs to china when it costs so much to hire american workers. companies are not going to hire when it costs so much do to regulations and taxes to build factories in america. they are going to build the more

they can make a profit because several people call in and say they are not going to make as much money. i have seen factories run out of business by government regulation and taxes in this country. you want an example of what things are going to look like in the future, look at the nation of synagogue. easier environment to work. people are not hiring them. china,n hire people in they can fire competent workers -- in, turn it workers in china. you cannot do that in the united states anymore. >> the washington times, the republicans --

senator john mccain suggested he considered resigning in the wake of accusations that he lied to congress about the progress of a journalist. we see more reporting about the irs scandal in the news. the word scandal been used in some of the newspapers. the articlesone of in the wall street journal. it looks at conference spending. it says the irs has faulted on conference spending. the latest controversy to hit the agency -- here is the front-page of "de washington times," -- " -- "washington times

with this wasn't what he had to say. [video clip] >> the administration is still the spokesperson. he is still making up things about what happens in calling this a local-road. there is no indication. the reason lois lerner tried to take the fifth is because there is not a road -- is not because there is a rogue in cincinnati. it is because this is a problem that was scored a region that was coordinated right out of washington headquarters. coordinated right out of washington headquarters. host: he had this to say --

that is a statement from rep elisha cummings. about whatl us more is going on with the hearings on capitol hill regarding the irs is josh kicks from "the washington post." thank you for talking with us. the acting ira's commissioner appear before congress today. what committee is talking to? caller: he will be talking to a sub-committee of the house appropriations committee, the financial-services and general government subcommittee. this is the fourth hearing on

this matter. people are probably he feeling some hearing fatigue at this pointt. the focus of this hearing may be different. see is new to the irs. he had no involvement with this targeting campaign. with may be less focus him testifying on who did it and why and more about next steps. host: where does he come from? this is his first time appearing before congress in this capacity. caller: he has been a career guide to this point. by most accounts he did not really have and the ambitions to become a political appointee like he is now. this is a temporary position for him. it is still a political appointment.

before this he worked for the white house budget office as a controller. he handles financial management, contracting, some i.t. matters. he was also involved in an initiative called "the campaign ste," to stop payments to government contractors. about neweard developments in the ira's story. here is a headline -- do we have a sense of the scope of what he will be asked about? caller: i did not know what he will be asked about because again he is new to the agency. it may be more about what are your plans to fix some of these problems rather than why they occurred. he is probably learning about

some because of some of these problems. -- learning about the cause of some of these problems. the subcommittee tackling this issue today, why are they looking at specifically? they have oversight over treasuries. does, the committee appropriations committee. subcommittee part of it is general government that they oversee. this would fall into their territory. this is the fourth hearing on this matter. we have a lot of different cities already oversight and the senate financial services committee and so on -- it may be the case with a high-profile issue like this everybody wants

to take a whack at it. you do not want to be the one committee with any degree of oversight over the ira's and treachery that did not hold a hearing on this. host: thank you for talking with us. that hearing is this afternoon, 3:00 eastern. we'll hear from the acting irs treasuryner and the and inspector general for tax administration. you can also find it on our web site. here are a couple of stories related to congress.

my "the wall street trammell -- "the wall street journal" frontpage -- we are also looking at a range of issues and we will be talking more about what congress is

facing it with our next guest. later on we will talk with a democratic congressmen, texas .ongressman henry we want to turn our attention to the u.s.-china relationship and what you think the u.s. relationship -- what should the policy line be? we saw this headline in usa today. it is a complicated relationship. good morning. caller: i am a proud african- american ph.d. scientists. [indiscernible] ipad side is working here in the united states. i had to leave this country because of my background and race and religion.

to get a headstart. i did that in germany with an advanced degree. host: how does this relate to the u.s.-china relationships? caller: i work with a lot of asians scientists and most of them were chinese. is we need to deal with china in a mutual respect. we need to respect each other and also we need to respect our president. -- younderstand articulate this very well in your program. oure do not respect president how do we respect it how do we expect for governors to respect us? -- how do we expect foreign governments to respect us?

this is very -- it is not disturbing to me. i think we need to change that attitude. number of scientists around here in this country. we have good, talented, trained people. the job market is such that we do not have to take out systems abroad. we have plenty of people in this country to consult our own problems. to tweet.us go james, an independent, go ahead. caller: i am a retired -- host:

you have to turn down your tv. caller: what is really going on is a ponzi scheme, if you know what that is. host: tell us more. we did this to involve when we are about to go into a complete depression. we needed china possibly over there, we needed india's buddy to send somebody over there. to paper money.- we need to do is we need to

start buying american again. we did the ponzi scheme to pull china -- i would love to go to china. of studying lot over there. host: on twitter -- i am patriot rights and says -- -- writes in and says -- we mentioned that "the new york times" reported that the u.s. and china have agreed to hold some high-level talks on how to set behavior's on cyber security. this is american officials do not expect the process to

immediately yield significant reductions. let us here with johnny have to say, a democrat. i want to comment on the guy who said that north korea, china, and iran are bullies. they can be pleased because we are broke. what a lot of at republicans said about president obama. president bush came in with a surplus. he gave tax cuts to the rich. we are talking about a decade.

wars were put on the credit card. i think that we are hypocritical because we say we go to the middle east to get rid of tyranny. we borrow money from communists to fund wars. the: do you remember tenements where protest? square protest? caller: i do. we went over and to cut it down in iraq. he was a bad person. we unleashed iran. reflection ofa the protest in 1989 -- some of the children of these

men who were there are wondering what really happened to lend half decades ago. of race in georgia, an -- ray int scholar georgia, an independent scholar. caller: by allowing them to do business here in the united states it is like our government is supporting communism. 200 would be telling

million american workers it is ok to the communists. is that what you are trying to tell the american citizens? if so we have corporate profits that come from capitol and some that come from labor. by capital created should be paid to the stockholders. laboredthe profits from should be paid to workers. if the stockholders want to profit from labor they need to be out on the assembly lines doing the work. they should be building the houses and pouring the concrete if they want the profits from labor. this should not be taking the profits from labor that along to workers -- that belongs to workers. host: should the president bring these issues up with the chinese leader, should these be made at

the local government, national, or federal level? congress should get involved. thatare sending a message it is ok to be communist. we need a communist party here in the united states -- a 50% communist,t, 50% capital. capitalism is a good way to create wealth. thes a good way to divide wealth up. host: richard and florida. welcome caller:. how're you doing? say a few things to address the question what should the u.s. relationship with china? to tell you the truth you have to know when to hold them and know when to fold them. we are printing more money than

we have ever had before. we have a strong president with week policies. we are dealing with carry over policies that have held us down over the last few years. the companies that we have in the united states that go overseas and make these big dollars, they personally are not going to be coming back anytime soon. i do not believe so. i believe they should petition -- i believe they should but they are not going to come back. under the regime they have in china, they are highly disciplined and motivated to work. and they are willing to work. you cannot expect obama to deal withthat or deal strongly a strong chinese fraught with a weekend. we need to be stronger as a nation. how can we do that with our week

policies? i do not expect congress to do anything much right now. he can just look at them in the face and smile. keep paying them until we get into the position where we have some kind from -- some kind of leverage against them. host: here is a tweet this morning -- go to the financial times" looks at naval power -- "the financial times" looks at a power -- naval power --

mark from iowa, republican, hello. have a different take on the smithfield ham. a growing desire to feed their people. essentially if smithfield is turned over to the chinese it will leave the building out there in the street and having a name brand that they can market their ports back i am notited states sure if people are aware.

they're standards for food in china are a lot less than they are in the united states. recently there was a natural where 16,000 poor were drowned. they eventually made it into the chinese food system. i think we are opening up our food system to a lesser quality of meat products. here is the head when he is referring to. -- the headline he is referring to. john from south carolina, a democrat, hello. buying intoybody is it. we oweup, how is it that china all of this money?

to incompetence itself. back,e it there, bring it and sell it. where does china get the money? those are american companies. they turn around and say "let us make a core operation -- the chinese do not own us, the rich owns us. if the company moves to china and makes their goods in china have to get paid. the money goes back to them. do not buy into the hype. we are being owned by corporations to put all of their money overseas. they do not care about americans.

host: this is what victor says on twitter -- our last call for this segment, don, an independent scholar from texas. caller: i have said once before we have been hoodwinked. but not all of us are hoodwinked. tellus more. caller: 30 years ago when general motors went to china a whole lot of other businesses -- that is when a lot of other businesses started to go in. that, in its own right, was going to put pressure on the money that was being returned when it came surtaxes -- when it came to taxes.

think tanks knew that. so it does not like the ripple didn't play out to be what it is now. we are beginning to see what is going to happen to this great nation. it has been a terrible ride for the people at the homes. when we look at what is happening in greece, cyprus, maybe spain and france, i look at it and i wonder when it will happen here. it has already happened when you look at detroit, florida, california. final facebook comment --

the mall for all of your calls and comments. we will be taking more -- thank you for all of your calls and comments. we will be taking more of your thoughts. will join us to discuss congress strategy. this is all coming up. we will be right back. ♪ >> she makes the first speech by

a sitting first lady, becomes the first president of the daughters of the american revolution, designed her own china and establishes the white house china collection, and is the first to have a christmas tree in the white house. beat caroline harrison, wife of the 23rd president, benjamin harrison, as we continue our series on first ladies. tonight, live at 9:00 eastern, c-span3, and c-span.org. important thing we are seeing from the community, real engagement. people are not debating whether to have a set of options. they are not debating whether to recover spectrum. we are debating what the first logged in band plan should look like. there is some tricky but important issues to address. >> it is not like the new

chairman will walking on a friday and they have an auction on monday. there are a series of complicated orders to go out. this auction will be the most complex in world history. we are moving faster than the rest of the world and have all along. areeyes of the world looking at the u.s. to see how we handle this. two former fcc inspectors with issues facing the fcc. tonight at 8:00 eastern on c- span2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: jonathan strong is a reporter for "the national review." times" looks at the disconnect of congress. legislation is competing with

controversies. what do you think will dominate the dialogue as ec members of the senate and house returned to washington? guest: we have seen that immigration was the big issue. consumedals have washington for a few weeks. in order for immigration to have a good shot at becoming a law signed by president obama, the people who are pushing it say it would have to be done before the august recess. it is a conflict here. there is another view that the scandals help insulate the immigration bill from criticism. the radarlying under of all of the anger over the irs investigations. host: "the new york times" says --

jonathan weisman thinks that that is what the president has on the line. haveyou think democrats agreed to the republicans have on the line? guest: we said this is not the same as a positive agenda for the party. there is a debate going on, how much do the scandals actually help republicans? it is embarrassing for the president but his polls seem to be same. reporter, i think the stores are important on their own merits. in the future when people are thinking about doing some of these things that prompt these scandals, they might think twice because of what a big hubbub it cost back in the day. host: let us check with chuck schumer had to say on nbc's " meet the press." [video clip] >> we are gonna put immigration

on the floor starting to attend. i predict it will pass the senate by july 4. we are hoping to get up to 70 votes. we are willing to entertain amendments that not damage the core principles of the bill but improve the bill, just as we did in committee. we came out of the committee very strong. our gang of eight stuck together. let me say this about in general -- the so-called scandals have not diverted us one iota. you have three of the people who have been most critical of the president on some of these other issues on the gang of eight. i think the eight of us realize how important this is, more important than any of these scandals, to the future of america and job growth, and middle-class, and strengthening out the system. one iota. interfered we are moving forward in a bipartisan way. this is vital for america. we will have a good bill. host: the timeline he laid out, you expect that to happen?

guest: it could. it is still up in the air. senator mark rubio is the lead republican on this gang. he is floating this plan, talking with some of the more conservative senators, including a specific border- enforcement plan rather than let the department of homeland security come up with one. he hopes that will address the concerns that the bill does not have enough on the border security side and that would result in 70 + votes. beo not know if he will successful in getting that amendment and if that will pit the republican votes he hopes it will. host: you had a piece earlier in may, "reality check for rubio." take a look at how he is positioning. role hemore about what will continue to play as a member of the gang of eight on immigration reform. guest: he has taken big hits in

his role on the gang of eight. a lot of conservative voters have tied it on him since he took this issue. one thing i look at is the house chairman, republican chairman, held a hearing that was essentially an argument against the and gang of eight. he brought in experts, they went through all of the loopholes. the reason it is not going to secure the border in their view -- that is the house republican chairman. if that is where he is what is the likelihood that this is going to pass through the house in some semblance to what it is right now? host: why did you call your story reality check? guest: that tweet the market had gone very well. they were able to get warren hatch's vote with a special deal on the heiss' gold pieces. the house showing even more signs that it will be difficult

to pass a bill. how much is rupiah thinking about 2016, how important but the alliance is a mix now, and how important is to win on immigration in the future? mcconnell, the senate minority leader, gave him advice. he said you need a big accomplishment under your belt when you are going to run for president. i think the best part of his mymulation in doing this -- own view is it has been pretty hard for him. jonathan strong, reporter for "the national review." one of his recent stories -- tough he is in such a

spot. even a master strategist like cam has to pay attention to his right flank. rand paul could come out against this bill in a big way. the state senator would be coming out against this. mcconnell seems like he wants this bill to pass in his remarks praising it a few weeks ago. taking your calls. let us hear from bill in florida on our republican line. hello. caller: i just had a comment about the immigration bill i think it would be a disaster for

-- when reagan had bill on may 6 the amount of hispanic votes to republicans went down. i think the main reason why -- the main reason why these immigrants are voting are because democrats are promising them stuff, like free hope and food stamps. i think this would be a disaster to the republican party. view or theonsensus conventional wisdom among republican operatives, the professional people that focus on how to win the presidential , they think very strongly that immigration is good for republicans. they argue that this will open the door for a chance to interact with hispanic voters

and build inroads. i am a skeptic of this whole case for reasons that the caller had talked about. in 1996 republicans were behind immigration bill and that it not seem to build and support. john mccain and is known -- don king is known for immigration mccain is known for immigration reform. when you start questioning the actual premises of the argument i cannot find satisfactory answers. host: his latest peace online -- what is this dynamic and why are you following it? piece,a start off my

john mccain had this fight with mike lee on the senate floor last week. at the end of this, they are done debating, and mccain walks around ranting to individual senators. -- there are some core policy disputes but it has gotten pretty personal. ted cruz is someone who likes to fight just as much as mccain. john weaver says this may be is a maverick seeing another maverick. sight ofnnot stand the another person willing to buck the establishment. host: how has it been coopted by the conservatives? uses an interview to denigrate them and instantly became a point of ridicule.

and they have registered whackobird.com. i had a congressman on the record say he was jealous that he was not listed as one of the original "whacko birds." host: republic online, go ahead. caller: mccain the -- mccain needs to go. he is not even conservatives. rubio, i was for him until he was up for this immigration bill. do you think principles that do not have -- principles do not have

value? caller: if you run on principles, it doesn't have a value? if your cabling your principles , did a count in a more? host: how much does your opinion of folks like john mccain influence you when you go to the voting booth? i did not a case can be made that in terms of the republican presidential landscape there has never been a time when principles mattered more. the process is very drawn out. the amount of information available on the internet and elsewhere has increased. it has focused on whether

people are staying true to the conservatives. it is more than it ever has been. , there's marco rubio a question about whether or how big of a deal this will be. obviously, he is looking at running for president and this will come up. people will ask about the loopholes or the reason if the triggers will work in the bill. i think you'll be her considerably. host: let's go to robert, independent mine. caller: good morning. you have marco rubio and ted cruz. i do not know if they are trying to get the latino vote, they are cubans.

they have hated cubans. now they are trying to get the latino vote a cousin of their last names? not stupid, you know. they are not going to vote for them. i'm just trying to give that point that cubans and mexicans have never gotten along. this is a last thing to try to these votes. it is not going to work. americans are going to finally realize what is going on here. to are trying to get them get the latino vote. it is not going to work. they can try all they want and they will never get them. guest: interesting point from the caller on the distinction is. i do not think there is any cloak and dagger effort to shield the identities of either

takers or marco rubio or any of those guys. they have been very forth cutting -- forthcoming. the wall street journal checked it with mitt romney and showed this story. he is hosting an event in utah for 200 friends and campaign supporters. is his perceived role in the republican party? do not know what role he thinks he will have. i think that this may be different from the role that he will have. there is a certain sense of fatigue for romney. he ran two times. the first time he did not make it through the primary. then he lost against obama. as some kind of leader or face of the party, i think that time has passed. , and why has this event

what will you be looking for? i will be watching a few is trying to build the infrastructure that will help fundraising for the candidates that he wants to support. access to people who can donate money. that is the most important access, financial. host: another republican governor, chris christie. withw him just recently president obama looking at recovery of the jersey shore. we are also watching him as he runs for governor again for reelection. then there is speculation about what will happen next. but take a look at one of his television ads for governor called "jersey pride." [video clip] riseemployment was on the and then we elected chris christie. he made the tough decisions to

get new jersey back on track. the result, the best job growth in 12 years and the most education funding ever with no new taxes for anyone. most importantly, he is proud to say "we are from new jersey." chris christie, the governor. host: what does he have to balance right now politically? guest: he is in a blue state. a lot of democratic voters. i know that it works in new jersey to appear alongside president obama. i just think he is really badly underestimating how much that will come back to heart him when he runs in 2016. -- to haunt him when he runs in 2016. republicans are very bitter about his move to hug president obama. maybe that seems petty to a lot of people, but that is how it

is going to be remembered. he helped president obama before election day in a gratuitous way and now he is continuing. i have no idea what he is thinking. from bob,s hear independent caller. welcome to the conversation. caller: good morning. as i look at the entire landscape of the celebration at issue, i find the entire thing to be disingenuous. i cannot understand why anybody is considering passing more law. nobody is interested in enforcing law and anyway you look at it. it is a danger to public safety. diseases are coming home because we are unable to deal with that. we have an unemployment problem. i do not see any upside to allowing the door to open even further. for many years, this country has welcome democrats. there's not a problem with immigrants. there is a problem with illegal

immigration with no control over the situation and no one willing to exert any decent efforts in enforcing the laws. the rest is pure politics and pandering and the usual garbage. guest: this is really the core that is facing senator rubio and his gang of eight. people do not trust the laws will be enforced. reasonve a pretty good not to trust. 1986 was supposed to solve a problem and the provisions ended up getting scrapped. president very has used at the least aggressive interpretation allowingw to begin people to stay here if you came here illegally.

there is a real lack of faith there. that is why conservatives want the permanent residence for the illegal immigrants to be after the border enforcement provisions are in place. the argument is that the trigger should be after -- before the residence, not after. the caller has a good point. host: kirk in bakersfield, republican. my question is about kevin mccarthy and whether he has any aspirations for national office. guest: i never heard of kevin mccarthy being talked about for national office in terms of presidency. he does have a lot of promise. he is very dynamic.

he is still a pretty young politician. he is a great personality. he is very well liked in washington. i could see him getting picked up sunday for the vice presidential ticket. you certainly a promising figure. are you asking about congressman mccarthy? caller: he is my representative. i disagree with him on many social issues. most conservatives would agree with him on other issues. i do not know he's the best person to be representing us, much less the country. host: are you a republican? caller: yes. att: we have been looking stories about senator rubio and mccain, what members are you

watching that appeal to you? , quite at this time frankly, no one. i is a very unhappy republican. host: what would make you happy? caller: i am looking for someone that is more moderate on basically every issue. i have a house member you can follow that is moderate. he is out from california. his name is charlie dent. he is from pennsylvania. he is the head of the tuesday group, which is a beleaguered group of moderate republicans. they do not have nearly the clout they want had -- once had. if there is someone you is leading that, that is your man. host: jonathan strong, a reporter for national review. before he went there, he covered house leadership for roll call. he was an investigative reporter for the daily caller.

we talked about his use of wacko birds to describe his republican colleagues. here is one of those. guest: in the house the starter with the tea party wave. there were 87 new freshmen members. than normal.r they also had an animating spirit that was different from most. they came here and thought they were sent by voters to stop what was happening in washington. interesting republicans and democrats have a backlash. they came here and thought voters sent us two work together in both parties.

they have been trying to do that. mike lee and rubio are all doing big things in the senate before you would expect them to do it. rubio is a little different. he is planned by the rulebook a lot more than ted cruz and lee. host: independent, high. caller: i had a lot of experiences. i lived in southeast baltimore. 10 years ago and lots of hispanics found this movement. i knew a lot of illegal immigrants. , i think next to me illegal immigrants are coming in and out of that house. may be someng is other people were not being fair to them. i thought i would keep an open mind.

i am sick of it. they show no respect for the air force or to simulate drunk driving. i went through every channel. our governor o'malley is giving him a free ride on everything. they can break any laws. where did these feelings leave you? on the right or left? open-: i always try to be minded and look at republicans and democrats. we do not take care of it for decades.

the problem ofth illegal immigrants. i believe the greatest to come here legally. when an legal in the grid started coming across the border, nobody had the debt's -- when illegal immigrants started coming across the border, nobody had the that'guts to deal with . want to come to this country illegally. no way. response's get the from jonathan strong and the frustration he felt. guest: the caller reminds me of some of the lawmakers that i talk to ahen you sto theykeying or someone, have a reverence and protecting the rule of law. i have heard people say i will not violate the rule of law. i cannot do that no matter it

makes sense for republicans politically or not. there is a very deeply felt fore that offering amnesty people who come here illegally would he a violation of that. interestingly, there is a bipartisan group on the house side that has tried to deal with ,hat aspect of the issue by they talked about and discussed having illegal immigrants plead guilty in a court and go on probation as part of their path to citizenship. it is an innovative way to adjust those concerns. host: what happened to me give huddled masses? america has lost its way. there is this tweet coming in. christie is

positioning himself for a third- party run since our ebs will choose someone unelectable. thet: maybe that is expiration of for why he standing next to obama so often. they do face a lots of difficulty for different reasons. it is geared toward the two party. democrat, welcome. caller: thank you for taking my call. --ould like to say host: i do not understand that. caller: if you have republicans on television with a straight face, and this is not any indication on how i feel about talking abouteen christian rites and all of this

stuff, and i am from south carolina. whoave a governor here leaves a lot to be desired. the media is constantly calling south carolina a red state. we have had democratic governors and the past and we will happen the future. we did not lose by that much of this election cycle. , i am agration debate minority. i think there are a lot of things that need to be changed in the dialogue about the immigration debate. the rule of law stated that we have to follow the rule of law. there should be a path to citizenship. it has to be the rule of law. you have to get in the back of the line. i really like c-span. it is strong when you're

talking about your friend republican -- fringe republican candidates. if you start at the middle ground we can meet there. guest: i think maybe the caller was referring to my complexion. i got a little of soun. i do not know why he would think i am an immigrant. it is an interesting call. host: immigrants come in all shapes and colors from all over the world. it sounded like he was trying to make a point about trying to find a middle path and middle ground. who is working on the middle ground? washington has gotten very polar rise. the gridlock has come insurmountable. that has led to and lots of cries from the senator, especially in washington, that we need to solve this problem and get people working together

again. there is another view of this from the right that gridlock is keeping bad things from happening. is badot clear that it for everyone. it may be bad if you are a moderate. , we hearderday on cnn from ileana ros-lehtinen. get a news must survey that female breadwinners are on the rise in u.s. households. [video clip] a the statistic should be wake-up call for our gop. we need to be talking about the issues that are more representative of america. how many of us are really gearing up for a single mom raising her kid on her own, being the sole breadwinner? that messenger.

we need to tune it up and step up to the reality and the changing demographics that is america today. host: we are hearing a republican woman talk about her own party and that they need to stuff up for working women. guest: what does she mean by that? what are the policies that she wants her party to embrace? she did not say what they were. i have heard a lot of talk from kathy morris is making an outcry. she is a woman trying to reach out, putting articles on blogs that cater to mothers. i have not seen that call accompanied by what kind of positions they want the republican party to embrace. host: another demographic getting attention, young voters.

a new postmortem on the november elections offers a searing indictment of the gop brand and the major challenges the party faces and willing young voters. guest: the most controversial or ful was on gay marriage with they strongly urge the parties to embrace openness, saying that it hurt republicans with young voters. i think that is a view that has increasing sway with political operatives here in dc. i am not sure if that actually works in a lots of the country where the issue is not the same as it is in washington, dc. social issues have played pretty well for republicans over time. the: a report says republican party has won the youth vote the floor and can win it again. it points to run a reagan and

george w. bush. it will not occur without significant work to repair the damage done to the republican brand. guest: another thing republicans can do is have sent us a plan in their in the last election, there were three or four senses uttered by republican politicians that ended up creating an image for the entire party. werehings that were said not true. they were offensive in some cases. not saying things like that would help. host: we're are talking about the republican agenda. next in anderson, indiana. republican. caller: one thing that i see that is pretty prevalent is you have a lot of people

diversity of the republican party. if you look at the dinner credit party,, you have such extremism. they always criticize the different values and conservative views that they have. they always put that as negative. the standout as one of of the new people, rand paul. someone might rand paul, a lot of this is good. they stand on values. can somebody like him actually be accepted as some type of a leader coming up in the next election for president? the answer is obviously

yes. to the caller's point, rand paul has made a very big effort to reach out to minorities, please relatively compared to some of his colleagues. he spoke at howard university recently. he isan on doing -- planning on doing more of those events. there is more on outreach for republicans and minority voters. i think he is trying to remedy that. , hi.da independent caller: all we need to do is employ our sanctions and the case is closed. we are building a berlin style wall. how disgraceful to us as human beings. we are talking for a century.

the congress does not want to deal with the issue. if they wast ways to deal with e issue they would do it intelligently. we are really a third-party. there's one copy modest proposal. it it is a series of common thoughts that bring the two sides together. this debate is absurd. guest: the berlin wall was intended to keep people in and the wall to the extent it is being built on the u.s. southern border is intended to keep people out. i think most reasonable people feel that enforcing the border of a nation is not fascist or totalitarian. i would disagree with the collar. -- caller. i do find punishing people who employ illegal aliens is the way of enforcing the border in

the most effective way. he has a point there. host: pennsylvania, patricia, republican. caller: my question is about the byestigation of theirs congress. durbin,ors schubert, and others -- they sent letters requesting that they investigate conservative groups. irs is supposed to stay away from politics. are the senator is going to be held accountable for this action or called to testify? what the collar is referring to is not just limited to those three centers. a considerable number of calls. what they were calling for is for the irs to enforce the law

across the board. while the calls were targeted as perceived abuses, none of the thingever said a single about applying the law to them which is happening to thei irs and it is a more onerous thing to do. host: peachtree city, georgia, democrats. caller: thank you. i am a first-time collar. aller. i hear so much about immigration. i am certainly for immigration reform. i encountered mexicans in my life the daily. i did not hear people complaining about mexicans being in america when america needed homes built, or when

america needed their core and picked.corn paid them less money than they would american citizens. i did not hear americans complain about this. now that the country has undergone somewhat of a downturn, everybody wants to cindy mexicans back to mexico. california was once their home. , the onlythis goes two american is the american indian. the last time this bill came up was in 2007 when the economy was still luring and it

became a huge issue of concern. the legislation cannot pass the senate despite the good economic conditions. i do not think you can pinpoint it and say it is because because of the recession. , thee other hand recession has impacted the environmental issues and perspective that way. cap and trade was something that really could have happened. it was on the table and now you hardly hear anything about it. it basically push those issues away. host: you can find his most onnt piece "wacko wars" the first page of the national review website. thank you for being with us this morning. coming up next, we will look at the democratic agenda in congress. in 2011, they were deemed structurally deficient by the

federal government. corles.hear from james forhey court-martial bradley manning begins today. he is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of state department documents that ended up being published. this has been described as the this inensively a of history. he is been kicked it -- bing convicting -- been convicted of the most severe charge, aiding the enemy. john mccain says president obama is "mired in a series of scandals and must find a way to surmount them." he believes "the president's credibility is at stake." he went on to say that president obama should be

thinking about "how to get these issues behind him." he is referring to controversies behind theirs, , libya and the seizure of journalists phone records. ronald reagan went on television and took responsibility for the contra affair. he suggested president obama do likewise. welcomes bradley cooper and glenn close on a gathering of dental health. it is organized as part of a response to the connecticut elementary school shooting. it reduces the stigma of mental health and encourages those who are struggling to get help. president obama will deliver opening remarks here on c-span radio at 10:00 a.m. eastern. those are some of the latest headlines. like she makes the first speech by a sitting first lady, becomes the first president of the daughters of the american revolution, designed her own

china and establishes the white house china collection, and is the first to have a christmas tree in the white house. meet caroline harrison, wife of benjamin harrison, as we continue our series on first ladies. that is tonight live at 9:00 c-ern on c-span, c-span3, .pan radio and www.c-span.org he is the policy committee vice chair. thank you for being here. tor outlining cance a busy june. it is highlighted by a appropriations. we are seeing an assortment of legislative measures. what is on your agenda? guest: jobs, jobs, jobs. .exas has done well

most private jobs have been created in texas. we emphasize a lot on the job creation. i think that is what we can do as a country. we do have other issues on immigration reform. it is something we need to do. it is good for the economy. of allopriation bill, the bills we handle we should th thedeal wil appropriation bills in work with the other things. in washington we always do things backwards. host: when congress returns this week there is a competition between controversies. is a politicized word. how should the focus be? are you concerned about the agenda the democrats want to pursue? guest: without a doubt. should be jobs

creation. as we meet the goals, there are always things that take time away from the calendar. if you look at the dates we are here and go down the calendar, we arty have a few days. it is not every single day monday through sunday. of investigation is part the oversight. i agree congress needs to do that though we cannot lose focus of the main things we .hould be working on if the economy is getting better but that should be the emphasis. senator schumer is talking about how immigration reform may move through that body. we saw some conversation about the house. talkedsman bob goodlatte about this on fox news.

let's take a listen. [video clip] is better to do a by a step-by-step approach. we will continue down that path. the final outcome will be in terms of the form of the legislation is not yet known. host: what does that mean to you? what is the step-by-step approach? guest: apparently that is what he wants to do. i disagree with him respectfully. we can do this. congress was mainly democratic. it is not beyond our control. i think any immigration reform should have three major wings, strong border security, a guest ander program that works, what do we do about the 11 or 12

million undocumented persons we have right now? it would go piece by piece. they are going to take the easy ones first, more border security. as you get to the second or third phase, it'll get a little harder. that is where we need to do free -- full comprehensive immigration. commerce men henry cuellar is our guest. (202) 737-0001, (202) 737-0002 republicans, an independent (202) 628-0205. caller: there is no resistance 48 stories as it went down. why hasn't congress forced the national institute of standards of technology to explore the possibility?

what do you think about immigration reform here in houston? immigration reform would start with the labor reform. we have a system that condones illegal immigration. thaback to my original question. that texas in mind has the largest border of any other state. we have 1200 miles out of the 2000 miles we have. i live on the border. i understand what it is like to live on the border. when you look at the border, look at the statistics. the crime rate we have is a lot lower than the national crime rate. in my home town of laredo, for 100,000, the murder rate is

lower than here in washington, dc. when we talk about immigration reform, we have to deal with reality and perception. host: our guest represents the 28 register of -- district of texas. he sits on appropriations committee on homeland security and state foreign operations and related programs. he remembers the blue dot coalition. what is the strength of the blue dog coalition? it is a reflection of what is happening in the united states. we're seeing less of the twin districts. aredemocratic districts becoming more democratic and republican districts are getting more republican. are gettingstricts smaller and smaller. what happens is therefore you take people that take more

extreme positions and their views than we have seen in the past. those in the middle are being squeezed. overallhard on the movement here in the united states every districting. host: elaine, san diego, democratic. caller: the previous guy was talking about 86 when reagan put in the immigration laws. the borders were shut down. totally shut down because they enforce the law. yhat has happened now is the are not enforcing the laws. it is just open gates. if i was from mexico, i will come here, too. the borderstime,

are open. it is like tijuana, 90% hispanic. that is ok. we would not have any immigration problems. if you enforce the law, you would not have this conversation. guest: there are a couple of observations there. mastec has been good for the united states and for the other two countries. 40%y hometown of laredo, of all the trade between the in mynd mexico happens hometown. everyday there is $1.2 million in trade between the u.s. and mexico. if you look at the jobs in the united states, there are 6 million jobs we have because of the trade and the business we have with the republic of mexico.

mastec has been good. it did not have to do it immigration reform. i'm talking about 1986. president reagan did amnesty. i do not believe in amnesty. we have to find a pathway to get those folks out of the shadow. amnesty i do not believe in amnesty. we have to look at numbers coming across. if you look at the numbers, there are less mexicans coming in. there are more returning back. these are the numbers that we have to look at. host: he was on the state of the union yesterday. he made the statement that the cincinnati irs employees say they got directions from washington. [video clip] is stillpaid liar

making up things about what happens and calling this a local road. there is no indication. the reason lowest learner try to take the fifth is not because there is a road in cincinnati. was is a problem that coordinated in all likelihood right out of washington headquarters. we are getting to proving it. host: what is your response? see what further information we have. there are going to be a lot of hearings. .udiciary, oversight i used to be a member of the oversights. let's get the facts before we come to some conclusion. once we get all the facts, wherever they lead us to come we might have to take some tough steps. let's not jump to conclusions. let's finish the investigation. inspector general come

up with all the reports and then we will decide. , florida, ron, republican. caller: the remark you made about ronald reagan doing free- form, that is probably one of the worst things he ever did. he never sealed the border. he made the incentive for more illegals to cross. , i want torime rate know what it is on the other side of the border. these cartels are not stupid. they know crime overflows and we would not shut down the border. they cannot smuggle people. what is the crime rate on the other side of the border? ist: first of all, it represent the united states, not on the other side. you are correct. on the other side, and they do have problems and why we need to treat them as a friend and not an enemy. keep in mind, every year the united states sends back 25 or

$35 billion of profit and therefore for the drug cartels in mexico, that is big business. that is why they are fighting over their turf. the places where they send the drugs into the united states . mexico is a very important trading partner for the united states. 6 million american jobs are here because of the trade we have with mexico. host: stories looking at medicare and medicaid, this from usa today. medicare costs are still declining. medicare is on track for insolvency in 2026. for social security the key date is 2033.

we found this out on friday. i must august ask, social security will not be able to pay full benefits to retirees. these latest numbers, what is your assessment on entitlement reform? guest: every year we do with a $3.7 trillion budget. it is growing by the year. as a democrat i know it is difficult to talk about entitlements. if we are going to be aggressive to this issue, we have to take some tough decisions. at one time or another, we have to deal with the entitlements. otherwise, whether it is president bush or president obama, at one time or another we have to make some reforms. unfortunately, what does congress say? for the next classes. there we go ahead and react.

social security and medicare are issues that are so far away. as he get closer we have to take certain bipartisan steps. host: the affordable care act is often called obamacare. an aspect of this is implementation dates. clinical reports that they are reaching for an out reach push -- guest: i voted for healthcare. it is difficult but the right thing to do. of peoplerict, 35% have no coverage.

texas leads the whole country and having uninsured kids. we need to do better. the healthcare law will provide is the care we need. the only problem i have is a piece of legislation we should the had them work out differences. we did not get to do that. want to repeal health care. the do not want to touch one single ink. they do not want to change one single thing. are doing the out reach personally. i have my staff already getting trained to make sure we inform get the taxey can credit for individuals and they know what impacts them. the women so they know they will not be discriminated on premiums. there are a lot of good things out there. all we are trying to do is

letting people know the benefit of healthcare. eventually, we will fine tune the legislation. host: has the president done enough? guest: they did not do enough during the debate. i wish they did a much better job. they started to do some of that right now. i think they can do more. they ought to do more. there is a reason why we are there and doing the out reach. the leadership has been good. making sure that we inform people of the healthcare benefits. this is a very free market concept. imagine what happens if we provide more insurance. the more insurance companies you have, the prices will go down.

coming up october 1. host: democrat, virginia. caller: hi. i have been listening and i have a couple of comments. in but if people need to know that darrell issa is the single richest congressman in all of congress. he's worth over 200 million dollars. there are a lot of shaky deals. who should have someone look into him. they cleared him of any wrongdoing. there is a nasty undertone. as far as immigration reform,

he may have about 70 votes in the senate. the land outside of congress they will do everything and everything to ensure failure or passage. there's also a point about the deportation numbers. the obama administration has deported more illegal that have done crimes in that nature than bush did in all of his years. all this talk of wanting to kick illegals out in all of this nonsense, there would be an economic crash. i am in the construction industry. it is something i know well. these are some of the most hard- working people in the country. it would devastate the economy. one that cameis out this weekend.

last weekend we have bob dole. the democratsing when they really looked inside and determined that. they used to do some sort of course correction. the republicans have big issues with women, social issues. like theost republicans want to manifest. they do not care. they want to be a party of the south. they tried chris christie for with president obama. it is just pathetic. guest: let me start backward. came out at the young people. they also have trouble with women. they do not do immigration reform they will have a lot more problems with hispanics. president obama won 70% of the hispanic vote. there is a reason

why republicans went from this making it so difficult. thatof them understand they have to do reform otherwise they will lose the hispanic vote. and younge the women, folks, and if they ever lose the elderly, and they are going to be so compartmentalized that it'll be difficult event to win elections in the future except for those small congressional districts that they have right now. that is one thing that the democratic party is doing, making sure we reach out to the minorities and young will into the middle class. immigration reform, again, let me just say it is one of those things that will not go away. it is not going to go away.

it has been here. we have to do something. do immigration, border security, let's take that in mind. some are speaking of putting walls on the border. the canadians would hate that. put them inave which they are not to put any fence or wall on the northern border. some of us in the southern part feel a little bit not happy with that type of treatment to the southern border. people talk about terrorism and 9/11. the you come in through southern border. they came in through other parts not through the southern border. sensible. let's not get too emotional. common sensese that will be good for the nation. host: how do you account for

the large number people deported by the obama obama administration as opposed to george bush? guest: i think everybody is here with a criminal record, i do not want them here. he is right. the first four years under the they deported more than george bush did in eight years. people are coming in. they have been here. they are good and lawful citizens. that is one thing. if they are here with criminal records and they do not go along here. host: let's go to jerry, republican. caller: good morning, c-span. i just want to ask you one question. most democrats go on with this immigration bill. they say it will be good for the country. it will make everything better. the last time they did this, this made everything very bad under ronald reagan.

african americans still suffer from that. when you talk about bringing 11 million more people, the unemployment rate is just doubling. i am telling you now. if you bring more people in that will make us suffer. we are the ones that used to do those jobs that used to do in construction in steel mills. we got pushed out when you all came in. when you all talk about this, think about that. how are we going to make this work? we are here. they are coming here. who's going to take those jobs? we are. i do not want to pick hispanics versus blacks. we do not want to do that. we want to look at this as

americans. we are not talking about bringing those folks in. they are here already. we are not talking about putting them on boats or airplanes. they're here already. they have been here for many years. do we keep them in the shadows are duly take them out so they can be good protective -- productive citizens? the labor and the u.s. chamber worked out agreements to make sure we do this. i represent san antonio down to laredo. log of theed to a when they were offering people 14 or $15 an hour to go work in the field in the hot sun. they could not find anyone to do that work. my father came over from mexico and became a legal resident and naturalized citizen. for many years, my father and mother used to work in the fields.

they know what it is to work in the hot sun. there are no folks that want to do the job tom a then let's bring in the folks that actually want to get in the sun and work hard for those jobs. we take care of americans first. if they do not want to do something, then this is why we have a guest worker plan. keep in mind what happened in world war ii. created a couple of things. it created a lot of openings for women. it created work. as a neo-folks in the field, what do the united states do? they asked mexico, can you send us some of your folk? to fill in the positions of americans do not want to do. they are here already. did not cross the river or border.

they came here through a legal permit or visa. we have to be smart on how we do border security. you can put the biggest fence that you want to but it is ever going to work. 40% came in through a legal permanent visa. ast: your collar set it up a youth versus us dynamic purity was concerned about jobs. how do you both address that polarization that can happen and thelitical parties fundamental question of fear of jobs pierced hi. they agreed on where this will protect the american jobs. i have been in those fields. i have talked to a lot of folks out there. were are jobs where they

offered $15 an hour and they cannot find anyone. that type of hard work in the sun. my mother did that. want toerican doesn't do it, you have to allow somebody. that is how our economy will continue to grow. host: congressman henry cuellar serving his fifth term. past experience includes time in the texas statehouse. he was also texas secretary of state and worked as a u.s. customs broker. he has degrees from the local community college in laredo as well as from georgetown university. he has a law degree and a phd from the university of texas and a business degree. let's go to north carolina. independent collar. i am actually from texas.

i have been working since i was 14. i had to with the last caller. i have nothing against them. i have friends that are spanish and cuban. i was around with the last and the state -- amnesty. to me, that is not right. i do not trust it. first and then deal with the immigration in the u.s. that is just a comment. amnesty. talk about what would be ok for you? border enforcement

and law enforcement. aree able to put those that here on the path to citizenship. with the ones that have, and recently on the back line. host: ok. texas?why did you leave i am just kidding. .hank you for your question there was a magnet to bring in people. security more border than any time in history. we have drones and technology and cameras to make sure that we stop that.

not everybody crosses the border. we have to understand how the people got here. i still get concern. first the americans get the jobs. if there is an opening and an american wants to take that job, they take that job. if they do not take their job, we leave it open for somebody that wants to come in. immigration reform has been a difficult issue. i was reading a letter about an officer that was complaining about people coming across the river. jobs."re taking over our he said we need to report them

-- deport them. it was a mexican officer talking about the americans crossing the river. .e know what happens after that has beengration issue with us for many years. iteel we have to do immigration in a sensible way. the last time we try to do with border security, we were talking about this six or seven years ago. what did the house pass? somebody a felony if digs a tunnel. we have been talking about border security for a long time. host: you can talk with

congressman cuellar about a range of issues. there is a headline about student loans. willu think congress extend those student loan rates past the deadline that is looming? guest: i agree with the president. my father went to a third grade education. , e more hands that you have the more money that you may. those days are gone. themore education you have, better it is. we are competing against other countries.

thatve to keep in mind education should be seen as the greatest equalizer that we have. if we're trying to keep student loans lower, that helps the middle class. they getthe middle, penalized. let's help those parents and those students by keeping the interest rates as low as we can. it is for the working middle class. host: a democrat from california, jane. caller: i could not disagree with you more on immigration. they have come to the country originally, not speaking the job and, not having a

no place to stay. they have done this once before, going back to their original country. i am an american citizen. the criminals who break all of these laws just to get here. justthey break other laws to get a job. yeah. the majority of people are coming year because there are jobs. this is why on the immigration reform, we have to make sure we put in sensible provisions. keep in mind the majority of

those people are looking for jobs. if they are here for criminal reasons, those are the people that we should support and we should let ice do their work. we have to find a sensible way. it you think we will find enough ites to deport all of them, is not going to happen. we have to make sure that once we address that issue that we do not have more people coming in. wisconsin. from caller: good morning. the house has done some good work on trying to repeal

obamacare but the senate has not done anything. obamacare is going to bankrupt this country. president obama has done a good job of trying to bankrupt this country. i have not heard one democrat will pay back the national debt. hast: the national debt been created by republican and democratic administrations. budget, 2/3 t the is the entitlements. that isa large chunk the military. . 15% to 17%. is about

we have to look at the overall approach. i am a blue dog. 2007,ending now is about 2008. now what do we do about the debt? if we kept the policies of president clinton and newt surplus -- we had a when president clinton left office. we started two wars in 2001. d for the part e medicare. we instituted the tax cuts.

if we would have kept what newt and president clinton, we would be talking about surpluses. host: congressman rep. henry cuellar, democrat from texas. hi, fred. caller: hi. good morning. ifn it comes to immigration, you're not supposed to be in this country, you would leave. everypeople have known second and every minute and every month and every year that they were not supposed to be here. at first they were thumbing their noses at our laws.

if we do this pathway to citizenship, who is going to manage it/ ice cannot manage the visa program. that is the question i have for you. who is going to manage this crap? guest: thank you very much. beenration reform has emotional for years. irishse to focus on the and the germans and now the hispanics. look at mankind throughout the world. people move around for many reasons. war move around because of and because they are starving.

people are coming nearer to the united states because of economics. keep in mind that folks are here. .e can keep them in the shadows it will be difficult to deport them. or you can bring them out of the shadows. i will bea criminal, the first to say kick them out. keep them in the shadows or start the process so we know who they are. pay more taxes. taxes.m to pay more came from mexico and became a legal resident and a

naturalized citizen. i do not want anybody jumping ahead of him. we have done it before. host: some related questions on twitter. immigration. guest: yeah, and he's right. have here people we came through a legal visa. that individual is correct. right now the focus that used to be on the irish and the chinese, now the focus is on the hispanics. there is always somebody that

there is a focus on. and theythe officer were talking about americans crossing the river without documentation. they took over texas. immigration reform can be an emotional issue. best interest of the united states. host: mary, a democrat. caller: hi. good morning. i feel sorry for obama. for the first four years that he walks into office, he believed that he could coordinate everyone to be a bipartisan.

when it was said he would be a first term president, what does that tell you from the beginning? i feel very sorry for him. he learned what the house did to him. he wanted jobs. he could have had a million jobs. the republicans blocked him. everything the republicans put up there. they did everything against that man to make this country great. he had infrastructure. he could have put people to work. guest: very good points that you

made. a president comes in. republicans were determined to make sure he did not succeed. congress. overview of people talk about being a bipartisan. it happened to me and to republicans. that is one thing that is wrong with congress. republicans are focusing on investigations. they saw this in 1998 with president clinton. we have to address the issues that the american people want us to address. jobs, jobs, jobs.

science, research, and we can make our economy. reflection of a the strength of this country. host: congressman rep. henry of texas.emocrat thank you so much for being here. guest: thank you so much. america's bridges are structurally deficient. we will hear from james corless. 9:17 eastern time. ,000 carsof nearly 167

and trucks made for a great may, according to chrysler. sales rose 11% last month. we'll hear from other automakers later today. $12.7ers should earn this year traffic thanks to a packed planes. the revised forecast holds, the global airline industry will love had its third strong this year since 2001. the construction of a bridge connecting the u.s. and mexico is almost complete, but only on the u.s. side. the project has not begun on the mexican side because the mexican

government has not allocated the money. more on u.s. bridges is next on "washington journal." those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. [video clip] >> people are not debating whether or not to recover. the first broad band plan should look like. bute are some tricky important issues to address. >> there are a series of complicated orders that need to go out. mostauction will be the complex in world history.

we've are moving faster than the rest of the world. the world are looking at the u.s. to see how we handle this. >> the upcoming spectrum .uction, tonight on c-span2 >> "washington journal" continues. we are looking at your money. this morning we are looking at the bridge safety. our guest is james corless, director of transportation for america. thank you for being here. governmentfederal

has a pretty strong role. some high-been profile bridge collapses. the federal government has stepped in and has taken a role in reading bridges and making sure that states look at how safe and sound the nation's bridges are. the states are in the driver's seat cooked when it comes to spending those dollars. host: we're seeing ramifications from the bridge collapsed in washington. important artery for transportation. what can we understand from that? guest: we see an aging

infrastructure in the united states. the bridges are built to last about 50 years. this was known as a fractured critical bridge. loadoks like an oversized hit that in a worse place possible. nobody waskable killed. crisis will the only be growing as these bridges get older. we have several thousand fractured critical bridge designs. , theymes smaller bridges are the lifeblood of this economy. bridge.truck hit that

guest: the washington state department of transportation had noticed this bridge. it was not structurally deficient. it was known to be a fracture critical. there are thousands of those bridges. investment toome address all of those critical bridges. 66,000here are over bridges that are considered structurally deficient. what to those sets of words mean? guest: starkly deficient is the structure itself and how sound

it is. over time, those bridges get worse. the piers sometimes need replacing. 66,000 deficient bridges that need fixing in the united states. that is one in every nine bridges. they maylly obsolete, be narrow travel lanes. those may need attention. theut them at the top of list for attention. an example of a bridge in vermont and how parts of the bridge are rated.

what are you looking at? .> there are three ratings there's the substructure and the deck, the roadway. each of those elements get say operating from 0 to 10. a 4ny of those ratings are goesss, then that bridge on to wait watch list. unsalfot fe. f a bridge is deemed unsafe, they will close it. the name of the game is investment and dollars.

what ismes corless, transportation for america? guest: we are trying to raise the issue of transportation infrastructure. we believe this is the lifeblood of our economy. a 21st centuryd infrastructure that will allow us to compete in may 21 century economy. att: republicans can call 202-737-0002. democrats, 202-737-0001. callers, 202-628- 0205. caller:two questions. do the sequester affect the

bridge safety inspectors? i live in new york. we have an abundance of bridges here. they are moving like molasses to fix these bridges. take the tappan zee bridge? caller: yes. host: we're seeing some of the toll rates and things like that. what is happening with the tappan zee bridge? ofst: it is reaching the end its life. it doesn't need replacing. the government is looking at a

loan program. .hose are good questions the sequester, there is a highway trust fund. that allows some protection. i am not sure how that affected bridge inspectors. impression is it was not as effective by the sequester. this after the 2007 minnesota bridge collapse. there was attempts by congress to increase investments. tried to advance a but it did not go anywhere. i am afraid we will be facing more tragedies if we do not act

soon. host: tell us about the bridges in the nation's capital. guest: the region is not among the best. the 14th street bridge is a good example. there are some interesting trends. pennsylvania has some of the worst bridges. ofy have weather in terms winter and the terrain. -- we are seeing horrible tornadoes. sere is a scaring of fact -- couring effect. street bridge and the key bridge.

we are seeing footage of them. are whatother bridges you consider to be high troubled bridges, like the tappan zee bridge, compared to more remote bridges? over amost people drive structurally deficient bridges in a major metropolitan region. you have the bay bridge connecting san francisco and oakland. it has been several decades trying to replace the bridge. these are not easy bridges to replace. are of these investments going to be so enormous that we will need targeting the top 100

because they are in the national interest in terms of the traffic that they carry. host: frank is a republican. caller: i would like to know if anybody ever monitors the tax on gasoline. how do states spend it? money. waste of you see the same area getting repaired year after year. i would appreciate if the federal government would check in and see what the states are doing with that money. in.st: they sure do check- there is a federal gasoline tax,

18 cents a gallon. not riseal tax does over time. people are driving less and cars are more efficient. gasoline taxes are not keeping pace. more in termsed of expenditure of funds. trumps thepolitics dru most needed projects. we tend to want to build new things. i would not say that this money is wasted. we went from first globally to 15th.

the u.s. has really fallen behind. for americaortation has a list of the busiest structurally deficient bridges. cook.in john, democratic caller. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. is when we think the government is our problem -- there is something wrong with that picture. they do not want to create anything. i travel around different countries. it is a matter of time.

i do note some bridges, know when this bridge is going to collapse. we do not invest. the government does not create jobs. there is a lot of small contractors. call.you for taking my west: there is a notion, think a lot of the bridges and transit systems have already been paid for. due.ill is coming i do think the caller is right. this has been a bipartisan issue. the last time the federal

gasoline tax was raised it was a republican presidents. thatuld want to and hope we can get bipartisan support for increasing investment in transportation to fix what we think are some of the most unsafe conditions out there, including bridges. that is a great question. we know that we're falling behind in infrastructure in general. .e rely on a gasoline tax years one that for 100 historically. other countries take money from their general fund. countries leap

ahead of us using technology to fix bridges and to build public transportation systems. we have some serious problems on our hand. host: don, welcome. caller: good morning. i went to your organization's website. there's a change. revenues are going down. how do we integrate all this into our planning in deciding what to do? guest: that is an excellent question. theelieve we have to fix 20th-century infrastructure in this country that is falling apart.

the demographic shifts alone. .oung people are driving less they want more options. that is a very good. are retiringoomers and looking to downsize. they are living longer. we have to do both of these things. we have to be smarter about how we provide mobility for people in the next couple of decades. was passedhway bill last year. issues?ddress bridge guest: we worked on this legislation. there was a talk of a 30% cut in

funding. in a two-flat funding n year bill. the one thing they did is they eliminated a bridge repair program that was dedicated to fixing bridges and gave more of a broader blank check to states. there are some performance measures in that bill that we hope will provide more transparency. time will tell. host: we are talking with james corless, director of transportation for america. about ants to know website for a problematic bridges. everyr website lists bridge in the united states and

it will tell you whether it is deficient or not. there are numbers that are about to be upgraded. we will give folks new information. code.n type in your zip termsyou talk about the structurally deficient, not suggesting that the bridge is about to collapse. about make decisions trouble based on what you know? guest: i make decisions based on where my kids have to go. i don't feel a structurally deficient bridges is necessarily unsafe. i do think we are in danger of

having more washington i-5 bridge collapses if we're not careful. we do a lot of work on pedestrian safety and vehicle safety. deficient does not mean on safe. unsafe.not mean host: hi, bill. about ai am doubtful bunch of the stuff you are saying. .he united states is not europe as far as private capital building bridges, they could do a lot to help. the bigger problem is states. georgiane company in

that seems to be all over the state building bridges, cw matthews. they want to bring in toll roads. they are widening roads and putting in toll roads. drive.are still going to half an hour in a car will take you two hours by public education. guest: we often have a comparison between the united states and europe are china. china is doing amazing things in infrastructure. i do not think it is right to good as some be as other countries.

the demographic shifts are such that public transportation will be a much more important means of getting from point a to point b. somethings t of 20'- looking for options. how do we build a more comprehensive system that provides more choice? that might be a bus, a trolly car. you can do carpooling or ride- sharing. bytend to limit ourselves thinking we only know what we see in terms of our transportation system. collapse in007 minneapolis.

what did we learn from that? guest: that was say structural defect. there were a number of things going on with that bridge collapse. they were doing construction. of thesee design plates that waere flawed. we did not learn the bigger lesson of what that means for the rest of our infrastructure. it was not the wake-up call a lot of people felt it should. morning., good caller: i am concerned about our bridges. , andostly concerned about i have a question for you.

would you please answer it for me? morningd c-span every and i hear different callers about the 9/11 building. a policy of not wanting to answer any of these questions ? you a person mentions this, deflect them with a different question so the guest doesn't have to answer. ?s this a policy c-span has host: that is not a policy at all. all conversation topics. sometimes a caller says they will talk about one thing and

talk about something else on air. caller: in terms of the bridges collapsing, there was building seven that collapsed without a plan even hitting it. --y families and supporters why this building would suddenly collapse. no one will answer these questions for these people. host: we have had people answer questions on this program before. i don't know enough about exactly what happened. another tragedy was super storm sandy. that overwhelmed our infrastructure.

aso not think we are prepared for as a country. you saw what happened with the transit system. our airports are at sea level. we are overwhelmed quotes some of the weather-related events. whether it is terrorism or weather, that is a real thing. host: luis from mississippi. visit there because i do not know how to pronounce your town. caller: somebody posted my question online when i was waiting. where you can go to find the location of deficient bridges. ica.org.4amer

that is our home page. you can find a link to a map. .ut in your zip code fauquier that will show all of the bridges. host: let's look at the state of mississippi. warren and covington. do you know those bridges? caller: i was concerned about bridges in the lincoln county. guest: you can go to the

website. the information is a couple of years old. host: jennifer in ohio. caller: hi. i have a couple of comments and a question. i am terrified of bridges. i take back roads and try to stay off the bridges. been ans not infrastructure built in ohio. it will be horrible if another bridge falls. the bridge being built going to mexico. is there a structure sticking out someplace? who ok'd that bridge? thet: i don't know about

bridge going halfway to mexico. bill.-called two-year that was speaker boehner in the house and read in the senate that got together to pass the bill. enough.l the not invest i think many people in congress know that. thebate that could suggest government abdicated its responsibility. leave it to the 50 states and that would be a disaster. host: this is from keith on twitter. d.c.: i cannot tell you in we need some funds.

the stimulus is somewhat controversial. looking at the statistics. uptick with a small the bridge is getting fixed and we think that is from some of that stimulus money. stimulus these one-off investments. we are heading for a fiscal cliff for transportation. venus, flod in rida. caller: i am a former bridge inspector. trucks.me class-a on each one ofar

those trucks for a heavy-use tax. i wonder how many trucks there are in the united states? companies that have 10,000 and 20,000 trailers. each of those trucks pace that tax. why don't we have the money to control the decay of our roads and bridges. i do not understand that. i have seen the construction going on. repairedidges being that have not been biluilt. guest: there are other taxes

placed on vehicles and tires to go into the trust fund. is a simple it problem of math. when you get to 65, you want to retire. the average age for bridges right now is 43. built and infrastructure in the 1950's an 1960's. fix ore is coming to replace that. that bill will be larger than we will like. we will be paying one way or another. four primaryre programs for bridges and tunnels.

some of the price tags into the future. why are these programs significant? guest: they are significant. someirst program collapsed smaller programs. we are concerned about what will happen to that money that will unsafe bridges.fe most there were a lot of local bridges that connect smaller towns. f those bridges are closed, there is no other way around for dozens or hundreds of miles.

that can really cripple a small community. some of the money was restricted and some of the flexibility was taken away. we're pretty concerned about what that means as it plays out. host: skagit river bridge collapsed in washington state. 70,000 vehicles use the bridge daily. struggling for business with sales down. franklin is a republican. caller: after the skagit river i sawe collapsed, online postings about what the total cost of repairing all the bridges in the country might

be. it was a figure that was less then the cost of one of weapons plane., the f-35 fighter the figures thrown around that int would be $400 billion, that neighborhood and not including cost overruns. matter off it is a priorities of priorities-- perhaps the cost of preparing all the country's bridges. these bigome of figures being thrown around. on some oflot last the postings i salt about the cost of repairing many of the bridges in the country.

less than what i quotedte on one fighter plane. and that0 billion sounds a little bit low to me. coalition that tries not to get into other fields. say we think that transportation is far too low on the nation's priority list. really is about building a strong 21st century economy. is about training for folks in careers that can

last a long time in transportation. these are good middle class jobs. up the issuesngs about states versus the government. maybe you can elaborate. there was a big debate in 1956 with eisenhower and congress. should this be a state or federal program? the states are in the driver's seat. the government provides money and funds the state's. there is more oversight then potholes on interstates and local roads. do not think the government is not just about investment in

long distance travel. these economies, washington, d.c., atlanta, ticago, moving freight hrough there. we have these bottlenecks happening right in the middle of some of our major metro areas. ea of this is from stev tranquillity. has some of the better bridges in the country. have to deal with the weather that a state like pennsylvania or north dakota has

to deal with. it is about freezing and unfreezing and freezing again. those things take a toll. thank youes corless, so much for your time this morning. senator frank lautenberg has died at the age at 89. reporting.on the senator passed away this morning. he was 89 years old. with healthgled problems since last year. he was a democrat and the longest serving senator in new jersey history.

he was a world war ii veteran. lundberg dying at the age of 89 today. that's all for [audio clip] today.gton journal" thank you for joining us. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> president obama today hosting a conference of the white house focusing on mental health issues. part of the president's promised to bring more attention to the issue following last year's shootings in newtown, connecticut. health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius, education secretary arne duncan, and veterans affairs secretary eric chin seki, along with vice president joe n