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tv   Washington Journal  CSPAN  July 8, 2013 7:00am-10:01am EDT

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he talks about the creation of the interstate highway system. [video clip] journal" is next. ♪ ♪ good morning, is monday, july 8, 2013 and congress gets back to work today following its annual july 4 recess. immigration reform will continue to be a hot topic as attention shifts from the senate to the house. president obama is expected to take a more public role at that -- as the debate takes place in the week ahead -- weeks ahead. but u.s. officials keep an eye i combustible political situation in egypt well in the u.s., the president defends a list of federal employees set to be affected by the across-the-board budget cuts now as
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sequestration. over 650,000 furloughs begin today for civilian workers. this morning, we want to hear your reaction and your thoughts on sequestration's impact on the military. we have a special phone line open for defense department employees. otherwise, the rest of the numbers aren't your screen. -- are on your screen. you can also catch up with us and all your favorite social media pages. or you can e-mail us. a very good monday morning to you. congress is back in session this week but also today, 650,000 civilian defense workers are set to begin their furloughs. want to hear from you. we have a line open for dod
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employees. we want to hear how sequestration is impacting you. our other phone lines are open but let's start with this story from "the washington post."
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we will be covering that story in our first 45 minutes. the phone lines are open to get your thoughts on the matter. let me read you a bit of the letter that secretary hagel sent to the department of defense staffers at of these furloughs taking place which start today.
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--goes on to note subjectstories on this and on the cuts facing the military -- ore is an editorial -- opinion piece in today's "wall
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street journal."
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is a formerrnoy undersecretary and co-founder of the senate -- center for the new american center. was inening piece today's "new york -- wall street journal." we have a special phone line for dod employees and want to hear how you are dealing with sequestration. will now go to our democratic line from wethersfield, conn.,
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good morning. give us your take on sequestration impact on the military. caller: i think it is something that is long overdue. we have to get balanced. what ever happened to volunteerism? should volunteer to avoid being laid off. hopefully, we'll still have our city needs met. we'll get our budget back for it belongs. host: thank you for calling. the conversation is already taking place on facebook.
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wedding from athens, and georgia -- i think we lost him. we'll go to billy from miami, fla., on our independent line. morning, about the money in the defense budget -- i am concerned to hear that we are giving $1.5 billion and they were in line with the moslem brotherhood? veteran, is a gay was concerned when i saw the chief of staff sitting there. they were not friendly at all. we also have a line set up this morning as we talk about
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the cuts and furloughs that are starting today for the department of defense, civilian employees, a special line for them. we will go to that blind now from birmingham, alabama, good morning. caller: good morning. host: how are the furloughs' impacting you at the department of defense? -- i am aneant actual member of the national guard. i have been 35 times out of the country. was there for the iraq war and afghanistan and other contingencies. i find it hard to believe that we are to be treated as part of the total force and yet we are the only members of the military that wear the uniform every day. we are being furloughed. it is a slap in the face. host: how many days personally
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will you have to take? will it be all the 11th? caller: yes. host: is that one day per week? it is left up to the individual states as to which day it is and my particular state, we can take those days consecutive labor. -- consecutive life. consecutive life. we are part of the total force and i don't understand why the military is asked to go to war and deal with fires and floods, but yet, we are treated differently. then the rest of the military. yes, we are a volunteer force. host: how much will it cost you in your bank account? how much will you lose over the course -- course of 11 days of furlough?
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total of will lose a two weeks' pay. host: do you mind saying how much that amounts to? is that something you can afford to lose? caller: it will be over $4,000. i am getting ready to retire so i am at -- i guess you would say -- i am a better paid employee. it hurts the average person out there. the economy, at the current time, is not in good shape. there are not other jobs to be found. i guess the american people just don't think much of -- not the american people -- i don't think our public officials think much of the national guard anymore but yet we are called on to do the exact same thing as the
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regular matter -- the regular military and they are exempt from furlough but the national guard is not. host: thank you for the call. here is a story in " the new york times."
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we are taking your thoughts this morning on the furloughs hitting the department of defense civilian employees. kathy is in washington, d.c. and is a dod employee, good morning. caller: good morning, i have been a dod employee for about four years now. and i am a disabled vet as farith ms. flournoy as taking a look at where we need to take precautions. i think the approach to sequestration and the budget control act was fast and more political than more strategic and where we need to take our defense cuts. unfortunately, we are looking at furloughs. i believe we need to look at the civilian work force because i are an they are -- there
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efficient organizations in to look at perhaps reducing them. host: for folks who don't know, what is your job? explained a civilian employee jobs at the dot? caller: i held a couple of different positions. i managed a program that provided joint training to forces, especially men and women who went overseas. also, i was a financial analyst. i was able to work and managing a budget. dodn't think in total, the has not done this. host: what about this thought? how does that strike you? it's not a matter of
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lost revenue. is the fact how we are taking the cuts. is this the way we need to do it or if -- or is it more of a political move to show the impact? if we want to take a more i think thisroach, could be avoided. really tookk we enough time to see where in the dod do we need to take cuts. perhaps we can reduce other things. host: a little bit more from that "washington post story" , talking about the 650,000 employees taking furloughs --
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from nashville, tenn., on our independent line. caller: the reason why the government has such a large defense budget is is it -- is because it has the most shadowy interest making money off that budget. the money being made is easier protected than these jobs and that is wrong but that's how i think it is, based on general
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prejudice and i think the general consensus of most of the callers feel the same way, thank you. isst: some news from star " and stripes, "talking about dod dot defense employees dealing with this issue. quotes a u.s. director -- about 187 appeals from dod employees
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that story talks about how some civilian employees are trying to deal with the issue. here is a story about how management at dod could be dealing with this issue.
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that is news on how these furloughs are working out on both sides. is up next from vienna, va. on our independent line. caller: i would give three examples of cuts in do thatd to be made instead of these furloughs. these are the seven examples. one is congress has appropriated several billion dollars in an earmarked for ytanks is the mellon there -- which the military has not protected. they have a large number of abrams tanks that are collecting dust. they anticipate these additional earmakred tank will be doing the same thing. this is just an appropriation to give a welfare handout to
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industries, defense contractors in the district. it paidmuch rather see the salaries of vital dod employees. the joint strike fighter -- there is an alternate engine, one not expected to be used that is being constructed in the district of speaker john boehner. this is not the engine expected to be used, an alternative engine. the third example is the largest one -- the last two rounds of realignment and closure commission were derailed by congress for this is a commission begun under president clinton and continued under president bush. bases in the u.s. that were considered no longer necessary for national security were either closed or reduced in size.
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this process was eliminated early, before all the bases that were proposed to because or even considered. also, a number of bases that were proposed to be closed, that decision was reversed in a number of instances by senior, powerful senators and congressmen. that should be reconsidered and the last two rounds that were derailed by congress should be given new life again. those bases are not necessary for our national security but are being kept open as a welfare program, i would much rather see dod employ is be given their pay checks than people at bases who are not necessary for national security. host: thank you for that call. here are a few tweets -
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we are taking your tweets and calls this morning on [video clip] ."washington journal oute is other news going on there. this is the headline from "the washington post."
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i want to play you a bit from former president george w. bush who was on abc's "this week," and was asked about the immigration bill. [video clip] >> i can get is important to fix a broken system and treat people with respect and have confidence in our capacity to supply people. it is a very difficult bill to pass because there are a lot of moving parts.
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the legislative process can be ugly. makings like they are some progress. >> that was one of your real frustrations. getes, i understand you sometimes get legislation through that you want and i was frustrated we did not pass social security reform. plan i thought i laid out was reasonable. sometimes, it takes time for some of these complex issues to revolve. it looks like immigration has a chance to pass. >> do you think it would be hard of the leftist died? >> this is not to bolster the republican party, is to fix a system that is broken. good policy yields good politics, as far as i'm concerned. host: that was former president bush talking about immigration and that is the subject of a lead editorial in today's "new york times."
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-- thetalking about that furloughs resulting from sequestration cuts at the department of defense, 650,000 theoyees coming up before
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end of the fiscal year. nev., on ourreno, democratic line. just wanted to give my opinion about john boehner. from we will go to corey key west, fla., the member of the department of defense. go ahead. good morning, i'm a the navalmployee at air station in key west. i am also a veteran, a disabled american veterans. i have seen this project today is the first day of my furlough. and a number of other employees. i have seen it affect them. believe that the president did not do enough to stop the
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furlough. him.a person who voted for i am really a shame to, being an american veteran. come back, and work hard and try to make ends meet with your family and they are taking from us who make so little. it is just disappointing and disrespectful and disgraceful. host: what do you see in the future passed this fiscal year? hagel is talking about possible layoffs with dod civilian staff. is your job secure? caller: i am not secure and that came from the department of justice. i was thinking of going back there. it is more secure and we can continue catching crooks. va.ed to also be at the those agencies are more secure
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than dod and i am seriously thinking about moving on. host: what are you planning to do with your for le days? are you looking to get a part- time job? thanks to my supervisor who has friends at home depot, he has gotten jobs for some of the staff that works here. hopefully, i can get something else to make ends meet. i am truly ashamed of this country at this point. the past so much of a veteran during times of war and now we to home, doing what we can support the government, and this is how they repay us. shame on them, shame on them. line is open. from huntsville, alabama
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and is a dod employee -- guess i morei disappointed in the fact that our leadership did not plan correctly for this. they have a lot of time to plan for this and, in speaking of them, they said it was not going to happen in the first place. is that the way our capital is currently working? do we not have a plan? that's what scares me more than anything. we're talking about soldiers' lives more than performing our work. i don't know what will happen. hopefully, things will turn out well for us but we will see. thank host: you for the call. here are a few other stories -- this is from "the boston globe."
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another story --
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you can read that story in "the washington journal." there's also a story about the nsa surveillance since edward snowden released information about those programs. this is from " the new york times."
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we are taking your calls this morning for about the next 15 minutes or so on buffalo's that will begin for over 650,000 civilian department of defense employees. babas next from baltimore, maryland, on our republican line. caller: hi, how are you? have ain maryland, i number of friends who are defense department employees. a sister in law and several friends who are getting these furloughs. i am not entirely happy about this but the reality is that sequestration is law like the affordable care act. a law, it is a lock, -- we will have to live with it. either one of those is not a good thing.
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both of them are not a good thing. it is time to repair both of them and neither has been repaired host: do you think washington, d.c. has the will and the way to make those repairs? caller: i really don't see any thing on the horizon. as far as sequestration, that is the administration's responsibility to come up with an alternative plan. the house of response -- the house of representatives has come up with three alternatives for what theiting president wants to do or his people. host: thank you for that call. carolina onom south our independent line. caller: good morning, i had this to say -- host: go ahead. outer: the civilian people
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here to not call this financial situation -- did not cause this financial situation. why don't all the congressmen and senators and those appointed cronies for fed part of their salary to take care of this instead of the people out here? think that would be enough to offset the amount of money that needs to be cut? is it something that should apply across the board or just folks in d.c.? theer: all the people on payroll around d.c. and these high appointed officials throughout the country -- that would be more than enough to take care of what the civilian employees earn. host: thank you for the call. employeeto our dod
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line from norfolk, virginia, good morning. this isgood morning, going to affect every dod employee. me and my wife are both from the department of defense. will host: kind of work do you do? caller: mike white is a program analyst and i am an equipment operator. she is with the air force and i am with the navy. host: what are your plans to cope with 11 unpaid days this year? caller: i might have to get a part-time job. when you been employed with the government for 13 years, what are you going to do? how do you make that up? to cause son going this year so what do you do? it is hard. host: have you calculated how
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much your family will lose to these furloughs? month, yeah, for us per it is roughly about $1,500 per month. that is rough. let me read you about how this furlough is affecting folks overseas. let me get your reaction. "the washington post."
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what is your reaction? caller: [laughter] oh, man - i would say take care of us first. german workers agreed to a bargain or something. to keep their money. is that something i read earlier? host: that's not something in this article. caller: that's crazy. we have not gotten a raise in a while.
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this would be dod-wide. it started with the air traffic controllers. and thencted congress on their vacations as to how they get in and out of d.c. now, it is really going to be dod-wide. i used to work for nafc and the switch over. host: how'd you feel about secretary hagel? do you like the way he is doing the job so far? caller: it does not begin with him. it is deeper. the democrats and gop have special interests. no matter what you do, they will protect the special interests and that -- those special interests will put them back in.
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employee, all you can do is complain. you cannot complain to the union until your first day of which is today. we file our appeals. we see how it works and hopefully, as far as my wife, their union has not even contacted them or said anything. my union has been going card at this since we know it was going to start if i can get an appeal from my side, just to get some money back, that is good with me. anything would help. it is crazy. thank you for that call.
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some overseas news for you on the situation in egypt -- this is a headline from the ap -- will sure you take from earlier today from aljazeera. we will keep track of that situation in egypt for you. headlines from here at home from today's paper, this from the front page of "
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the new york times." can read more of that story in today's " the new york times." and there is the former new york governor there. we are talking about the
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furloughs that are beginning today for over 650,000 members of the department of defense. karen isand there from ottawa, n our independent line. caller: this should not have been instituted if congress had been doing its job. i think the house should only be paid when it's in session. it is only in session about 109 days per year. host: bus house and the senate's tax -- the house and the senate? caller: both houses of congress should not be paid unless they are in session. they are not accomplishing anything. i think it is a shame that they're not taking care of this. it is mainly the house. the house has not accomplished anything in the last three years. times on obama1 care. i think it is a shame. that they are not doing anything. they are on vacation more than
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they are working. they should not get paid unless they are working. host: talk about the department of defense and your thoughts on how you think this will affect u.s. military footing. caller: it eventually would. talking about the military, i wish you would do a program on the military supply chain. most of the things that are for our military are being made overseas instead of here in the united states. that is a security -- it has to do with our security. for the call.hank you let's go to randy from shreveport, louisiana, independent line. caller: good morning, i agree with the man from south carolina
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earlier.. the people in washington should be taking the pay cuts. across the board. all either being bribed, black males, or intimidated. you have a bunch of communists running the government. host: do you for the call. think it is a leadership issue in congress? forer: they are well paid and lining their own pockets. they don't care. they are tearing this country down like every other person in washington is. it is not just this administration. this goes all the back to 1913. it is just incremental and it will keep on happening to the people say something about it. they don't know what is going on in this country anymore everybody is just brainwashed. have a good day. host: thank you for the call.
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up next, we will have russell moore, president of the southern 6 to talknvention at about conservative movements in this country and later, we'll talk to the new executive director of the liberal group move on.org about their agenda. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> no man needs a strong partner, an honest partner, more than the american president,
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sheltered and cocooned as he is and what harry truman called the great white prison. that is what i concluded after five years and hundreds of interviews, that those presidents with brave spouses willing to speak sometimes hard truths that others are unwilling to speak to the big guy, those presidents have a distinct advantage. me give you an example -- had pat nixon been able to cut through her husband's paranoia, watergate might have been avoided. she had long since given up on her husband by the time they reached the white house. they were leading virtually separate lives as you will see in my portrayal of this saddest of all presidential couples. i don't give my husband advice, she was quoted, as saying because he does not needed. is there a man or woman alive who does not need advice from the person who knows him or her best? >> as we continue our
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conversation on first ladies, we talk about presidential marriages and how the first ladies have helped shape american history tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span. "washington journal" continues -- host: dr. russell moore president of the southern baptist commission on june 1. thank you for taking some time with us this morning. for those that do not know, explain what your role is with the southern baptist convention. guest: the commission serves two purposes -- was to speak to our church is about moral and ethical concerns and what it means to live as a follower of jesus christ and to speak for our churches in the larger cultural and political arena about the things we think are important to us. host: one issue you have spent a lot of time working on in your new role is the recent supreme court ruling on same-sex marriage. talk about the southern baptist
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convention reaction to the results. guest: i don't think many of us were surprised by the actual rulings. more of us were surprised by the language in justice kennedy's majority opinion on the doma case which essentially said that there is no reason to define marriage as a union between a woman exclusively except for animus towards persons which we don't believe is the k street we think are good reasons for the government to see marriage as distinctively the union of a man and woman as a that was surprising and disappointing. host: where were you when that ruling came down? guest: i was here in washington. you said you were not surprised by the ruling itself but more the language. guest: i was surprised by the recent itself, using language of equal protection. justice scalia is right that it
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will be difficult for the court down to allow states to define marriage in the way they currently do. i think the language there is setting the court up for roe vs wade-type of decision in the future. host: does this say something about social conservatives in america today? guest: i think it says something to social conservatives. for a long time, social conservatives in america at a kind of silent majority view of themselves. they had a moral majority view of ourselves. most people agree with that except for some elites,. \ is not really the case. we need to start seeing the fact that we are very similar to the way the christian church was at the beginning of its existence. it was a minority of people who are speaking to the larger culture in ways that are sometimes going to seem freakish
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the larger culture. that should not panic as our cause us to become outraged or despondent. i think it is a realistic view of who we are. int: talk to this headline "usa today." this is from june 26. there is the decision that was praised. guest: there has always been a mainline protestant group with an american christianity that has adapted itself to the ambient culture with a comes to issues of christian sexuality
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and 62 revive an ethic to meet that. those who hold most closely to the orthodox teachings of the christian church are standing right where the church has always stood for 2000 years on these issues. host: this is an opinion piece from last week's "delmarva news" what is your response? guest: i think the issue is not really religion. it is why does the state care about this at all? why should the state care about what a relationship is or is not to? when it comes to marriage, the breeze and the state has to be involved is because the union of a man and a woman is different than other relationships. melt/him of sexuality brings about possible consequences of children and the state has to be involved unless we have some kind of "lord of the flies so"
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to were the state does not have an interest on whose children belong to whom. as a different recognition. we are saying not that the state should somehow stigmatize people. we say that children have a right to a mother and a father and there's something distinctive about that family structure that the state has an interest in. host: we are talking with dr. theell moore, president of ethics and liberty commission of the southern baptist convention. the phone lines are open. we mentioned you are appointed to the post on june 1. what did you do before that? guest: i was at the school of theology so i was working to
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train pastors and missionaries. host: did you workaday -- as a practicing preacher? guest: i did, and louisville, ky for 4.5 years. host: are you from originally? guest: biloxi, mississippi host: you work for a mississippi congressman? guest: dean taylor, a democrat from mississippi, a great man. case,back to the doma talk about how this ruling will impact how religious nonprofit groups do their work in terms of receiving money from the government? guest: that is one of the things we are concerned about there are potential religious liberty concerns that could come out of this larger movement, not this particular case. think we yet know. we have seen some difficult cases already in massachusetts where catholic adoption agencies found it impossible to say we are going to place
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children only in families with only a mother and father married to each other. that is very concerning to those of us who care about religious liberty, even people who disagree on questions of what marriage and sex wells it ought to be. -- sexuality ought to be. which should protect the free exercise of religion. there are many areas where several of us are concerned not only on this issue but across the board. host: are taking your calls with ohio,ore - + for, democratic line. the maris contract is one of -- the marriage contract is one of legality and not religion. it is issued by the state and the state also gives the power to priests and judges to enter two people and to that contract.
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when you go to alternate marriages, you go to the courthouse to dissolve marriages. this is a conversation about legality which has a religious component rather than just a religious thing. view, itgal point of is wrong to discriminate against people in any capacity in this country. on's get over it and move and pick an issue that we can all really work on. guest: i think we would all agree that there are some limits as to what marriage is. we say that marriage's two people and not three or four. that is a limit. what i do we limit it in this way? we limit it this way? we think it is because of children.
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we are not trying to have the state a firm ally of two people. we don't need the state to do that. we can affirm love in many ways without the state being involved. the recent the state is involved is because there is something distinctive about marriage between a man and woman that is different from other relationships. we don't need the state to do that. we think that is because the state does not create maris for it does not define it. it recognizes something that already exists. that is the difference we have which is a debate and argument we can have among people with good will and american culture but that is distinctive. host: anthony is from new york, new york, on a republican line. caller: good morning to both of you. i have a question -- you had mentioned earlier in regards to children and held there is some of the benefit of having a mother and a father in a formal sense as a male and female. can you elaborate on that more?
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i did not fully understand your point on that. whetherhe issue is not or not an individual person or couple can be good parents. good parenting is good parenting. the question is whether or not a child needs a mother and a father and whether a mother and father bring something distinctive to the task of parenting. i believe that god did not design is to simply to be parents but to be mothered and a father to and they bring something unique. i think that is the reason why every human civilization has recognized that the flourishing of the next generation comes about best when both a mother and a father, whenever possible, our present and active in the care of that child. host: here is a tweet - they were not when it comes to the question of racially mixed marriages. everyone agreed that these are
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marriages. this is the union between a man and woman and there were children who could possibly be the result of these unions. that's what racist white supremacists were trying to do away with. to keep itrying rearing of children from happening. they were wrong. i don't think there is a connection between these two things. host: you talked about exploiting the same-sex marriage debate to children. what did you tell your own children? toguest: one thing i wanted to communicate is that this is not a question of good people versus evil people. sometimes people within conservative evangelicals would you people on the other side as being the villains, a sense of outrage or a sense of persecution. that is not the case. i wanted to communicate that the people who disagree with us are people created in the image of got the bear the dignity and
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should be treated as such. we also have a difference on what marriage is and why it is important. that gives us an why do we care whether or not families are stable? what are the differences we have with people who disagree with us? kentucky on from the republican line. dr. moore you are on withdr. moore --you are on with dr. moore. caller: i do understand different decisions that are made. please do not cut me off. i went not be disrespectful to anyone. ome days, god
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ordained marriage. people are going to answer and that is all i'm going to say. guest: i am not sure what he was wanting to argue. we mustwe must agree give an account for our lives. i believe the sexual expression is limited to the relationship between a man and a woman. that is what the christian gospel is about. the christian gospel is speaking to all of us. there is a means of reconciliation. host: sharon from our democratics line. caller: good morning. i have a specific question about
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the catholic funds that are given for adoption and other services. depend more on god, wouldn't you be further ahead? it dependsatholics -- on government funds that they are being hypocrites. i will listen to your reply. guest: we are not talking about government funds. to be able to place people for adoption. that is not a question of government funds. she is exactly right. there is all sort of government meddling. baptist have been so reluctant to take government funds.
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there is always the appeal to take caesar's coin. arguingus have been that is the reason we should be independent of the state. twitter s comes in on from r harrington. guest: there are various polls. this is such an interesting conversation. the dynamic is changing. sometimes we are dealing with old data. people should look and see where demographically americans are and what sorts of new alliances are forming. host: explain the southern baptist convention. guest: 16 million people, the
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largest protestant denomination in the united states. a group of people who are committed to the gospel of jesus christ people who know and follow christ. is thenother issue mandate of the affordable care act known as the contraceptive mandate. ofwe met with a group religious leaders from every possible religious group. we would not have agreed altogether on almost everything but we agreed the government should not mandate contraceptive coverage through the affordable care act in a way that violates the consciousness of religious organizations.
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say with loveto for themct we appealed to back down on this. for a, we would appeal legislative solution to this problem. host: what are the solutions the administration has put forth so far? guest: it has use some accounting games to try to say the money is free, when in reality it is coming from the employer. and to define what a religious leavesation is, which lots of people having to choose. host: where is the line the administration drew on that? guest: houses of worship, and not very much
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further beyond that. religious organizations, those who carry out the missions of the church in other ways do. we are asking for an accommodation in the semi the united states has in other areas over the years. host: mark is from ashburn, virginia. caller: i am from a legal side of this divination that they redefine this. marriage like this and polygamy, what cases are coming forward? as i amdescribe myself
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a bisexual polygamist. how would the court defined me? guest: that is an interesting question. i am not sure where this is going to go in terms of expanding the definition of marriage. whoe are some polygamists would like to see the definition of marriage expanded even further. i believe there is a distinctive good that comes to honoring the union between one man and one woman for life. host: does that speak to this question on twitter from sean? guest: it depends on what a political issue is. we are involved in the local
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process whether we like it or not. all of us are accountable for the functioning of the government. we will be held accountable for actions and that is all of us. when we go into the voting booth, we are making decisions in the common good of everyone else. way in which is a the church can become a political action committee in a way that destroys the mission of the church. the church can say, we do not speak to anything that we believe to be political. if we care about our neighbors, we have to speak to those things for the human good. there are all sorts of issues that we could disagree with, and
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the scripture does not speak to them at all. there was aday that on foreignosition aid in ways that there is no clear biblical authority for that. must are some issues we speak to. host: let's talk about immigration reform. talk about your views on immigration reform. guest: we passed a resolution that laid out some principles. we believe our immigrant neighbors should be treated with compassion. recognizing there are 11 million persons in this country,
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many of whom came through as children and no one is calling for the deportation of these 11 million persons. working in a broad coalition of religious leaders to call on our authorities to deal with this with justice and compassion. many are on the front lines of this. there are people next to them that are dealing with an immigration system that is broken. immigration is there neighbors and friends and fellow church members. how do we go forward? the status quo is just not working. i am hopeful the house or pass something that holds the basic
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principles of border security. bush's president comments yesterday were right on target. he said we should have confidence in this country's ability to assimilate in this country. [video clip] >> it is a difficult bill to pass because there are a lot of moving parts. in looks like they are making some progress. >> that was one of your frustrations. >> sometimes you get legislation through that you want. i thought they plan on s
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social security was reasonable. time and it takes looks like immigration has a chance to pass. the reason to pass immigration reform is not to bolster and a republican party but to fix a system that is broken. ont: that was george w. bush abc's "this week." .e have dr. russell moore liz is up next from college park, maryland. caller: good morning. i respectfully disagree with you on this. i know you said there is a distinctive benefit in a marriage between a man and a
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woman. what about people that are atheists? is more aboutis the predominant nation of marriage by the christian school of thought. muslim people cannot legally marry their first cousin because of restrictions on marriage. believe in homosexual relationships are not allowed to marry the person they love in many states because of this. i respect the argument that you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. this is a nation of many cultures. to restrict other people's beliefs, i think is wrong. forst: we would not call
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restricting everybody's rights. we all have a definition of what marriage is. who wants tomeone marry his first cousin. every state in the union says that is not permissible. a recognition of marriage at all, we have to say there are some relationships the state recognizes as marriage and some the state does not. it doesn't mean the state denigrates those relationships. abouting i admire president obama is the way he has highlighted fatherhood and to steplling on men up to be fathers and to incentivize men to work to be
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faithful fathers. i think fatherhood and motherhood are distinctive goods that we recognize as a society. i think we would agree there is some definition that is not something that is arbitrarily drawn up by the state. host: bill is up next. caller: i have a quick question. you said the benefit of a marriage should be between a man and a woman. i am guessing you would not be against infertile marriage. between a man and a woman even though it cannot yield children. i am assuming you would say that would be ok. so really it is about child
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rearing. are you willing to say gay couples are inferior to child- rearing to couples and two single mothers and single fathers? no.uest: host: i think people do the best they can. being raised are by single mothers or single dads. they are doing a good job, in many cases. is that the best situation for a child? does a child have the right to know his mother and father and to grow in a home with a mother and a father who are married to one another? agree thatt would that is the case. how do we get there?
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couples oughtile to be able to marry. does not have a state that fertility testing. we cannot know who is infertile. my wife and i were infertile and we have five sons now. that is not the business of the state to adjudicate that. there is the model of mother and father even in in fertile couples. that serves as a model for other families and other couples. host: talk about your recent effort involving louisiana law regarding gestational surrogates. guest: i thought this was a
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well-intended bill that sought to remove summoned to contract out in a commercial sense to bear a child conceived by being cultivated in a third-party's womb. several of us called on the governor to veto that bill, which he did. we do not think this is good for women and children. there was a good alliance who were saying women's bodies are not for sale. we believe it is in the best interest of children not to be conceived in this kind of transaction. thatovernor vetoed
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legislation. it would have been harmful to children. york, youn from new are on with dr. moore. caller: good morning. there are so many children that need a loving home. wrong to not let them go to homes where there are same-sex so-called marriages. and just need a loving home they are taught respect. you cannot say they are not good parents. i do not understand why gay people cannot adopt. i do not see the benefit of children being in broken homes and terrible situations when they could be placed in a loving home. thank you very much. guest: i agree with you that
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children should be placed in loving homes. that gay people cannot adopt. we're saying a catholic adoption agency should have the freedom to say we think it is in the best interest of a child to be placed in a home with a mother and a father. think that is not a question of shutting anything down but a question of getting those organizations a chance to operate. ph.d. and a masters of divinity. host: joann is up next from
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freeport --we will go to ray from michigan. caller: good morning. i will try to talk fast. i went through 12 years of education in the catholic school. i am 80 years old. i understand a little bit about christianity. if you have faith, you will believe in god. when a priest would give us a lecture, he made me leave the room when he could not answer my questions. god, it iseve in your faith. no one has ever seen god are talked to god. possibly there was a jesus
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christ that walked the earth. this fellow here, this is god's word, god said this. you do not know nothing about that because there is no proven god. guest: i would disagree with him about whether or not god has revealed himself to exist. most of us bring our convictions to what it is we believe. gentleman had a bad experience in his religious schooling. comments could also be applied to the founding documents of the united states. we are endowed by our creator by certain rights.
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there are some things that come to us that we simply do not make up. something that exists around us. where did those things come from? i believe they came from god. we are standing together to say that they are not created by us. host: we have been talking about the social conservative movement with dr. moore. this is a headline. do social conservatives have a candidate to look forward to in 2016? guest: i am not interested in the political jockeying. i just am praying and hoping for a good and robust debate on both sides of the party equation.
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host: some news out of the sunday shows. about political future. " he made it clear that might be in other residential bid in his plan. he said that was an option.' that from "the dallas morning news.' sarah is next. caller: gays and lesbians can raise children as well as straight couples. --anize relation has homosexuality is deemed as big
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sin. god's'sality is part of creation. people are born that way. god is a loving god who loves all of his creations. godnized religions make it is up there and we're down there and we are all sinners. god is a loving god. youst wish people like would stop discriminating and spreading hatred. host: a chance to respond to sarah. guest: i believe that you have a right to your views. you are the one saying my views are not acceptable. i do not think that is the case.
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i think we have an honest disagreement about whether god is loving and human beings as sinful are mutually exclusive. i do not think they are at all. god is loving. we are alienated from him. we are broken away from him. that is what i believe. you do not have to agree with me on that. we can have the conversation without calling each other haters or bigots. host: would you agree with your comments that gay and lesbians are born that way? guest: we are born in all sorts of ways.
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another inefine one terms of those inclinations. we define one another as complex persons. what is sexuality directed toward? with are many christians same-sex attractions who have been called to fidelity. that is a difficult road but no more difficult than the road to chastity. matt onquestion from twitter for you. guest: no. the power to tax is the power to destroy. exempt, have been tax to prevent the government from using the church as a political tool. i would not be for churches
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turning into medical advocacy units. things that are in terms are not wise of the mission of the church. i do not think there is a trade- off. churches have the right to carry out their free exercise. that is grounded in something the founders recognized was a right. i do not think we have to wheel and deal for basic liberty protection. host: susan writes in on twitter. who would you say are the social conservative leaders in america today? ryan anderson has done some
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very good work. jim daly, had of focus on the family has spoken about family stability. others whoon and have been working on these issues. there is a generation who are speaking to issues of life and marriage and human dignity in all sorts of ways. host: rachel on our independent line. you are on with dr. moore. caller: what happened to going by the commandments of the bible? it is an abomination with same- sex marriages. what about child molesters? would you let them take care of a baby? guest: i'm not sure what your
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argument is. we would not want child molesters to have anything to do with children. i do not want to compare our gay and lesbian neighbors to child molesters. caller: yes. how are you doing this morning? question and something you said caught my interest. you said you had some issues with infertility and now you have five sons. turn to this god that is providing all of this, or do you turn to science? was it a miracle you had five sons? host: if you feel comfortable talking about it. guest: i would not see the
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distinction in the way that he does. somehow there is god and some out there is science. i think god works through science and medicine and technology. did but i would not make the differentiation the way this gentleman had. caller: i want him to think about this. if men were the ones who became impregnated -- sometimes the males carry the eggs. child andried the would be burdened for nine months, do you think you could get an abortion at walmart? that is my question. guest: the question is not the
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convenience of the adults but the dignity of everyone involved, including the life of the child. we believe there is a person involved here. a person who wants to be treated with in ailing hubble writes -- in an alley in a bowl in alienable right. russell moore, we appreciate you coming on this morning. guest: good to be with you, thank you. host: the new director of moveon.org will be here to discuss social issues. at thewe will look interstate highway system and its cost to taxpayers.
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but first, a news update from c- span radio. situation inon the egypt. soldiers and police opened fire on supporters of morsi today, claiming at least 40 lives. calling on the international community to stop the massacres in egypt. the nation's top special operations commander ordered military files about the navy seal raid on a summit in london osama bin laden's hideout to be purged. there were no alarms within the obama administration, even though it appears to have
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sidestepped federal rules. a cabinet meeting has been added to the president's schedule today. the president will deliver a statement on his government management agenda. c-span radio will have live eastern time.:50 those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> five years now we will still be dominated by a world with the traditional pay tv packages. you are starting to see your you areround the edges -- erosiong to see euro around the edges. that will be a large audience in 10 years.
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>> we are trying to set up an opportunity for broadcasters to turn in some of their spectrum and toif they choose to move to a different part of the spectrum and get a part of the auction proceeds in return as we sell it to the wireless companies for flexible use. >> more of what's happening from this years annual cable show, 8:00 eastern on c- span2. " continues.journal host: we are joined by anna galland. thank you so much for joining us. moveon is a community of over 8 million americans.
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how does one become executive director of moveon? guest: thank you so much for having me. conversations with folks around the country. i was an organizer for social change. organizing and encountered moveon at a rally calling for the war in iraq. even to begin. there were about a thousand people and i at the time had been organizing and trying to call out for nonviolent alternatives. i was amazed to see this crowd. they came from moveon. they use the internet to connect people to that moment.
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i first got acquainted with moveon at that time. 2007.hen came to moveon in i helped to launch the open petition site that we offer to the broader public, which you can see i going to moveon.org. anyone can start a petition and qualify for support. host: what sort of changes are you making? know: probably people moveon because we have a history that we are proud of. a very simple petition was started, calling on congress to censure and move on. people may remember president clinton was facing impeachment
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proceedings. they thought the country had and distracted for too long started a petition. in a couple of weeks, there were hundreds of thousands of signers. done then, moveon has great work in getting people respond to the democracy. war and tohe iraq pass progressive health reform, to supporting president obama at a key point in the 2008 primaries. to open upxcited our toolset so members can run their own campaigns. had incredibleys
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campaigns. we are leaning into the billions and creativity of our own membership. we have had members start their own campaigns and petitions. let me give you a quick example. applebaumamed robert is a thoughtful guy who has been concerned about the problem of student loan debt in this country. this is a trillion dollar question. students cannot get a good job and they are underwater from the moment they walk out of college. petition ined a 2011. at that time, student loan debt was not even on the radar. it wasn't a signature national issue.
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robert started this petition and it went gangbusters. president obama cited this petition when he made an executive order. since then, we have leaned into this campaign. we bring in the strategic resources to help to keep this campaign going. our members are standing with senator elizabeth warren to make sure that student loan rates would not double on july 1. went.oment came in our members have been standing with senator warren. there was a special reefing call -- a special briefing call. out,ands of members were
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some and their caps and gowns rallying publicly around the country for congress to do something. this is an inspiring moment of organizing around the country and making sure they see the change they want to see in this country. it started with a petition at moveon.org. its prong into a national prominence at that moment --it sprung into national prominence at that moment. people can start their own campaign at moveon.org. host: we are talking with anna galland, the executive director of moveon.org. our phone lines are open. democrats, 202-585-3880.
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republicans, 202-585-3881. independents, 202-585-3882. .utside the u.s., 202-585-3883 a question from julie ewelrymakerj. guest: sure. moveon is a nonprofit. registeredederally political action committee and a social welfare organization. our average donation is about $27. that gives us independence from political parties. you talk about what your members care about.
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did moveon work for president obama? guest: yes. host: talk about the current relationship. nn.s is a headline from c talk about your relationship with president obama, especially in wake of the nsa revelations. guest: members are probably independent and progressive and are concerned about issues. is important we stay independent from any party or individual. we look for leadership from then and we support them when they take a stand on an issue that our members care about.
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president obama was speaking out passionately for the need for us to take action in the wake of newtown or in the discussion about the migration reform. he said he wants to see a pathway to citizenship for those living in the shadows. our members support the president in moments like that. or he says things that are members do not agree with -- president obama introduced a budget that did not go anywhere but did include cuts to social security. it would change the way inflation were measured. members strongly opposed that proposal. organized a series of actions including a big rally in d.c., backed up by hundreds
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of thousands of moveon members. our members have a great deal of respect for the president. when he stands up on progressive there, they are right with him. when he takes positions he disagrees with, they let them know that as well. host: what about the reactions to nsa surveillance programs? guest: we have seen a great deal of attention about this blanket vacuuming up of information from americans. coalitionhas joined a called stop watching us and other organizations that are calling for the hatred act to be reforms, for there to be accountability for elected officials that have supported
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this program. whetherare questioning this kind of surveillance approach is necessary to keep us safe or healthy for our democracy. organizing is starting to bubble up. moveon is a powerful community of 8 million progressives. andne can go to moveon.org start a petition. i think the surveillance issue is one in which we are eager to see what is bubbling up from progressives around the country. host: would you disagree with this tweet from laura? guest: thank you, laura. i would encourage her to go to
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our site and start a petition. membersnly do what our want us to do. i have heard concern on that issue and i would encourage her to start her campaign. host: robert from fenton, maryland. you are on with anna galland. caller: can you hear me ok? good morning. what it be possible for moveon to start a petition to get people in congress moving? there is no progress being made on anything. there's the republican dislike for the president. double.he loan debt
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would helption that the people that need help in this country. is there anything that can be done by moveon? and just disrupt congress? they are bringing the country down. i cannot believe these people are calling themselves patriots. they are worse than the taliban. guest: thank you so much for your question and you're concerned. thank you for paying attention to what is happening in congress. i would encourage you to go to moveon. it sounds like you are calling for occupy congress. carolina, folks may know there has been a movement called moral mondays. there have been protesters week
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after week after week at the state capitol. folks have been getting arrested. these are reverends, students from duke university and other universities. strongly.ming out so the state legislature has taken a hard right turn. they are passing draconian budgets. they have gone to the extreme, extreme right. what you are seeing is an effective protest movement. our members will deliver a petition to the governor in north carolina. that is an example of the kind actionnizing that direct that gets at what you are asking about. whether the same thing should be happening in congress, it is up to our members to make that happen. host: richard is from
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massachusetts. good morning. caller: good morning. nice talking to you. i want to talk about barack obama. to me, he's not a real progressive. when he first got in in the 2009, he did two thing s. there was the message after meeting with tim geithner, " there will not be indictments." he listened to petraeus. he escalated the war. he did the same thing that richard nixon did in 1968. he carried along the wharf are
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ar for another six or seven years. he is not really a progressive. that is just my feeling about him. guest: thank you for sharing that. it is important to speak up in moments where our elected officials are not doing what they need to do. country, around the people are speaking up. social security, we saw an organized outcry. it is on all of us to speak our truth. go to moveon.org and connect with other progressives that feel the way that you can do to help you to raise that voice. another example that i think is -- in texas, there has
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been a showdown in the state legislature. the texas state legislature decided it was going to ram through it essentially a strong anti-abortion bill that would have closed all of the clinics in texas that provide abortion services. americans believe multiple things about abortions. most do not favor an outright ban. the texas state legislature had to call a special session. they were trying to ram it right through. a citizens movement spoke out strongly was at the state capitol and what you saw was the emergence of an incredible , who stoodendy davis
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up and said, "no, i am not going to let this happen." hours.ibustered for 10 this was a real filibuster. bill,lped to defeat the temporarily at least, and ignite a real movement not just in texas but around the country. members said to us they would give a quarter of a million dollars. runto support her because she has inspired us." there is a tale of real leadership and that can change the course of history. on all the issues that we care
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about, it is so important that people take action and start a petition and talk to their neighbors and go on facebook and get educated and speak out and go to rallies. there are so many things we can do even when we disagree with our elected officials. about. what moveon is we want to help you make that progressive change. perrytexas governor rick was talking about what is happening now on that issue. [video clip] >> summit wants to go with a national bill or an amendment, that is their right. in texas, we are going to support protecting life. we will stand up and say that after 20 weeks, we are going to
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make sure these health clinics are safe and under the safety standards of any other surgical facility would be under. proceduresctors have in place so they can look after someone if that procedure goes bad. those are common sense approaches. this is going to pass. i am pretty good at counting votes and i think support is overwhelming in the house and senate and we will get this done and get texas focused on the economic interests that are going on and creating jobs. governor perry said he thinks the bill is going to pass in this special session of the texas legislator. what is moveon continuing to do
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on this issue? guest: i think he is not reckoned with the people's will in the state of texas. grabbinglibuster began the attention of people around the country, a member named stephanie in texas started a petition on our site that overnight had something like 15,000 signers, calling for the legislature to back off of this extreme position that they have taken. our members are organizing to stop it. inre was a huge rally austin. people are coming from around the state. banner flying
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overhead. people want to see real democracy take its course in texas. moveon members have committed to support wendy davis in her work. we will do what we can during this next special session to make sure the right thing happens. host: roger is from phoenix. and.are on with miss gall caller: good morning. goes a little bit off base to i talk to the screener about. thed lift in denver back in 1960's. it was a place where an independent could live and get
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along and it was a pretty nice place. the cultural revolution spanned out across the country. i was back in denver and it was a changed town because of the cultural revolution. the movement hit hard and heavy. there was a movement in boulder spit onally organize to our vietnam veterans, and they are still doing it. i just wonder if you could condone this kind of action. host: give you a chance to jump in. today.i and in denver --i and in denver today. members come from all walks of life and i think they would
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to the military. we saw the deaths of 19 firefighters fighting a terrible wildfire out here. members and folks had a deep respect for people who respect our country in all sorts of ways, whether it is a broad or in domestic situations like the forest fires. this is a country -- i want to emphasize the commonalities we have. ngam a mom of two your girls. i want them to grow up in in at them to grow up country with respect. when the progressive, common
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sense, american values. it is what we all stand for on the fourth of july. i think everyone would agree american values are shared. we all stand together for many things. you can fight for those things together. host: how old is the progressive movement? people think it is a new movement. guest: that is a good question. he probably has a better answer than i do. it seems at least as old as the founding of the united states and probably over. anyone who has fought for women's rights and equality is a proud progressive. our 20's andn to a are the latecomers long tradition in america for for an environment that
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will be preserved, workers' rights, fighting for a country where anyone can make it. not having to scrape and scrub to get by. those are progressive values. all of us should be thankful they had been present in our country since the founding. let's go to bernadette from new mexico. a commenthave regarding the state loans. i feel strongly graduate students are penalized for furthering education spike up in -- by increasing the interest rate on their loans. our daughter has not been legal to find a job. we are retired individuals. we're helping her to pay off personal because we do not want her to suffer later on. graduates did want to better themselves but there's do --
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their student loan rates are double. i think it is unfair to those who want to better themselves. my husband and i are helping her to pay off her loans. for sharing the story. we have heard from tens of thousands of members with stories like that. this is a crisis in this country. the student loan problem is a crisis. the senator from massachusetts has been a leader on this issue. the conversation we are having now about whether loan rates should be allowed to double, that is the wrong conversation to be having. the conversation should be having is how to invest in and invest in our- students and lower the burden on students. the state legislature
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passed an interesting proposal that had been supported by our partners of the working family party. it would allow students to go to college at state universities for near free and then pay back the loan over the course of their working life at whatever rate they could based on their selling. if you are making less money, he will be paying less back, as opposed to being under water with fixed-rate loans for years. there are interesting conversations happening around the country about what can do about the student loan crisis. congress needs to take action. we're lucky to have leaders naming this as an issue and following the leadership of members to address the crisis. host: richard is from south carolina on the republican line.
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ask a guestant to what she thinks about conservative groups been targeted by the irs. moveon.org ever been targeted for being progressive? news came out that the scandal we heard about with the tea party groups being the second part of the story was that progressive groups had been targeted as in a different piece of the process. . is weportant thing to say need a healthy, function in government. we need an irs that does its
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job. we support the folks that work at the iris and do their job day in and day out. moveon members want to see the government functioning in the ways it should be. frustrating story for us all on the left and right. we need to move on and see the irs do its work effectively without screening anyone with partisan intent. just do its job. host: richard, is that how you feel about the irs questioner caller: -- about the irs? caller: i thought there are to be criminal sanctions against them for doing that. thank you very much. host: that was richard from south carolina. did you want to add something?
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guest: there are other scandals hiding in plain sight all the time that our members are organizing around. the thing that comes to mind is the issue of corporate tax loopholes. that is a scandal hiding in plain sight i hope folks watching will think about those issues and how we organize to make the change we need in this country. we have a situation where states like pennsylvania have cut their education budget by $1 billion. and we need resources to invest in our people and our democracy. if you have gaping loopholes that the irs does not have the resources to go after these people or hold them accountable, that is a problem. moveon love to see
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members to start a campaign to address that problem. we haveof the way changed our structure this year, anyone can go to moveon.org, start their own petition, and qualify for support from our organization and members. twice as big as we work at the beginning of president obama's first term. we are now at over 8 million members. this is a strong and growing community of proud progressives working together to make the change they want to see. whether it is at the local level fighting for school funding or civil rights or at the national level fighting to make sure we have accountability when corporations try to get away with something that will harm our country and democracy. money and politics is a huge issue for all our members.
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we love to see people taking action making the change we desperately need in this country. cincinnati,is from ohio, on the republican line. was wondering if there are any desired policies that moveon.org and the tea party have in common that they could work together on? guest: this is a great question. one of our founders has been working closely with a founder of the tea party patriots. they have a project called living room conversations. they have been organizing conversations with folks on the left and right looking for common ground. is on the present industrial complex. -- present industrial complex. our members have organized to
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building andn to funding huge prisons. people in the tea party are frustrated. they think that is a waste of taxpayer money to be funding our prison system at such high levels. they are also concerned about the size of banks. moveon members and our allies have been organizing and using our platform calling for the breaking of both banks that are too big to fail and too big to jail. that our of concern financial institutions have grown so large we cannot effectively hold them accountable, that is a concern shared on the left and right as well. proudmbers are progressives. they stand on the principles, but there are areas where the
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problems are so big that the left and right can agree we need to do something. it dates back to the founding of moveon, the petition they started that was sent to congress to move on. it attracted a wide range of people tired of the nonsense in washington. that is the kind of progress of impulse that still fires our members to this day. host: what was your first petition with moveon? guest: that is a good question. i think it was something around the iraq war. i graduated from college around 9/11. i remember being encouraged that this was the way our country was going to go. we were leaping into war within days of the attacks. we seem to be tumbling into terrifyinguctive and
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war in iraq. i believe my first petition would have been around the iraq war. to hear from others with the first petition is that they signed. host: david is on the line. caller: i am calling to ask whether or not moveon petitioners -- i think you said something about barack obama, the president, doing a thing on social security. certain if other people know what is in these bills. by the time you allow something to be taken up, is it properly understood? guest: that is a good question.
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it gets to the question of how ofdecide with millions members and thousands of petitions starting on our platform every day, we're looking to provide ways for our members to engage with the other in organizing events. -- with each other in organizing events. we're looking at ways to fund raise. that horizontal connection raises the question of how we vet this stuff. we are a small staff of only about 30 people. how could we possibly know who is behind the petitions? the answer is we have incredible membership that helps us to vet the petitions and we have the power of technology and analytics to help us to detect trends. we also have individual people, dedicated volunteers come able to help us review all of the
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content constantly flowing into our system. you see incredible leaders bubbling up everywhere. this is one of the things i am inspired by in our new strategy. there is a moveon member in california. she is not someone i heard of before. she started a petition on our side. she started a petition calling for a ban on fracking in california because she lives in culver centered near one of the biggest sites in the state. she said i am a small-business owner. this is polluting my environment and town. fracking is the controversial technique where oil companies drill underground near water sources to extract the gas. ourstarted a petition on side. we look at her leadership, the
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quality of the petition, the attention it was getting. we elevated. it eventually got over 35,000 signers in the -- the state of california. we are trusting ellen members in using systems to make sure we're elevating thoughtful stuff. we are trusting our members. they are delivering in doing the most powerful campaigning i can imagine. we're excited to see what they and you can come up with as we head into 2014. ist: in the last minute, who the progress of candidate in 2016? guest: it is still very early. moveon members have played a huge role in elections. we have given hundreds of millions of dollars to progressive candidates. any candidate that once moveon -- wants moveon support should
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stand on their progressive values. there are so many things our members care about. we're looking forward to all of those in the race standing for those values. host: anna galland is the new director of moveon.org. next we have our weekly "your money" segment. we're looking at taxpayer costs in maintaining the interstate highway system. first, a news update from c-span radio. >> more on politics from the former new york governor. he will meet with voters in manhattan to collect petition signatures for his new york city comptroller run in union square today. candidates for statewide offices have to have 3750 signatures from registered voters in their party by this thursday.
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eliot spitzer stepped down in 2008 amid a prostitution scandal. geithnerreports tim has been elevated to the highest rank of public speakers alongside bill clinton and tony blair after receiving about $400,000 for three speaking engagements. to theh at the door conference last month and netted him about $200,000. private equity groups compete. last september the carlyle founder and lead the question and answer session with bill clinton. within a week of stepping down, alan greenspan was paid $250,000 to speak at a dinner for hedge fund clients of the now-defunct lehman brothers. plans for the president today. he will name the omb director to
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lead an effort designed to make government smarter and more efficient. you could hear the president's remarks on c-span radio at 11:50 eastern or watch on c-span. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. no man needs an honest partner more than the american president, sheltered and cocooned as he is in what harry truman called the great white prison. that is what i concluded after five years and hundreds of interviews. greathose presidents with spouses willing to speak hard to,hs others are unwilling those presidents have a distinct advantage. let me give you an example. been able to cut through her husband's paranoia, watergate might have been avoided. she had given up on him by the
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time they reached the white house. they were living separate lives in the portrayal of the saddest of all presidential couples. himsaid she did not give help because he did not need it. is there a man or woman alive that does not need help from the person that knows the best? >> as we continue our conversation on first ladies, she talks about how first ladies have helped to shape american history. that is tonight at 9:00 on c- span. "washington journal" continues. look at howeek we your money is at work in a different federal program. we will spend the next 45 minutes speaking about the interstate highway system. the history, funding, hell is kept up. we're joined by prof. jonathan gifford who oversees the master's program at george
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mason university for transportation policy. take us back in history and explain the creation of the interstate highway system, specifically president eisenhower's involvement. guest: there are two key date. one is 1944 which predates president eisenhower. 1956 is the day a lot of people associate with the beginning because it was when we got funding. in 1944, congress created the system in long in the 1944 highway act. it took another 12 years before the funding package was put together. that created something called the highway trust fund which is still with us today. that funding package was the thing that launched an aggressive construction program
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over the next 30 years and continues to fund the system today. host: another one of the key dates is 1919. this is according to a story on the history of the highway system from the tennesseean. they used the only transcontinental road we had, the lincoln highway. talk about how the trip influenced president eisenhower when he became president. 1913 was the beginning of
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the lincoln highway. we are marking the centennial this year. it went from the east to the west coast. promotedprivately highway. in 1919 convoy's stands out in history because eisenhower participated in it and he was president when the trust fund was enacted into law in 1956. there is some folklore about whether the convoy influenced his thinking in 1956 when he was president. clearly it gave him a sense of the challenge of moving military material across the country. it is also said that during his observation in broughtf the autobahn home to him the importance of a
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national highway system for military response. today, it isxists about 47,000 miles long. 90% was paid for by the federal government. the upkeep costs are about $40 billion a year. $120stimated cost is about billion in the making. costabout the maintained and how the government maintains its highway system. guest: it is important to understand is a state owned and operated system. it was federally financed through the trust fund. the states are the owners of the interstate highway system. the federal government owns very in military bases, national parks, in the some are owned
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by the national park system. the vast majority are owned and operated by the states. the financing mechanism was the federal government collected taxnues from the gas beginning in 1956 that one into the highway trust fund. the receipts were apportioned across 48 states and in 50 states. then the district of columbia and some u.s. territories in a formula based on the population of the state, the amount of federal land held in the state because some states have a significant fraction of their land owned by the federal government. the states know what the apportionment is. they can build in any particular season or in multi- year construction plans to say
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we're going to build these highways that are part of the interstate highway system. the federal government will reimburse us for 90% of those costs. host: we're talking with professor jonathan gifford from george mason university. if you have comments or questions about the interstate highway system or want to tell us about your observations of the system as you are traveling on the country this summer, and give us a call. the phone lines are open. let's talk about the health of the interstate highway system. give us a status check. guest: the most recent report from federal highway administration, the agency
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theonsible for looking at interstate highway system, has a 2010 report based on 2010 data performance of the system. the system is improving. it is a 50-year old system by and large. a system like that requires investment. you mentioned the maintenance expenditures. i think you said $40 billion a year approximately. than $100little more per person per year to maintain the system. the system is there. it has not been expanded much. it is 47,000 miles long. when it was originally enacted, it was about 44,000 miles long. years, we'veg 70 added 4,000 miles to the
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interstate system map. the country has changed a lot in those decades. reinvest andto renew the system. it is not falling apart. there was a time in the 1980's when there was a well-known book that talk about our crumbling infrastructure. i think the picture is better today. the federal funding part of that is in a lot of trouble. inare facing reauthorization the next year that i think will pose difficult questions. host: that is the part funded by the gas tax. is the gas tax keeping up with the money needed to invest in the system? guest: the short answer is no, not even close. there are a couple of things going on. the primary source of funding is the gas tax.
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tax.is a per gallon if you buy 20 gallons of gas, you pay 80 cents. and may not be doing my math right. fourre paying about dollars -- $4 for the federal program. it has not changed in 20 years. host: how many miles you can get on your car -- guest: if you are driving the harbor or electric that burns no gas at all. the vehicle fuel efficiency has gotten better in the last 40 years. we're seeing higher fuel efficiency. that means more miles per gallon, which is a good thing standpoint, but not a good thing from the highway
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funding standpoint. the: we have the status of highway trust fund on the screen. take us through what we are seeing. covered line is the spending. the dark blue line is the receipts. outlays are exceeding their receipts. -- the big blue bars are showing where the balance of the trust fund will go based on the gas tax current revenues alone. that means the general fund will have to bail out the highly trust fund. intoll have to put funds the highway trust fund to continue to support the spending
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levels predicted. $90 billion tune of in 2023. is this something the federal government has done before, bailed out the highway trust fund? about $40has put billion in general funds into the highway trust fund in the last five or six years. that is a cumulative number. we're looking at a $90 billion shortfall in 2023. this is a significant problem. host: let's go to the phones. onk is from lansing, mich., the independent line. caller: when eisenhower built the highways, the states collected the taxes to keep their state up. if you have a greater population, you collected more taxes. i would like to know when the
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sent their taxes to the government and the government said you do not need as much to get by on. when did that happen and why do the states not take care of their own roads? guest: there are a lot of questions in there. i would like to unpack a little bit. i would like to correct something you said. the states are collecting the money and sending it to the federal government and the feds are sending it back. in one way, you could say it is true. by and large, the states collector on revenue. the federal government collects its revenue. the taxes are collected at fuel distribution points. it depends on where the gasoline is being shipped on who collects a tax. the states have another system themselves. states and localities are large players in infrastructure
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spending. this is an issue about the federal gas taxes collected in virginia or california and sent to washington. ,oes california get back 100% what is the return to each state from the federal taxes collected within its boundaries? that has been a significant political issue the last 20 years has congress has removed the highway program on several occasions. we have some states that do not have a lot of economic activity but are important from a transportation standpoint. they may not collect enough which generate enough federal gas taxes to support their system. some of the large western states with a lot of federal land do not necessarily have the amount that burn or vehicles the amount of gas on their highways to support this system.
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how do you deal with those sections of the system? that question has gotten a lot of debate in the last 20 years. states the more urban were traditionally putting in more than they were getting back. in 1991 openedn the issue of saying, what is the equity of sending more than you are getting back? if you got 100% of what you put in, there is no point in sending it to washington. you could convert it into a state tax. many states like having the federal taxes as part of their program because there is a lot of interstate traffic that uses our system. host: we're talking about the interstate highway system. some steps on how much it costs to build different parts of the system.
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some statistics on the longest interstate routes. from san francisco to new jersey, 2,900 miles. we are taking your calls as we discussed the interstate highway system. from daly city, california, on the democratic line.
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is a big movement by the privateers to privatize federal highways. they sort of sneak in. out here they are experimenting with people paying to use the hov lanes. it is the beginning of the privatization of our infrastructure. and i hope all americans would be up in arms. this is essential. i travel a lot on highway 80. it is a very important road. connects the industrial north all the way across. it does need a lot of maintenance. the idea of privatizing, i hope the politicians would be honest enough not to take campaign contributions from private tears. privateers.
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host: you have worked on standards for these private efforts. guest: we are seeing a lot of growth in private investment in ighways across the u.s. it is have been in europe and other countries. there is a large amount of private investment. that has to be paid back with a profit margin. modela different funding than we have used since the 1950's. i would remind the caller that prior to 1956, we sought a large-scale expansion of -- and manymany roads were built as toll roads and continue to operate as toll roads today. the business model and
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organizational delivery system, the pennsylvania turnpike is a state authority. the new jersey turnpike is a state authority. these are state entities. has been a leader for 20 years looking at attracting private investment in infrastructure. it has been a leader on public- private partnerships. issuesre some important associated. one is the issue of:, which is very controversial. we have a system that has largely been untolled. to say we will now begin to impose tolls is very controversial in the communities they serve. virginia has seen a strong reaction to proposals to put tolls on interstate 95 that goes
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north and south through the state. this is an issue we will grapple with. the flip side is there has not been a lot of political support raising gas taxes and fixing the trust fund problem. these facilities are expensive to maintain. the money has to come from somewhere. theusers paying at tollbooth or through a gas tax are the ones that ought to be paying the bulk of the costs because they are the primary beneficiaries. it is either tolls or gas taxes. there is no free lunch. you can squeeze efficiencies out of any program by doing a review, but that is not nearly enough to solve the problem. host: what about secretary ray lahood's proposal on miles traveled? how would that work and where does it stand? guest: that is an interesting proposal. i am amused because i remember
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one of his earliest comments after he was sworn in as secretary was to talk about whether we would consider a miles traveled the. -- fee. he was sharply are permitted by the white house to say the obama administration would not consider this until the economy had fully recovered. host: how would it work? guest: in principle, it is simple. in practice, is more complicated. in principle, if you would pay a fee based on the amounts that by drive, perhaps varying time of day or which harley you are driving on. if you are driving on an interstate highway on the , heund and leg at rush hour would be paying a higher per mile fee than if you were driving late in the evening or the early morning hours of a road that was not otherwise congested.
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host: how would the government trucks that? guest: that is a big to tell you would have to figure out. it is used for tripling in germany right now. the germans have a high standard of privacy protection. i was in germany and took a tour of the system. they have a good system that charges tolls on the trucks but does not retain data for .racking purposes when the billing is resolved, the data is destroyed and are retained. one issue applying this in the u.s. is the privacy issue. is the government going to be watching a transponder mounted in your vehicle that knows where you are and where you are going? it is similar in the east. z passe 60 million e
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tags. term tracking.ng- toll, theou use a system knows you have paid a toll at a particular time and place. it davits your account accordingly. theythe balance runs down, will ask you to pay cash or charge your credit card. host: earl is calling from massachusetts on the democratic line. caller: i have a question regarding construction of the highway systems. process, how does one become involved and eligible forbidding some of these major jobs? i am a native american. on i am wondering how i could possibly put a company together to build these jobs.
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-- bid these jobs. guest: that is an interesting question. it is a large industry. it has extremely large companies and a huge number of small companies involved in local highway projects, state highway projects, interstate highway projects. the state departments of transportation own and operate the interstate system. they are concerned about ensuring there are local companies and local employees involved in some of the projects. the financial and bonding requirements for doing a multimillion-dollar project are substantial. the state wants to make sure you have the wherewithal to complete the project. a large company will subcontract a number of paving
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the or construction or delivery jobs. state departments of transportation would have information on their web sites about how to participate. they may have training to make people familiar with their contract in. about 47,000tem is miles. is it still expanding? 1944 to 2013, it has grown about 3,000 miles. we are slowly adding mileage. most of that has been added in the last 20 years, the increment of 3,000 miles. the history of the interstate system is it was a program that had remarkable political support for decades. people cynical about washington might expect a program like that to get full earmarked projects added to the system.
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the interstate is an exception to that practice. there was strong congressional support, virtually no earmarking until 1990. the system was stabilized. the downside is things we did 1956,ticipate in 1944 or areas of the country that have had a lot of growth in the last 50 years like the highway between las vegas and phoenix, there is no interstate highway link between those cities. nks do you begin to add li into the system that reflect massive moves of the population that have occurred over the last half century? host: from twitter. it defines us. jim is on the democratic line
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with professor jonathan gifford from george mason university. semi trafficoes affect the deterioration of the interstate system and local roads? have the weight limits increased because of the effect on the interstate system? guest: great question and a complicated answer. the size and weight of commercial vehicles and semi trucks would fall into that category. matter of tension over the years between the states and national interests. we have a national tracking system, one of the most efficient in the world. part of the involves being able to operate trucks across st. lawrence -- state lines where you do not have to change equipment at state boundaries.
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that would be a huge efficiency penalty on the system. we have had size and weight standards in place for interstate highways for a long time. interoperability across states by trucks. the weight on the pavement have is an important -- has an important impact on the durability of the pavement. you can mitigate the negative impact by designing the pavement to withstand heavier loads. you can build bridges strong enough to carry heavier loads. there is an interplay between the design of the system and the vehicles allowed to operate on it. the trucks to pay -- do pay taxes to the states where they are operating. it is not just where it happens to buy gas. in smaller northeastern states, it would be concerned about
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them buying cheap state in -- cheap gas in one state and operating in another. this is a system using electronic blogging to ensure commercial vehicles operating in the state are paying the road use taxes attributable to them. jimmy is on the independent line. caller: what is your professional opinion about the way indiana has leased its toll hold them we accountable for the quality of repair? bid, they when they throw out the highest and lowest and average. camepick the guy that closest to the average. i believe the results in high quality. driving in europe, he never see
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repair. onst: the first question indiana, about eight years ago, indiana wrote a long-term road.ct for its toll it built its toll road in the 1950's when states were building toll roads before the interstate funding package came along. indiana was one of the states that has had a toll road in place for many years. 6believe the number was $aaa billion-- $3.6 agreement with the company to take over operation and maintenance. it gave them flexibility on raising the tolls. the calls have been set by a state agency before. -- the tolls have been set by a state agency before. there was political reluctance to raise the taxes. the taxes have gone up. indiana, it is 75
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years. that is a long time ago. that is a long-term concession agreement. we willit is something see more of if it is carefully done. if it is carefully done, the public interest can be well served. california was a leader. virginia has been a leader. -- signed aatized 99-year concession agreement for the skyway in the last 10 years. that was one of the marquee events followed soon after by the $3.8 billion contract. i think we will see more of this. we learn with each transaction about what can go wrong and right. i think we're seeing great benefits coming out of these projects. but is a very different way of doing business. host: runs through the other
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question on the european bidding process. guest: i am not familiar with the process. it sounds intriguing. the issue of how you get fair , there in an environment has been a lot of experience in the united states in different bidding systems to ensure you do not always go to the lowest bid. you are building something fairly complex, if you need to be sure the contractor has the capacity to deliver a quality product. i am not as familiar with the european system the gentleman mentioned. host: you mentioned individual state efforts. you spoke about virginia. not perfect but works well. is the virginia greenway?
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guest: it is one of the early modern toll roads in virginia. it goes from dulles international airport out to .eesburg, virginia it was authorized by the state in 1991, i want to say, with a special provision from the general assembly that allowed it to go forward. that road was built privately. it was built rapidly. it was not very financially successful in the first round. not initial investors did get their capital back. it has been refinanced on a couple of occasions. i am interested to hear the comment it works well. there are many people furious , that thegreenway green refers to something other than the surroundings of the highway and that it is an extortionary scheme in should be
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shut down. there are passionate views on both sides. the issue is how the tolls are set, what kind of transparency is there. the gentleman mentioned there was a refund at the end of the year. i was not familiar with that provision. it does provide service. the tolls are not trivial. i think it is well used. i have heard is well operated. it tends not to have lane closures. there is a lot of controversy about that particular business model. host: john is from florida on the democratic line. caller: i am over the road trucker and owner/operator. i know well what we're talking about. i have several concerns about privatizing the interstate system. can not think the taxpayers recoup their original investment without extremely high costs in
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tolls. i think we will basically be giving away the interstates. it is not an either/or situation right now. you pay both. you pay the toll and the fuel taxes. it is a double or triple tax in some states like new york. if you take the new york state pulling and 80,000 pound load, by the time you pay the pound per load, federal, and state taxes, it costs $1 per mile. they do not have a competitive pricing system for trucking companies. we do not do that in the united states. if we collected taxes from the people that ship or receive these commodities instead of the trucking companies, it would be more manageable.
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it would be more like a sales tax based on the sale price of the commodities. host: do you want to comment on that proposal? guest: i am not that experienced in trucking. andink $1 per mile for 80,000 pound vehicle is not the worst i can imagine. the prices in europe may be higher. how thethe issue about calls are set for commercial vehicles, of the weight and distance taxes are imposed, is a very important issue. we have seen a lot of debate in the u.s. about whether we should move to a more toll-based financing system. when we heard from john was concerned about regional what we
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heard from john was concerned about that issue in the over the road trucking system, which is a critical part of our national supply chain. we have the most efficient railroads and the most efficient trucking system. we have an extremely efficient rate system over all. that is something we all rely on for everything we consume every of thoseng in over one areas. it is important to get it right. right now the business model for how we finance is not working very well. i think our ability to maintain the federal expenditure levels will require a change of some sort. the: more facts about interstate highway system from the department of transportation. numbers run east and west.
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back to the phones. from new york on the independent line. are on with professor differed. caller: i have just heard talk about the financing. i would like to take this from a different perspective. i consider this an environmental disaster. you have taken down millions of acres. there is no way wildlife can to go tor or under
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different areas. there was no environmental impact taken when these highways were built. that is from one perspective only. that ticks me off. host: do you think the environmental impact over 80 years outweighs the benefits of people being able to get around? caller: i do not know. if you are just talking from one perspective, economic, i do not think it should be looked in the light of economics only. other considerations are equally important. host: thank you for the comment from new york. that might play into this question from twitter.
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federalver see a highspeed rail system? guest: interesting. we may see some growth in high- speed rail. i would like to go back to the question mike raised in new york about the environmental impact of the interstate highway system. and by 35ose to me years working on the interstate highway system as a policy. that is something i have fought a lot about. the whole country has thought about it a lot. if you go back to the standards of environmental review used to construct highways begun in the 1950's and compare them with the environmental reviews applied to projects that are embarked upon in 2013, there are a huge number of issues that have come into play and appropriately so.
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you can argue about whether it has gone too far or not far enough. there's been a huge amount of progress in understanding how to build infrastructure in a way that is sensitive to , wild lifeal impact in particular, to air quality impact, what impact. dept. of transportation is the largest employer of biologists in the state because of the water quality impact studies they are required to do when they begin to look at expanding or modifying a highway. a have made a huge effort in legal and regulatory way and in the agencies responsible for owning and operating the harley system, trying to mitigate the impact and identify them of fraud.
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that you side of it made reference to is the benefit side. what about the benefit of having mobility and having the ability to move around in a publicly financed transportation system? that is something hard to put a number on it is an important feature of the interstate highway system and highways more generally, having the option to move around. be overlooked a bit. if you look at the americans relationship with the car, part of it is the autonomous mobility associated with an automobile. host: professor jonathan gifford is with george mason university. that is all we have time for. we appreciate you coming on this morning. that is our show today on
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"washington journal." we will see you back here at 7:00 tomorrow morning. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> the pentagon begins its furloughs today, 20% pay cut for an estimated 50,000 workers for the next three months. the furloughs were ordered by the defense secretary in response to the sequestered. president obama laying out a vision

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