member of the commerce committee. then, a spotlight on magazines allows on hiss fel >> good morning, it's "washington journal" july 13. at 10:00 today, the house financial-services committee hears from ben bernanke and you can see that live on c-span 3. the senate foreign relations committee later will consider special assistant to president obama as the united nations representative and the house will take a vote on aspects of the affordable care act beginning with the employer and individual mandate and we will consider those topics. we want to turn your attention to a speech made in orlando last night with attorney general eric holder. would senselessly expand the

concept of self-defense. it is a reference known as certain laws and he said it was time to question those laws before the first 45 minutes, your views on self-defense laws. the attorney general is questioning those type of loss. here is how you can give your comments this morning -- you can also join us on social media -- you can also send us e-mail. let's take a look at the speech as far as the headlines of the papers dealt with it. this is "the wall street journal"-

in the pages of "the washington post"- "said as -- and in "the washington times" - was made in orlando, florida. attorney general eric holder referring to expanded self-defense laws. [video clip] examine laws to that expand the ideas of self- defense. [applause] these laws try to fix something that was never broken. there has always been a legal defense for using deadly force

if, and the if it is important, if no safe retreat is available. we must examine laws that take this further by eliminating the common sense that people who feel threatened have a duty to retreat outside their home if they can do so safely. perhapswing and encouraging violence situations to escalate in public. jobless undermine public safety. the list of resulting tragedies as victimized to many who are innocent. it is our collective obligation. we must stand our ground. [applause] to ensure - [applause] must stand our ground to

ensure that our laws reduce violence, to take a hard look at laws that contribute to more violence than they prevent. host: attorney general. " the wall street journal" adds this - we are referencing the speech the attorney general gave yesterday, the idea of questioning and reviewing these types of expanded self-defense laws and getting your thoughts this morning. if you want to join us on the phone, here are the numbers -- you can also tweet us -

or send us an e-mail per the first call comes from bethesda, maryland, democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. i agree with eric holder. i think the only way to bring justice to this whole situation which was unfortunate for boat people is to repeal those typeable laws or readjust of those laws and get rid of them entirely. i think that is the only way to provide justice for trayvon martin. host: what if these laws are appealed or adjusted? what happens on the ground? if someone assaults you with a weapon, what will you do? i cannot speak to that because these -- each situation will be unique.

the way the event unfolds, i cannot speak to that. i think it is a good idea to get rid of it. that law -- if that law had not be there, maybe ball situation would be different. host: do you know if your status as those type of loss? caller: i live in maryland so i'm not 100% sure what laws are here. host: our next call is from michael, riverside, calif., independent line. caller: good morning, pedro. i do not agree with eric holder. -the reasonable law had to be put in place is because many people were victimized by people who want to hurt them. it is very convenient for him, to president or anybody else talk about people with guns. i live in the ghetto. from zerole come

knows where and we need to defend ourselves and we are at the mercy of the police and hope they get here and help us because we are not allowed to take bill lot into our own hands. no, i do not agree with that. even without that law, they are saying that we're supposed to run from an aggressor? bya woman is accosted somebody, she is supposed to yields? we should be able to carry a gun to defend ourselves. all citizens should be able to. anybody -- host: do you own a weapon? caller: yes, i do own a weapon and i will own one no matter what they say. in bigt driven around suv's like everybody else on capitol hill. it is just not fair to the people out here who have to pay

their bills. it is not fair. but you hadt you go 11 set on 8 5 foot, 9 inch fellow sitting on him. if he did not have a gun, he could have been killed. host: we will leave it there. the attorney general is taking all look and questioning be expanded self-defense laws. the papers say he is making reference to stand your ground rate we are getting your thoughts this morning. a review of these type of laws are needed by the federal government. the phone lines will be on your screen. she lot joyces -- joins us from georgia on our democrats line. caller: good morning, pedro. i am a white, 63-year-old woman

i am ashamed to be white. i am in georgia. i've walked through my neighbor's yard, who i don't really know and have said hello to him a couple of times but i walk through his backyard to go to the store because i have a back problem. to walk my dog. what i have heard, she could shoot me for walking through her backyard. , thinking i was going to do something. host: to the idea of a possible federal review or when the attorney general talks about the law -- caller: i think he is exactly right. i think all of those laws should be repealed.

these stand your ground lost -- look at the port lady who will spend 20 years in jail because her husband was coming after her. where did that come from? that is ridiculous. host: we are talking about the attorney general's statement when it comes to stand your ground lost that are throughout the united states. the sunlight foundation, blog put out material on july 16, taking a look state-by-state. if you look at the colors on your screen, those in red are the states with laws based on standard ground. it is known as the castle dr., defending your castle. , those in in brown o yellow have similar laws to the ones found in florida and there are a couple with no data available but that gives you a sense of what these type of laws

and where it is in the united states. we are getting your thoughts on the attorney general's statements this morning if you think a federal review is needed of these type of laws -- join us on the phone lines on your screen. let's go to elaborate on our republican line in massachusetts. caller: i am appalled as a father. my son goes to the store. hello? i am appalled. this kid trayvon martin is not dead because -- [indiscernible] this guy has the authorities to stop anyone discuss started this whole ball of wax. trayvon martin was not threatening his life.

[indiscernible] if i am pursuing you, you don't know me. [indiscernible] host: what about all laws, what do you think about them? caller: at some point, you need to be able to defend yourself. in this case, this kid was not stalking him. host: in michigan, you are not -- you are up next, independent line. caller: good morning, i am under the impression that the standard round lot did not play a role

within the trayvon martin case. that george zimmerman was attacked by mr. martin and the stand your ground law did not even come into play because it was a self-defense shooting. i am under the impression that george zimmerman was not doing anything illegal, although it might have been without the proper judgment by following mr. martin. mr. zimmerman was not breaking any laws. during that whole time. i might be completely mistaken on this whole thing but i am under the impression that stand your ground was not involved in this case. do you know if i am wrong? host: if i understand the facts, was part of a concept and was

not fully tried on that but the law was not cited by itself. caller: i don't know why we are having this discussion about stentor ground. host: the text of the stand your ground law, it is a 2011 that use of the force in defense of a person is justified except deadly force. you get the concept of the law as it stands attorney general

eric holder made statements on blog yesterday. oregon, democrats line, hello. when you opened, you mentioned about the stand your ground law that was not applied. really, george zimmerman had every opportunity to retreat. i don't think it could be applied. another thing i thought of was what if the scenario was different and trayvon martin lived and george zimmerman died to thesingle throw ground and trayvon martin sought the gun and through them to the sidewalk second time? host: this is in light of the attorney general's statement, what do you think of those tax caller: i agree with them. as far as i know, especially the police and the dispatcher made a

mistake by saying you don't need to -- he should have said we don't want you to. laws do you think those need review? caller: s, because those laws lead to escalating violence when people have disputes. host: we will hear from another annapolis, maryland, republican line. caller: good morning, i strongly believe that the right to defend yourself is paramount and should stay in place. more states should have it. the current statistics that i have show that the right to defend yourself -- i'm not sure if i'm using the right term -- is invoked predominantly by blacks against black in those states. it is rarely used to protect themselves in this case. this is completely a racial

issue -- it is a non-racial issue that is being twisted that way by the press. it needs to stop. it is ridiculous. host: the attorney general's comments yesterday? caller: i think he is way off base. the man needs to focus on what needs to be done with the justice system. a federal level, not at a state level. the jury read its course and justice was served. case closed. that's just my position. i think our current democratic administration is playing too far to the socialist asperger's --such almost to the extent host: a couple of tweets -

those are a couple of comments made. we are referencing the attorney general yesterday and his comments on it and getting your thoughts on be stuck all laws and if they are needed. if you want to join us -- point, mich., this is barbur, independent line. caller: i have a problem with all of these gun laws. i am 74-year-old. i work in downtown reach rate for many years. i never felt the need to carry a gun. it is supposed to be bad down there.

in detroit. my whole problem with this is what if trayvon martin had a gun, too? would they have a shootout on the street? he felt threatened. it is getting ridiculous. host: you think reviews of these laws are needed? ccwer: yes, my son has a and he will not go anywhere without his gun and i think is absolutely retarded of him to think that he needs to have a gun to go to the store. woman. old i don't feel like i need a gun to go to the store. a whole concept of so many guns and so many people feeling they need a gun just to get out and go to the store or go to the barber shop or what ever -- it is paranoia. that's all i have to say.

host: pittsburgh, pa. -- caller: good morning, i don't see any problem with the standard brown blob. i think there are 23 states that have bowl law and it would be worthy to note that neither the attorney general nor the president can't just cancel those laws. those are state laws. somebody should refresh them about the constitution. to change state laws, it is up to the state legislature and the voters. if they don't like them, they can change them. it is just a means of self- defense. i fail to see the problem. as far as the zimmerman trial, the defense did not use the stand your ground law as a defense in this case. that was never a factor. what the attorney general is subjectsdeflecting the

because they know there is no basis to go after this young man for any other crimes. that's my opinion host: we will continue on this topic. let's give you an update on political news. ed o'keefe joy and the us. the senate is looking on the filibuster deal that was reached. can you tell us the status? guest: basically a deal has been reached. they voted on the confirmation first ofd coeur drcordray seven nominees put on the docket for consideration. a change in the rules would have had democrats voting to change the rules so that the filibuster would be moot in case of executive branch appointments right after the big monday night meeting, it brought all the senators, 98 of the 100 senators

come into the old senate janet -- chamber to voice their differences which many described as a cathartic experience. the senate avoid a change in both roles -- rules and got the white house to withdraw two of the nominations. the rest will be confirmed by the end of the months of that can continue host: what are the new names? caller: i will admit that i am blanking on the two names. but are longtime labor lawyers. official at the afl-cio. the other name i am planning on but they replaced the two people that currently bessette on the board. they were appointed and more recent appointments in january of 2012. that is the basis of most of the gop objections. they haveis that significant issues with the nlrb

existence and its ruling in recent years that they say favor workers and labor unions to the detriment of large corporations. there are similar objections for cordray was appointed back in january, 2012 and republicans are not a huge fan of that agency which is part of the dodd-frank regulatory reform legislation in 2010. host: as far as future nominations, who is on deck and what is the status? caller: among others, we expect votes wegina mccarthy to lead the environmental protection at least one other member of the nlrb is expected to be reappointed bemark pierce, he would continue serving as the head of the nlrb. by withdrawing those two nlrb names and getting cordray on the

docket, the tensions have been refused -- defuse. two argued that the agencies need permanent political leadership to continue existing. the fate of those positions are up in the air because the supreme court has agreed to hear a case this coming term over the constitutionality of a recess appointments. obama appointed these three individuals in the midst of a very short break in january, 2012 that some describe as an actual recess and others say it was not because the senate was still meeting in pro-forma sessions. when it comes to relationships in the senate, in your story today --

can you expand on that? guest: and a loyal of the receipts -- of cspan sees this every morning. the two leaders come to the floor virtually every morning in recent months and have a several minute argument over the roles of the senate. the majority leader will stand there and say that republicans are needlessly blocking several well qualified nominees. republicans turn around and say we don't necessarily feel they are qualified and we don't like the agencies that work for the democrats are threatening to change the rules. if they change the rules, democrats will pass controversial legislation like yucca mountain. will pick up the bill that the house has passed several times to repeal the 2010 health

care law. they would do a bunch of things with simple majority votes. in the midst of all those disagreements, the two leaders have exchanged harsh words publicly and privately. their relationship has devolved into a simple conversation about the state of the washington nationals which is the only thing that the two of them share in common. host: as far as republicans in the senate yesterday voted for it, give me a sense of how many joint as far as the vote for mr. cordray and going further, as far as working relationships between the senators on these issues, what is the relationship going forward? as the17 republicans democrats to invoke cloture. joined in the

final vote with democrats and the caucus to approve the nominations. oft was a collection republicans initially in the cloture vote who had been concerned about the possibility of shaking up the senate by changing the rules. many of them aggressively reached out to democrats to avert that crisis and try to come up with an agreement. on the confirmation vote, you needed about six votes for cloture and they got 17. for confirmation, they did not need republicans but the got enough of them. portmanthem like rob came along and voted for his fellow bauxite state resident, richard cordray , in part, anause the agency supported independent inspector general. many federal agents is have an independent inspector general so he is supported them as a

full-blown agency agreed other republicans agree because they understand this is someone who deserves to serve and disqualified. they have no real concerns about his qualifications. many of these republicans may be thinking that it may be that the supreme court invalidates their initial appointments and casts his tenure into doubt. why don't we just a vote for it now? sufficient support. in the back of the month of and many democrats, these people are necessarily facing significant opposition. it is just the republicans, several of them, have been trying to hold up the process and make it difficult for the obama administration to operate at full capacity. , thanks for your time. back to calls -- concerning the

attorney general yesterday making comments about the stand your ground law. independent line -- that thee believe stand your ground law works well down here in florida. we have the statistics to prove it. have had a few people that went outside the parameters of the law and they were convicted. in this particular case we are talking about, trayvon martin was committing a forcible felony. what is missing from this conversation is that the public is not being educated about it. bob -- the public is being told to keep their hands to their cells. if anybody wants to go on arms, that's ok. not me. holder -- he has no

business in this and he is pandering. host: georgia, democrats line -- caller: i do believe strongly in eric holder's statement. i think florida needs to examine its loss. --laws. i have a couple of relatives that are business lawyers and they have said they in tampa, florida and they found people hanging from trees. when you have this kind of thing going on, you know you are in a state that has some strong racial problems. maybe the standard round lot needs to focus in on that part -- maybe the stand your ground law needs to focus on that part, defending yourself. "stand yourname

ground" needs to be changed. it sounds to me as though you are calling someone to call upon another. i'd surely believe we all have the right to carry a gun or to defend ourselves but when we are talking about a child walking down the street and we are talking about an adult who had serious issues, i believe, with himself -- he is not happy with his genetic makeup and he is not happy with his opportunity to become an officer for the state of florida. i think that is why we have a 17-year-old child who was killed walking down the street. it has nothing to do with him possibly committing a crime because he was not committing a crime. host: we got next to florida, republican line. caller: yes, i watched every bit of the shell.

-- show. i think we should keep these stand your ground lost 3 i am 84-years old and want to be able to protect myself. just have so much out there with his younger generation that is looking for trouble. be able to protect myself. if they get rid of that, i intend to keep protection and i will use it if i get threatened attendwant to ever would to attack me, whoever does it, they will have to -- they will be stopped. host: this is the front page of "the wyoming tribune eagle."

mikeis a picture of lindsay and liz janey who has declared she will run. there is a video of ms. cheney she made her announcement. [video clip] >> the last years have been devastating. our national debt is nearing $17 jillian with no end in sight. it poses an inexcusable burden on our children and grandchildren. we have watched as our taxpayer dollars are wasted on investments that go bankrupt, so-called stimulus projects that

never get off the ground, and federal government programs that do not. create not washington seems convinced that more government borrowing and spending are the solutions to every problem. they are dedicated to taking more money out of our pockets and massively expanding the government's role in our lives. host: that was the video release yesterday. relations foreign committee will consider samantha power, a former adviser to president obama, --, to become the u.s. representative to the united nations. the house financial-services committee at 10:00 will have ben bernanke, the federal reserve chairman, taking questions of -- and talking about the semiannual policy report. that hearing will be live at 10:00 on c-span 3 and available on c-span.org. from arizona, democrats line. caller: i am calling regarding

the fact that i think it should be repealed simply because -- no one, i feel, has the right to walk around at night with a gun just to see what is going on unless it it's the police. police ask this person, george zimmerman, not to continue falling this person. if he would that have followed him, that child would not be dead today. host: what about a federal review of the state laws? caller: it needs to be reviewed. i believe you have the right to defend yourself but you defend yourself if you feel like you are being attacked on reasonably. this guy started it. the child did not start it. another thing -- you, i, or

anyone else out here know who is telling the truth. the other person that was involved in this is dead. zimmerman lives. host: the headline from "usa today" - we are asking you about this and you can't call on the lines that best represent you. pennsylvania, republican line -- caller: good morning, the stand your ground lot is beside the point. other colder is nonsense talking about this. that is not the problem. host: why is that nonsense? caller: it was not brought up. that was not the reason why the

jury acquitted him. he mentioned did yesterday in his speech. caller: so what? the problem is that in almost every city in america, almost every night, people will look like trayvon martin and barack obama's son if he had a son and george zimmerman, a white hispanic, are killing each other in the streets. that is the problem. what is all this other nonsense about? host: georgia, democrats line. stand yourst of all, they use juror b37, that in the deliberation that brought them to a not guilty verdict. i don't have a problem with the right to bear arms. zimmermanieve george

had his gun out in the beginning and approach to this young man with a gun in his hand. waistt gun was in his band and he was on his back, he could not have gotten to it. off bikes anden it is head on a concrete and got to the hospital. host: you have no problem with self-defense laws? caller: i don't have a problem with self-defense. we all deserve the right to defend ourselves. white didn't trayvon martin go on? do you think i would carry trouble to my house of someone is following me? host: do you have a problem with laws like stand your ground? caller: i have a problem with stand your ground because it gives people the right to take a life like this. a mother has lost a son. a father, a brother --

i have young children. do you think all of these kids that walk the street and are being stalked -- this?e these people doing there is nobody there to protect these kids host: this story is from "the hill" this morning about edward snowden and the olympics.

aboutr story this morning the pentagon -- york, on our independent line, good morning. caller: good morning, i am

calling to say that i understand that there may not be any racial undertones in this case as well as stand your ground issues. however, i believe the self- defense law needs to be reformed. personu have an armed pursuing a so called suspicious person means a potential problem. in this case, the suspicious person was not armed. naples, fla., democrats line. haven't voting since 1952 and i have never seen anything like this. it is just horrible. there are so many things to discuss. we don't have to stand our

ground. we should not have guns. uc commercials in florida like crazy. they show these gun stores. people go there and learn to shoot a gun. this is horrible. another thing i was watching this morning -- they were talking about how they arrest a lot of people and put them in handcuffs and they treat them like horrible criminals. what in the world is happening? this is horrible. host: that is the last call we will take on this topic. here is a story you can find on "the national journal" - here to talk about this is stephen sheppard with the hot line pulling. thanks for joining us.

good morning. guest: good morning. host: tell us about why you decided to take this paul of the work you are doing with united technologies? technologies is cosponsoring along with us eight poll is conducted roughly every week when congress is in session. we are exploring the different issues that congress is facing. this particular poll which consisted of six questions, the keystone pipeline and another question on power plants is what we are talking about today. it dealt with everything from egypt to immigration and these energy issues. we are looking to get to the bottom of how americans feel about the issues facing congress right now. host: let's start with the keystone pipeline. you asked the question -- should the keystone xl pipeline be built? the results --

fill in what the numbers don't tell us. does give question both sides of the argument. reporting theays pipeline, will it eased our dependence on mideast oil? about what sorts of environmental impact like increased emissions or the possibility of a spill or disaster could result from that. that being said, when you look at this question, 67% supporting the building of the pipeline, that includes 56% of self identify democrats and that tells us that americans are leaning more toward the economic benefits of the keystone the sorts of energy developments. the are leaning away from environmental -- the possible environmental consequences

host: the next question you had up -- the question of power plants. tougher regulations on power plants? newsay they should stop regulations. not much difference between the two categories. guest: this is close and this gets down to probably the biggest part of the debate which ofthe economic benefits these power plants that are being regulated. they are increasing greenhouse gases is the debate. the benefits of using -- my apologies. when you ask people the

question, do they have a sense of the regulatory burdens that power plants have? guest: the supporters say the regulations are necessary to reduce the risk of global climate change. opponents -- opponents of the regulations say regulations are not worthwhile and could increase power costs. this is the main question that has surrounded a lot of our debate over energy and climate change since the start of the obama administration since they tried to pursue capital trade policy in 2009. host: finally, you ask what should happen with the senate immigration bill. break down the responses. guest: we told respond as what the bill would do -- bork -- double the amount of border agents and allow immigrants who came to the u.s. illegally to become citizens after 13 years.

the senate has passed this bill, what would you like the house to do? 29% wants the house to pass the senate bill as is and then be asked if we made the provisions for border security tougher, what they want them to pass the bill and 30% said yes. 13% said eliminating the pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants would be sufficient for the house to pass the bill. another 20% did not want the house to pass and the immigration legislation. the20% that do not want house to pass immigration legislation were largely made up of republicans and the 29% that want them to pass the bill leans heavily toward democrats. host: does your web site provide a full breakdown? guest: we do if you go to national journal.com. yesterday, we ran questions about federal aid to egypt

following the turbulence there. the full questionnaire should be posted and you can read the exact question wording and check out some graphics. you can learn more about what the american people learned -- think about these issues. host: thank you for your time. coming up next, we will take a lot at the vote in the house taking a look at the affordable care act but first up, john fleming will join us to discuss the boats. later continue this discussion with rep gene green of texas and we will have those stories coming up as [captioning performed by national captioning institute] " continues. "washington journal"continue as. -- continues. ouron't know enough about

first ladies. scratch the surface and will find lives that often surpassed their husbands in drama and 42 per examines theseries public and private lives of these women and their influence on the presidency. watch the encore presentation of first ladies from martha washington to a height of mckinley weekdays and august at 9:30 on c-span. government to effect a new economy, it grants everybody a life pension. it raises the standard of existence and it increases the value of everybody's property, raises the scale of everybody's wages. thatf the greatest favors can be bestowed on the american people is the economy in government. >> the very first sound film we

have featuring a president is calvin coolidge talking about economic policy. that is not the most scintillating film and the world but it is fascinating to see them, this early sound technology. a day whenwill reach there is just tremendous amounts of material out there waiting for a new generation to discover and make something meaningful of it. that is a lot of stories can be told in our collection. we are just so eager to make more of it available for people to discover. >> more about early public affairs film sunday at 7:00 p.m. eastern, part of american history tv every weekend on cspan 3. continues. journal" flemingt only as john

representing louisiana's, he is the vice chair of the gop doctors caucus. he is here to talk about aspects of the affordable care act. thank you for joining us. planned for today. talk about those votes. guest: we will be looking at the mandate for the president announced without any fanfare that the business mandate would be delayed for one year. that is huge. because the business mandate requires businesses to either cover all their employees with health care, particularly over 50 employees, or pay a huge fine. to deflate it one year is really an interesting development. -- to delay it one year is really an interesting development. we will say to do that but we

also need to give individual americans. a americans buyshould they be forced to into this insurance program when businesses are given a break? i think it is an interesting development. it will be interesting to see how democrats vote on this. i'm certain republicans will all vote to delay both the individual and business mandates. ist: the purpose of the vote what? guest: the purpose is to continue to get a fax for the and -- to get a fix as to where the representatives stand in washington on obama care. it is very controversial more now than ever, we would like to see it go away, be repealed. it is very not popular. it passed with not a single republican vote. to begin with. all we have seen his problems with it. i think it is just another

pupulse check. we are three years down borrowed and this thing has not an employment and it looks like it will not be implemented for another four years except for the taxes. this seems to be all pain and no gain. host: we will talk about issues on the affordable care act. if you want to ask questions, here is how you can do so -- tweet -also give us a also send us e-mail. the gop doctors caucus, what is that? guest: this is physicians who are in the house of representatives who are

republicans and some of our counterparts to our health care workers. we have a clinical psychologist, a nurse, we have a foot specialist, a podiatrist, who come together to work on these ofngs offline and outside committees. the reason for doing so is the health care economy is a very unique micro economy. we try to work out what the best solutions are. we tried to do this during a health care debate. we were kind of shut out on that. has its fatea care in question to many of us, we are still discussing and preparing the alternatives that would be advantageous to the american people should be have the opportunity to go back and repeal and revise obama care. host: it was the congressional

budget office that estimate of the government would collect about $4 billion in penalties in 2014. some make the case that it brings money in. this: no question about it is an extension of the tax of bigger government in washington. from the beginning, the cbo said it would pay back some of the deficit on the republican side, we never believed that. just the other day, the cbo said $115s, found another billion of added expense. this, we willough find that it will begin to mount up more deficit spending, more deaths to the nation and that is another -- more debt than nation. host: j kearney was asked about the affordable care act and how it makes concessions for those who are individuals. here is what he had to say.

[video clip] is the the aca lao opportunity to allow for individuals who could not, prior to passage of the affordable care act, afford insurance, to get insurance. it provides subsidies for those and it assessed businesses in those efforts. host: it is assistance to individuals so there is already things built in. guest: let's understand what is going on. individuals are being forced into this. who are those individuals who would otherwise opt out? they are young and healthy individuals and what we find is that their subscriber cost, their premiums, will double or triple. the reason for that is if you are going to be -- bring people into health care with pre-

existing conditions, somebody has to pay for that and that somebody is young, healthy people. when they realize that they can either pay $95 fine which may not even be collectible war 3- $5,000 in health-care premiums, many of them and not often to it. the government has a real problem with getting individuals even with a mandate to sign up for this bill. be $95 or 1% of their income. guest: we are mostly talking 3-$5,000somethings so would apply to most of them. host: republican line. good morning. caller: thank you very much for taking my phone call. question for the rep. i honestly feel that this individual mandate is so illegal and so wrong.

i am a 51-year-old mel and i work. i do not have insurance. even though i don't have insurance now, i do not think that this government can legally force me to pay a private company to cover made. i think this is criminal. agree with you. i think this whole thing should be thrown out, put in a trash can of history, and start from scratch. like to get your response guest: many americans i think agree with you on that. this went to the supreme court and it was very interesting. the government argued that the obama administration that under the 10th amendment, individuals could be required to purchase insurance. it turned out that the court agreed. they decided to do a twisted

they said let's put this lot into a pretzel and call it a tax. though the obama administration argued against this idea, the penalty somehow became a tax. under the congress is taxing authority, individual mandates became legal. we have government forcing people to purchase a product for service. i think that really sticks in the craw of most americans. what we republicans and conservatives would like to see is insurance become more affordable and more attractive so more people would want to buy into it. there are many ways to handle the pre-existing problems. we have talked about creating a federal health benefit type of scenario where people can aggregate together through various associations and get the

same pre-existing coverage you would have been part of a large company. there are state high-risk pools, most of which work well. there are a lot of solutions. unfortunately, we end up with more problems than solutions. host: there is a story in "the -- york times" today pay $1000s who now will be able to shop for as monthly.$308 guest: you need to understand who you are talking about. people with more health care

problems by law their rates will have to come down, but somebody has to pay for that. it will be a combination of younger, healthier people who will have to pay higher rates, and that is if they opt in, which we believe many won't. there is $1 trillion worth of taxes. the bottom line is going forward when you have a system that covers so many people, it takes away the incentive. for individuals to live more healthfully and to have more investment and better outcomes. the utilization rates skyrocket. we saw this with hmos back in the 1980's. all of it will go up over time. host: this is judy on our

independent line. caller: good morning. i could not disagree more with you. 51 years old and no insurance. i am 56 with no insurance. we are self-employed. i have a son who works a crappy job because he cannot get a job with a college degree. i have a daughter who has no health insurance. we will all be on that exchange getting our health insurance. i cannot believe you're a doctor. i cannot believe people disagree with getting everybody health insurance. we will take what we can get. this is a republican plan that was implemented and you are all against it.

isn't always the almighty dollar, sir? is that what matters to you? my health matters to me. i and 56 years old. i need to go see a doctor yesterday. i will not go. i am self employed. i own my own home. i cannot lose everything to some doctor who thinks everything is owed to them. guest: what i would say is that all of us want more people covered under insurance. we want more access to care. it is questionable whether there will be more than a marginal increase in people covered under obama care. look at what is happening in small businesses. we have a massive shift of full-

time workers to part-time workers. why? businesses with more than 50 employees are going to find their bottom line wiped out. their employees do not have insurance and they do not have a job. that is one of the reasons president obama delayed this. that is a prickly problem. it is affecting regular businesses. the unions are saying, wait, we are not in this to become part- time workers. thatave many professors the only jobs available to them are part-time adjunct positions rather than a full time with tenure. this is having a chilling effect. as we see jobs decline and the largest rate of the smallest

sector in the workforce today that we have since president get thisf we do not country back to work, we are not going to be able to afford the insurance would already have. getquestion is, how do we more people covered by insurance? abouticans have been all using the marketplace, more options, more forms of insurance available, more involvement of the patient, health savings accounts. we want to see more people covered, but we want to make insurance and health care more efficient. as to physicians, doctors reimbursement rates have been declining over the rates. one of the problems we are is the factdicare

that physicians are opting out of these are opting out of practice altogether. as the number of doctors go down, we will run into a crisis of access to health care. that is a very serious problem. the system is top down from government and it will be difficult to solve those problems. people have voted for the president. guest: they need to check with my constituents. thennstituents opposed it and opposed it now. look at the various polls. americans are against it while majority of two to one.

this is an unpopular law. it is an unworkable law. host: birmingham, alabama. caller: i am a native of texas. i still have family members there. i am going to get the insurance -- i am a recent college graduate. understand is mixing them together, the individual mandate and the business one. 96% of people already covered. we are talking four percent of people. troublesome.can be we have such ms. allocation of

everything in this country. why can't people be honest about medicare? people have cancer and other things and no one wants to tackle those kinds of issues. things likee -- the national institute of health and thinking you guys are going to cut. we have to think about long- term. guest: those are great comments. even a wealthy nation like the united states has a limitation of resources. where close to a $17 trillion national debt. medicare will run out of money in 10 years. years security in 22 unless we reform them.

obama care removes money from medicare to help fund it along with other financing mechanisms, including $1 trillion in new taxes. there is a limit in what we can do to that. medicaremedicare like and they should like medicare. for every dollar you put into medicare, you're getting three dollars back. the taxpayers and the health care providers themselves -- as we have more people on medicare, as the cost of the program continues to grow, we are getting to a point where that is no longer sustainable. it is a huge subsidy program. we are all about subsidizing the health care for the elderly.

many of the elderly are wealthy people and we are subsidizing their health care as well. wouldf the budget program provide for those who have higher incomes and more wealth would pay a bigger part of their own medicare expenses. these are the kind of common sense reforms we need. more spending and more wealth distribution -- this makes an inefficient system more costly over time and less sustainable. host: our guest is representative john fleming. "the new york times" has been writing about this.

host: what you think about the response? guest: i believe with leader cantor on this. we are requiring it of individuals. democrats claim to be all about the individual and the "little guy." in this case they're not given the individual person a break. that is the reason we are voting today on both. to say that we are going to send a bill to the president that will do the same thing for individuals. why should they be discriminated against?

i do not follow what he is saying. perhaps you could repeat that. "to hugged big business while leaving the american people out in the cold." when obamak about care was put together, what did the president do? he brought in the big insurance companies and big pharma. they cut deals behind closed doors so they would get certain things. we have a saying that you are either at the table or you're going to be that meal. these big organizations lined up to be at the table. they are benefiting from this. we are seeing crony capitalism come out of the stimulus bill that passed in 2009. billions of dollars that went to

friends of the administration in the way of loans, many of which did not get paid back. washington is much different today. been close toas the president and this administration and to the democrat party. republicans tend to try to work with the small business sector. we worry that regulations are rolled out and benefit big businesses and big banks because it gives them a competitive advantage. i would have to reject what mr. levitt has to say. host: joseph from boston. caller: good morning. mr. reid and mr.

mcconnell were going back on whether it was a bill or a law. i know a law is something that has been established. a bill is something in the works. how could the supreme court rule on a law that is still being written. we do not understand. could we be assured that anything, any law that is passed will not be susceptible to the when it comes to assuming that something is passed. sure ii am not understand the question. i do not know if he was talking about a specific law or bill. were you able to pick up the

context? host: we can take another call. charles from west virginia. caller: i have two quick questions. tax, ibamacare is a thought it was under article one, section seven that any tax has to come from the house first and didn't obamacare start in the senate? guest: that has to do with the parliamentarian mechanics that we have in congress. all spending that and taxing measures have to begin in the house. the senateed was took a bill that was unrelated to obamacare and stuff their

version into that bill and send it back to us. they did that to get over a technical hurdle. there were several things to get around technical hurdles. we have the issue with senator kennedy who was ill and eventually died. vote to get past the filibuster issue. that itcan assume wasn't -- there is a similar lawsuit that may make it to the supreme court. i think we have to assume the supreme court finds this bill or law to be constitutional. manyspect that, although of us disagree with the decision on that. we have to decide whether obamacare it's for america and whether a government-run health

care system is good or a nation with a tradition that we work through the free marketplace, decentralized form of assistant when it comes to health care and many other things. it will be interesting to see. problems continue to stack up with obamacare. the administration has problems implementing it. many believed it is smothering under its own bureaucratic weight. host: we have a quotation from a survey. host: what is your perspective?

guest: the american medical association represents about 17% of physicians in this country. representation among doctors has declined. the ama has supported obamacare in the past. yes, america has higher health care costs per capita than any other industrialized countries do. when people come say, they come to america. much of what we are doing today is diminishing that edge. the excise tax on medical devices. --rything from tong blades tongue blade to artificial hearts. many are moving offshore to

other countries. it is having a dampening effect. we put a lot of money into research and innovation. we try to put patients into a chronic management illness state. other countries give a much earlier. compare the death rates of prostate and breast cancer. their rates are higher in canada and great britain. they do not get involved early in diagnosis. some of those countries with national healthcare wait for ct scans can be up to two years. it is not unusual for a physician to say, "we could have cured your cancer if we tested earlier." care, want that level of

you can get that. i think americans prefer what we have today. i always asked the question, if you have the ability, the resources, where would you go for the best health care? the answer is always the united states. tens ofda, we have thousands of canadians that come across the border to get care in the united states and not the other way around. in those countries, great britain and canada, they are coming our way while we are going in their direction. they are building robust private systems because they know the proms they have whereas in this country we are going towards a governmental system which will end up like them were people stuckedian income will be

in a mediocre health care system. everybody else with more recesses can opt out into a private system. we will have a two-tiered system. it is kind of a funny anecdote, canadians tell me if there had their pet cat need today ct scan, they can get it the same day. that ties you how the market works. host: we have a question have: yes, we do freestanding surgical centers. careind that the cost of is lower than hospitals.

the infection rates are much lower. all outcomes are much better. the costs are lower. ownedtanding physician- surgical centers under obamacare can no longer be billed or enlarged --can no longer be built or enlarged. that is one thing we're doing right and yet obamacare rains that in. caller: good morning. a real simple solution to the whole thing. my family came over from germany in 1928. they had national healthcare over there since 1890 or so. they take 10% out of your tax return and it covers your eyesight, hearing, your teeth,

everything. wrong,f something goes you go to a hospital and it is paid for. on one piece of paper and it is settled, why not do that? guest: nations that have done that are finding they have to continually raise taxes. has a government-run health care system as well. chineses the national --off the shore of the mainland china. enterprise andee they have a government-run health care system. i spoke with their leadership and it was interesting. our system works.

we tax people and you can get your health care free. we have to continue to raise taxes to make that work. they are always trying to catch up. how many patients a day does a doctor say? he said over 100. i said, is that a good thing? he said they get a lot of experience. how much time do they spend her patient? about five minutes or less. that would never work in our culture. you can make those kind of systems work, but you have to change -- lower your expectations and change the culture. i do not think americans will be willing to spend five minutes or less with their physicians.

in america, we expect more of our health care system. host: ocean grove, new jersey. caller: good morning. i was listening to the person who spoke about germany. my sister had to have some fertility work done in france and it was covered by insurance. i am concerned about the insurance companies in this country. you could go to your doctor and you knew what you would pay for for each service. you paid out of pocket and you left the office. what has happened since insurance companies have gotten involved? ae affordable care act was result of the abuse of insurance companies that were not covering people with serious proms like cancer. people had to declare bankruptcy in order to pay for their health care.

how can we get back to a simpler system where we take government and insurance companies out? guest: to address insurance companies, the interesting thing is there are certain laws in effect that prevents insurance companies from having to compete like normal businesses do. in most states, one insurance carrier has 75% or more of the business. they control the marketplace. one of our plans on the republican side is to open up the state borders and make sure maybe hundreds of insurance plans are available so competition drives down the cost and elevates the quality and the amount of service.

competition always works to the benefit of the consumer when it is properly managed. that is one of the fundamental things we want to do. work back in to 1970's, and 1980's. insurance became a deposit fund you put money into and you expect to get everything possible out. a lot of promises were made by health organizations, hmos that they financially cannot live up to. consumerism, once we are told something is covered, we become heavy utilizes.

i had a situation in my own health clinic where people when they had to pay out-of-pocket would be very careful about testsng surfing --certain and treatment. once it was covered, they wanted things beyond what they needed and in some cases could be dangerous to them. we have to bring that back into balance. many physicians feel the best way to restore the economy, the health care economy is to bring back more balanced billing and accounts soavings the patient has a bigger investment in the cost of that person's health care. if you begin to manage your own health care, you bring the entire cost of the system down. among millionsed of people in the system and it

will not affect your personal cost whether you continue to habits,ealthy lifestyle because somebody will always be paying to bail you out of your health care problems. caretime, those health costs continue to rise. it is important that we restore the marketplace back into health care. have the patient have a stake in the cost and the outcome. bee. from texas, caller: i have an advantage care plan. it. not real happy with it has a lot of drawbacks. i do refuse certain tests. it ist afford -- getting harder to do that by the

day. your taxes on the telephone is $20. you are talking about higher higher taxes in other countries. i go to the hospital and there is seven people with a green card and they want my credit card, this gets a little aggravating. there are people that are never going to be in the system. you cannot make foreigners into this health care system. you can take and tax my social security because it will be deposited in a bank. advantage isre taking the medicare dollars and putting into a private-like health plan, which is very popular among seniors.

we will see reductions under obamacare. again, medicare is unsustainable as it is. republicans and democrats all agree that we need to be sure that those on limited incomes, that they get the support and whatever subsidies necessary and that they get those costs covered. republicans ask as we have seniors with higher incomes, that they pay more into the medicare to make it sustainable and that we put in place market forces so that it becomes a more efficient system and we get rid of the waste, the fraud, and the abuse. host: today's vote. tell us what we will see.

twost: we are voting on wt measure. delaying the implementation of the business mandate. is to call out the president and say if you're going to this for businesses, let's do this for individuals as well. let's delay that for another year. host: republican john fleming, thank you. guest: thank you. host: we will continue our conversation on today's vote .ith representative gene green we will take up that conversation and later on a profile of jerry brown with james fallows. but first an update from c-span radio.

>> student loan interest rates was the focus of a meeting last night at the white house. this was an effort to find a way to lower the rates. 6.8% ons doubled to july 1 because congress did not a for the hike. lawmakers are trying to find a compromise that would restore the lower rates. no deal was announced after the meeting. democrats are counting on help from paul ryan for help on the issue. stands apartyan from many fellow house republicans in favoring a way to citizenship for 11 million immigrants living in the u.s. in violation of the law. president obama talked about

immigration law yesterday and was asked to weigh in on the resignation of janet napolitano. when asked about a possibility of ray kelly succeeding secretary napolitano, the president replied, our concerns aret terrorism often times focused on big-city targets. mr. kelly might be happy where he is what he if he is not, i would want to know about it. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. in the years leading up to the revolution, his name was better known than washington or franklin. >he wrote many of the first stae documents many policy

and legislation but he also wrote many more things for ordinary american people. he spoke to them in a way that very few other leaders did. these include newspaper america'spoems, and first patriotic songs. i was interested in early american religion. i started out studying quakers. his name kept coming up when i got to the revolution. i tried to research him and found very little. what was there was very conflicted. nobody could understand his actions. >> but more this weekend about john dickinson as we look at the literary life of dover, booktve, saturday, on and on c-span3's american

history tv. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we continue with representative gene green from texas. hello. should that be a delay on the individual mandate side? guest: i am a big supporter of the affordable care act. decision.ent made a i would rather have the employer mandate go into effect. but they are managing it. i want to make sure they have everything ready to go. we will not have a state exchange. we will have a national exchange that people can sign up for.

in policies go into effect january. we don't have insurance --i am looking forward for them to have the opportunity to buy insurance. host: here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> lawyer health care prices exploding? wire millions of americans getting kicked out of their plans? the law isn't wonderful, it is a train wreck. and the it, i know it, american people know it. it is unfair to protect big businesses without giving the same relief to american families and small businesses. host: to his statement at the end. speaker.appreciate the

he is a friend. any program that is rolled out will have glitches. mandate,d the employer the rules were not in place so that will be delayed a year. there has been individual mandates propose throughout the history, sunday proposed by republican members of congress. you cannot get to health-care for everyone unless people take responsibility. if you're an individual and you and youu are required can go through the state or national exchanges. host: what about the fairness argument? guest: if we provide health care opportunities for everyone in our country, we have to get through these glitches and figure out how to do it.

republicans voted 37 times to repeal the affordable care act. they like to call it obamacare. they lost. it never has passed the senate. this is another way they want to oppose providing an opportunity for health care for all. i would be glad to be on the record today. we voted in 2010 and pass the law. it is not a perfect law. i will like to amend it. there are things in the law we can fix on a bipartisan basis. i am not big on the independent group to decide what requirements should have. there are a lot of things in there. they just want to repeal the law.

this will give them an opportunity. host: our guest here to talk about the votes on the affordable care act. you can ask three questions on one of the three lines this morning. 202-585-3880 for democrats. 202-585-3881 for republicans. 202-585-3882 for independents. you can post something on facebook. a couple things you should be aware of when it comes to exchanges. host: your thoughts on the current status of the rollout so far. ready we are getting to roll out over the next several months.

i am scheduling a big event in my district. navigators are selecting different groups all over the country. we will have nonprofit groups to help people apply for that insurance. and will show them how they can do it. you will get subsidies to be able to afford that health care. i heard some of the exchanges are coming in and the costs are lower than what they expected. i want to make sure we have a robust exchange and a number of carriers. this is not a government-run insurance. you will bought a policy from and the, cigna, pro-choice. it will be private sector. from joe is up first california.

hello. caller: good morning. i am a veteran. why is congress ignoring the thousands of experts demanding a real investigation of why building seven fell on 9/11. an effort to ask these kinds of questions. guest: i serve on the commerce committee. we remember where we were at on 9/11. there has been untold number of investigations. i am not familiar with that allegation. attorneythe district or members of congress on the intelligence committee that would be glad to hear that. host: richard is up next. caller: good morning.

you are running for state office as i recall and you are going door-to-door through lindale. guest: i grew up in that area. host: that was the first year i could vote. i was going toée vote for that man. you came to the door and there was sweat on your brow. guest: i had a lot more hair. here we are 40 years later. we have tens of millions of ait for thatat w government check to come in. i will give you an example. i am a cancer survivor. there were people from all over the world to be treated, from

country to had government health care. i do not understand why people cannot see that. guest: ok. the affordable care act-is not governmentrun -- the affordable care act is not government-run health care. this is not the system of rate britain --this is not the system of great britain. there will be federal rules they have to go by to sell insurance policies. lindale is similar to what it was back in the 1970's. a lot of hard-working folks that work hard for what they have. they shouldn't have to work hard

not havel have to -- some kind of insurance product. they will have to pay for some of it. they will have some kind of insurance product. host: livermore, california. caller: good morning. guest: good morning. caller: i wanted to make a couple of comments and get your thoughts on a couple of things. theeems apparent that purpose of these legislations that republicans are pushing forward is part of their political agenda. cooperate in every avenue to move these laws forward. 27 states will not put the exchanges in. all of these things contribute

inthe delaying implementation. i wanted to get your opinion on that. i wanted to touch base on a couple of things. some of the claims that have been made. house the majority of the is republicans. we voted 37 times to repeal obamacare. it has passed the house. i speak against it. there are some issues going back to where we were before. the affordable care act is not perfect. there is nothing we pass in congress that is perfect. all they want to do is repeal it. their replacement is nothing.

we are going to do that again today. congress is not working. we are not passing things. we're just passing messages. host: a quick list of what you think is wrong with the law. guest: the senate put in an ipad that would put in a group of experts that would decide what was listed. i would vote today and we defeated it in the house. the higher income issues that the senate put in. that was something we defeated in the house. we need to work on things we can pass that will make it better instead of just repealing it. all we see is the repeal over at instead of sitting down and

trying to solve problems. be fairness for american families ask is the individual mandate portion from todd young. angela from georgia. caller: i have a question about the care act. i do not see how they can say this is good for everyone. insurance will triple in cost. georgia find a job in because the companies are not hiring due to the care act. whenever i take my children to do not have- i insurance because we cannot afford it. with medicare,

medicaid and this other government assistance when they are not legal citizens. how can we afford to keep giving them care. guest: let me correct you. someone who is here that is not a citizen -- whoever sponsors you has to cover your social cost for five years. if you are saying there undocumented, that is a felony in texas and i assume it is in georgia and i would report that to your local district attorney. law. against the as far as for your husband, i negotiated for a printing company. we had 13 employees. becauseot get quotes

nobody wanted to cover an insurance company. i do not see what the affordable care act would raise the prices. you are paying for millions of people who are showing up at those emergency rooms that are guaranteed to get coverage. we want them to put some skin in the game and to be part of the system. host: this from twitter. i served many years in the state legislature. -- our medicare program is not a big program. we started a children's health care plan. i asked for in the bill is that

we need to put some kind of national plan that doesn't require the state to approve it. we lost that but we will have a robust exchange that will help the people in texas go to starting october 1 and apply for health care. the state is not a part of it. host: christine is next from pennsylvania. caller: hi. our daughter is a doctor. i asked her several times how she feels about obamacare. she has told me that she loves obamacare. because heramacare patient and her kids get care. it is that simple. forors do not get paid

procedures. they get paid by outcome. that may be a big part of the fuss over this. positions like to make money -- physicans -- like to make money. this will eliminate a cash flow. affordablepport the care act. i have a very urban district. my doctors do not have enough time in the day to see people. it is a step forward to provide opportunities for people to have a healthy insurance product. doctors say people shop without

health care and they are going to treat them. this time the have a chance to have insurance. a vote in the house on the single-payer and it lost in the senate. single-payer was not an option. the votes were not there in 2010. for: josh is from louisiana representative gene green. caller: yes, mr. green. guest: good morning. caller: you have to have liability. when that law first past, everything was good. our car insurance prices are through the roof. [indiscernible] you got all these other programs

that help with these things, medicare and social security. most states have some form of medicaid. [indiscernible] make it more efficient. guest: the last caller talked about single-payer. most countries that we rebuilt after world war ii had a single-payer. our country went through employer-based insurance. what we have seen in the last 10 or 15 years, employers dropping that coverage. over 65.orking and not there is a gap for you and your family. the affordable care act was a step by congress to be able to deal with millions of people in our country who work who do not

have the opportunity to have insurance through their employer. we have a mandate that the president delayed it. host: our guest service on the house energy and commerce committee and the oversight and investigation. a story this morning about any report that was released from consumer watchdog. accelabout the pipeline --the keystone xl pipeline. the region imports more than half of their oil from canada. guest: the president will make a decision hopefully sooner than later. the president approve the pipeline into the midwest in the

early part of his administration in 2009. this pipeline will come from canada to texas. i represent a have the refining district. this is kind of recycled. right now the heavy canadian crude goes to the midwest. this would give the producers another option. i guess you could say if there is competition, that price is the only sell they could do but they would have to places to sell it. we have a refining capacity. we can import oil from canada. that makes great sense to me. our refineries need that in this country. there may be a price hike. we are spiking prices right now

and the keystone is not open. there is that pipeline into the midwest. maybe they are enjoying lower prices because that is their only outlet. canada can train the oil in. that is what they are doing now. we are talking about the difference of having a train or a pipeline to bring it. i am a big supporter of keystone. countryis to have our self-sufficient as we can on crude oil. we are doing better because of production in north dakota and south texas. it is still not enough to support our country. host: what about environmental concerns? guest: there are no exemptions.

they are still going to have to comply with our air and environmental laws. there is no way for on the environment for refining that product. host: the president referenced keystone. any indication where he is going to fall? guest: the white house has been holding their cards pretty close to the vest. it is hard for me to imagine they are not going to approve it. there are a lot of other issues environmentally that are as important. we are going to buy our crude oil to support our refineries. do you want to buy from canada or venezuela? they do not produce it as cleanly as canada. host: this is phil from clearwater.

caller: good morning. mike, is about the health care system -- my comment is about the health care system. we have rebuilt countries that we destroyed. they have national health care. we still nation build. we shipped out more of our tax dollars -- american tax dollars to foreign countries that are our enemies. they hate us. if we quit doing that, we could afford good health care for everybody and not cap the profits in the hospitals -- and knock out the profits in the hospital. could you address that for me? we to help a lot of

people all over the world. is probably less than two percent of our federal budget. will account we can cut foreign assistance to countries that don't need it or we should be providing it to them. .

caller: what this obamacare thing is controlling their greed. these people obviously have a problem with it. i was very touched by that man. i never known republicans to do a darn thing for the american citizen. is that based on them putting in that time bomb of the pharmaceutical plan. if it is why can't we do something about it? guest: one of the things you don't hear from the republicans in the house -- medicare has a trust fund just like social security but it's not a wealthy trust fund like social security

is. the affordable care act extended life of medicare for our seniors. we have to deal with it every year. there's nothing permanent in this government. if we did not appropriate money to the department of defense open year, we would not have a department of defense. that's something congress has to do. affordable care act did a lot of good things including make sure the prescription drug plan close the donut plan by 2020 that was created by republican congress. our seniors need prescriptions but they don't need the system we created in congress. host: republican line this is jerry. caller: i'm an old rockefeller republican. we don't exist very much anymore. i did want to describe what i continue to experience which i consider to be fraud in the system and fiend out if there's any way that users of the system

can be protected? i just like to give a quick example. i'm a medicare patient i was in the hospital for an extra day. that hospital billed medicare an extra $8000 which the hospital admitted was a mistake between two doctors that failed to communicate. about three weeks later i called the hospital and said yes refunded the $8000 to medicare. about a week later i had another appointment. i said show me the paperwork. and the paper work hadn't been submitted at all. i was lied to by the hospital that this money had been refunded. when i demanded that they return the money to medicare and i gave them 24 hours to do that otherwise i was going to notify

medicare of fraud. they actually did refund the money but when i spoke to two doctors who are in my family, they said i don't watch myself, i'm going to be barred from using that hospital. my wife and i are kind of terrorized we find this over and over again of misuse by doctors and hospitals of medicare. i'm trying to find out is there anything called patient protection that would allow me to in fact call these hospitals out without worrying about whether i'm going to be able to get access to these hospitals? this is a billing situation. it's not a quality of service situation. guest: we've been trying to deal with fraud and abuse of medicare for decades. just like you do any other program. the affordable care act plushed up the tools we have to go after

over billing, fraudulent billing and in the last two years there's been a great success in getting money back to the federal government to medicare that have been scammed. one of the things you can do and massachusetts has just like everybody else in the country have members of congress. contact your member of congress and ask them to contact medicare. medicare fraud is a felony and whether it a hospital or a doctor or administrator or hospital. it's also a fraud somebody scamming on an individual basis. there are ways you can deal with it. i'm glad you took the lead on it. you can also contact year member of congress and ask them to investigate it and get back to you. host: it was on tuesday president obama first time admitted unlikely the republican led house will pass immigration reforms before the lawmakers left in august.

guest: that's probably true. i'm a big supporter of aggressive immigration reform. i've been supporting it for years. we have 11 million people give or take who have not done anything except come here without proper authority. they haven't violated our criminal laws. if they have they will get deported. i would hope congress would consider it. host: so you're in support of the senate version? guest: there are things in the senate version i don't like. our family lives in brownsville, texas. i watch over the last 40 years how that border has been hardened. we have wall, fences and personnel. sure we need to protect our country but the senate i went overboard. host: calling for standard and

certain amount of protection? guest: the senate not saying how it's going to be done. if you build a 30-foot wall, you ought to have somebody watching it. there are ways we can control our border smarter and cheaper what the senate is talking about. host: what do you think the house will do with it? guest: seem like the house will do one shot bills. maybe start in the next week dealing with things that come out of the judiciary committee. i assume the senate will attach whatever them. sometimes i like to have an option on both what the senate has passed. there are things in there if i have a chance to amend i would amend it. >> i want to support something from the house. there are a couple requirements i have. i don't want to leave those

11.5 million people or so in limbo. a lot of members in the house say they don't want to give them a pathway to citizenship. except for slavery in our country and we have never had someone who's been in this limbo that you can't become a citizen. under senate bill it take you 13 years to be a citizen. that may be okay for those 11. i want to make sure they have that option to become a citizen of this country. if they're legal residents or paying taxes. if they're not legal, now they may be paying taxes through their tax i.d. number. we want them to be taxpayers. that's why the congressional budget office said the senate bill will be a big winner for our federal deficit because we have these people working now and they will be paying taxes. host: from new york, democrats line hi. caller: how you doing? i watch you guys everyday. i'm calling to remind americans how the healthcare and how

everybody -- i'm trying let everyone remember how bad it was. it took someone to come into office and try to change things. it was horrible. people couldn't get healthcare. people going to jail for all kind of different situations. you have someone trying to change and you have lot of problems with people trying to change america. we're not the same place we used to be before. i love you c-span and that's what i have to say. host: what do you think about concerns about the role of the affordable care act? guest: well, they're working on it right now health and human services. every week we have a briefing from the administration on what they're doing and how we're going to roll that out. at a massive program. we've done this before. we did the presentation drug plan for seniors. we medicare in the 1960's.

we can do it. we need to have willing partners to say let's fix it. host: james is up next. he join us from kentucky republican line. caller: how are you all today? my wife is a nurse for 35 years. she recently changed jobs to a part time job and wasn't able to acquire insurance from this doctor. so we went out and tried to get her some insurance and my question is, how long is it going to be before she's able to get any? here in this part of kentucky, eastern kentucky, we only have about two or three carriers. they turned her down because of the high cholesterol test. she's never been in the hospital. never been what we call sick.

because she had a high cholesterol level, they turned her down for insurance. will she be able to get insurance and if so, when? guest: starting october 1 under exchanges, i'm not familiar with kentucky whether they have a state exchange or doing the national exchange. she can apply for health insurance and part of the affordable care act, insurance company cannot consider preexisting condition. through the exchange, she will be able to apply for insurance and whatever company actually on that exchange in kentucky. starting october 1, she can do that. there's a lot of information in the next two or three months that will come out though. but the insurance won't go into effect until january.

host: roger is from houston, texas he's our last caller. caller: i have a couple comments. you see government waste, healthcare fraud. you see all of this waste. you took care of the waste, the money spent, the $34 million on it, in afghanistan that they will never use. the waste, that's my money you all are spending and you're just throwing around like it's popcorn. now you're going to let these guys enroll in healthcare and not ask them and say, you make this much money, it's fine with me. you don't reckon there will be fraud in there? guest: the way it will work someone will apply on the internet, they will apply for insurance. they will give their income. that insurance company who you're applying to through the exchange would then verify your

income based on your last year's income. health and human services is tieing in where they will access this. if you want to fake your income, then you're going to end up committing fraud and you may end up in federal prison. there are ways that will be verified. your income verified after you apply for so that they can make sure you're playing the right kind of premium. or if you're low income, you're going to get subsidies. host: what do you think about the possibility some type of result when it comes to student loans? guest: i'm hoping congress will deep with it. there's no reason we should double the insurance for student loans. the federal government is making money at 3.4%.

why would we do that? the future of our country is there in those colleges now. to make it harder for them to finish their four year grow or masters, that's not good. i think the senate is working on language. the house is talking about it. hopefully we can get something from the senate. host: representative gene green from texas to talk about on effects of affordable care act. up next, we will talk will james fallows of the atlantic magazine. he's gong to take a look at california governor jerry brown. we'll take up that after an update from c-span radio. >> cuban officials say military equipment found but rid under sacks -- buried under sacks of

sugar is obsolete. it could take a week to search the week and they have asked help from the united nations inspectors. north korea is barred from importing sophisticated weapons or missiles. members on home construction are in this hour from the commerce department and they show u.s. builders started work on fewer homes and apartments in june. developers began construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 836,000 homes in june nearly 10% below may's total which was revised higher. most of the develop occurred apartments. more on the economy this morning from federal reserve board ben bernanke. he says the feds timetable for reducing its bond purchases is not on a quote, preset course. the fed could increase or decrease them based on how the economy performs. he goes on to say in his

testimony that the job market has made some progress since the fed began buying $85 billion a month in bonds last september. he said the fed could slow that pace later this year. you can hear his testimony before the house financial services committee live at 10:00 a.m. eastern time on c-span radio or watch the hearing on c-span 3. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> he came pretty close as anybody did. in the years immediately leading up to the revolution, his name was better known than washington or franklin. he wrote many of america's first state papers. many of the highest level documents, policy documents, constitution, legislation. but he also wrote many more things for ordinary american people. spoke to them in a way that very

few other leaders did. these include newspaper articles, poems and america's first patriotic song. my interest in i -- in john dickinson came with early american religion. i started studying quakers. when i got to the revolution, his name kept coming up. when i tried to research him, i couldn't find anything about him. nobody seem to be able to understand. >> learn more about john dickinson this weekend as book tv and american history tv look at the history and literary life of dover delaware. host: it's our weekly spot

light on magazine segments. we turn to the pages of the atlantic which we will find a profile of california governor jerry brown. it's called the fixer by james guest: thanks for having me. he a personal reason i'm from southern california and seeing saga over the span of my life has been interesting. there's a kind of human appeal reason. jerry brown like him or dislike is an interesting character to have the same job in his late 70's than he had in late 30's. the concept point whatever is problematic about american public life and the problems in our public institutions you can see it in more extreme and polarized way in california. i tried to make it a parable in american government. host: when you came about in interview, it was an instant thing. you got a call from him.

guest: as a magazine writer, you thinking during the whole process of reporting, you're thinking how am i going to put this together and a moment came to me was a late on thursday evening, i've been in california for the previous two weeks interviewing people. i come back to my home in become -- d.c. i got a call saying if i can see the governor tomorrow. it was the californian. it was governor jerry brown giving me driving instructions. host: before we go further. talk about jerry brown governor at 36 and now. guest: the drama of jerry when he was governor in his 30's, he grown up as a child of pat brown. i was had a kid in california sort of fdr style, big state big

ambition era of california. the freeways were built and universities were built. he gone to the jesuit seminary and he was seen as governor moon beam. people thought he was so odd. while he was successful in winning two terms, and started the environmental initiative that made california the environmental leader. he ran for the senate and didn't win, he ran for the presidency and didn't win. coming back in 2010 to the governorship, it's a whole different stage of his life. host: those events and especially his political career changed him as a politician? guest: yes, many people say -- i asked him about this, for a while i was resisting to talking about jerry brown. he did say that when he was younger just things he didn't know about people and about

emotional quotations or things people will take. also how much they want to hear from their politician. people don't really want to hear from me that much. the other thing that's really different about california in his second coming as governor california has been the leader in term limits and having ways to have constant turn over of systematic amateurization of politics. nobody could stay there long. there was a time about 10 years ago when the speaker of the california assembly was a freshman. jerry brown by contrast is doing the same job he did 30 plus years ago. he group as the son of governor. he spent all the time in between thinking about california politics. you have one person who knows everything about how the state is run. it's a rare moment where the

structural problems of california are being sort of offset by this unique situation of somebody who spent his whole life learning this. host: california governor jerry written by james fallows. if you want to comment and give your thoughts may be you're from california or experience with the governor here's your chance to do so. for democrat it's -- you can also send us a tweet c-span wj. you also write about when he took office at 36, he took office at 70 plus and he takes office after arnold

schwarzenegger. guest: this is during reagan's period assent. the main conservative figure before that had been barry goldwater who lost in 1964 and reagan was the face of different american conservative. when arnold schwarzenegger was governor, it was a sign of the devolution of the california republican party and also sort of institution of governor where really the only state level republicans running california now are essentially self-financed millionaires like carly or arnold schwarzenegger who is independently famous. similarity of jerry brown following two former republicans, and republican former actors. host: when it comes to the state, you write this, as problems for brown, they are

america's problems at worse. guest: , yes, here's my point. as i've had the opportunity to discuss c-span a number of times, i spent a lot of my recent life living china. when i come back to the u.s. after these times in china what's so striking is what's strong about the u.s. and the only thing that's weak about the u.s. what's strong about the u.s. is our universities and our culture and our companies our brands and our pop culture that reaches around the world and the particular problem we have is our institutions of government. which is as we've seen in the last 24 hours have trouble functioning. california is boths to that to a greater extreme. it's private institutions from apple, to google, facebook, disney, fox, movies. it's universities very strong but it's government is even more crippled than the u.s. government. that's the tension for the u.s. as a whole and for california in particular. host: first call is from the

democrats line. hi. caller: i was just curious who jerry brown for our campaign finance laws for california elections go? guest: the short answer is i don't really know. the longer answer is, part of the reason i don't know is there's not that much that individual politician, including state level can do about that because of the recent supreme court ruling over the last couple years. especially citizens united ruling. this has not been a main part of governor brown's agenda. it's partly because he's been realistic what he can do or not. there's both an idealism and a ruthlessness. i was asking him whether he take on this oddity of california politics of the initiative process where you can amend the constitution almost there's an election. he said that will be tough. i don't know directly and after

the show, i will look up and try to find more. host: republican line, joe good morning. caller: the settlement of california's problems and a model what's going on in america now. isn't it coincidence it's primary democratically ruled state. but yet as is now our presidency is democratic. the government is too big. the government gets in the way. california is a perfect example of that. guest: i think, the problem of california is unusual and it will take me a few seconds to plain it -- explain it. for california being a democratic state, that mainly is

a result of immigration policy. during the era of ronald reagan california was a bedrock for republicans. the main thing that happened then was under governor pete wilson, the republican party in california was seen taking a tough anti-immigrant line that end up moving latino votes very strongly democratic. that's the shift in the state's political map. the governing problem is different from that. reforms brought in a century ago which essentially installed direct democracy in california. where people go to the polls every two years and they can just change the constitution. the legislature can't cope with. this is unique among american states. that's why for example they'll say you take two-thirds

of an assembly majority to pass a budget. that was recently undone. unless the scale of government in california than it is the sort of direct democracy rules where people will vote to have draconian term limits so nobody in the assembly would have power. people deputy like how the assembly was performing. host: you say most legislatures can amend that in other states but in california you can't. guest: the other 49 states there's a kind of creative tension between direct democracy and the form of initiatives which most states have. the legislature can decide to adjust this in some ways. in california it's possible but it's difficult. california constitution is about 20 miles thick. also as a former california voter, i each time before the

election, you get this jeantel phone book full of proposals. nobody can understand them. host: you wrote about various propositions. what was proposition 13 dealt with proposition tax. we have a question from jack, how does government reconcile property tax? guest: it became law under jerry brown in 1978. prop 13 was howard jarvis was a great anti-tax campaigner in california. this was installed by public vote in a referendum. it put a permanent sealing on funding for schools in california. when i was a kid in southern california, we were told that connecticut was the only state had the better school.

this had profound effects. it's not the only reason for problems there. governor brown decided to approve this when his first installment as governor but it wasn't his initiative. that was part of his canning this. he decided not to get in the way of it. host: how is the governor viewed amongst various political divisions? guest: he's viewed as a kind of category one. an analogy i used would be suppose bill clinton had a chance to come back to the white house, we can talk about governor brown's health, also bill clinton hadn't grown up as lyndon johnson son. he spent his whole life political scheming.

governor brown. he's been the most popular figure in the state. people viqu him as -- they trust him to be careful with their money. he really is the only experienced state level figure. senator boxer has been around for a long time. i think it is a probably a rewarding time for him compared to much more polarizing. he made the case for the democrats to cut the budget. now the budget is in balance. which it is. he says, for it to get out of balance, he's going to have to any new spending proposals has to go through him.

his main fights now are with democrats over medical funding, over pensions and things like that. host: thomas from virginia democrats line. caller: i spent my whole life out there in california now i live out in virginia. i'm a fan of the author here and i'm a fan of jerry brown. i was amazed the other day he was taking the hard line in fighting the release of all of these inmates which i found amazing considering his past. also it's really the same line that's been going. schwarzenegger did it when he was out there and it was a mess. i'm just wondering is he has pragmatic as he was in his prior term as governor? that's kind of the way i was perceived him. he was looking at the best solution not in the short term but also in the long term. i look at this prison thing, i don't know what the solution is. the question can he fix this?

host: you mentioned the prison thing. guest: i asked him briefly about that. it was something i wasn't equipped enough to go into great length. the most heart felt criticism of governor brown involves the prisons. it's a situation where it's over lap the legacy of past initiatives having all very long mandatory sentences for people in california, prison population has soared. there are federal court ruling that state under orders to comply with and all the budgetary consequences. the critique of governor brown is that he's not taking seriously the federal rulings how prisoners need to be treated there. this is something i am not equipped to say who is right or wrong. it's probably the biggest problem he deal with now is the

prison. on the practicality of governor brown, he occupy the position. being long term public investment guy whether it's for universities or biotech or high speed rail. that's the balance he's trying to convey. host: can you tell us about specifically, they asked about governor brown's plan for stocks and bankruptcy cities. guest: one of the bankrupt cities is san bernardino. this is part of what he is dealing with. i don't know any of the specific action plans but i know this is part of the general crisis of california of private institutions robust, public institutions strained. also the regional divide. inland california has lot of sort subprime crisis. a lot of these bankruptcies.

host: california unemployment is 8.6%. the average media household income is $62,000. democrats line, hello. caller: i was just like to ask the guest if he thinks that governor brown is still drawing on his training as a jesuit priest? he is still drawing on his spirit and religious background. the reason i like to ask that, i have had some spiritual experiences myself that i tried to relate in the form of a book that is online and it's free. there's no charge for it. it's at loveisgod.org.

guest: that's an excellent question. i can't say much about governor brown's inner belief or faith but i can say that externally when you talk with him, he both reveals unintentionally and says exsplitty that his training equipped him to live in the question. he said when he was in the seminary, they tell you what you suppose to believe. the rest time is teaching you how to question. talking with him as a reporter is really way more interesting than talking to most politicians. many politicians ask them the question, you fell like you're pressing the jukebox and get a standard answer. or else people are being cautious. governor brown gives neither of those impressions. he's trying out ideas as he goes. he's telling me about history of rome. did you know they beheaded

cicero and put his head on a pike and a stake through his tongue. indeed this spills over in politics. the most sweeping ideas are likely to be wrong, you have to be somewhat skeptical of them. what he thinks of as his inner view of his relationship with his creator, i just don't know. the marks of jesuit situation in a good since are all over him. host: you relate a story about him using the bible. guest: he was talking about taxes. governor pushed very hard with some labor union support called prop 30, which is a seven year of sir taxes on people making a

lot of money. governor brown went to the legislature and is making the case for this saying there's seven lien year, this will be a seven year tax for the lien years that will surely come. there's a certain maturity in that. host: houston, texas, this is mark for our guest james fallows. he's on the independent line. caller: good morning. back in the late 1970's one of governor brown's run for the presidency, he suggested that the number one problem in america was racism. i understand times were different back then, do you still think he subscribed to that? guest: that dent comp in --

didn't come up in that form. on the other hand, he's presiding over a state not only the largest state. it's the majority minority state in the country. it's latino population much greater national average. but still whites are smaller share of the california population than any place else. to governor that state, you have to have some consciousness of the diverse origins of the modern american people. what did come up more than that, if there was something i was going to extract from conversations saying the maybe problem for america, it came up with a sense where are the trustees of the public good. people say, we're rushing off it a war some place and may be this is a bad idea.

that was the main sense i got from him of where are people saying, look, we need to think about our welfare as a collective people. it's an interesting question. you're right from back in those days. host: you write about his experiences as mayor of oakland? guest: yes. he probably learned from his unsuccessful presidential runs. being mayor of oakland for eight years was crucial. he knows essentially where all the money is and the tricks are. it was a gigantic financial scam where a whole lot of money went from the state tax coiffures where mayor has a lot of discretion how it was used.

host: democrats line, leon, hello. caller: why is it he wants so much in taxes? why does he support gay education in the public school system especially for children who are in k one, two three. guest: the reason he was pushing for prop 30 was to correct the unbelievable disastrous budget deficit. there was 20 plus billion dollars annual deficit. he presented this as something to put the state accounts in order for seven years. simultaneously, he's not known as a big spending governor. if you look at the initiatives he's pushed. it's been cutback.

host: james asked the high speed rail line in california. guest: the case that governor brown makes for why this is important. he views this as a spill over of the highway system during his father's day. if you see these things in action, like in china, japan or europe, you can see the economic activity they drive. that is the case he makes. the case he makes it will be those benefits. host: james fallows has piece in the recent atlantic on california governor jerry brown. you can see it online or pick it up. what have you learned that was surprising? guest: i guess how much he has come to embrace the joy of being a politician. here's what i mean.

when jerry brown first came to national prominence in his 30's, he was very much the anti-politician running against his father's legacy and being above politics. now the way he's succeeding is just having spent the last 40 years learning how politics works. the way manager would learn a business. the way a veteran sports coach will learn football. the fact that he loves what he's doing. also i felt what an amazing human saga was to have somebody who had another chance in his 70's to walk the same path he walked in his 30's with everything he had learned in between and still in health and all the rest. i think that human second chance, which is so rare was interesting to me. host: new jersey independent

line hi. caller: i like to find out when jerry brown was running for president, he was very good, i think for the country. i feel that he would have changed a lot of things because he said that if he got his presidency, he would clean out congress and solve the collection problem. i feel so bad that he never made it because i think he was would have made a big difference for this country. guest: i'm sure he would be glad to hear you say that. because that was the case he was making when he was running. he thought that would have been

the case to make. i guess the voters in their wisdom or delusion found other candidates were more project of -- promising. host: harry up from port charlotte, florida, democrats line. caller: i like to say that -- guest: i didn't entirely hear your question. why do i have a partisan view? host: do californias have a positive view of the governor? guest: this is the most -- jerry brown is more popular with californians than he has ever been. most of the time he's been the most popular public figure in the state. probably because there's so few other statewide figures. this is a relatively sunny

period for him. host: you had spoken about health issues? guest: yes, governor brown turned 75 in april actually the day i had my last interview with him. he had prostate cancer. he a cancer growth on his nose removed. he is entirely active. he had the feeling of talking with somebody who is in his prime as opposed you have to make allowances. host: married eight years ago? guest: yes. there's a category of people regarded better when you know who his spouses are. i think engineer -- host: this is our independent line thanks for waiting. robert are you there? good morning go ahead.

caller: i just got a quick statement. senator mcconnell made a statement the other day he said in the public sector, you cannot unionize but in the private you can. what that tells me is all of these pensions that we're paying these ex-governors and people retiring from the military is all of these legal. because it's coming out of taxes of people. which means if there's only one taxpayer in the united states paying taxes, i'm paying the governor's compensation, the president's compensation other people's compensation but when they retire and someone takes their place now i'm paying their pensions and other guys compensation and i'm paying three checks as one taxpayer. guest: yes. i didn't hear senator mcconnell's comment.

let's talk about the general retirement conversation. in california the way in which this comes up on a bigger scale is public employees not so much the former governor or former senator but just public employees, police and others. this is may be the biggest fiscal problem for california trying to redress that pension imbalance. that's one of the things the governor has on his budgetary agenda. it largely a city by city issue. host: richard is from defiance, ohio republican line. caller: my question here, how is it justifiable for the l.a. unified school district to introduce the affordable healthcare act? how is that justifiable to be educational and beneficial to the youth? guest: i don't know they're actually doing that. as a larger matter when

policies become part of national policy whether it was the national defense or whatever it may be. that can affect educational policy nationwide. to the extent this is the national law. i don't know what l.a. will be doing about that. host: one of the things you mentioned when it came to state finances according to people you interview, there are several industries that don't go taxes within the tax. guest: california is in service industries not just manufacturing or farm. service industries which are the fastest growing parts of the u.s. economy and the california economy in particular. that is largely untaxed. california tax revenue tends to be highly volatile. it's very income tax dependent and state tax dependent. when there's a tech industry boom or movie industry boom things go way up. when things are in trouble, state revenues go way down.

because of the sort of initiative system of passes taxes it's hard to deal with that. it's one more structural issues california are to deal with. host: when do the governor think california will be in a good place financially? guest: it has a budget surplus now. his job is to guard the seven years. host: when you were talking with him, what is his demeanor? does he carry himself that way? what is it like day-to-day? guest: i describe an episode here in d.c. in terms of national governor's association. you probably seen it where you have these -- it's like hollywood entourage, the governor very modest state who are surrounded by security

people and aids handing them stuff. i was waiting for governor brown and his wife and they kind of drifted over. it's like talking to a normal somewhat add person to talk with governor brown. always skipping around and asking me if i know what a certain word mean. he said out of the blue, do you know what minanim mean? the interesting part is he wasn't trying to show off or test me. he actually didn't know and was asking me. it's like talking with -- it's not talking with politicians talk with governor brown in my experience. host: colleen is from rutherford, new jersey,

republican line good morning. caller: i was a teenager in california and i have lots of family members, especially young nieces and nephews out there. i always liked jerry brown and he was my governor when i was a teenager. my big problem was, he supported the prison unions and let me finish. california needs to wake up especially in george zimmerman case. california has the most absurd three strike laws. they lock up youths from 18 to 22. i can't begin to tell you all of the young black males in prison. the fact that if you as a young male, if you urinate in public depending on what county what city you are in california, they can charge you with misdemeanor or felony and the felony means that you are a registered sex

offender. guest: i don't know about the law myself. i do agree with the general proposition if we think that almost everything, california is a america brought to extreme. this also the case with the prison situation. america is outlier of how many people we incarcerate. i think the mandatory sentences imposed there have gone up and gone. this is a major problem for california. it's not something that will be solved during this term of governor brown but it's a genuine problem for california. host: you write that jerry brown and his father necessarily didn't agree about a political career for him. guest: i was asking him whether his father was saying i got to get into politics. from the time brown was a little kid, his father was actively involved in politics.

he said son, you got to get a job. the main thing about his father, he grown up with no money. his father couldn't afford to go to college. his father had that even mentality of having no money. his own father, governor brown's grandfather ran poker towers in san francisco. the idea of being hard scrambled kid was the governor pat brown, conveyed to governor jerry brown saying you got find work. host: mike is from louisville, kentucky independent line. caller: i just have a statement i leak this gentleman comment on. i say it was about three years ago, a show i was watching where

they did a secret audience and they got mitt romney with the 49% thing. jerry brown was speaking to somebody and these are his words. he said when we run for campaigns we don't have any solutions for these problems. we just tell the people what they want to hear so we can get the votes to get into office. these were his words caught on a secret audio tape. my question is, comment on that and why would you want to support someone like that. that's a comment american people have. when you're out socializing everyday and this is what the politicians are doing and there it was caught on tape. i like you to comment on that. guest: this is something i have not heard of myself. i will check later on to hear about it. let's assume for a moment that you heard this. i can imagine the first part of the sentence, we don't have the solutions. because that is part of actually

his premise saying everybody in democratic is searching for solutions nobody has the big answers. just telling people what they want to hear, i can imagine him saying that as description of american politics saying this is what's going on. i would be surprised and actually i'm skeptical that he was saying this about himself. that's not how he comes across. he comes across saying what he thinks and not being that tentative to what you want to hear. i will look into this. if the idea we've seen the secret soul of jerry brown, i would be skeptical but i will look and find out more. host: here's tom from fort meyers, florida democrats line. caller: my question about the governor's republican with the california supreme court. i seem to remember early as governor at the end of his

second term there, he was cowed into removing the supreme court justice, sue bird or something. guest: justice rose bird. i know her name. i remember vaguely. i'm adding this to my list of things to learn about after the show but go on. caller: what's his relationship these days? has he had any appointments. that's going to be the beginning of when these republicans where they can cow the democrats and beat them over the head for their pick for the supreme court. guest: i'm wary of saying things where i'm not sure of saying. i point out all the interviews i had with people about governor brown and his current status and legacy. this didn't come up as a big

theme. i will take to the atlantic this afternoon and say here are things i didn't know. host: did you hear from governor brown about this piece? guest: i did not. i heard from a lot of people from california. most people have been positive. the people who don't like governor brown now mainly don't like him because of the prison controversy. it's an interesting portrait of a politician at this stage of his life and this stage of the growth. host: when do his current term expire? guest: his current term expires next year. he would have to run for reelection for a fourth and final time of current term limit rules next fall in 2014. most people think he will run. most people think he will be reelected. there's no challenger to him now.

health permitting and current projections trending he would end up having four terms as governor of california. host: has he expressed interest on running again? guest: i said most people assume you will run for governor for reelection next year and will be reelected. he said most people will assume that. host: james fallows wrote a piece on jerry brown and it was for the atlantic magazine and you can see it online and the print version of the magazine. tell us a little bit before we go, one more thing you had to express to us about who you learned about him. guest: it's really surprisingly

as the governor of the nation's largest state and is the most famous politician in that state, it's surprising to me what sort of normal life he can have. just calling his wife to see if she will pick up the dry cleaning and working out of this third floor loft in oakland. may be that's the legacy of having this stage in his life. everybody in california says that's just jerry. i think that was interesting to me. host: james fallows from the the atlantic. we go to the house of representative on the affordable are act. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., july 17, 2013.