perez. o'bryan.teve ♪ tot: good morning, welcome "the washington journal." we are in the waning days of a congressional recess and members of congress are gearing up for this fall's legislative agenda. a question for all of you this morning, what is your message to house and senate lawmakers as they prepare to turn to -- returned to washington next month. for republicans, 202-585-3881. for democrats, 202-585-3880. for independents, 202-585-3882. also send as a tweet, if you go to twitter.com/c-spanwj

or post your comments on facebook.com/cspan or e-mail us at journal@c-span.org. a piece this morning from janet hauck, a town hall meetings happening across the country, this is what she reports --

of color that is a bit on what is happening in town hall meetings across the country. here on c-span we have been those town hall

meetings and if you are interested in watching them, you can go to c-span.org. before we came up live here we were showing you a recent town hall meeting with congressman justin [indiscernible] a republican who many of you know is against the nsa program. nsa, health care, immigration reform, it is all on the table for members of congress. what is your message to them? greensboro, n.c., what do you think? >> i am calling about the town hall -- caller: i am calling about the town hall meeting that was played just prior to ,washington journal" coming on and it looked like a representative was playing to the fears of the people in the audience. i am sure that he knew what they were saying, but he was just giving vague information.

one person stood up and said that his -- he took his son to the hospital because his son was beaten by a dog and he talked to different people at the hospital and the comment was, get rid of the federal government. instead of the representative addressing his concern, it did not make sense. like anperson, look elderly gentleman, said he was in favor shutting down the government's. does he realize that he is receiving any kind of social security benefits or medicare that that would be shut down, too? the representative did not explain it to him. republicans just look like they're playing into the fears of the people in the audience. host: that will be an issue, when they return in october, september, some of the republican party would like to negotiate with the president and if he agrees to defund the

affordable care act, they would agree to spending levels for the fiscal year. then there is the issue of raising the debt limit in october. some republicans would like to see further spending cuts put in place or they will shut down the government. what do you think of all of that? think that that is awful. they are trying to blackmail the country. republicans do not want the country to be successful. they want the president to fail and they do not mind bringing down the president -- bringing down the country in their attempt to make the president fail. why would you shut down the government based on health care. they are not concerned about people who cannot get health care? why would one person in the country not want another person in the country to have access to health care? but i just think it is awful.

host: all right. noll, new york. caller: my message to congress would be to defund obama care and the immigration bill in the house, nothing should be done with it, because they should -- they should actually not vote on it, they should allow it to go, i am not for immigration reform at all. i think that the government is too large and that what congress should do is try to get limited government down to smaller government, as it should be, constitutionally. host: do you think that the republican should hold strong and d funding health care and shut down the government? caller: i think that they should defund obama care, that is it. obama care.

we are talking about specific bills. the president is talking about going the other way. he sponsored the mandate on businesses. he himself is saying that with obama care, if he sees responses to obama care, why should he go ahead with it? i think we should defund obama care, not the government. host: ok. that was knowle, new york, independent caller. health care is certainly one of the issues that has come up at these town hall meetings, at many of them, whether republican, democrat, or immigration, all topics that have come up at these town hall meetings. bobby scott, a democrat from virginia, had a town hall meeting that we covered recently and here is what he had to say about the affordable care act. >> one of the things that we did when we passed obama care was to make sure it was fully paid for.

we made some changes in medicare and everyone can remember the number of billion dollars that we took out of medicare to pay for health care, to help pay for obama care. we helped to raise taxes. when the dust settled, the congressional research service estimates that there will be more paying for at than there are services, about $1 trillion in services, $1 chilean in new offsets, the budget will be about $100 billion better off and a lot more better off in the future because of obama care. this suggestion that it is a fiscal responsibility issue, there is nothing wrong with looking at the numbers. if you look at the numbers in stark contrast to the medicare drug, what was passed did not get paid for, it went straight

to the bottom line deficit, that is where the deficit came from. that is how we got in the ditch that we are in. obama care, be meticulously made sure, everyone was running on how you pay for it, we like to run on the benefits, but if you are doing it right you have to do both. host: congressman bobby scott, representing the third district earlier this month about health care and other issues. our question this morning, your message to congress? lawmakers are getting ready to come back to washington. all that is on the table. this person says -- is shutting down is what it takes, shut it down.

--ublican springs, republican caller, colorado springs. hello? all right, let me move on to mike in alexandria. democratic caller. caller: thank you. the greatest problem that i see is the media, the public. celebrity, scandal, violence, corruption throughout the country, the fcc has a role in chastising the industry for what they do. the movie industry should be criticized. responsible for being informed and misinformed.

host: victor, fort wayne, indiana. your thoughts? have the president take less vacations to do more work. host: what should be at the top of their to do list? inler: more or less, stay office, quit running around the country, and stay on subjects, rather than doing a month here, a month there, just go home for thanksgiving and christmas. normal factories or places that do in the united states. host: what do you say to members of congress who will say that when they are not in washington, they are not technically on recess. they are back in their home districts and speaking to their

constituents, doing constituent services, helping out constituents who might have problems, hauling town hall meetings, that sort of thing? meetings, town hall that sort of thing? caller: that would be great if they did more town hall meetings and there were fewer vacations. if they did it more often and kept working more often and did not worry about traveling around to some other country, but if they stayed on the subject of the united states. host: art, illinois, republican caller. caller: hi. host: your message to congress? caller: this congress is dying and dying slowly. if we shut down the government it might die. on the other hand, it might recover and be in better shape than it was before.

thank you. host: all right. on the domestic front, health overhaul targeting hispanics, front-page story this morning. a story in that is

"the wall street journal" about the nsa, "reaching deep into the united states despite." it says -- host: if you are interested in this and want to follow this topic and have your members of

congress talk about it, possibly not funding those actions? this story is in the front page of "the wall street journal." today,""the usa "private manning could get 50 years." host: that is happening today. also, yesterday in egypt we talked to all of you about the administration temporarily suspending military aid to egypt. the administration has taken issue with how that has been characterized. this is from "the washington .ost" this morning

in "the washington post" this morning. front page of "the new york times" on cairo this mort -- this morning, "firmly hooked into the u.s. pipeline." we talk about whether there was leverage from the u.s. in the military yesterday.

mississippi, democratic caller. your message to congress? take healtheed to care way from congress. they are making $70 per hour and they will not even raise the minimum wage. most of america are too stupid to realize they're voting against their own interests by not voting health care for themselves. have a nice day. host: sue, your message to congress? caller: i want to be at your health care plan, congress. host: what do you think should

be done about the health care law? host: if they vote it in for us, they should be under the same health care. host: do you think should be defunded? caller: yes, i do. host: have you send that message to a member of congress? caller: i have not. host of the to attend a town hall meeting? caller: yes, i have. --t: who is did you go to whose did you go to? caller: ron paul. host: when was that? m, when he was running last time? host: thank you. next caller. caller tell my message to them is -- caller: my message to them is that obama care is coming in with -- medicare was here before

obama care. if we take money at of this out of thisot -- program to fund that one, that money should have changed the medicare program around. why do we need obama care when we could have restructured medicare and medicaid? they would not need to take money out of one program to build a new one. i live on a street where there are six cracow's is, the only black guy in a black neighborhood, it takes the police 45 minutes to get here and when they come, they do not do anything. i have watched the government do nothing. i am disabled and retired. my wife and i stayed, we bought a house, we did we are supposed to do. i get my disability because i paid into it for all of those years, you understand?

i watch people sell food stamps and drugs on my street. i watch people sell drugs out of the house that is paid for by the housing authority of atlanta. host of democratic caller, east st. louis, illinois. caller: thank you for allowing me to make this statement. i have heard the sentiments about what other people are doing, but you have got to think about when the constitution was , african-americans were not even considered full citizens in this country. over the last 400 years we have been asked to forget about it, get over it. it has been a denial to the citizens of this country.

host: wondering what you want congress to do about it. caller: what congress can do is start acting like we are citizens, especially the republicans. when they did create obama care washington,zens in d.c., beating on congress, this tea party, spitting on another person, spitting on black congress. i am so sick of these people acting like they have not done nothing -- host: got that point. on twitter -- "the washington times" and others reporting on health care premiums this morning.

host: that is health care this morning. continuing that team inside of "the washington times," this headline about marco rubio, a possible presidential contender

in 2016, "trying to shift focus from immigration to obama care." att: that has been a topic town hall meetings, or rubio, part of the so-called gang of eight, at -- marco rubio, part of the so-called gang of eight, a look at what he's doing over the congressional break. --s article was on ted cruz is about ted cruz.

placid,chard, lake florida, good morning.

caller: congress should immediately defund this health care bill. not only is it not a health care bill, it is a tax bill and the supreme court designated it a tax bill. they rewrote the bill. now even democrats in congress are saying they cannot live with this bill because it is too extensive -- expensive. alreadyt obama has exempted them from affordable health care, which is a joke. it has 21 additional new taxes, 13,000 pages that will go to the irs, you have to fire 18,000 irs agents to enforce the bill. this is a total disaster. also, this immigration bill -- host: do you think it is worth defunding the health care law? do you think it is worth shutting down the government and

not raising the debt ceiling? for thei work department of defense for 30 years and was working the last time they supposedly shut down the government back in the 1990's, that was a big joke. emergency departments are never shut down, only non-essential personnel and non-emergency departments and agencies. there will be plenty of .overnment only affordable care act. that needs to be refunded. -- defunded. it is not a health care bill to begin with, it is to control the economy. basically, it is a control bill. host: immigration?

caller: the immigration bill is nothing more than another amnesty bill. we have immigration. see, they keep trying to bring together -- congress keeps trying to bring together immigration and the illegal aliens. we have immigration laws that congress and this administration will not follow. so, they keep trying to usurp the law and bring in a way to make the eagles legal. we already have the immigration law, we need to -- make illegals legal. we already have immigration law that we need to follow. host: all right. pensacola, chris, you are on the air. caller: ok? host: ok, sir. audio] [no

host: one last call for chris. caller: ok, my call for congress, instead of shutting down the congress, get the money we are giving to other countries and give it back into our country. if we need the health care for people that cannot afford it, give it to them. host: george, democratic caller. caller: yes, i agree with the last caller. bring the troops home, shot the wars down that the republicans started that were unjustified. thet sitting down with president in congress and try to make obama care work rather than trying to repeal it 40 times, sit down and make this health care plan work. we are the only world power nation in the world that does not have health care for all of

its people. [indiscernible] even have health care for their own people. host: ok, george. "republicans retreat to shut down."

times"the new york weighing in on that, as well as this, yucca mountain and nuclear waste. on monday in an hour your money series and how your taxpayer dollars are being spent on the yucca mountain nuclear waste site, this morning they said that after spending decades and billions studying it, congress is ready to announce new funds to complete the licensing evaluation to determine whether or not it would make a successful repository.

host: robert, new london, conn., how are you? caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: when i heard that congress was involved with insider trading, that got me really upset, as it should anybody who pays taxes. less and less every year, i just want them to do that. peace in the middle east, you know, with israel and the palestinians, that is a big joke. i have been studying it for years, i wish something would be done with that. it does not make sense. that is about it. wish everybody a great day in the usa. host: all right, texas, republican caller. caller: hello, it is great talking to you.

i agree with most of what people are saying on the air. obama care ishis essentially a tax bill. not havingcongress to go under the obama care? that is frightening by itself. , governmenthing is shut down? has it hurt anyone or anything? no, it is not affecting anything. the sequester, is it hurting anyone? no, not really. keep the shutdown, keep everything as is, do not start it back up. keep those people out of office, what ever it is this shut down, keep it as it is. it seems to be working. nobody is hurting. host: all right.

jerry, democratic caller, your message to congress? caller tell my message to congress on the affordable health care act, people, a majority of people realize that the affordable health care act has not been fully implemented, ,et they are asking and judging trying to ask to make a judgment about how they feel on of affordable health care when it has not been implemented. they have not been given the opportunity to see the full picture before making a judgment. is theyg with congress seem to have forgotten, are not forgotten, but present that the president has been out for a and other things very

this. has come out of host: president obama is going on tour to talk about the high cost of college. washingtonm "the times," "rethinking the cost of a college education."

host: on this issue, this is from "the denver times" courtesy of the newseum. host: that is from "the denver post" this morning. byother news, "a petition veterans groups calling on the affairs secretary to resign because of the claims backlog that has been plaguing the agency, cases pending 125 days or longer, it stands at 490,000, down from 530,000 reported on june 15." below that, kristin holland, democrat of maryland, this is from "the washington post."

the irs over tax exemption rules." host: those of some of the headlines this morning in the papers. we will keep bringing you more as we take your calls with your messages to congress as they are about to return next month, budget, immigration reform, an essay, etc.. theresa, va., you are up next. caller: i wanted to say that congress should not stop hoarding and health-care law.

hurts everyone. people need to stopfrom thinking about it as something that they do not even know about yet. host: patrick, new jersey, good morning. congress, message to i think i speak for most republicans who might be -- might not be brave enough to say it, congress has to restore the right of self-determination to the land. they have been giving this black president obama a free pass in the media. let's restore the office to dignity, get somebody white in there. it was a terrible mistake to have a black president and we are suffering from it. host: what is your argument as to why it is a terrible mistake to have a black president? caller: when we had a white nation in new jersey, we had self-determination. we are being ruled by the blacks and they have a heavy hand.

we are tired of it. stop it. host: what is your evidence of that? caller: daily stonings of police and fire service men, rather rot -- race riots not being reported in the press. we are under attack, here. help us, congress. retorts a white self- determination. thank you. -- restore white self- determination. thank you. oft: questioning the safety private information supplied by floridians to federally funded navigators, and others who held through on-line exchanges, scheduled to launch on october 1. next to that is a picture of president obama holding a jersey given to him by former coach [indiscernible] after welcoming the perfect season team tuesday at the white

house, years after having the perfect season. that is the front page of "the miami herald" this morning. washingtonm "the times." "sent back to work after missteps, john kerry has reinstated employees indicated in security lapses last year."

is reported from "the washington post," embassies across the country, "reopening after the yemen threat." host: market, colorado? caller: i hope that we can get a -- mark, colorado? caller: i hope we can get a flat tax.

everyone deserves a flat tax. i am hoping we can get people care for the president as well as that. i do not think we have equal health care. thank you for your time, i appreciate it. host: we covered a town hall meeting with a republican from iowa, where he was asked by a visa holder from his district about immigration. [video clip] >> the idea in the [inaudible] is to have everyone participates and spread the costs around to help control them [inaudible] [inaudible] host: hoops, wrong button. langden,congressman

talking about health care. we also cover john mccain of arizona. interested in any of those, go to our website, c-span.org. many of you heard about the san diego mayor facing pressure to resign, this is the headline this morning from "the associated press." more democrats are asking for him to ask down. newseum,ourtesy of the -- host: also this morning, courtesy of the newseum as well,

but governor mcdonald and his -- , governor mcdonald and his possible investigation into gifts he has received. thenished image for governor." he has four and a half months left, he is staying on. hello, edward. like to got would i and tell congress? i think i would say that a fair tax would be better than income- tax and that government employees should not make over $1,000 a week, whether they are a senator, congressman, or president. that is just common sense. most americans do not make over $100,000 per year. businesses do. if you want to go and take care

of trade imbalance, congress should go and say okay with that federal sales tax on everything. with things being brought into the country, whether they are made in china or brazil, they still get the same tax as a company that makes it here, which would cause them to say -- when wea shipment here will be taxed on it anyway? that way corporations would not feel like they cannot hire anyone because that -- they have to pass that cost on to the consumer. as for immigration? well, it is not broken, they just choose to break the law. many ofother topic that

you have called in about is the federal reserve and who might take over for ben bernanke. the front page of "the washington post" this morning has more if you are interested in that. also, a new poll from "the washington post" talks about few be aware of a new teaching approach. 62% of people have not heard about common core state standards. we talked about it here, and if you are interested in a 101 on it, go to our web sites, [applause] .- website, c-span.org also, "a signal of the economy's growing strengths and insurance recovery coverage required by this new law."

table for congress, national security and data collection. there was an amendment on the floor last month that was narrowly defeated that would have stopped funding for this nsa practice, we covered the town hall meeting recently. here is a little bit of what the congressman had to say on the question of nsa. [video clip] >> you cannot simply go around collecting the data and information of all of the americans in the united states without suspicion. it is something i have been fighting against for the last .ouple of months a few weeks ago we had an floor andon the house 205 members of congress stood up

and said -- we do not approve of the nsa collecting the phone records of every single person in the united states without any suspicion. unfortunately, 217 members said that they were ok with it. i think that the tide is turning and i think that things are shifting as we hear more and more things in the news about what the nsa and government are doing. we heard other reports about how the nsa might be, for example, sharing information with the d a and irs. reports theg to incidentally collect your information, and edward lee collect your information, and then use that information to go after people for domestic prosecutions. of course, this violates our rule of requiring specific warrants. you cannot have a system where

the intelligence agencies, nsa or any other, collect data without a warrant and then gives that to domestic agencies and says -- here you go, now you can prosecute people. here that was our coverage on c-span to bring new town hall meetings from many members of congress. if you are interested, go to our .ebsite, c-span.org brian, what is it? caller tell my message to congress is fairly simple, i do not think they have accomplished nearly anything of what they had in mind of accomplishing, nothing of value for the people of this country. i would suggest that they should start working on jobs bills, start working on a minimum wage bill. they need to work on the immigration bill and do a good

faith effort. i know that john boehner has the tea party pulling on his left regular at histy right leg, but john, you are the wishbone, you are supposed to lead, not follow, stick your finger in there and lead. out ifgoing to move you you do not do something soon. host: that was brian in michigan. next we will be talking about voting rights and the new north carolina voter id law. later we will be live at the lockheed martin fighter demonstration center in arlington, va., just over the bridge here to discuss the future of the f-35 fighter jet program with steve o'brien, right after this break. ♪

the night on the encore presentation of -- tonight on the encore presentation of " first lady's" -- >> over the next five months somewhere between 17,000 and 20,000 people would show up at her home. when the people did start to show up on the property, that many unexpected people started to cause a lot of damage to the outside of the property. we know that she was a gracious host to the people who were invited in. them whatoften offer she called standing refreshments, which basically meant she was gracious and talk to them for a few moments as they were offered a cool glass of water, but no chairs to sit want them to not

overstay their welcome. host: tonight, on c-span. -- >> that this tonight, on c- span. >> "washington journal" continues. host: and we are back. from new york, myrna perez, deputy director for the department of justice. what does it look like for voting rights right now? guest: we have seen some laws passed that would make it harder for voters to participate in the next election that they have in their state. one thing that is getting a lot of notoriety is the omnibus election bill happening in north carolina, but it would be a misnomer to call that particular bill just a photo identification bill, because in addition to promoting strict

identification laws, there are a whole host of things that will make it hard for voters to participate in these elections. host: we will talk about those provisions more, but in general what is the impact of these voter id laws that we see on the books, in your opinion? guest: they vary, so are more strict than others. the ones that garner particular concern are ones that are not possessed by a great number of americans. some laws are so strict that we can expect millions of americans to not have or acquire them. many of them require underlying documents that are expensive or difficult to get. we know that these strict voter identification laws have the hardest consequences among the elderly, african-americans, minorities, and students.

we should be reviewed -- they should be reviewed for the kinds of ways in which they can be enacted where eligible people will be able to cast a ballot that counts. host: attorney general eric holder has said that despite the supreme court striking down section four of the voting rights act, that he would still use the voting rights act to law to challenge some of these voter identification state laws and he has pointed to section two and section 3. can you tell us what those are? how would he use them to fight against voter id laws? guest: i am happy to, but i think we should back up for your viewers. host: certainly. host of the context of his statement was in the face of a devastating decision by the supreme court in the case called shelby county, which made a count -- challenge to section

5, the most effective tool that we as a country have had in combating racial discrimination in voting. the supreme court upheld the constitutionality of section 5, but instead struck down the part of the law that said who had to abide to the requirements. effectively making section five inoperable in places in the country where we have the most egregious history of racial discrimination in voting. what the attorney general said in that statement was that he was going to use other tools available to try to protect voters in the interim. section two is a provision that ,as nationwide a applicability for having those practices, laws, and policies that deny or abridge the community of minorities to preface of it in and voting.

section 3 is a more seldom used provision whereby a court can decide if a particular jurisdiction is subject to the section 5 requirements of pre- clearance. section 3 ourd remaining tools that voter advocates have at their disposal to protect against racial discrimination in voting, but in the interim we need congress to revisit the voting rights act and revise the part that was declared not permissible by the supreme court decision so that we can make sure that voters everywhere in the country who are at risk of racial discrimination are able to be given the kinds of protections they deserve. would congress revise that? for those who argued against striking it down, i believe the

methodology was just not current. how would congress revised that -- revise that? guest: at the outset i think viewers need to be clear that this was a devastating decision that i believe people are going to look back on and hold the court in a great deal of disappointment and discussed for this kind of decision. i think the north carolina, which we are going to talk about later, is emblematic of the current problems we will see after that decision, but in the interim congress can review the different parts of the formula and come up with a different coverage formula. we know that there are efforts in congress to make this happen. there have been at least two hearings and it is important that any action taken by congress is bipartisan and carefully considered because it

will get a great deal of scrutiny from the supreme court. host: if eric holder challenges some of these laws, do you see it headed back to the supreme court? guest: there are a lot of things that could happen in the interim, that is certainly a possibility. section two is not the only tool. i want to make it clear, it is not just about boat ratification. mentionedholder regarding getting involved in section 3 was a redistricting matter. to targeto is used the practices the denied or abridged the right to vote, which can include a lot of things, like in north carolina it is being used to challenge the cutbacks to early voting,

the elimination of same their registration, and a host of other things. host: let's dig into that a little bit more. signed by the governor shortly after the supreme court decision, it requires government endingd cards in 2016, same-day registration, shortens the early voting by a week, ending pre-registration initiatives for high school students. the governor said in a statement to "the los angeles times" who did a story on this, that the "without this higher level of identification, is it possible to know? jessica's you have not been robbed does not mean they should not like your doors at night.

guest: the important thing to remember is not only does that bill do those particular things, it also makes it much easier for money to influence and have a greater voice than ordinary americans. the photo identification issue is one of a whole host of issues that will make it harder for people to vote. right now there has not been significant evidence that people were abusing the edification requirements that existed in north carolina. we do know that there is rapid evidence that hundreds of thousands of people are unlikely to have the kind of photo identification that will be required in order to vote. the particular kinds of people who are unlikely to have are those who are already experiencing difficulties in participating in our election process. it is something that we need to be very mindful of. we do not want to be a country

that makes it difficult for our elderly, minorities, students, folks who are poor or move frequently to have a voice in this country. this law will make it much harder for people to participate in state and federal elections. host: let's go to duane. caller: yes. i do not understand why people are making such a big deal about this. i have had identification since i was 13. vote, youlegal to automatically get voter registration in the mail. so where is this a problem? i mean, it makes no sense. yes, you should have to have a

photo identification to vote and you should be a legal citizen and not just a resident. and there is nothing racist about it. no voter is suppression in the idea. host: ok. myrna perez? guest: i think there is no dispute that people who vote should be eligible. only those over 18 and otherwise allowed to vote should be allowed to vote. what sort of barriers are you going to put in front of the ballot box? need a driver's identification card to be able to operate in this world, other people do not.

there are large percentages of americans that do not have the kind of identification that is required. a plaintiff being listed in the north carolina litigation is an elderly african-american woman who was born at home and the name on her birth certificate is slightly different than the name on her drivers license. those kinds of mistakes happen to a number of people. people may not have an underlying record of their ability to vote. they were able to cast ballots that will count up until a few years ago. there was little disagreement that we need to take steps to make sure that only eligible voters are participating. how are we going to do that? lawse going to allow those

ande able to be taking wind standing in the way of people's ghtful way to the ballot box? host: there have been lawsuits against the law. what is the timeline for the courts to take that up? guest: the legal process is a long process. losing section five was so significant. discriminatory laws to be blocked before they could hurt voters. the timetable is anyone's guess. there are advocates at the local and national level that are working hard to try to make sure that voters are adequately protected.

we can all put pressure on congress to revive the voting rights act so we have another tool available to protect voters. host: recently reported in "the to make itost" easier to cast a ballot. 5 organized under section 01(c). democrats will push legislation similar to a colorado measure that requires all elections to be conducted by mail. what to make about this initiative? what are they proposing? guest: that is a nonpartisan organization. the important thing about the colorado bill is that it had a

number of provisions and made it possible for people to be able to cast a ballot on the same day they registered to vote. that was taken away from voters in north carolina. the hope is they will be bipartisan efforts across the state to try to make sure that voters are given the protection they need to be able to cast and effective ballot. tweet.e have a differenttes use mechanism to try to verify voters. a signature requirement in some states is required. there are a wide friday of identification that are allowed. the important part of what the

lawsuit will deal with in north carolina is there is evidence that this kind of photo identification will heavily affect poor african-americans and the elderly in north carolina. a number of states have more identifications that are permissible. they feel they are able to operate their interactions by verifying the signatures. these stringent photo identification laws are a new phenomenon. they play out in different ways in different states. it is an important fact that look set the nature of the kinds of photo identification that is remitted and the --that is permitted. laws in states have

place that will require all voters to show i.d. at the polls this november. go ahead, james. caller: good morning. there was a comment to defend the north carolina voter id law. it is notid -- guaranteed that you have a right -- clearly voter suppression when you cannot use your student i.d. and student is in college if he votes where his college is located, his parents lose their tax exempt status. that is clearly voter suppression. sook back at the kinds of i.d.

that has been allowed in north carolina, the kind of documentation. there is ways to identify residents. the key thing is when we start limiting the kinds of i.d.'s that can be used that is an objective to increase to suppress the vote. cast you to respond what the government said in a statement? 72%h carolina voters, support photo id at the polls. idea.pport the overall voter

identification. caller: most people would support voter i.d. in principle. when you start limiting the kinds of i.d. that can be used. that is the issue. if you asked the question, do thinkpport voter i.d., i most people would say yes. you have to dig up your old birth certificate. host: all right. myrna perez. what: people do not ask happens when there are people that do not have photo identification. should there be a mechanism for people to vote? polls thate kinds of do not explain what happens when you do have an eligible person

that doesn't have the limited kind of identification that is allowed. should they be cast out of the democratic process? the answer would be a resounding no. they do not have appropriate mechanisms for addressing those eligible people that do not have a list of proposed identification. host: this on twitter. is that figure accurate, and the you know? guest: i have seen that figure in a number of places. this is part of an omnibus legislation that happened in the state where there was widespread participation. north carolina was listed as a moxieof a robust the

because it had lots of measures that promoted democratic participation. rollback thatous happened on the heels of a supreme court decision that would have prevented such rollbacks. "we are going to limit this to a voter identification bill. we no longer have to go through the preclearance requirement. we can load the bill up and include these other measures." this is a significant piece of legislation. my worry would be just the tip of the iceberg. voters andtant that advocates be vigilant about the kinds of measures that could be enacted and we believe will be enacted and make it more difficult for people of color to

participate. host: glenn is next from georgia. caller: yes. today's daying, in and age, most people have a photo i.d. if you walk down the street and the cop ask you for a photo i.d. and you did upper news one --and you do not produce one, you'll be under suspicion. some people do not have i.d. it is such a small group of people that do not have photo id. why is no one talking about the voter suppression that is going on now, like in the last election? what can be done about things

that are happening now? host: ok. guest: the caller raises a good point. percentagewise, there are smaller amounts of people that photo have strict identification requirements then do. many people in this country have this kind of -- we are a democracy for all, including people that do not have strict photo identification requirements. we saw a wave of restrictive legislation sweep across the country. politicians were trying to manipulate the rules of the game to allow some people to vote. we saw through an overwhelming response from the public and back ofvocates a beat

that wave of suppression. we were on a national momentum to try to make voting more acceptable for people. outrages a national about the long lines that too many americans had to experience on election day. the president said we need to make voting a realistic option for eligible americans who care enough about their country to take the time to vote. the supreme court decision is out of touch with that larger american sentiment. it is important that we mobilize resources to make sure that voters everywhere are getting the kind of protections because that is something that most americans want. we want a system where americans can freely and fairly have a

voice in our democracy. our democracy needs to be accessible. steps counter should be given the kind of challenges that we are seeing in north carolina. arizona.tt in caller: i would like to know how saidpeople -you're guest legal residents should vote and i think it should be american citizens. we have failed to enforce our immigration policies. we have over 10 million people here illegally. many states are issuing these drivers licenses and social security cards that they can use as a form of identification to falsely vote. my father was born in the

depression. 1934.cial security says instead of waiting until he was vote, he say he cannot took personal responsibility to get it straightened out when he was younger. host: myrna perez? guest: i need to look at the transcript to cfi misspoke. only eligible americans should be allowed to vote, in my opinion, in federal elections. other elections can be left to states. the incident that the father of the caller said is an interesting one. had the occasion to try to get that fixed because

they were trying to get a passport. the documentation that people had or did not have was sufficient for them to be able to vote. how difficult are we going to make it for people to be able to register to vote? how much advocacy to be able to register and participate and to cast a ballot that will count, and for what? who is being shut out of our electoral process? the big concern right now in north carolina is there is going to be hundreds of thousands of americans who do not have the kind of identification that is required. there are not enough easy mechanisms for them to get it. it would be a mistake to focus the voter energy on

identification bill. there are other provisions that will be limiting in terms of who can participate. i thank the caller for pointing out a possible misstatement on my part. there is very little dispute that only eligible americans should be able to vote. host: dave is a democratic caller. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am disgusted the repeal it republicans are trying to take away americans' right to vote. they have used a couple of different excuses." "we want to stop fraud." then they want photo id. old,person is 85 years

they probably do not have photo id and have probably lost their birth certificate. it is disgusting the republicans have to cheat to win. they cannot win under their policies. they have to lie and cheat and steal the vote away. i am disgusted. i do have one more point. ted cruz was born in canada. his father was an illegal immigrant from cuba. his first name is not ted. it is raffael. i hope you fact check me. i know what i'm talking about. host: we have a tweet. dispute wee is zero

need secure elections in which only eligible americans are able to anticipate. is that -- uestion is over how to do that. right now the photo identification law in north carolina does not present good evidence to make the election system more secure. have beenmericans who participating without incident for years are now going to be shot out of the process in north carolina. weighimportant that we gain in in enacting these kinds of laws versus what we get in

return. some policies will come out of those discussions and others will not. we need to make sure our elections are free, fair, and acceptable and that we do not allow partisans to manipulate rules of the game. host: john from niagara falls. caller: good morning. i really think that this is all wrong. i do not think photo id is needed. a lot of companies have hand scanners. you put your hand on a piece of glass. they know who you are. if you are registered to vote, that handprint shows up someplace else. you have a databank just for something else. someone gets arrested.

you cannot change your handprint. you do not need pictures. you areon't have hands, out of luck. you have to go back to the paper ballot. host: what about technology? guest: is really important that we better use technology in the administration of our elections. much of our registration system is based on an outmoded process. we do have computers and other ways of making sure that when people registered to vote that they are not so reliant on simple paper forms that need to get mailed and typed in sometimes twice and are expensive to process. we should have a system where the computers can talk to each other and election officials can

benefit from those kinds of things. a number of states use technology in an effective way to register voters. preventsaper, it concerns of fraud because the ls are cleaner. i hope these discussions about elections are going to result in efforts in states to try and leverage technology to save taxpayers money and to make our voting rolls more accurate. omi, welcome to the conversation. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would like to say a couple of things. your guests makes me feel like i have no intellectual -- at all.

i am a woman of color, 69 years old. she said minorities do not have the right to vote. they are being depressed. people of color know how to register. we know that we need i.d. allowdown and do as they and do what is needed to be done. these are lives you are talking about. south florida, there are democratic officials. they are not run by republicans. they are the ones that are messed up in south florida. let me tell you. my mother was born in 1930. she always voted. never had a problem.

i am 69. i do not know where she is coming from. she says she is not partisan. she is partisan. they are keeping this going in north carolina. we all vote. they make us register. we go down and we get an i.d. what is the matter with these people? guest: it is very inspiring that the caller is so committed to her right to vote and to exercising that vote. well of ourry country that we have people who are that dedicated. the problem that i see is that there are individuals in north carolina and other places that have had serious barriers placed

in front of them at the talent box -- ballot box. some people have overcome those barriers. others have circumstances which makes it much more difficult. the challenge is to make sure all eligible americans have a free and fair access to the ballot. we see measures in north carolina which are going to make it difficult for people to participate in all levels of the election. those measures are not american. way is not the appropriate to run a democracy. tweet.e have a guest: that is one of the

measures that is being considered in a number of states. compromises are something that is being given a lot of scrutiny. we need to have a way that voters feel secure. all eligible americans are able to participate. the devil is in the details. i am excited about the conversations. there are so many americans that care about the democracy. boringfileclerk tweets in. florida.iami, caller: yes, good morning.

i have two quick comments. the last caller said that she doesn't know what is wrong with us democrats. i do not know what is wrong with the republicans. they have eyes but they cannot see. there are so many blockades and layers. it is sometimes impossible to overcome them. they cannot see. the next point about the earlier caller. he was a card-carrying ku klux klan white to promise that said whites were throwing blacks at the firemen. the rock he was concerned about was the rock that he crawled out from. host: any comments? -- no not on ls comment

on that last comment. host: we will go to bob from new york. i cannot connect with you. i do not understand. all of the states that are proposing these laws are putting out there to the public that they will make every accommodation, if somebody was born in a shack or born with a midwife, if they can bring somebody with them to verify who they are, they will make the i.d. possible for them. ree.ng them the i.d.' for f they want to do all of these things. to 20is 12 million million aliens in this country.

peoplen't make sense why cannot have a photo i.d. so they can vote. if there wasn't a problem with same-day registrations, people walking in off the street and registering on the same day, they wouldn't be trying to stop them. things they were talking about on the show with immigration. the reason that the senator from my state is pushing for he canship is because start stacking the deck on these elections. 80%nows probably more than of illegals and hispanics will vote democratic. that is what i am looking at listen to one of

the shows. guest: i want to address the one aspect which was the idea of the accommodations that are being made when people do not have photo identification. some states have a wide number of accommodations that many believe will allow eligible americans that do not have the kind of photo identification that is listed to still be able to cast a ballot that will count. there are other states that are severely restricting the number of and the kinds of identifications that can be used. one of the things that people a three-judgethat court found the texas photo identification law was going to have a harmful impact on

minority voters and was unpersuaded by the information that texas had for making accommodations. not every state does appropriate make sure that those will have a hard time getting identification are able to do that. will allow for the financial situation of a person to be taken into account. when you put those things together, it makes some of the laws the most stringent. those things come together to put a serious impediment in front of the ballot box for eligible americans. is theuest myrna perez director of the brennan center for justice.

thank you for your time this morning. guest: thank you so much. host: coming up in the next hour, we will be live from lockheed martin in arlington, virginia. we will be looking at the future fighter jet program. but first a news update from c- span radio. news.e international egypt is the focus of talks between european union foreign ministers. they are trying to come up with a joint response to the crisis. the discussions expected to center on proposals to halt some aid programs. egypt's biggest trading partner. over 650 people are confirmed

dead after attacks indymac is today. the syrian government says claims of a poison gas attack by its troops are baseless. says the newsnde requires verification and confirmation. he is asking the united nations to go to the site and shed full light on the allegations. an update on beau biden. mr. biden is getting a medical it valuation at one of the leading cancer centers in the texas, the university of cancer center. he felt we can disoriented on august 14 after driving to indiana. he is the son of joe biden. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio.

>> c-span. we bring public affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings, and conferences, and offering complete gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house, all as a public service of private industry. we're c-span, created by the cable tv industry 34 years ago and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. and now, you can watch us in h.d. we have to put some things on the land. what do we do with it? to receivemise public input to generate a plan. the same time, you had the developer. patacki.a

they wanted to make sure that lower manhattan remained an international financial hub. rebuildieve he had to all the commercial space. >> the controversy of the rebuilding over the former world trade center. span2. night at 9:00 on c- our topic for the next hour is the future of the f-35 program. the pentagon plans to build 2400 trillion.1.5 joining us is steve o'bryan, vice president of program integration and business development. thank you and welcome. let's begin with where you are

at. what is the purpose of the demonstration center? guest: it is built to show the difference of the f-35. thecapability provides in avionics as well as the range. we have simulators of the f-35. it is a way to communicate this ability. host: who are you demonstrating it to? who visits the fighter demonstration center? the navy, marine corps, and the air force. eight international partners. we continue to add more partners, more countries to the program. israel and japan have committed to buy the airplane.

this allows us to communicate that difference in washington, d.c., to the decision-makers on the program. host: you have visits from members of congress as well. what is the purpose for them to see the center? guest: they can fly the simulator and they can see the technology and the jobs. 5,000 direct and indirect jobs, building the f-35. these are high tech aerospace jobs that will be part of our aerospace industry for years and years to come. they are building high technology avionics. they are doing things with -oftware that make this a next generation airplane. they are also building it for airport.

we have about $50 billion of export value. host: let's talk about the history and the goals of the f- 35. what is its mission? guest: the program was built to recapitalize the fighter forces that are out there today. look at the last 20 years of operations, whether it is bosnia or libya. fighter aviation enables air time operations and land operations. our fighter fours is getting older. aftere 40% less fighters desert storm. that fighter fours is getting older. today the average age is approaching 25 years old. look at the potential threat

that is out there today. russia and china are working on no less than fighters that are flying in generation today. they are advancing surface to air missiles to take away this advantage of the fighters we have had in the united states for years and years to come. toneed to invest and we need recapitalize. it is those eight partner countries. it brings the next-generation technology. pilots to gour where they need to go when they need to go. this builds on the technology in it 1035 and advances years along. it brings increased range.

it is stealth where it needs to avionics tovanced use the advantage of the technology. is the excess rains to go further than we have before. that is the advantage of the f- 35. host: all the different branches of the government are going to have a variation of f-35. how will they differ across the branches? what are the challenges for making a different one for each of the branches? guest: they have different basing requirements. is made to take off and land from conventional runways for the air corps. is made to come back and operate at expedition are airfields across the world. for the u.s. navy version, it is

made to take off and land off of catapults with tail hoax. the challenges are on the basic requirements. the short takeoff, we are out for the second time off the east coast of the united states. we are doing short takeoffs with over 40,000 pounds in less than 500 feet and then coming back and landing vertically at sea at night and daytime. we're doing those operations today. for the navy, we're taking off and landing off big aircraft decks at sea. yesterday we did catapults operations. we are doing that with the

tailhook and that tends to be a challenge. this is the first stealth eric lane for the air force and navy -- this is the first stealth airplane for the air force and navy. i flew missions that were generally air to air missions or air to ground. f-35 will expand the mission set. you will be able to do electronic attacks, intelligence operations, reconnaissance operations, command and control operations we never saw and a fighter jet before. that is the value of the f-35. we are able to do it in a much more efficient manner. why is southwest airlines so successful? they fly a single airplane.

their maintenance crews are trained on a single airplane. that is the value of f-35. naïve have a single supply chain --now you have a single supply chain. you have an airplane that is common across the three u.s. services. you have the eight partner countries. we are sharing that burden and the national security and cooperation among our best allies. that is the value of f-35. host: that is our topic, the future of f-35. we are joined by steve o'bryan. we will take your questions and comments in just a minute. republicans, 202-585-3881. democrats, 202-585-3880.

we have a fourth line for active and retired military, 202-585-3883. let's talk about the cost of the f-35. total estimate program costs now nearly twiceon, the initial cost from original estimates. why is that? guest: right now we're driving the cost down. we underestimated the development and flight tests. but the program is on track. down.driving the price we have reduce the cost of the airplane by over 55%. we are going to continue to drop

this price of the airplane. in 2018, the average cost will about $75lion, million in today's dollars. is a quantum leap in capability. we are focused on reducing the cost. we continued to reduce it to about the same price as a fourth generations of airplanes out there today. the: back to the costs from gao.

host: respond to those numbers. guest: i think this airplane is cost effective overall. it will replace three different make models of airplanes. have three airplanes separate supply chains and seven crew men. they have separate infrastructure. the marines the place those airplanes with just one f-35 and just one pilot. that will save the nation almost $1 billion a year. ofare replacing a multitude airplanes in the u.s. and we are doing this with a single type of avionics to drive down the cost.

-- international component now you have eight partner countries and japan and israel contributing $5 billion to the development of the airplane. contributecontinue -- to the tooling. every airplane for the u.s. lessces is $10 million because of the international participation. i flew jets in combat operations. our capabilities were inoperable. now with the f-35, our best allies are going to have the same airplanes, same capabilities. the value will be extremely high for coalition operations. brings.what the f-35

host: let me get to phone calls. stanley in utah, go ahead. caller: i have a question. how does the 35 stand up against the f-22? is it -- like the f-22? guest: they are made to be they are both stealth. differentuse avionics. they are made to work in concert. f-22 isn't air to air airplane air to air airplane.

like intelligence gathering and command and control. those are the things they f-35 does. eight partner countries. we believe more countries will join the program in the future. it is made to operate with the f-22. militaryn is retired in jacksonville, florida. caller: how are you doing today? good morning. how much longer can we sustain the f-15 and f-16? . am retired and we have f-16 what about the countermeasures?

will be comparable to the ?ussians guest: thank you. what can we do? just like the car that you drive. anes werepl designed in the nixon administration. not justuying the f-35 for today's threat but for the next 50-plus years. intensive airplane to outpace the threat. the f-35 continues that advantage. 35 is designed to do that.

we have been doing stealth airplanes far longer than in .hina and russia the f-35 builds upon that technology. the threat is not stagnant. the threat continues to evolve. is built to do that. this allows us to continue to outpace the threat. this is the right airplane for the next 50 years. host: we have a guest guest: we have over 100 airplanes that have rolled out of the factory.

we have 75 airplanes flying today. test inoing development pax river. 30 airplanes are doing training. we have operations going on at marine corps air station's yuma. we are on the east coast doing short takeoffs and vertical land ings. we have eight countries under contract to buy the f-35. we continue to do flight tests. air to air missiles. we have our laser guided bombs. those are being dropped off of f-35 today. we are increasing the production and dropping the price.

isbelieve the f-35 we our focuso -- on doing that in 2015. host: 2015 is when they will be ready for war? guest: the marine corps has declared 2015 is the target. we have an operational squadron. there are jets landing and taking off off an amphibious ship. they are training and operating and we are upgrading the airplane to be ready for combat and to support the marine corps. host: peter from new york on our republican line. you have to turn the television down. talk to me through the phone. you are on the air.

what is your question or comment? beler: when will the f-35 ready to go into combat? host: you just said 2015. is it just for one branch of the military? guest: 2016 for the air force. they are setting for operations. we will be deploying airplanes by the beginning of next year in arizona as well as the next operational aircraft. the air force is planning on having a squadron of 12 to 24 airplanes that will be ready for combat. this will be an airplane capable of doing precision air to air and air to ground missions. it was built for range. upgraded avionics.

it takes what we have that i flew and puts it in a fifth generation capability. this allows you to do what you need to do with advanced avionics and long-range to do it in many different places. that is the beauty of f-35. and we are providing to our allies. host: we will keep talking with steve o'bryan. we will keep taking your phone calls and getting your questions and comments. from the center to talk more about the tech dollars will -- technological uniqueness of the f-35. the f-35re at demonstration center at lockheed martin. you would come across the f-35

cockpit demonstrator. is probably the closest thing you'll see two flying an f-35. what is most impressive is what is inside the cockpit. joining us is elliott clemence. thank you for joining us. i see a lot of touch grains instead of switches and dials. why is that? touchscreeng a reduces workload for the pilot. back in the old days, there is knobs and-plus displays. yourthe touchscreen, workload is greatly reduced. you can focus on the tactical situation.

pilot is not as busy flipping knobs and switches, then he can pay more attention to the big picture. --thisou can do a by tells you your weapons capability. this is the overall function of the plane. walk us through some of these other things. guest: this is our tactical display. this is our primary display for deploying weapons. informationhesized presented to us in a simple and go where and format -- in a simple and coherent format. we have our infrared search and track and this is our system which is infrared around the

airplane. host: this will give you a real- time sense of what is going on inside the plane. guest: is different from legacy fighters. is very intuitive to operate. ift: what happens electronics fail? guest: in the case of this display, will we have is a panoramic cockpit display that is divided into two parts. their management computers behind it. if one goes out, another takes over. over here we have the throttle. just a standard stick throttle. over here we have the throttle. haveof those interceptors various switches and knobs so

the pilot does not have to touch the touchscreen while he is flying. .

>> so that will allow you to return to your base. >> what was the learning curve from going to switches and dials and going to a touch screen? >> it is different. you have to -- for me training time was very minimal because the airplane is so easy to fly. it's 10 hours in the simulator, academics and one flight then you're there. new generations with kids coming through, they'll adapt to this quickly. >> this is the simulator or the cockpit demonstrator. part of what you do here deals with the helmet you wear. >> this isn't the only display in the airplane. our helmet acts as a functional display as well. we're going to talk about how that works and how the sensors

integrate into the helmet. >> elliott clemence with us to talk about that as we take a look at the f-35 fighter. elliott clemence, thank you. >> we'll go back later and talk about the different aspects of the technology that goes into the f-35 but back to steve o'bryan our guest there at the fire demonstration center. the gao report that we touched on earlier talked about the different challenges what go into the technology for the f-35 and the gao's report said one of the biggest headaches is the lagging effort to write the complex software that is needed for the f-35. can you respond to that. >> certainly we have challenges out there today. software is a key challenge. this airplane carries 8.6 million lines of code. just to give you an idea of that capability versus prior

generation. prior generations have only about one million lines of code. we have about 86% of that code flying today. we've coded over 95%. but the key challenge is integration of it and the flight test. we've done a number of things to derisk or enable that to arrive on time. we added about 200 software engineers to the program. we added over $100 million lag to the program to test the software. we also added pair planes into the flight test program. so we attack the problem and the challenge to the volume stream of it. the results are extremely promising. we've done the first three loads of the next generation of the software on time this year. we've done the critical design review for the next bit of software. so that capability is out there flying today. we're doing fusion it operations. we're flying the sensors. we're doing night landings on

the uss wasp and we're flying the airplane at high angles of attack. so the software is very stable. the software is performing well. we understand there's a key challenge in front of us and we added the resources and the personnel as well as the talent throughout our corporation to make it successful. so this is a key challenge. we recognizing that and we're adding resources. host: explain buy before you fly and why this is being manufactured before it's been completely tested? guest: right now we understand one of the key challenges we had was doing development production and flight test at the same time. we really underestimated the challenge associated with that. together with the u.s. government we reduced the profile and we put resources in approximately three years and

the results are extremely promising. as the set -- secretary of defense said, the program is on track. we're producing the airplane under cost from what the u.s. government estimates are. we've reduced the price of the airplane from the first year of production to the seventh year of production by more than 55%. we have six different basing locations where we're operating the f-35. we're adding more international partners to reduce the cost. we've taken measures to reduce what's called con currency or that development program and the results demonstrate that we've been on track and we're reducing cost. host: what happened in the past that made these cost go up. in the l.a. times reported, fewer planes higher cost, over the past decade, the per plane cost of the f-35 fighter program

has doubled. guest: certainly this program has had challenges in the past. i can tell you what's happened over the last three years of the program. that is really a program that's continuing to hit milestones. we're flyinged mission system of the airplane. we're working the radar, electronic attack. we're testing and have verifying the stealth tributes of the -- attributes of the airplane. we're hitting our milestones, we're driving down cost in front of the u.s. government estimates. this program as the secretary of defense said, is on track. we do have challenges in the future and we will as a development program. we're prepared for it. we have the resources for it and we're fixing the problems. host: joe is next retired military.

caller: good morning. if drone technology and cruise missiles are already proven and effective, why do we need something like the f-35? we put men at risk and all we're doing is continuing the military and industrial complex? guest: joel thanks for your question and service. when i talk about drones, they all have a purpose and cruise missiles as well. really where i see the value of drones and where we see it, is in missions where it's not physiologically possible for pilots to go or the extended time in a cockpit does not make sense. you see that in long range high altitude missions. again, the fighter airplanes are core to our national security. drone argument, u.a.v., they rely on a highly dynamic environment to be downloaded and things and systems that could be

at risk from jamming and other capabilities. it's not a question of whether these airplanes are -- they're not really unmanned. they're uninhabited. so the manpower is there, the cost is there. we can't jeopardize our security by having our daddling's jammed. it provides the capabilities to keep our pilots safe in a stealth airplane and fifth generation airplane. it allows to have a man or woman in the loop to make shows decisions that -- make those decisions. we believe the f-35 is the right answer to maintain that capability above my threat adversary. for not only the three u.s. services. host: independent line, steve in littleton, massachusetts. caller: as i listen to this, i think poor steve o'bryan must need medication to sleep. all we hear about is threats,

national security, national security. it's like a bad joke becoming a nightmare. as if the united states is the most besieged nation on earth rather than the protagonist, uninterrupted mass murder. that as the previous called said, president eisenhower warned about. what the world need is housing and securitying and not f-35's. host: steve o'bryan your reaction. guest: i can tell you what lockheed martin is focused on. we're focused on implementing and helping with the policy of the united states. we're focused on giving our best to our war fighters out there. our young men and women out

there protecting us. i can talk about the last 20 years of operation. you can look at desert storm, iraqi freedom and afghanistan. these are the operations of the last 20 years and fighter airplanes have been a core competency to implementing u.s. government policy as well as protecting our young men and women not just in the air but on the ground and at sea. these f-35's maintain that advantage for years and years to come. they have stealth. i can tell you as a former fighter pilot that stealth airplanes gives you an advantage that doesn't allow a fair fight. so f-35 is basically invisible to enemy airplanes and you have a first look, first shot and you're able to win any engagement that we have and to deter any engagement that we might have. the advance avionics allow us to understand the battlefield as

well as the environment we're operating in in a huge and better fashion we've had. many of these are core to what we're doing, protecting our troops and giving them the best technology that we have available. host: james is also a retired military in michigan. independent. caller: hi steve. guest: hello sir. caller: my concern of the f-35, i worked on a flight deck back in the 1970's. it doesn't really have a good track record. mission specific airplanes do a lot better than a one plane all mission type aircraft. thank you. guest: thanks for your question. again your service on the

kennedy. as i look at multirole airplanes, i flew f-18's for over 20 years. f-35 is designed to do more than just air to air than air to ground. it's built with the next generation radar. it's really the miniature of technology that we have today. now the radar that we have that i flew, we had a single radar dish. one radar, the f-35 has over a thousand. it's not just a radar on the f-35 that allows electronic attack. it's also a sensor in terms of the ability to hear and listen electronic warfare signals. through the miniaturization of technology we're able to do so many different things. stealth enables us to do that. in air to ground we're able to go where we can't go in fourth generation airplanes. stealth

allow us to get in closer to areas of interest, take pictures, infrared, other data that's out there. really the f-35 through miniaturization through advanced avionics as well as the range to go places that other airplane or planes cannot and they haven't been, that allows the f-35 to really redesign the multirole fighter. it's disadvancement that makes it good. not to capitalize the u.s. navy. host: gary is watching us on the republican line. caller: i was wondering steve you mentioned eight countries are involved in buying your f-35's. what are the six countries other

than israel and japan? guest: israel and japan, you have the united kingdom under contract, netherlands is under contract, norway, australia and italy and the three u.s. services. those are the countries that are under contract. we also have as a partner program, we have canada as well as denmark as partnership. although due to buy at a later date. these are the world's greatest air force are under contract to buy the f-35. it's the economy's scale and economies of commonlity. no longer, i was a former navy fighter pilot, do longer do you have a separate supply chain for the navy. no longer do you have a separate electronic warfare, radar all of different upgrades you have to do with software just for a particular navy airplane. now you have it for u.s. navy,

u.s. marine corps and u.s. air force where it's common. then you add the international partner, japan and israel. that means that everyone contributes to the development. everyone contributes to fair share. that's really the value of f-35 and its ability to be upgraded. host: steve o'bryan explain international sales process quickly. how do these countries buy the f-35? do they buy it from lockheed martin or they're buying it through the u.s. government? guest: this is a government to government agreement. they buy the airplane through the united states government. and the program office. the u.s. government is creating these partnerships not just with the eight international partners on the development but japan and israel. again, this is government to government where you foster international relations. you have political relationships

and industrial relationships as we build portions of the airplane. then you have military to military relationships. this airplane really enables those for years and years to come. when you talk about coalition operation, that's really where f-35 excels. i participated in a number of coalition operations and imagine separate supply change. imagine having to get parts from different countries deployed all over the world and think about it with f-35. now everyone has a common supply chain to pull from. whether you're operations in libya or desert storm and iraqi freedom or afghanistan. now you have a common fleet with next generation capability driven to drive down a lifecyclely cost of the airplane. that is really the core value proposition behind f-35. not just today but for the next 50 plus years. host: we're going to keep taking your phone calls. your comments and questions of

steve o'bryan of lockheed martin. first we want to go back to pedro to learn more about what goes into flying the f-35. >> we've been talking about components of the f-35. you saw the cockpit before and now another part of private gear, the helmet. this looks like any ordinary helmet. but elliott clemence, this is not an ordinary helmet. >> this is an f-35 helmet. what makes this helmet unique is that not only does it protect your head but it also displays video. in a normal airplane that we have today or legacy aircraft we have, a head up display which is about 15 degrees field of view. with this helmet you get 360 degrees field of view. you can also display sensor video.

>> just so the folks at home see, what i'm seeing through this helmet you can see on the video screen. tell us about what's being seen as far as the pilot perspective. >> what we have here is a replica an example. we have six sensors that are flush mounted in the fuse lodge of the f-35. that video is turned into your home and displayed on your visors. you can look your cockpit, you can look anywhere around and you can see that infrared video. >> the folks at home should see that. if you look at the screen instead of looking at the bottom of the cockpit. what am i seeing? >> you're seeing the combined image of all of the sensors on the airplane. what that allows us to do as well is not only make targeting

much easier for the pilot but also it turns the night into day. pilots have greatly enhanced situational awareness and they have the ability to do things they never could do in legacy aircraft. >> in order to get these perspective, would have to physically turn the plane to get these shots? >> that's correct. you would have to roll in on the target to make sure that your weapons designated on the target. with this helmet, we need to look down through our cockpit and make sure that we are targeting the right threat. >> we talk about security, what happens if short out and that impede your ability to fly the plane? >> absolutely not. we have a large levels of redundancy built into the helmet. if it were to go out for a power reason, simply we can still operate the airplane. >> talk a little bit about the learning curve. you talked about how technology

the certain learning curve for other pilots. is it a distraction at the beginning? >> it does take a little bit of getting used to. it's very intuitive. you learn quickly how to use it and when to use it and when to fly with your standard symbolologies. if you're on a night mission and find your wingman, it's simply a switch in the cockpit and you're get the sensor video and you can see through the airplane and you can see threat aircraft. when you go back down into your display, you can just touch that switch again. >> it's another part of the f-35 this one directly on the pilot as he pilots the plane. elliott clemence, thanks again. host: we are live from the lockheed martin fighter demonstration center in arlington, virginia. steve o'bryan is there as well. he's vice president of the company. steve o'bryan we just heard little bit about the helmet and

the technology that's being used. according to a report from the pentagon recently, there has been problems with this technology from radars that don't work to blurry vision from the aircraft sophisticated helmet to inability to fly through crowds. the report includes pilot comment paints a picture of the jet nowhere near ready for real life operation. guest: with the f-35 program there's no denying it's a development program. our job is to find problems as early as possible and fix them. that's what we're doing. if you look at the secretary of defense, his testimony in front of congress this year, he said the program is on track. as we work through these problems, we're continuing to fly the airplane. you can see that confidence coming through on the services and their initial operating capability decision. u.s. marine corps held fast in 2015. u.s. air force accelerated their

operation capability to 2016. this is a program that find problems and fix problems and move along. you can see that in the pace of development. we've completed nearly 9000 flight hours now on the f-35 program. what's key to that is over the last 12 months, 50% of those operations have taken place. we're increasing the production of the airplane. last year we delivered 30 airplanes and this year we're going to deliver 36. we're increasing the production. we're increasing the pace of flight operations and the development. what i hear from the pilots and when they fly the airplane is they truly see the next generation capability that they have in the f-35. host: the problem with the helmets have been resolved? guest: right now we've flown the helmet successfully on every flight since 2007. when you talk to the pilots when

you go down to the air base in florida, they tell me they love the helmet. they continue to resolve what were the technical difficulties earlier in the program as we do in a development program. we've eliminated the green glow and the challenges with the airplane. we've eliminated the key challenge. we look forward to a decision on the f-35 helmet and whether it will be the sole helmet this airplane has. host: we have a little bit less than 10 minutes here with steve o'bryan. for viewers of the program note, tomorrow on the "washington journal," we're going to be talking with defense reporter frank, again the future of the f-35. darrell tweets this, what happens when china gets on the web, download the plan and

builds the f-35 at a fraction of the cost? guest: i can tell you f-35 provides unique capability that's unmatched. we perspective that capability as you expect any crown jewel. really the f-35 is made and designed to continue to out pace the fifth generation potential adversaries out there today. we build upon the f-35, we build upon the b2 and the f-22 to bring the f-35. we designed it to be a software reprogrammable airplane. this allow us to continue to upgrade the airplane. continue to expand the capability without expensive hardware changes. we use economies of scale that we have with three u.s. services, weight partner countries, japan, israel and a growing list of international. this allows us to focus the efforts on upgrading the airplane, continuing to out pace the threat and continuing to

have that advantage over enemy that could be out there today and tomorrow. guest: william is next, cypress, texas, democratic caller. caller: i'm curious to know, why do the american people believe in anything this guy says when he works for lockheed martin? it's unbelievable. we can't afford anything now. why are we spending so much money on a plane that we don't know works. this guy here, he's unbelievable. i just can't believe we're going to spend money on a fighter that we don't need. host: steve o'bryan what about affording a plane during a time of economic agility and spending cuts happening in washington? guest: this plane is essential to our national security. if you take a look at the airplanes we have, they were

originally designed in the nixon administration and they're getting old. the average age of a u.s. air force fighter is approximately 24 years old today. we reduced that size of our fighter force in the u.s. air force by more than 40% in the last 20 years. this is made to smartly recapitalized with is our core competency with a capability that's built for the next 50 plus years. it needs to be upgraded. we need to do it smartly and we need to bring in international components to do it. not only to drive down the price of the airplane but to share the burden of national security in cooperation now into the future for the next 50 years. the f-35 was designed to do that. we have it on a production line a moving assembly. we have supply chain that's built to build 200 airplanes per year and do it efficiently. as the u.s. government estimate show we're going to recapitalize our fighter force at approximately the same cost as

prior generations of airplane. what is the value behind f-35 and we do it with a next generation capability. that's why it's essential to our national security not just today but for the next 50 years. host: has sequestration had an impact on the f-35 rollout? guest: sequestration for us it's really the topic in washington d.c. i'm really not -- my crystal ball is broken like most people's in washington. i'm not sure which way it ends up. for the f-35 program we're focused on is execution. we're focused on delivering our milestones and delivering on the development to support the initial operating capabilities for the u.s. marine corps, u.s. air force and the u.s. navy as well as our international partners. we focus on the things that we can control. that's reducing the price of the airplane. the last three contracts we just signed recently we're well below

the u.s. government estimate and trend line continues to deliver this airplane below that u.s. government estimate for approximately the same cost that prior generations of airplanes. that's where the team is focused. that's where our pilots our partners are focused and it's delivering that capability to our young men and women who need it to continue to out pace potential adversaries. host: earlier this month on the "washington journal," wheeler who is a defense analyst was asked about the f-35 and spending cuts. here's what he had to say. >> what's going to happen with that airplane it's going to die a slow death. its procurement budget going to start getting squeezed because the number of dollars in that f-35 f-35 budget cannot be

afforded. as this start to get squeezed, it's going to be even slower than it is. it will become completely unaffordable. it's going to tail off very slowly and become even more of a disaster. host: steve o'bryan can you respond what winslow wheeler had to say there? guest: i can only talk about the facts and where the program is and where the cost of the airplane is. we have acts countries under contract. we have 235 airplanes under contract that's more than the entire f-22 buy. this is an airplane accelerating in terms of production. we delivered 30 airplanes last year and we're gong to deliver 36 airplanes this year. we're dropping the cost of 55% reduction from the first year of production to the seventh year of production. we're going to continue to do that to recapitalize our allies and u.s. fleet for approximately the same cost as last generation

airplane. i see an f-35 accelerating. i see more countries coming on to the f-35 program. i see the production rate ramping up. i see the cost dropping by independent u.s. and u.s. government estimates. guest: our line for republican, jack is retired military, leesburg, florida. caller: steve, i was 238 pilot back in world war ii. i love lockheed. i couldn't get over when i was 22 years old and i went up in a 3 3 -- 38 and i said here i am 22-year-old in a $100,000 airplane and now these things are unbelievable in the cost today. my question was, why can't the marine version and the navy version be the same where they both take up and landing? don't pay attention of the caller. he's an idiot. thank you for your service.

i'll hang up. guest: thanks again for your call. thanks again for your service especially in what was the p38. that's actually the lightning one. what's the difference between u.s. navy version and the marine are -- the navy version is built to operate off catapults and arresting gear. the marine corps version has a lift fan in front of it. what that allows is for it to do a very short take off and landing in terms of the short take off, this is less than 500 feet without a catapult in a vertical landing is able to come back and land in small spots.

spots. they both have very unique attributes that are made to operate for the two u.s. services and provide a very valuable role in each. but the f-35 what's key about those two variance, although they look different, their common where they need to be common and they're common in the parts we repair in order to drive down the lifecycle cost. the avionics and the propulsion system are common throughout the two variants. that commonlity allows for repair at the same place, it allows interchangeable those part that's are common. it allows us to drive drown the supply chain and the cost. also the stoble is made from -- in italy we'll operate the version off the kavore.

these are made for different basing locations but they maintain commonlity where they need to reduce the cost of ownership of the airplane. host: steve o'bryan the caller talked about flying a p38, he put the price tag at about $100,000. the per plane cost from $81 million in 2001 to $161 million today. you've been saying over the last hour that price will come down. where will it settle at per plane? cheaper than the $161 million price tag? guest: right now what we're seeing an a unit recurring fly away airplane, that's all the mission system and changes we have to do to the airplane. we've reduced that price from the first year of production to the seventh year of production by 65%.

we're signing contracts below the u.s. government estimate. the u.s. government estimate shows that in 2018 the average price of u.s. 35a will be approximating $85 million which is approximately $75 million in today's dollars. the key there we're signing contracts well below that u.s. government estimate. we estimate that we'll continue for the foreseeable future. really, what we're getting is an f-35 for approximately the same price and cost as a prior generation of our planes -- airplanes. host: steve o'bryan is the vice president of program integration and business development at lockheed martin. thank you sir for joining us from the fighter demonstration center this morning in arlington, virginia. we appreciate your time. guest: thank you for having me. host: we're going to take a short break here from our coverage of lockheed martin's

f-35. when we come back, we'll open up the phone lines and get your thoughts on anything you heard today. first news update from c-span radio. >> 9:34 a.m. eastern time, some more international news this hour. the christian science monitor tweeting that german leader has visited dacou concentration camp where nasa killed 21,000 people. turning to egypt, officials say a court has ordered the release of ex-president hosni mubarak. today's decision comes in a hearing in charges against mubarak of accepting is gifts from a state owned newspaper. that's the last case that kept him in detention. this raises the possibility that but mubarak may go freed. he's been held since april of 2011. more than three years after his

arrest in iraq, army private first class bradley manning will be sentenced for leaking unclassified developments to wick -- wikileaks. the sentencing will take place 10:00 a.m. eastern time. there's been an earthquake in mexico's capital. abc news tweets it was a 6.1 magnitude. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> let's begin with a very well known american novelist, james baldwin. what brought you to the market in washington? >> i could say the fact i was born a negro in this country, i felt there was no reason for me not to be involved, most

important, most loaded demonstration to free americans. >> up until recently, like most americans, i expressed my support of civil rights largely by talking about it at cocktail parties. again, like many americans this summer, i could no longer pay lip service to a cause that was urgently right and in a time that is so now. >> sunday american history tv marks the 50th anniversary of the march on washington with historic and contemporary round table discussion. archive our film a visit to the national portrait gallery. it starts at 1:00 p.m. eastern. part of american history tv, every weekend on c-span 3. host: we're back with open phones for the last 30 minutes

of today's "washington journal." republicans 202-585-3881, democrats 202-585-3880, independents 202-585-3882. you can also send us a tweet twitter.com @c-span wj. you can e-mail us as well. anything you heard on the program we'll take your comments about that or other public policy issue. let me begin with u.s.a. today's fronts page story, hiring is up, this dealing with small businesses. tim reports that small business hiring and the confidence with the future is rising. job creation and small companies almost doubled in the last six months reaching 82,000 jobs in

july. payroll processor adp borrowing by small businesses and sales of franchise have also climbed, indicated businesses are lilling to take on new expenses and risk. small businesses are ready to go. the small business borrowing is up 10% this year. sales of business franchises are up 4.3% this year. that on the front page of the u.s.a. today. also front page of washington post is a story about the campaign to become the next federal reserve chairman. as many of you know, larry summers is in the running as well as janet yelling. this story has the headline, allies of the fed candidates are waging a battle behind the scenes. president obama's long term advisors have been working to help summers what has become the hottest political campaign of 2013. the race to succeed ben

bernanke. rarely has the appointment of a new fed chairman been accompanied by so much commotion. penetrating the political dead zone of mid-august. i wouldn't want larry summers to mow my yard senator pat roberts of kansas told an audience. becoming the first republican to announce he would oppose the nomination of the former treasury secretary. the vice chairman who has been an architect of the banks efforts to reduce unemployment rate. we're at open phones here. north carolina, republican caller. what's on your mind this morning? caller: i have a couple questions to throw out there. thank you for taking my call. you know, i followed this plane a little bit the f-35 and it's

had a constant problem with the pilots either blacking out or their vision getting blurred. the last thing i read on it was that it was the way they were bringing oxygen and they were bringing it in through the engine. how in the world can you get clean air like that and it seems like they haven't really fixed that. the other thing is, you know, are you familiar with the auto magazine and motor week and things like that. to this day, they try to black out new cars and they have testing at night and all of this stuff to keep the advantage of technology from their competitors. i cannot fathom why we always want to just put out there and

give away technology -- host: you're breaking up a bit. arnold, democratic caller. caller: good morning. earlier in the show, some people called in talking about several different topics and they kept saying that you have to abide by the law. well, i just want to remind people that there is the letter of the law and then there is the spirit of the law. if the spirit of the law is not always justice, then the letter of the law needs to be changed. just let me share one more thing with you. i have a website where you can read and download a book that i wrote for free. there's no charge for it at all. it's at godislove.org. let me make a statement about my

book. it's just a very quick sentence. it goes, what could/would, it do to everyone's attitude about everything to see evidence of proof of god is love within the structure of the text of my book. host: okay, william ohio, republican caller. caller: good morning. host: what's on your mind this morning? caller: i wanted to know -- i was listening to the previous session on the f-35 and my concern was when they transfer all these units out in the military, they're so high-tech, are they going to transfer that train so they can have the organic capability not to have to always go back to lockheed martin?

host: fair oaks, california, democratic caller. caller: i was really concerned that growing up i was proud lockheed martin. more recently i'm worried because i understand that our tax money is given to these countries like egypt and various other countries. what they're doing is buying back military. they might be using them on people or on us. it's really hard me to explain this. it's a worry. i'm wondering how the company feel about it.

they're getting our tax money and it's hurting us. i'm not sure. i thought growing up they are making our airplanes and they were the strongest country in the world. host: another topic for all of you is the cost of college and this is from u.s.a. today with headline college financial aid slowing faster than ever since world war ii. from the denver post this morning, many are failing to repay their loans as more than two dozen public, private and for profit colleges in colorado, thousands of former student have stopped paying on their federal student loans. at least one school faces federal sanctions because the default rate is so high. that's on president obama's agenda. this from the washington times. he will be calling for a major rethinking of how americans and the government pay for the cost of a college education as it takes a bus tour of the northeast later this week.

the white house said tuesday as he tries to revive his second term agendas. three colleges and one high school, mr. obama will use the slow august news cycle. speaking of education, there's a poll in the washington post this morning about common core. this for primary education, 45 states and the district of columbia are going to be following common core standards at schools. this poll says few are aware of the new teaching approach. according to the poll, 62% of those polled have never heard of common core state standards. 38% have. we talk about that on the "washington journal" about common core a 101 on the standards. if you're interested go to our website. c-span.org. david manchester, new hampshire, independent caller. you're on the air.

caller: hi. i'm calling because i'm a -- like the previous caller said about showing the technology. we spend billions of dollars to develop this technology and then they just put them on tv for our enemies to steal from us. i know it's really complicated but still. i wanted to make a comment about the power, the mode they're using to power the jets. why isn't general electric part of that? they're very dependable motors. i don't understand what contract so big why g.e. isn't part of it? that's basically all i had to say. host: david, we'll go to laura next in california, democratic caller. caller: thank you for taking my call. i was going to comment about larry summers. it's amazing to me that anybody

would want to back him for a position. certainly not the fed. he's one of the architects of the banking system. he fought against regulations. he fought against keeping any kind of over sight over the hedge funds and the cbo ease. he brought us to this place. he's not at all the person that i would like to have. host: deloris, do you know much about janet yellen. caller: according to what i read, she's using the fed in a different way to decrease unemployment. that is a function of the fed that's been ignored by bernanke and his friends like larry

summers. host: dan, glendale, arizona, dan you're on the air. caller: can you hear me? host: we can barely hear you. caller: i'm calling earlier about the gentleman talked earlier about technology in a vehicle. where the government is at with the spending, i've not fathom how they're spending so much money on each particular vehicle not just for local law enforcement, i'm talking federal law enforcement. and not to mention, drones and all the other vehicles. these are coming through. these vehicles are coming through the auction for all the

border patrols, all the police department, crown victoria vehicle that the government paid $30,000 for and additional $30,000 to equip the vehicle and they're selling them for 10 grand at auction. host: dan update on san diego mayor bob filner this is from the associated press. the democratic national committee plans to vote friday on a resolution urging the mayor to resign immediately. filner is being accused by dozens of women by making unwanted sexual advances. the 70-year-old's accusers including a former communication director a university dean and a retired navy admiral. peter you're next in connecticut. republican caller. caller: good morning, i have a comment. i just heard that the welfare

amount have increased to extraordinary amount. it seems like they are getting much more. i believe the three state that's i heard of were that hawaii, it amounts to $23 an hour for a person on welfare. in connecticut, it's $21 an hour and in massachusetts it's $22 an hour. i'm sure there are more states. of course, since the president removed all the work requirements that president clinton had put in, to me it's amazing that -- i should say it's not amazing, it's no wonder why people, more people are on welfare. it seems like this president and this democratic summit is trying to keep people on welfare.

host: lansing, michigan, zachary is watching us there. democratic caller. caller: i want to have a brief comment about the last segment on education. i'm a recent grad. it's amazing how we have been forgotten into this whole system how to budget. it seems to us an education field one of the first places to cut is public education. we wonder why we have such failing marks in terms of worldwide international rankings. the things we need to be doing is contributing more money to education to help our students improve in a classroom instead of hurting them when it comes to less funding when they don't succeed as well in programs such as race to the top and no child left behind. the cost of higher education has

skyrocketed in recent years. when you went to school for example, it was much cheaper. state and federal government gave money to subsidize the cost of education. now many of our peers and i having to pay over six figures in terms of student loans and drowning in debt. credit card debt has been over taken by student loan debt in the united states. student -- we need to have much more harder look at our education system, k through 12 and higher education. ask do we think our educators need to be taking 20% cut in pay salary. or people at the top -- it's easier for you to take a few percentage cut in our a -- your

pay salary versus a teacher. thank you for the call. i appreciate it. host: front page of the "new york times" this morning on egypt. cairo military hooked to the u.s. airlines. the money seems like a -- the $1.3 billion in military aid that the united states give to every year is the main access to sophisticated weaponry that the egyptian military loves. even if saudi arabia make up for any aid the united states may suspend, washington would block egypt from buying american weaponry with that money. also on embassy security, the washington post reporting that the yemen and its capital reopened after been evacuated two weeks ago in response to what the obama administration said was a serious terrorist

threat. front page of the washington times this morning has this story about the attack on the embassy in benghazi, libya. four sent back to work after missteps on benghazi. the secretary of state john kerry reinstated four employee from last year's terrorist attack. susan collins of maine called the move shocking and unacceptable. mr.issa promise to expand his investigation to include mr. kerry's decision. we told you about this yesterday what's happening in egypt, attacks on christians and the churches in egypt have stepped up from islamist. this is a story in the "new york times" this morning. the opinion section of the

"washington journal" this morning have differing views about what to do. john bolton writes the u.s. should back the army. next to that elliott abram, handle middle east affairs from 2001 to 2009 says, cutting off aid honors american values and law. maxine in ohio, democratic caller. what's on your mind this morning? caller: well, i have to voice my opinion. i really have watched tv and national geographic is like education for me. the republican party is a no party. the republican party is also power -- our party we won. we're for the people. i never heard of them for the people. they've taken away so much of our privileges.

whenever we get rid of the republican communist, klu klux klan party, then go back to the traditional republican party and may be we'll come to some common sense. host: we'll take one last phone call. craig in tucson, arizona, independent caller. caller: the article from u.s.a. today that you read about unemployment. very misleading. host: why you say that craig? caller: out of all of those million jobs that were created, three quarters of them were part time. the lion share of those were $8 an hour or less. i wish they would put all the information in those articles. because that's what obamacare is

bringing us. part time work society and not a living wage. host: craig in tucson, arizona. that's our last phone call. thank you for watching today's "washington journal." of course we'll be back tomorrow morning 7:00 a.m. eastern time. enjoy the rest of your wednesday? >> look at some live events we'll have later today on the c-span network. you can join us here on c-span for the new york city mayor's debate for the democratic candidates, we'll have a preview at 6:00 eastern time before the debate starts at 7:00. then over on our companion

network c-span 2, a look at economic inequality and the working park. a coalition calling its the good jobs nation. this is coming ahead of the 50th anniversary of martin luther king junior march on washington. we're going to turn now to news coming out of the pentagon. bradley manning who leaked classified military documents to wikileaks is set to be sentenced today. sentencing was delayed briefly. supporters are getting ready to help with appeals. small group gathered this morning outside of the gates of fort meade just hours before the military judge is set to announce his prison sentence. prosecutors have asked the colonel judging the case to sentence him 60 years. his defense suggest he should spend month more than 25 years. this dealing with syria, chairman martin dempsey said

there should not be any u.s. military intervention in syria. the obama administration suppose to limit u.s. military intervention. it believes the rebels will not support america's interest if they were to come to power now. this came out to a letter that general dempsey sent. he said the military is clearly taking out the syrian air force and shifting the balance.