not seek reelection in november. we will also take your phone gatesand tweak on robert recently published memoir host: good morning, everyone. troubles make's the front pages. misled by his top aides. what it all means for the governor. ofwill turn to the memoir former defense secretary robert gates. with the new jersey governor chris christie. any,is the fallout, if

from this traffic jam? republicans, (202) 585-3881. .emocrats, (202) 585-3880 .ndependents, (202) 585-3882 new jersey residents, (202) 585- 3883. let me begin with the front page of "the new york times." christie faces scandal on traffic jam. mystery of who closed two lanes on the george washington bridge.

it goes on to say this. that is in the new york times this morning. front page of the washington post also with the story.

let's show you what the governor on to say about this december 19. he had a press conference where he talked about it. [video clip] i?why would why would i? i know you guys are upset with this. -- obsessed with this. i am really not. it is not that big a deal. just because the press writes that it, let's not pretend

it is the gravity of the issue. host: this is the statement that he put out yesterday. we turned to all of you this morning to get your thoughts on this. is there some political or other fallout for the new jersey governor? bill in massachusetts. republican. caller: good morning. there is a new jersey state

democrat, shes a wants to float criminal charges against christie for a traffic jam. does not lend well to mr. obama and hillary because they are dealing with a benghazi situation where four people were murdered. withare going to end up all kinds of associations with the obama and hillary -- this is pure craziness. host: bill? we lost him. bill was referring to the state senate majority leader, gail collins. the washington post writes about her. there is a difference between a

jersey attitude of being blunt and direct. this is in gail collins oster fee piece in the washington post piece in the washington post. we want to get your thoughts on this story this morning. first, michael simons is joining us. let's begin.

we told our viewers about how this all started. explain who the players are. the aides that are involved. guest: the aide at the center of the entire thing is a guy named david wildstein. he will testify via subpoena today. he was the editor of a political website in the state for years. he was the governor's eyes and ears. part of that appears to have been rather political and involved the closure of these lanes.

host: are you referring to bill baroni? guest: yes. host: he too has lost his job. guest: yes. the governor says that was a planned thing. a lot of people are skeptical. baroni is out. -- wildstein has lost his job. now that we know the direct involvement of one of his deputy chiefs of staff, the question is how many other people will wind up losing their positions over this? statement,r issued a but did not take questions. he said that people would be held responsible. but no action has been taken

yet. kellyt and kelly -- anne is a longtime political person. worked with christie's office in 2010 when the governor took office. she is currently the deputy chief of staff there. host: does she still have her job? , 7:05?what is it as far as this morning. a lot of people were surprised that she had her job by the end of yesterday. office wants to do the entire response at once.

it will suffer from the very act of delaying closure and being involved. the governor has said to reporters that he has asked his staff, does anybody know anything about this? so he made a statement publicly that he is confident publicly that nobody said anything. it is beyond the act itself. there is the act of making your boss look bad. i would be surprised if she survives. we will see how far up it goes beyond that. host: on your website, the headline is that christie was quoted as saying he was misled by his staff and deeply saddened by these e-mails. do these e-mails indicate that the governor knew anything? guest: no.

they do not. a democrat who runs the assembly transportation committee which is looking at the bridge closure said as much yesterday. the governor has said rather candidly and consistently that his office has nothing to do with this. that is certainly false at this point. host: he also said he would hold people accountable. you said you would be surprised if he did not let some stuff go. what have you heard about when and how and where he will make that type of announcement? guest: they have not said yet. they have been extraordinarily hunkered down since yesterday. i would imagine that it will happen by the end of this week. i can't imagine they would

wanted to extend into next week. on tuesday, the governor will deliver the state of the state. to whatever extent they can attempt to move past this and use that as a recess. on the 21st is his inauguration for his second term. i think they want to set an agenda at that point. at this point, he very much needs a reset. host: what does he have planned for marking his inauguration and for the state of the state address? inaugural is at ellis island. largely in new jersey, although partially in new york. that is where the inaugural ball will be.

they have not really said a lot about what he will be proposing. a lot of people believe he will return to an idea that he had once proposed of income tax cuts or perhaps property tax cuts delivered as income tax credit -- they have not said. they usually play it close to the vest. different than most years. host: going back to the story. the e-mails made public yesterday and the governor having to respond. who is defending the governor? yesterday, really nobody. office took until very late in the day to put out a statement that was just a couple sentences long.

-- it said hen had nothing to do with it. it said he was surprised to learn about what came out yesterday and that there would be repercussions for it, but it did not outline any. they were not answering questions, they were not making folks available. they did not issue talking points to try to encourage people. they were very much back on their heels for the whole thing. most republicans were pretty quiet about it. nobody knows how far it goes. host: is there more to come? that there isated an investigation in new jersey. are there more investigations to come? guest: the inspector general of the port authority of new york new jersey is looking at it.

the u.s. senate transportation committee has expressed interest in using this incident as a reason to look at the entire structure of the port authority, which is pretty unique. authority has a budget that is larger than 26 states. ands a huge entity incredibly important on both sides of the hudson river. the u.s. senate would look at that. host: let me just jump in. the senate committee led by senator jay rockefeller, a democrat from west virginia. the legislative session ends next week. they have had subpoena powers.

they were looking at port authority toll increases -- it gave them subpoena powers, which they used to look at the bridge .losure situation that authority expires next week. given what was revealed yesterday, it will almost certainly be renewed for the following session. they are going to wind up calling in a bunch of different people to testify, both from the government side and from the governor's campaign side. manager in 2009 and ,013, his deputy chief of staff the state chair of the republican party. the adviser for helping decide on expenditures for this year's election.

host: the governor planning many stops around the country as the new head of the republican governor's association. m to followto app.co their reporting. thank you for your time. guest: i appreciate it. host: david is in new jersey. a democrat. caller: good morning. it is a sad day for new jersey. ultimately, we will get through this. what we have to recognize is what was done was unconscionable, unacceptable -- besides the fact that he has already dashed his hopes for the presidency -- he can forget about that -- and what he can focus on is being the best governor possible. i don't even know if that is possible. unfortunately, he is a bully and now he has been exposed for what he truly is. now he has proven that he knew

what was going on --he absolutely knew what was going on. host: he says he did not know what was going on. caller: i would say this to you. his top-tier staff. his closest staff. he knew what was going on because he ordered it. and hopefully now he will have to pay for that. i think new jersey ends should expect them to step down. i don't feel that he can be trusted. let me say something else. this is something we need to talk about on c-span. lot of racism that is going on in this country right now because we have a lot of black president. nobody wants to call it for what it is. they call it politics, they called a lot of things. call a thing anything. host: where you going with this? caller: i am saying to people

that the way the president is treated is racist. and we need to call a thing anything. -- a thing. it needs to be said. host: let me go back to the governor. did you vote for him? caller: absolutely not. host: let's go to bonnie and yukon, oklahoma. republican. gates' book cannot yesterday. obama is in trouble. -- came out yesterday. obama is in trouble. they are trying to take pressure off obama. kristi was the only one -- christie was the only one. they want to take the heat off of obama and hillary clinton.

she has too much baggage herself. chris christie is a good man. scandalsas so many that i don't think that people really know. [indiscernible] obama has had some pretty bad scandals. he had people that would take care of justice. think that chris christie could still run for president in 2016? caller: oh sure.

he doesn't have any baggage like obama and hillary do. politico with the headline that rush limbaugh saying yesterday that the chris christie robert gates distraction -- the chris christie story is convenient and distracts from the memoir being put out by the former defense secretary robert gates. many copies were leaked to reporters yesterday. the white house had to respond yesterday to the criticism of the president and the criticism of joe biden and of hillary clinton. we will give you a chance to weigh in on that as well in our last hour here of the washington journal. let's go to david in michigan. democrat. caller: thank you very much for taking my call.

as far as the subject goes, the governor knows everything that is going on with the state. othericans throw each under the bus, but let's face it, he knows what is going on in his state. he knows everything that is going on. maybe he could blame obamacare. everybodyike he -- blames obamacare for everything. becauset is unraveling republicans are nothing but dirty, rotten liars. thank you. host: republican in hillsborough, new jersey. thomas. i was a low-level intern for the governor's campaign. just watching all the coverage over the past couple of days, i am very disappointed. -- i still want to give

the governor the benefit of the doubt, but it is very disconcerting to me and i am very upset because i worked tirelessly. i did door-to-door. i made phone calls. i did countless hours. i will wait and watch the hearings today. we will see how things go. i am upset. i actually got a photo with him for the end of the campaign. -- toward the end of the campaign. that was one of the things i wanted. i want to give him the benefit of the doubt however. confidence is the word i would use. he should have known about it.

not have hired people who would have done this to him. host: if the governor were to come out and face reporters, what do you want to hear from him? caller: i want to hear someone who will take responsibility. as a jersey conservative, i liked his style. i still do like his style of being honest. i want to come out and face the facts. come out ahead of it. i am surprised he did not fire bridget anne kelly. just come out in front of it and get things done in that regard. host: do you think this hurts his chances in 2016 if you were to run? caller: i think it does. to be honest with you, i am wouldn'tive, so i

support anyone else were you to win in the primary. i am disappointed. i worked so hard and i had this great respect. and i still do, but it is lessening as time goes by. i am only 20, but i worked extremely hard for his campaign. i am kind of disappointed. host: let me get your reaction to what rush limbaugh had to say. as saying that the point of the story is that christie will do pay back.

caller: my reaction. i do listen to rush. i did not hear that yesterday. would bey reaction that i would be in somewhat agreement. if it comes out that he knew something about it, it seems to me that he is always out in the front of a lot of things. i am surprised that he canceled something yesterday. host: he had a press event. caller: it was somewhat surprising to me. i would be in somewhat agreement with what rush said. i would not go as far. it orknew something about it went up even higher in his staff in his office, then we got a real problem. host: the washington post reports that his response was uncharacteristically slow yesterday.

he waited eight hours before issuing a brief statement. democrats picking up on this. the head of the democratic national committee, a democrat from florida, tweeted this out. let's go to ross in louisiana. democratic caller. democrat. caller: good morning. happy new year to you. matter that this traffic jam did occur. howells you something about the republicans deny knowing anything about anything. i am listening to some of your collars come in and they want to play this up as this is some kind of scheme attack that the democrats have whipped up.

not,er he knew about it or i don't know. to me, it seemed like this is another one of the republican posterity tricks. that is all i have to say. host: republican color. new hampshire. caller: yes indeed. too much of a good thing. here is today's of it and here is what happens after two days. a million pissed off jews are going to stand for governor with that kind of traffic jam? woah! let's move on. delores. caller: i believe that governor christie knew what was happening and it is just another republican being a bully. he is not the only bully.

i believe the members of congress, especially the tea party and the leader of the house, are bullies. they are all against poor people. chris christie is just one of them. that is what i have to say. meadville, pennsylvania. republican color -- caller. i would like to say that christie probably needs to go. he probably knew about this. i realize that this is municipal politics at its dirtiest. ce between whaten he did and what obama did during the government shutdown. it put people at risk. if people needed to get to the hospital, the traffic jam literally probably put their lives in danger.

the same thing with the park service shut down of the memorials and washington d.c. it is all part and parcel. host: we will keep taking your thoughts here and whether or not there is fallout from this bridge traffic jam story that we are learning more about. yesterday, e-mails contributing it to it becoming a lead story this morning. the new york times has this story. two house democrats say they will retire. retirenounced lance to -- plans to retire. after 18 years in congress, mr. mcintyre said he is ready for a new chapter in his life. two more retirements.

also, sticking with congress this week, the senate cleared a hurdle on monday to go ahead and consider extending unemployment benefits for those long-term unemployed for three months. harry reid tweeted this out yesterday about the debate over whether or not they should be paid for it. in order to have a pay for, he wants to have a longer than three months. the usa today reports in an interview with president obama's top advisor that the white house is open to talks on the jobless plan. offsets if it includes a longer extension on employment benefits.

the aid that was interviewed by aboutday did not comment robert gates' memoir and his criticism of the administration. we will be taking that up in our last hour of the washington journal. you will have an opportunity to on that.our thoughts looking to the state of the union address, the aide said that obama would vouch for his authority to get things done in the year ahead even if congressional republicans lock is legislative ambitions. his legislative ambitions. let's go back to your phone calls. your thoughts on the story developing out of new jersey. mark, a democratic caller. did you vote for the governor? caller: good morning. i am personally a far less

wingnut. having said that, i think it is absolutely possible that the governor did not know this. hasppears that the governor this army surrounding him of people that will do anything to spread the bulliness around. if that is the case, what does people are willing to fall on their swords to please the governor? awayok the security detail from one of our governors because of something that he said. it goes back to when he was a u.s. attorney. i don't necessarily think anything that is going to happen to him because there is this culture in new jersey that people admire this. they want somebody like this. host: does he go too far? , wead one quote saying that

like this, but there is a line. caller: well, yeah. it's a matter of threatening public safety. but i think it depends on the news cycle. something big could happen tomorrow at the other end of it and totally draw attention away from it. that is the way americans tend to operate. host: we are just learning now a chris christie is having press conference at 11:00 a.m. this morning. more to come on that. 11:00 a.m. this morning. new jersey governor chris christie will be giving a press conference about the situation. david in illinois. republican. caller: hi. i happen to particularly like governor christie. i just noticed in the media -- mainstream media -- and of

course c-span, that there has been this recent controversy, which i think is much ado about nothing. because i find it interesting that it seems as though they are trying to discredit him from being a potential presidential 2016 and i am wondering if this is not a strategy in order to make the way for jeb bush, so that they can continue the nepotistic presidency under the bush family. host: what do you make of the wall street journal -- a conservative paper -- saying that risky -- chris christie's credibility. anotherdoes not need chief executive willing to

condone government attacks on his political adversaries. republicans do not need a presidential nominee who fulfills the liberal stereotype that he is a political bully. we have had ak lot of presidents and presidential candidates who their integrity and credibility is questionable. certainly, that applies to the most recent president. i do think that governor christie is down to earth. he is certainly becoming a republican governor in a very democratic state and accomplishing what he has done -- that is certainly remarkable. his response to the hurricane. i happen to think he is a very strong contender for presidential aspirations and far above jeb bush or any other potential.

then what do you make though of conservatives not defending him? what do you want to hear from him when he has his press conference this morning? caller: i think that there is certainly a lot of very radical -- far afield from the republican moderate or mainstream -- there has been a fringe republican element and it is an outgrowth of some of the conservative bush administrations -- i am looking for governor christie to essentially speak to the situation and perhaps make an apology and certainly there has

to be some accountability. because it happened under his watch. the person that was responsible needs to be held accountable. but i do not think that this is as personal an issue is what folks are making it out to be. host: that is david in illinois. we will get back to your phone calls. michael bender is joining us on the phone. a white house reporter for bloomberg news. to talk about the memoir by former defense secretary robert gates. it was leaked to many reporters. what was the reaction from the white house yesterday? guest: good morning. it was a pretty swift response. surprisingly,t back to the portions of gates'

book where he supported the president or praise to the president and distanced the white house from any portions that were critical or raised new questions about the white house's approach to foreign policy. host: what did we hear from them and what did the white house do when it comes to the criticism that defense secretary gates had for the vice president and his foreign-policy decisions were thinking? -- or thinking? the book pretty strongly criticized vice president biden. oning that he has been wrong every foreign-policy decision over the past four decades. this was probably the easiest criticism for the white house to push back on. they circle the wagons around biden.

officials current and former came out in support of biden. biden had a weekly lunch with the president. it was yesterday, coincidently. the white house invited photographers into the lunch, as a signal that the president was standing behind biden. host: i understand that the first time reporters -- photographers have been invited in? guest: not the first time, but one of the only times. and really, that stuff does not happen, correct. host: what did you make of that? guest: it is hard to look past the timing of it. and -- in theters day after this report comes out -- book comes out. carney called it a coincidence.

carney said allowing photographers and was a response -- in was a response to the criticism to the lack of access. he called it a coincidence. it is pretty hard to overlook the timing. is will theytion let them in next week? not -- do they did not, it is a signal that they wanted to get some photos and show the president with the vice president. awarewas the white house of the memoir and when it was coming out? did they get an advanced copy? guest: they did. it sounded like they got it along with the rest of the

press. it has been known for a while that gates was writing this book. it was not clear what it was going to be in it. carney said he got his book on tuesday night. i think that was about the same time that the publishing house sent it out to other press outlets. host: what do you know about how the white house will react in the coming days? their reaction will largely depend on how much traction the book gets. these sorts of memoirs come out periodically. they make a splash for a couple of days and then they are largely forgotten. we will see how much traction this one has. it is very rare for a memoir like this to come out while the president is still in office.

there are some thoughts that for may have more rags hillary clinton instead of obama. there was not a whole lot new news wise in this gates book. the debate over the surge in afghanistan was well documented at the time. one of the interesting aspects was gates detailing a conversation between hillary clinton and obama -- their opposition to the surge in iraq was political. clinton is, hillary probably the top democratic presidential candidate in 2016 and this is an issue that could come up for her and docker -- dog her. michael bender, bloomberg

correspondent at the white house. thank you very much. we will give you an opportunity to weigh in on the memoir by the former defense secretary coming up in our last hour of the washington journal. robert gates is appearing at the national constitution center in philadelphia to discuss the memoir. air live on book tv on c-span 2 friday, january 17 at 6:30 p.m. go to our website if you want more details on that. let's hear from brett in washington dc. independent. on the story coming out of new jersey. caller: good morning. callers said that christie is definitely down to earth.

new jersey has a lot of dirt there. one of the previous governor aid the state police run down new jersey turnpike at 110 miles per hour. a systemid not have instead of a parliamentary system, you would have individuals to compete for a portfolio. a third-party maybe weighing in on domestic issues. isht now, all you have lobbyists and corporations and people like senator mcconnell and rush limbaugh. i really hope -- i do not have resources for a grassroots movement. but i would love to develop a parliamentary system. wesley.

birmingham, alabama. democrat. caller: good morning. don't know whether chris christie knew anything about it or not, but it is a shame that the republicans do the things fromwould hurt kids getting to school and that someone is saying that they are smiling about it. republicans don't want to do anything to help the working class people or the poor people. aree are lives that you playing with on a daily basis and people really need help and people really need all the gains -- games to stop. let's get to moving the great country we live in forward and not backward. that's all i have to say. host: coming up, we will get me, we willexcuse be talking with brian higgins, a democrat from new york. we will talk about the gates memoir, but also the national security agency and other foreign affairs issues.

the pennsylvania republican jim or lack -- gerlach says he's leaving congress. >> can anyone in be adequately bepared -- any woman adequately prepared for the duties of first lady? >> yes. [laughter] if you're the wife of the governor, the wife of the vice president, or if your mother is the first lady. [laughter]

i think you can and i think it is a golden opportunity. lady bird said it is an opportunity to do something good. if it by chance ups your husband, all the better. >> the world health organization estimates that more than 1.6 million people worldwide are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. many live in countries where the disease carries stigma and shame. by sharing the lessons that we have learned, americans can empower more women to detect breast cancer early, which today is the closest thing we have to a cure. is truly a city of neighborhoods separated by parks and boulevards. it is a city where walking just a few blocks can put you into an entirely different world of experiences. cut through a park and you go

from english to spanish, black to white, puerto rican to polish . streets and you go from manicured lawns to abandoned buildings and dark street corners. to apportunities available child growing up in one neighborhood in the city might be vastly different than a child growing up just five blocks away. that difference can shape their lives and their life prospects from the moment they are born. >> monday, our original series, first ladies: influence and image, returns with the five most recent first ladies. monday night at 9:00 eastern on c-span and c-span 3. brian higgins, congressman from new york, democrat, is back

with us on the washington journal. guest: thank you for having me. begin with the memoir by former defense secretary robert gates. i think that these books come out periodically and people look for those juicy components that can be exploited. questiono call into the consistency of relationships between the secretary of defense and the president. i think these are exploited very often. i think the full context of the book should be taken on its face. i think robert gates is an extraordinary -- has done extraordinary public service and has a lot of credibility. i am more interested in his take on the situation in afghanistan and iraq relative to long-term american interests. war is a very complicated thing.

i have been to iraq and afghanistan many times. i would like to know from him his perspective about what we ought to be doing to try to stabilize that place. whether it is direct involvement or not. host: right now, the united states is trying to get the afghanistan president to sign this pact allowing troops to stay there past 2014. another issue. does this criticism of the president not wanting -- not really backing his own plan for a surge and not owning it -- does that have any follow-up in these negotiations? guest: i think the president wants a good outcome in afghanistan. wanting and getting a good outcome are two very different things. the situation is very dire. it is no better today than it ever was. we are trying to encourage the government -- what is left of it

-- to negotiate with the taliban. to what end? we look at afghanistan today is one of the most corrupt, poorest countries on the face of the earth. we have to bribe the president's brother in order to get information to help the united states help afghanistan evolve as a state that is functional. -- i thinkon there that afghans have to recognize that they have a responsibility to somehow come to some kind of the goal ofn of stabilizing the country. it is a country of 31 million people. forliteracy weight -- rate women and conduct our city is 1% dahar city is 1%.

you have to build roads and bridges and electricity grids. without any measurable improvement, in my estimation, we have been there for a long time. host: but go to iraq. -- let's go to iraq. here is the front page of the washington times. wants aplomat engagement in arcata crisis. what that is wonderful. is not a pluralistic society. they are not in racing -- embracing minorities. that is fundamental to the problem. in the arabralism nations in order to have a functioning society. that is not occurring in iraq. the best we could do with the

surge in iraq was to tamp down violence, to give the warring factions a breathing space from .hich to develop reconciliation political reconciliation has not occurred and we cannot impose a settlement on the iraqi people. when the americans are in the room, they are embracing the americans. when they are out of the room, they are pushing us away. they cannot have it both ways. $1.7 trillion in iraq. iraq is as violent today as it was when we went in. host: what should be the u.s. approach? the approach to this situation and the situation in afghanistan should be too byprised -- provide support pushing the warring factions together toward some kind of resolve. shia and sunni-

and that part of the world are working on a conflict that started in the seventh century. that has to be resolved among those factions. whether it be egypt, afghanistan, iraq -- the leaders of those countries, b-day -- be toy shia or sunni, they have adopt some kind of constitution or a preamble -- a vision as to what kind of country they want them to be. you have to have the rule of law and the respect of minority rights. until you have those things, you will never have stability in the middle east. east is a highly pluralistic society with many different factions. shia, sunni, christians, jews, tribal factions.

those who will succeed in stabilizing the middle east and southeast asia -- it will be potentially generations away. host: peter baker tweeted this out around midnight last night. guest: so the united states is going to go into another middle eastern civil war, essentially alone, to accomplish what? what has been accomplished over the past 10 years and iraq? very little. there are still suicide bombers blowing up weddings will blowing up churches. the lesson for america is that the best that we can hope for is to tamp down violence. provide a breathing space, that opportunity for the warring factions to reconcile.

if they do not take that opportunity, there is not much more that the united states can do. another military engagement -- host: senators john mccain and lindsey graham, who supported surges in iraq and afghanistan -- one president obama withdrew all u.s. forces over the objections of military leaders and commanders on the ground -- guest: well, i think it is more specific to the situation on the ground. i don't think it has to do with our policy. thatolicy is to recognize we have tried and we have sacrificed considerably, both in in terms ofasury, american soldiers being lost in both countries.

now they want to reengage again. with all due respect, he has a military option for everything. way, we would be engaged militarily in syria, any round -- in iran, in libya. the fact of the matter is the united states cannot resolve all of these problems. --hard haas wrote the book foreign policy starts at home. a strong, prosperous america is a real inspiration to other countries around the world. what is happening in the middle -- the that young people room probably 175 million kids who were under the age of 20 who have no future. a course be instability and radicalization. -- of course there will be instability and radicalization.

the young people are seeing the way the rest of the world is living and they feel humiliated and they radicalize because they're frustrated. building a strong, prosperous america -- nationbuilding at home -- is going to demonstrate to the rest of the world that we have a functioning, pluralistic society with a rule of law, separation of powers, respect for minority rights. host: let's go to our calls. mary from florida. caller: i really agree with the congressman, oh yes. you are a u.s. representative. we are talking national security here. there is very strong evidence for proving that 9/11 holdings

were brought down by controlled demolition. people are waking up to it. would you be willing to personally review that evidence? is part of a group out there that is skeptical of the investigation that was done of the september 11, 2001 attacks. skeptical of the investigation. guest: i have a responsibility to review all relevant information relative to that situation. most certainly. any information that is compelling that change the dynamic of the debate, i would review. ck,t: we go on to rik republican caller. you are on the air with congressman brian higgins. caller: i think we should stay out of these foreign countries

and walk away until it affects us directly. guest: i think you are right. "the future of freedom." the author said we have to be careful of these pro-democracy movements. they are not very good at governing. unless you have the inner isffing of a democracy, that rule of law and minority rights, you cannot have a democracy. thege mitchell negotiated accord in ireland and said something very profound in his book. in the exhaustion battlefield is a huge intangible in resulting these differences. unless and until the arab muslim world is more committed to the future of their kids than

killing one another and mitigating the rights of their successor to the prophet mohammed, i do not think anything will change. host: marked in florida -- mark in florida. you are on the air. caller: i got cut off before. i think brian is right on target. the u.s. needs to stay out of these countries. we go back to vietnam and what happened there. people have to face reality. we left vietnam with our tail between our legs. we go there as tourists. you know what i am saying? these countries have to work out their own problems. guest: i agree. look at the situation in syria. this year i'll assad it --

bashir al-assad is a bad guy. the rebels are beheading people. it is not a question of good or bad. it is bad and in many cases much worse. we are too quick to provide support for people that criticize us for trying to do the right thing on their behalf. we get played in the middle afghanistanq and and i think people are sick and tired of it. tools ofamerica -- the collaboration, the internet is used for aspirational purposes. host: you sit on the subcommittee for the homeland security committee. what is going on in syria? what can you tell us? we see headlines like this in

"the wall street journal." guest: well, there is a big battle going on. you have bashir al-assad and the rebel fighters, which is made up of 1000 militias, including islamic extremists. they are battling internally against each other. what is it you want? do you want islamic extremists and fighters who are the best fighters among the rebels to take control of that country? this is a civil war that has to be resolved internally. the more we signal we are willing to get involved, the less likely these countries are to resolve their differences. the democratic making process in this part of the world is very difficult work. it is confused and it is going

to be generations. we have learned these lessons all too much. the international community is saying we support you if you go in there militarily as long as we don't have to do anything. turkey and france said they would help us. is onerica's credibility the line? i do not buy it. they support our efforts but they are not going to help us at all. we have learned the lessons the hard way. america has a role in this but it is not direct military intervention. host: hi, paul. caller: first time caller. i appreciate it.

we were supposed to get out of afghanistan by christmas last year. they were talking about putting bases in. just like korea and germany. if it wasn't for the heroine, our troops have nothing to do with that. originally inre our troops from -- cannot do anything with the drugs. it wasn't for the drugs, we would not be there. these people have no education. it is not up to us to educate them. we have been there 10 years. afghanistan is a nation of about 31 million people. it has 34 provinces. the spiritual home in the

financial home of the taliban is con our province and, comments province.dahar the taliban profits to the tune of about half $1 billion a year, $500 million to support their activities. they do not own the poppy fields but they charge protection and the tax that. that is a huge funding source for bad elements in that part of the country. after 10 years, very little has been done on that. host: what is your confidence level that this security pact gets signed? guest: i do not like the fact that we tell people that we are pulling out our military. there is no passive wing of the american oil terry.

they will be fighting and dying -- of the american military. we tried a security pact with this president, who is corrupt. he is a corrupt guy. this country has not evolved into anything other than continued chaos. what is a couple years more going to do? these places are not going to change in the next five or 10 years. they are going to have to become exhausted themselves to come to the realization that they need a new way. host: it sounds like the efforts in iraq and afghanistan have been a waste of time. guest: they have. that is the honest answer. host: how do you say that to a veteran? guest: that they did extraordinary work.

it is not their fault. the situation when on for hundreds of years. it was both sides who had to denounce violence. an international tribunal observed the structure and before they could come to a negotiating table. how can you negotiate with warring factions that hate each other? they are trying to litigate a battle between sunni and shia that started in the seventh is abu about whether it bachra or ali that is the rightful successor to the prophet mohammed. country foughtr a bloody civil war unprecedented. there is a silver lining and a

thirst for freedom. the last days of the pro-democracy demonstrations in egypt, there were 8 million people in the streets, 1/10 of the population. the single largest demonstration in the history of the world. it succeeded but failed in another respect. unless and until you have the inner stuffings of democracy, rule of law, and separation of powers among other things, you are never going to have peace and stability in this part of the world. host: we have a tweet. host: you sound like you have studied this quite a bit. why? guest: formally a history of teacher and i have a nature of curiosity about the world.

i think i have an obligation as a member of the foreign affairs committee and homeland security to understand these conflicts. washington plays a generic role. everything is if the president did this come he did not do enough. that is the political game. it doesn't advance our nation's interest. you have to take a nuanced approach to the complexity of what is going on in the middle east. these conflicts will not be resolved unless we take a different approach to it. we are committing our courageous troops to easily to places that are not committed to changing themselves. gamble." book "the president bush had said

advancing the surge in 2007 that the best we can hope for is to tamp down violence and to give the warring factions another opportunity to develop political reconciliation to advance the society. and guess what -- we didn't fail. they fail to and they continue to fail. host: congressmen brian higgins is in his fifth term and serves on the homeland security committee and the ranking democrat on the subcommittee on counterterrorism. sam in manassas, virginia. caller: good morning to you. good morning to my fellow new yorker. i want to ask you about the -- [indiscernible] i don't know if you ever read the book [indiscernible]

something like that. he was on c-span on booktv. [indiscernible] and the palestinians. for the peace process. [indiscernible] experts in something like that --banning all exports. human rights violations. we hold our own allies accountable. thank you. situation in israel with the palestinians, their human rights violations all over the board and no one entity has him output on them. host: human right violations by

both sides. guest: i have been to the west bank and to israel. so long as you have rockets shooting into israel, they are going to retaliate. is it disproportionate to the threat? i do not know. that armed conflict is going to continue. you will have human rights violations. the potential opportunity relative to israel and the palestinians. if you poll palestinians and israelis, a number that want a two-state solution is about 75% to 80%. if you ask them if that is possible, they do not think it is possible. what you need is neutrality. you need to remove the specter

of doubt that exists within the communities. there are many ways. building blocks in the west bank. of blocks represent about 8% the west bank. israel probably should not be building in those blocks on the palestinian side. they will say, we do not know what the boundaries are. at least recognize their existence. both sides need to recognize each side has hard decisions to make. stop the incitement. pigsdepicting israelis as and two young people in textbooks in the gaza strip that is controlled by hamas. these countries, if they want peace --it is in everybody's interest to do that.

israel is in a tough neighborhood. they have a rule of law and separation of powers. it has a functioning economy. for anybody to delegitimize israel at a time when assad is using chemical weapons against his own people. upni and shia are blowing weddings and funerals. it is inconceivable we would question the legitimacy of israel. israel should be held up as a model for the middle east. host: you are on the air with congressman brian higgins. caller: thank you, greta. good morning. to you have and the kind of military background? guest: the question would be no. iller: there is evidence,

lost a family member and have four serving as we speak. do you realize how realize -- there is a reason we went into iraq. they are multi-folded. the reform -- since we left iraq, the way they are now. not on your life, sir. you talk about globalization. me how diplomatic diplomats are about the long-term view and they do not seem to understand. you talk about vietnam. i have a vietnamese sister-in-law. i know what happened to the

people. if it wasn't for the lutheran church, we would have ditched them. they are still there to this day. host: i will have the congressmen respond. guest: that me saying the american military is extraordinary in their professionalism and in their commitment. they are intelligent and courageous and they are highly effective. highly effective. they have succeeded militarily in tapping down violence. when you have is a failure of politics in iraq and iran to forge a future so that the young people living in those countries are to be optimistic about the future. they choose to hate each other. the united states military cannot forge a political solution in those places.

we never could. we need to recognize the limitations to our military intervention in those areas. i used northern ireland as an example before. most people in northern island gerryry items -- will -- adams -- will credit the united states for pushing the sides together. george mitchell spent five years there. that is a commitment to a real peaceful solution. but what is different there? we require the factions to put their arms away and to denounce violence publicly. we put together an international tribunal to observe the destruction of their arms to make sure they were committed to

a peaceful solution. host: dave in north carolina, independent color. -- caller. theer: i do not know of congressman before i saw him on today show. he needs a bigger voice so people can hear what he is saying. i was against the involvement of the u.s. in the iraq war, the first iraq war. i thought that was a mistake. all the trouble in the middle east is happening is because of what he says. i am disappointed in obama. noseems like he cannot say to his generals. he has to send equipment over there. i wouldn't be surprised if we are sending troops again to iraq , which is the wrong thing to do. we should be concentrating on

building up our economy here at home. when we were strong under eisenhower, the world respected us. ever since, our economy has gone into the tanks. host: congressman? guest: i appreciate the comments. look at the situation and nouri iran.ik he could not have won if the supreme leader did not let him wion. there is a reality on the ground and that is crippling sanctions have had a major effect on iran. there is internal pressure in iran primarily from young people. they are the younger people and their as frustrated as their

counterparts who are 25, 30 years old. what the supreme leader are responding to is internal pressure both because of the desires of their own people and also the outside community with sanctions relative to oil purchases and that economy is collapsing. oil.produces all kinds of they cannot even refine the oil it has. apart.onomy is falling i think we have a tendency as a country not to take enough credit for the non-military influences that we are having in changing these regimes in these bad places. it is going to take more time. host: we have another tweet from

a viewer. guest: i do not see that. what insulates iran from political reform? the abundance of oil. what insulates the middle east? they can drill into the ground. they don't have to create a functioning society. if you have less of an american dependence on foreign oil, we are not financing their bad activities. it forces them to deal with some hard questions. can we continue to function like this or do we need to diversify our economy? pluralism will produce prosperity. that is the great lesson of america. we want other countries to do well.

the history we need to read is america. partnershipreatest in the world. we have to take care of our own and demonstrate that we are a model and that is a thriving democracy that respects individual rights. we have 300 million people in this nation. we have problems. it is incredible the progress we have made. the united states will take in more people this year than every country in the world combined. we recognize that immigration and our history of immigration -- my people came here. by grandfather was an orphan from ireland. this is a great beacon of hope and we need to invest in it. host: democratic caller,s

sandy. caller: why don't they just let's dealtroops -- with unemployment. i am very poor and cannot get unemployment. it is emergency unemployment. we should not have to pay for this. host: talking about the debate of extending long-term unemployment benefits. guest: i hear my colleagues all the time saying to veterans, thank you for your service. our obligation to them is to create an economy that is growing and that has opportunities for them. anythings do not mean unless there is something behind it. with the extension of

unemployment benefits, some 20% are veterans. if you mean what you say in thanking a veteran for their service and all the sacrifices they have made, these kids are coming back mentally and physically damaged into an economy that is not growing. createighly patriotic to a thriving american economy that produces opportunity for our returning veterans. host: should they be paid for? guest: of course you can and we should. spending has been reduced the last couple of years. the growth is lower than any administration in the past 20 years. the economy has a growth problem. when the economy grows, you create 22 million private sector

jobs. tong lost taxpayers back productivity. host: we are talking to brian higgins, democrat from new york. -- tweets in this tony in louisiana is up next. caller: good morning. thank you for having such a brilliant young man. i swear, if i had known there were that many wonderful democrats in the party, i would have never and it in search of something that i've been disillusioned with, the republican party. we do need tou, rediscover this country. we need more voices like representative higgins. where have you been? my great grandparents did come from that part of the world.

we did go in with the land rush. i feel like a third generation immigrant. i still have the hope of this country. i am so ashamed of the policies of the self loathing in this administration. where have you been? how democrats like you to get to the top? how can we bring this country back from the radical right and left to where republicans and democrats can agree with the aliens of a person like you. i know that we are out there. how do we get our voices to the top of the parties that can bring this country and this world back to where it was? guest: i lost my headphone. that me say this.

both democrats and republicans in this nation have contributed to the greatness of it. rich lowry wrote a book and said all the great statesman in this country are principle pragmatists. people that did not -- that recognize there are 435 members of the house and everybody cannot have their way. compromise is what is necessary. embracehink we need to the best ideas of both parties. some and the best ideas for health care reform came from the heritage foundation, a conservative think tank. host: your take on nsa surveillance programs. the president is pondering the

many nsa access to phone records. the president plans to meet with key lawmakers tomorrow. he is going to address it this month. what do you want him to do? guest: i think you have to state clearly what the current program is and what the objectives are. national security and individual rights are conflicting. there is a clash. what are we willing to compromise in terms of liberties for national security? if a surveillance program detected and forded a terrorist plot to blow up a passenger train that was going to travel between niagara falls and new york city and your kid was on ae train, you would have different view about a surveillance program that was successful, and that happened north of buffalo.

a surveillance program apprehended two individuals that were planning to blow up a passenger train. that is a success. the authorbook and talks about an fbi agent when the second plane hit the tower got physically sick. he knew that they had the intelligence to thwart the 9/11 plot. our national surveillance program is highly effective in some ways. it is about being mature and smart and not political and recognizing we have to try to strike the right balance. host: brian higgins, thank you for your time. we will talk with jim gerlach. he will talk about his decision

to retire as well as unemployment insurance and the upcoming budget deadline. but first a news update from c-span radio. received snowden has an invitation from the european union. they want him to testify in its investigation of u.s. surveillance practices. no word if he will accept the invitation. it is aimed at improving the security. the national security agency could soon face a few restrictions on its activities. president obama is poised to restrict nsa access to americans phone records and rein in spying on foreign leaders. press are as follows up on an

initiative. the aim is to help economically challenged communities. federal funding will target areas the president is calling promise stones. the plan aims to improve access to housing and reduce crime. the first zones are in san antonio, los angeles, kentucky, and oklahoma. the president speaks about 2:20 and c-span will be covering that event. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> the deadline is approaching for c-span's student can challenge. make a five- to seven-minute documentary. there is a grand prize of $5,000. the deadline is january 20. get more info at studentcam.org. >> 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 hd. "> "washington journal continues. host: congressman jim gerlach, thank you for joining us. let's begin with the debate over extending unemployment insurance for the long-term unemployed. do you agree they should be three-month extension not paid for or paid for? guest: if there is anything done, it ought to be paid for.

this three-month extension would cost about $6 billion to the treasury. i think most people in my district would agree we should pay for that expenditure if we are going to do it. we will probably see something past the house and senate that will extend benefits for a short periofd of time. why are we still in emergency benefits after 2009 after a stimulus bill passed to be a so-called stimulus to the economy. we have to focus on what it will take to create jobs. those folks have an opportunity to find a job and have a productive life. reid tweeted this out --

guest: the focus should be job creation and how to get people off unemployment rolls and into long-term jobs. if there are people that need additional assistance, whatever is done ought to be paid for rather than be put on the backs of future taxpayers. host: there is another budget deadline coming up. hey are putting on paper the framework. here is where we are spending. that deadline comes up next week. could it be another shutdown? guest: i do not think so. i think there'll be an agreement worked out.

over the past few years, we have been working on these mega appropriations bills rather than allow the regular process work its way through. and there is ar specific number, about one chilean dollars, that is the amount to be spent. agreement will see an on it. host: do you think the agreement includes something for putting back the cuts that were made to military benefits? guest: it will include additional dollars for the department of defense. that is a good thing, in my opinion. into dangerous situation with the continuing cuts through sequestration at the department of defense. our department of defense has to

be the agency that looks at our military readiness and we were cutting to the bone with the sequestration as it was structured. there'll be more money in the department of defense coming up. they'll be more flexibility to make sure we are meeting the military needs. host: do you think the budget deal struck shows there is a path for some tax reform? guest: i hope it does and i think it does. a less reported news story has been the ongoing work on a bipartisan basis between chairman dave camp and senator max baucus, a democrat, and their staffs, working on ideas for a comprehensive tax form proposal. they have traveled around the country a bit together. partisan interest in

doing something significant with the tax code. andfully what paul ryan senator murray did last month is a sign there is some effort on a bipartisan effort to do some good things. host: you are serving your six term in congress. you will not seek another term. guest: i was in the legislature for 12 years in congress in pennsylvania. it is a challenging lifestyle. my family is back home. i am down here quite a bit and not with them. i just think we are still in a gridlock situation that is probably not going to change a lot in the next few years. after about 12 years of this work, the gridlock situation i see still existing, i thought it was time to look for other opportunities out there.

host: how has washington changed in your 12 years? guest: it was pretty partisan when i got there in january of 2003. i was in the pennsylvania legislature. this wideum was about between liberal and conservatives. in congress it is this wide, a very wide spectrum of views. it takes leadership to bring those together and find common ground. i have seen that you wrote in in washington over the past 11 years. we have always had a divided congress. it takes executive leadership to help deal with that and to bring about some progress on issues, too. there is a leadership gap right now in washington, d.c.

that is where the american people come in at election time. host: house speaker john boehner? guest: i thought john has done a good job with the cards he has been dealt, as well as the views we have in our conference on the republican side. i think john has tried to navigate the waters there. we have passed a lot of important legislation in the house that has died in the senate. it is a testament to the fact that he is led us down the right pathway in terms of economic growth policies and even what we think are better health care reform policies. host: you look to the executive and say leadership has been declining. do you say that about the bush administration? guest: i tell people back home one way i have noticed a

difference is when president bush was in power, he had an aggressive legislative liaison team. you would have somebody from the white house come to your office and say what are you working on and what are your ird's and what is going on you district? and sometimes they could help with things but they kept a regular dialogue going. i have seen a legislative liaison from president obama white house a few times, a few months into his first term the person came by and then maybe six months ago i saw the person. two visits in six years or going on six years is not real good partnership in terms of keeping lines of communication open between members of congress and the white house. and then of course i believe the

president needs to get to capitol hill more. he needs to sit in a room with all leaders of both parties of both chambers to hammer out progress on important issues. i do not see him doing a lot of that and i think that is disappointing. host: robert gates is quoted today that president bush and president obama were neither liked nor feared on capitol hill. guest: i look forward to reading the book. it looks like it is going to be a fabulous book the matter what party you are in. he has a unique viewpoint on so many of these issues, given his

position that secretary of defense. i think the best thing to do is to wait to read the book and then make a comment. host: which comes out january 14. al is waiting from florida. good morning, al. caller: i was just wondering. why don't we take the tax laws where we do not send money and stuff overseas? laws where tax everybody pays an even amount of taxes to keep this country going. it is unfair to everyone if the poor pay taxes but the rich do not. everybody should pay taxes and that should be it. work to build this country. guest: that is a great comment. i think you are right.

try to figure out how to take a tax code that is about 70,000 pages long. some people liken it to the bible without the good news. how do you make much simple? al was, is what suggesting so that it is a fair code. then we do have to address the fact that we have a corporate tax rate of 35%, which is the highest in the world now. a lot of american companies that sell their products overseas. they keep their earnings offshore because they do not want to bring them back to pay a 35% tax. there is up to to chilean dollars of earnings still $2ing offshore -- up to trillion of earnings still sitting offshore.

we think there has to be a wholesale review and reform of the tax code. encouraging american business to bring their dollars back to the united states because that is how the jobs would be created. host: what about subsidies? guest: we want to get rid of a lot of references and loopholes and credits and make it simpler as a code. we will look at doing away with a lot of the subsidies for a fl atter code. caller: howdy, guys. good morning. i have a question. are theythe -- why showing eagerness to extend unemployment benefits but they show the same eagerness to cut military benefits? to me, that is backwards. guest: i think what you're

hitting on is the fact that our priorities are wrong in washington and just about all americans agree with that. if somebody is unemployed, i think most people want to help them through that. it shouldn't be a long-term situation where if there are jobs available and they are not taking those jobs. how do we find policies that are going to grow jobs in the united states and make for jobs available to people so they are on the unemployment rolls for a short period of time. focus oft to be the this discussion. how do we work on a bipartisan economy make this stronger so people are not on benefits for 99 weeks? that is not the right priority. host: derek, independent caller.

caller: good morning. i want to cover about three different areas. i am the wilderness. i have been an entrepreneur for 20 years -- i am be wilderness. iam andcrats -- american. that is the way everybody should be, putting everyone first versus a certain party. you talk about progressive tax code. as an entrepreneur, he gives no incentive to succeed. the harder you work, the more you are taxed. this is the modern-day slavery. we as taxpayers pay a huge chunk to the federal government and to our state. tax is something

the democrats talk about and it is so not american. let me move on. corporate taxes. you said the tax code is 70,000 pages. as an individual, if i want to get my taxes done and i am not versed on 70,000 different tax codes that i have to worry about, i have to pay somebody to held the do my taxes. that person i am paying does not have any obligation to give me the right information to where i am still liable. it is not like i am giving it and taxthe cpa accountants and he has the liability. host: i will take those two issues for the huntsman. guest: about 95% of people have to have some kind of assistance in preparing taxes.

so, that is an unfortunate thing given the complexity of the code. we need to lower the corporate rate from 35% to a smaller level. most of the businesses in the united states are not seed corporations but are known as subchapter or limited liability partnership or some sort of entity where they take their business income and pay as an individual taxpayer. we have seven individual tax rates now it and it is becoming too complex. want to flatten that down to a couple of tax rates where it is much more fair where as you earn more you start paying progressively and that is a disincentive to keep working hard in this economy. host: seven different individual tax rates. where do most americans fall? guest: in the middle level, the

25% level. we want to flatten those number of rates down to two or three. a proposal will be coming forward. taking way some of the other things in the code, making it simpler and fairer. the feedback we are getting is fantastic. that is the direction people want to go. host: wind you expect this proposal will be presented? guest: it is being honed to its final draft version. we are hoping sometime in the coming few weeks we will see something come forward in our committee that can be a discussion piece for the rest of the congress, particularly the house. and start to see the process move forward. i think we do have some positive agenda items in the house and i think tax reform is one of them.

is an issue that i think a lot of people can get behind and support our efforts on. host: will it be bipartisan and comprehensive? guest: we think it ought to be bipartisan. we have gotten good feedback from the democratic members of the committee. we think these ideas should get a lot of republican and democrat support. host: and comprehensive? guest: very comprehensive. tax rates, corporation, across-the-board. texas,harles in dallas, you are up next. caller: my question to him is that i keep hearing republicans talk about creating jobs. a bill has been on the table. it would create as many as 3 million jobs. republicans vote against it.

what is your plan, without going around the world? what is the republican plan for creating jobs? presidentbout the needs to talk to republicans. he waspset -- negotiating with the republicans over the health care act. you came in and made a lot of plans. that everyone of you voted against it. well, the way our founders set up our system is we are all supposed to talk to each other. members of congress and the president of the united states. we are all supposed to do that if we can. is are right, infrastructure a critical part of a growing economy. we just passed in the house a

bill which is the water resources develop and act. for large bill to allow sewer water projects to start happening around the country that have been languishing. that passed in the house on a wide bipartisan basis and i think it will get a conference report very shortly to allow both chambers to pass it. that is an important infrastructure bill. we need to keep working on our transportation infrastructure. people on both sides of the aisle have good ideas about how to get more money into our transportation trust funds as well as highways and bridge and transit to renew a lot of that and for structure that so desperately is needed around the country. that is part of the formula for a growing economy and that is a borders and -- a bipartisan

issue we can't agree on. twitter.s comes on guest: hmm. we are going to eliminate a lot of these preferences. you have to look at each of those areas of the tax code to see what the impact would be in a real world if you did that. you have the home mortgage interest eduction. do you get rid of that look at ways to make sure it is in play and utilized in a fairway? charitable deductions. a lot of hospitals rely on charitable contributions that in the vigil citizens make. their is a concern if you do away with that ill have a detrimental impact on those charities. we have to take a look at each of those policies and figure out the right way to move forward with those. i think we will see a lot of these things curtailed and

eliminated. we will see a lot of revisions that will be tax code that will allow for more economic growth that will serve everybody well. host: we are talking with congressman jim gerlach. serving in his six terms and announced he will not be seeking another one. you have the rest of 2014. how confident are you some sort of deal on tax reform gets done this year? guest: you will see a lot of effort to try to move this ball down the field. whether we pass something in the house and pass it in the senate, that is another question. it is tough in an election year to get major bills passed and enacted into law. effort was about a five-year process.

we recognize it takes a while to lined up, asucks they say, to make something good happen. we will continue to move this down the field as far as we can. i am confident we will make a lot of good progress this year. host: paul ryan wants to take over the ways and means turn -- chairmanship. what does that do for prospects? guest: dave camp has done a terrific job. he is brought us members of the committee together and all these outside groups who are concerned about it. he has done a fantastic job. as to who would move into the chairmanship after dave, that will be up to the steering committee. that will be an interesting discussion. a lot of traffic people would be interested, including paul. he has been a real engaged

member on the committee. he has been able to connect those dots very well. he is a very talented guy. we have other talented guys and ladies on the committee. it is so hard to handicap what is going to happen for that chairmanship position. it will be a talented individual that will be helpful in this issue. host: it is not a slamdunk for paul y to take over? -- paul ryan? guest: we are just starting 2014. that is something that would be happening later this year with the steering committee. it is a wide open process. dave camp has done a terrific job. we will have perfect people to follow. host: we have another t

guest: that has been a lot of discussion behind the scenes in the committee on that and many other things. there is so much to the tax code. this document is incredible. host: can you explain what that means? guest: income when you get from investment money, from investments that you make and whether it should be taxed as a capital gain, which is a lower incomer taxed at regular tax bracket levels, 39.6%. there has been a debate about how to define that income and then how to tax it as regular income at a higher tax bracket level or at a lower rate as a capital gain. cons is a lot of pros and

to that. i don't know how it is going to come out in our final proposal but it is something that is going to be talked about. host: who benefits from carried interest? guest: people who are able to utilize significant capital to invest in various kinds of , they are loosely benefit of those investments pan out and the return is very good. and the question is, should they report that income as regular income or as a capital gain. some would say they are not were their own money, they using some other investors money to take it and invested and get the return back. so, you have a lot of difference of opinion about whose money it was when it originated, who really derived the benefit from should that money be reported to the irs as

regular income or a gain. so, that is really behind the scenes. host: is it just a hedge fund investor or other folks? guest: it could be other things but the hedge fund is probably the best example. host: fort mill, south carolina. republican caller. about having to play for unemployment extension, which i think is a wonderful idea to extend it for people in desperate situations. but does congress read tom where therete book are billions of dollars worth of savings? guest: senator coburn does a great job identifying all the problems of wasteful spending that we have, and i have been working on some issues on the ways and means committee side, regarding medicare, where the government accounting office a

few years ago issued a report that there is 30 billion-$50 billion a year in waste and fraudulent payments in the program and the total program is a little over $500 billion a year. almost 10% of the expenditures. age men this amount of that. the question is how do we get congress and its oversight authority and ability to hone in on the issues and deal with them thisway where we eradicate waste, fraud, and abuse. it is very frustrating because we are not getting enough attention in my opinion through these oversight committees to these particular problems that senator coburn has been a great job highlighting every year. he ought to continue doing it because it is a great service to the american people to show what is wrong with our spending. report thisolitico morning that the senator is battling cancer again and it may cause them to cut short his term . he has been privately going intensive treatment for reoccurrence of prostate cancer, which could cut his desk cut

short his second term. guest: sorry to hear that. first of all, we wish him all the best in his continuing battle and hopefully he will get through that 100%. but he has been a to mend his job for the american people and highlighting the problems with our spending and i hope he is around for many years. host: he was not going to run for another term. are retiring yourself. who do you think takes up the work that he does, the effort to put it together must be extensive. think he has so much of his staff are focused on this every day and every week throughout the entire year or that it is going to be hard to replace that, i think. but i think there are a lot of members who feel the same way as senator coburn does and that i do that there is still a tremendous amount of waste, fraud, and abuse that we have to deal with. i hope to see other members on

the house or senate side to take up the cause. whether it will be done as well as senator coburn has been doing it is another story because i think it is terrific work. host: on twitter -- please asked him what he thinks of hr 25, the fair tax. has beene fair tax part of the discussions. for the benefit of the viewers, the fair tax basically would do away altogether with a federal income tax and basically create a system of taxation for the sale of products and services throughout our economy at each step in the way. there would be a tax applied to the sale of raw material that then goes to the manufacturer and the manufacturer sells the product to a distributor or retailer and the retailers failed it -- sells it to the retail customer and there is a tax along the way. individuals no income tax. frankly, i don't think it will end up to be part of our tax reform proposal. not that it is not a good idea to be considered.

as the legislative process moves forward it might be something under more discussion. but i think what you will see coming out of the ways and means committee, something just trying to shrink the code, to keep in place and individual taxation system and the corporation taxation system and really just trying to make those much more conducive to economic growth, fairer, flatter, simpler. but i don't envision a proposal, and forward that would be a fair tax in and of itself. i don't think there is enough supporting covers to do that. host: yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of lbj's war on poverty. a lot of discussion on both sides about income disparity. here's an e-mail from one of our viewers, barbara in west palm beach. guest: the disparity in income i think is not because of the tax code necessarily.

i think it is because we have a moretion where people need opportunity to be educated, more employment,to find more opportunities to advance themselves economically during their working life. and that, to me, i'll do beware the focus is. more job opportunities generally by a growing economy, but also going back to individual areas of education, job training, to make sure people are going to be able to compete as an individual in the economy we now have in the 21st century. we have huge amounts of people not even finishing high school. we have some urban areas where there is over 50% dropout rate before they get to graduation. what is the future of those individuals in our current economy? not real bright. there are so many job opportunities out there that people could take it they just get that extra year or two years beyond high school of certain kinds of training. they would be ready for those jobs. so, how do we get those

job-training skills to them so they are ready for the 21st-century jobs. that, to me, is what the focus ought to be. when they have those skills matched up with a tax code that helps create opportunity him of that is when you see things grow and i think that is the best formula to deal with the income inequality issue. host: we will go to mike from fond du lac, wisconsin. colorcode two things real quick -- caller: two things, corporations need to become patriotic. i remember when president obama had a speech to and heion or whatever, seated republicans and democrats -- i think it was republican, democrat, republican, democrat. halloween it up, in high school when he had a debate -- following it up, and high school when you had a debate you drew out of a hat whether you are pro or con and you had to argue that side whether you agree or not.

i am just wondering if they had an experiment where the democrats and republicans swapped positions and argued the other side earnestly just to see if they could walk a mile in the other man's shoes? be a veryt would interesting experiment, no doubt about it. your reference to when members of the house sat together, really was not something directed by the president. the president will come in for his state of the union address every year, but how members want to sit on the floor is up to them. there was an initiative by some to intermingle with each other. normally the republican said on one side and the democrats on the other side. the idea was to intermingle a little bit. i think it was a good thing. and a lot of members have fun with it. but at the end of the day we have to work together on series policy in committee and on the floor. waysve to work together in the american people expect us to. so, there could be some exercises where we take the

other side's position. we might learn a little bit from that. it may not be a bad idea for us to do in some settings. this. but at the end of the day there are a series issues and we have to find a way to find common ground and make something happen. because that is exactly what the american people expect. host: did you have a democratic date that night? guest: no, i didn't. but i had no problem with anybody sitting next to me who wanted to. it did not matter to me who was next to me. host: here is bill on twitter. he says this -- a two percent tax on all derivatives traded in the united states would raise $12 trillion -- all of theseay, issues, including that one, i have been part of our discussion and will be part of some sort of reform bill. i can't tell you exactly today what the bill would say relative to the subject matter, but it has been part of the discussions and a lot of people are looking at ways to make changes to the tax code that gets to the

fundamental goals of simplification and fairness and also be a stimulus to the economy here in the united states. our economic growth over the past few years has been anemic, and everybody understands that. and the tax code can lay a large part in having more competitiveness here in the united states and driving more investment here in the united states, which will really help every body at every level of the economy. that is why this is -- this is an important exercise. host: can you characterize the talks on tax reform as secretive? guest: i would not say secretive. in fact, dave camp, chairman camp, has done a great job in the past three years reaching out. we broke our committee into 12 working groups to really hone in on specific areas of the tax code. lindaed up a group with sanchez who is a member from california. she was a great partner in the effort. to really look at the manufacturing part of the code, how can we stimulate more

manufacturing in the united states. it was a very bipartisan exercise. we followed up and committee with additional discussions from what we learned in the working group process. and of course, we have done a lot of earrings, both at the subcommittee and full committee levels, bringing in all kind of groups and organizations and companies and individuals about this. it has been a wide open process and we encourage people to keep giving us their thoughts and ideas on these issues. host: because you set a couple of times you were hesitant to say what you were negotiating. guest: we have not seen a final version of the bill yet. so i am hesitant to say what will be in or not in the bill because i have not seen it yet and i don't want to mislead or mischaracterize. but from my participation in the committee, believe me, these issues are all being discussed and we are trying to figure out what the right policy should be. host: the canyon tweets in -- it is not income disparity as much as concentration of wealth. jiggle some people are doing very well, some people not doing

very well and other people very stagnant -- guest: some people are doing well, some people not doing well and other are stagnant. the question is how to take the capital on the sidelines and get it invested here in the united aids so that ultimately more jobs are created. and through that, giving people more opportunity to take the job they have now and move it to something they like better at a higher income level, to allow them to purchase may be a new home or a bigger home or purchase a new computer system or whatever it is. that is the economic activity .hat raises all boats to me, that is the macro approach we ought to be taking with this issue of jobs. if we do that, we will have a lot of people at all income levels do well. host: shealy in alabama, democratic caller. what is the name of your town? -- sheila in alabama. caller: i just have two comments. the unemployment

extension, i heard congress say if some people need a little more help. i just wanted to ask him what he mean it -- what he meant if some people need more help. because the bible says the poor will be with us always -- not two months, six months. i think the president has bent over backwards and it is pretty has notat this congress done anything because they are so anti-obama they are doing everything under the sun to bring him down. but i want him to comment on -- about the extension, what he meant if people need more help. thank you. guest: yes. clearly, the longer you go on unemployment, the more difficult it is to get employment. according to a university of pennsylvania study that just came out, those who are on unemployment longer have more difficulty finding jobs because employers tend to take -- to rehire people who have been on

unemployment for shorter periods of time. if you are on unemployment for a longer period of time, what should we be doing in the program to change her situation? what kind of additional efforts are to be taken in the program to give you an additional job ready skills, better opportunities to connect with some employer in your area? what kind of focus ought to be applied to your individual case because you have been in the program longer and therefore you don't want to be in the program -- i understand that. so how can we do more to help you when you are there for a longer period of time to get you off of unemployment compensation rolls. rather than simply extending the program for another few months and nothing in the program otherwise changes. think, a lot of the discussion we will see around .ere in washington people are hurting and they do need support while they are unemployed -- but we all to pay for it, number one, as a government, and number two,

people are on those roles for so long -- can we make changes to the program that intensifies the efforts of the program to find a plummet opportunities for those people who have been on longer than others? i think we will have a discussion on how to alter the program to create a more intensive process to get more longer-term people eventually off those roles and that will be something they will like because they will have a job, it will make them feel better, and have better income and it will certainly help the program as well from a financial standpoint. kerry from arlington, virginia. republican color. caller: conservative caller. i have been spending my time around the judiciary committee and i need to spend time on your community. your numbers are skewed. it is not about finding places to cut but making sure you go into the tax haven states and start collecting from all the companies who are hiding funds --y from their own state specifically the silicon valley

dollars buried in delaware and nevada and out of the country. all of this talk about unemployment does not include entrepreneurs are freelancers. they don't get weekly paycheck. because they don't get weekly paychecks they are not entitled to collect unemployment, disability or other benefits when they can't work or when they retire. and it is not about pajamas but owning one's own intellectual -- it is not about the jobs owning one's own intellectual property. congress has been so busy destroying the economy by giving continued latitude toward the private companies who own the internet and was very structure themselves based on other people's content and then they skirt the local and federal laws by not paying taxes which support the local communities. has worked alongside the tech companies that i see it daily when i am in there. to actually hurt -- and the conversation we are hearing now

clearly is unemployment, unemployment, unemployment. we don't even have the right anymore or the ability to make our own businesses and create our own jobs because of what has been going on. and i have to tell you personally, my greatest responses have been from the democrats, not from the conservatives. and as i said from the get go, i am a conservative. and i have been focused for about a year now educating congress and legislators and other people about the value of myand set about establishing own foundation because of this because it is that important. host: can i ask what you do for a living? caller: i created my own foundation in aggregate, the center for copyright and -- the center for copyright integrity and at this time i have been busy writing about and gathering data and assembling it into one id andor the 2d arts ip

enforcement communities where they can come together and get a more real perspective of the value of intellectual property and how it has been bulldozed over and ignored by the legislators. there.a lot first of all, she is right that whatever we do in our text on that tax code reform effort we have to have a tax code that is going to incentivize not only the big companies but entrepreneurs of all shapes, whether they are sole proprietors, perhaps as she is, the ability to invest and create opportunities economically here in the united states. and how do we incentivize that and the tax code? that is what we are going to try to accomplish. it does not matter if you are a major multinational or a one-person shop, that tax code ought to be there anyway that thinking about your entrepreneurial desires, desire to grow business and employee

more people and make things happen and have a fair application in the tax code to that effort compared to what other countries are doing for those october north -- for those entrepreneurs and their countries. we need that output from individuals like carrie. it will help small businesses generally, small companies, mid- sized companies grow jobs here in the united states of america. host: congressman jim gerlach, what do you plan to do after you retire from congress question mark guest: i don't have any plans at this point. it will just be an interesting year to work in the house on these issues and then to figure out what to do after that, which is, we will see what happens. gerlach,shman jim republican from pennsylvania, thank you very much -- congressman jim gerlach, republican from pennsylvania. up next, we will get your take on former defense secretary bob gates's new memoir out. what do you make of the criticism of the obama administration, those in a past and present.

after this news update from c-span radio. nowre just leaving pennsylvania republican congressman jim gerlach retiring after six terms and two more house members retiring, the macwrite carolyn mccarthy from new york and mike mcintyre from north carolina. huntsman mccarthy, who served nine terms, with selected shortly after her husband was killed in a shooting on the long island railroad and has been a forceful advocate for government -- gun control. is present of mike mcintyre one of the few remaining seven democrats in the house and also served for nine terms. his retirement, according to the associated press, gives republicans a strong chance of winning the seat. jobless numbers shows the number of americans seeking the benefits fell 15,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 300 30,000, signaling fewer layoffs and steady job growth. front implement

benefits are a proxy for layoffs. employers have added an average of 200,000 jobs a month from august through november. has helped lower the unemployment rate to a five-year low of seven percent. the government will release the december jobs report tomorrow. new jersey governor chris christie hold a news conference at 11:00 a.m. eastern to respond to allegations that his administration may have closed highway lanes to exact political retribution on a new jersey mayor who refused to endorse him for reelection. in e-mails and text messages, governor chris christie's deputy chief of staff, bridget and kelly, tells a port authority appoint the "time for some traffic problems in fort lee." already saidstie he is outraged by what he calls the inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct and he will hold this news conference to answer questions on the subject at 11:00 a.m. eastern time and you can hear it live right here on c-span radio. those are just some of the

latest headlines on c-span radio. if i were to identify the singular most important challenge to overcome as muslims, it would be the notion that -- diversity is just as available. the reason why we are here is because of this wahhabist inclination, which i read somewhere that it is not only a- historical but anti-historical because it denies centuries of islamic theology and tradition and plurality. hundreds of years of diversity. muslima that to be a youths have to just follow the edicts from the worst -- from the seventh century and a very short, limited period of time. i think our journey as american muslims have to be about clerics being told by in speak for us that islam

its ideals is a seventh century reality. whore americans and muslims need an islam of the 21st-century. >> being muslim in america, sunday night at 9:00 on "afterword" part of booktv on c-span and online for the book club we will discuss mark live-in's "the liberty amendment." read the book and join the conversation. go to www.c-span.org and click on book club to enter the chat room. "washington journal" continues. host: we will spend the final minutes getting your take on the memoir by former event secretary robert gates that is slated to come out january 14. "duty-memoirs of a secretary at -- at war" he is critical of the president and

the vice president and the former secretary of state as well as the president's top aides. we want to get your thoughts, if any, of the memoir. you can start dialing and now -- host: you can also send us a tweet or post your comments on facebook.com/c-span and also .-mail us earlier today i spoke with bloomberg's white house correspondent and i began by asking him what has been the reaction -- what was the reaction yesterday on the white house to the memoir. here is what he had to say. morning.od it was a pretty swift response. ,arney, not surprisingly supported the portions of gate'' book where the former defense

secretary supported the president or praised the president and distanced the white house from any portions that were critical were raised new questions about the white house's approach to foreign policy. we heard then what did from them and what did the white house do when it comes to the criticism that defense secretary gates had a for the vice president and his foreign policy decisions were thinking? prettygates' book was strongly -- had ready strongly criticize vice president biden saying he was essentially wrong on almost every foreign policy decision over the last four decades. this was probably the easiest criticism for the white house to push back on, and they circled .he wagons around biden

officials current and former came out in support of biden. biden has a weekly lunch with the president, which was yesterday, coincidently, and the white invited photographers into the lunch -- and the white house invited photographers into the lunch as a signal the white house with standing by biden. host: i understand that was the first time reporters -- photographers had been invited in? guest: it was not the first time but one of the only times. not happen, does that is correct. host: what did you make of that? -- me guest: it is hard to look past the timing of it. that they would invite reporters in the day after this book comes out. carney was asked about the timing, and he called it a coincidence.

but it has been a struggle between the white house and the white house correspondents association, access to these sorts of events and carney said allowing photographers and was a criticism, that they were allowing photographers in as a way to provide more access and call the timing of the book a coincidence. it it is pretty hard to overlook the timing. and the really question is, what -- about next week for his lunch? not, i think it is a signal they wanted to get some photos on cable news shows and newspapers today showing the president with the vice president. bender, was the white house aware of the memoir and when it was coming out? did they get an advance copy? guest: they did get an advance copy. rest of along with the

the press. it has been known for a while that gates was writing this book. although it wasn't exactly clear what would be in it. carney says he got the book tuesday night, which i think is it was sentme time out to other press outlets. host: what do you expect and what do you know about how the white house reacts in the coming days? their reaction will largely depend on how much traction this book gets. memoirs,t of periodically. they make a splash for a couple of days. and then largely forgotten. we will see how much traction this one has. it is very rare for a memoir like this to come out while the president is still in office.

there's some thought that this may have more legs, if you will, for hillary clinton instead of obama. there wasn't a whole lot new news wise. debate over the surge in afghanistan was well documented at the time. one of the interesting aspects of it was gay to detailing conversations between obama and hillary clinton -- gates detailing conversations between obama and hillary clinton am a that there opposition to the surge in iraq was political. know, hillary clinton is probably the top democratic presidential candidate in 2016, and this is an issue that could cut up for her and dog her. she has the answer questions for her democratic base on this. host: michael bender, bloomberg

correspondent at the white house, thank you very much. guest: thanks a lot. host: that was our conversation earlier this morning with michael bender talking about the memoir being released by former defense secretary robert gates january 14. what are your thoughts? host: you can also send us a tweet or post your comments on facebook and e-mail us. host: here is one tweet for us. the gates book is interesting but anyone who was upset because obama was trying to get out of afghanistan has questionable judgment. as michael bender said, jay carney, the white house formeran reacted to what secretary of defense gates had to say. his criticism of president

obama. here is what it is. [video clip] i think it is absolutely the many have reported, that it is well known the president has been committed to achieving the mission of disrupting, dismantling, and defeating al qaeda while also ensuring we have a clear path for winding down the war. these are not separate issues. the mission and the policy included both ramping up and mission on al sure we well as making had a policy in place that would wind down that war. wasuse a war without end not what the president believes was the right policy. and there were debates about this. so, the president believes thoroughly in the mission. he knows it is difficult, but he

believes that our men and women in uniform as well as those civilians in afghanistan and others working on this issue have admirably and heroically fulfilled admission. and they do so today. host: that was white house spokesman jay carney reacting to -- written to gates' criticism that's a reacting to gates' criticism. here is what he wrote in the memoir being released next week. is froms -- and this "the wall street journal" yesterday. host: alice from tampa, florida pit republican caller. you are first. caller: i agree with the comments mr. gates made. i never felt right with

president obama being commander-in-chief of the military. there was a comment made several years ago by janet napolitano. i don't remember what station reported it she said something the militarythat that will be the only one that would be a threat to their agenda. i don't know what their agenda is, but the american people better wake up in this country because there are serious problems. and if our military is being put in harms way, that is not a good thing. i am a military wife. my husband is ceased. he was 100% herman it. and i've received benefits. -- my husband is deceased. congress, and the president, i am sorry to say this, they do not care about the american people or the military and it is all about their jobs. and it is across the board. and it is disgraceful. host: we will go on to eric in cedar town, georgia. democratic caller. caller: i disagree with

everything the less color said. president obama basically is , like to run this country the general population, the public once did he is being responsive to the public. he does not want these wars in afghanistan or iraq, syria, or libya. physically what president obama is doing is going along and moving the military and the government of the united states to what the american people want. with iran.want a war beat, but they don't want to spend no money and the united states to build up and self educate the minorities who are fought -- who have fought and living in desperate situations. i don't understand how a lot of poor and middle-class white people are also going along with these wars and green with the republicans. i don't see how they are voting for him because they are using these services at a higher rate than anyone.

host: brian in new city, new york. republican caller. caller: i actually agree with secretary gates. that his remarks seem to fit what i have been looking after for five years from the president. i give him credit that he wants us out. we all want out. but we can't just run for it. enough -- not wild about having people in korea, having people in germany all these years later. if you know what? it works. and you've got to show your influence. you are either in the game or out of the game. so i really think gates was right on. thank you. host: brian, what do you think this means for the rest of president obama's tenure?

you have to turn your television down, otherwise we get the annoying feedback. it may move on to steven from texas, independent caller. hi, there. -- oh, it isname stephanie. i'm reading that all that together. stephanie, go ahead from texas. independent caller. wondering,m just there is all this talk about everybody bringing our troops home and yet my son in law just got activated to be sent to afghanistan for 15 months. that goes beyond the end of this year. host: so, what does this mean for you then? caller: when is it going to stop? we are cutting their benefits, but yet we are still putting them in harms way. i don't understand. host: what do you make about what gates had to say about the president and his view on afghanistan? guest: ice --

caller: he is wishy-washy. everything. we are talking about the unemployment. me and my husband are both unemployed. yet the republicans have said, hey, there is this tax loophole or people are getting billions of dollars but let's close it. i have filed taxes and to provide a social security number, so why shouldn't everybody else? this senator proposed a way to give these military people their benefits and protect the people who are hurting. don't understand the problem is. and we are still sending more people and more money. it's a relevant to us. the other -- ictor --

host: republican from arizona was critical of the secretary for releasing the memo while the president was built on the white house. he said on twitter last night -- extraordinary bad timing and form. later wrote on his facebook page this -- host: frank from springfield, ohio. democratic caller. boysr: as a father of four that served in the military -- two in iraq at the same time and a daughter-in-law who served, i think it is ironic for the secretary now to complain about obama who did not get us in the war, who voted against the war and trying to get us -- our kids back here, our men and women.

for this guy all of a sudden, don't say nothing about his hero george bush, who put us in there and then it -- when it was time for him to serve you could not find him. i think it is all just poppycock. about trying to get this country moving forward. i was one time laid off for a whole year among my plant shutdown. i had eight kids. both of them were in the military at this time -- at that time. and it is ironic that now these people said they want to save money, cut money from unemployment for those who are laid off. i think it is terrible. these people paid into unemployment, and they should be compensated for what they have done. host: "the new york times" this hasing in their art section

a review of the former defense secretary's memoir. in it, regarding the bush administration, they write this -- host: so, there is some criticism in there of the bush

administration and well in former secretary of defense's new memoir coming up. he also writes that mr. bush told him in january 2008 that he wish he made the change in secretary of defense, that means asking donald once well -- rumsfeld to step down -- sayonly thing i heard him and directly critical of rumsfeld. waterbury, connecticut. republican caller. caller: yes, good morning. first of all, thank you for the program. it is unfortunate that both the previous republican administration and the current democratic administration has not been able to really move forward at all. this middle eastern "war" has been perpetual.

and the only one losing out is absolutely every citizen of the united states. regardless of their tax bracket. that because all the money being lost through every part of the war -- whether it be for equipment, supplies, or just medical costs, the injuries of our soldiers when they come back -- it could be used for better things. education, health care, even just simple reforms can get this country going again. host: all, you are a republican. does it bother you that the gates'nt, and robert words, all about getting out of afghanistan? caller: i think it is, is what bothers me, is whether republican or democrat, they don't act like this war is really as bad as it really is. host: douglas in new york, bronx, new york, independent

caller. hi, you are on the air. go ahead. caller: i am calling about secretary gates's critique of congress. there seems to be no mention of that, just as critique of the president and hillary clinton. he said some pretty damning things about the u.s. congress. host: what did you hear he has said? out -- i canrns clearly, a very angry words directed at congress. host: and i read the same, that this book, which we don't have, because it comes out next week -- it has only been released to a certain group of reporters here in washington and jay carney -- caller: that is where i got it from, either cnn or cn

nbs. host: i should mention we will be hovering robert gates -- covering robert gates, in philadelphia, he will be discussing his memoir on booktv on c-span2 friday, january 17, at 6:30 p.m.. so you will hear him in his own words about the memoir, the timing of it, what he wrote about. tune into booktv on c-span2 friday, january 17. the book comes out january 14. go ahead, ron. ron, are you there? caller: when you hear me? host: we can hear you. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am a little bit confused about our war on terror. it was like five or six years ago and we had people wrecking andr homes in plastic heightened security, amber alert, and, you know, so i don't

know where we are at with that. if this is an actual war -- which, we have people dying, so i think it is -- shouldn't we be going after al qaeda where they are at? we know a lot of places where they are activated they are spreading everywhere, it seems. they are in africa, they are in syria fighting. this war is just really confusing to me. i don't know where we are at with this. i've got to tell you, i love president obama. the guy saved my home and possibly my family from a lot of hardship. with the obama mortgage modification think there -- thing there. i am just a hard-working person trying to keep my mortgage. i/o this president more than i can ever say. let's go to charles and oklahoma city, republican caller

. caller: i am changing the subject. i am going on the whole white house. because the black farmers thing that was a settlement, $1.2 billion settlement for us. i called to the republican party , and the civil rights people -- cnn will not even talk to me -- and they disqualified me and my whole family. we lost our land. deed, gave them my dd -- my land was taken falsely. host: i will leave it there so we can see -- stick to the topic, the take on a former defense secretary gates's a new memoir coming out, talking about his role in several administrations. article of this administration, though. -- new york times" writing

host: and for the first time since the obama presidency began, the white house allowed photographers on wednesday to take pictures of the vice president's weekly lunch with mr. obama. host: so, here is what white

house spokesman jay carney had to say about eight's criticism of the vice president. [video clip] >> he has laid a key role in that'sajor national played a key role in every major national security and foreign policy debate, policy discussion, in this ministration and white house. he played important roles the policyn discussions and carrying out of the policy decisions the president made with regards to iraq and policy deliberations over afghanistan. the president has said many times that he greatly appreciate the advice and counsel the vice resident gives him on matters him -- vice president gives on matters both domestic and foreign. host: white house spokesman jay carney yesterday responded to the criticism of vice president. "the new york times" reports of

this -- host: "sea of tranquility" says of this -- host: jim in maryland, independent caller. look, as an independent i have an overall view of this thing. i just don't think the republicans would do a better job than the democrats. , this book just opened up a big wound between republicans and democrats. republicans, with the acquiescence of the democrats got us into this big mess and they did it without having an

overall view of what we should insist on when we get out of these wars. simply two things that i as a citizen would like my government to insist on. if we go in and help another country and get them out and enemy out, we should insist that they have an rules of freedom of religion and freedom of speech. they should insist on it. and when the company goes backwards on those, we should go back in again and get somebody else in there to run the country. host: all right, jim. it is a tweet from one of our viewers -- his book is more than

bad form and timing. it is dangerous. host: janice in kansas city. what do you think? i came in late today. i am wondering -- caller: i wonder if anybody mentioned that at the end of the book, gates agrees with obama. has a dimension question mark host: not get. tell us what you are -- caller: has that been mentioned? host: not yet. but what are you referring to? caller: i know morning joe mentioned it on his show, when this first came out. agreed with obama about afghanistan did not all the other stuff but about afghanistan. host: ok. caller: has that been mentioned. host: we have not talked about that. let me try to find that part as we listen to robert in arizona.

republican caller. caller: good morning. linenk mr. gates is out of . and i think we should also stay in iraq and try to salvage whatever we can and look for the put in ourds to treasury, especially the oil that is supposed to go in our treasury. it is going to china, and we don't know where the money is. that was all my comment. host: from "the new york times" book review this morning, this might not be exactly what our caller is referring to, but this is what gates wrote about the president. he found that president obama's methodical approach to problem solving refreshing and reassuring. and commences this -- his ability to make tough decisions regardless of political consequences.

host: and apparently, according to the gates memoir, the white house had a nickname for him, they called him yoda. he gives in this memoir his shrewd take on foreign policy matters -- understanding his mission to reform the spending of procurement policies of the pentagon and a tactical sense of secretarys like to be for two wars. for security reasons, he traveled to iraq inside of a "large silver airstream trailer placed in the hold of a military cargo plane" which he says felt a lot like being fedex halfway around the world. daryn, independent caller. what do you make of the memoir? caller: good morning. happy few days of the new year. think you.

-- thank you. book -- t read the host: it is not out until january 14. caller: i was going to say i would definitely like to pick it up when he gets here. i think the wars in afghanistan , -- and iraq, we need to really transition. this is a cultural thing. we've done all we can do with our military strength. on the to concentrate cultural aspects of this thing. to -- american culture and american values to other parts of the world. you see it in other parts of the philippines, a lot of southeast asia, all around the world. once people see and experience american culture, they love it.

the love our movies, they love our music, the love our sports. we need to get our military out of there and get more diplomats changetural diplomats to and soften these people. host: got it. this --ranquility says i'm interested if gates has anything to say about the firing of general mcchrystal, the inside story. "the christian science monitor" think ourote that i caller is referring to. -- s quoted as saying host: debra from st. mary's, pennsylvania. democratic caller. what do you think? i am very, very proud of

obama for going after osama bin laden. after all, george bush was ready to just ignore osama bin laden. he was not even interested anymore in going after. the whole reason we were over there. and our soldiers and our brothers and sons were dining on the battlefield and he did not bushcare of them, george did not take care of them when they got home. he did not take care of the wounded. the medical issues we have today an escalation of the medical crisis are definitely a correlation due to the war effort. i am very proud of our vice president, too, because he has always, always stood behind the soldiers. and he had a soldier himself in his family. article theead an other day about the pensions being cut for the military families, and i know that the

republican party is behind those big cuts. if people could only read and understand -- host: let me stop you there because the two-year budget deal that both the democrats and thatlicans put together, included the pension cuts and many democrats voted for that legislation. yeller -- caller: yes, they did. but in order for the legislation to even come to the floor the republicans are controlling the house, and what comes to the floor. warfare to be even brought up. north carolina. independent caller. caller: how are you today? i caught the last 20 or 30 minutes of the show. i have to declare that i am a conservative independent. i think that there is a real ring of truth to this book, as a conservative. but i think that bush, junior,

are woefully not up to the task of going to war. -- you know, at the model,raqi war, was a very much like the lightning war in 1967. gideon, get the job done, make the world look that we are serious -- he in, get the job done. we don't go to work frivolously. sure to bush set this thing up terribly. first, the night of 9/11, he was presidential. then he says we were going over there. then he listens to all of these andayers and other people, a year and a half later, we are going over there. and if there were weapons there, what would you do? when you send it to syria or hide it somewhere in the tunnels question mark we will never know. epw law tweets --

host: the conservative "wall street journal" editorial board weighs in. it explains what the world already knows. and it also says this -- as for mrs. clinton, she was supposed to be made of sterner stuff but her search opposition despite counsel from such petraeus and commence as former general jack keane should be a mark against residential president. lon, montanan dil the democratic caller. you are on the air. caller: i was calling into c-span network. i was not calling into the show. host: you are not going to be on

air? caller: was on the show last month. just remind people on your show calling in that mr. obama was elected twice to bring the troops home. host: randy in missouri. democratic caller. you might want to make it quick because the house is about to come into session. caller: what i want to talk -- theyou'll issue was whole issue was pushing about obama lacked conviction about afghanistan warbled on the lady called in and told you that in he writesn his book with he agrees with them. host: we found that part and read it for you. we have to leave it there. the house is now in session. live coverage here on speed -- c-span. washington, d.c., january 9, 2014. i hereby appoint the honorable luke messer to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a.