housetwitter and white website and various other places. that is appealing to their core constituency and i think those are the people that will be watching. host: as far as how important 31% saying not important at all, followed by 26% saying someone important, as far as topics, one of the things we have heard about it income equality. the idea of executive actions on getting some of these done. to themeshat compare previous of this president guest:? guest:-- of this president? we're going to bridge the partisan gap in washington, we're we are going to get a lot of things done. that is not happen. there have been lowered expectations. the white house officials have been talking about income inequality. they are little uncomfortable with the two words now.

income inequality, they feel like that may be too divisive or scare people. you may not hear a lot about income and equality. aboutthe same thing trying to give the middle class and poor people that the president is working on their behalf to provide opportunity. a lot of familiar themes, you're going to hear a lot about the things the president has talked about many times. immigration legislation, that is the one thing that we can predict that he feels he needs legislation on. he is going to keep pushing on the republicans. they may have some movement there. is the big legislative push. otherwise, as you say, executive

actions, unilateral actions -- >> when it comes to federal contractors -- guest: congress has not gone along with that. there will be this minimum wage for federal contract employees, not a full minimum wage increase, but it is something the president can point to to say that he is getting things done on his agenda. host: what does it mean when you have to resort to that type of tack, as far as executive action is concerned? in the sixth year of a presidency, which is where obama is, it tends to be difficult to get things done. they tend to run into trouble. some of the fault lines from earlier in their presidencies get more wide and they have more problems. that they figure that they have to bypass congress and

so at this point, i think president obama may have a brief time to work more with congress. the whole system will shift towards the midterm elections. it will be divisive and partisan. the president knows that if he does not keep the senate under the democratic control, if republicans take the senate and keep the house, then he is getting into lame-duck territory, rather quickly. host: ken walsh is our guest to talk about tonight's state of the union. if you have questions, the lines on your screen. democrats, (202) 585-3880. republicans, (202) 585-3881. independents, (202) 585-3882. andwitter, it is @cspanwj you can send this e-mail, journal@c-span.org. ocala, florida. republican line.

caller: i think the president should address the american people to start with some kind of family budgetary concerns. he should again, let's get back to the nuclear family. working, one person maintaining the household and the children. five tvs.ink we need we can do it to tvs. tvs. with two all i hear today is people calling in and saying how somebody should give them something and i don't ever hear them talking about cutting down on some of their frivolous bills. guest: this gets back to the whole idea of the basic culture we are in, the society we are in. you hear a lot of republicans

and conservatives talk about the need to return to a responsibility society that people take responsibility for their own problems and so on. addressedobama has this in some cases, talking about the need for stable families, reticular early form particularlyied -- .or men to get married he has talked about that quite a bit. he might address that tonight in his speech. i don't think he will dwell on it. i think you will be more of a policy speech. there are a lot of people around the country who feel as you do. there's a notion that people need to take more responsibility for themselves and cut down and improve their own lives on their own. isther thing i mentioned that along this line, democrats and republicans and independents around the country, if they --

whether they feel the government should help people more not, there's more of a sense of going to the state level and the local level to get things done. to the governors, whether it is a democratic or republican governor, looking to state legislatures. people feel that is closer to them. that is part of our federal system. along the lines of what you're saying, people are now feeling that if washington cannot get things done, which apparently, washington cannot in many places, people are looking to the local governments and state governments. that is where a lot of pressure is being applied. that is where a lot of people are thinking that maybe things can work practically at the local level. after the speech, the president hits the road. selling his policies on a small scale, retail level? after they go out right

the state of the union and make a swing through much of the country. he is going to a number of states, including wisconsin and tennessee and some other places. he is going to take his message out around the country. he will illustrate some of his points with the venues he goes to. it is like a campaign swing. this is very common. unless there's something very mostlling in the speech, of the time, people move on rather quickly after the state of the union. we are so cynical that you see a lot of the polls today, we can talk about further if you like, indicating how cynical people have become about whether anything can get done and whether president obama can get anything done. he has a short, small window to convince people that he is up to the job. they depend on the speech for a bump in approval rating? guest: it almost always happens that they do get a bump up.

it almost always never lasts. it is difficult to find a memorable line or moment that you recall from a state of the union speech. the ones that come to mind are very much in our history. franklin roosevelt gave the four freedoms speech. lyndon johnson, the declaration of the war on poverty was in his state of the union. it is pretty rare that we remember these speeches. often they are laundry lists and there is not a theme in them. people remember things more than 5b on a list. host: good morning. caller: how are you doing this morning? my concern is the president on

the unemployment issue and jobs in the southern area as well. guest: he says he will talk about that when he goes to tennessee. there is every indication the president will talk about unemployment. the extension of the unemployment benefits has stalled on capitol hill. a lot of the republicans want some cuts to offset the loss of revenue for extending the unemployment benefits. i think they will get an extension of the unemployment benefits. i am sure he will talk about that tonight. wedge issues is a republicansalled -- are off base on that.

i think you hear that as a big issue tonight. i do suspect that will get done at some point. host: kevin from fort worth, texas, hi. caller: good morning. it really doesn't matter what the president says tonight. he needs to get on the road and make sure the house becomes democrat [indiscernible] [indiscernible] thank you very much. >guest: the president is being pushed in different directions. many democrats feel the president should do right to confronting the republicans from the get go saying the republicans are blocking items such as the minimum wage and

unemployment and benefits and immigration overall and that he audit take the case to the country that the republicans are at fault and they need to be pushed out of control, the house in particular. i am sure he is going to do that later in the year. the signals from the white house are that he is not going to be as confrontational as he will be as we get closer to the midterm elections. he will try to find some consensus and be conciliatory. you might see that on immigration where he has been very confrontational in some ways because the republicans are blocking this. that sinceing signs the republicans seem to be talking about some move toward

immigration legislation in the path towardith a citizenship but a path toward legal status, a different thing. maybe he will let that play out and will hammer them on immigration right away. host: how am i watching tonight's speech if i am an incumbent? guest: a number of incumbent democrats are in a lot of trouble. senator pryor in arkansas, senator landrieu in louisiana are among those. look for thewill state level to see what the president will do for them in adopting policies that they want to see pushed. in different states it is different things. incumbents whome

appeared to be hanging by a thread. does he campaign for them as we get closer to the midterm election in november? you had some question -- you always have a question and i used to cover politics from a state level. they want the president to come in and does that do more harm than good? you will see a number of legislators not wanting the president to come in. host: ken walsh of "u.s. news & world report" is here to talk about the state of the union. he wrote a book about it, "prisoners of the white house: the isolation of america's presidents and the crisis of leadership." how does you learned, that apply to what the president faces tonight? guest: the president is a major character in the book.

it talks about the isolation that presidents feel. he has talked about it in interview about how surprised he was at how isolated the president can be and he felt he was becoming in his first term. look at the way the white house operates. his life is so abnormal. you have the idolizes around him, which every president has. you do not want to bring them bad news. the security is intense. bodyguards, secret service everywhere. president obama understands this. he likes to get out of town a lot to get a sense of normalcy of what everyday people are thinking and doing. that is difficult to draw in

everyday life experience out of. he will get out on the road. and mistake was getting stuck in the bubble of washington too much. latanya, democrats line. caller: good morning. i am taking issue with president obama's numbers declining. it goes all the way back to ronald reagan and his sixth term. and also it is the --president obama is putting out things he would like done. it takes a congress to work with him. if they are putting up roadblocks, how is it him not communicating? it is the republicans not wanting to do anything the

president wants to do. guest: that is a good point. the house has blocked many of the things he wanted to do. that is still the case. a long-standing argument. the president won reelection. a lot of house members won reelection with a bigger margin than obama. they say, why should i go along with him? i will let you decide which argument is better. years gone down every under obama. there have been cases where the numbers have gone way, way up. president clinton's first state of the union had high viewership. hadsident bush, the son,

amazing state of the union leadership when he was arguing the case for war in iraq. you can argue the news lends itself to that. it has got to be a question the white house must have in obama's numbers going down. maybe it is that our attention span as a country is so short now that people do not want to pay attention to a speech like this. this has become such a ritualized event. it.ink people are tired of a lot of it is showmanship, by any president. every president that i have covered have done the same thing. it becomes showmanship. you will see tonight.

there'll be all kinds of gamesmanship in the house chamber. the democrats will cheer when the president talks and the republicans will sit on their hands. under president bush, it was the democrats who were quiet and republicans who cheered. it becomes a game. more more people are tired of this. even some of the supreme court justices do not want to come anymore because it is cheerleading and showmanship. they get called out. they just have to sit there quietly and not or shake their heads. i wrote about this this morning, this ritualized part of this institution of the state of the union i think has tired people

and they are feeling it is predictable and then also you out the responses now, the heart he has a chance to respond after it and that becomes another ritualized thing. republicans now have three responses. they have the official one and one from a tea party person and one from a libertarian. they cannot come up with one person to speak for them. host: the official cathy mcmorris rodgers is. guest: the message you get from those three factions is the republicans are divided. cathy mcmorris rodgers is a high ranking woman in the house. the republicans have a problem with women voters. they want to show women who are on their side and part of the

leadership. rand paul is speaking as a libertarian, on his own. is tea party -- mike lee speaking on his own also. they will not get the attention the congresswoman is getting. it shows how fractured the republicans are. host: do we know who was staying behind? guest: they keep one member of the cabinet out of the chamber in case there is some absolute disaster and somebody has to take over the government. they rotate this around. i do not know at this point. they like to tell you at the last minute which cabinet secretary is not in the chamber. that is the tradition for security reasons. a goes from one cabinet

department to another. host: david is up next, good morning. caller: i am not watching this. he does nothing but lie and brag about how he will turn this country into a socialist dictatorship. he is going to go after the demandake things fair, that we be stripped of our second amendment rights and protect ourselves. the same old garbage over and over again. he can break the constitutional law by special presidential orders. he doesn't have to follow the constitution. guest: this will be one of the lines of criticism, especially if the pursues this executive order, unilateral action strategy.

many people in the administration are saying that is what he should do. they think he has been taking too long to do it. far, you areet so going to be really upset after he starts to do it. i saw a number yesterday. president bush and president clinton both had issued many more executive orders then president obama has so far. he has been holding back on that. i think he will see an outpouring for the rest of his term, a specially if there is no change in congress. host: jason from laurel, maryland. caller: good morning. as far as you think the stage would be set for education, for the education for public schools

as far as security is concerned. there have been a lot of violent acts going on in schools. they talked about the gun laws. something should be done on the lower levels as far as community and it needs to be from the top to address this with the tactic skills to get your license. i want to note if that will be talked about at the state of the union. guest: you mean gun violence and protecting schools. caller: yes. i was talking about as far as -- host: jason, go ahead. caller: equipping teachers. them teachers, as far as being in the position to handle the situation. guest: that is a good point.

this is another area of contention. favor ofo are more in the use of guns or the ownership of guns feel this is an answer, that teachers in schools should be able to protect the students. thergument about whether teachers should be armed or maybe there should be an armed guard in every school to protect the students in case there is an attack. there is tremendous amount of controversy about this. the other side is people do not want to have this atmosphere of menace and danger in the schools and that maybe an armed guard would do that, would lend that sends two things. the money it would take to train these folks and procedures.

lots of schools are still controlled locally. it is still a local decision that you are talking about. i do not think the president would advocate for arming guards in schools. i think that is something he is opposed to. aboutnything he will talk gun control and the need for more control about guns. we just had another killing in a mall in suburban maryland this week. issue.gun violence how much will he address that? that is another tradition they call heroes in the gallery. president reagan invented this idea of having people who had done courageous things or who he wanted to recognize or values

that they exhibited sitting in the gallery with the first lady. president reagan did this with a utnick.ed lenny scot a plane went down in the potomac river. this fellow jumped into the water and saved somebody's life. this became a popular story around the country. he was treated as a hero and president reagan had him in the gallery. ever since presidents have had what they call here rose in the gallery. they'll have people who survived some of these gun incidents in the gallery tonight. they will try to draw attention to the gun issue that way. this is one thing that congress has not gone along on. he might uses as an occasion to

talk about how he will try to use executive orders even more on the gun issue. host: survivors of the boston marathon expected to be there as well as jason collins. the -- not just recognizing heroism. this is making a political point by recognizing people who embody some issues the president wants to call attention to. the heroes of the gallery have become showmanship as part of the event. host: jim breitenstein -- guest: that is another point. to what extent will members of congress try to make their own points making -- bringing guests.

we will have this increasingly played out in the chamber where members ring people that they want to make a point about. one of the members is bringing hannity. people are making these points and this ritual is spinning throughout the chamber. host: ronald is up next for our guest ken walsh from "u.s. news & world report." ronald, are you there? caller: yes. a lot of black young man have begun and are stepping up to the plate, raising their children and we have not got the credit of raising our children. a lot of black men raising their children and the unemployment rate is high in mississippi because of the government and

walmart keep holding jobs down. they will let the jobs come in. i think the president should address that and make them step up to the plate. guest: on the issue of african-american men and families, president obama has talked about that quite a bit. he is made the point about men the need to be more sensitive to taking care of their families, and to make sure they are working and supporting their families and being good parents. this is a message he sent that a lot of people are happy he has done this. estateuation is state and they differ about how difficult it is to find jobs. this is part of the long-term

unemployed. even though the unemployment rate has gone down as a national torage from seven percent 6.7%, there were still a tremendous problem with long-term unemployment giving up for work because they cannot find it. there are structural problems in the economy that have kept a lot of people unemployed for a very long time. economists say the longer you are unemployed, the more difficult it is to find a job, especially people on the lower rungs of the economic ladder. it gets back to the income inequality, closing the gap between the rich and the poor. he might not want to talk about inequality. he talks about opportunity.

recognizesroblem he very clearly and we will see what he comes up to address it. host: he makes those statements in other speeches. does he trumpet it tonight? guest: i think he does. democrats are urging him to address these issues more vigorously and i think he will do that tonight. hello.erry from georgia, caller: let me turn my tv down. i would like to talk about the state of the union. what is the state of the union? i think we should all work together to better our -- it is too divisive right now. we are pitting republicans against democrats. we don't ask are you democrat a

republican. we are all going to go down together. i think when obama made that statement, is about one job was to stop president obama. that was a slap in the face to every american. that is where the divisiveness started and it has been going downhill ever since. host: how do you think how the president addresses house republicans? guest: house republicans have been the fundamental obstacle to a lot of these programs. the caller is talking about mitch mcconnell, who is up for reelection this year. right from the beginning of president obama's administration, macconnell said one of his biggest priorities would be to ensure the defeat of

president obama when he ran for reelection and to stop his programs. there was this argument being made on capitol hill to stop obama, not giving him much of a chance to be persuasive. that is true. could he have worked with the republicans more? how does he address the republicans tonight? i think he is probably going to walk the line between saying, i am going to try to work with you, house republicans. i will give you another chance. if it doesn't work, i will not hesitate to go on my own with these executive orders. this is the last chance to get something done. if it doesn't happen, i will go my own way. host: the president's former

speechwriter talked about how the writing starts around christmas. guest: the president over the holidays was thinking about this on his vacation in hawaii. this is very common. it tends to be a very long process. you have seen other speechwriters talk about the process and how miserable it is for the speechwriters. they are not just working with the president. they have pollsters, white house staffers, people all over the government. a former speechwriter did a piece about it this week and said you have college roommates who want to get paragraphs in the speech. you have a huge patchwork and i have to smooth it out and get some kind of arrangement where people lose track and what the president is getting at.

it is a very difficult process and they pretty much do not like it. it doesn't rise to the occasion. it is a laundry list, too many time in the sense of being a compelling address to the country. host: the lands of the speeches are tracked. in previous years about an hour. as far as how long the speech goes, how does it lay out to those in the room or watching on television? guest: in the room, they are making their points. h, you have a 59 or hour speec that includes all the applause and introductions. so, it is almost, it is pretty rare it is less than an hour.

he gets to be detectable from the viewers perspective. people jumping to their feet. the other side being silent. becomes -- it one-upsmanship and i think that gets tiresome for viewers. host: this is anthony from washington, d.c., independent line. caller: tonight's state of the union address, and i am not against immigration. doesng as it has been, how immigration help the unemployment situation? i would like for the president to address that. guest: this is a rather complicated issue. that people who advocate immigration reform or change

immigration laws to make it easier for the people who went to the united states illegally to stay here, millions and millions of these folks. it is difficult to imagine how we would throw them out of the country. do you keep them in the shadow world where they might get into trouble? a lot of people take jobs that americans do not want. that is a controversial issue. some feel americans would want those jobs. you have this huge body of people who want to the united states illegally. what do you do with them? would it be better to have them be productive taxpayers and participate in the country more productively? they would also get more benefits from things like medicare over time. it is a big argument in

washington. the president's argument is these are people who are not criminals and came to find a better life. they did break the law to get into the country. there should be some way to keep them here and to have them do something productive. the other side is they broke the law and should not take advantage for breaking the law. they should go back home and come back in under the regular as teachers. this is the fault line that has always been there on the immigration issue. do you give them amnesty or not? billdent reagan did sign a that did give immigrants, illegal immigrants this notion of an mistake. he was an icon of the

conservative movement and he did that. house republicans are now talking about finding a pathway to legal residency as opposed to citizenship, which is the sacred prize of american life. this is something that they will unveil very soon. something the president will want to see what is in the proposal. host: anything tonight that would constitute a surprise for you? guest: if there is some big initiative it would be a surprise. the white house has been dotting back on expect haitians. dialing back on expectations. i was surprised at how much he had backed off from these grand ideas of hope and change. he talked in terms of every president is part of a

long-running story. you just hope you get your paragraph right. he was writing a book and now he's down to a paragraph. neither this is a tremendous head fake and they want to lower expectations so people will be more surprised if he does come up with a series of initiatives. the white house has been discouraging this idea. , our ken walsh >> i realize tax reform will not be easy. the politics will be hard for both sides. none of us will get 100% of what we want. but the alternative will cost us jobs, hurt our economy. visit hardship on millions of

hard-working americans. so let's set party interest aside and work to pass a budget that replaces reckless cuts with smart savings and wise investments in our future and let's do it without the brinksmanship that scares off consumers. the greatest nation on earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufacturing crisis to the next. e can't do it. [applause] >> let's agree. let's agree right here, right now to keep the people's government open and pay our bills on time and uphold the full faith and credit of the united states of america. >> our preview program starts live tonight at 8:00 eastern with the president at 9:00. followed by the response from

republican conference chair, kathy mcmorris rodders engineers and your reaction. the state of the union tonight live on c-span, c-span radio and cspan.org. >> tomorrow "washington journal," we will talk with tom price. he will outline the g.o.p.'s legislative priorities and the democratic's democratic agenda from john larson. "washington journal" is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. the day started on capitol hill with both house democrats and republicans meeting in their caucus and conferences separately. leaders from both parties came out to speak to reporters. they reacted to the news that president obama will propose waging the minimum wage to

$10.10. here's some of the reaction from the republican leadership this morning. . >> good morning. a recent study showed that there are 2/3 of americans that are check paycheck to pay without much in emergency savings at a time when americans pay their housing bill, their transportation bills, their child care bills, utility bills, they have very little left over to save for emergencies. you add to this the high unemployment rate today and the folks that have just all out given up looking for work. and you quickly see the effects of this administration's policies and the pain the american people are going through. that's why republicans are

stressing today and every day, our better alternatives, our view for a positive future for americans to put more money in americans' pockets, to get people back to work and to stimulate this economy. we join the president and expecting this to be a year of action, but if this is going to happen, he needs to put down his pen and his phone, work with us, not work around us, to make this country the great country that it can be. >> tonight, we are looking forward to hearing from the president and from our colleague catty mcmorris rodgers. she will deliver a conservative message about our desire to empower the american people. this has been the house focus. we passed dozens of jobs bills that continue to languish in the united states senate. you know, the president says, he

wants to make this a year of action. well, sounds good, but if he wants to make it a year of action, let's work together to pass promotion authority to create more jobs in america. let's work together on building the keystone pipeline and tens of thousands of jobs that would be created as a result. let's work together and find common ground on the house-passed jobs bills that are sitting in the senate that will help the american people to have a better shot at a better job and higher wages. >> good morning. the working middle class in america is having a very tough time right now and in fact, it's hard for many to find a good job. wages are stagnant and harder to get ahead. and if you want to find out about opportunities for educating your kids, it's becoming more expensive and out of reach for many. plain and simple, america is not working for the middle class.

republicans wants an america that works for everybody and it is clear that our policies are oing to be aimed and have been benefiting everyone. we want an economy that grows for everybody. and we still have to worry about america's role in a global economy because it affects folks here at home. i had the opportunity to travel abroad this week with some of my colleagues and i think what my take-away was, there is a real blessing for american action abroad, because it is we who stand for freedom around the globe. and i also visited poland and saw the consequences when we fail to do so. we need an america that works for everyone. we need an america that leads and that's what our republican conference will be focused on this year. >> good morning and welcome back. as we all know today is a

different day than normally here in washington. this is the state of the union. this is a unique opportunity for all of us. heading into tonight for the president's speech, latest polls show the country is over half disappointed. he is headed into his last term. he has had the lost years of his presidency. this is not a time for a title in politics. really, what i'm personally looking for is to not miss this opportunity. don't miss this opportunity of a disgruntled country of where our job performance is going and find an opportunity where we can come together. find an opportunity where we aren't going to use pen and phone but actually going to listen and put people before politics. not going to be about rhetoric but about results and solutions.

>> good morning. as you have already heard, my house republican colleagues and i agree with the president. the american people do need action and they need it now. why does the president think that he needs to circumvent congress with his pen and phone executive strategy? if the president truly cared about helping the american people and the workers, he would simply look to the house of representatives for answers. and over the last year, the house of representatives has assed dozens, dozens of common sense pro-growth jobs bills that streamline our work force, that increase american energy production and offer regulatory relief, especially to the small businesses. and furthermore, we have passed legislation to protect the american economy from the harmful effects of obamacare. now, the democrat-led senate could take up any of these bills, these house-passed jobs bills today and send them to the

president and sadly, these items are laying on the desk over in the senate on harry reid's desk waiting for action. this is simply unacceptable. jobs are more than just a pay check. jobs represent our livelihoods. they instill in us a pride and help us to take care of our families. sadly in this obama economy, there are 91 million americans who are out of the work force and stuck on the sidelines and they deserve more than speeches. they need action on the part of the president and the senate democrats. president obama should call on harry reid tonight to pass these commonsense house-jobs bills and bring relief to the american workers. it is time for the democrat majority in washington to get to work so our constituents can do the same. thank you. >> speaker boehner, "national

review" publication had an editorial that the house has done nothing to immigration reform. can you guarantee that the house g.o.p. will do something regarding immigration reform? >> we are going on our retreat on wednesday and thursday we will have a discussion about immigration reform. we are going to outline our standards, principles of immigration reform and have a conversation with our members. and once that conversation is over, we will have a better feel for what members have in mind. >> do you agree -- >> we will talk to our members and once we talk to our members, we will have more to say about how we move forward. [inaudible question]

>> what do you think about the executive actions and do you have any support? >> i think the president has the authority to raise the minimum wage for those dealing with federal contracts. let's understand something. this affects not one current contract. it only affects future contracts with the federal government. and so i think the question is how many people, mr. president, will this executive action actually help. i suspect the answer is somewhere close to zero. when it comes to the federal minimum wage, i used to be an employer. when you raise the cost of something, you get less of it. and i know from increases of minimum wage in the past that hundreds of thousands of low-income americans have lost their jobs. and so, the very people the president purports to help are the ones who are going to get

hurt by this. when you look at african-americans and hispanics, they don't have a chance to get on the economic ladder. it's bad policy and will hurt the very people that the president purports it will help. >> passed two clean debt ceilings, why is it different this time? >> listen, we've dealt with the debt ceiling a number of times over the last three years and at retreat, we will have another discussion. i don't think republicans want to default on our debt. secondly, the president has made clear he doesn't want to negotiate. thirdly, obvious to me having tried to work with the president the last three years that he will not deal with our long-term spending problems unless republicans agree to raise taxes and we are not going to raise taxes. so the options available continue to be narrower in terms

of how we address the issue of the debt ceiling, but i'm confident we will be able to find a way. >> what will republicans will do if president obama signs executive orderers? >> house republicans will continue to look closely at whether the president is faithfully executing the laws as he took an oath to do. now, i think dealing with federal contracts and the minimum wage, he probably has the authority to do that. but we are going to watch very closely, because there's a constitution that we all take an oath to, including him. and following that constitution is the basis for our republic and we shouldn't put that in jeopardy. >> what do you do? >> there are options available to us and we will have a discussion about that as well at retreat. hanks.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by tional captioning institute] >> can you see that? how's that? >> ok. can we start?

thank you all for being here this morning with the vice chairman, joe crowley from new york and me, chairman of the democratic caucus, halfier be cease bsh becerra. we had our secretary of the treasury jack lew and he gave us a report of what we can expect the president to tell us in the state of the union and quite honestly, it's good. it's strong. it's all about action and working together with congress to get things done and where congress decides to go into this shut-down mode of shut-down politics and intends to obstruct, the president will do what he can through his executive powers as president of the united states. i think most of us are all for the president doing everything he can to work with our colleagues here, republicans and democrats alike, in the senate

and house, to get things done, but let's get things done and the president can get things done without having to worry about a do that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks nothing congress, that's why he is president. at the end of the day it's about security, whether it's economic security, health security, it's about making sure that americans feel like they and their family are protected against the cold wind, the harsh conditions that might arise from a recession or from the lack of health care, quality, affordable health care or from not knowing the availability of a good school for your child who has done well in high school and ready to go to college. security. economic security, health security. that's what it's about. so when the president says that, he is going to try to work with congress to increase the minimum wage to $10.10.

we are with him. if he says congress doesn't want to act and have folks who are in shutdown mode or want to be obstacles, he will take action as he can as the executive to help make sure that people who work for federal contractors, people who get taxpayer money to do their work, to do their work, those contractors will have to pay the minimum wage of $10.10 to their employees. what does $10.10 get you? if you work an entire year, probably around $21,000. if you happen to have a family of three, you, spouse and child, that barely gets you over the poverty line. and so, to many of us, it's not just about economic security, which is critical, it's about rewarding work. getting back to the days that i remember, where my father, who was a road construction worker most of his life. sixth grade education, a mother

who came from mexico when she married my father at the age of 18, could still see their children go off and get a college degree. where we rewarded my father for the work he did as a road construction worker, building those roads that we drive on today. we believed if you worked hard, you should have a chance. we should get back to those days where we reward work. so right now, many americans, millions of americans are making less than $10.10. many americans are working and still having to go to the food pantry after work to make sure they have enough food to feed the family. i believe the president is talking about action in 2014, because that should no longer exist. we should reward work and have economic security, health security for everyone. it's time for us to do the things that people expect us to do as a congress. these games of shutdown politics

should end. these days of using procedural votes to obstruct the ability of our country and our government to move forward should end, and we should let this economy launch. more than eight million jobs created over the last four years and we can build on that. all we have to do is work together to get it done. one way or the other, we have to get it done and i believe the president will let us know that working with congress or if congress wants, working without congress, the president is going to get work done. we applaud him for that and look forward to it. and let me yield to the vice chairman, joe crowley. >> thank you, mr. becerra. i want to thank secretary lew for coming this morning and reiterating that the president will not compromise on the debt ceiling. that was welcomed news. the republicans once again are trying to use every angle they

can in concessions one way or the other, in this case on the affordable care act and the president is trying to move the country forward. we have to stop as we have been saying over and over again, these manmade fiscal cliffs, these manmade potential disasters. and i think the american people are tired of it and want to see the congress stop using these tactics and get on and do the business of the country. we also know that later today, the republicans will offer a bill that will move towards deteriorating the rights of women in our country. once again, demonstrating what their agenda is all about. mike hucka bee last week had irresponsible and ridiculous comments at the r.n.c. meeting where he said that democrats think that women are helpless creatures whose only goal is for the federal government, uncle

sugar to provide birth control because they can't control their libidos. that is the irresponsible jargon being used by the republican party today out of step with the american people and out of step with women in our country. so, what we are looking forward to today is the president. we are excited about that. we know that he is going to set an agenda for this year. he is looking for a partner in this congress. he is desperate for one, but also showing if he fails to find one, he is willing to act in a legal way to help move the country forward. in this particular case in raising the minimum wage, as mr. becerra eloquently laid out for you and what that means. it is an opportunity for the members of congress on both sides of the aisle to demonstrate where they stand in this country. do they stand with special interests or do they stand with

providing an opportunity for middle-class security in this country? that's what this year is about. whether or not republicans will demonstrate, whether they stand with the special interests or strengthening the security of the middle class. and lastly, i want to point out, you know, we have heard all this about how the affordable care act has been a job killer. speaker boehner, being the lead cheerleader on this particular aspect and said the affordable care act will be killing jobs. nothing can be further from the truth. private-sector job growth in this country since the day the president signed the affordable care act. entirely countered to everything that has been said about the affordable care act. it is not a jobs killer. it is providing health care security for millions of americans and will continue to do so. and again, the president is

looking for a partner and would like to see the republicans move from this agenda of rolling back the tide and looking for a republican partnership in the congress to move the country forward. with that, i yield back to the chairman. >> before we go to questions and run to committee because the ways and means committee is holding a hearing, both of us are members of that committee, to no surprise to anyone, the committee hearing will deal with the issue of the affordable care act, which is, if you can believe this, the most powerful committee in the house of representatives and the most powerful committee in congress which has spops built of driving holding omy forward or it back. it has never held a hearing on efforts to repeal or improve it in the last six months and 10

days and today's hearing is no different. it will be the same thing. as the vice chair just mentioned, while some of our colleagues in congress, our republican colleagues are obsessed with repealing the affordable care act, are obsessed with obstructing the president's jobs agenda, this is what has been going on as our vice chairman said. eight million private-sector jobs have been created in america since the affordable care act became law. and if you were to take the quote of mr. boehner, our speaker, in my opinion, he says, obamacare is the biggest job killer we have in america today. speaker said that january 6, 2011. eight million jobs since the affordable care act passed have been created. not just eight million jobs, but take the close to one million jobs that have been created in

the health care sector alone. if it is a job killer, you think it would have killed jobs in the sector where it has the most impact. but the health security law has created almost one million jobs many the health care sector and eight million jobs have been created since the four years since. the launch of these exchanges that started on october 1, that was the guts of the affordable care act, because that's where millions of americans have the opportunity to get coverage. since the launch of those exchanges, more than nine million americans have gained health security in this country. more than nine million americans just since october 1. by the way, in that same time since october 1 of 2013, slightly more than three months, 530,000 jobs have been created in the health care sector alone.

so, next time politicians want to stand up and make claims whether it's about death panels or government takeover of americans' health care or about job-killing, ask them for the facts because the facts make it clear. what the president has helped us do and accomplish and what america is seeing in helping getting health security, putting americans to work. >> the president expected to address immigration and are you confident he could do something in the executive orders that he has talked about and what mostly are you looking forward to hearing him say? >> we had a champion on immigration reform before he became president in 2008. we are hoping the president will continue to make the push and emphasize to members of congress that we are close. senate accomplished a bipartisan reform, which would help our economy grow. will create jobs and reduce our

deficits by a trillion dollars over the next 20 years. hopefully our house republican colleagues will let us have a vote. i feel confident the president will do everything possible to make it easier for our republican colleagues to finally decide they can do something on immigration reform. and given the president has said he will take executive action where he sees inaction on the part of congress and our republican colleagues, there are many ways on immigration where the president can take action that will not only be beneficial to our economy and to people in america who are working or who re employing americans, that i think is a way to stop separating families who we know in the future are going to be hard-working americans and help us grow. i feel confident that the president will give us not only a lift on immigration to get the reform done, but also use his

powers to do the best thing he can whether it's for the economy, health care or immigration as the president. >> i think as always, the state of the union is an opportunity for the president to express his vision for our country. there's no vision in this republican-controlled house of representatives. i think there is a lot that the chairman has said that the president can do if he chooses to use executive order. i think we all recognize the best way to approach the issue of immigration reform is a comprehensive bill. set the agenda for the next debling decade or more -- decade, this is something we have talked about over and over again. but tonight, i think what the president needs to do is spell out for the american people why we need to accomplish this and why we need to get this done. i think many members of congress understand it, but the american people need to understand why it's in their interest to see we

have comprehensive reform and the president will have an opportunity to do it tonight. >> secretary lew touch on the debt ceiling? what did he tell the conference about that? >> the secretary, secretary lew, did discuss the need for us to pay our bills and the importance of not playing with fire when it comes to the markets, interest rates and the livelihood of americans who are working and paying their bills. he made it very clear that the president's position remains the white house's position and the secretary articulated once again, we don't negotiate the livelihood of american families to extract concessions that have nothing to do with moving the economy forward. and so i think the secretary was ery explicit that we have an

approaching deadline to have republicans and democrats alike in congress authorize the legislation that lets us pay for the bills that members of congress and the house and the senate, republicans and democrats, authorize through their yes votes. so the president is saying, as the chief executive, i can only administer the laws. if you passed a budget bill that required us to invest here or invest there, and we now have to pay the costs to those american workers and american contractors who did the work, please, congress, don't tell me that you are going to hold us hostage so you can extract things like repealing the health security law that has helped over nine million americans in the last several months. and so, we think we can get this done working with the president, but it's good to know that we

hopefully will not have a game of russian rule et as we try to move the country forward. >> the point that secretary lew made and because of the timing of the year, and i don't understand all of this, but he has limited extraordinary means by which to extend the lifting of the debt ceiling. so i think that demonstrates again emergency that the 7th is not an important date but critical date in terms of that. but maybe more to the american people. can anyone explain to the american people why it's in their interests to see interest rates rise? that would be one of the more immediate results of failing to meet our debt obligations. fail to do that, it costs more of our money, costs more of our

government and costs more for the average american to borrow money. how is it in their best interests? i don't know. >> two more questions. >> speaker boehner told reporters about the idea of more executive action from this president, that the idea that he is going to do things alone, he has to be reminded about the constitution, speaker boehner say we are not going to let him trample all over us. how is executive action going against the constitution and taking power away from congress? >> the president is not trying to act alone. when the president talks about working with congress to increase the minimum wage, the vast majority of not just members of the senate, not only the large number of members in the house and virtually every single democrat, but virtually all americans are with him.

of the 300-plus million americans in this country, by a wide margin, 70%, perhaps 80%, people say we should pay people for working hard. for our republican colleagues to say that the president is acting alone when he says let's increase the minimum wage, wow! they have not been on earth long enough to know what's going on. he is working with congress. he has said let's pass the legislation that has been introduced in the senate and the house to raise the minimum wage, but should he have to wait because of the obstacles that are placed by republicans or because the republicans would prefer to shut down our government? i think he's saying, i'll do what i can as the executive of this government. but i'll try to do as much as i can working with congress. i heard a report earlier this morning that the president in the state of the union last

year, he gave us 41 different items to pass. of those 41 different tasks that the president, who had just gotten re-elected by a wide margin put before congress. how many of those items did congress get to work on and pass? two. two. if we want to see another year of do nothing because congress is unwilling to act but wants to obstruct or shut down, then we won't get very far. the president says let's go as far as we can and if congress finds it difficult to walk and chew gum, he will do what he can. it's asking congress to walk and chew gum at the same time. most of us believe we were hired as members of congress to be able to at least walk and chew gum. there is no trampling or acting alone. the president is acting congress to work him. but he isn't going to wait for

inaction of congress weighing everybody down. we have to get to work. >> could you just repeat the question. >> speaker boehner said we and letoing to sit here the president trample all over us. >> do what. that's what the republican has done, nothing. what the president is doing here, with this executive order, is leading, he's saying that this administration will not be complicit in holding back middle-class security for this country with federal contractors. that's what the president is saying. it's not a panacea. this is not the fix we are looking for, but he's leading by example, sending a message to congress that we need to raise the minimum wage for all americans and sending a message to states, you need to raise your minimum wages. in much the same way when he led

the country in terms of the dreamers on immigration reform. he helped bring back that issue to the forefront by again, not a panacea, but helping to move the agenda forward. that's what the president's job is. he's not trying to abrogate the constitution or trying to be in violation of that. he wouldn't do that. what he's doing is trying to lead. >> one last question and then we'll move on. >> in terms of whether you are getting a sense in the caucus of where members stand on the farm bill, the conference report that is supposed to be on the floor tomorrow particularly in regard to the volume of -- >> in this case, what you are going to find is that both democrats and republicans will be on both sides of this one. some members will support it, others will not. and in a way, it's the product

of quite a bit of work that was done among the leaders of the conference committee that tried to get something done. some progress was made. some reforms were added to the farm bill that avoids some of the outrageous and unconscionable that goes on for nothing to -- have do with these and get writeoffs in the farm bill. millions of americans are going to be left without food on the table or enough food on the table as a result of this and what's going to be an even worse cut for the nutrition programs, they reduced it, but a lot of americans are still struggling. not the thing you want to see. members on both sides of this and before i ask the vice

chairman for any comments, can i say one last thing. speaker boehner with regard to the question about not being too happy that the president says he is going to do what he can as the president of the united states, when speaker boehner essentially says that, it boggles the imagination that the leader in the house of representatives prefers to have a president who will do nothing and twiddle his thumbs while he waits for congress to act. and the actual words used by speaker boehner was, if the president tries to act, he will hit a brick wall, that the republicans are going to be a brick wall. as the vice chairman just said, that is what we have been up against for the last few years with the republican leadership in the house of representatives. this republican congress has put up a brick wall to americans trying to get back to work. a brick call to americans who are trying to see a decent wage

and see an increase to the minimum wage, a brick wall when it comes to securing affordable health care and not worry about a child who has asthma not being able to get insurance. a brick wall. i think the speaker spoke -- not just eloquently or honestly when he said that republicans have been acting like a brick wall. we don't need brick walls in front of the american people. we need jobs. we need health security, we need good opportunities for schools. last thing we need are brick walls. you know what? we can pull out sledge hammers to get work done because we have to get things done for the american people. time to get to work, whether it's a brick wall we have to tear done or wall of injustice or wall of inaction or wall of shutdown government, it's time for us to act. and let me have the vice chairman close. >> let me be very brief. i am also grateful to those in

particular, colin peterson who negotiated this bill on behalf of our caucus but from what was a disastrous bill, $40 billion cut to the snap program, i'm grateful it is not a $40 billion cut but an $8 billion cut over the next 10 years and democrats are not for worsening, if that is the proper word -- making more worse the issue -- the reality of hunger in our country. we are trying to lessen that. so, for me, this is an important and very, very critical important issue. i will not vote for this farm bill, but i do recognize that there are good aspects to it and many of our colleagues have worked hard and diligently to ensthur that their interests for their states have been met, and i respect that.

but i sadly say that i will not vote for this farm bill because of these cuts. >> thank you very much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by tional captioning institute] >> associated press says democrat will buildup the middle class and will take action without congress. state of the union, our coverage gets under way at 8:00 and speech at 9:00 followed by the republican response and on c-span 2, comments from other members of congress. it starts at 8:00 on c-span. and we'll talk about the state of the union with republican tom

price of georgia. he is on the ways and means and budget committees and will outline the republican legislative priorities and representative john larson from connecticut. tomorrow and every morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. we have been asking you what issue do you want congress and the president and congress to address this year? don says -- >> why he did not send chris stevens and why i can't keep my doctor and why he has had so much trouble gettings things done since the g.o.p. has been blocking his attempt. how about staying in school, sacrifice and you will succeed, no more it's your fault. book.com/cspan.

we heard from the senate leaders earl year today starting with harry reid hearing that the speech tonight will not be that ong. >> i was informed today that during the last seven years republicans have waged 474 filibusters. they filibustered major legislation, minor legislation, nominations, everything. as we speak they are still filibustering unemployment compensation which affects 1.6 million americans who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. "new york times" reports today that one of my republican colleagues has made a decision to actively work to sabotage any progress on immigration reform.

this is not the way it should be. we should be working together trying to come up with ideas to move forward in legislative form. but what are we to do? i think we'll find at the state of the union tonight, the president decided that republicans are obstructing everything and will continue to do so, so he will have to do some things on his own and i agree with him. he needs to use his administrative authority, his executive authority to start doing some things for this country. it should be done the easy way and that is working together with legislation, but 474 filibusters, that's what they've done. americans are tired of us squabbling here in washington congressionally and they want us to get things done, so i hope

they will suddenly after their house retreat, they'll finish this week, maybe come back and republicans who identify with other republicans around the country and not stop everything. maybe senator mcconnell, who is number one goal is to defeat president obama's re-election, maybe he doesn't realize he was re-leblingted and can't move out of that gear he has been locked into it. >> speaker boehner suggested this morning that he might be looking for something in the health care ball repealing the edical device tax, trying to obstruct. what is your response. >> they are obsessed with this

health care and their obsession becomes more fixed every day -- he seems to be -- sorry hundreds of thousands of people are signing up every week. he should get a new tune to sing to. my surprise that they are going to try to continue this branchingsmanship, that they have been doing for all these years right up to the fiscal cliff. american people don't want another government shutdown. why don't they come with a new tune? i guess they can't. u.i.nator reid, paying for benefits -- [inaudible] >> i don't have the slightest

idea what republicans are going to do except getting in the way of getting things done. in years past, they didn't want pay-fors and we agree with that. >> number of democrats have asked for various bills to change obamacare and i wonder if you envision any of them coming up? >> well, i had a number of meetings and continue to have meetings. we have a group of senators led by senator murphy, who is going to start coming up with different speeches to talk about the good stuff about obamacare. we have some of the senators talking about ways to fix obamacare. i'm happy to continue my discussions with them. and i would hope they can get some republicans to join with them and do some constructive things that we probably would agree to. in the past, republicans have

only wanted to repeal it, they don't want to fix anything. ardon me, everybody. i don't want to say make fun, you have the flu and not coming to work, what's wrong with you? this past friday, i got the flu. i'm a true believer now that it makes you sick. you don't want to hear about my flu. >> did you get a flu shot? >> yeah, i sure did. >> when do you expect the farm bill might come to the floor of the senate and are democrats ok with the deal? >> the answer is -- the house is going to send it over to us tomorrow. as soon as the insurance is done, i will move to the farm bill conference as quickly as i can.

one cloture vote. i will get to it as close as i can. >> yesterday, house democrats, including the other democrats called on obama on immigration. what do you think the president should be doing on deportation? >> why they don't come up with immigration bill of their own. we know that it's the right hing to do, not only for the economy. it would reduce the debt by a trillion dollars, so i think they should start looking in the mirror at themselves and start saying this is a bill that should get done rather than looking at excuses to try and point fingers at other people. >> [inaudible question]

>> the other thing that would trouble me is that reid, stop dosing off. other than that, i will do my best. i have dozed off once or twice, 's years. obama i have been alert -- i understand the speech isn't going to be very long. it's not going to be a record breaker for length. so we'll see. i wouldn't want him to pinpoint me for nodding a little bit. >> you mentioned the bill coming up in the next three weeks, when do you plan to take that up? >> we hope to take it up the second week after we get back after the next work period. >> the minimum wage for federal

contractors -- >> people who are dish washers, janitors, cooks, waiters, who get minimum wage should be paid $10.10. and that's going to kick in, renewals will kick in immediately. new hires will kick in when the new contracts come around. >> what are the prospects for the amendment to get the flood insurance bill up? >> i'm so sorry. we're going to finish the flood insurance bill either with or without a deal. we have tried our best to come up with -- to be as patient as we can. we now have about a dozen amendments that we're happy to do. too many mi, after months -- toom embing y, after months, came with his amendment, we're

happy to debate on that, we'll either get an agreement today or their 30 hours is up tomorrow, which would be another 30-hour cloture waste of time. we're going to finish that bill if at all possible. thanks. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> well, good afternoon, everyone. we'll all have a long day today. i've just learned that the governor of my state will be sitting with the first lady tonight, obviously they've decided to make him the poster

child for obamacare. the suggestion being that obamacare is working pretty well in the commonwealth of kentucky you might be interested in a few statistics that demonstrate to the contrary. first, nationwide, we know that only about 11% of the people who are signing up for private insurance on the exchanges didn't already have insurance. so obviously they lost whatever they had and are signing up for something new. in kentucky, there are 42,000 people who have signed up for insurance, private insurance, on the exchanges. the state is not making available how many of them were not previously insured. what we do know is that 280,000 kentucky yaps have lost the policies they have, 280,000 have lost their policies, 42,000 have signed up for new policy, we're not sure how many of them are in the 280,000.

and we know that 138,000 people have signed up for medicaid. and i think most of the signups across the country are in the medicaid area because that is obviously free health care and pretty popular, i'm sure, among those who are eligible. so make no mistake about it, obama kaye is equally as wig a -- a big a disaster in the commonwealth of kentucky as it is anywhere else in the country. i'm sure the governor will enjoy being in the presence of the first lady tonight but no amount of spin can convince kentuckians that obamacare has not been, at least so far a pretty big setback for our state. >> as the president speaks tonight, he confronts two major problems, largely of his own making. one is the chi sis of credibility and the other a cry

soifs confidence directly as a result of his own actions or inactions, as the case may be. we're all familiar with all the promises made with real -- made relative to obamacare, if you like what you have you can keep it, a family of four will see their premiums go down $2,500, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. as the american people are finding out, all of that is untrue, hence the president's crisis of credibility. i would today that also the keystone x.l. pipeline. you're familiar with the pipeline keck between canada, a friendly source of nrbling, to the united states, would end up, the terminus would be around port arthur, texas, where it would be refined into jet fuel and other refined products. this would create thousands of jobs. it would make our source of energy, north american. and it would reduce our dependence on imported energy from parts of the world.

the president promised the mesh people he would make a decision on this by december 31, 2013. unless i missed something, the president did not do that, hence adding to this cry soifs credibility i mentioned a moment ago. >> we're told the president is going to say tonight that he wants this to be a year of action and we agree with that. which is why we think he ought to work with us on bipartisan measures that will create jobs and economic opportunity for middle class americans. instead, the president is talking about taking unilateral action on a whole range of things. he started it today with raising the minimum wage for federal contractors, going to call on congress to raise the minimum wage. there are a lot of boinch things out there that would create jobs. you heard senator cornyn talk about the keystone pipeline, the president's own state department said that would create 42,000

jobs. you heard senator mcconnel talk about obamacare and how it's destroying jobs and opportunities if his home state. and how the -- and now the president is talk about a minimum wage increase which the budget office has said in the past would cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs. why come out and put forward policies that you know will destroy jobs at the very time when you know the best way for people -- best way for people, the best pathway to a better, more prosperous future, is a good job. republicans want to work with the president to create good jobs in this country so middle class americans can get on a pathway to better security, greater prosster by and greater opportunity for them and their families. >> one of those threats to good jobs continues to be the medical device tax. which was passed as part of the health care law. so when the president leaves after the state of the union, we know that he's going to

maryland, to pennsylvania, wisconsin, as well as to tennessee. now there are eight senators from those four states, four republicans, four democrats. all eight of them voted in favor of repealing the medical device tax because they know it harm theirs communities, it sends jobs overseas and it prevents getting americans working again. so if the president talks, as his spokesman did this weekend, about using the phone and using the pen, what the president should do if he's interested in jobs and the economy is call those eight senators, four republicans, four democrats, and say he agrees with them and he sign ng to use his pen to legislation to repeal the medical device tax. >> in terms of getting things done, there are plenty of things out there that could get done. the house, the republican house, has passed a lot of legislation a lot of it very job focused. there are any number of

bipartisan bills from infrastructure to manufacturing to mental health reform that could pass both the house and senate if they could get to the senate floor just like those bills that have already passed the house. i think many of us are concerned that the president stated in his -- and his staff continues to talk about, his administration continues to talk about, the pen and the phone. you know, to think that a president of the united states has decided to limit himself to what you can do with a pen and a phone is one concern. another concern is, you know, the constitution should have something to do with what you do as president and it's not what you can do with the pen and the phone. but while he's picking up the phone he could call harry reid and say, why don't you encourage this bipartisan legislation to go through committee in the senate and let's look at ha the house has passed and see what you can put on my desk that we agree with. the president more than anybody else in the government should be able to figure out what would i like to get done that can be

done, and it's that last part of the equation that the president's been unwilling to add to the are -- to the rest of the things the president could ring to the table. >> given what's taken place will you push for paying for tax extenders? >> typically republicans have felt you shouldn't have to pay for current tax policy. i think occasionally these packages have been paid for. but most republicans believe that existing tax policies hould not be paid for. >> would you support legal action to halt the president's if the supreme court

calls it unconstitutional? >> we'd all be interested to decide about the appointments. the crux of the matter is who decides when the senate is in session, the senate or the president. i think it's frequently dangerous to read too much into oral argument but it appeared as if the vast majority of the members of the supreme court were rather hostile to the government's point of view that the president himself got to decide, gets to decide when we're in session and when not. so we're hopeful to win that case and look forward to seeing the results. >> the flood insurance bill, how disease the bill need to be amended to get your vote for it? >> what we're hoping, since we've only had four republican roll call votes since last july, what we're hoping for is senator isaacson has been in the lead on

that on our side is a process to go forward that would allow us, our side, to have five amendments that we choose, not the majority leader, if we could enter into such an agreement, that would be a step in the right direction toward getting the senate back to at least something close to the way it used to be operated under which bills like that would frequently be brought up with no stipulations and we would just start processing amendments. so i'm hopeful that this may be a small kind of baby step in the direction of having a normal senate. >> there are some new provisions in the farm bill for industrial research in your state and other states that allow it. how does this connect to the andonal debate on marijuana about kentucky's use of

industrial hemp. >> hemp is a totally different plant, there shouldn't be any confusion on the marijuana and hemp issue. number two, hemp, approved by our state legislature on a broad bipartisan basis, has the potential to be a new crop for kentucky farmers. senator rand paul actually was the first person to sort of bring this to the agenda in kentucky and what the farm bill provision allows is for the commissioner of agriculture to engage in pilot projects to find out in effect if there is a market for industrial hemp, has nothing whatsoever to do with the marijuana issue. i'll take one more if there is one. >> is there any appetite among the republicans for a minimum wage increase. >> appetite for what? >> a minimum wage increase? >> it seems to me the last thing we ought to be doing is destroying jobs. and on one of the sunday shows

sunday, i made the point that the vast majority of people who work at the minimum wage are young people. the people who are suffering under this administration, the highest unemployment in anybody's memory, and it struck me that as part of our concern about creating jobs, the last thing we'd want to do is pass a measure that destroyed jobs. so if and when we turn to that issue, i think you can anticipate republicans being interested in offering as an alternative something that might actually create more jobs rather than something that would destroy jobs. so we're prepared to have that debate and hope we'll -- i'm sure the majority leader will get around to it sometime soon. thank you. >> i realize that tax reform and entitlement reform will not be

easy. the politics will be hard for both sides. none of us will get 100% of what we want. but the alternative will cost us jobs. hurt our economy. visit hardship on millions of hardworking americans. so let's set party interests aside and work to pass a budget that replaces reckless cuts with smart savings and wise investments in our future and let's do it without the brinksmanship that stresses consumers and scares off investors, the greatest nation on ert -- the great etc. nation on earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next. e can't do it. let's agree. let's agree right here, right now, to keep the people's

government open and pay our bills on time and always uphold the full faith and credit of the united states of america. >> watch president obama deliver this year's address. our preview program starts live tonight at 8:00 eastern with the president at 9:00. followed by the response from republican conference chair cathy mcmorris rodgers and your reaction by phone, facebook and twitter. the state of the union tonight live on c-span, c-span raide and c-span.org. -- c-span radio and c-span.org. from washington journal earlier today, we've got a preview of tonight's state of the union address with the house republican from utah. this is about 45 minutes. " continues. host: joining us now is jason chaffetz, republican from utah. and member of the homeland

security committees. thank you for joining us. talking about state of the union . you think you'll address you? guest: very generally. this is the sixth time we will have heard from the president. it is always good to hear from the president. he is sending very next signals signals.ixed he says if you don't do it my way, i will go on my way. that is a little offensive. the action he took this morning ed it is a very mix message. i do not think that is the spirit of the constitution. no one thing is supposed to be

easy. when the president says it is my way or the highway, that is not very conducive to getting things done. host: make the case you have worked with the president. guest: i introduced a bill -- he introduced a bill that says you have to paid your federal taxes, you should be prohibited from getting a federal contract. i agreed with him. it sits over in the senate. why the president won't lift a finger for a bill that he sponsored as a senator. i am sponsoring as a right wing conservative republican. i am doing things that i know i am agreeing with the president on. host: what do you expect

specifically to hear from the president on these topics? guest: he wants to simply raise the minimum wage. i would look to the state of utah. rateve a 4.1% unemployment and a thriving economy. we have a great environment for business. maybe we should learn from a state like utah as opposed to we are going to do these things that we have been doing for decades and have not worked. host: what lesson could the president learned from states? we did some of the heavy lifting in talking about the retirement program as opposed of to find benefit plan. it doesn't sound real sexy the makes a huge financial

difference in the state. there are things like that that are very important. a regulatory environment that is predictable. when you keep talking about these changes, it creates uncertainty. capital is resistant to making investments where there is uncertainty. consequently people do not invest. raising theut this cost of wages and memo the wage and the increasing regulatory environment i energy production, as a business they are hesitant to make an investment. one of the things that doesn't get enough attention our students and youth. you are in essence saying we are going to hire less young people.

if you are selling subway sam which is or you own a movie theater and you talk about let's raise the minimum wage, when you increase the cost of labor, you will have less people that you can hire. i worry that the 15, 16, 17-year-old are the ones that take the brunt of this pain. i understand somebody is trying to make a career. let's get them trained up so they can make more than minimum wage. host: our guest is representative jason chaffetz of utah. you can ask him questions on the phone line. 202-585-3880. 202-585-3881 for republicans. 202-585-3882 for independents. mentioned students. we have students as part of our c-span bus and will be joining

us throughout the course of the morning to ask questions of our guest. our first hall this morning is john for representative jason chaffetz. good morning. caller: good morning. i have always been an optimist. i have a lot of friends, republicans and democrats, good people, they vote. between the lobbyists and the type of people that vote by mary's, it doesn't --and primaries, it doesn't make a big difference. i voted for obama and reagan and clinton. neither side is going to sit down. you talk about students. the debt that student has will affect the housing market. you are right about training. germany is always at the top.

i am a democrat. i can go for the pipeline. both sides control most of the people that sell big money. both sides know us. you have to appeal to those people. i think we are at a stalemate. guest: good morning in kentucky. i am glad you are dissipating. we need more people participating. i am going to continue to be bullish on america and our future. we need people to be involved in this political process. look at the voter turnout number. we struggle with this in utah. the apathy about one vote doesn't matter. it came down to less than a few votes. with twogreat race

candidates with different visions. that race was decided by less than 1000 votes. i want everybody to be encouraged and enthused. we have to get some younger people engaged in the process. host: texas tech university is where our c-span bus. mr. jacobson, good morning. go ahead with your question or comment. mr. jacobson, go ahead. issues,al with those let's take another call. nation from ohio -- mason. caller: good morning. i have a couple of things to say. i typically judge people by their actions and not their party affiliations.

you'reng to you, i think in a bit of denial for three reasons. you talk about getting something done and having more jobs. last year was the biggest do-nothing congress we have had for probably ever. when we talk about the president doing something on jobs and you talking about how he is not trying to accomplish anything with jobs in the economy. he put forward a jobs bill that did not go through. republicans but no jobs bills on the table. your perception of the people earning in the wage is completely wrong. statistics show today's middle wage earner our adult trying to survive and raise a family on. the a working 80 hours or more and cannot get by.

job creation is great. we need to look at more job creation and training. you cannot leave the folks not being able to survive working 40 hours a week. guest: thank you and good morning in ohio. as far as a do-nothing congress, you equate the number of bills passed with progress. i would not necessarily equate the two. 150ave passed more than bills that now sit in the senate. just look at the number of bills that are sitting there that they have taken no action on. passed anress, we immigration reform bill. the debt with high tech vi

sas. do you think harry reid and the democrats would take that up and vote on that? no. it never got a vote. i would also look at the senate, which is controlled the democrats. i am not saying we are perfect. it is erroneous to equate the number of bills passed with progress. we don't have a president that engages in this process. there is nothing you can point to that the president of the united states has engaged to work with the opposition. that is who we are in this nation. we have to reach our hand out and come up with compromise. i do not see that with the white house. let's look at obamacare. one thing that obamacare really hurts is this penalty or this

requirement that some people who to getnimum wage jobs pushed a little bit so the maximum amount of time would be 29 hours. i had a woman who said, i am a single mom and working hard and not my employer is going to moving from 40 hours a week down week to meet a requirement with obamacare. these kinds of things are difficult and wrong. if you want to tackle that, let's repeal obamacare. host: mr. jacobson from texas tech again, go ahead. go ahead. you are on, sir. what you think could be

done to strengthen our economy? guest: thank you and good morning in texas. we have a whole array of students who are getting ready to graduate. my daughter is entering college. that is a big concern. you get your degree and then let? obamalicies of president and the democrats have not worked. the democrats have the house, the senate, and the presidency. he invested in bigger and broader government. billion that was supposed to stimulate the economy. it didn't. it failed. they did cash for clunkers. we have a host of things. you have to deal with the health care sector. you have rising demands and people paying more into this

process. you president obama said can save $25 per family and that $2500.true -- you have to deal with this in a responsible way or it will exasperate the problem. we believe the energy sector should be thriving. look at the extraction of resources on public land, it is not happening. we are thriving in north dakota on private property. out west, this government has done everything they can to put a stranglehold on the development of good, real jobs. we have to go field by field. we have regulatory certainty and a great place to live in utah and we are thriving. our unemployment rate is about

4.1%. host: gary, good morning. caller: good morning to you. the democratic party has aligned himself -- you can google. they domunist party -- it by strengthening the economy and the military strengthens the company --country. they outlawed the communist party. [indiscernible] so -- host: what would you like our guest to address? caller: use the act against the party. host: you are up early in the mexico. guest: good morning. i am not familiar with this particular act.

i will look at it. i don't know i agree with that approach. we have a lot of good people on both sides of the aisle. they are good, decent people. most people are here for the right reasons. i don't know i agree with the premise of your question. good morning in new mexico. host: we have an e-mail. guest: i would argue we are on the right side of most of these issues. you have to tackle them one at a time. there is no piece of legislation that is clean and crisp. we do have the one- and two-page bills. when you get a big bill out there, there are pluses and

minuses and you have to make a judgment call. there is a populist approach and everything you want to do. you want to divide the certainty that people need. we would have curbed back the debt and deficit. most americans would say you should only spend what you get back in receipts. do not spend more than you take in. the most people agree we should be energy independent? i think most people agree with that. principle. you just have to tackle the issues one at a time. host: here is thomas on the democrats line. caller: by first question is what federal employee is making minimum wage? if we have over a million illegals and 1.3 million

unemployed, how can we pass any immigration bills at this time? reinstate unemployment benefits. guest: thank you and good morning in texas. you are right. federal employees make a good, healthy wage. they do a good job. i worry there are two many people under federal employment. i think what the president's action debt with the contractors. the president unilaterally has just made government that much more expensive. we'll have to pay for it. he has not made the case for the justification for this. i have no idea what the total cost will be to the federal government. as far as unemployment benefits, we have got to get people back on their feet. the id is to teach people how to

fish. we can be very compassionate. one of the numbers that scares me, there are 30 million more people on food stamps than there were in the year 2000. i have to believe that some people are gaming the system. 30 million more people? we have nearly 100 million americans on some kind of federal assistance? that just strikes me as wrong. 30 million more on food stamps? i would love to know how many of those people also have the nfl sunday ticket or directv are the nicest iphone at the same time they are taking food stamps. that is a concern. host: you brought up immigration.

the house republican leadership framework will call this week for a path for legal status. where are you when it comes to this? guest: there are five bills that we passed out of committee that i am supportive of. we have to fix legal immigration. if you don't fix legal immigration, you will never solve this problem. i am opposed to amnesty. there are a number of things i am for. visa reform has to be out there. we have 400,000-plus fugitives. we don't have an entry exit system into this country. the government cannot tell you who has come into the country. close to 8 million of these

border crossing cards. they're only supposed to go 20 miles or 55 miles into the country. we have no exit programs. aikido on and on for about an hour. we passed two bills out of the house. house andats had the senate and the presidency and they did nothing, absolutely nothing on immigration. sometimes you hear democrats preach on the need for immigration. when you have all levers of government you control, you did nothing. we passed two bills last term. harry reid did nothing. now we have five bills in the queue. host: bill kristol of "the weekly standard" says --

guest: we got to do things in this country because they are right. we parse these difficult issues. when are we not in cycle? they are talking about 2016 presidential race. i want to tackle difficult issues. why not take more difficult votes? that is what we get elected to do. it is still january. the election isn't until november. if you don't like it, vote no. that is what we need to do more of in this country. every time i have been here -- host: you said you have to do something because it is right. why is a right to take the stance on immigration? guest: i am not aware of anybody who thinks that immigration in

this country is working properly. i know and woman who has been going through this process for more than 35 years. she is trying to do it legally and lawfully. we are failing those people. they are not willing to overstate their visa. we have got to pirate ties those to pirate we have got ties those people. host: students from texas tech university joining us. a photo of them as they sit and wait for their turn. good morning and go ahead. caller: good morning, congressmen. guest: good morning. caller: how do you feel congress will proceed with immigration reform? do you feel guilty could interest in pushing reform? guest: the senate has a bill and

most people think they sent it to the house. it is still sitting in the senate. i believe that we should build upon where we agree. if you look at the democrats, the most ardent open border type of democrat out there and the most tried and right wing republican, there are a lot of things we agree on. why not just pass the things we agree on? these a reform -- visa reform. they have bipartisan support. the democrats argument that we need a one size bill. billed one comprehensive and let's move that through the system. there is something for everybody to hate in there. i cannot vote in support of amnesty. can we tackle the other 70% of problems with immigration?

y;eah. build trust. if you are close to the border in mexico, people that are from mexico can get no more than seven percent of the available visas. take intoes not account proximity or size of country. you are getting the same percentage as zambia, which is a little bit further away. why not bump it up to 15%? why not pass that? do one issue at a time and we will have more power --roberts. caller: good morning. i want to talk about the minimum wage. i think it is a terrible idea to try to ways it -- raise it.

it was never supposed to be for people to earn a living. minimum wage was supposed to be for young children, young citizens to be able to be hired after school, during summer to make a few dollars and, hopefully, they would be at the bottom rung of the company and maybe stay at the company and grow. they want think that to make a living on the minimum wage are kidding themselves. the only way to make a decent living is to get an education. guest: there was a lot of truth in that. i feel for the people who were struggling along. i think the long-term solution is through education. it is very difficult for somebody to continue to live on the minimum wage. you have got to show some aptitude, you have got to work hard, you have got to improve your skill set. companies have a financial incentive to keep you there.

it's a look we are agreeing on this. i would look at the youth. got to payy, we have everybody more, you are saying, we are not going to teach that 16-year-old the value of a dollar and how to work. that is a huge missed opportunity in the nation. i think the previous generation stood a better job of getting their kids to work, getting the fingernails dirty. that is one of the most important things i did. i worked as a gardener in arizona and it was awful. it was tough. it was one of the most important things i did. if you're going to force employers to go through all of these gyrations with obamacare and the minimum wage, the employers are just not going to do it. you're going to lose this generation who is going to get up off the couch, get away from that xbox, and actually do some work. i would challenge the democrats. if you are so ardent, why not get rid of exceptions?

there are a host of industries that do not have a minimum wage and have exemptions from the minimum wage. if you are going to get serious about the minimum wage, let's tackle those industries. my guess is, you are not going to do it. host: test it -- texas tech founded -- 33,000 students attending that university. here is a student. caller: good morning. thank you for speaking with me. my question is that i'm about to graduate and go into the real world. ceo said that's of young healthy adults to not apply for obamacare, there will be massive premium increases. what are my incentives for enrolling in the formal character? -- affordable care act? is one of the

fundamental challenges i have the so-called obamacare. i have voted 40 times to repeal it. there are many adverse actions that happened because of obamacare. i want people to be responsible. i do think young people should get health care insurance. i don't think they should be forced to do it. i don't think the federal government should force them. i do think it is the responsible thing for people to do. i think we need more participants in this. you will never know when you might have that unfortunate accident or disease or something else that might happen and we do not want people to be caught financially. for the rest of us to have to end up paying for it. rightare is not the prescription for making this happen. it is just not. host: our next call, terry, akron, ohio. --ler: i was just wondering

you mentioned how you had reforms which are public unions in utah. a guaranteed pension to a 401(k). i think the republicans are against unions, against things like that. would you be willing, as a congressman, and you guys ever real challenge, would you be willing to give up your guaranteed pension and go to a 401(k)? guest: thank you. i appreciate it. defined contribution as opposed to a defined benefit plan is the right direction for what we are supposed to do. federal employees have a pension program that is involved and engaged. i am not yet a recipient of this. i am a bit younger than that. i am not anti--- one thing i disagree with you on this is

whole idea that i am antiunion. i am working with the union on customs and border patrol on some reforms to their pay. they introduced it to me and said hummel we would like to reform our pay structure. i am work with them. i default, i am not actually anti-pension. i am not antiunion. of theo worry that some collective bargaining agreements and some of the things we're doing are contrary to the things we should be doing as a nation. particularly with the law enforcement side of the equation. we would have to get into a deeper, broader discussion about that. i do not think that necessarily pensions are evil. when you have states like illinois and california that have not funded their pension programs, then i have a real problem. first resolution that i introduced in this congress with a resolution that said, don't look to the states to try to reimburse you on this. a municipality, as a county government, they

have got to be responsible for these rich pensions. look what happened in san jose, california. you will have a host of cities, counties, states that will want to and need to file for bankruptcy. do it in a financially prudent right. don't think that the rest of america should have to bail you out of these rich pensions. former secretary of state clinton address the topic of benghazi. we want to play you some of what she said and get your response. [video clip] regret with what happened in benghazi -- it was a terrible tragedy. fourng for americans -- americans, to diplomats, two cia operatives -- losing an ambassador like chris stevens, who was one of our very best and had served in libya and across

the middle east and spoke arabic and was well regarded by the vast majority of libyans who came in contact with. it was a great loss. it was a great loss to our foreign service. to our country. it illustrated one of the biggest problems that i faced as secretary of state. we have a lot of dangerous locations where we send not our military, but are civilians. they go in, they have language skills often. they try to assess what is going on in the area. host: your thoughts. guest: look. we are united in the idea that that was a regrettable situation. i look at what the united states senate did under the leadership of dianne feinstein, a democrat, who came out and they used the word preventable. this was preventable. aprilll remember that on

6, 2012, a facility on benghazi was bombed. june 6, 2012, it was bombed again. what happened to the security profile? they went, at the end of july, from having 30 security thannnel to having less 10. you have to ask yourself, why did that happen? why did create it -- we create a death trap? hillary clinton testified months after the attacks that it was the people on the ground made the security decisions. that is not true. ,e heard from eric nordstrom that was absolutely not true. there are still a lot of questions that i think she, secretary clinton, and others have got to answer, not just about the talking points, but why is it that they created this death trap? why was a preventable according to the democrats in the united states senate? what was the response so pathetic? secretary clinton,

president obama, secretary pineda lied to the american people for weeks? why, more than a year after, do we get comments out of secretary clinton? because the poll numbers are not going in her direction. no one has been captured or killed. we do not white -- know why they moved the personnel down. there are so many unanswered questions. the only reason we're still going through this is this administration continues to stonewall us in our ability to talk to people. on september 11, 2012 and america has still never heard from somebody who was on the ground that night in benghazi. never. that is not acceptable. i would love her to testify again. we will continue with our investigation. host: peyton.

texas tech university. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you so much. federal research funding is a very -- is a very key importance. do believe certain fields have priority? guest: great question. cancer. without a doubt. cancer took my mother's life, i great-aunt's life, my father's life. we have 1500 people per day in this country die because of cancer. there is not a person there at texas tech or anybody watching show that does not have a loved one, friend, relative that has not been touched by cancer. when you have something that is day,ng 1500 americans per that is important. you are telling me we don't have a $24 billion to fight something

that is killing 1500 americans? this nation should be focused on this like a laser beam and tackle cancer. i get fired up about this. it is very personal for me. it is something that should be a national priority. i was fiscally conservative at the republican. that is something that, as a conservative, when it is killing 1500 people per day, that is where we should be spending some money. host: ashley, from texas tech university. caller: good morning. in your introduction, you referenced getting trained up for jobs. in d.c. this past semester and texas tech opened a new major, however, that means i have more time left in my undergraduate career. with the student loan balloon, what kind of reforms would we be seeing as a result of the situation with the cost of attending a public university continues to rise?

guest: i wish there was an easy solution. cost of that type of education is rising faster than inflation. i wish i had a simple, easy answer. one of the things that the democrats pushed through on their reform of the student loan program was they pushed the private sector out of the business of being able to provide these types of loans. i do not see the wisdom in that. i think the competition, opportunity to have some private entities also offering these types of loans would be a good thing. ofwe can tackle the idea helping to drive down the cost of education. i wish i had a good, easy answer for you. i want people to be able to value this education and be able to get a job. do we find the fundamental change of direction of this country, we are going to continue. sanford, florida. democrat's line. caller: i have been listening to

c-span for almost 10 years. [indiscernible] payuld be so glad and i none of my employees less than $12 per hour. is going to think happen if these people who can't afford $10 minimum wage, what you think is going to happen? i will not be able to pay my employees a lot more than what i am paying them now. basic economics for a small business. i wish you nothing but the best of luck. if the federal government is going to force you to pay your people more, what are you going to do? you will pass those expenses onto your customers or you will pay less people. the big corporations will be able to take care of themselves.

the big, big companies will be able to take care of themselves. -- then yousinesses have problems and challenges. couple that with the rising costs under obamacare and you have a formula that will make as mrs. very difficult for the small business. they are the engine of what makes america tick. host: we want to hear from the last student at texas tech. alex. go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you, once again, for taking the time to answer our questions here. my question comes from personal experience. this previous semester it was fortunate enough to represent her university at a congressional internship program. i witnessed firsthand the effects of the government shutdown. most polls and studies conducted showed that the majority of americans credit the republican right specifically the

faction of the republican party, how do you think that will affect the republicans in the upcoming election? guest: thank you for joining us. i was the strategy of moving through that process the way they did -- it was wrong. 14 times in a row, i voted to keep the government open. little erroneous to simply blame the republicans on this. quiteheless, i think frankly, all the federal employees got back pay, they centrally got a couple weeks paid vacation, let's be honest. i got paid and did not have to come to work. was it the right thing to do, absolutely not. by the time the election rolls around, next year, most people will look at that and it will probably not be very high on the priority list. it is not something that will come up again. we passed bills to get to the funding mechanism. there is no threat of a government shutdown going into

the next election. i appreciate the question. host: we want to thank the students of texas tech and their academic advisor. to what you just said, as far as the debt ceiling is concerned, has a date and addressed? guest: we have not got a cohesive the answer. wednesday, thursday, friday, house republicans will gather in a strategy sessions and one of the key topics we will get through is how to do with the debt ceiling. we cannot just keep raising the debt ceiling. when president obama was senator obama, he took that position. i think that is right. ago,i started, five years the national debt was about $9 trillion. now it is more than $17 trillion. you just cannot keep doing this in perpetuity. host: what would you like to see? guest: we have got to spend less in our federal government. i think the equation is very similar. you also have to tackle

entitlement reform. social security, medicaid, medicare -- you never >> on the next washington journal we'll discuss president obama's state of the union speech with representative tom price of georgia. the congressman will also outline the g.o.p.'s legislative priorities. we'll hear about the democrats' legislative agenda from representative john larson of crlt, also a member of the ways and means committee. "washington journal" is live on c-span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. you can join the conversation on acebook and twitter. >> tonight, president obama delivers the state of the union address. next a live preview program with senate historian don ritchie and former presidential speech writer john lovett, that's followed by the president's speech at 9:00 p.m. eastern. after that, around 10:00

eastern, the republican response from conference chair and washington representative cathy mcmorris romers and through the night, join -- cathy mcmorris rodgers and through the night, join the >> good evening. tonight president obama will fulfill one of his obligations as outlined in article two comments section three. the president gives to congress the state of the union. the white house has been working on and has gone through a number of drafts, including last-minute edits. there told his remarks before the joint session of congress will last about an hour. the theme is "opportunities for all." he will travel a short 16 blocks to capitol hill. , wescene inside the capital