organized events across the country to promote alternatives to traditional public schools. we will talk to the national school choice week president. ♪ morning, everyone. thursday, january 30. welcome to "washington journal," president obama traveling to milwaukee and nashville to talk about what he laid out in the state of the union. on capitol hill, the senate expected to take up the five-year farm bill after a coalition of democrats and republicans in the house overwhelmingly approved it yesterday. we will stay with congress and get your take on representative michael grimm, a republican of new york, and his behavior after the state of the union address. he threatened a local reporter.

groups in washington want him to face an ethics review for violating rule 23 of the house. democrats, you can wait and by calling (202) 585-3880. republicans, (202) 585-3881. in a dependents -- and independents, (202) 585-3882. or posta tweet @cspanwj your comments on span.ook.com/c times,""the washington grimm says he is sorry for threatening the reporter. he was rushing to do the verbally and said he told the reporter off because he respects -- as i expect a level of professionalism.

he later put out a statement that he was wrong. should not have allowed my emotions to get the better of me and lose my cool. from "newthe reporter said he was sorry. rep.reporter tweeted this, " michael grimm called to apologize, i excepted his apology." "the washington times" says this, citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington filed a complaint with the office of congressional ethics. thatxecutive director said his conduct violates house rule 23.

tweeting out house rule 23 with a description. saying the congressman had violated that. this is from the citizens for 23,cs, "rule representatives must conduct themselves at all times in a manner that reflects credibility on the house." rule 23 says. getting your take. what do you think about watchdog groups wanting on ethics review of the congressman and his behavior after the state of the union? brenda in texas, democratic caller. caller: i think he should face it. i forget what year it was, i remember when the democrats were coming up a walkway and some of the republican protesters spat one of them, they did not

threaten them. should face it. this is unacceptable. the republicans are crazy. anothermmon cause, advocacy group, called for an ethics probe. mr.ng that they thought grimm violated room in the 23 that talks about conduct -- violated rule number 23 about conduct. electedook, "any official who threatens anyone should face this upon. -- face discipline." join the conversation on facebook. on the issue of law enforcement, this, law" tweets enforcement mostly mum on grimm 's threat. how do law enforcement numbers react?

slowly, "roll call" reports. embers of the fourth estate might take more than an apology. a threat to throw overboard or border off a balcony during an interview. neither the house sergeant at arms nor the capitol police would comment about whether grimm would face criminal ramifications. john, texas, independent.

what do you think? caller: sometimes the reporters irritate representatives. comment.y host: do you think it was not a valid question? -- host: -- caller: i don't know. the guy was in a hurry to get somewhere else. he said something he should not have said. democratic new york, caller. shows thes, it elitist attitude of the people in congress. there was the representative in florida who did drugs, admitted it, crack cocaine, went to rehab, came back out and went into his job. allowed in the private sector. it is time for a revolution in this country.

we need people who will work for the people, not for the 1%. host: a congressman from florida resigned. do you think congress meant grimm -- do you think congressman grimm should resign? caller: i actually did not know the florida man had resigned. host: he just did so recently. we are nothink getting the proper leaders in our country. he is just another example. whether or not he should resign, he certainly should not be reelected. host: how do you get proper leaders? caller: we need a revolution in this country. host: explain. caller: congress does not work for the people, people end up in jail depending on whether or not they have money for expensive representation and the number of

blacks in prison for drugs compared to the number of white freed with the same charges. i think it is time for a revolution. host: mark, kentucky, republican caller. caller: i think the congressman broke the law. host: broke the law? caller: yeah, he did it right in front of a camera. he needs to be punished. host: the congressional research service, which reviews issues of public policy. it is therefore congress when they need research done. they put together this inmate 2013. censure, reprimand, and fine." the house is authorized within the constitution to discipline

or punishment others. -- or punish its members. this is in addition to criminal or civil liabilities that a member may incur for misconduct. it is used not merely to punish an individual member but to protect the integrity of the house of representatives, its preceding, and its reputation. the house may discipline numbers without the necessity of senate concurrence. the most common forms of discipline are now explosion, -- are now expulsion, censure, or reprimand. in addition to sanctions imposed by the full house of the standinges, committee that deals with ethics and conduct matters, formally called the committee on

standards of official conduct, is authorized to issue a letter of approval for misconduct that does not rise to the letter of consideration or sanctioned by the entire house. watchdog groups in washington are saying that congressman michael grimm broke rule 23. onare getting your take that. contrary in new york, independent caller. -- andre in new york. independent caller. ander: unacceptable unprofessional. the as a person that works a had done thatf i to a reporter, i would get in serious trouble. , he should lose his title and be flipping burgers. he should think before he acts. they need to look into that.

the apology -- it can be sincere, but it is unprofessional. he should not be representing the government in the eye of the public. het: you agree with crew, violated the conduct of members of congress. "the new york times" said this. had the reporter made the same to could havecot been charged with a federal crime for threatening a member of congress. the general sense in washington was that as odious as the rant was, it was more a headache than a disqualifying offense. itpokesman called "appropriate" that he had apologized. all of this is about an investigation into mr. grimm's

fundraising during his 2010 campaign. investigators examining whether mr. grimm illegally solicited money from foreign donors. joan, south carolina, republican caller. caller: hey. i think he should be reprimanded. it was not a good thing to do. apparently the same rule does not hold for our president. who came before the public and absolutely lied to us about whether we can keep our plan, our health plan. that is line. -- that is lying. apparently, the president is not held to the same standards. host: ok. larry, ohio, independent caller. what are your thoughts? you think about

it -- he is from new york and italian. they all have distinction. like the embodiment that they are hot tempered and they a have a proudness to them. host: that seems like a generalization about all italians. caller: that is the problem. nobody really knows his situation. he might be under pressure. whatever. it is on him. per ther his peers, as to judge himibed, and talk to him. host: do you think the ethics committee should look into his behavior? caller: as with everybody, yeah. inquest.uld be an

and if it is found that he was wrong, then yeah. look at justin bieber. hegets a slap on the wrist, gets to leave the country. if you are arrested for something, whether small or large, if you have not been to court, you should not be allowed to leave the country. they let him leave the country. everybody is complaining -- what was it, $10,000? host: that is what i just read, yes. they are also investigating whether he solicited money from foreign donors as well. larry? caller: yeah, everybody does that. everybodyk deep, turns their back on the poor so they can make more money. look at trump. host: ok. if you go to the clerk's e.gov, theyerk.hous

have all the rules for the house of representatives. 23.mber 2 -- rule number the following code of conduct to be known as the code of official conduct. outmployee shall be hanging employee shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect credibility on the house. lauren. caller: hi, how are you? i agree, i don't know about it being an ethics violation. he should -- doesn't anybody who makes a threat on someone's life have some kind of charges posted against them? he actually threaten somebody's life, that is beyond a code in the house. they werecomment

talking about was the representative, the congressman in florida. i understand you said he resigned from his job. us, we would of have gotten arrested, lost our houses, our children, our jobs. he resigned, that is it? there is nothing -- nothing is being prosecuted to these people who are in congress. if it was anyone else, we would have went to jail and lost everything. i don't think it is fair. that lady is right, we need a revolution. seaoftranquilty tweets in. ethics outcome of the investigation results in the same punishment as congress man, rangel, no." anne, arkansas.

hi, i wonder if the press bears any responsibility. can you hear me? host: go ahead. caller: i wonder if the reporter there's any responsibility. -- bears any responsibility. it seems to me he's old representative grimm -- it seems to me that he told representative grimm he would not ask him any more questions about that, it was only going to be on the state of the union. s a little bit of responsibility and we are not even talking about that. i don't remember, but when sheila jackson-lee rushed policemand brushed a there, we had a big discussion about it.

or anything caused her to be brought up on any charges. do you? do you remember? host: i remember the incident, i don't remember if she was brought up on charges. caller: a big discussion on c-span. playe we are not trying to politics here. host: let me go back -- caller: evidently, the reporter has forgiven him. sheila jackson-lee came to mind, i am sure there are other incidents. do you think the reporter responsibility? host: let's talk about that point. do you agree that there should be ground rules established the four a reporter and a member -- established before a reporter

and a member of congress talk. the president agreed to that "new yorker" profile. the editor and chief agreed to quote approval. any quotes had to be approved by the white house first. balance.ell, it is a i do think sometimes that our does not respect the people. i think he pushed a button there. would notor grimm have agreed to talk. he seemed to be going out of his way to go to that reporter. i don't know. maybe we just need to have some common decency and manners. and stick to our words if we are going to agree. i know the reporters have a job to do and they want to get the answers and they want to get the questions in there.

sometimes that is a nice scoop. thee if we had, like president said, maybe if we had a little more civility it would be good for this country. "time toi tweets in, end ambush reporters." michael powell has a piece in "the new york times" about michael grimm. after keeping company with mobsters, the company speaks their language. he is a former marine and fbi agent. he infiltrated the gambino crime family. his target was peter gotti, brother of john gotti. a reference to the journalists's family.ith the gotti it seems to have left the congressman with a liking for a mob style chat chat.

connected hims" to a felon in texas. reportedyork times" in 2012 that a close friend happen to have close ties to a gambino number. times" has a piece -- threat by staten island lawmaker as to a reputation as hot tempered. talking about several incidents where the congressman lost his temper with other folks. politicians, a tea party activist in an interview in 2011. got not an activist and suggested a boxing match. another time, he vowed to knock his teeth out. getting your thoughts on behavior.n grimm's

should he face an ethics review? washington are saying he violated house rules over 23. -- house rule number 23. joining us on the phone is robert costa, political reporter for "the washington post." house republicans leaving yesterday for a retreat outside of washington. what is the goal of the republicans getting together at this retreat, where are they going? guest: house republicans are cambridge, maryland. they will be there for a couple days. two items on their agenda. first is immigration reform. it has been controversial for some time. also, the debt ceiling coming up next month. republicans will try to come up with a strategy, a different approach from last year's

government shutdown. host: watching them gathering yesterday to get on a bus to head out to cambridge, maryland? what is on the agenda? on the eastern shore. this particular resort has been etreats forst r both parties. i have been at numerous republican retreats. these are closed door sessions. very little opportunity to mingle with lawmakers. unlike the u.s. capitol, it is quite open. the agenda is for speaker john ehner two, with a 2014 -- for speaker john boehner to come up with a 2014 plan. because the republican committee toso large, this is his time

meet with members. football coachme will be there as an inspirational speaker. they will look at a one-page memo that goes over republican ideas on the issue. any kind ofhave comprehensive reform, but more piecemeal process. a republican version of the dream act and minor reforms for order security. host: are they likely to come out with a game plan? will we know something about their strategy? guest: i think we will know a lot more by the end of this week about what republicans plan to do. the sense among republicans is, even in the ranks that do not want to do much on the issue, midterms, the 2014

something has to move towards the floor this spring on immigration. i think we will see paul ryan play a critical role. tor to jackas a men kemp. he will be almost a conservative whisper for speaker john get the helping issue through. the conservative block is very uneasy. they sense momentum among john boehner, eric cantor, they would the movement to pass immigration reform would stop. very uneasy about the prospect. democratsttends -- have these retreats as well. strategy sessions. beyond young members of congress, who also attends? congress,members of

who also attends? are there lobbyists? guest: each party brings about a dozen speakers. not only the football coach to give pep talks, motivational speakers. a conservative radio host. you also have pollsters. one of john banner's -- one of llsters,hner's top po he will go over data and try to give them a look on the politics they are working on. the polling of key issues. it is part strategy, part motivational, part social. they can connect on a human

level with colleagues. dot: the lobbyists attend -- lobbyists attend? guest: no. a few my pop up as guests. is kept out, lobbyists are kept out. this is members only. there is strict security and it isreally a houseful -- it really a time for house republicans to meet amongst each other. are: robert costa, we asking our viewers about the behavior of commerce and the program -- about the behavior of congressman michael graham. whether he should face an ethics review for violating rule 23. do you see the republican leadership will weigh in? guest: because the incident was caught on video, this could move forward in an unfortunate way

for rep set of -- unfortunate way for a representative grimm. thee is a lot of angst in media about what is the house policy on how to handle the press. should a congressman be combative, is it appropriate? i would not be surprised if some kind of investigation moves ahead. this is indicative of the age we live in. it could create a political headache for politicians on media.n social this has happened for decades, but they were not caught on camera in this fashion. "the robert costa with washington post." follow him on twitter. a little bit more about michael grimm. he is a republican in the 11th district of new york. served on thee

financial services committee. 52% of second term, with the vote in his last election. let's go to mike in north dakota, independent caller. should he face an ethics review? caller: good morning. thank you for discussing that. you are reading the constitution for a while. the ethics committee -- i think you guys that are back -- you guys better back that up, start from day one. a lot of these crooks in the house and senate. all the lying done, from our president, even. you are starting to read the constitution, look what these people are doing. they are going around everything. what is your opinion? host: are you talking about the president using his executive authority? caller: exactly. he does not even look at the

constitution. host: you see a violation of their? -- u sierra violation t -- you see a violation there> ? caller: absolutely. host: what should congress still? should do something. they did not even investigate the irs or benghazi. the staten island newspaper reported on those as well. michael grimm represents that area. they said the incident exploded on social media. with immediate members rushing to the reporter's defense. other controversies from grimm's past were dredged up. arkansas.

caller: oh my. we cannot even talk about grimm without talking about the president. taken to thebe ethics committee. if he was just a regular citizen, he would have already been locked up. if i said that to my neighbor and it was recorded where she could take it and show people she said this to me, i would be arrested for terroristic threatening or, i don't know what it is called. out to really get hung dry for saying such a thing. i think our president is doing a great job. i don't believe he has lied about the statement about the affordable care act. i believe the insurance companies have done all they can to make it look -- some insurance companies.

some people have really benefited from the affordable care act. since they are bad mouthing my president, i am a democrat. back to the representative. back to the republican era, we were lied to and ended up in two wars. it costs so many lives, a whole lot more than 4 in benghazi. terrible. our soldiers are people that choose to serve overseas. they should be protected. i have watched for much all this. president obama did come out and say it was an act of terror. this roade going down a little too far. let's stick to what we have put forth to everybody this morning. getting your reaction to whether there should be an ethics probe

into congressman grimm's behavior. do you think he violated rule 23 ? from new york, democrat, writes in the "daily i have seen the tape and read the apology. were ans for lunch classy touch. i do not want to be like this -- i do not want to belabor this incident. i do think i may have something to add to the conversation. file this under "my humble opinion." eric, texas, republican cakkeller.

caller.blican caller: i am a teacher. we do lessons on anti-bullying. this seems like classic bullying behavior. this is not a republican or problem.c this is a problem with politics. we keep hiring the biggest bullies. those are the ones who play well to the masses. you can look at christie, the gosident, he is going to around the traditional ways of doing things. we teach our children not to act like this. when they become politicians, it is fine. we are going down a dangerous road. host: eric, texas. flushing, new york. good morning. caller: i was very disappointed. the congressman had a behavioral

issue. i think you should look for -- he should look inside himself. he needs help. this is very aggressive behavior. bbc,- i saw the news on american politicians are bullying each other. -- if thistlement gentleman is allowed on the congress for, he might hurt someone on the floor. thisis bad behavior taking institution to a low level. the ethics probe should continue and he should look into himself, he needs help. this is very bad behavior. island should think this is not them, he should not represent them. really say weuld are not accepting this. this is not arm-twisting.

obama triedesident to bully, this is beyond that. threatening someone, throwing hi m. it is not acceptable. host: following up on our conversation with robert costa. "who pays the tab for these retreats?" said house democrats have had their retreats at this compound several times, drawing visits from president obama and joe biden. house republicans have held andr retreat in baltimore williamsburg. the congressional institute partially pays for the conference. that group is funded by lobbyists, who attempted to the conference. -- who attend part of the congress. it sounds like they do not pay

their own bill. harry, north carolina. that the want to say ethics committee should investigate this matter. -- this man. we all know that ethics and politics is a joke. this goes beyond that. this addresses the fact that people with political power and people who are wealthy are treated differently than you or i as individual citizens. if you and i communicate threats to another individual, we would be charged and prosecuted. why isn't this man being charged and prosecuted? he is a citizen just like you and i. host: so do you think the sergeant at arms, the top security office on capitol hill, should do something? caller: whatever the law is in the state of new york.

this man should be held accountable. is ammunicating threats crime, he should be charged with a crime and prosecuted. commentlike to make a on the programming format. you have a wonderful show. i think the host spends too much time talking about themselves and making the show about themselves. and asking questions and so forth. the show should be about the guests and people calling in. you should be a medium for conducting those interviews. host: that is the goal. caller: another point i would like to make about formatting. i don't understand why you always have to have someone on the show who has an ax to grind. who is a wealthy person or politician. why can't you get, at least once a week, a group of common, ordinary people on the show to primary concerns

before the country. you give them 10 seconds on the air, that is not enough. get some people who are knowledgeable, teachers, lawyers, plumbers, whoever. some ordinary people. we spent three hours with phone calls from people outside of washington dc. that is the beauty of the program. a teacher, plumber, an expert calls in and gives us their thoughts. house approved the five-year farm bill. "the washington times was got reports -- "the washington times" reports. liberal subject to restrictions on food stamps benefits. a centrist coalition held 89m. passing the bill with

democrats joining 162 republicans. the speaker of the house set it benefits all americans in some way. "the new york times" editorial board saying it could have been worse. legislation that makes useful stamps.but cuts food the original bill cut much more to the food stamp program. front page of "the wall street reid has dealt a body blow on trade. as saying i am against fast-track. i thinkon to say everyone would be well advised not to push this right now. " saysashington times eric holder will not relapse

criminal charges for employees of the irs. investigating the irs and their conduct looking into conservative groups who wanted the 503 status, the nonprofit status. -- mr.der to and it holder defended the investigation, saying it is free from political taint. even though one key lawyer involved is a key donor to president obama. republicans say he should who couldprosecutor elevate the investigation. they are stunned that the probe has lasted eight months and some activists have still not an interview. eric holder on capitol hill yesterday before the senate judiciary committee. we cover that, he was asked about president obama's comments on marijuana. front page of "washington post," 2016, hillary clinton has a

commanding lead over any other democrat. the gop race is wide open. president obama was at a costco in maryland talking about the minimum wage, telling what he session of the joint congress on tuesday during his state of the union address. he talked about raising the minimum wage. here's what he had to say. [video clip] >> there are steps businesses are taking on their own. there are stats certain states and counties and cities are taking on their own. there are steps i'm going to take as president. but, ultimately, congress does upe to do its part to catch to the rest of the country on this. there is a reason why a wide majority of americans support increasing the minimum-wage.

workingricans who are make more than the minimum-wage. it is interesting that the overwhelming number of americans support raising the minimum wage. it is not that it is going to affect them personally right now. it is that they understand the value behind-- the the minimum wage. if you work hard, you should be able to pay rent, buy groceries, look after your kids. [applause] day's work,n a hard you deserve decent pay. it is a principle everyone believes. abouthe will keep talking that, calling on congress to do something. on tuesdayn boehner reacted to the announcement from the white house that the president would take action on his own. raising the minimum-wage for federal contractors. [video clip] >> 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 will this is a gift action actually help? -- will this executive action actually help? close to somewhere zero. when it comes to the federal minimum wage, when you raise the cost of something, you get less of it. in the past,s hundreds of thousands of low income americans have lost their jobs. the presidente purports to help are the ones by are going to get hurt this. when you look at african-americans and hispanics, they never had a chance to get on the economic ladder.

it is bad policy and it will hurt the people the president wants to help. host: weighing in on raising the minimum wage. we will talk about next on "washington journal." another issue is what to do about immigration. "the wall street journal" editorial weighs in. they have a graphic pointing out a losing trend, this is the presidential candidate's share of the minority vote from 2004, 2008, and 2012. endorsing the idea of immigration reform out of the house. has aashington post" story about republicans showing their populist side. offering aenators

conservative vision for covering the uninsured. -- ryan summit experts paul ryan summoned experts to discuss ways to help the poor. makingubio proposed childless adults eligible for a tax credit. yesterday,ol hill the senate intelligence committee heard from the top national security experts about worldwide terrorist threats. and the director of the national intelligence agency, james clapper, had harsh words for edward snowden. saying that the former contractor for the national hypocritegency is a who has severely undermined u.s. security. we cover that, go to c-span.org. one last call on whether or not the new york republican congressman should face and interview.

caller: hello. i think he should be subject to his own -- he made the mistake. i do believe reporters are paparazzi. they always have their opinions and they went you to think the way they do. i thought they were supposed to report and let us decide. it gets me that everything is always a fight. always on guard. it is not right, people should be able to make their own opinions. nobody should have an agenda if they are a reporter. if you have an agenda, write a book, let someone read it. host: brian, kentucky, public and caller. deputye talk to afl-cio chief of staff thea lee on the

fight to raise the minimum wage. later, the president of national school choice week, andrew campanella, will be here to discuss that. we will be right back. ♪ >> this is where the clintons lived when they were professors in fayetteville. after hillary's first year of teaching, bill was driving her to go to the airport. they sell the house, it was for sale, hillary said that is a cute house. bill took her to the airport and pick her up a month later. house, i got your dream you have to marry me and live with me. that was the fourth time he had proposed. >> there were nine people at the wedding.

their wedding announcement made mention of the fact that hillary was retaining her name. bill did not seem to be bothered. she gasped, and when they told hillary's mother she cried. they settled in. they have gotten married, bought a house and had successful jobs as professors. kind of reached a plateau where they had achieved things they had set goals for. >> watch our programming on first lady hillary clinton on our website, (202) 585-388 -- or website, c-span.org. on monday, first lady laura bush. >> bringing attention to what women do always returns to the questions of body. for one thing, many people object to bringing women's studies or women's history into a middle school, high school classroom.

there is an assumption that women's studies is only about sex, birth control, abortion. about women is also in politics, women in law, women working on farms, queens, prime ministers. job is to break down the fear many people have. what goes on in a women's studies classroom? women's history, feminist movements, and the backlash. professor and author bonnie morris will take your questions live for three hours starting at noon eastern. in depth on c-span2. you have a few days to weigh in on mark levin's "the liberty amendment." go to booktv.org and click on book club. "washington journal" continues. host: we are back with thea lee,

deputy chief of staff for the afl-cio. of's talk about the state the union address. the president, richard trumka, his wisho had laid out list before. did you hear everything? guest: we heard a lot of what we wanted to hear. he identified in the quality at the number one challenge of our time and laid out things to do and that he hopes congress will do. did not hear,e particularly on collective bargaining and the role unions play in boosting the middle class and closing the inequality cap. it was a great beach. congress' court, we went to see action on employment insurance and minimum wage, and some other things like universal pre-and garden -- universal prekindergarten. host: what about extending long-term unemployment insurance

benefits? when do you expect that to come up? sure exactly,t but this is a disgrace this has not happened already. workers are losing benefits. they have to looking for a job. they are in the labor market. christmas came and went, congress went home to their comfortable homes. millionore than 1.5 workers have lost benefits. it is long overdue. host: "the new york times" reports that the test will come next week. harry reid has planned to bring a proposed extension of emergency on employment benefits back to the floor after it failed last month. this is what he told reporters. we figured out a way to pay for it, we are very close to the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. i sought where he said in another newspaper we are at 58 or 59 votes.

should this be paid for? guest: no, i do not think it needs to be paid for. the democrats have put forward proposals that would get us there, we have gotten very close a few times and failed. i hope this will come through without too many concessions made on the part of the democrats. host: "the new york times" says mr. reid laid out further potential points of conflict. on march 6, he will take up raising the minimum wage, which many republicans opposed. why is this an important issue? guest: raising the minimum wage is key to making sure that people who are working full-time are not in poverty. that is a simple fact. it does not need to be a conflict between business and workers. it is good for the economy if families have money in their pockets. they can buy the basics and support their families.

it is out fairness and also good for the economy. making sure people have money to buy what they need. there has been research on this, we have not seen a huge unemployment -- a huge negative job impact from raising the minimum wage. economy you see healthy where workers are more productive and there is less turnover. this has been good for the economy and good for workers. republicans disagree. if you look on the state level, state that have enacted minimum wage increases in 2013 -- new jersey one up a dollar, new y ork up $.75. .alifornia, went up rhode island, connecticut. why does it need to happen on a federal level? should this be a state issue? guest: that is inefficient to

have different minimum wages in different places. at the state level, there is a groundswell of support. it is overwhelmingly popular to raise the minimum wage so people can have a decent living. it is more efficient to have a federal minimum wage. states are stepping in because the federal government has failed to act. it is better than nothing, and where it is happening, we have seen good results. paul ryan, republican of wisconsin and chairman of the budget committee had this to say uawk box.""sq ourpeople who get hurt people who meet entry level jobs , we are praising them out of their reach. guest: that is old-fashioned thinking. a lot the folks who are earning

the minimum wage are supporting a family, single moms, people who are working full-time. we have not actually seen that. instead, when people pay a decent wage, workers stick around longer. there is less training costs for businesses. the workers are more productive. and they can't afford to buy stuff in their neighborhoods and communities. you have a positive economic impact from raising the minimum wage, putting money into the pockets of people who can spend it and who need it. host: larry, west virginia, republican caller. caller: i would like to say i joined unions in the 1950's. a goodder myself to be union member. the unions became a branch of the democratic party ever years. -- over the years. i think they were wrong in supporting universal health care. one of the main reasons people join unions was to get benefits.

if unions were the first ones to -- thatfits for workers is why the unions last membership over the years. the other thing, union leadership has gotten to the point where they are more interested and reps and the democratic party than their more interested in representing the democratic party than their membership. host: let's get a response, thea lee? guest: you talked about unions supporting universal health care rather than bargaining. we need to do both. forns are spokespeople working people generally. in our country, we have so many people without health care, it causes an inefficient system overall and to cause a strain on the system. that is what we were seeing, the system was so broken that we needed to figure out a different way of doing that. in terms of the democrats and republicans, unions need to

support those candidates who stand with working people, whatever party they are in. that is an important principle to stick by around the country. host: do you endorse or give money to republican candidates? guest: we give money to both democrats and republicans. the decisions are made on a local, case-by-case basis. are relationships between elected officials and candidates and the unions there i local level. we do a scorecard, we look at the positions on the issues important to working families -- bor law,it is la minimum wage, trade policy. host: on union membership, here is "the wall street journal" with a chart. union membership has been declining, but the level of study in 2013 from the year prior. what happened? guest: we are coming out of a deep recession, during that time

we lost a lot of union jobs. it has been a rough couple decades for the union movement. lossmaking challenging to form a union. as the economy stabilizes, we hope there will be an ability to grow the movement and reach out to workers who do not have the opportunity to have a union yet. host: sam, michigan, democratic caller. hi, recently, i got into a big squabble on facebook with some people over strikes here in 1964. it got kind of violent. i was overwhelmed by the antiunion rhetoric that was expressed in the face but squabble. -- expressed in the facebook squabble. i hope they unions can get themselves back up to where they were.

good you can get a documentary out about how great the unions have been. host: what do you think about collective bargaining? caller: i am for it. host: why? caller: you have got to bargain and communicate to get problems overcome. afl-cio president richard trumka tweeted, "collective bargaining is the best way to raise -- we are in right after the state of the union. you mentioned collective- bargaining. talk about it more. guest: i appreciate the call and the sentiment. unions are for one thing. to stand up for things they need.

the negativity towards unions, i think we have work to do. we have to make sure we can be the very best we can be and represent workers as well as they can and represent their voices in the political system. part of it is that there has been a backlash against unions. it is so simple and american and unions have a strong history of building the middle class in the , fighting for a weekend and basic labor protections, something we would like to see the labor movement do even better in the coming years. recoverable -- republican caller. this union problem is more than what people realize. every government job, whether it federal, hasal, or to pay for bailing wage. the workers get paid in new york state up to $43 an hour.

every public holding and every school and every road done by the government has to pay a prevailing wage. we can understand why loans are not as they used to be. we do not have the -- the economy we had. the union continually pushes for more money and then they do not put out the work. ago, there was a big need for unions to give a fair wage. they pushed it beyond fair wage. as far as minimum wage, there is you could take a young person in and make a profit or any money. give whatever the minimum wage is right now and they go up, but most employers do that already. that keepsow anybody

anyone at the minimum wage at present right now. if the person is a person to for, or a person willing progress, usually, the problem thatou get people in either, it is a drug problem or they do not have a work ethic, and that is a big problem in the country today. that is why we are having trouble and you get some of the immigrants in that are willing to work longer and harder than most of the americans. >> there was a lot there, but thank you for the call. having a good wage for construction workers makes a lot of sense. the workers deliver projects on time and get a high quality job. how we to think about today.e of our problem

high wages are not our problem. the problem is grotesque inequality. we have had a couple of decades where average people have been working harder and have been more productive than ever an innovative and are earning less than 20 years ago. forng good wages construction workers is a good thing. they are sending their kids to college. i disagree with you there about whether that is a problem in the economy. in terms of the minimum wage, we saw a lot of folks getting stuck at a minimum wage, whether or not they are good employees because we have a week economy and a week labor market. areas when of the the government set the minimum wage, employers can adjust and we see good things happening. we see that people have enough buy the basics for their families and they are out of poverty and they do not have to get public assistance, which is what happens to a lot of

these workers. you essentially see the government subsidizing employers who play -- pay low wages. eight-week -- -- a tweet -- sure, but we are nowhere near that right now. the level of inflation would be over $10 now. dangert think we are in theeing in a place where minimum wage will choke off employment opportunities. >> are there union members who make the minimum wage? >> not many. you have a contract, you bargain for something better than minimum wage. a union is going to bargain for wages that are better than that. when we fight for a higher minimum wage, we do that for all workers in america because that

is the right thing to do. anyone inthink america should work full-time and be in poverty. >> how much of your resources and time will you put into this effort? of resources a lot and our unions and members believe in this. we will call congress and put pressure on both democrats and republicans to make sure it goes through congress in a timely way and get it done. to see an indexed to inflation. we would like to make sure those folks receiving tip minimum wage also get a way -- rates. >> president obama also called from cosco maryland to raise the minimum wage. high how theto warehouse supermarket -- higher productivity and reduces the including an entry level of $11.50 an hour. cosco's cofounder

is a democratic fundraiser and spoke at the 2012 democratic national convention. david in pennsylvania, independent caller. >> i was wondering when we would ring up the unemployment extension again and what willntage does he think pass? class we talked but that at the beginning. the new york times is reporting saysenate majority leader he will bring it up next week and he has got 59 votes. why do you think it is important? class i need money to pay my bills. pay andot a mortgage to i needed to get back to work. it has been tough getting work in the wintertime. the construction, it is hard to get work right now. >> do you have unemployment benefits? >> yes.

the 1.6you part of million people who lost them when they were not extended? >> yes. i ran out of an extension, yes. >> we will do everything we can to get that unemployment insurance extended. we need folks to call congress and tell them how important this is and tell folks if they do not for the unemployment insurance extension, then people will remember at the ballot box in november. it is very important. it needs to be done. >> glenn, you're up next. democratic caller in kentucky. >> good morning. women drawring why less on the social security than men do. she made as much as i do, my wife is making more than i did, and she will draw less when she retires. that is all i have to say. i do not know the answer

to that. i am sorry. republican caller in oklahoma. you are on the air. guys? how are you things, i came from a family of cowboys and we transitioned from cowboys to equipment operators. taught our children, i have got children and grandchildren employed, fully employed, doing the same thing i learned how to do as a kid. we have got people out there who know how to weld, lectures and's and plumbers and all kinds of and a person is lucky enough to have a dad at home. the mother needs to teach him how to so and do self -- do stuff. unions but they

have really kind of taken .ontrol of the whole deal i think we need to have more -- learn how to work. that is certainly important. every parent should teach their kids good work ethic and skills. true there are a lot of skills in the economy today that need more training. aremight not know unions one of the biggest private trainers of workers in the whole country. we have apprenticeship programs. it is a really important role that unions have and will play and will continue to play in the economy. giving people skills. you are right that people have to be fox of all and willing to overe and learn new skills the course of their lifetime.

we know this is a new economy and labor market where you are not so likely to take one job unions haveour life been a really important source of providing those skills throughout the years. this tweet for us -- that is a point that it'll come from somewhere. reduce the labor force or the goods will cost more. there is to does other things. if productivity increases, employees can pay more to workers and not suffer in terms of productivity or their profit. the other thing is demand. if your workers had more money in their pockets, they would buy out tomburgers or going

the coffee shop more. a better demand. throughout the economy, low workers, more customers. it is not just a simple zero-sum game. >> another issue the president talked about his immigration. -- a quote from the president saying, it would -- it means they never would get , aizenship. it is a joke plan without a path to citizenship. >> a very clear position here on comprehensive immigration reform. .e work with democrats this is important for folks who do not have basic protections. comprehensive immigration reform

has been installed. making sure we maintain the path to citizenship. >> what he you hearing about this? supportecause we have from the business side, we have been working very closely. in the senate, there is more bipartisanship. there is pressure on republicans as well as democrats. . it is important we put in place policies sensitive to the concerns they are facing. republicans face that challenge as well as democrats. host: harry reid deals a body

blow to obama on trade. i think everyone would be well advised not to push that issue right now. guest: senator reid was very clear on the issue that the trade motion authority, which has been talked about and introduced in the senate, is going nowhere and he will not put it on the floor. he is doing the right thing and that is the right message right now. the trade policy we have in place is not working for american workers. it has impinged on our ability to have environmental productions. we need a different trade policy. his message is to go back to the drawing board and look forward to what consumers need and then we will talk. in the meantime, forget about it. what are the two deals

right to come to the floor? and onene with europe with a group of countries in asia and latin america. the trans-the civic hardship is , and it isng done being negotiated right now between 12 countries. it could be one of the last agreements we ever signed because the idea is countries aren't joining that agreement in the future. it is not done yet so it is hard to say what it is but we are very skeptical and we do not inc. from what we see and have heard and no, we think this is on the wrong track and it could one enormous economic impact american workers and jobs for decades in the future. it is with a wealthy set of countries. very important. it is in the embryonic stage.

also very important concerns about regulation and how we will harmonize in europe and the united states. we will make sure this agreement is not used as a way to undermine protections we put in place. >> they say it will not have the -- the same impact and other countries will come in and get invested into emerging markets like china and other countries. question nine is not a party to either deal right now. question of doing nothing or this. we need to do better than this and put forward a different and new agenda. we are in a global economy. we want the government to lay down a new set of rules. we believe they have really not delivered. they encouraged, saying we have lost a lot of jobs in the

manufacturing sector and these are not different enough to make a difference. productivity with technology -- ity -- if we are more we can enjoy less work. it is not necessarily more labor versus less labor. there are two trends. inequalityove toward through trade policy and other policies that exacerbated this right now. question there be a cap on how

much people can make gecko like snow. what we need is a fair tax system so the folks at the top are paying their fair share. we do not have that right now. we have folks who live on wall street and get their income in other ways than working. that is not fair. democratic caller from kentucky. yes, i think the unions a good supporter. seeger passed away and theromoted unionism migrant workers out in california. >> he was an amazing human being. and songwriter and he was very close to the labor movement and used to stop

by local labor halls and talk to folks and sing to folks. it was a tremendous loss. we will all more and loss. >> do you have a voice for the labor movement today? >> rues sprint saying -- bruce springsteen speaks in a compelling way. we have a lot of artists and say here's who sing about the labor experience and that is wonderful. >> next in virginia, a republican caller. >> good morning. would like to ask one question. if you have a small company of 21 employees and seven of them are minimum wage, if you give three dollars an hour to that person and three dollars into each of the other 14 people, it will raise your cost $16.

when that have to raise accordinglyproducts e where would they be better off if everything got more expensive ? when workers are paid lessr wages, there is workers and higher productivity. it is hopefully something that could be good for everybody and can help both the businesses and workers. >> independent caller, you're on the -- on the air with the deputy staff.

caller: i would like to make a few points if you would give me time because i waited 30 minutes here. one of the largest employers we can in the united states afford to pay their employees 40%an hour since they pay orthe united states income they control as much money as .he lowest paid employees i've noticed a few times when i go in, they no longer have checkers. they have self checkout, so they are making more money. what happens to their employees? subsidizing their

employees so they can get even richer. it is not fair. since i am retired and looking the republicans are always on the side of rich people. until we the people of the united states get involved and know what is going on, you will always have people calling into not raise the minimum wage. i would like those people to try to live on minimum wage. the other thing i would like to say, you mentioned something about whether there should be a on payments to the higher up . they should be a path should claim on their income tax. there should be no way the companies can claim and expense on the insane amount of money.

host: we have got your point. guest: the richest family in the world, billions of dollars between them. they have more money than many small countries. the company has been enormously profitable and they need to do the right thing and pay their workers at least 20 $5,000 a year.- $25,000 a walmart is such an enormous employer. i think that is the right thing and i appreciate your call and sentiment. in terms of the cap you're talking about, that is a separate issue as to whether the companies can afford absorbent amount of money. claim it as a business

expense. is the financial transactions tax which would raise a lot of money and help us .nvest click she cited 40%, that .almart has control over are you familiar with that number? class i am not sure. i believe walmart is the largest company in the country. if they did the right thing, a lot of companies would follow suit. they have a competitive edge for unionized companies. >> she also mentioned republicans need to talk more about income inequality and address that issue. the republican conference chairwoman for the house republicans gave the official gop response to the state of the

union address and here is what she had to say. class last month, more americans stop looking for a job and found one. too many people are falling further and further behind because the president posses policies are making people's lives harder. to closens have plans the gap, plans that will focus on jobs first. without more spending and government bailouts and red tape. we are working to expand our economy. one manufacturing job at a time. plans to improve. so college is affordable and skills training is modernize. >> your reaction? guest: part of the problem is the economy is coming out of a

long and deep recession that did not start under president obama posses watch and republicans in congress blocked a lot of math couldot of methods that get us back on track. party ase republican .locking about what the republican plan will or will not do. host: a tree that says -- guest: i have a hard time seeing obamacare, just in place for a couple of months and barely implemented, as being the key

thing causing job loss. i do not think anybody is satisfied with the affordable care act right now. in progress.ork a fact of life. sure we address some of the problems and the glitches there. there are disadvantages for union employers in terms of the way we do it and we want to make sure we are sensitive to that so union lawyers -- employers are not disadvantaged. >> are you looking for a rule >> yes. the agency? it is technical. is fully implemented,

there are concessions made to the employers. we want to make sure workers and the unions are getting equal concessionsn with that are being made on the employers side. >> democratic caller. i want to ask what you think about the ira and the employers losing the right to hire their own employees. they will be the ones hiring. i would just like to know your opinion. guest: i do not have any details on that situation. i do not want to bumble in there without any background on that. i do not know the situation you mentioned. host: republican caller. caller: two things. the president state of the union, it was like santa claus. we have a one that trillion

morer budget, outrageous, money this year than last year in congress. taking more revenue. you cannot tell one penny out of every dollar you take in. we will mark that off in 10 years and get out of that messed. look at wisconsin. a 3 million surplus. look at detroit. they are bankrupt. warfareow this class and it is nasty. you blame bush on the economy for five years of this administration. and regulations this year. i have many friends who live in california. i pay more than union. state -- war union were union state. i am private and i have worked

-- they work three hours out of an eight hour day. clinton, that is a total waste. host: let's get a response. guest: i am trying to remember where it began with the economy and job loss. >> giving california as an example. i do not know what to say. if the movement is here advocating for basic fairness, you talk about the government being too big in terms of the overall government budget. as an economist, when i look and see you have a long. of slow and economic growth. to step the government

in and do things that need to be doing. they cannot find this on their own. can do that and it is exactly the time when the government should because it creates jobs and build our countries future and we have a $3.3 trillion infrastructure deficit because we have not invested enough in our infrastructure. maybe republicans and democrats can agree the government plays a unique role and the same is true for education. we need a solid education system. want to just provide that through the private sector. i still see a -- particularly in a weak economy, there is an important role for the government to play. unions believe in that role and we will do the best we can to make sure the economy is working

for everybody and not just the one percent. click she is currently the deputy chief of staff. she was the chief international economist and international trade economist for the economic policy institute. field guide to the global economy. her research projects include reports on the impact of international trade, on the textile industry. florida, independent color. the minimum wage, i feel like they should not raise it and in some ways they do. if you work over 30 hours, you do not have time for another job and i feel like you should be paid enough to take care of yourself. and i college student

know half of the students who do $.10eed to be paid $10 and an hour. if you work at mcdonald's and flip burgers, i do not necessarily think you need to get paid $10 an hour. the bottom line is they should not be -- they should be looking -- welfare, certain amount of time to be on it. know,uld be like, you minimum wage for a time and then move on. thank you. >> thank you for the call. a couple of issues here. one is about the minimum wage. that first of all, a lot of people are earning minimum wage who are not high school students and are trying to support their families. it is good for the economy if decentdy is earning a

rate. $10 and $.10 an hour is not an absorbent amount. the other thing is about, -- cutting well for -- cut -- cutting welfare. president clinton, the welfare system was informed. there is not a limited -- an unlimited amount of time. part of the problem now with a low minimum wage is that people working full time and play by the rules and doing everything right, they are still not able to see their families. that is not right. in that case, we have wages so low that the government is subsidizing employers. that is what we want to fix. >> i also want to get your the federal reserve. ben bernanke'last day as fed chief is friday. a headline --

this is the second time in six weeks. >> it is a dicey time. the federal reserve has a responsibility. we think full employment is important. we do not want to see any premature cutting back when the economy is doing so week. we get thetant stimulus. we are looking forward to .etting jane -- janet yellen she is a wonderful economist. we have a lot of faith in her. i know her a little bit from academic work. >> ok. the fed change spooks the fallts and stocks tend to when stocks change hand. ben bernanke's last day is

friday. janet yellen will take over at the federal reserve. thank you for your time this morning. >> thank you for having me. it has been a pleasure. >> up next, andrew cap an alley. first, a news update. from c-span radio. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> economists predict the number will be 3.3%. the -- the report is the first of three estimates from october to december quarter. economists predict good growth for 2014. top officers at more than 40 companies are asking the fcc to act quickly to help get more high-speed internet in america's classrooms. they are considering changes to a program that provides discounts to help schools with telecommunications and internet access.

the majority of schools have internet capabilities that are slow and isolated. a copy of the letter shows it was signed by ceo's of companies fitch. abercrombie and and the president reiterated his goal of getting faster internet into nearly every school in four years. the president towards a general electric facility that has relied on a regional program to train his workers. the present is set to sign a presidential memorandum, and across-the-board review of how to best perform federal training programs. span is covering the president today and you can hear the remarks later in our programming schedule. those are some of the latest .eadlines

>> c-span is raising awareness on how c-span covers politics and government. today, the c-span bus 20 years later continues on the road, visiting book festivals and education conferences and schools. look for us online on our website. and you can also follow us on twitter, brought to you by your cable and satellite provider. join us live as we hit the road for the big 12 conference tour. public affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room and gaveling complete gavel-to- coverage of the house. we are created by the tv cable industry 35 years ago.

hd and like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. us to talk about school choice, what do you mean by schooley -- school choice cap choice?hool everything from traditional public schools to public charter schools, private schools, online academies, or homeschooling. we need to move into a portfolio model of education in the country, giving the parents to -- the freedom to choose the best schools to reach their -- meet their children's individual needs. that is the broadest and most effective definition. national school choice week is a series of 6500 independently

plan events across the country and the goal is to shine a positive spotlight for kids. an opportunity to let parents researchs now time to for their kids and that parents -- what policies are you andcating for on a local state-level? >> we do not advocate the legislation. we give individual moms and dads in local communities an opportunity to address in their community. if one person wants talk about , they can do that. we invite everybody to bring their ideas to the table and use the week as an opportunity to shine the spotlight on this.

there are a lot of opportunities . >> on the senate floor tuesday, here's what he had to say. >> the scholarship for kids that will cost $26 billion a year. it will pay -- be paid for by redirecting money we now spend on federal elementary and secondary education programs. 90% of all the spending on this schools is state and local spending. 41% of the nine or 10%. it includes all the money federal government spends on elementary, secondary, except money for children with disabilities. touch the school

lunch program and it does not affect federal research and it does not affect impact. . the purpose is to help low income students. all of the federal dollars are converted to schools with wealthier students. the left and the right have noticed this and want to change it. >> what about criticism this takes resources away from public schools that need the funding? >> we have been on a cross say i amour and i will grateful the senator used the week as an opportunity to put the legislation on the table to talk about it.

it is very important. in terms of folks saying school choice takes money away from traditional public schools, these public schools are a valid and invalid -- choice. public schools. if you are a student, you can call -- you can also send us a tweet or e-mail us. written in the washington post about the heights and reality of school choice. is what was put as we are

in the national school choice week. she writes -- what is your response? guest: first of all, second year in a row, not liking the celebration of opportunity out there. very unfortunate. ainvite her to come out to school choice event. she could meet the students -- public from publix

charter schools and the scholarship program picking at online learning and homeschooling. to an she would come event. she likes to hide behind the column and that is her right. in terms of the scholarship at the, let's look reality. that is the result of programs across the country. we look and are seeing higher achievement and graduation rates and parent satisfaction and we are also is the taxpayers spending less money to get better results. we are ending up with something very good. it is true of all types of school choice. we need more school choice. >> education reporter, in case people are wondering who she is. mississippi, a teacher there. you have got to turn your tv down.

my comments are that education is a three way street. those children left behind, these parents aren't doing their job. basic,e not training the getting them ready for school. we place all of the responsibility on the teacher. parent and teacher and student. the child has to get his or her own training in mind. we cannot do everything. that is my main concern. parents need to start the education process. thank you. >> i grew view in many cases. we cannot have a system where everything is placed on teachers a are working so hard in the country and many have not gotten

race -- raises. we are spending more and more money on education. my question would be, where is the money going? we need to first make sure we are taking care of our teachers. that is important. i value the fact you are a teacher and i'm glad you called it. the best way to get parents involved is to give them a choice in where they send their children to school at the beginning of the equation. many parents do not have choices and they are not encouraged to be involved. if you do not have a choice, why would you want to be involved later on. we need to give parents more choices and then they have a higher life -- likelihood of being involved in education for the next 12 years. >> a view on that, saying, how do parents evaluate the quality

to make school decisions? are you making them available to all? i appreciate someone asked that. i took parents, do not just go buy one metric when you'd choose a school for a child. the attributes you would like to see in the ideal school for a child. math, science, reading, graduation rates, qualification of certain teachers and administrators, the class sizes, the theme of that school. make a list of different thatria you want to see at school and match up though schools in your area. schools you could choose from. ask a lot of questions of teachers and principals and remember that you as the parent are the consumer and so you need to get your answers from these folks. then talk to other parents and

deals with school the parents. finally, talk to your own children about what excites them going to school morning and whether apprehensions are. then, a c-span democrat has this tweet -- >> i do not know what they're talking about, the second part, but the first part, no, this is about funding children and getting funding to follow the child. we spend a certain amount of money per child and should be able to identify where that child goes, whether they go to another public school for opera and -- open enrollment. whether they want to go to a magnet or public charter school.

states, a qualifying private school, etc.. this is about funding children and that is what education should be about. it should be about the kids who will lead our country in the next 25 years. >> how does the voucher program go --ap l -- work you in work -- work work? providing vouchers to the students and other times individual parents are donating scholarship organizations and the moneys are going to provide the scholarships to students. it is different in an east -- every state. every state where the programs exists is different. >> an independent in alaska. go ahead.

good morning. i'm calling in to talk a little bit about my governor, trying to in thes state expanding voucher programs and the charter schools. they have done really well appear. i think, i commend you for the work you do and i commend the good governor for trying to get ana place where we have education system in america really looking out for the students interest. what we have in the public education spectrum is something not tailored to each individual student. alls a one size fits approach and they're trying to make it more that way every day. need, we arely individuals.

we havere different and different beliefs and values and different ideas on things about history. what you get in the public school system is, this is the way it is and if you do not believe it, you are a fool and you are cascaded because you do not, you know, have you -- you have a different idea on 200 years ago or whatever or even what you want to do now. if you are a student, 16 years you wantedu decided to be a welder, and my school, you can get an hour a day worth by can you not take someone and say, ok, if this is something you want to do, if this is what you want to learn, and encourage that, it is something someone has an interest in. guest: thank you for your call

and supporting national choice week. we are glad the governor proclaimed this national school have more than 20 proclaimed this as school choice week in their areas. we need to match up schools with interests. more american families are at tivoli choosing schools for children than ever before. that is what we are celebrating. issueot rank this is an where we need to be saying public schools are not doing a good job for everybody. i think it is working for a lot of folks and i went to public school my whole life and my mother is a wonderful public school teacher. we cannot have a system where we think one type of school is kids.for 100% of the it is not the country we live in in terms of making choices and

every other aspect of life, whether the car is we eat -- food we hear it we need to make choices for children in terms of where they go to school. that is what the broader movement of school choices is all about. host: does your mom agree with school choice cap go -- choice should -- choice him choice? i will not answer that. i will let her say. and wonderful mother. host: [indiscernible] answer. do not know the a study showed it was from stanford. students who go to charter schools, their families are making less money than it is going to richard additional public school.

that is something worth noting. it is worth noting that this study showed significant achievement gains for charter schools. a lot of the school choice programs out there, whether open enrollment in the traditional public, magnet school, public charter schools, online learning, they are serving children from families who do not have the high incomes. we are talking about lower income and middle income families benefiting from the expanding opportunities. host: in michigan, on the air, a parent. my problem with school choice and school vouchers is the way the school system is funded. michigan, it is funded with local property taxes. it is wrong someone who does not live in the community can use schools and the unity. they need to find a different way to on the schools if they want to go to any school they want to, especially to take the money and take it to a private

school through a voucher program. >> we need a national program about funding because it is complicated. we need to look at it this way. if a child is leaving one district and going to another, the money should follow the child and then the district will get the money to educate the child. as a nation that could a man on the moon, we should figure out getting every child a good education. what bothers me is folks that a but-- oppose school choice never give an explanation of why they oppose it. thatng kids go to school our public and different districts. we really need to see more of it. on twitter -- it is great. you get a tax credit when donating to a public school or a

private scholarship program that provides scholarships to low income families. leader he -- has been a thanks to the leadership of a former arizona superintendent of public instruction and hours of us at the national school choice week. that is incredibly beneficial and other states are trying to follow their lead in terms of tuition tax credit programs and could begram which very promising. >> up next in new york, a teacher. what is the name of your town? guest: -- caller: new york. i am not a teacher. i work at a private school. we have gotten a whole lot out of this week. we love our schoolkids sent to and we proudly display our

yellow stars all over the school , and from principal to studying, we have had a good time. we have had children right notes to parents taking them for the their private school education. for many, it is a sacrifice. it has really helped our school and bonds. it has been a wonderful opportunity to shed a lot of light on an portman subject. >> how does the voucher program york? new caller: it is as controversial as common core. we have two sides to the story. people do not believe they should have the money all of the the school and they think it promotes schools to close. i see it more personally that you are really forcing good schools to stay open and bad schools to close and what will

happen is children will be given the right to have the kind of education that is important to help them be successful. the website has this about charter schools. it references the nation's report card from 2004 that found students on average scored lower than students in traditional public schools while there was no measurable difference between , charter school students eligible for free or reduced lower andh scored charter schools in central cities scored lower in fourth grade. >> i am not familiar with that report here and i see what you're saying. i am very suspicious of reports. i am always suspicious of the information and who has been calculating that information. a lot of factors come into play with scores, children that are

hungry in the morning, children with two working parents and do not have the ability to sit down and do homework with them a lot -- the way a lot of children have their there are a lot of factors when children start calculating scores. they like that signal -- annoy me. host: from your experience, has he seen it differently academically? caller: yes. is sixth gradeus through 12th grade. we have small classes. we have seasoned professional meet the needso and are required to meet the needs because they have such a small classes. we have assistants and classrooms they can give support. this is what the parents want.

they want their children to not get lost in the crowd. they want their children's voices to be heard in a need to be met. we are able to do that in a small classroom setting. all right. andrew campanella, your thoughts? guest: first of all, thank you. we have scarves that we are wearing during school choice week. the goal is to let everybody see folks and see them celebrating school choice. when we talk about education policy in this country, it is too often about reports and white papers and research and details that people can come up with their own statistics like that one that was on the nea's website which is 10 years old. thanks for participating. there are 5500 events going on during national school choice week. traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling -- in terms of the

report you saw on the website, let's just be real. that report is from 2004. national alliance of public charter schools has analyzed the most recent data from the nation's report card, and they found gains, significant gains for charter school students. so let's not point to decade-old data. you have done your own analysis of your schools. if you are a charter school, do you have to take the tests that are set up by the federal government or the state government? guest: charter schools play by the same testing roles as public traditional schools. that is the way it works across the country. the reason is they have to follow the same academic benchmark. if charter schools do not meet the inch marks set out in her charter, which is the document that creates the charter school, they get closed down. they have to follow the same accountability metrics as traditional public schools. --t: here is a viewer e-mail

the same kids who can afford to attend will get the vouchers. a basic rule of economics is that prices are set by demand. available seats in the best schools will go up in price by the amount of the vouchers and leave the others in a lesser school or a public school with fewer resources. basically, a subsidy to the wealthy. you are shaking your head. guest: not at all. most of not all of them have limitations on income. they are means-tested or means-preference. again, we are talking about one portion of 16 of the school choice movement. vouchers are only one portion of the private school sector, and we're are talking about six sectors. , refutingl talk about the ms. information that people have about these types of programs, because i have met the families who have benefited from them. kids from low-income families are getting a bed -- a better and for kaisha and -- a better

education as a result of these programs, just as when they are school.choose any other choice is a good thing and it helps people who would often be stuck in schools that do not work for them and where their parents do not have the resources to send them to a different school or approved their entire family and move. let's put the emphasis back where it needs to be, and that is on individual students and families and empowering them. what does your group think about race to the top? guest: we have no position on race to the top. because we believe that school choice is the single catalytic reform. school choice, empowering parents, it is opportunities for their children. that is the best way that we can improve the quality of education and we can give kids immediate access to schools that work for them. we are not the man i sing any types of schools. we are simply saying that every

child is unique. every child is different. and every parent should have the right to choose the best school that meets his or her child's individual learning needs. we think all schools will get better with school choice. that is a good thing for america. host: a parent from maryland, you are on the air. hello, i am really a grandmother and a great-grandmother. i came from a deprived educational area, louisiana. but what you said about public schools -- i am a opponent of and a private charter school and public charter schools. , day schooling. all of these different school liens. .n louisiana -- i am 77

this is only another way to segregate people with all of these schools. believe me. i have seen this. i have had a day care center near it and the people who soon them to all of these private schools or home schools and whatever, these children are not very smart. now i have four children. my husband was a police officer -- whatever. that all of them finished college. one is a doctor. one is a dentist, dental surgeon. when is a psychologist. my daughter is a teacher. the other was the first black woman fire inspector. i am telling you, all of this does not matter. look aty children to the teacher, and i knew if those teachers had certain standards. they have masters degrees in certain subjects. be sure and make sure that those

teachers come to the standard of teaching them. it was not the school. teachers. you have got to get it. oh, and i want to tell you this, the s.a.t. 1600 on score and went to the citadel. he had 15 scholarships. the other one ran track and he went to howard university. went to aaughter university and became a teacher. it was an old teachers college here in washington, d.c. what you are saying is not correct. second -- did one they all go to the same high school? all of your kids? host: i am sorry, she is gone. but make your point. guest: i appreciate hearing about her family. i think it is great that she

raised her kids in such an amazing way and that they are in college and have graduated and her doctors. honestly, isn't that what we want for every child in this country? well, maybe not all of them to be doctors, but for them to get good jobs and live the american dream and to be successful and to have proud moms. that is what we want in this country. unfortunately, if we have a system that is one-size-fits-all, we are not empowering parents to make the choices for their kids because they do not have choices for their kids. we will not be able to empower every child with that equality of opportunity that has been the cornerstone of this great country. so i think that we need more opportunity, more school choice. we need to celebrate successes like the ones our caller just mentioned. her kids did great in a certain type of school. that school should be celebrated. that is what we're are doing during national school choice week. >> we have a student from stillwater, new york. caller: you are saying that public schools do not work for 100% of the children, and i

agree. but why create new schools? why not fix the public schools so that they do work for different kinds of children, that they do a dress the different learning styles have different children? i agree with the last caller about it is a form of of segregation. because will 100% of u.s. children have a choice of where they go to school? what about children whose parents are not as involved? who will make sure they get in the school that is right from them? idea,k it is an exclusive not inclusive. is not exclusive. it is inclusive. and the data does not back up all of these types of claims of segregation. the reality is school choice brings people together and empowers families. you look at the data from any school choice program, whether it is open enrollment in

traditional public school systems, public charter schools, online learning, private school these, you will see that schools and these systems and programs are bringing people together. there is no segregation in school choice. unfortunately, there are people out there who oppose school choice for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with student learning or families. this is a myth that they are perpetrating. it is just not true. nic, huntsville, south carolina, a teacher. caller: good morning. host: what do you teach? teach. i do not i am a former school 14 years andt for also prepared teachers and administrators. i was a member of a regional research lab in the 1990's. i studied the issues associated with vouchers and school choice, those types of things. what happens is if we support

the idea that any parent should have the opportunity to send their child to any schools that they deem appropriate for their basis that certainly is a for education in america. because the responsibilities certainly is the parent's' and they should therefore be able to send their child to wherever they deem appropriate. unfortunately, for many children of low-income families, and that is my specialty, they do not have the wherewithal to send their children to specialized schools. charter schools and some private , charter schools, all private schools, and other schools especially schools. they are organized around a single theme or a multiple number of things, whether they be magnet schools or whatever, and they learn a specific kind

of activity. they may be technical. they may be music, arts, whatever. and therefore, if you are able to do that, that is great. unfortunately, however, the majority of schools in america are schools that are composed of like backgrounds or like ambitions. schools in suburban areas with upper income families reflect that. in schools in poor areas often withct the same things high populations of children from low-income families. therefore, to separate or suggest that if i move someone from one to the other, they would do better, it is erroneous here the other thing is that sticks this -- statistics show that the performance on standardized test's and other means of measurement are

consistent with certain social characteristics. , parentsith education with advanced education, parents of certain income levels, or communities that have values, etc., are all reflected in the schools wherein they are. however, last point, there are a number of schools where the problem centers on their ability and learning in schools who reflect the ability to teach those children based on their learning styles, their backgrounds, and we have failed that. simply to abandon them in favor of giving a kid or parent, supposedly, a voucher or a where to go somewhere they do not have the means. host: let's get a response.

guest: i am interested in knowing what he means by low income parents do not have the wherewithal to make school choices for their children are the low income families i have worked within washington, d.c., and louisiana and different places across the country certainly believe that they are bright enough, that they do have the wherewithal, and that their kids should be able to go to those magnet schools and get a specialized come a personalized education. so i think that what we need to do in the country is, instead of saying, you know what, low-income families cannot make good choices for their kids, we should say instead that we trust parents that are the bureaucrats to make decisions for children, all children, and we're not going to have anymore more of this nonsense about bureaucrats and folks in central offices knowing children better than their own parents. i think that that is very dangerous if we go down that road. delaware,e in dover,

a student. where are you a student? caller: i just graduated university of delaware with a bachelors. all myded public school life. my dad left me when i was nine. my mom did not make more than $36,000 in any given year. i was on the free lunch program. taking.t pay for s.a.t. i am actually autistic. adhd, ocd, all the great stuff. if it was not for the teachers, the parents, everything working synergistically, i would not have gotten my high school degree in 2009. and again, two weeks ago, i got my bachelors. these programs work. but the problem is is that there and there'sut there not a resource to go. if i do question -- for example, i knew i could get help with , but ing the s.a.t.'s

did not know i could get extended time on that. there are so many benefits out there, but there's not a place -- i do not know where to go to ask my questions. guest: that is a great point. i agree with you 100% actually. i think we need to do a better job, whether it is in the nonprofit sector, the government sector, or collaboration between the two, with giving parents more information about the choices they have and letting them know what options are available to their kids. i do not think this is being done effectively in many places across the country and it needs to be. you go to some of these state government websites or local government websites and they are impossible to navigate. the information you're talking about is information that should be readily available to students and parents. so we do not have any areas of disagreement here. i think that the high school you went to and the services that you talked about, that you received, and that got you now to be at the point of graduating from college, that schools should be celebrated. that is why national school choice week is proud to celebrate traditional public weools equally, just as

celebrate all other types of schools. host: john is a parent in florida. caller: thank you so matter -- so very much, mr. campanella. you are a shining light in a dark tunnel. here is the deal -- i have been suggesting this. in one year, i paid $22,000 in school taxes sending my children to private schools. i believe everybody -- if you are -- if your county or wherever you live, say the taxation is $7,000 a year, i believe you should write every parent a check for $7,000 -- not directly to them, of course, and they can choose where the child will go to school. in florida we are paying $200 because ofear increased class sizes.

in school vouchers, that money would be saved because there would be a certain percentage going to public schools. i grew up in washington, d.c., and the washington post writer who wrote that article, i can tell you they had armed guards in the middle schools to keep the girls from getting raped in the hallways, and i can tell you problemflorida the big with public schools, one of the major problems is politics and discipline. mall and daughter to a the young lady who is waiting on her, i asked how do you like your -- she says, this is my part-time job. this is my first year being a schoolteacher. i lit up the ridge he said it was my lifestream to be a schoolteacher. and she was an elementary school teacher. she said when they came to study time, ok, everybody put up your books now and we will do something else, the young

student said "f you, i'm not going to do that." i was almost in tears because she said my principal told me we do not have discipline problems in this school, do you understand? i have talked to many teachers, libraries, and such, and they say we cannot control because the school does not want to get a bad reputation. host: i have to leave it there because we're running short on time. guest: i would say that national school choice week is an opportunity to celebrate with working in education. 5500 events across the country in terms of looking at whether or not taxes are being spent appropriately on schools, which is one of jon's original point. i think when you have more

choices in education, you have more accountability. you can make sure the taxpayers are getting the best bank for their buck and that the dollars are following individual children, which is the way you should be funding education in this country on a student-centered basis. host: for more information, you can go to schoolchoiceweek.com. andrew campanella, thank you for getting up early in california and talking to our viewers. next, we're going to open up the phone lines and get your thoughts on the government response in the nine southern states that were hit by the snowstorm. what do you think about how the georgia,t responded in louisiana, alabama, etc.? there are the phone numbers on your screen appeared we will get to that right after this news update from c-span radio. >> nine: 20 a.m. eastern time. economic news from the commerce department shows the u.s. economy grew at a 3.2% annual rate in the october 2 december

quarter. the fourth quarter increase followed a 4.1% growth rate in the july to september quarter when the economy was boosted by a buildup in business. pile. overall, in 2013, the economy 2.8%at 1.9%, below the increase in 2012. jobless number, the labor department says weekly applications for unemployment benefits rose by 19,000 last week, up to 348,000, the highest in about a month. a broad trend in applications remains low. the increase follows three weeks of decline. turning to congress, house republicans leaders released a letter today at the start of their two-day meeting on the eastern shore of maryland. it is challenging the white house and democrats to work without further delay on four bills that are stalled in the senate. the gop lawmakers say the bills would advance the president's priorities and would make a good start on the year of action that the president outlined in his state of union speech.

house speaker john boehner and the other leaders say the four bills that deal with job training programs, construction and natural gas pipelines, workplace rules, and money for pediatric research at the national institutes of health. house republicans leaders are holding a news conference this morning. you can hear it later in our program line up your those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. someone who grew in the office. the bayadly burned by of pigs experience. he listened to the experts. cia, joint chiefs of staff. went and did the trip to france in may, june of 1961. de gaulle said to him, you should surround yourself with the smartest possible people, listen to them, hear what they have to say. the that the -- but at the end

of the day, you have to make up your own mind. kennedy remembered what harry truman said, the buck stops here. i think after the bay of pigs, he was absolutely determined to and hearis own mind what these experts had to say, way what they were telling him. at the end of the day, he was going to make the judgment, and he was the responsible party. and you see that. that was abundantly clear when you listen to all those and read the transcripts of all those tapes during the cuban missile crisis. he was his own man. he was the one making his own mind. he had the joint chiefs at arms length. they wanted to bomb, invade, and he did not want to do it. >> an inside look at the kennedy administration, sunday night at 8:00 on c-span's q&a. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are going to open up

the phone lines and get your response to the government response of that southern snowstorm that hit nine different states. we want to hear what you think the government's role should be when this type of natural incident occurs and what do you think of the job that they did for southern states. southern states, we have a special line for you, the first 202-585-3883. this is from the atlanta-constitution -- how did this happen? andic safety officials government leaders are responding to the criticism over the chaos in that state of georgia in the atlanta area. and also in the papers this morning, this is the times picayune out of louisiana. ofer consecutive nights hard freezes, the area is beginning to thaw.

also, here is the state in south carolina -- i see roads linger as the snow melts. the snowads linger as melts. the front page of "usa today" has the picture of atlanta's hot storm.ter the one of the largest cities paralyzed, the storm shut down the city. it raises questions -- is atlanta destined to quit functioning every time he gets a freak snowstorm? motorists created travel nightmares for commuters, truckers, students, and their families. hampton, virginia, democratic caller. what do you think? caller: i am in the southeastern , so we got arginia , so theunt of snow here

government officials and meteorologist on the local stations got it down to actually the hour when the snow would start coming. so there was a lot of good preparations. some of the schools got out early. they were all well-prepared. it all came out surprisingly well. so i was happy about that. but i am a little nervous because one of my kids is in middle school. maybe an hour or so after the snow started, he was coming home on the bus. but it was within walking distance, which is also good. i do not know how some of those other parents in places like georgia and alabama dealt with that. but everything went really well here. host: what do you a credit that to, the local government, the national weather service? them working altogether. i know the superintendent of the school here, the seven cities

, there is a area betweenood coordination what the people who make those decisions have to do and listening to the forecast. and the forecasts were on the money. host: all right, let's go to gracin who is in georgia. what do you make of how your public officials responded? caller: thanks for taking the call. i wanted to comment on the news conference yesterday. it was fascinating with the governor and the mayor of atlanta. i think what people do not understand is that the mayor had no control over whether or not the school boards were superintendents were going to close the schools and then he also had no control over the

interstates that were going around atlanta that were being literally jackknifed by the trucks. and to top that off, with him having no control with being able to get the schools out early and not being able to control the interstates, the governor, nathan deal, he never showed up until it was very late in the situation. you could tell that the situation was turning terribly dangerous. the fact that no one was killed or that there were not fatalities, it was literally a miracle. i must say that the people that came out and really showed their civic ability to help stranded motorists, atlanta can be proud about that. but we really were in the just not that i have

ever seen. it was apocalyptic and disappointing, very disappointing. host: were you out on the roads? people in the northern part of this country look at it and say there was only two inches of snow, so why was there so much chaos? caller: well, the chaos that was of liked -- it is kind i just saw the guy that ran the new orleans situation after katrina, a general, i cannot think of his name. host: i know who you are thinking of. caller: he lived in atlanta also. if you have ever been to l.a., you know the difference. type ofthese elongated rush hours, and so what happened was that everyone literally jumped out onto the road systems at one time, particularly

because the schools had not been closed. schools should have never been opened that day. that was the worst mistake right there, sending kids to school. host: who do you fault for that? fall onthat has got to the school boards. but the governor is the only person in this state they can override the school boards. again, a kind of reflects back on him in terms of the situation the governoract, here has taken over school boards in terms of if they happen to lose accreditation, but the danger that was going on on that night with temperatures as low as they were and people being stranded, literally in the middle of nowhere, it was simply terrifying. it was terrifying. general, the new orleans

guy they cleaned up that situation, he said he lived in atlanta for six years and liked atlanta. it is a lot of city. the problem is, and this is not just related to the weather, it overhappen in atlanta many other things, too, but you are never really sure when you drive into atlanta if you are going to be able to get out because of traffic-related situations that completely shut down a city. thinkok, who do you should fix that? the federal government or state government? caller: i do not think the federal government should, no. i think that until -- and this has always been a big deal, the state of georgia has never been wanting to involve itself with public transportation in the city of atlanta. they do not support marta. does not give the biggest public transportation system that we have in our state

trainl any money for its system, our subway system, if you will. until they get on board and start working at it and making sure that transportation is the number one issue, lots of people people will not want to come to the city. host: here is what the mayor of atlanta tweeted out on january 29 after the storm, saying we know you want to get home and we are going to work all day and tell you can return safely. and governor nathan deal had this tweet yesterday at about 2:00 p.m., saying troopers asking 16 to 20-hour shifts georgia guard pledges to remain on roads until mission is 100% complete. also, "usa today" says this --

the georgia governor will mobilize the national guard on wednesday to rescue atlanta cop motoristslanta-area -- next int's go to amy georgia, democratic caller. what are your thoughts on how your governor and mayor handled the situation there? caller: good morning. i think it was to be expected. by these states are headed republican governors. they do not believe in government. they do not believe in the public good. and so the fact that a major

emerging city that has no centralized government, and that is on purpose, would shut down is a disgrace. but it is to be expected because they do not believe in the public good. they do not believe in government. they believed in every man for himself. we saw that in atlanta and all around south. host: the criticism has been georgia, the state of correct? i mean, it says here in "usa today" that louisiana, headed by a republican governor, closed more than 20 highways because of ice. caller: that is true. there were still problems in alabama. kids were still stuck in schools. in georgia, it was a disaster. it is because the relationship and the feeling about government. they do not believe in it. they believe that people should

just simply survive -- survival of the fittest. host: a little bit more about how the different governors thatnd -- "usa today" says in the case of georgia, the alarm was sounded too late. georgia, anin rome, independent. caller: i agree with a lot of what most people are saying. i am a little bit north of atlanta, so we had it a little bit worse. i think one thing that people are forgetting, we keep hearing snow, snow, snow here and well, there is a huge difference in snow and ice. basically, my biggest thing was that driving on black ice and driving on snow are two

different things. i do believe a lot of the responsibility falls on the school's not letting out early enough. i think they probably should have called school out earlier. but then you have -- most people do not understand, in most of atlanta, everyone drives. we have one of the most congested highway areas in atlanta, and it spans a huge about of area. atlanta is not just a very small city. of when you have like a city 4 million people that are trying to make a mass exodus at one , it was not that they cannot drive through the snow. it was that they were on ice. they probably should have salted them earlier. the weatherll on channel to everything on news stations, we were not supposed to get that much. host: let me ask you this.

mary tweets this -- after the 2011 ice disaster, millions spent on road equipment and we were assured that next time the department of transportation would be proactive. this was the next time. the atlanta journal-constitution says that after 2011, state agencies and city officials amassed stockpiles, new equipment, and implemented new agreements to use private resources to clear roads. that 100%.gree with i know they did invest. they had everything ready that morning. he came and a little bit earlier than expected. however, people also have to understand him a when you only have these kind of incidents every three to 4, 5 years, if we stocked up and stocked up on this kind of equipment, if they stay idle for years and we do not have this kind of storm, the next thing they will be saying

is, why is government wasting money on these things we do not need? i think there is blame to go around, but there is also the thing that people need to stop up north and realize that there is a huge difference in snow and in ice. and also remember that not only is there a republican nathan deal, the democrat of atlanta and all the superintendents -- there is a lot of blame to go around for everybody. but sometimes the hand of god, mother nature, just gives you something that is not always in your control. host: steve in loganville, georgia. what are your thoughts? caller: good morning. our brethren in the atlanta area have been ringing in. i do not want to monopolize the time. transportation specialist, so i make my living in the industry. i work with both civilian and

government clients. if you look at the photographs, the issue i want to bring up -- not only your previous caller who talked about the lack of public transportation here in the metro atlanta area, but the key to --s is if you look at the [no audio] look at the money, we are all impeded by commercial vehicles that either had no where to go or had no escape plan from the situation that they were presented with. again, my point is we had a

major lack of management and the commercial truck sector. rail,rlines, the maritime, they are all heavily managed. tremendous backbone systems. we have fema, dhs, and others. the commercial trucking industry has a lack of any kind of consistent comprehensive management with the exception of a very few large companies. i will not mention any names, who control their dispatch and routing of their vehicles. -- in and in to support tory anticipatory and proactive way. we have a number of, god bless them, independent truckers that are out there running on a load-to-load basis, living paycheck to paycheck. we have nothing other than a logbook at a rest stop. these drivers do not have a centralized dispatch like the

airlines and the railroads do that tell them do not go there, pull over, park, get off the road, you are in danger. in addition to that -- host: can i stop you there? i am wondering, are you calling for some sort of government agency, like the faa or something like that? we already have the national highway transportation safety association. we have the american trucking association. we have state trucking associations. we had the u.s. dot which is a very strong component. we have the wonderful ms. ersman atnd -- ms. h the ntsb. we have a lot of agencies in place that discussed this here there are many places in the united states that do not have enough safe, secure, epa kind -- epa-compliant parking spaces for

these trucks. what happens is these trucks, and god bless them, they invest -- they are in the middle of the highway running on what diesel fuel they have left in their trucks. they are polluting the atmosphere. they're not taking advantage of a proper dispatch system which they would have no connectivity to other than a cb radio. but in an age where we have got andal, you know, onstar systems where you can have a dispatch-ready type of device inside the truck that says you are running into a weather-intensive situation, so here is a safe and secure epa compliant parking facility that has parking spots available on a reduced rate basis. you need to go there and park until the weather situation subsides and then go back to your route without penalty. david in right,

georgia, independent. caller: my thoughts is, from what i see in my area, we need more trains -- [no audio] they need to be able to go back and forth. host: you support government funding for that? >> i think our government has done a great job. we should have more trains. that is what made america. we do not have them no more. think our government does a great job of state patrol, the police. if more people do what they're told to do, stay off the roads, we would not have this mess. host: democratic caller in alabama. what was the response like? was ok, ie response

think are the problem was you have all the different school systems and the school was out right during the school, any have different businesses that let the employees out in the storm. so you had this major chaos, everybody on the roads. i think that was not the government's problem. it was more so the different entities problems. they should be better prepared for situations like this. maybe do not let the schools out toe do not even let them go school that day. for the businesses, it is better to be safe than sorry. have the employees wait it out. if it is not bad, have them come in later. do not let everybody out at the same time on the roads. when you have that and many want the government to come in and clear the roads, i mean, everybody is on the roads. that is what you have, chaos. donald in baton rouge, louisiana. what do you make of how your government responded? caller: actually, we had the same thing, but this is our second week.

we are down south, about nine miles from new orleans. , we did notactly shut down schools. we let them out early. but we were able to get most of the people off of the streets. but this past monday at about 12:00, they began to announce school closures, city, local, and state closures by 5:00. we were executing our emergency management. our emergency management facility in baton rouge with the government and all the city, local, state, and education officials were under one roof at all times monitoring the situation, and we made it through it. i mean, right now it is 21 degrees here and we are deep south and we have not been above 32 for the last two days. .ce is still on the ground the ice melted but then froze over real hard.

ist the general said pertinent in a lot of cities. my brother lives in houston. houston is a city comparable to the size of atlanta. houston handled the problem really, really well. that is not what we saw in atlanta. i have been to atlanta. i like atlanta. one thing i do know, school buses are not allowed to go when there is black ice. i think that is unilateral across the country. it is very dangerous. host: cnn has this headline on their website -- was atlanta asleep at the wheel? inside this report, they write that the opposite of the governor and the mayor confirmed the two men were at a luncheon in atlanta around noon tuesday, about the time the snowfall began. it says that the deputy communications director of atlanta said that the mayor was there accepting the georgia iannd magazine 2014 george

of the year award. here is a couple of tweets from the two man. the mayer tweeted this on generate 28 -- i'm honored to ian of thee 2014 georg year award today. and the governor was also at this hotel to honor the atlanta mayor. it says i was honored to introduce the mayor as he was named 2014 georgian of the year. e, independentk caller. caller: most of the problem in georgia was the ice, not so much the snow. the roads froze over. there is not much you can do about that. one minute it is nice and 20 minutes later the roads are frozen. i do not think there is much the

people in georgia or the government can do. it is not like they have snowplows and sand trucks available for use when we hardly ever use them. host: the atlanta journal-constitution reports that after the 2011 ice storm, the dot and georgia promised that they would put money, invest in resources in order to respond to something. newnext time they amass salt piles, deployed new equipment, and implemented new agreements to use private sector resources to respond. , i cannot really blame the government and georgia for that. come on, you are down south. how much equipment can you bring into deal with snow and ice and stuff like that when it hardly ever happens down there? it has happened a lot over the last couple years, which is a result of global warming, obviously. i guess mother nature is not a global warming scam artist like

al gore. al gore told us that snow would be a rarity. i live in connecticut, ok, and i have dealt with subzero degree temperatures for the next -- for the last month. they changed it from global warming to climate change. when you scare the people want, let's change it to climate change. climate change is here all the time. it changes by the second, minute, hour, by the day. we need more fossil fuels. as i am talking to you on the phone, i am exhaling fuel, too. we need more co2. we need to burn more fossil fuels, more cold to warm up the planet. we are heading to a cooler trend over the next 20 to 30 years, looking at record cold temperatures. host: got your point. here is an imo from linda in georgia -- the georgia emergency management agency has or should have the primary role in coordinating all the governmental agencies. where was charlie english, the

gema director? where was the mayor and governor? i heard that governor deal was presenting an award on tuesday morning rather than monitoring emergency weather situation. jerry in georgia, democratic caller. what do you think? caller: i agree with all the comments about ice. being from a northern state, i am an expert on that. i want to add one more wrinkle, atlanta is very hilly, and that adds to the problem. regarding the governmental problems, i think the mayor, from what i heard, has no authority to close the schools early. so i do not know exactly what role he was going to play. host: an earlier caller from georgia said the governor has the authority to override any school board decision and could have closed the schools. are you familiar with that? caller: no, i am not that

familiar with the workings of the government. i would add a comment about general governmental philosophies though. two years ago, i think they had a chance to vote on an expansion -- the citizens had the chance to vote on an expansion of the highway going out of atlanta. i was amazed that they voted it down. highway 400 going north out of atlanta is a complete chokepoint. so it does not surprise me at all that people are backed up there forever. that is about the only comments i got. host: all right am a we will go on -- all right, we will go on injerry in -- sorry, rita columbus, georgia. this, i keepoes hearing about the truck drivers locking up the roadway in atlanta. i was there. traffic.ck in the

most incidents that i seen was cars, cars causing incidents. not to blame the cars, because i was in the cars. but it gave the 18 wheelers nowhere to go. thing was, why do they have an mayor there? if he cannot do anything, what is his purpose. and the big old sign for come across the interstate this a no texting or drive space, why doesn't it reduce the speed? i am doing 25 miles sometimes, not all the time, most the time five miles. when i am doing five miles and 25 miles per hour, i had cars flying by me doing 60 and the road was ice. i slid i cannot tell you how many times. host: how long were you on the road? was actually pretty lucky because i was there seven hours. i was actually headed south and not north. but north, they were just sitting still, not going

anywhere. and getting on the off ramps, they were just backed up so i had to stay on the far left side. host: did you just sit there like a parking lot for seven hours or were you moving slowly? caller: i sat there probably one time for an hour to my and then i finally started moving because i was coming north side of atlanta. i was amazed why all the people were going into atlanta. right? why are you going into atlanta, because this was at 12:00. host: and you do not run out of gas? caller: i did not run out of gas, thanks god. we made it safely home, thank god. we think it was ridiculous that they even had school that day. whoever allowed school that they should be fired, period, that is what i say. i live in columbus, georgia, and my child did not go to school that day. road,when you are on the did you see emergency vehicles or any sort of government response? there is a story in the

washington post that the storm in the deep south brings out helicopters. helicopters searching for --anded drive owners josh searching for stranded drivers. did you see any of that? caller: no, i do not see any of that. i saw a couple of state troopers on the side of the road with some incidents. i seen abandoned cars. then i seen wrecked cars. i seen cars and trees and cars in ditches. host: all right. the atlanta journal-constitution has this story about what happened in 2011, saying the governor then largely escaped widespread criticism during the ice storm of 2011, given that it happened as he prepared to take office. so this time when he was lambasted for earlier comments that it was an unexpected storm. local and national forecasters predicted the storm as early as last weekend. an alert was issued monday that the storm, in combination with

an area unaccustomed to snow, would virtually shut down transportation regionwide. alexis in georgia, go ahead. caller: thank you for c-span, first of all. i live about 125 miles north of atlanta in the foothills of the and we know here

that if there is even a thought of snow, everything shuts down because we just do not have the equipment, and nobody around here knows how to drive in the ice and snow. i lived in the upper midwest for many years. you know not to get out on the roads here because people just don't know how to drive. and the whole thing was a debacle in atlanta. i mean, they were obsessed with it. networkover all of television for two days. that is all you saw was constant shots of backed up expressways. yes, i do blame the government officials because they should have known better in a city like atlanta which has probably some of the worst traffic in the country anyway. but anyway, maybe we will learn something from this. i hope so. thank you again for c-span. host: we are getting a lot of phone calls from georgia this morning. if you were one that left your

car abandoned, this is on the atlanta journal-constitution website. did you abandon your car on an icy road or interstate? thursday is the day to go retrieve it, according to police. but according on where you left your vehicle tuesday, it may be in a different spot when you get it. state and local law enforcement officials said wednesday they are having to move some vehicles over to make room for crews. in some cases, vehicles are being towed. dan in new hampshire, a democratic caller. caller: good morning. it is kind of laughable. they do not need a lot of clout equipment -- plow equipment here it there are dump trucks. if they salted the roads before the event, nothing would have happened. snow on drive over the the roads, it turns to ice. if the roads are not very treated, this is what you get. no big surprise.

host: david in monticello, georgia. caller: i think the fault lies strictly with the superintendents of the school systems. they could have shut school down with plenty of warning. bo-calls go out to staff. ever but he knows there is no school. a lot of argument i have had was about the school bus is not being the only problems. the parents going to get the kids from school and a dangerous situation added to the problem. it was not just school buses. although some kids had to stay on the school buses for a long time. the problem lies with the superintendents of the school systems. they should have shut school down. this problem would have been at least cut in half. the: you do not blame governor for not overwriting the school boards and shedding the schools down? , it was their

responsibility first. the superintendents' responsibilities first. host: have you heard anything about cost for the city of atlanta or the state of georgia? caller: i have not heard any total cost. i am sure we will hear that in the next 24 to 48 hours. i know it will cost some of them drivers that were towed, it will cost them greatly. there have been a couple counties that have said we will cover the costs. the tow truck drivers, that is their living. that is what they have got to do. there will be more communities that will let these tow truck drivers get their money. the economy is what it is. the whole fault lies with the superintendents. host: brunswick, georgia, steve. georgia 21oved to

years ago. i moved down here in 1993, and there was a snowstorm when i moved down here. there was absolutely no problems in atlanta. at the time, we had a democratic governor and the economy was booming. ever since the republicans took over, the economy and georgia has been stagnant and we have had major problems. of atlanta is a democrat. -- caller: i live in woodstock and route 285 runs round the entire city. and even on a normal day without any -- problems at 3:00 it's rush hour and those roads, i used to have a limousine service, and i used to drive