will give an update on syria, afghanistan and iran. some perspective on u.s.-france relations. ♪ good morning. it's tuesday, february 11. plenty of news from pennsylvania avenue. yesterday evening as house republicans finalize the bill that will raise the u.s. borrowing limit ahead of this debt ceiling deadline. meanwhile, the obama administration yesterday announced another delay of its affordable care act deadline. we will get to both of those stories this morning. let's focus on a washington free beacon story that is receiving a

lot of attention inside and outside of washington, d.c. insight into hillary clinton's first time -- time as first lady. we take you through that story today. we are opening phone lines to you for your thoughts and reactions. give us a call. -- numbers are you can also catch up with us on twitter, facebook or e-mail us -- we want to give you straight to that washington free beacon story. friendunt of the closest to the first lady.

the reporter on this story is alana goodman of the washington free beacon. she joins us on the phone now. good morning to you. >> good morning. duringks for coming on this busy 24 hours for you. she wasdiane blair? >> a very close friend of hillary clinton. called her her best friend in her biography. they stayed very close friends throughout the years. she was working on bill clinton's campaign and was a close adviser to hillary clinton while she was in the white house. they're very close. host: what is the history of this archive that you went and looked through for several days before you wrote your story? guest: this archive is a

letterson of papers, the tween the clintons and diane blair from the 1970's until 2000. 's papers thatlair were donated by her husband to the university of arkansas before her death -- right after her death in 2000. the archive was opened in 2010. it was opened to the public at that point. host: what not previously reported on until your story comes out. what made you think to look up this archive and why do you think it had not received the attention until now? -- he didhad heard receive a little bit of coverage in 2007. there was some criticism because the archive did not open to the public. they were still working on it.

there was criticism that hillary was running for president at that point and it should be opened up. i was just wondering if it had opened and went to the website, found it had, and went to arkansas. talk to us about the headline. why do you describe it that way? talking aboutted the 1992 campaign and asked about how there was a public perception that hillary clinton was this ruthless politician. actually had talked about ways to mediate that. how can we stop in your image and make you more relatable? there talking about her as the first lady a very different role than when she ran for president in 2016.

i'm not so sure if that is what we heard from her. that is something that you might rather than a first lady role. host: what did you expect to find when he went down to arkansas to look through this archive? with all the reaction of your stories that have come out, what has surprised you the most? i honestly do not expect a fine too much when i went down there. -- find too much when i went down there. a lot of stuff from the 1990's that had been gone over already. i really did not expect to find too much new. surprised about the conversation between hillary clinton and diane blair over monica lewinsky.

2008 and heed in reported that diane had a conversation and he interviewed diane blair and she told him that hillary said to her that she cannot talk about monica. thinking through this whole thing and it was difficult for her and diane blair was pulling for her and thinking about her. i was surprised to find the conversation that she had with hillary that the talk about monica very candidly. wrote the story. i know you have a busy morning. before we go, did you reach out to the clintons on the story? caller: i reached out to the clintons and said before my -- they havet, i a not responded at all. host: what is your follow-up to the story echo what is next for

there is 109 boxes to go through down there that have not been released to the public. was down there for five days. it was interesting. why are some documents not yet open to the public? do we know he ? caller: i'm not sure what is in there. you don't know how many documents these are. are notsure why these available to research. let you get to your other interviews. thank you summit for joining us. caller: thank you for having me on. host: we will be talking about the story with our viewers for the next 40 minutes or so. happy to open up the phone lines and tweets and e-mails to get your thoughts and reactions.

a follow-up story from today's new york times article on the story. clinton scandal of the 90's resurfaces with the papers. it has been over 16 years since -- the monicay lewinsky sex scandal. lady is now a former senator and former secretary of state. yet, it seems difficult these days to escape the scandal that rocked the late 1990's and led to mr. clinton's impeachment. the story in today's new york times, talking about this story in the free beacon on the monica lewinsky scandal. this is what a lot of goodman reports. 20 8, 1997, president clinton was facing another wave of allegations from another woman.

kathleen wiley had accused clinton of sexually assaulting her, and blair faxed a drudge report item about her claims to one of the president's aides. do we take matt drudge seriously? six months later, drudge would break the affair between clinton and monica whiskey, setting into motion the events that would lead to the president's impeachment. that is part of the documents that the washington free beacon posted online of this trove of documents from diane blair. .ere is that hand written note do we take matt drudge seriously? we want to get your reactions to the story. does it change your thoughts about the clintons? what do you think about the timing of the story ahead of the 2014 elections and the 2016 elections? nick is up first from clarksville, tennessee on our line for independence.

clintons ranthe for the first time, one of their mantras was character does not matter. they live by that creed. -- anybody knows that he is a sexual predator and and she has been with him for years and is supposed to be a smart lady. of she is wearing a hat being the bloody butcher of benghazi saying it does not matter that americans are slaughtered. they also ran an clinton spoke about the 241. 1.2 for these people are trash. she went to china and bragged policyer birth control

which causes the slaughter of thousands of baby girls. by -- the 10 commandments to socialists. by advocates of a social state is warranted in the pursuit of that state. that goes all the way back to lenin. host: a little bit more from the new york times story about the free beacon pace that came out -- peace that came out. new insight into how hillary clinton dealt with setbacks and difficulties in dealing with journalists who she de scribed as having big egos and no brains. it was in that file from diane blair. it notes her talking about hillary clinton on thanksgiving

in 1996 on some of these topics. this is diane blair's ions.lectin she will just continue to be herself and let everybody else make whatever adjustments they have to. i'm a proud woman. i'm not stupid. i know i should do more to suck up to the press. wrote in her recollection, i know it confuses people when i change my hairdos. i'm used to winning and i intend to win on my own terms. that is diane blair's recollection of the conversation she had in 1996 with hillary clinton. adding your thoughts and reactions to the story. scott is up next on our independence lits line. caller: from what i heard, hillary clinton is in pretty big trouble. way back when clinton was

president, and tanzania, in they were not doing anything about the terrorists. then the world trade center bombing, nothing was done about it. war, the u.s.s colas bombed. cole was bombed. cia toew off the fbi and stop them from putting pressure on clinton because she did not want clinton to go to war. if you have gone to war, she would've had that on her resume. we feel that this was a complete smokescreen cover up with the monica lewinsky scandal. in times of swampland blog

come of the hillary papers. looking into the political ramifications of the story and these papers coming out. he writes that the papers represent a collection of thoughtful recollections involving positions on clinton's part rather than a smoking gun on anything damning or even surprising. it goes on to note that clinton first privately advocated a single payer program. she did not believe in it enough to go public with that assertion. that part of the blair documents being referred to. we can show a few. it is diane blair. calling a dinner with the clintons. hillary clinton said that bill clinton at length on the --plexities of health care thinks managed competition a crock. a single-payer necessary. maybe add to medicare.

wanda, waiting in hayward, california. our line for democrats. have you read the story? i am just dumbfounded. i just woke up and decided to turn the television on. this is unbelievable. you guys are sitting here reading blogs and talking about stuff that happened in 1992 and 1996. is this all you guys have on a woman who wasn't even president? this is unbelievable that you would even have a segment -- did you trash bring up trash about bush when he ran for president and his

wife killing a person and having the car accident while she was drunk? this is crazy. this is off the hook crazy. host: wanda from california. it is a story that is made the new york times and times magazine. donna brazil on cnn seems to share your opinion on this story and what it means. the headline of her blog piece "enough already with the obsession over hillary clinton." she goes on to write about the story and why she thinks it is a nonstory. are is another piece by reporter from the daily beast. monica who linsky? he writes that republicans are still working on arguments against hillary clinton, but it is clear that they will rely on clinton fatigue, that they have

been in the public eye for too long and that americans want to choose from a new generation of leaders. he knows that setting aside president clinton's status as one of the most popular people in american politics, there's also the ironic fact that a strategy. in 2012 or between the ages of 18-42. 20'sldest were in their during the clinton administration. they are likely to support the former first lady in the future election. ifgoes on to note that hillary clinton runs for president and she is the democratic nominee, she will have a chance to read your news herself -- reintroduce herself. several stories also pushing back on some of the news that came out of that free beacon

story. we are getting your thoughts and reactions this morning. ohio on up in toledo, our lines for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. i cannot believe that you people are wasting time on this matter. this was 17 years. let's talk about unemployment and food stamp programs. let's talk about jobs. not this trash about the clintons. i'm a supporter of hillary clinton. i am a democrat. and we need this on implement bill pascrell congress. this is what should be on the news. inky. host: that is david calling in from ohio. let's go to our republican line. bonnie is waiting in ohio. good morning. have you read this piece from

the free beacon? i did not hear the question. host: we want to get your reaction to the story. caller: i skimmed through it. i do have some reaction to people who are calling in about going back this far. this goes back to the 80's for romney. for kerry, they went back to vietnam. we did go back to look at people. my biggest comment is that she said it was her fault that bill cheated on her. really? ?laming herself s so much for women's rights. maybe should've done something a little bit better. say to winey have to politically, from the stand by your man pre-election interview to the most recent thing about

when she said, what difference does it make? we don't need another liar in the white house. that is my comment. thank you. loveland,ie from ohio. talking about the revelations of the monica lewinsky scandal. here is how the freebie can put it in their reporting. a lot of goodman wrote that when clinton finally admitted to the relationship after repeated denials, hillary defended her call with a phone blair. she said he had made a mistake by fooling around with the narcissistic looney tune lewinsky but was driven to it by his political adversaries. that is how the washington free beacon puts the story. let's go to kurt, waiting in hampton, new jersey. our line for independents.

host: once again, i tune into c-span and i find out that it is nothing more than a magnet for people who are hateful, uninformed, prejudiced and partisan. does a great disservice to the american public. that is all i have to say. host: kirk in hampton, new jersey. comments on our facebook page about the story. susan writes in that all i need to know is that benghazi and the fact that she did nothing as a -- she had a lot of health issues when being asked to testify so i don't think she can handle the stress of the presidency. she isker writes in that ruthless, talking about the story in the free beacon. she is a ruthless political

animal that is probably more responsible for the clinton thanss then built is -- bill is. minnesotao shelly in on our lines for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. basically already said, but i will reiterate what i am saying. the opposition research has been on both sides. as far as they can find things on both sides. the electorate has become so partisan at this point that it inform the voting public because they are only hearing the talking points. you do get into some of the research on hillary. some of it is going to be things

and are going to need to decide whether we want someone like her in the white house. my biggest problem with hillary comment.r on women she goes on these papers and you see how ruthless she can be against women. that is what bothers me. thanks for taking my call. shelley calling in from minnesota this morning. let's go to mark, waiting in ohio on our line for independents. host: wanda in california, you go, girl. this is old news. it never should have been brought up when it was happening because it was a personal thing mandated by the american people that we were not interested in it and the republicans dragged it out anyhow because that is all they are good for because they are rotten.

benghazi, what about iraq and george bush and dick cheney creating treason and lying to thousands of americans? you want to talk about reality -- we are bypassing to people who created treason in our andtry that ran our country are walking free today. this is a democratic country, right? host: some reaction from people in the political world. here is reince priebus on the story today. now we know why hillary clinton kept her records and little knox.""fort we're taking your calls on this first segment of the washington journal this morning. we want to point out some other news around the country for you.

here's the front page of usa today. the banner headline, health law faces new delay. the obama administration monday announced another delay in the affordable care act deadline. this one requiring some small employers to provide health insurance to their employees. businesses with more than 50 employees have an extra year to phase in health-care coverage as employees who work more than 30 employers with more than 100 employees will be subject to employee coverage rules under the affordable care act getting in january 2015. the mandate to rewrite insurance it already been delayed by one year. the washington times also puts the story on their front page today. noting that republicans said it was another example of giving businesses a break while refusing to delay the mandate for average americans who must have coverage by the end of march or face tax penalties.

obama changes health-care rules again. ae story also the subject of lead editorial in today's wall street journal. obama rewrites obamacare is the headline there. another day, another lawless exemption for businesses. we will be talking about this delay with members of congress. they will be joining us later on the show today. minutesw, we have 20 left to talk to our viewers about this washington free beacon story that has made a lot of headlines today. we want to go to eric in new york on our lines for independents. good morning. caller: good morning. first of all, thank you very much for c-span covering the subjects. that i amted to say an immigrant who came into this country and spent 30 years in

the united states military. i am shocked that we have double standards when our commander-in-chief basically stuff in the white house that the rest of us would be court-martialed for. qualified clinton was to be president because he was a governor and had past experience. we look at people's resumes. i don't understand the infatuation with hillary. echo why isresume she qualified to be president? what has she done? may be my question is to journalists, can you help us look at people's resumes so we don't get into the situation that we are in right now?

host: what do you think about her work as a senator and secretary of state? have you seen enough of a body of work of someone who has been around the world stage for so long yet? caller: i have and i am disappointed. she was a senator for my state. i am puzzled as to how someone who has never spent a day in the state of new york can be a senator representing the state of new york. maybe someone smarter than i am can explain this. same thing with the state department. i spent 30 years of my life protecting american lives all over the world, yet she gets americans killed as the head of the state department. yet, she gets a pass.

i don't get it. i hope that we have journalists who can dig into ,hese things and let us know .he public who is so blind host: eric from new york this morning. paul writes in on our e-mail -- he says i saw the report on nbc and it is meaningless. immediate strength make something -- make nothing will click something. totally nuts. in regards to the story that is making rounds. i want to point out some other news that is happening today in washington. and 9:00 a.m. we will have the arrival of the french president. that will be on c-span three live.

we will let you know when that is happening here on the washington journal and show you a little bit of it. at 12:00, there'll be a joint news conference between president obama and president aland. holland.ent you can follow along with the conversation on twitter. c-span chat. janet yellen is the new chair of the federal reserve. she will be live at 10:00 a.m. before the house financial services committee. she is going to be appearing on thursday.nate here is the story in the financial times. she must not be bullied by congress. as the editorial headline. janet yellen is likely to be tugged in all directions in her debut testimony as chairwoman of the u.s. federal reserve.

tea party republicans will want to know what the fed will do to stave off hyperinflation like they have been predicting since 2008. democrats want evidence that the federal reserve will resume its expansionary stance to soak up the u.s. jobs market. neither is likely to throw her off. she will point out that congress, rather than the fed, is failing to do its job. capitol hill ought to be itting in the hot seat. this is in the financial times. one of the story we noted at the top of the show today, we will point you to house gop zeroing in on the debt limit. in the the story washington post. house of public only to spend money trying to finalize a plan to increase the treasuring borrowing authority by urging gop lawmakers to rally behind a proposal that ties a debt

ceiling increase to a plan to restore full pension benefits were some military veterans. john boehner called a special conference meeting in the capitol basement, trying to find the right mix that would attract a number of republican and democratic support for the measure to be approved as soon as wednesday. we will be talking about that iowa in ouring of next segment on the washington journal. we have about 10 minutes we have been asking about this free beacon piece. we want to hear your reaction to it and what you think it's impact might be. mary is up in indianapolis, indiana. our line for democrats. i think she comes off as a strong, confident woman. and a lot ofsed a lot o men. her hair does make news whenever she does change her hair. i think she is absolutely

correct. she perceives herself is correct. she changes her hair, it makes the news. say something about benghazi. i'm getting sick of the republicans politicizing this. they talk about the world trade center in 96 and not bring up what really happened to the world trade center? stop with that. that is for american lives. they gave their lives for and you are going to put it in a commercial? that is sick. all this went down, this was the secretary of state. we all point fingers at the secretary of state. they need to stop politicizing it. it is not fair. it is sick. i'm sure she is used to this by now because i don't think there is anyone who has been treated so poorly in the history just

trying to do good for america. dedicating her life to america. and being slammed for it. thank you. have a great day. host: we're talking about the story that was based on the papers of diane blair, a clinton family friend. here's a picture of her fromfying before congress c-span in 1995. she died in 2000. papers at the clinton library in arkansas -- a few tweets on the story that have come in. will she be considered ruthless if she were a man? runs she if hillary will win, but the race will be a comedic tragedy. james writes in that this is typical clinton d.c. media tactics. air a little dirty laundry early than tell america old news

that has been thoroughly covered. we're taking your calls as we discussed the story that has made some headlines which was first published in the washington free beacon. the hillary papers is the headline on the story. -- ins an pennsylvania pennsylvania. good morning. caller: hillary told us she would take the phone call. she missed that on benghazi. i could never vote for her. you mentioned the debt limit. when obama was a senator he called it unpatriotic. i think the guy slipped in a comment about a loophole that itservatives would not allow . hitler also had health care. to keep thel try

name-calling to a minimum. we appreciate the call this morning. ceilingioned the debt story that came out from the washington post. republicans have been trying to finish the plan before the house adjourned. that will keep them from bumping up the february 27 date that jack lew has set for the deadline for congress to his borrowing authority. whatever the outcome, boehner's proposal that republicans adopted in 2011, when the speaker wrong $2.1 trillion in savings out of federal agency budgets from president obama in exchange for increasing the debt limit. we will talk about that when members of congress join us later in the program today.

peggy is in bowling green, kentucky on our line for democrats. have you read the story that is making so many headlines? caller: good morning. quitnk they need to bringing up all the stuff about hillary clinton and bill clinton. both parties need to come to the table and stop doing nothing. we are in a crisis right now. towardsd to be working getting people back to work and ofting construction businesses, whether building houses again, and helping people. there is a lot of people hurting in the united states. i think that hillary clinton would be a great president.

back at her resume, she has given her life up to the country. there is a lot of good things about this lady. there is nothing wrong with her hairdo neither. --re is nothing wrong everybody makes mistakes. we need a good president in the white house. obama, two.rack host: stacy writes in that the hillary haters are a joke. they're jealous of her courage, strength and intelligence. one of the many tweets that has been coming in on this topic as we are talking about it this morning. let's go to riley waiting in tulsa, oklahoma on our line for republicans. caller: it is fair game for bringing up hillary's support

for bill's involvement in and women. i did read quite a bits that bill hit jennifer in a restaurant. bill told her not to be nervous. andary was a lesbian allowed him to do what he does. flower'sn jennifer book. host: here is a bit more. bringing up the monica lewinsky

the new york times writes about that today. in response to attacks on the republican party, rand paul of kentucky has repeatedly recalled mr. clinton's white house indiscretions. mr. paul said that the media seems to have given clinton a pass. mrs. blair's papers describe -- jerry is ant powers, michigan. our line for independents. i am a progressive liberal and i believe this is a nonstory. nothing against bill or hillary clinton, but i do have a problem them being funded and representing the same business interests as republicans do.

husband sat on the democratic leadership council as its chairman before becoming president, which was funded by big business. move theon was to democratic party to the right. distracting from the fact that they are new democrats, just like republicans. we had a false choice between a bigcrat being funded by business and a republican being funded by big business. we have a conservative dlc agenda in the democratic leadership. it has hurt workers and the poor and the lower middle class. they formed nafta back in the 90's and voted for the iraq war.

hillary clinton did. hillary clinton voted for the patriot act. she did not support single-payer come up that she supported she supportedut obamacare. host: we want to read you more from diane blair' left and of her meetings with hillary clinton. here's what she wrote post-impeachment of bill clinton. "she sounded very up, almost jolly. me how she and bill and chelsea had been to church, two chinese restaurants, to a shakespeare play, greeted everywhere with wild applause and cheers -- this, she said, is what drives her adversaries totally nuts. they do not bend or appear to be suffering." she quoted the former first lady

and now former secretary of state and former senator as our line for go to independents. the morning. good morning to you. i'm listening to these calls. as a libertarian leaning independent, i am enthralled by both the far right and the far left. only 21% identifies as very far right conservative. the vast majority of the country tends to be centrist in their clinical views. as a person who did not vote for bill clinton in 92 but did vote for him in 96, the reason i believe he is going to go down as a pretty good president in the 20th century is that he did move the democratic party to the right. it is very clear that they are very adept politicians.

hillary probably even more so than bill. it is very clear to go back and investigate her beliefs from her first through lady stint and her one term as senator and the term as the secretary of state were little very -- where very little was accomplished, she was more far left than bill was. far more socialistic in her tendencies. it is definitely fair game to investigate all of her beliefs. this lady is not some right-wing kook. -- was in arkansas professor an arkansas professor and a close confidant. she did not release these until well after her death. give them a degree of

credence that they clearly deserve. andhows the true heart somewhat of a ruthless nature that hillary clinton has demonstrated for years and years. i do not believe that she is in any way qualified to be the president. i believe her actions throughout the entirety of her career will demonstrate that as much as the democrats would love to hype ide this. drunken-driving was brought up. it is definitely fair game. the closer that the nation looks at hillary clinton, i think clinton fatigue will set in. mostly the paper is painting a bleak picture of the clintons'time in the white

house. but not limited to the death of vincent w foster junior . and the takeaway perhaps is not so much the past hurting ms. clinton's chances in the white house when she runs in 2016. it is a question of why, after all the heartache, which you want to go back. the question that new york times and their story with peer he will end this first segment of the washington journal with that. coming up next come we are joined in studio by republican congressman steve king of iowa to discuss immigration and that ceiling battles on capitol hill. a ranking member on the house foreign affairs committee joins us to discuss foreign policy. we'll be right back. ♪

might make history only passing reference to the f 100, it is not because they were not there in numbers. perhaps not as glamorous as other planes. their contribution to the war was a replaceable. replaceable -- irr eplacable. absolutely beautiful. you're going to have to come see it. >> absolutely. >> this was the airplane i flew in vietnam. of the 226 combat missions i flew, i flew 180 missions in this airplane.

it is my titanium mistress. at a what brought me home time when i probably should not have. when i did things in order to survive and punished it. yet, it held together. i haven airplane that strong feelings for. there is no way i cannot bring it home. if i could. i had a painting done by an aviation artist to paint my airplane. he asked if i knew what happened to it and i said no. he said he did. contacted this person, the only where it was in massachusetts. i said if there's any way i can bring that airplane in out of the cold and presented to our in the comment form that it was, that would be my goal in life. that is what we are working at. this weekend, look behind the

history and literary life of macon, georgia, including deviation museum. saturday at noon. -- aviation museum. "washington journal" continues. host: we are joined by steve king. we want to get right to a headline in several of the papers today on the delay that was announced for some businesses under the affordable care act. here's the headline from the washington giants. obama changes health-care rolls again. -- rules again. a one-hour speech on this topic last night. when the president takes an oath that ise, implicit in the requirement that he take care that the laws be faithfully executed. it is a violation of the

constitution for the president to fail to enforce the laws unless you're within the category of prosecutorial discretion. when the president refuses to enforce the laws that were signed by previous president, that is a constitutional violation. i don't think we have ever had a president that refuses to abide by the law that he signed, let alone the law that has his name on it. this is a breathtaking overreach of the president and the congress is sitting at place where we don't have a very good tool to restrain him. it is a violation of the thatitution and the laws the implementation of obamacare take place after december of 2013. he is doing this anyway because he understands that congress does not have the leverage to put a brake on him and stop it. host: it is the last delay come think? guest: we don't know what the law is anymore

because it is been changed so may times, sometimes by a press conference by the president, sometimes by an executive edict. it will change whenever it is convenient. this looks to me like it is clearly applicable decision. assume thatt must if he has to changes in the slot to get implemented come it must be presumed it becomes to congress and lays this on the table that he will not get a fair shot. i would say that is not right. we want to help the people in this country. you can do business if you can negotiate with the president. he should not be doing business outside the constitution. host: we want to move over to the debt ceiling and what is being formulated by republicans on raising the debt ceiling. can you give us the latest and where you stand on that plan that house republicans leaders are coming up with the echo ?uest yesterday, the discussion

was about extending the debt ceiling. there seems to be an acceptance of the idea that it needs to be extended for a year. i don't agree with that. we can do it over a short. of time so we have some restraint between now and the november elections. that is not the consensus among the majority in congress today. the question becomes, what do we attach to it so that it leads to some improvement in policy echo a number of ideas have been brought up. or change the 30 hour workweek to a 40 hour workweek. they're being pushed back to part-time so employers don't have to comply with obamacare. it makes a difference as the president moves the ball on obamacare. what we attach that is still an open question. in the end, we will go through

and for some votes in the united states senate that will mollify -- qualify. the washington post writing about the back-and-forth over this debt ceiling increase. we told our viewers earlier that there is a stark retreat from the confrontational approach from 2011. is that how you view this? giving just a frank and objective answer to that, this government, having gone through to remindn -- i have people that republicans of the house voted to fund every aspect of government and limit sequestration except for obamacare. this shutdown was brought about because the president refused to

accept those terms. today, we have gone through that. after all of the political agony that is taking place over the shutdown, the will to see that again does not exist in congress today. the president knows it. he has decided that he has more power than less. we will not see that they confrontation and not expect any kind of shutdown. there'll be some kind of agreement made, but it will not have the leverage that took place in 2011. you want to talk to steve king, phone lines are open. at (202)ns can call 737-0002. democrats at (202) 737-0001. independents at (202) 628-0205. we want to get to the subject that you are very passionate about -- immigration. that debate happening on capitol hill about two weeks ago, the house republican leadership

released their principles for immigration reform, which gave some folks hope that there will be some movement on immigration in the house. we see last week that the speaker indicating that he did not think that immigration can move this year. can you give us insight into what happened between two weeks ago and that announcement from the speaker last week echo guest? guest: the senate has passed their gang of eight bill. they will have to organize. we decided to organize and we came back and there was three of us. that is all. it grew substantially over the last year. sometimes meetings were taking place every week, discussing how we would push back against the gang of eight legislation. as we got closer, leadership was taking the position in favor of

something i would describe as amnesty. resistance bill. began to write more. inside the congress, we have freshman senators when not been through immigration debate. it seemed to all come together in cambridge after the retreat. inside that room, after all that to medication was put into the middle of the thought process, there was a group that stepped up and said, we can't do this. it is not good for america. it is not good for republicans either. there's no rational reason for us to give the president what he really wants to do, which is divide republicans. i take people back to the presidents christmas beach in hawaii where he spoke about increasing minimum wage and

comprehensive immigration reform. all three of those proposals that were in his agenda for 2014 unified democrats and divide republicans. that is a strategy. it is so open and obvious that it reminds people that you should not take the bait. we need to focus on obamacare, which is going to be necessary to either fix or repeal. subjectd not change the to something the public does not have on top of their list of priorities. the speaker said he was not going to be able to move. the principles were written in such broadway that all of the gang of eight amnesty bill in the senate would fit inside the president's principles. host: we're speaking with steve , public and from the fourth district of iowa. -- republican from the fourth district of iowa.

he is here to answer your questions and take her comments. barbara is up first in arlington, texas on our line for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. first of all, i just want to commend republican king. we love him in texas. the thing that i think the country does not realize here -- i have been a registered nurse for 30 years. year, heartland and dallas had 1700 illegal deliveries in just one month. worth,h worth -- fort they recently opened 75 clinics --t give free union care premium care. everything is free. it is all free. re new social

service people that come in and sign them up for every entitlement out there. i don't think the american public knows how bad this problem is. i have seen that even if they don't have a viable delivery, they still get signed up for everything. they do have a partner that they always come in as a single woman with four children. they have a partner living there that is living and making a decent wage. host: i will let congressman king jump in here for a second. guest: thank you. i took some notes on that and we will look into it a bit further. these are the stories i've heard out in dallas. i had been the author of legislation that puts an end to the automatic citizenship for being born in the u.s.. --becomes a magnet

340-750,000 abc born in the country -- babies born in the country that along to parents were legal. if you are born to one parent that is legal, that is a different story. that is one of the pieces -- we have 80 different means tested in this country today. many of them are being offered by social services. they come right to the house to sign people up. the push that is there to expand the benefits and grow the population of people who will vote for more and more benefits is very strong coming out of this white house. in >> worst does not have merit anymore. time to people more stay with their families. i think work is a good thing. thingnship is a precious and it should be earned and not something conferred.

we will look at this a little more but that is pretty bracing data you talked about this morning. >> centreville, massachusetts, on our line for democrats. caller: good morning. i have two questions. the you said earlier president would not work with the republicans, everything he was for you guys were against and you said he is constantly breaking the constitution with the affordable care act, that every time he tries to delay something, he does not have the power in that he is breaking the constitution. cannoto you, if you guys tell him he cannot do it, he is not breaking the law. if he was, you guys would try to impeach him. i know and some other americans

now that you guys do not like becauseit is a shame you guys work for us. you do not work for corporate america. guest: i personally like the present and i dislike what he is doing to our constitution. congress has passed laws, laws i disagree with. one of them i brought up with, i voted against and yet there is a law. i do not like the policy that exists within it. i like the policy -- the president allaying the mandate, that is an improvement. it is unconstitutional. is an example. we went through the government shutdown and the president refused to negotiate with congress. he said he would not negotiate.

it is not that congress will not work with president. it is an up -- the other way around. the thing you said about impeachment, we went through was painful and it for our country to go through. i would like to fix this without being part of the solution. but i appreciate your comments. host: tweets on our twitter page -- the conversation going on there. michael is up next from imperial beach, california, on our line for independents. caller: good morning.

in america, the 400 richest people have as much wealth as the american people. what would you do to deal with that? thank you. i saw that story come through a little while back through and it caught my interest. that is a lot of wealth concentrated in the hands of the few. no question. it troubled me before i saw the news and i wonder how it affects my life or your life or anyone else's. if all that wealth is consolidated, i would want to take a look at monopolies that might be disadvantaging consumers. room --ve got our upper opportunity to succeed, let's do that. the change to the proposal would salespass the national tax.

what it does is gives all of us a lot of opportunity, takes all the tax off of production and puts it on consumption. that changes the balance of trade and does anything good all is good and does them better. it would be wealth created and the rich people get richer and a lot more people would step up in that category and there would be a lot more jobs for all of us. income inequality is not a phrase our founding others will continue i to press for the quality of opportunity. >> here is the leader column from the economist magazine from this past week. you have been critical of president obama of enforcing the laws on the books when it comes itimmigration and have said has led to some of the problems we are seeing now. barack obama,, "

the porter in chief." dispelling a limp -- illegal immigrants at nine times the rate of 20 years ago, easily outpacing any president. border patrol no longer just patrols the border. costsportation machine more than all other areas of law combined. they also include a chart that the level of illegal alien removals under president obama compared to president bush and president clinton and george h.w. bush, with the levels being hired during all four years under president obama. your response to the statements >> i am economist? astonished to hear those numbers. i am thinking back to a chart from not that long ago that showed deportation rates going showedfore 1986 and it

and theortation rates record of deportation for annual deportations. these removals include a couple of different categories. are adjudicated and those who voluntarily return. the numbers are skewed because they have now shifted some of their deportation responsibilities that come from the border patrol and that shifted the numbers. the highest deportation rate removals in the country was the last year of bill clinton in the year 2000. one .8 million altogether. you count those at the border that returned immediately, and those in the interior picked up and process and then removed. we have seen bill clinton's numbers -- barack obama's numbers, go down to some number under 700,000 a year. look at jessica's number and action up to this. i do not think those numbers are

that high but i will take a look at that article. -- you get a lot of criticism from those in favor. calls youes washington's most anti-immigrant congressman. >> do they mean anti-illegal immigrant? do they mean pro-rule of law? enforce the law? i do not think there is a single case out there anybody can make that would allege anti-illegal immigration. -- illegal legal immigrants. i cheer the people who respect the law and embrace and welcome the americans by choice. a lucky american like me, i am born here out of happenstance. across theey looked border and said, i want to come there and respect the laws and access all the god-given liberties of being an american and they can achieve their gifts here better in america. those allegations, that is what

happens when you have people with an agenda. they call names. they do not give a description as to why that is the case, they just call names. we should know they lost the argument when they call names. >> senators chuck schumer was on meet the press over the weekend and offered what he thought would be a solution to some concerns raised by john boehner when it came to pass immigration reform this year. we will give our viewers a listen in and get your response. let's enact a law this year but not let it start until 2017. after president obama's term is over. i think the rap against him that he will not force the law is false. but, you could actually have the law start in 2017 without doing much violence to it here you simply move the date back from , 2011, two december

20 first 2013 as to when people, the deadline for people who could get legalization or citizenship. so we could go after the new people who come in later. it was solve the problem. make no mistake here the view that we could get this done in 2015 and 2016 is false. you have the republican presidential primaries. is so simple. let's say to our republican college -- colleagues, you do not trust barack obama, but put it into effect in 20 16. >> i disagree with the statement the president has deported more people than any other president. we discussed that. it is interesting to see senator schumer proposed republicans should pass a law that would take effect after barack obama leaves office. not only does that give a nod to the lack of trust the president has developed for a myriad of reasons inside and outside the immigration issue, but it concedes that point.

i may be a bit insulted by senator schumer who alleges that maybe we cannot trust the president, but we should pass a good law now that will take effect after he leaves -- leaves office. if we pass legislation, we can do it better in a moment then predict down line in 2017. host: moving back to the debt ceiling conversation. on our twitter page -- guest: the debt ceiling now, these are only estimates, verbal estimates. i do not know if people know where this goes. there is an expectation that the debt ceiling, if it is extended it wouldxt year, that meet or exceed the $18 trillion number. that is the discussion taking place among members of congress

here, something that would exceed $18 trillion. for me, that is an appalling umbel -- number, something appalling to barack obama when he was in the united states senate. much of that dialogue is out there in the statements he made. at this, three sons in their 30's, and they do not remember a balanced budget in their working time anymore. at medicare and social security and retirement elegy -- retirement eligibility age, never having worked in an economy with a balanced budget in their most productive years. with the grandchildren debt of about $54,000 each as their share of the national debt. we have got to pull this back. >> new york, on our line for democrats. good morning. you're on with congressman steve king of iowa. my name is joe, i am a

counselor. i help people. i want to just talk to you a little bit. i heard you said the president cannot be trusted. mr. king. said that ifident thehave -- we talk about aca. you call it obamacare. he said, if you have your plan, let me keep it there it explain myself before you make your statement. your plan your booklet. sends you a i have my booklet). it tells me and it tells you the same thing. you can change your plan if you wanted. it gives you information about that.

if you do not want to change it, you do not change it. every year, we get that. he has not lied to anyone. you should be ashamed of yourself. all, i'd enjoy your company and your comments. to keep my plan. i did not have to line up every year and figure out how to ghost -- go shopping for a new plan any year. i was able to get a policy i wanted and keep the policy year by year. this year, i had to go on obamacare on the web than the policy i had over the last years, i like that policy. i was paying my share of the premiums. 28% of any member in congress here was doing. i see my premium increase under obamacare by 442 -- $426 a year and my deductibles tripled. meanwhile, there is only one policy in the united states of america that work for me.

it was not that i had more choices. i only had one. was a lotoice i had more expensive. millions of people have been pushed off their policies. some people got to keep their policies, but they are the ones companywa, the major was able to cancel their policies december 30 of last are and to renew them december 31 and buy another year where people got to keep their policy. i do not think he analysis holds up. the president said if you like your policy you can keep it. he had to have known that was not going to be the case. joe did you have a quick response for the congressman? caller: yes. it me say something else. love you, really, because that is what dr. king always said. i love you, but the only way to love someone is to try to help them. saider thing you said, you

people who have jobs, this is what you are out to do. i applaud that. if you tell me that you want people -- the key castillo -- keystone pipeline. have 900pposed to jobs. now, 9000. now, 100,000. >> he got your point and we have other people waiting. i will give the congressman a chance to respond. >> i have not said a lot about the keystone pipeline lately. i am maybe the only member of congress who worked on the pipeline. i have been up and down the line and done my share of that work. we need to open up the economy. you can count the jobs it takes to build the pipeline. is anowth of our economy

multiplier. we have north american energy, cheaper energy than it would be otherwise. it is good for our economy. anything we can do to keep our prices down is good for you and me. thank you for calling. >> a question going back to our immigration conversation. how many undocumented workers work on farms in your district and what are you doing about them? guest: they are hard to count. it has changed in my district. each town is packing plant towns. i watched as the population that was there when i was born and grew up as shifted and they have gone out and reached out in foreign countries to bring in foreign workers. there is a high concentration of that within those communities. themselves, mostly livestock. it does not take a lot of workers but it does to process the food. i look at it this way. i am working on national policy. it is not a good policy for me

to go into iowa and target a location and bring law enforcement to that location. it is better for me to push this at the national level so everyone gets treated as equally as possible. that is the stand i have taken and the people in my district know that and we stand strong together on defending the rule of law. >> on twitter -- valerie waiting in california on our line for republicans. good morning. the 17th $3 trillion is insane. yesterday, i saw in california at an urgent care clinic with my 85-year-old veteran father. these insurance companies canceled his prescription plan

and did not tell us. he does not have his medication for three weeks. he passed out in a store. only white, english- speaking person in the waiting room urgent care with my dad. i have a hard time believing [indiscernible] host: i think we are breaking up. go ahead with your question quickly before we lose you again. ok.er: i was in california yesterday with my 85-year-old father. the insurance companies are the prescription plans and they canceled his. he does not have his medication in a month. he has dementia and is passed out. i was the only english speaker in the urgent care with my dad. >> congressman, i will let you jump in on her situation.

>> several problems. communication in that location is one of them. another would be this prescription drug plan, not knowing what that plan is, medicare part d being canceled. that is the first i've heard of that as far as it being associated with obamacare. i am taking a note on that and my staff is listening as well. we will take a look into that. are theremportant you and taking care of your father. i am glad you are able to help out in that circumstance. power line for independents this morning. you are on the line with congressman king. caller: good morning. ask if you know the word "projection" means. i think so, but i have a feeling there is a definition coming my way.

caller: your party operates under it all the time. he said with the separation of law, are you insane? i am not saying that. i'm saying i did not notice it in my life. we see the news and we are seeing it differently. do the coke brothers have any money invested in you in the state of iowa? do they own your state? guest: we have a state with brought investors. a lot of industry. i would ask, go back and take a

look at my votes. the national debt of $17.3 trillion right now. if you detract my vote, if the rest of folks in the congress had followed me, we would not have any national debt and we would have a balanced budget. i do my job here and tell you the latest and then someone has to go back and take a look at the record and give me a fair shake their thank you for calling in. the farm bill for our viewers. here is a story talking about "farmville" compromise. if you want to talk about that amendment and your thoughts on the final farm bill signed. i brought an amendment to the farm bill, a bill i wrote several years ago. noticed states were passing laws that regulated the means of productions of products traded it in the -- interstate commerce. it is a constitutional violation.

regulateongress is to interstate commerce. -- for example, -- we took a bill that was broader and narrowed it down to a list of products that were then titled the farm bill now that existed. californiacame clear was regulating egg production outside the state. just a happenstance iowa is the number one egg producing state. for california, to pass a law that regulates their egg producers and makes them double their cage size, this was german by the humane society of the united states, a large and effective political operation in this country. they passed a referendum that did not apply to the rest of the country. california producers new they

could not compete in the egg .arket california legislators passed a law that tells everyone in america, this is the kind you will have for your hands. of 50not have a patchwork million -- 50 different states citing mobile regulations that apply in other states. california is free to regulate their own producers and two over letter -- over regulate their producers. they are free to regulate business, but not to regulate producers in other states. it violates the commerce clause in the constitution. lead -- piece of legislation was the california legislation. that was taken out of the farm bill in the dark of the night, in the last minute. it is a fact senate democrats -- my to discuss the

amendment. they say they will not discuss it. frank said at the last minute they have the choice of we will take the king amendment out or we will not have a "farmville". is not over. it is just round one. you will see a broad and nationwide effort to bring these back. >> can i ask how your relationship is with speaker john boehner? which she, a story in had some words for you amid the immigration debate. do you have to censor that? it says a lot more about

john boehner than steve king. .e has been driving an agenda as that argument gets weaker and less support, name-calling begins. it should be beneath the dignity of any speaker and any member of congress to stand on the floor of the house of congress and .ake a remark like that that is a breach of the core men should not have happened. it is out of frustration because we disagree on the issue. it is simply name-calling and an attempt to marginalize. the agenda, the principles he rolled out, despite the fact he hired extra people to deal with this and all the power of the speaker behind us, he could not get his principles accepted by the republican congress. argument i heard were the arguments i had been making for a long time.

i am interested in the agenda and protecting the rule of law and the proper destiny of the of america.s a few remarks like that along the way say more about him than they do about me. class i want to get your response when we talk to our viewers this morning. the hillary played -- the hillary papers, you made reference to that story. have you read it and what do you think it means for hillary clinton, if anything? guest: i did not read through the documents. i saw a little bit on television. it serves to inform younger people that have not seen this happen in front of them, those who do not have the memory of the scandals that took place in the 90's, it brings them up to speed and my objection to this would be it is an insight into how hillary operated. it is clear hillary knew about a lot of the affairs of bill

clinton and she strategized politically to minimize the damage and when she said to vast right-e was a wing conspiracy, she knew the truth then. bill clinton said, i did not have sexual relations with that woman and video this morning, i remember when that happened. couple that with hillary clinton saying it was a right wing conspiracy. neither were telling the truth and they knew it. another came out, charles, and one of the election campaigns. and ised into the camera speaking to president bill clinton and said, mr. president, when you say something that is wrong and you know it is, that is a mistake. when he say something that is wrong and you know something is wrong, that is a lie. that is what will burn in from the news out today. they were not honest with us then. waiting in iowa to

talk to you, congressman. good morning. district? e fourth caller: yes. we miss you being here representing us. guest: thank you. i misrepresenting it. caller: i have several questions show quick. >> we have time for one. go ahead. immigration. everything i said is different than what is coming out in the papers. i heard your speech on the floor yesterday. excellent. keep up the good work. ceiling, this is ridiculous. >> both of those points, i want to emphasize we cannot sacrifice the rule of law in a matter what our hearts say about some people brought here without knowledge.

a small group of the broader universe. people in the country illegally. the report i mentioned, one point eight or 2 million in the united states have been adjudicated for deportation are still here. there is that piece. on the debt ceiling, we have got to get a handle on this. a nation should get balance. i am for a balanced budget amendment to our constitution. let's attach it to the debt ceiling and if you get it passed out of the congress and then send it to the president and see what happens. host: thank you for joining us. up next, elliott joins us about policy. and then we look at the occasion of the friends president posses state to the white house today. first, a news update from c-span radio. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] class international news. the syrian government and

opposition met face-to-face today and observed a minute of silence for people killed in the three-year conflict, this after a first round of talks last month failed to make significant progress according to delegates. says, ihose delegates hope the minute of silence will signal improvement in the atmosphere this time. he said the international mediator proposed the two sides discussed ending violence and talked about the formation of a transitional governing body tomorrow. agency forthe u.s. international development administrator said changes for the way the united states distributes food aid could help feed 800,000 more people abroad. many of them are syrian refugees. part of the farm bill signed by president obama last week aired recent partisan budget agreement is helping pay for the increased aid. president obama is launching a new addition -- initiative, my

brothers keeper. it is to help young minority men improve employment opportunities and intervene before some of them get caught up in the criminal justice system. the president is obtaining commitments from community groups to help with the effort and has invited leaders of the group to the white house on thursday, where he will make the announcement. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> more added each day through c-span's nonstop coverage of national politics, history, and non-history books. find c-span's daily coverage or access more than 200,000 hours of archived c-span video. everything c-span has covered since 1987. our video is searchable and desktop on your computer, tablet, or smartphone. look for the search bar at the

top of each page. it is easy to watch what is washingtonoday in and find people and events from the past 25 years. it is the most comprehensive video library in politics. >> c-span, we bring public affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, and offering complete gavel-to- gavel coverage of the u.s. house, all at the public service of private industry. we are created by the private cable industry years ago. watch us in hd and like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> washington journal continues. we are joined now from the democrat of the 16th district of new york. i want to start with the news coming out of the debt ceiling.

the debate on capitol hill, headlines in the washington post, the house gop is zeroing in on a proposal to increase the debt limit. we were just talking to congressman king. this playing out? >> we vote on the debt limit. we should be paying our bills. all of our constituents have to pay their bills and the u.s. government should pay its bills. the government brings us to the brink of disaster each and every time by playing this game, trying to attach this to other bills and trying to defund the affordable health care act in that kind of stuff. they should just vote to pay on bills. it should be a unanimous vote, both parties, the republicans should stop the games. class is there anything democrats would except in terms of trade-offs here? or is it a hard line no on anything? president isk the

quite right he will not negotiate the debt ceiling. this has serious economic repercussions. every time they bring us to the brink of disaster. they should just vote for it, a clean bill. the congressman is the ranking administrator on the foreign affairs committee. a new round of peace talks got off to a rocky start this week. how optimistic are you at this point things are moving in the right direction on syria? >> i am not up mystic at all. i wish i could be. what is happening in syria is a terrible human tragedy. civilian population is under seas and people are being killed and there is starvation and disease. it is awful. shame on all of us for letting this happen. it is disgraceful. the russians and the chinese should take special shame

because they are blocking us from getting any kind of resolution in the u.s. security council. they are protecting the leader of syria and they should be ashamed of themselves. response toould this humanitarian crisis. there is something coming up in the united nations now, pushed by the u.k., that i think we should get behind. be bringing all kinds of humanitarian aid to the areas notopulation in controlled by the government. we have to do that. if it takes targeted strikes to do that, i think we need to do that as well. we are watching starvation being used as a weapon of war. a side is leading his people warve in order to win the against the rebels. that's is -- that is something that really cannot stand. the only reason why these negotiations are not going well

is because aside is winning the war. he is not -- if he thinks he will women the work, he will not negotiate his own demise and is on the berkshire. a terrorist group and a proxy of bordert has crossed the to fight on the same side as assad's forces. they have turned inside syria. assad is a proxy for iran in his own country. this is, again, we are negotiating with iran and it continues to do its mr. -- mr. all over the middle east. >> strikes, is that something the u.s. could and should do a loan if they cannot get the u.n. to back them with that? where do you draw the line? >> it is something we should consider. it would be a lot better if the international community went along. we should not have to do this ourselves. when the president threatened

august, it got assad to allow his weapons of gas, to bection, his collected and taken out of the country. he responded to these kinds of things and right now, again, we need to do something to say that population. it is a crime against humanity, what is happening there. here is how the associated press reports on that. the first face-to-face meeting, having achieved little, this time, they appeared further apart. no plans to sit at the same table. the envoy, separate talks with each side. the syrian deputy foreign minister --

do you see any sort of situation where this ends with him still in power? >> i do not think the civil war would end with him with power -- in power. the war started with the free syrian army. we should continue to aid the syrian army. continue to send lethal weapons. they wanted democracy for syria. they started the uprising. is yous happened now have jihadist from all over the middle east and europe and from north america pour into syria to fight on the side of the rebels of al qaeda. that is a real problem. it is another reason why we cannot just let things fester in syria. al qaeda -- al qaeda will have a safe haven like they did in afghanistan. a safe haven in syria if they

are allowed to fester there with all these people pouring into the middle east. this is in the u.s. national interest. not a matter of whether we care of what is going on in the other side of the world. it affects us here. it affects jihadist ability to attack america on a future date. >> our phone mines are opens if you have questions for him. are on theines screen if you want to start dialing in. on twitter -- i do not think we have an there.e to send syrians i do not think we have to send troops to syria. there are a lot of other things we could do to turn the tide in syria without american boots on the ground. you mentioned iran earlier in our discussion. i want to get the latest from

you on the nuclear weapons to go see a shins going on with them and specifically what congressman's role is at this point in the negotiations. guest: we have to let diplomacy continue. we all obviously hope it will will be a and that it positive end to the negotiations in six months. there will be an agreement. the president has said -- we all say this. i ron must not -- must not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. that is the bottom line for all of us. we may differ how to get there but we all know iran with nuclear weapons, it would be h amend this danger to the middle east and to the world. if iran had nuclear weapons in the region that would quickly move to have them, egypt, turkey, saudi arabia, and others, you start a tremendous nuclear arms race in the middle

east. iran must not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. we should be under no illusions the iranians have suddenly changed and all is well. said someident has good things and nice things to the outside world, but we should all remember he is not really a moderate. no moderates were allowed to run for president of iran. the supreme leader eliminated all the model -- all the moderates from running. you had six running for president and he was the most moderate of although six, but, in my view, he is still a hard liner. we are not sure he had the power , the supreme power that rests in the supreme leader. we are negotiating and we hope it works. , if things fall apart, at that point, sanctions which brought them to the table, at

that point, should continue. i hope it does not get to that. >> would you agree with this headline, 35 years after, iran is poised with change. what do you think he represents in terms of change? is hopefult of that and i hope that is right. we do not know because it is a secretive political society there. he seems to be the best person they have had in years but we do not really know what his authority is. has a lot of authority. in iran, it is a theocracy and the supreme leader has the authority. he has been a hard liner. we really just do not know even if he wanted to move a certain direction, if he would be allowed to do so. of it is wishful

thinking and i think that is good, but, for me, we have to look at things as they are, as they really are, not as what we wish they were. power line for republicans this morning, brad in kentucky. caller: my question is in regards to the debt ceiling. i agree we should pay our bills, however, i think it is irrational to borrow money from foreign companies to pay bills. irrational that we have to subsidize industries such as catfish. the farm bill recently, my is, since youu want to continue to raise our debt ceiling, have you thought on how much money the nation can accrue debt, just give me an approximate. limits?ld be the

deflation liketo in western europe. i share your concerns any raise a good concern. we cannot just keep spending more than we are taking in. that has to change. we have differences as to how we could get there but we all need to get there. gore is a lot of blame to around for both parties. when bill clinton left office, we had a balanced budget and surpluses as far as the eye could see. then we went into tax breaks for the wealthy and two wars not card,or, paid on a credit and all other kinds of programs that came into being. we are now in deficit. i do not think the finger- pointing is a good game. i was trying to say we have already incurred debt and those bills. those bills have to be paid.

aat you're talking about is policy change and congress needs to go in that direction. week,y way of thinking, hopefully, in the not-too- distant future, will have a budgetlan to bring our toward balance. we cannot do it overnight or right away. it cannot be done only with spending cuts. there needs to be spending cuts, there needs to be revenue enhances and tax increases and closing of tax loopholes with big corporations with companies that make billions of dollars that do not need tax breaks. we can save money that way. there are a lot of things to do and we can do it. we need to pay our bills. we have this debt and we need to pay our bills. on twitter, and you may have answered it already -- guest: as i said before, big oil

has all kinds of tax subsidies and breaks. they make record profits each and every year and do not need the subsidies. it is not fair to keep giving them subsidies. companies that take advantage of jobsoopholes by shipping overseas or offshore, we need to stop that and give tax breaks to companies that create jobs in america, not those that ship jobs out of america. there are all kinds of things. spending have to be cut and programs have to be cut. when you talk about cutting programs, everybody thinks the other guys program needs to be cut. wayave to look at this in a that we balance our budget and close taxaxes and loopholes and cut spending and do it gradually. years toake 10 or 15 eventually do it, but we have to because otherwise, the legacy of debt we are leaving to our

children and grandchildren is unconscionable. along with being the ranking member on the house foreign affairs committee, he is calls andke your questions. we will go to derek in minnesota on our independent line. >> good morning. what a great segue. you talked about bill clinton and how we have surpluses. of -- what was the famous quote? >> the era of big government is over. caller: thank you. it is obviously not. the second is you brought up -- did you vote for the bill? guest: i voted no. caller: fantastic. my question is, if we are going to get our debt under control, and it starts with a balanced budget, would you support a

balanced budget? guest: i support a balanced budget. but anyone will tell you, even people who support a balanced budget, that it cannot be done immediately. i do support a balanced budget. we have to have one and we have to work our way toward a balanced budget. each year, we have to come closer and closer to one until we get our balanced budget in order, yes. a question from thomas on twitter. how much of a threat is china? -- it should not be overlooked. china, we have to work with them. they are a powerful and important country but in many ways they are are adversaries. they are threatening their neighbors in asia.

i took a trip there and spoke with the leaders of the and south korea and japan and taiwan. chinare all very worried seems to be flexing its mother -- muscles. away fromof miles their borders, close to the philippines and vietnam. they are very worried, both countries, about the militaristic attitude of china. we have to keep an eye on them. we obviously want to work with them. that is why when the president talks about a pivot to asia, he has an eye on china. again, a lot of things we can do. a lot of cooperation we can do with countries like india. we need to keep an eye on what china is doing. >> the pivot to asia, when will

that first be completed by? , it is ino not know attitude. it is a good attitude. i think pivoting to asia does not mean we are neglecting europe or other areas where we have traditionally been involved. i think we could do both, but i do think the president is right to indicate asia is a very important part of our foreign policy. john in texas on our line for republicans. good morning. it is tax season right now. our national debt, my question is very simple. do you have multi millions of people in the country on forcaid, they do not pay medicaid, the taxpayer does, and you have them get food stamps, earned income credit, and a lot of them are working, but when they file their tax return, they get everything -- every bit in

their withholding tax back. they have not paid squat to the national treasury. my question is simple. tell me what their fair share is instead of stealing from the rich to give to the poor, i want to know what the poor's fair share should be. thank you. is not so good to be poor and i do not think you or anyone else would volunteer to be poor. we have social programs in this country that have been a safety net for years and years. under democratic and were public administration. gettingance, people medicare and medicaid, they deserve it and are entitled to it. he blew get food stamps need it. the cutting off of unemployment benefits, frankly, by the republicans, was unconscionable. there are people in this country who cannot find jobs and are trying to. is improving and we hope they will find jobs, but it is really cruel to cut off

unemployment insurance. i do not agree with your premise that some people in safety net for need help are freeloaders. we are a compassionate company and should continue to have compassion for our fellow american citizens who are in need. >> let's stay in texas. jodi in dallas. good morning. question -- i want to 14% if there is only 10 or of the wealthy people own all of the money in the world are here in the united states, those people are republicans. like whate possible, they are trying to do, to starve the poor, take so much of the program,m the welfare cut the money people were

getting for unemployment, would a be possible if there was takeover of the republican party totally? would we be slave people like , whereple are in syria the man is trying to stop all of those people? would that be possible to happen here in the united states? >> let me say this. it has been a disparity. the old slogan the rich get rich and the poor get poorer. is ais happening, and it trend all over the world, it is disturbing. the middle class is shrinking. it is harder and harder. we always wanted people to aspire who are on the poor side of the spectrum, to aspire to be middle class. we see people struggling to stay in the middle class. i have nothing against people making money care god bless

people who are rich. and to make money. think we need to spread the wealth around a little bit and people who need help should be helped. we need to have policies that lift people up. we need to create jobs. we are creating jobs. , the economymonth is improving and jobs are being created. the disparity between rich and poor is growing and that is disturbing because america has gotten strong because we have a huge middle-class. the middle class had been thriving but they are not. we need to make more people put more people into the middle class, rather than have people falling out of the middle class. we need to have policies that do that. i do not think there is a great conspiracy, but i think we are a compassionate country and we need to continue to be. i want to bounce back to

your foreign-policy credentials. the exit plan. -- story notes what do you think will happen with our troop residence in afghanistan? after 2014. sick of karzai. he is playing games. basically what happens is, in iraq, we left because the iraqis would not negotiate with us. we want to make sure if we leave truth behind, those troops are by subject to unfair laws the country they are in. would not negotiate that.

we pulled troops out of iraq and that has been a disaster. we see what has happened in iraq with the killings and suicide bombings and the jihadist scummy in. we do not want that to be repeated in afghanistan. unfortunately, if karzai will not negotiate an agreement to hold our troops so they cannot be attract -- attacked in an afghan court, we have no choice but to bring our troops home. i do not think that would be good. hoping either calm her heads prevail or we would negotiate something once karzai is out. i think we are sick of karzai and the way he is acting is unconscionable and does not help his nation or the fight against terrorism. it helps nobody. i think he is irrational at best. i do not know at worst. he's just irresponsible.

regiontaying with that of the world, matt smith asks on twitter -- guest: i do not think it is little old iran. armed iran poses a danger to the middle east and the world. put nuclear weapons on missiles which could hit the united states. they have been since the hostileon in 1979 a worldview that is totally opposite ours. they threatened to wipe israel off the face of the earth. a friend europe and our allies, saudi arabia and other countries. it is not just the united states that worries about them. a lot of arab nations worry about them. israel worries about them. not in our interest to put our head in the sand and say,

what do we care if they have a nuclear weapon. the bottom line for all of us is that iran must not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and that is why president obama is negotiating. we hope the negotiations succeed. out of the embassy of israel in the u.s. on our twitter page from yesterday. ae prime minister accepting meet with president obama in march. we discussed ways to prevent iran producing newts -- nukes -- a tweet from them yesterday. on twitter, this question -- ifst: it would be wonderful no country had nuclear weapons, but there are nuclear weapons. i feel more comfortable with democracies like israel and the united states and countries like that having a nuclear weapon than a theocracy like iran, which threatens its neighbors,

having a nuclear weapon. it is as simple as that. long beach california, you are on. caller: good morning, congressman. i had a foreign policy question. a little closer to home. morphs intoctually immigration and domestic policy. what are we going to do about the influx of drugs, particularly methamphetamines, from our neighbors south of the border? know -- heroin deaths are up. when will that be a priority as we allocate all the resources across the globe, which is

debatable? we should protect the homeland. also, representative king of holborn representative of oklahoma for president and vice president of the united states, no one guest: drugs is a problem. it has always been a problem. .e are trying to combat it sometimes it is effective. most of the time, it is not effective. supporter -- we have the largest drug consuming nation, unfortunately. we not only have to get drugs off the supply side, but we have to do a lot of counseling and treatment here in the united states for people who are addicts and continue to need drugs. or will continue to create

drugs. it is a balance. we don't have any good answers about it. we do get lots of drugs coming in from mexico and other places. go after the drug cartels, they just moved to other countries. that is a problem. it is a very big problem. of course, if we do not consume the drugs, if less people bought the drugs, then the cartels would not be making the money. i'm a big supporter of treatment programs here in america. if less people use drugs, then the cartels will make less money and they will be -- there will be less drugs. it is a very complex and difficult problem. yes, we have to continue to fight against the scourge of drugs. host: victoria asks on a follow-up to the question about who should have nuclear weapons in the middle east -- "you ran is a signatory of the nonproliferation treaty.

israel has 2300 nukes. silence on their threats." a tiny country. a good ally to the united states. the only democracy in the united states -- in the middle east. support is very strong and very bipartisan. i'm glad about that. the u.s.-israel relationship is unimportant one. important one. i think it is important to continue to negotiate and push along that track. i don't think israel is a threat to its neighbors the way countries like iran and some of the others that are dictatorships are. are-israel relationships strong for good reason. we have strong values. we have a worldview that is very

similar. i would like to see other democracies in the middle east. unfortunately, only israel stands as the only democracy. i'm not worried about israel having nuclear weapons. i worry about countries like iran having nuclear weapons. saudi arabia and the united emirates and jordan and other arab countries agree with me. e on: let's go to mont twitter -- "what are the chances that a peaceful settlement will we have beenguest: trying for years. we have the camp david accord out of 1993 on the white house lawn. i rumor because my wife was friends at the time. it has been elusive. i think secretary kerry believes it is important. to keep the parties talking and

to keep the go shooting. i think it is difficult for israel right now because their .ain concern is iran i think it is important to continue face-to-face negotiations between israeli and palestinian representatives. i think is very important that that happens. israel has to be recognized as a jewish state. theirlestinians deserve own state as well. there onet we can be day in our lifetime to see peace. , missouri. was listening to what

he was saying. it does not make sense. he keeps lying about this and the other. the main thing is, the obama health care bill -- he is not talking too much about that. it is going down the tubes. we medium class people are going to be taxed more now where obama i'm here to help the medium class people." wealth has gone down. do you want to talk about the health care law? talked about it with our viewers earlier in the program. guest: obviously there been problems with the health care law. some of those problems have been very disappointing. of the health care law was less than stellar. it was outrageous. frankly, there's no excuse for it.

i'm not going to make excuses for it. i do wish that the republicans would work with us to improve this law and make it better. it is not a perfect law. it has a lot of flaws. we are seeing as the weeks and months move on where the flaws are. i will tell the wood states like mine where the governor is cooperating with the limitation, we're doing very well. we find that most of the people have their premiums cut in terms of what they have to pay. republican governors have been resisting it. if they are resisting it, they won't open it up. it creates a problem. any big law that was passed, whether it was social security or medicare or medicaid, have problems. waseeded to be tweaked. tweaked and eventually those problems were worked out. i believe the same thing will for the affordable

care act. there are problems with it. instead of trying to destroy the act, i wish republicans would work with us to try to improve it. ron inet's go to vermont. democrats line. caller: rightfully so, i think the united states has helped developver the years nuclear weapons. it is the only democracy, as you said, in the middle east. thinkeve it is naïve to who is elbow to elbow with russia, does not already have nuclear weapons. russiaaïve to think that would not do the same thing that we did for israel. i think that is why nothing has really happened there because they do already have nuclear weapons. i am very concerned about

missing or unauthorized nuclear weapons at the air force base in texas. keeping a handle on that and obama purging 24 generals in the nuclear class -- it is something going on that i'm really concerned about. if it happens like 1930 where we go into a depression and war gets us off the track of people being poor -- guest: you ran does not have nuclear weapons. that is something you cannot erase from the minds of their scientists and engineers. there are strong international inspections that make sure that they do not produce a bomb. that is what we are trying to do.

there is enough blaming going around that we are at the 11th hour and iran is on the verge of a nuclear breakout. we should have prevented this years ago. it goes back to previous administrations as well. we are all to blame for it. israel developed nuclear weapons -- i'm not aware that we gave them the know-how to develop them. he developed them on their own. the key to negotiations with iran is that they have to dismantle their nuclear structure. if they don't do that, it is very troubling. to negotiateling with them. they are being allowed to enrich. they should not have been allowed to enrich. again, we hope these

negotiations will go well. the whole point is they may have the knowledge of how to create a bomb. so away ofr or actually having a bomb. with inspections and all kinds of other things, we hope that will prevent them from having a nuclear weapon. "please discussed the transpacific partnership." on twitter. guest: it is a free trade agreement with a different country and the pacific rim. we talked about china and the united states. we don't want to pull back and allow china to have a free hand. to use free trade to benefit our people. there is also a free trade agreement coming down with your. -- with europe.

i don't like these fast-track ways of doing it where we are told to take it or leave it. congress cannot amend it or change it. that bothers me. we are concerned about jobs and workers rights and the .nvironment host: what should be talked about with the french president. guest: he has been a great ally to the united states. france has been as close to the united states as it has in decades. we are all very appreciative of

his partnership with us. france is a very important partner in negotiations with iran. with iran, line which i thought was important to take at the time. i think president obama and president holland are going to talk about all the issues we talked about today. a premier ally to the united states and to the administration. i'm going to meet him today. there is a lunch in his honor at the state department. i'm happy to be there. kerrywe showed secretary on the screen there shaking hands with the french president and other members of his cabinet. viewers want to watch that arrival ceremony -- that is on c-span two. you can switch over to watch it. talkll continue to

on the washington journal. there is a noon joint news conference between the french president and the u.s. president and the state dinner coverage 6:30. at you can follow that on twitter. are you invited to the dinner tonight? guest: unfortunately, no. i'm going to the lunch, and that is fine for me. p at: what will you bring u the democratic retreat? guest: if snow does not prevent arei think these retreats yearly. the republicans just had their retreat. they are similar. is a chance for us to get together, not only to do work, but in friendship as well. to go through what the priorities are for our party and what we like to see.

how we move on, it is a great chance for us to catch our breath and get to know each other better. we are running around back and forth to our home districts and coming into washington. this is a chance for us to sit down with our colleagues and plan policy and plan what the democratic party stands for and how we convey our message, which we think is a good message, a positive message of creating that women arere equal partners in the job for us, that immigration reform takes place -- all these things are so important to the american people. this is a chance for us to get together and figure out how to move forward. host: what will you be talking about on the immigration front? we talked to congress mccain before you were on about how immigration played out at the republican retreat --

congressman king. guest: we have millions of undocumented people here in this country. they're not going home. we ought to have them work their way towards being citizens. an that the pl senate passed is good. it gives these people a chance to become citizens. 14 years is not rushing them into citizenship. it keeps them waiting. many of them have chosen to remain citizens. the dreamers who were brought here when they were two years no country but the united states. it is cruel for them to not have a means to work their way toward citizenship. .e need immigration reform

immigrants built this country. immigration is good for the united states. the immigrants who come here are not lazy people. they are industrious people. people who come to the country and learn the language. they improve america. republican colleagues should not be afraid of immigration. they should embrace it. country of immigrants unless we dissent from american indians. i think it is nothing to be afraid of. host: is it something that can move this year? guest: i would hope it would move this year. our retreat, we are going to push for it. there not the majority in house. if the republicans don't want to bring it up, there is little we can do. what do you make of senator schumer's proposal that he talked about on the weekend?

he encourages republicans to pass it now but haven't not be added until 2017. guest: i think he's probably intermediaten position or a compromise. i am for anything that will allow these people to work their way toward citizenship. , i think it a way is fair. they're working, paying taxes, want the opportunity to live in this country the same. you go to any neighborhood in takeca in the suburbs and a look at who is doing people's lawns and was doing construction work. they are here. let's bring them on the path of legitimacy and tighten security so we don't have this problem again. compromise that

would bring about immigration reform would be a good thing. it is cruel to have these people here -- millions of them. they are here, not looking around because they can't get drivers licenses. it is not the way we should go from year to year. we should talk about sensible immigration reform. it is time for sensible gun control in this country as well. every time i hear about someone killing people in a mall and they turned the gun on themselves come you think, why was that person allowed to have a gun? i believe in second amendment rights but i don't think the second amendment means everybody be allowed to have any kind of weapon they desire. there are legitimate reasons for having weapons, but we need background checks and make sure that mentally ill people don't get guns. i don't understand why people can go in without any check and

, automatic guns which are supposed to be used in .ar to mow down people we have to have sensible gun control laws in this country. laws that protect people's rights to bear arms but not just say that anybody and everybody can buy any kind of gun they want regardless of mental condition. that is not what the second amendment says. you see any momentum for new gun laws? we saw a bit of movement post sandy hook. guest: it fizzled out. there is a large feeling amongst some of the people on capitol hill, particularly republicans, that they don't want to touch gun control. it is a mistake. it is sensible gun control. it is not stopping people from owning guns. it is sensible gun control. background checks and other

things. we should be having those. host: let's go to eric waiting in rhode island on our line for independents. good morning. two-part have a question. my first question is, why do we spend trillions of dollars supporting nations in foreign iraq. -- let's take we spend trillions of dollars to decimate that country and spend more to rebuild that country. our country is just as bad. our homeless rate is the highest in the world. our drug problem, unemployment -- there is no jobs. yearly spending cuts on your and helpingcy countries that can support

themselves. quickly, foreign aid is less than one percent of the total budget. people don't realize it's that small. we do foreign aid because it helps us. it helps us to have friends around the world. it helps to have allies and people we can help. it is the right thing to do. with the humanitarian crisis in syria, the united states tried to bring in food. -- we the leading country are a compassionate country in terms of feeding starving people all over the world. we do what is right in foreign aid because it is the right thing to do. it also helps us. we want to spread democracy and spread what america is all about. foreign aid is a goodbye. i understand the frustration.

buy.reign aid is a good we can take care of our problems at home and also do what we need to do around the world. the world is shrinking, not getting bigger. america needs to continue to be a major player. we are the biggest and largest superpower in the world. being a superpower brings responsibility. we have lots of friend and lots of allies. we want to see democracy flourish. we have a stake in what happens in the world. host: the ranking member on the house foreign affairs committee. we appreciate you coming by. guest: thank you. mark theare going to french president's visit to the white house. first, the big conference tour to oklahoma state university. we're are joined now by dr. jamie jacobs.

dr. jacob, good morning to you. caller: good morning. host: we want to introduce our viewers to the universities programuate that teaches drone engineering. caller: we started this program back in 2011 as a contrast to aft programs.r they wanted our students to focus on developing and designing the next systems of unmanned aircraft. it is focused at the graduate level. beyond the graduate degree, it multidisciplinary program. it has been a very partnered flight built upon

testing of unmanned aircraft. host: is there piloting degrees there? aller: this is primarily engineering. there are a number of operation programs out there. we are the only ones that are focused on developing the hardware and providing students with a recognized degree option at the graduate level. host: the applications of this degree -- you have worked on drones that deal with weather projections and search and rescue. caller: that is correct. we are looking at a different number of applications. wildfire surveillance, search and rescue -- the biggest application is in agriculture. particularly in oklahoma, the use of unmanned aircraft in agriculture is going to be extremely large. is projected to be about 80% of the overall civilian commercial

use. also, it will touch other areas in oklahoma. have oil and gas and utility inspections. host: the faa is working on regulations dealing with the public use of drones. how will that affect your program down in oklahoma? open itthis will help up. the amount of flight testing we do is limited. we do have a unique relationship which allows us to use some of the restricted airspace as long dod'sis in line with mission. isotic aircraft for safety looking at search and rescue, that kind of stuff.

it is being tested directly out of that facility. as the rules are coming into place, it will help open up the national airspace. the primary issue is the faa has to make sure they maintain the overall safety of the airspace. that will take more research and time. we are offering to help them with it. host: we have been seeing some images of some of the drones that your students have been working on down there. we want to show our viewers a map of drone testing sites around the country. i know that oklahoma state applied to be chosen as one of these domestic drone testing sites. can you tell us about that program and why oklahoma state was not chosen? the overall state of oklahoma sent in applications. it is a very cooperative effort. twoorks among the state's

largest universities. as well a state government and industry across the state. the reason we were not selected -- there are a lot of issues that go into selecting the sites. geographical, climactic diversity. it will change what we are doing. we will be working with the other sites as well to help them into national airspace. we are going to keep working. host: some of the sites that were chosen were texas a&m, virginia tech, north dakota , thetment of commerce state of nevada and the university of alaska. will keep an eye on your program down there at oklahoma state university. ase you for joining us we continue our big 12 conference tour.

isight, the white house throwing a state dinner in honor of the visit of the french president. to discuss u.s.-french relations, we turn to the deputy chief editor for north america. guest: this is the second time that president hollande has come to the united states. he came during his reelection in 2012 for the g-8 summit and the nato summit. now, the relations between france and the united states is fairly strong. it is quite good, actually. it is important on both sides to show that the relation is strong and healthy. host: strong enough that the

french president and president obama wrote a joint editorial tatus ofabout the s their relationship. can you talk about that since the war in iraq? guest: yesterday, they went to monticello. that was a lot of symbolism there. just to say that the relationship goes back -- way way back. they had their ups and downs. in the last 10 years, with the the french being against it, that relationship went sour during those years. ever since then, they have been trying to mend it. right now, you don't hear any french fries becoming

freedom fries. that is over now. we are showingt: viewers a clip of that visit at monticello. a decade ago, if you would imagine that our countries would be working so closely together and some anyways. ourecent years, alliance has transformed. we're talking about foreign relations issues here this morning. leonu have questions for of afp, give us a call. republicans can call at (202) 737-0001. democrats at (202) 737-0002. independence at (202) 628-0205. u.s., are outside of the (202) 628-0184. we would love to hear from folks

in france to get their views on visit today. what do we know about who is going to attend the state dinner ? guest: president hollande is coming alone after his separation with his girlfriend. course, forced the white house to change the invitations. a little detail since it was originally planned that she was coming. you also have a big french delegation at the government level and a lot of entrepreneurs. it will be interesting -- it is not the first time that a president comes without his first lady. the chinese president also came alone. host: this story get a lot of play in the u.s. press.

here is the front page of the style section of the washington post today. as holland go so low, state dinner plans adjusted. about french people care the story as much as the u.s. papers seem to care? guest: french media reported a lot on the story. the thing is, france views these issues as a little more realistic than u.s. papers. they tend to be more of a private matter. that said, in this case, there is a lot of entrustment. -- thent hollande economy is not doing well. bit event really played a and character. it did not help. yes, it is relevant for the french. host: our phone lines are open if you want to talk about u.s.-

french relationships with the deputy chief editor of afp. he is joining us for our last segment of washington journal. republicans (202) 737-0002. democrats (202) 737-0001. .ndependents (202) 628-0205 outside of the u.s., (202) 628-0184. the french president not having a date to this dinner. here's another headline from the washington post. the main guest is by himself. no dancing. a few bits about what is actually on the menu tonight. about the guest list. mary j. blige is set to perform for the crowd, according to the washington post. nods to offers a few the guest country. american caviar, a winter garden

salad, and a dry aged ribeye with blue cheese, crisp shallots and raised chard. they released a list of wines that will be enjoyed. a particularly pricey bottle raised eyebrows. guest: there is a bit of cotton candy after the desert. that should be interesting to see if president hollande enjoys cotton candy. as we talk about french wines come on that list, they are all american wines. serious issues hanging over this visit, specifically the nsa spying issue. can you talk about how that story is playing out in france and how it is going to be discussed? guest: it will be discussed

during their meeting today at the white house. it is a huge issue in europe. that it really played very big in germany. merkel -- it did not help. they squealed about it at the government level. it is an unacceptable practice. at the end of the day, maybe because the state visit was being planned, they have been fairly low-key on the issue to criticize the u.s. policy. itprinciple, in europe, plays very big. privacy issues, spying, very important. host: what is the feeling among the french people about this question between security and

access to your own records? something that is played out in debates around the u.s.. concernedy're very about your private information getting that someone is your private information and storing it somewhere. of course it is a big issue. privacy is fundamental. how do the french people view edward snowden? guest: good question. at the end of the day, he is the one who rightly or wrongly made available this information. i have not seen any polls so i can't say for sure in terms of polls. but i would tend to think that they would rather see him as a whistleblower than a traitor. host: let's go to our phones. phone lines are open if you want

to ask about u.s.-french relations. some of the issues looming over the state dinner. gregory is in pennsylvania on our alliance for republicans. good morning. caller: thank you very much for the call. i would like to address the about thetleman overall relations between our ench, ourfr french-french and the united states. how does this configuration stand up? is it running smoothly or is there a french problem with the british? is this something we should be concerned about? is there a french problem that we are on a wearer of? i appreciate your input on this regard. guest: thank you for your question.

the interesting question right now is, why would president obama invite and rollout the red carpet for president alana hollande of france? in a lot of foreign-policy closelyfrance is very allied to the united states. closer than britain, closer than germany. germany and the nsa issue, things have gotten quite complicated. britain has its own issues. iran, take serious, take the role of france in africa, the united states has come to france is a close ally. the fact that president hollande is invited is testimony

to that close relationship on foreign policy. hugh andthe subject, jeff of the financial times the warm welcome .eing extended to mr. hollande -- since britain pulled back last year from joining any military intervention in syria, france has appeared to step into the gap, with paris taking a hard line on syria and stopping iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. can you update the serious situation from the french perspective? hollande ondent

syria was ready to go when we almost had the military intervention. when president obama decided to not go, president hollande was isolated on the european front. french are really up front on the syrian issue. they have been pushing to help and are closely involved in the geneva talks. let's go to the phones. we are talking with leon of afp. he is here to talk about u.s.-french relations. antoine is waiting in new jersey on our lines for independents. good morning. caller: good morning. to remind us that

the french people have provided the majority of loans. there was a lot of people that came to the united states during the revolution. you, wetion i have for are such a liberal country. why is there such a blowback against gay marriage? -- it seems like havege percentage of homes private insurance in addition to the universal care provided. thank you for coming to the show. host: two issues that are very much in the news in the united states. how are they playing out in france? guest: there have been a lot of

demonstrations in france on the issue of gay marriage. has push thatande issue very strongly. there has been backlash in france. country, socatholic it has been very emotional. a big debate with a lot of demonstrations. it is a tough issue also for france. as the caller said, it is a liberal country. host: on the health care front? guest: that is a crucial issue right now. in france, we have universal health care. the big issue in france is how do you afforded? when theu pay for it economy is not doing well? that is not a new debate. it has been going on for a while.

the french are very proud of their health care. they just have to find a way to finance it and keep it going. host: we're talking to leon bruno. he is the chief editor for north america at afp. the chief correspondent at paris and the nato correspondent in brussels from 2002-2006. he is here for the next 50 minutes or so before the house of representatives comes in to take your calls and questions. issues impacting france. this to me -- "france instituted some measures that could be called anti-muslim. why has not been -- why has not earned the ire of the muslim world as has u.s.?" guest: i'm not sure what they have in mind.

the french have a complicated relationship with the muslim world. algeria ands to indonesia and rocco. what he isctly sure referring to. forlaw that you don't allow public space and public arenas. i'm not exactly sure what he is referring to. we have a couple good relationship, but historically we have strong ties to certain areas. host: you mentioned the effort in mali already. can you get us up-to-date on the latest on what the french government is doing their and what is happening in that country? guest: they're going after al qaeda. they are in mali and are still

there. indefinitely,y but there is no plans to move anytime soon. area in theial fight against terrorism and al qaeda. areunited states and others happy that france has intervened there. we have historical ties with i.l it was very important that we go down there. host: let's go to diana from massachusetts. on our line for democrats. you're on with leon bruno of afp. guest: good morning. caller: i think there is such a wonderful history of friendship between the united states and france. really going back all the way to the american revolution. i have always been very fascinated by the customs and formal ceremony of the state

dinners. can you talk a little bit about the exchange of gifts that will likely happen between the president and first lady and the prime minister? on behalf of the united states and on his side, on behalf of the french people. i know those gifts often end up in the smithsonian. guest: good question. i unfortunately don't have any information on the gifts that will be exchanged. the gifts between the two -- idents host: we will move onto matt smith on twitter. fromis the big differences sarkozy? guest: his problem is the economy.

in that sense, closer to obama. in favor of stimulus, package growth, but the problem is it has not happened. the big criticism of hollande is he has disappointed tist side of his party. over 11%.nt is still it has not come down. they promised it would come down this year and it did not. growth is quite low. basically, on the economic front, it has been very difficult for him. his approval ratings are the lowest of any french president in modern history. around 20%. it is very difficult for him. visitme that the state

although it will not have any major impact on that level will at least help them boost his image with the french. he is meeting here this afternoon with some american businessmen at the chamber of congress and then going tomorrow to san francisco where he will meet with executives from the tech companies. changeefinitely a big from sarkozy, but he has not delivered. host: we are talking about the state dinner tonight at the white house for french president hollande. the nbc political team offers up its thoughts on this visit. a state dinner means never having to say that you are sorry. there are essentially three types of state dinners to

welcome foreign leaders tonight states. though we need to be better friends state dinner, the thank you for always being a great friend, and the i am sorry state dinner, which is largely the context for today's state dinner for french president hollande. president obama's initial decision to launch targeted strikes in syria as a response to the use of chemical weapons. cancel thatally ne decision. do you agree with that assessment echo it is the "i'm sorry" kind of dinner? guest: like i said before, is saying toma , you are hollande there for me, i was not there for you.

if you can put it in those terms on such an issue. this is a way of saying, "i'm sorry. go host." host: let's go to george in new york. question have a for the french gentleman. everybody about the relationship between france and america. , what wast to know the reason that they left america in iraq by themselves? 20% he is talking about, because he lives in france, he

don't understand that congress on then doing everything verge of illegal to make our president look bad. host: i will let you jump in here. you live in the united states. you cover -- guest: i do. here in washington. talk about iraq. guest: at the time, it was a fundamental difference in policy and strategy. every government has a right to choose the way it wants to govern. at the time, although the united a close ally, it was decided to not go and invade

iraq for the reasons that we all know now. host: again, if you want to watch that white house state dinner with french president hollande, you can see it on c-span two. coverage starts at 6:30 eastern. you can also follow it on c-span chat. # let's go to robert waiting in brooklyn, new york on our line for democrats. good morning. go ahead. caller: in connection with the mr. brunoge issue, remarked that france is a catholic country. -20%where between 15% identify themselves as atheist. guest: i don't have any numbers for you. i'm sorry. vicky for your question.

-- thank you for your question. it is traditionally catholic. the numbers of who does what have evolved over a long time. i don't have any specific numbers for you. it is a debate in france. tweets that have come in as we have this discussion about u.s.-french relationships. "thanks for the statue of liberty. can you take it back with you? we don't deserve it anymore." sarkozy, the french lost its sovereignty to the u.s. and became a u.s. puppet." how do you think the french would feel about that statement? guest: i don't think it is accurate to say that we are a puppet of the united states. relationship.ate the french admire this country but also get annoyed by it.

it is very important for france -- when hein history decided to pull france out of command, onceato sarkozy decide to put france back in nato, that was a major decision politically and militarily. puppet.think we are a host: we have a few minutes left . we're talking about u.s.-french relations. we are happy to take your calls and comments. merkel was pretty upset when she found that the nsa listen to her cell. has france had a similar "aha" moment?

it is raised every time there is an opportunity to raise the issue. hollande will raise again, i'm sure. you did not go down well at all. precisely because we are a isent where the relationship getting strong. level, thetical government level, they are very careful not to overdo it or overreact, if you will. also because, let's face it, the americans are not the only ones who spy. .hey are very close french,ublic level, yeah, that was an offense. it plays very big.

you have to understand, president obama was very popular in his first term in europe. tois still popular compared the previous president. -- with issues like this -- it goes into the hegemony of the united states. that is not very good for president obama. you don't have the aura that he had before in europe. his approval ratings in europe are still pretty high. host: you say the united states is not the only country that spies. has there been any look internally and the french government? i can't speak to that. i'm not privy to anything -- not that i've heard of or know about. the: we're talking about

state dinner that is happening tonight that you can watch on c-span two. here's the front page talking about the french president's visit to the white house with a of the visit back in 2012. what did the to talk about? -- two talk about? guest: president obama had just within a couple of days. it was the g8 summit at the time. and then the nato summit in chicago. met obama onlande the sidelines of those meetings. it was interesting because it was a new president coming over to immediately have these big foreign-policy issues to deal with right after being elected. host: let's try to get in one

more call before we go to the house floor. york on to jamaica, new our independent line. caller: good morning, sir. as a muslim, what you did to the muslim countries when it was a the first crusade, you burned us alive. do you have a question ? caller: they are terrorists. hussein calling from jamaica, new york. we have gary waiting in rochester, new york. good morning. caller: good morning. i'll make this as quick as possible.

salute to the support of .rance i salute to you and all of our french compatriots. as far as nsa is concerned, i can't get into details, but i did work in some capacity during the vietnam war. against thethat effect of the lobbyists and the united states, i would venture to say that the greater issue is the impact of the lobbyists upon our legislation from the effect upon the average citizens. mr. bruno, coming out of this meeting are there