a hearing on government surveillance programs and data collection. ♪ night approvedst extension" "clean was 28 republicans joining all but two democrats to vote "yes." it heads to the senate possibly as early as today. john boehner decided to bring a clean debt bill to the floor. the republicans this morning -- we want to hear from the gop outside of washington. at -- dial-in

you can post your comments on usebook.com/cspan or e-mail at journal@c-span.org. path for obama to spend." this in the washington times. they say the legislation must be approved by the end of the month when the treasury department says it will run out of our wing room. it also says in the washington times this morning that business groups worried about the effects of bumping up against the bill urge congress to act. the new york times this morning -- "house approves higher debt limit without conditions." a sharp setback for conservatives. we want to hear from conservatives only this morning. what do you think about the decision to bring a clean debt

bill to the house floor? it also says that harry reid of nevada commended to the speaker and promised to pass the bill as soon as possible. we are happy to see the house legislating the way they should've legislated for a long time. ted cruz said tuesday in a statement that he planned to object to any attempt to raise the debt ceiling with a minimum of 51 votes. votes. of requiring 60 at least five republicans would have to vote with the democratic caucus to get to final passage. ted cruz saying that in a statement yesterday. then he also sent out a tweet yesterday saying this -- "i intend to object to any effort to raise the debt ceiling with a simple majority vote." jim fromhe tweet from connecticut. he has a picture of the republicans who joined democrats

to approve this. he says, here is the republicans who voted to raise the debt ceiling and avoid the vault. -- avoid default. house passed clean debt ceiling with overwhelming dem vote and only 28 republicans. at least the sixth time this congress with that vote makes. picture men, reporter for ryan andsays that paul ways and means committee -- buying to chair the committee that has jurisdiction over the debt limit. a republican from texas said no onn a tweet, "i voted raising the debt ceiling.

d.c. has a spending problem and we shouldn't hand the president a blank check." publicans only. only.ublicans hear from you this morning. what do you think about the decision to have a clean vote? washington post this morning. "publict-page story -- and surrender probably the and of a three-year war against what has been a procedural maneuver to ensure that the nation's passed bills were paid on time. after claiming the majority, republicans seized on the debt ceiling as leverage from which they could gain major concessions from obama. twice they were able to do so. republicans undercut their position in october when they shut down the government and caused a national backlash. at the time, they also approved the temperate suspension of the to extractg

something from obama this month. with the political fallout freshener mind, there was no desire to force a mother showdown -- another showdown." papers reporting this morning that this idea of attaching something to a debt ceiling was raised by john boehner himself. he called it the boehner rule. they needed to see spending cuts grade yesterday, the speaker announced in a closed-door meeting with his fellow republican colleagues that he would bring a clean debt ceiling to the floor. tommy is in milan, tennessee. what do you think this morning about the decision? caller: i think it is typical politics as usual. we have a congress that is not interested in being in the black. we have a congress that wants to be in the red. the debt ceiling should be lowered by half a trillion.

all we hear about is raising the debt ceiling. why not lower it by $500 billion per year? we're are $17 trillion in debt. -- we are $17 trillion in debt. it is something that is rare and expensive. host: what do you think about the speaker? caller: i think he is a good man . he talks about being a conservative, but to me, he is more libertarian than he wants to let on. i believe he is a libertarian trying to be a conservative city can appease a few democrats. host: the senate conservatives pact and tois a elect conservatives to the senate has said the speaker needs to go.

caller: i would like to see michele bachmann be the speaker of the house. host: he is retiring from the house this year -- she is retiring from the house this year. we have a representative in tennessee named stephen fincher. he would be a good choice. host: mike rogers from alabama to do this out. "i cannot support raising the debt ceiling without necessary reforms to cut spending." strategy by the speaker to put the focus on the president's affordable care act. by avoiding a cliffhanger debt spike, mr. boehner's strategy may be the central political elections.of the o

they want to avoid giving voters any reason to turn on the party ahead of elections that might give the gop control of both chambers of congress. let's hear from ryan, a republican in kansas. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. at first, i will admit that i was a conservative, but i changed my tune a bit as a ate because this

morning, as i hear this, i hear boehner wasssman w taking the right step because if common sense is going to prevail , we get rid of this idea rulea party will always because it is our voice. we the american taxpayers should be calling the shots. right now, we have a handful of overpaid lawyers not doing their voting on everyone else's behalf. host: ron is in new york. caller: good morning. i watched this last night on c-span. i was blown away. i don't understand, for the life of me, when we are going to stop

this real basic thing that we should not be spending more than we are taking in. they are worried about elections. we should be more in tune with what the people want. termhurts us is this one politicians. the: what do you make about speaker's decision to do a clean vote? should he be replaced a speaker? i'm sure his intentions are to keep things smooth so that 2014 rolls around that we -- and we have a shot at getting some seats in the senate. i don't think he should be replaced, but we are seeing such tugging within the gop itself that it is a

disheartening when the country goes down the tubes. host: why do you think that is happening? caller: it is hard to say. party candidates and whatnot and it's a sad thing. everybody is forgotten the business of the end. we are not being governed, we are being controlled. we are going to do what we think is good for you and the people are the ones who are suffering. host: do you agree with the tea party mindset? caller: yes, i do. nothing works nicer than the basics. andvernment can do its job not overreach. keep things small. the bigger we get, the less voice for the people, by the people. it diminishes what the

constitution was set up for. host: do you mind if i ask how old you are and what you do for a living echo caller? caller: i'm a farmer in. i'm 59 years old. -- i'm a farmer in new york. caller: i think everyone of these people need to be replaced. what we're doing is placing the burden on our children and our grandchildren for generations to come. inse people need to be set term limits. if the president has a term limit, every single member of congress should, too. is rightenator cruz for standing up to the president . i wish more people would get the courage to do that. to going to compare him hitler. he's trying to take away our rights and trying to spend money where does not need to be spent. giving him a blank check is a bad idea. host: the new york times has

this. was a potentially momentous decision. conservative activists, including the tea pretty foriots, freedom works, america and commentators on the website red state.com are all circulating petitions to and mr. boehner's speakership. the senate conservatives fund circulating a petition, calling on house republicans to force speaker john boehner, taking aim at his support for a clean debt ceiling built. the group is rallying support to the website replaced the speaker.com. thespeaker.com. if there is no change in the balance of the house, it would leave boehner short the 218 votes he needs for another term as speaker. does the speaker need to go? caller: yes. everyone of them needs to go. get people in here who are going

to listen to the people and not do what they think we need. ed,should be represent not them. they are money hungry people who have lost control with what they are spending. they are becoming power-hungry. website,you go to the here is what you will see. dear john, it is over. him know that things aren't working out. signed a national petition urging house republicans to replace the speaker with a true conservative. so far, 29,232 signatures. bill was in massachusetts. caller: good morning. i would like to put things in perspective. i don't think people can deal with trillions here. actually real money. i will give you two examples. if the government goes out today and buys a hammer for a dollar,

take a dollar bill, which is six part. wide and remove it is going to be printed by the government or borrowed from some other entity. if somebody on food stamps goes out and buys a gallon of milk for $3.50, the government is going to print or borrow a $1.67 so you60 -- can buy that. we are talking real dollars here. this is insane. people just don't care or they don't understand. it is really a disgraceful situation. host: heritage action tweeted this out. debt limitclean

suspension." club for growth called yesterday vote a key vote for them. that will be part of their scorecard for the election, asking conservatives to vote "no." only 28 republicans joined all the democrats but two of them to approve the debt ceiling legislation yesterday. senate and could be voted on as early as today. that is if there conservatives in the senate will allow the majority leader to bring it up for a simple majority vote. according to ted cruz, he will not let that happen. object out "i intend to to a simple majority vote." tune into c-span2 this morning when the senate comes in for their session. after voting yesterday to extend the government's borrowing authority, the house left ahead of a winter storm that is expected here on the east coast.

democrats are traveling to maryland for a retreat later this week. hearing from the president and vice president at that retreat. we will keep talking about the debt ceiling vote yesterday in the house. republicans only here for the first part of this morning's washington journal. getting your thoughts on the decision by the speaker to bring a so-called "clean debt bill" to the house floor. you know, the french president was honored at the white house last night with a state dinner. ryan is the washington bureau chief and a political reporter. she tweeted this out. "senator schumer says his favorite thing about france is the food. or specifically? the roles." ls."he rol the guest list included the

executive editor of the new york times, as well as the head of cnn. other media types attending the dinner. the new york times reporting obamaorning that michelle was seated next to the president. right under the shimmering white , the director of the studio museum in harlem. to the left with stephen colbert eric. the comedian and tv host is whose connection to france consists largely in his determination to pronounce his last name as if it were french. 350 guests honored mr.

hollande at a lavish event. hollywood names were in attendance. bradley cooper, who was seen chatting with john kerry, julia was seated next to the actual vice president, joe biden. a little bit about who attended. also in the papers this morning, they have this headline about the french president's visit. this is in the washington post. "obama and hollande discuss surveillance at last night's state dinner. chief attended by the nsa as well as the national director of intelligence, martin dempsey was also there, the top national obamaty folks for the

administration attended the dinner." here's what the president had to say during his toast to the french president. [video clip] propose a toast to our friend and partner, president hollande as well as our friends from france who are here today. france, god bless america, and long live the lines between our two great nations. cheers. host: the style section of the washington post this morning, a picture with the first lady, saying that she was draped shouldersover her with america. designed -- the

leader for the democratic party in the house, nancy pelosi, also attended. here's a picture of her in the style section of "the washington post" this morning. also, pictures this morning of the first lady seated next to the french president at her -- christinesing lagarde, the managing director of the international monetary fund also there mingling with guests. we covered that on www.c-span.org. bob in california. we're talking to republicans only this morning about the decision in the house by republicans to put on the floor a clean debt ceiling vote. kj?t do you thin

k? caller: as far as i'm concerned, anyrepublicans don't have thing. they have helped increase the debt. changingnding from from the republican party. host: because of this? caller: not just this. a whole line of things. than cut -- there are is --much waste, you could go we have had bad fires out here. nobody stood up to put out these and get the fire danger that is going to come back and get that cleaned up. there's just a whole line of things in their.

a few things they will do that sit of the majority -- they around and draw waste. the tea party is running a whole bunch of candidates against republicans, but i hope the tea party wins. they will atlose, least have conservative policies. republicans have been there too long. the democrats have been there too long. we have to get rid of these -- sent foreign aid to pakistan, afghanistan -- it is a total joke. my friend was wounded in iraq. i can see why the heck we went in there. we created some serious problems going into iraq. what have we accomplished here?

a whole bunch of kids who have gotten shot up. host: let's hear from darren in tennessee. what do you think about the decision to pass a clean debt extension? caller: good morning. i think mr. boehner needs to go back to mopping tavern floors. once again, principles and ide runcible's. there are none. principles. there are none. in a closed-door session monday night, andy harris, a , accusedn of maryland the speaker of being in the pockets of the insurance industry. stirring outrage among many of his colleagues. tom cotton, who is seeking a senate seat in arkansas say put him into an impossible political

situation with his state's voters. he would lose support if you voted for debt ceiling increase, lose supportalso if you voted against the military pension restoration then attached to the debt bill. they attached nothing to the debt ceiling and put it on the floor for a clean vote. not all of the top republican leadership team voted for the measure. cathy mcmorris rodgers of washington, the number four house of public and and paul ryan of wisconsin both voted "no." they join to democrats who also voted no on raising the debt ceiling. those democrats tweeting this out. "house democrats ensure we can pay our nations bills and protect our credit rating. thanks to all who passed the responsible vote."

we're talking about the decision to put a clean debt bill on the floor. this --on times has "just a single republican, dave camp of michigan, spoke during the floor debate." democratic leaders were eager to debate the bill, house minority leader nancy pelosi of california said democrats were the ones interested in upholding the constitution's directive that the validity of the dead never be questioned. we want to show you what john boehner had to say after he met with his republican colleagues into the morning. the for the vote took place, talking to reporters about the decision for a clean vote. [video clip] >> the president wanted to do nothing but the debt that is occurring will not engage in our long-term spending problem. let his party give him the debt ceiling increase that he wants.

this is a lost opportunity for america. trajectory spending that is unsustainable. the president knows it, every democrat and every republican knows it. it has to be dealt with. it is a disappointing moment. thatis is the first time you have voted for a clean debt ceiling bill without putting republican priorities and. in.riorities guest>> we don't have 218 votes. ago, theint five years banner rule made its debut. ago, the banner

oehner rule made its debut. helped begin to solve the spending problem we have and begin the process of paying down our debt. i'm disappointed, to say the least. and close president --giving you any indication and hellpe given you any indicationlos host: an extension of the nation's borrowing authority until march 2015. 1.e vote, 228-22 20 republicans joining with all but two democrats to approve the extension. we are talking to republicans only this morning. what do you think? caller: john boehner needs to

go. he needed to go years ago. i have been looking at a couple of issues, including the student loan issue. john boehner deserves more credit than anybody in the house for creating what i can only call a big, massive government monstrosity. he is wrecking the lives of people of all political stripes. is, largely how this is accomplished, was through the removal of standard free-market mechanisms like bankruptcy protections. that was john boehner's handiwork. it is ridiculous. he needed to be gone a long time ago. most of the democrats have to go, too. host: are you going to sign the petition? caller: no, i will not sign anything.

i have my niche issue that i've been working on. i'm keeping my eyes straightforward. i will not hesitate to tell anybody and everyone how badly congress, both democrats and republicans, have allowed the government to grow and become, from my perspective, oppressive. you vote in 2014 ralph nader or some tea party candidate i have not seen yet. i would like to see the tea join with thets old-style meat and potato democrats who were all getting screwed, by the way. and form a 70% party, strip away all the numbers from democrats and republicans and watch washington, d.c. clean and through. host: how old are you?

what do you do for a living? caller: i'm unemployed. i am a political activist. host: have you been getting unemployment benefits? caller: no. i did for a short time, but i've been surviving through donations. host: do you think it should be extended? caller: quite frankly, i would say probably not. what we had before was reasonable. they have some soul-searching. host: the two democrats who voted against raising the debt ceiling were jim barro of georgia and jim matheson of utah. districts --aning mitt romney won 67% of the vote in mr. matheson's district.

those are the two democrats who republicansof the in voting no to extending the debt ceiling. in other news yesterday, washington post weighing in on the white house's decision to delay the employer mandate. the law is also a mandate. the obama administration selectively enforces the affordable care act. , during his press conference with the french about the talked decision to delay the health care mandate. here's what he had to say. [video clip] >> it was simply to make an adjustment in terms of their for many ofbecause, these companies, just the betweenof complying

50-100 folks, it may take some time even if they are operating in good faith. we want to make sure that the purpose of the laws not to punish them. it is to make sure that they are either providing health insurance to their employees or is that they are helping to bear of their employees getting health insurance. the vast majority of americans want health insurance. we provide them tax credits. even with the tax credits, they still can't afford it. we have hardship exemptions. phase ends, to make sure that nobody is unnecessarily burden. the goal is to make sure that folks are healthy. the president yesterday talking about decisions to the lay the employer mandate on the affordable care act. we're going outside washington

to republicans only this morning, talking about the decision yesterday by the house speaker to bring a clean extension of the government borrowing authority to the floor. if passed, republicans only here for the next 15 minutes. janet yellen was testifying for the first time since becoming chairman of the federal reserve. nationsnubs emerging lees over the effects of tapering. janet yellen has turned a cold shoulder to emerging-market pleas by signaling that the reduction in the asset purchases the u.s. influenced by economy. suggesting there'll be no relief for those countries being battered by the tapering that is going on. usa today says that five things to know about yesterday's testimony -- five reasons why hedlen's words sue caller:oot wall street.

zero percent rates aren't rising anytime soon. boss.ssage, i'm the number five, she give the economy a vote of confidence. usa today reporting on janet yellen's testimony up on capitol hill. if you want to watch it come you can go to www.c-span.org. we will be covering her testimony tomorrow before the senate banking committee. she will be testifying about the same thing. the state of the economy. yesterday's hearing -- there was a bit of back and forth between the federal chairwoman and congressman jeff. been in favorys of a predictive monetary policy that responds in a systematic way to shifts in economic variables. >> earlier in your career, you

said it is what sensible central banks do. that begs the question today, using your words come are you a sensible central banker? >> i believe im a sensible central banker. it is very unusual times in which monetary policy for quite a long time has not even been able to do what a rule like the taylor will would've prescribed for several years. it would have prescribed that federal fund rates should be in negative territory, which is impossible. so, the conditions facing the economy are extremely unusual. host: janet yellen testifying on capitol hill. .hat exchange was a rare moment she testified for six hours

yesterday. she showed no evidence of nerves, according to the financial times. s ben bernanke stumbled at times. steadily as ms. yellen testified yesterday. she will be back up there before the senate banking committee tomorrow. we will be covering that as well. look for coverage on www.c-span.org. we're are talking to republicans only this morning. talking about a clean debt bill that passed the house last night. ryan is in new jersey. good morning. ryan, you're on the air. caller: hi. thanks for having my call. basically what i wanted to say democrats keep using the statistic that ronald reagan raise the debt ceiling 18 times. it has been done 45 times.

i just want to say, if you give your daughter a credit card and she goes to the mall and max is about, when she comes home she is going to get in trouble. you still have to pay that bill. are you going to pay that bill and let her go about her business and not set new guidelines or present something for her? the government is doing the same thing. they are overspending, but there is no new guidelines and there is no punishment. this off of bounce you. here's the tweet from the minority leader in the house, nancy pelosi. lift thee voted to debt ceiling. sadly, 199 house republicans voted to default on the full faith and credit of the united states." what do you think? think it is good

because now we can pay the past-due bills. they should not have given it up so lightly. they should have fought and presented new legislation to prevent us from having to continually raise the debt ceiling. host: joe was in colorado. what do you think? caller: i think a lot of the previous colors happen right on. you have people in congress that do not represent republicans. .hey are republicrats they don't represent us. i'm a rancher and i'm 55 years old. i get up and work very hard every day. these people go -- what they are .oing in d.c. is a travesty they don't represent us. boehner should've been gone years ago. him and his fake suntan should have been kicked to the curb a

long time ago. they don't represent us. it is frustrating. every republican i talked to say we don't represent the country we are in anymore. ist: who do you think representing you? is there any republican out here? ted cruz or the tea party ideology? caller: i don't think you can wrap it around something like tea party ideology. it is more like, people who live and work and breathe. i have traveled this country and met people all across it. it did not matter if they were the ones who work hard for a living -- it does not matter if they are emma cried or republican. the older folks i run into -- they don't want one thing. they want the country that we grew up in. set werethat got us richard nixon. we have obama going to war in

ofpt without the approval congress. at least bush got that. host: who represents you echo caller? caller: ryan in wisconsin. he seems like he represents us. there is very few of them. the rest of them just go down this line and turn us into a socialist country. host: what about the 199 republicans that voted no? ander: they took a stand said no, but they did not accomplish anything. they do not stand up when it needs to be counted. host: there was one quote in the paper from one of the 28 republicans that voted yes. he said, this is not exactly a profile in courage, talking about the republicans who voted no. many of them really wanted it to pass but did not want to have to vote for.

-- vote for it. caller: you have me scratching my head because -- it is lipservice. --se people are dispatched this attached. disattached. i have people working for me. they are very hard-working americans. i have had other people work for me and they work one day. they just don't want to work. host: are you going to sign the petition for the speaker to be replaced? caller: i got up at 4:00 this morning so i can go online and sign the petition that is going to be meaningless. the people have ignored this for years. they're going to continue to ignore us. the best that every state can do the slate clean. we have a bunch of people who

are just as bad as the one who is there. the republicans need to get really strong and say no to a lot of things. i remember when we were in the billions for debt. now we are in trillions. to a place that is just mind blowing. how we will ever pay this off. in, "thees tweeps constitution died under the watch of john boehner." racing for the worst. talking about another storm that is headed toward the state of georgia. the usa today on the storm that is coming that is expected to hit the east coast. the national weather service calls this weather system mind-boggling. says aboutton times the atlanta area, the forecast compares to when i storm in the area in 2000 that left 500,000

homes and businesses without power. an epic storm in 19 73 that caused an estimated 200,000 outages for several days. in 2000, damage estimates topped dirty $5 million. chris christie was in yesterday for fundraising for the governor's association. he was also at the chicago economic club. democrats,diculed saying that in his most combative remarks since the scandal enveloped him, mr. christie mocked president for entering office without a respect for the other party, complaining that george w. bush was grossly underappreciated in the white house and seems to make a novelty for his own now blemished candidacy. police are saying that governor christie's helicopter never flew over the bridge.

there was a state legislature committee that subpoenaed records and the records show that the governor never did a flyover over the bridge. that is in the new york times this morning. our lastr hono republican. caller: i feel the tea party represents us with their platform. noy are essentially saying, rights for anyone. none of all. host: why do you say that, carl? suck -- hey host: the senate is expected to take up this clean debt ceiling mode. it could happen as early as today. there is that winter storm that is heading this way. many in washington wanting to

get out of town. to 100ate is now back up members. joe biden and john baucus- replacing max who was confirmed as the ambassador to china. coming up next, we're going to talk to marsha blackburn, joining us from tennessee over the phone to talk about last night's vote. we will also have a reporter, russell berman with us to talk andt the debt ceiling vote what happens next. then later, we will talk to luis look atz, joining us to the future of immigration reform in congress. we will be right back. ♪

>> i think it is more important -- a very small, comparatively. for people to and recor courtrom -- >> from 1969, associate justice tom clark. d.c. andgton, nationwide on xm channel 120. >> i think every first lady brings their unique perspective

to this job. if you did not, you could not live through it. it seemstent that natural to me come at any level, i would not have thought that living in the white house and being first lady would feel natural. it is because i try to make it me. i try to bring a little bit of michelle obama into this. at the same time, respecting and valuing the tradition that is america. >> watch our program on first lady michelle obama on our website, www.c-span.org/fir stlady. live, monday, we conclude our series with a special two-hour program looking at all the first ladies, from martha washington to michelle obama. c-span. we bring public affairs event from washington directly to you. the new in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings and

conferences, and offering complete gavel to gavel coverage of the u.s. house. all is a public service of private industry. we are c-span. created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago and funded by your local cable provider. watch as in hd. like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> washington journal continues. host: joining us on the phone this morning from nashville, tennessee is congresswoman marsha blackburn. a republican from there. let me begin with vote. how did you vote last night? caller: i was a no vote. host: why is that? caller: we have to do something about the out-of-control spending. thatnk it is fair to say it is not a problem that has occurred just over the last few years. you can go back and look at the government expansion during the and look at how our

government debt has increased. the escalation rate during the obama administration has been unprecedented. we all know that. he is putting more debt onto the book than any president in our nation's history. time has come to just say, enough is enough. we have to do something about this. where we wereosal not going to get significant budget reforms was something that i could not vote for. comfortable and i think my constituents are very comfortable with the no vote. host: what was your reaction when you heard from the speaker yesterday that he had decided to attach nothing and that it was going to be a clean debt ceiling extension? caller: this is what the democrats wanted. it is what the president had wanted.

the speaker was having a difficult time getting agreement on what could be attached through the republican house. and thismocrats administration wants to spend more, then maybe it is time for them to own it. they are the ones who continue to want to boot up the debt though and spend, even we are borrowing. i am one of those conservatives that favor a balanced budget amendment. doing that without taxes. i favor reducing what the federal government spends. of course, i am the one -- i have bills that i offer every single congress that calls for across-the-board spending reduction. the the president was in senate, he was against raising the debt ceiling. now that he is the president, he does not want any strings attached and wants to be able to

spend whatever he would like to spend without the consent or approval of the allowance by congress. times reportsyork this. it was mr. boehner who raised such high expectations around the debt limit. in 2011, he established what has become known as the boehner rule. any debt ceiling increase was busby offset by an equivalent spending cut. was the boehner rule broken? --ler: it was definitely there are no spelling cuts with this. if you're looking at it in that regard, it would be. if you're looking at the fact that the democrats now own this issue -- you have a lot of house democrats were from districts that do not want to see more debt on the books. they own this issue. host: do you understand what the speaker was doing echo there are that areive groups putting petitions out there

saying that the speaker needs to be replaced. caller: we are going to see a lot of activity and conversation around this. you're going to have a lot of groups who are going to call for different actions. they continue to weigh in. you have groups on the left and groups on the right. quite frankly, i am pleased to andactivism off the hill the grassroots community, having that kind of debate. it is a good thing for us. i'm certain more people than ever will now be aware of what happens when you raise the debt ceiling. host: do you endorse the speaker? caller: i have supported the speaker and i have supported the republicans on our side of the aisle. certainly, when we have elections where there is a republican and a democrat, i support them. i realize i am more conservative

than most people in my conference. i appreciate that. i'm the most conservative female in washington. i am the third most conservative member of the house. there are lots of wonderful districts around this country where i am probably too conservative to be elected. i realize that. that is the good thing about a representative body. people are going to elect someone who reflects and represents their views. that is why we have diverse opinions in the house of representatives. our nation has been well served throughout nation by having a robust debate and a solid two-party system. host: just to be clear, do you support john boehner speaker of the house? caller: i have continued to support speaker boehner. i do not support this action. i understand and appreciate the situation he was in. host: as a member of the budget

committee, what would you have attached to this debt ceiling extension? caller: bear in mind, i am the one who wrote the bill for the one-year delay of all things obamacare. of course, we have used opponents of that -- components of that on the continuing resolution and other items that we sent forward from the house. i have appreciated the support of my colleagues in that. -- i would'veut had those across-the-board spending cuts. act --the budget control i support that. i support the lang everything obamacare -- delaying everything obamacare. a component in order to raise the debt ceiling. this is not fair. to continue putting this debt on

the books is not fair. we have recently had doug to do the budgetads th outlook. you are looking at the next decade down the road. analysis, whats we have to be mindful of is every penny that we borrow has to be paid back. for my grandchildren, who are f age,nd four years old is it fair to them to make decisions that are going to cost them so much money in paying those pennies that we are borrowing that turn into dollars and hundreds of thousands and billions and now trillions of dollars to have to pay that

back? your viewers can go to my website. when you scan down on the right-hand side, you're going to see the nations debt clock. see how it is taking away. getting the debt under control is not something that continues be tickedtinue to down the road. this is something that needs to be addressed and we need to sit down as a budget committee and look at how we do it. we took some good steps yesterday. i would encourage your viewers to look at a couple of pieces of legislation that we passed out of the budget committee yesterday. one was to allow for by any of budgeting. -- that wouldget just be an incredible thing to

bring some accountability to the budget process. where we put our efforts into budgeting one year and the next year, we put our efforts on oversight and accountability. bringing that transparency that needs to be brought to that process. host: just real quickly before we let you go, the white house announced that they're going to delay the employer mandate again. what are the implications of that? what will republicans tried to do legislatively because of that decision? caller: the president does not have the authority to continue to do this pick and choose. through the rules, you have certainly way. and 28.now 27 the number of delays that they have made. 2000 that theyto have given. this is outside the spectrum of their authority. job tosident has his

faithfully execute the laws that we passed. for the way he is going about this, not coming back to congress, you are to see a judiciary committee and committee's like mine begin to take some action. at the president's discretion. he is required to implement the laws of the nation. you are going to begin to see some accountability brought to bear on that process. host: we appreciate you joining us on the phone this morning. i know the winter storm is causing you to get out of washington yesterday before it hits. thank you for getting up early after a late-night. caller: absolutely. thank you. host: joining us on the set is russell berman, congressional reporter with the hill. talk a little bit more about how it went down yesterday. the clean that vote that was brought to the floor. guest: this is a pretty abrupt

decision by speaker boehner yesterday morning. he announced to his conference in a closed-door meeting just about 12 hours after he and his leadership team had unveiled their latest proposal to tie some strings to a debt ceiling increase. whatever reversed the military pension cuts that that would have reversed military pension cuts enacted in the budget. that did not fly with the congress. they decided they would not be able to pass anything, pass a clean debt ceiling, which the president wants, and get this decision behind them. about 12 hours after that, they had voted, and they were out of town. meeting, you called it abrupt. did he forecast the decision? when you read the newspaper, it seems like even the republicans in the room were thrown that he

made the announcement. guest: i spoke to one member coming out of the room, and at the beginning of the conversation it was clear he was still processing it because he said it seems like both options are still on the table, and then by the end he said he made a on aion, we will vote clean debt ceiling. apparently the speaker got up before the end of the meeting and made the announcement, took .o questions, and that was that clearly, this is not a circumstance the republicans wanted to be in, but the speaker had been lowering expectations couldeks over what they achieve on the debt ceiling. three years ago when he came into power he was saying there needed to be equivalent spending cuts and reforms for any increase in the debt ceiling, and instead that demand has faded away in the face of opposition from president obama

and senate democratic leaders. he came to the conclusion that he would try to see if there is they can get behind, and once that became apparent, he moved quickly. the house is now on a two-week recess. they want to get this off of their plate with the deadline coming up february 27. host: i saw a couple of times on twitter people quoting the saying to colleagues "i am getting this monkey off of your back, and you are not even going to clap?" guest: he was showing his sense of humor. he was singing as he was leaving. alliess way and his point of view, coming out of the shutdown in the near default we saw last fall, which damaged the

republican party in the polls, the speaker thought he was saving the party from another potential catastrophe. if they went right up to the brink of the debt ceiling, you would have the president out there saying they were flirting with default. you could have turmoil in the financial markets. he made the decision early on that this is not how this round of the debt ceiling was going to play out. the difference between him and many members of his conference is many members agreed with him, even though they did not vote for the debt ceiling, but others wanted him to fight. they want to fight every chance they get. host: the fight sounds like it might continue in the senate with ted cruz of texas saying it will not happen by a simple majority, demanding he will take 61 votes. guest: that will force at least five republicans to vote with

the democrats. he did say he would not hold it up so they have to delay their recess. he said he was less concerned with the timing of the vote than the fact that they would need 60. it is likely that they would get 60, but what it does do politically is it forces five or six or marble democrats to vote for this bill. -- they could for say to kay hagan, we do not need your vote. reid it sounds like harry needs more than five republicans . he will loose some democrats? guest: it depends. can get is five republicans, he will have to tell members he needs their vote. mitch mcconnell might then be putting pressure on his members to say no more than five of you vote for this so that we can put kay hagan, mark pryor on the hot

seat. host: we will go to calls. marion franklin, tennessee. russell berman of "the hill is onset to take your questions. that feeling vote. caller: nobody ever mentions the cayman islands, or any way to get out of this mess. i have three grown kids. now one is rich. they have good work ethics. everything is skewed in this country. i think ted cruz is a very dangerous person, and i am glad did what he did. i think he is a human being and a lot of them are real wackos. that is all i have to say. host: all right, mary. replace a petition to

the speaker, replacespeaker boehner.com. what do you make of those efforts? guest: a lot of conservative groups are angry at the speaker, and they are raising money. yesterday,members even though a vast majority of republicans voted against this bill, they sympathize with speaker boehner. they realize he was in a difficult position and they realize it was a their fault they could not put something forward. they could not agree. it was the division within their conference and not necessarily him that caused this. right now i do not see any movement afoot within the republican conference to oust him, but there is skepticism about whether he will seek to remain in power in 2015. host: this is an effective

fundraising tool for club for growth. guest: this is what you hear republicans saying. this is what speaker bader was arguing when he -- speaker boehner was arguing when he took groups,age and other accusing them of going after republicans instead of democrats. war, essentially, between the establishment and the grassroots that has been bubbling up. host: ron on twitter says this republicans"five you need only three. grandpa, mccain, are already in -- graham, mccain, are already in obama's pocket. george. knoxville, tennessee.

independent caller. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i would just like to say that -- hello? host: we are listening, george. caller: i guess there is a delay. i am watching on television, but muted. i fully agree with what boehner did. he tried to essentially save the 2014 election for republicans. independent, im am horribly disappointed with the performance of harry reid, nancy pelosi, and obama. host: what about their performance specifically? caller: first of all, obama has been untruthful. this click around him

writing speeches that he is on the internet -- not internet, his teleprompter. i am almost convinced they want to destroy this country. the policies they have implemented. host: george, i will leave it there. it's go back to russell berman comments that the speaker was trying to save the party for the 2014 elections. prognosticators inc. the house is safe going forward in november -- they think the house is safe going forward in november, but another thing that could put it at risk if a shutdown or default. the polls after the october shutdown were clear that most voters blamed republicans. they were saved because they went into the flawed implementation of the health care law, and the polls went in the other direction. if they do not screw it up, is the thinking, they will keep the

house and boehner is thinking let's not mess this up. let's make it about the president, obamacare. host: on twitter -- it sounds like congress and obama has no idea how to fix the debt -- wall street polls are strings, bankers run america not. mike. republican caller. there is no such thing as conservative in this country. it is disgusting, political gamesmanship. capitol hill is a bunch of cowards. it takes guts to make cuts, and nobody seems to have the guts, including the lead coward john boehner. you cannot run your household incomes and that, and they are trying to run this government in constant debt. it takes guts. nobody seems to have the guts

except for a few people like rand paul and ted cruz, and thank god for those people. they could possibly say this country. host: russell berman. guest: you see this expressed a lot on the right. one example of that frustration is look at the military pension cuts that they may -- $6 billion, which is not a lot of money these days, over 10 years. they made that in the budget agreement paul ryan worked out with patty murray. it was unpopular. everybody wants to support veterans. even though it was not included in the debt ceiling, both the house and senate have passed legislation to reverse it. if they can find agreement on how to pay for it, they will get rid of it. see "the wall street journal" editorial page and others on the right criticizing them because this was finally something from at least a start

spending, entitlement which is something speaker boehner and a lot of republicans say they want to do, and two months after putting it into place, they are starting to reverse it, showing how difficult it is. if they cannot do $6 billion, how can they do $2 trillion with $3 trillion? tot: the speaker wanted attach to the debt ceiling. mark pryor said what? guest: he is in a difficult position. he wants to vote against raising the debt ceiling, a popular position in arkansas, but he also does not want to vote against veterans. it, wheneverouch the details are, if you vote against reversing a cut for military pensions, you will be tagged as voting against the troops, veterans.

that is the view that he expressed. that is part of the reason why you saw not enough support for that bill in the house republican conference. host: what will you be watching when they begin this debate in the senate today? guest: it will be interesting how many republicans do vote for this. you would expect that the minimum number would, so do the vulnerable democrats have to put up the numbers to increase the debt ceiling? there is not much we will likely see get done this year in washington given the divide between the parties, so we are turning our attention already to the elections, and we will look at this vote unfortunately in the political context. host: jim on twitter says i would like to see obama come forward and say thank you, now lets start reducing spending and get a handle on this, but i will never happen. ron in pittsburgh, democratic caller.

caller: the republicans in the gop -- we have heard all these people in the air say they want to get the debt under control. really, they want to regain control of the government. they do not want to get control of the spending. that is a ruse. if they did, they would not let an unfunded war of $800 billion under bush's watch go on. you did not hear a peep out of them. these are just the ingenuous things they are saying to get into office. host: russell berman, what do you think -- any action on the debt this year? guest: judging on this vote, when the republicans essentially surrendered, short of some other economic development that would force their hand, they've passed their budget, there is no threat of a shutdown for the next year or two we will, and this bill, if it passes the senate would take that off the table until march, 2015.

host: that says the debt ceiling is an inversion of what we need -- keep the government open, send congress home, save the money. new york. independent. caller: i was wondering if they would get to the extension of unemployment since they are going on vacation for a couple of weeks. do they understand that we have to eat? guest: senate democrats have tried a couple of times right now, and they may try again, but i am not sure if they will be able to try before they get out of town. they tried and failed to extend employment on insurance, -- insurance, and speaker cost you -- house speaker john boehner has made no attempt. host: ralph. posturing gets irritating. they just passed a farm bill

that supports agricultural business and it will be $1 trillion over the next 10 years. jerks thathe same have the nerve to sit there and breaks fors for -- hedge fund managers that make $10 million a year. this will be capital gains now and they knock it down to 15%. i am an investor. when i worked as an engineer, i paid 35% in taxes, and the first year i made $1 million, i ended up paying 15%, plus the d.c. tax, which is another 6% or numeral seven percent. making 10 times as much money, i paid half of the taxes. there is something wrong with us. we can fix this. we need to rhetoric to stop and people to get serious. host: russell berman.

guest: that is a view you hear on the right and the left in terms of the unfairness of the tax code. the president talked about making the wealthy pay their fair share, and we might see it more in the context of tax reform that republicans are talking about where they want to lower the rates overall, but fix the loopholes in the tax code so that the wealthy who should be 35%,g a set rate of 30%, are not able to use all of these deductions to lower that, and end up paying less than as president obama likes to say, warren buffett's secretary. host: there is this headline in "the wall street journal" this morning. roseys farmers wealth dramatically thanks to rising global demand for grains and increased federal mandate for corn-based ethanol production.

let's go to michael in kansas city. democratic caller. hi, michael. caller: how are you doing? host: good morning. caller: obama in a written all of this debt. -- inherited all of this debt. way the system is. people need to realize it is common sense, you know? there are people out there hurting and doing without. we are the ones paying these people to do this job and they i'm doing a fairly. host: russell berman. view: certainly that is a that you see a lot of frustration with congress. their approval rating is 12% according to the latest poll

come and that is not the lowest they have been in the last year or so -- poll, and that is the lowest they have been in the last year or so. you want to see progress on cutting spending, tax reform, immigration reform, and a lot of that is hung up in these daily battles heard host: don -- battles. host: don is next. ohio. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would like to state to facts that are always missing from the budget debate and that is not raising the debt ceiling is actually an automatic balanced budget, and immediate balanced budget, and the other one is that not raising the debt ceiling will not default on the debt. i believe by law they have to service the debt first, and what they have to cut it pet projects, waste, unnecessary programs and employees. i really think that anybody that debt is raise the

actually not -- and they say they are for a balanced budget. i think it is a complete contradiction. host: ok. guest: that is something you hear on the right as well. if they did not raise the debt ceiling and the treasury prioritized trading -- payments, which conservatives want them to do, the first service would be to pay the debt, interest on the debt, and if you got rid of a lot of the waste, that would take you one day or two, and then you would have to start cutting social security payments or medicare payments. if you do not raise the debt ceiling, the thinking is you could survive for a few days, but then you would have to start really shutting down the machinery of the federal government, and not just federal employees, but also the benefits that go to the people. so, that is why economists, if you are asking them about this, they are all unanimous in saying

they do need to raise the debt ceiling, and that it would be a catastrophe, mostly because the financial markets would crash, if they did not. making thatyellen same argument yesterday when she was testifying for the first time since becoming chairman of the federal reserve. we covered that here on c-span. if you missed that, go to c-span.org. she will be back on the senate side testifying about the state of the economy and her role as chairman. you'll have coverage of that on c-span.org. "if somebodysaying has been unemployed for two years, they must either move or change careers. enough is enough. you cannot pay for no work forever. paul. new york. republican caller. caller: how are you doing? i spent four years in iraq. i just got out.

i was working. the unemployment extension -- we went over there fighting for you people, the republicans. i'm a republican, and i'm thinking about changing to democrat because we did things for the people here, and they cannot help us out. i have three kids and, you know, it is hard. republicans do not care about us when we are republicans. you know, it is like we have to do something about this. i am thinking about going back to democrat, and i think the republicans that are on unemployment should go back to democrat. it is something that we have to do. host: ok. russell berman, we talked about whether or not they would extend these. if they do not do it before they leave, does it come back to the floor? guest: it is hard to see how it

does because it has been almost one month and a half that they have lapsed. they are on recess for two weeks. it will be two months. they want to move onto other issues. the senate wants to hold votes on raising the minimum wage. the democrats want to keep focusing on this. they want to see if there is a way to extend long-term unemployment insurance benefits, and they also want to make it a political issue. he raises an interesting point because this has become another partisan divide between democrats i want to extend this and republicans that do not, but there are unemployed republicans and unemployed democrats, so this issue on the level of affecting everyday people cuts across both parties. times"the washington other issues before congress, as this article.

personal electronic items during takeoff and landing. times" "the washington this morning. carol. ander: i wanted to know, greta, i was listening last week when you were not there, and this caller said you were the worst correspondent that c-span has, and i disagree with that because to me, you know, you do not just sit and let a person say something without asking a question. to me, it is like everybody knows what is the truth, but they will not question it, like

ms. marsha blackburn was on there saying why she did not vote for the debt ceiling. to sit there and say you do not want to pay your bills because you will not put something on the bill that would continue to bring people down, for the life of me, i do not understand why againstare against -- our own best interest, be it republican or democrat. it seems like we are so filled with hate in our heart that we do not even want what is best for us. most of the medicare people in the tea party, they are older people that hate other people getting the help. ok?se, just bear with me, i sit here and i listen to c-span, and sometimes you all make a lot of sense, but sometimes if you have a democrat and a republican on at the same bee, so both persons could presented with a question so we could hear both answers, and we

have to know what is best for our own good. this is not best for us. host: carol, we got your point. russell berman, what about the impact of the vote -- the 199 republicans that voted not to on 2014e debt ceiling and independent voters because nancye this tweet from pelosi -- the house voted to lift the debt ceiling, 7199 .ouse republicans voted -- sadly, 199 house republicans voted. argue the democrats will that this is a risky vote the republicans took, that it risked default, but republicans have tried to make this about the debt, saying democrats are voting for more debt without doing anything about it, and the debate over whether the debt

ceiling is about future debt because it allows the government to continue borrowing -- why they are borrowing the money? because of spending congress has already authorized. it goes back and forth. i think both parties like to make a campaign ad out of this argument, and they feel confident they can win voters that way. boring file clerk says having a crisis is good for the government. it gives them an excuse to look as if they are doing something. john. florida. independent caller. debt-to-gdp is 75%. in 1976, andas this country built europe up with the marshall plan. i'm tired of this -- these congressmen and senators saying the grandchildren will pay for it. who paid for it in 1946? our grandchildren paid for it.

we thought a lot to go, and let's rebuild this country up. thank you. guest: that came with a high cost as it was the result of the world war. we have had two limited wars in the last 10 years that has resulted in the debt everybody is complaining about. you could clearly see the cost of were, frankly. bob. baton rouge, louisiana, on our line for republicans. good morning, bob. caller: good morning. how are you? doing well. welcome to the conversation. caller: i see people arguing over the debt ceiling and that bill. -- the debt bill. the people are going to take care of this, not the media, not the politicians -- the people. outby may 16, you will find

that the people are going to take care of it because you in the media do not ever say , and the politicians will not do anything, so it is up to the people, and the people are going to take care of it. host: ok, bob. james in jersey city, new jersey. democratic caller. caller: yeah. they're about to go on vacation, go back home, like the last caller said people have to be. they are always concerned about the military, and i understand that help protect the country and everything, but people right here at home right now are starving, going through a lot of problems. there are all kinds of situations, and they are

worrying about the military. if i am right, the cuts for the military do not even start until 2015. why are we discussing that right now. it is something we could do with down the line. they do not start until 2015, if i am correct. host: mr. russell berman? a concernt speaks to that has been raised by both parties -- they should be doing something more directly about jobs now. democrats are talking about unemployment insurance benefits. republicans, their argument is if you go after the health care law, it is raining in the economy. there are also conservatives on the right in the house republican conference that one the party to have a jobs -- want the party to have a jobs agenda that affects a little bit more what he is talking about, everyday concerns in an economy that is still recovering from a recession. host: tony.

sun valley, california. independent. theer: if we go back to 2010 budget deal, we came out with the super committee, and right before that obama was proposing a deal where over $3 trillion in just cuts -- the republicans said no. so, the public and said no taxes, he wanted some rick -- republicans said no because he wanted some taxes, revenue. the guy that called democrats communists and republicans liberals, and nobody has the guts to do cuts -- i agree. toody has guts to do cuts things that people like like medicare, social security, things like that, but one obama wanted to make cuts, they said no. when bush raised medicare costs by passing a prescription drug benefit that was not paid for, thing onid a god dam

the right, so i am not sure how people live with this fallacy and do not live with the reality of things. thank you very much. guest: the core divide -- he mentions that the president offered a significant amount of cuts, but that was on the condition that republicans agreed to increase revenue, which they see as tax increases no matter which way you can't it, and that we fast-forward to the fiscal deal of 2012 where the president did get a deal that was entirely tax increases, so republicans say the president has gotten his tax increases and any deals would be cuts to the entitlement programs over the long haul. the president, mostly because the democrats are not going to support him on this, has said no deal. berman.ssell the next guest coming up is luis gutierrez. before that, let me squeeze in

the last call for you. linda. stanley, new york. republican caller. caller: hello. how are you this morning? i have heard a lot of people talking about unemployment benefits. republicans and i want to give them their unemployment -- well, that is not true because there was a senator that put a bill on the floor to cut tax credits for you legal immigrants so that they could extend -- illegal immigrants so that they could extend unemployment benefits, and all democrats voted against that. i wanted to get that straight. thank you. guest: i am not sure which bills she is referring to. there has been a republican, dean heller, who has been working on an extension of unemployment benefits. he is from nevada, which has a high unemployment rate. anything that involves immigration at this point, which is another contentious issue, is probably not going to fly, and

the democrats position is unemployment insurance benefits should be extended no matter what. they are willing to talk about offsets, but not the ones a republican so far have put forward. host: russell berman, thank you for joining us. guest: july. host: immigration is our topic. next,o luis gutierrez -- we will talk to luis gutierrez after a news break from c-span radio. >> political news this hour -- and republican city councilman has been elected mayor of san diego, replacing bob filner, who resigned after sexual harassment allegations. kevin falcon will be the only republican. largestes california's city with a republican mayor. the president signed an executive order raising minimum wage from seven -- $7.25 an

hour, $210.10 an hour. anprevents -- to $10.10 hour. a cbs news correspondent tweets the president will urge congress to raise the minimum wage nationally to $10.10 for all workers. also, republican senator rand paul landstuhl announce a lawsuit against the president, the national security agency, and others involved in the spy mass collections of personal data. the senator said "i'm filing a lawsuit against president obama because he is publicly refuse to stop a violation of the fourth amendment. the bill of rights protect all citizens from general warrants. i expect this case to all the way to the supreme court and i predict the american people will wind."

chemical jelly will serve as lead counsel. senate judiciary committee meets at 10:00 a.m. eastern time with a hearing on privacy and civil liberties. you can hear it live on c-span radio or watch it live on c-span. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> the context here is that lee enjoys a reputation the modern-day a reputation the modern-day as somebody who acceptance, resignation to the situation, and that has always struck me as -- it is a theory that does not add up all in a sense. we know he was the most prestigious man in the south. we know in the south that the -- in the end, the south did not simply concede to the will of the north. they began to contest the northern understanding for plans for reconstruction since through political -- which --

reconstruction to political means environment means. in the eyes of confederates, lee was not a symbol of submission. unbowed rideol of and measured defiance. leeethinking grant and saturday night at 10:00 p.m. eastern, and sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. on c-span3 "american history tv." "> "washington journal continues. host: we want to welcome back to the table congressman luis gutierrez, democrat of illinois. immigration is the topic, and the lead paragraph of the "usa today" story online says hope for immigration reform is all but dead. 47 -- that is the to 247th over jury.

that is what the press likes to do. host: you do not believe it is that. guest: speaker boehner said it is hard. welcome to my world. we know it is hard, but we welcome you to this debate and to getting it resolved. it is going to be hard to get it done this year. we did not say could not be done this year. it, thes face politicians in washington, d.c., do not really dictate when things get done. and when they begin, that is better said that way. the immigrant community is continuing to push forward. it is not that by a longshot -- it is not a long -- dead by a long shot. host: and that is the headline, immigration activists threaten payback.

what does that mean? guest: it is not rocket science. take mitt romney. he got 60% of the white vote and lost. why? vote, 20%of the black of the latino vote, 15% of the asian vote -- you cannot have those kinds of numbers because among women voters -- if the republican party is going to continue to be a party that says ofto large growing sectors the electoral population in the united states, they are going to be a party of provinces and counties, and a few states, there will never be a national party again. somebody wrote, doing an analysis, look at the last six elections, at the states the democrats have won, and they came up with 243 electoral

votes, and what is trendy nationally is that the trend will be four more states to look more like those 243. it only takes 270 two when the present and democrats -- residency, and democrats seem to start with 90%. int: you predicted a blowout 2016 if immigration is not pass. are up that night, you will go home early. it will be a blowout. last election cycle, they tried to play out the drama a little bit more. it was 10:00, and it was over. it will be earlier. the top,you said at house speaker john boehner said it is hard, not that it would not happen. what did you make of the

principles the republican party put forth after they had their retreat last week? i want to first say that not only did i respond pelosi,ly, but leader the president of the united states, across-the-board, there was a sense that you are headed in the right direction. this is a set of principles that we can begin to work from, and we were very pleased that they were finally moving forward with their principles. i know how hard it is going to be. -- an, it took me to get decade to get democrats on board with copperheads a immigration reform. on board democrats with immigration reform. host: would you agree to what chuck schumer put forward, saying that he called house speaker john boehner's bluff on immigration, saying they wanted immigration reform, but they do not want --

guest: that is really what was going to happen anyway because of the president were to sign the bill tomorrow, it would take over two years between the signing of the bill and the moment any benefit -- that is somebody can go to a government office and apply for a benefit. i think it is a good deal because it is what it was going to happen anyway. it takes at least two years, maybe more. host: what you make of this tweet from kelly ayotte -- i support of the senate bill. theas not perfect, but status quo is unacceptable. i hope the house can find a way forward. guest: absolutely. i think our republican men and women that one comprehensive immigration reform for security

reasons, economic reasons, and also for political reasons. i mean, they want to take this off of the table. i say if you believe in social justice, immigration reform is good. tapping 11of on million people and their entrepreneurial spirit. we know what the congressional budget office says about the senate no. it says that actually -- deal. he said that actually produces a surplus. i think i want $1 trillion in our pocket in the u.s. treasury because what we are doing is bringing people into our system, the we are saying you are going to be accountable, pay all of your taxes, we are going to know where you are, and because you feel safe because you now have a legal status in the united states, you are going to explode in terms of economic activity in the which is good for all of us.

phone calls.to john. island lake, illinois. the public and caller. -- republican caller. john, you are on the air. caller: we are a nation of laws like mexican people. they are hard-working people. i like their food. but, we are a nation of laws. these people have come here illegally. if i were to break the law, i would go to jail. it boils down to money with these politicians, and we are a nation of laws. thank you very much. guest: i want to make them right with the law. we want to put them at the end of the line, but we want to make sure that we know where they are at. look. they are here. they are not going anywhere.

i think we have to first of all realized that two thirds of them have been here more than a decade. most of them live with children, in a family setting. they are already here. lots of jobs in america that really nobody else wants to do. why do i say that? i say that because i have been to orchard fields, citrus fields, where they pick garlic, lettuce, tomatoes, where they pick grapes for the fine chardonnay that we drink in california. we are going to have people in this country work and pick produce, and it will be picked with foreign hands or it will be picked in foreign countries. let's make the decision. meatpacking plants -- there are lots of places where they do critical, essential work, and i want to make them right with the law. many people say they did not use

the right way. there is no right way because there is no way for the american economy to supply the service sector. the right way shot down in 1990's. we need a clear path in the future so that people can come to america. host: peggy. lafayette, louisiana. independent caller. you are on the air with congressman gutierrez. go ahead. caller: i have a wonderful hispanic son-in-law that we think the world of, and this is his problem. salvador, 15om el years ago, legally, under a system called temporary protective status. the problem is apparently that status has to be renewed from time to time, and in the immigration talks i have not heard that talked about. it has been a nightmare. attorney.d to hire an

i wanted to be sure that the people will not be forgotten ok, in this reform. guest: they will not be forgotten about, and let me just say that if you are down in chicago, you could visit our congressional office instead of visiting an attorney so that we could explain to you. there should be no reason you need an attorney. it has been reinstated time and time again. i see no reason why the barack obama administration is going to sell the dorians, other central americans, and asians that he is going to somehow and the program. it is an important part -- i'm happy she brings it up because a lot of people think, well, you know, it is just about those illegals out there and whether they are going to be citizens of the united states.

there are a lot of people legally in this country in limbo , as her friend is, that we need to sort out. host: how does it work, this protective status? guest: there was an incredibly, ugly vicious earthquake in haiti . there were haitians here in the united states, so we made a decision we were not going to under people to haiti those conditions, and that is called temporary protective status. what happened in el salvador was a similar crisis. the difficulty with the system is how do you then integrate them when it is temporary, so we want to find a permanent solution. >> is that a pathway to citizenship? -- host: is that a pathway to citizenship? guest: no. it has to be continually renewed. host: from twitter, tell us how you will verify taxes owed, do

background checks from all over the world, collect money from people? one, they are here. we do not have to go all over the world. undocumented the have been here for 15 years. a lot of people think of immigration reform and they she is so i'm happy bringing this up, here is a system that we want -- and employment verification system. what does that mean? before you or i could get a job in the united states, it has to be verified that they are legally in the country and that has to happen to the federal government. if you are an employer that hires somebody without going through that system, we will lock you up and put you in jail just as if you did not pay your taxes or violate any other law of the land. we have to make sure that everybody goes through the verification system. -- in 5-to-hat in-to-

seven years. i want to put them on the books. they are already paying taxes. tax pay sales tax, gasoline . i am not quite sure all of those taxes are making it back to the government. i want to put them on the books. when the congressional budget office says if you legalize 11 million people, what happens to the treasury -- it is to the good. $100 billion in the first 10 years, $1 trillion after 20. host: we are talking to luis gutierrez, who represents the chicago area. he has been a leader on pushing for immigration reform. in his 11th term. collected with 83% of the vote -- with elected in 1992

80% of the vote. first elected in 1992. republican caller. caller: i want to tell the whole country that there are 25 jobs in durham, north carolina, in a burger king, and it is all mexican nationals that are not supposed to be here. host: how do you know that? guest: -- caller: they do not speak english. host: why's that evidence that they are here it -- legally? if they were here legally, they would probably speak english. from: a lot of people come all over the world. it is the third caller has referred to mexicans. 40% of the undocumented are here came here legally to the united states on a visa, a student

visa, a tourist visa, and employment visa. this constant reference to one group of people is not a reflection of the reality. i know that has been the talk , but when we talk about the 11 million pimco -- 11 million, we're talking about millions of people from poland, ireland, the philippines, all parts of the world. i do not know about the burger king. here's what i could tell you. if you fix the system and put an employment verification system into it, the guy that opens up the burger king must go on -- i am pretty sure he checked their social security cards, right? greta, let's be real. ,y granddad back in the 1930's i could imagine when he got in the mail to social security

card. i do not know how he laminated it, but my dad got one, same thing in the mail -- a flimsy social security card. i got one. my children got one. my grandson got one. we could do a lot better after 70 years, 80, 90 years of having social security cards. we could do a lot better. we have more information on your debit card about who you are, or any other credit card. when he to do better. if we want to have -- we need to do better. if we want to have a nation that controls who works here. host: what do you use? guest: you could use metrics. is always funny because you and i both know this, if you swipe the card and the credit card company says he was in chicago, and he swiped in san francisco, all of a sudden the merchant tells you you have

to call your company. why can we not have that kind of verification system when you are going to work? they verify if you are not in the right place geographically. should we not be able to know who is working in america and have a verification system? -- immigrationr would be easier to take if it was not part of the engineered plan of government to lower u.s. wages for corporate greed." guest: let me say this, when you immigrants economy, play a key role, and there are other sectors of the economy that are not meatpacking plants, not working in agriculture. let's take the high-tech industry. if we want to be competitive as a nation, we were need people in mathematics, to come to america for jobs that exist in america, but for which

unfortunately there are no qualified, talented americans to take. let me give you my take on jobs first. i believe that any job created in america should first go to an american, if the american exists with the qualifications. i believe that. then, after we have satisfied the needs of those born in this country, then we have opportunities for employment, for others to come here. we always have. that has been the cycle of immigrants coming to america. a lot of people say those 11 million, they are here taking jobs from other people. well, you know, i do not know that there is a long line, even at burger king to take those jobs. i do find as i travel lots of immigrants fulfilling very low-wage. someone said we have to pay people more to pick lettuce and

tomatoes. the republican party will not increase the minimum-wage, but they will replace the minimum-wage that we pay people to pick lettuce and tomatoes? that will not happen. we should have an economy where capitalism is at work. all i am saying is i did not send my two daughters, and i am sure your viewers did not send their kids to college so that they could go and pick something. somebody will have to do it, but at the same time, it is critical work, backbreaking, dirty, filthy, work. i have been out there to watch them work out in the field across america. it is hard work. saying isould be those people are doing hard work, they are keeping our economy strong, and keeping us safe. you are going to get your food picked here in the united states by foreign hands, or by foreign

hands in foreign countries. you decide where your security lies. host: kate, evansville, indiana. democratic caller. yes.r: this goes back to trying to get immigration reform done. you are trying to get unemployment benefits restored. ,he jobs are all going overseas so, you need to back up, put everything to the side, and let's get the jobs going. so, if you want these immigrants to have jobs -- there are no jobs, so why are you trying to work on this? that is a stall tactic. you need to concentrate on one item because you're never going to get anything done. you are not getting anywhere. you are slipping in the mud. host: all right, keith. guest: i think it is critical and essential that we have a

modern, 21st century immigration in united states. we have 11 million people in the shadows. we should register them with the government and have them pay their taxes. they should pay fines, they should learn english, learn about our way of government, we should incorporate them fully. i believe they should begin in a pathway to citizenship because it is the right thing to do, and i want them to fulfill every last responsibility and obligation to this country and i have as a citizen. iwant somebody saying maybe do not have to do everything everybody else has to do, and i do not have the same commitment that everybody else has. host: are you able to go to the democratic retreat? thet: i am not going to democratic retreat. i am going back to my congressional district immediately after this before the snow hits washington, d.c., so i could get back to chicago. i have things to do back in the district and i going to get those things done.

host: what you think the strategy should be for house democrats going forward to push on immigration reform? guest: it took a while, greta. it was not like back in 2007, 2008, 2009 -- democrats were in charge of the house of representatives but we did not propose immigration reform because we did not have the vote, even though we were 240, 250-strong, but we worked on that. now there is a large group of people -- 90% of the democrats in the house of representatives would support the bill as it is put forward in the senate proposal, but i want to take a moment to talk about the senate proposal. there is this thing that has become -- it takes 13 years from the moment you join the legalization process, if you are undocumented -- host: in the senate bill? guest: 13 years before you have the opportunity to apply for

american cynosure -- citizenship. it is a long road. you have to pay fines, learn english, cannot be unemployed, have to get right with the law. it is a straight and stringent road there, as well as should be, and the immigrants are ready to take that on. plus, you know what if you eliminated 11 million people from the united states of america, they would stop going to stores. wher been to towns they have bee i find -- and you know what i find? i find ghost towns. all you have to do is go to post ville, iowa. it is a ghost town now. all of the immigrants were buying clothes at the clothing store, building up empty apartments, creating more -- i

mean, look from 75% of all economic activity is what? when people go by something. one go back to mexico second. mexico is the second-largest trading partner of the united states. second. why is that important to jobs? they are buying our goods, greta. by buying our goods they create millions of jobs in the united states for people who live here. let's look at how jobs are created and not try to build a moat around ourselves. if we do that we won't have economic activity does businesses every two keep us destroy mission that we are. host: you have been working in the house with a group of republicans and democrats in pushing for immigration reform similar to the gang of eight in the senate. rollup door, congressman, was part of your group that got together. r, congressman, was part of your group that got

together. here is a headline from fox news latino. guest: i think that is regrettable. intelligent and very knowledgeable about immigration policy. suffice to say, i spent 5 months with him crafting the legislation. it seems a little ironic that someone i spent 5 months with drafting the legislation now says don't do anything or you shouldn't have a job. i hope raul comes back to the table because i think he can be an important part of not saying no. you have a lot of people in washington who say no. democrats propose something, republican say no. republicans propose something, democrats say no. let's try to learn how to say yes in washington, d.c. host: kathy in texas, republican caller. high, kathy. caller: how are you?

i live in texas and we have lots of mexicans, and they hard-working, very, very kind people. the problem is, we live in a country of laws. i say that is a problem because we must get a handle on this by shutting down the border first. there is just so many people here illegally, not even just mexicans. into so many. it has nothing to do with their nationalities. we came from europe, our families came from sicily, we did it the legal way, we have the american dream. but i feel democrats are giving this country away. it really is sad that they are turning people against each republicansing, oh, don't like mexicans or republicans don't want to help these people. we do, but we have to do it in a legal way and i think they are very kind and everybody needs a chance. we had the chance here and our kids are all doing excellent. a -- but follow the law, thank you. guest: i think that is exactly what we are trying to do. we are trying to make them right with the law.

at the same time, our system is broken. we want to fix it. now, we can say that we can go about the business of trying to deport 11 million people. number one, that is not a realistic alternative. you are not going to deport him 11 million people. barack obama has deported more people than any other president in the history of the united states. , barackh enforcement obama, 2 million people have been deported, a devastating effect on our community. but what we must understand is there is still millions and millions -- even if you kept this up at the space, you are not going to do put yourself out of the problem -- you are not going to deport yourself out of the problem. look, nobody in the congress, ugliest in thet, house in the senate has ever proposed a system that says,

here is the money, go out there -- can you imagine trying to ?ound up 11 million people those people are married to american citizens in many cases. they have relationships with of those of us who are here, not only from mexico, but from poland and ireland in the philippines. most of them have been here more than 10 years. the system is broken. i want to fix the system in a realistic manner that helps drive our economy. host: should the president stop the deportation -- guest: i think the president co should continue to ex his ex -- expand his executive authority to stop the deportation of immigrants roots in the country. there are millions of american citizen children who, through no fault of their own, have parents who are undocumented in this country who are working. if you are a gang banger or drug dealer or criminal, put you in the front of the line and out of this country.

first, we will punish you right here in the united states, but then we want you out. look, there are 2 types of people who come here. there are foreigners who come here and there are immigrants. i make the distinction between the 2. the immigrants come here to do valuable work should valuable, essential, critical work. i wish for just one moment i andd show the lady in texas the other person in alabama what the landscape would look like in america if the 11 million were just to disappear. who would be working in the fields in georgia, alabama, mississippi, south of this nation? not to speak about who would be working the fields in california. look, you can go across this country and you can say what you want, but nobody wants to do the dirty, backbreaking, filthy the work of working in agriculture in america. and americans are sending their kids more to college, more and more each day, graduating from high school and college. that is a good thing.

sends their kids so that at the end of the day we will give you an artificial salary of $15 an hour. ain't gonna happen. in the high-tech industry, we need people with math skills and science skills so that america can be the kind of competitive nation it has always been. host: here is a tweet. guest: i don't care. i have worked with the republican party. greta, you know better than most that every time i have proposed immigration legislation, i did it with john mccain, with 2004 a, back in 2003 and i have always been bipartisan and moving forward. i sat down with the group of eight. i believe that this should be an american solution. i think part of the problem here -- i will say this for george bush was the last republican president elected.

of the latino vote in that election. he won. but if you are going to continue to criminalize all of us, because when you pass a law in arizona like to show me your papers law, i will tell you right here on this program, they are not asking you for your papers, greta, when they pull you over. in this country, and i resent any law that stereotypes me and promotes that kind of stereotype. i think it is wrong and it is un-american. host: we talked about this a , but yout at the top predicted that if congress doesn't do anything about immigration reform, democrats will win in 2016. guest: it is clear to me that the demographics are such that that is going to happen. host: what about chris christie? if you becomes the nominee -- let me point out that when he won reelection, this past year,

he carried 51% of the latino vote. that is in new jersey. that is that election. that is not a presidential election. that is a local election. the other thing is that chris christie also says he would support the dream act locally in new jersey. he was being very kind and doing outreach work to the latino community. i guess my answer is twofold. number one, he tried to show a new face of the republican party. george bush got latino votes, too, because he showed a different face to the immigrant community in this country. my point is, republicans can do well. --they can just be a party you want the republican party to be a national party? you want to gain the presidency of the united states? guess what, you've got to change her politics on immigration, because if you don't, you will always be a party of provinces,

towns, and localities. if that is what you want, to never be a player again on the national scene, just continue with your anti-immigrant rhetoric. you will not be able to reach sufficient number of communities in america to win the national election. host: kathy in florida, a democratic caller. caller: good morning. good morning. say americawant to is a land of laws, and it really because if anything we do, we go to jail. it doesn't matter. trespassing, whatever, you go to jail. if these people broke the law, how can they not go to jail? face toa slap in the the ones who go to jail for anything -- walking, trespassing, anything could get to go to jail for breaking the

law? are you kidding me. they need to go to jail. host: ok, kathy. congressman? civil offense to work in the united states work undocumented. it is a misdemeanor. i don't think we are going to fill our jails with people who commit civil offenses and misdemeanors. those who engage in criminal activity should have the full force of the law brought against them. we want to get that done. again, no one has ever proposed preparing the kind of system with the requisite resources necessary for today. let's go out and have the federal government with all of its agencies using all of its police powers to go up and around 11 million people. i want you to close your eyes and think about that. nobody has ever proposed that because they know it is not realistic. i have a realistic solution to the problem and i have a bipartisan solution to the problem. republicans and democrats, let's

look at the issue of immigration. the afl-cio, labor movement, got together with the u.s. chamber of commerce. those 2 institutions fight in washington, d.c. everyday, spending tens of millions of dollars lobbying against each other. the farmworkers union, created by cesar chavez, that together with the largest growers and they agreed on how they would and futureurrent agricultural workers. "the new york times" and "the wall street journal" couldn't be more different in their editorial positions. i have seen divisions among religious leaders -- as deterrence and lutherans and evangelicals -- presbyterians and lutherans and evangelicals in very conservative protestants with catholics and muslims and jews altogether. it seems to me that the only place where it will can't --

where people can't find common ground -- and the rest of america we can find common ground, and every other spear of society and influence we can eptd common ground, exc the house of representatives. the fact that the republicans put forward their principles tells me that there is common ground. boehner didn't just wake up one day and write those down and scribble them on a piece of paper. those were thoughtful, well thought-out principles that they put in black and white. he must have believed that there were certain that she was a certain currency, leadership in the republican party behind. -- that there was a certain currency, readership and the republican party behind that. the first battle is to say that this is something we want to move forward. they knew it would be difficult, but you have a very extreme right wing of the republican party that is selling them no, no, no. small,ou know what, in thetic right wing

republican party and he will always be a part of localities. host: you are on the air with congressman gutierrez, democrat from illinois. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call this money. i would just like to say that i .upport legal immigration i am not a racist in any way. our country was founded on immigration so i fully believe in the legal process of --igration for it in my town legal process of immigration. in my town, aberdeen, we've experienced a huge loss of jobs after the logging industry , with the mass -- and now with the mass influx of immigrants, from all over central and south america, i am not just going to label them as mexicans or colombians or whatever or they are latinos. it seems to me the tend to do a

lot of shopping at their own stores, that they are not going to go and shop at a regular american store or they are going to go and buy food that came from their own country instead of foods that come from our country. host: is that a concern? caller: it is a concern of mine. that is one concern, yeah. people come here and immigrate to our country and then spend money they are making in our country on stuff that is coming from their own country. host: ok. congressman? guest: i'm sorry, i'm just at a loss here. i like chinese food. does that make me un-american to go to a local chinese restaurant? or a thai restaurant? or greek restaurant? it is part of america, eating different foods from different countries. if i only each these

burgers and hotdogs, that makes me 100% american? thing -- if you are upset that the immigrants are eating ethnic food, you should and thesesafeways large american corporations that have their ethnic aisles, ok? let's not kid ourselves. target does it come every major american corporation, you know what they do -- he says, "oh, they don't buy." that is nothing but a pack of lies. on a spanish and ethnic tv and you know it you've got? ford and gm and every major corporation in the language selling those products. back at the plant, they are americans speaking english producing those cars and goods. commerce -- if i want to communicate and i want to sell something, then it is ok. unless it is a group of people going over there and eating food

that they are used to from their country. the fact is that i am happy that italians and greeks and chinese cap that -- italians and greeks and chinese kept their delicious culinary menus because i continue to enjoy them and that is part of the diversity of america. host: the caller started by saying "i am for immigration reform" and "i am not a racist" -- guest: against it. host: do you think that people against immigration reform are racist? guest: no, i have not said that could i have heard racist comments from people who are against immigration reform. look come here is the fact. every survey that has been done, the wall street journal" or cnn, says that two thirds of american people are for legalizing the 11 million and giving the pathway to citizenship. the vast majority of american

people believe that, and they are white and black and hispanic and of every color. i think that when you go out to america and speak to the american people, they want to fix our broken immigration system. i'm telling you, it is only the house of representatives where there is a problem. part of the problem is -- you have addressed this issue before on this program -- part of it is we come from these congressional districts in which all we're thinking about is the very next election. there will be immigrants and s and europeansno that they will be in the southern district so people say, i would just disregard that. of themselveshink as being an american representative. they think of themselves as being the representative of that congressional district in and only that congressional district and not the broader views of the

american people, and they want to get elected. and then you have these primaries, republican primaries, in which the influence of a very conservative sectors of the republican party outweighs the rest of the republican party. i think that, unfortunately, is what is pushing a lot of things. host: congressman, we need to let you go because you need to catch a flight before this storm comes to washington. guest: showing up to work tomorrow -- not host host: oh, i will be here. thank you for your time. guest: you're welcome. "journal"ill and the this morning where we began, asking you for your thoughts on the house improving a clean debt extension, extending the borrowing authority through 2015. right after this new spectrum c-span radio. a small the of breast the city are weighing in on illegal immigration. yearly 60% of the town of fremont voters decided yesterday

to keep an ordinance that would require all renters to swear they have legal permission to live in the united states. in other news, jose padilla, arrested in 2002 on suspicion of plotting a dirty bomb attack and convicted of plotting terrorism in 2008, will be resentenced today. a federal judge in south florida has scheduled a hearing this afternoon. he was originally sentenced to 17 years in prison for terrorism support and conspiracy .onvictions an appeals court ruled in 2011 that the sentence was too lenient, given mr. padilla's criminal record and terrorist training could this from trans union -- the company says that fewer homeowners are getting behind on their mortgages. the percentage of mortgage holders at least 2 months behind on their payments fell in the october to december quarter to 3.85%. it is the lowest rate since the second quarter of 2008.

those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> the context here is that lee enjoys a reputation in the modern day as someone who counseled acceptance and submission and resignation to the situation. that has always struck me as -- it is sort of series that doesn't add up in a sense. we know he was the most prestigious man in the south. we are told that he counseled simitian. but we know in the end that the south did not submit submit to the will of the north. the ex confederates began very quickly to contest the northern understanding of the meaning of the war and the peace and the plan for reconstruction and contest then through political and extralegal means and while it means. what i found is that in the eyes of confederates, lee was not a symbol of submission. he was a symbol of an unbowed and measured defiance.

>> rethinking the grant and lee appomattox, part of a three-day presidents' day weekend on c-span3's american history tv. websiteew cspan.org gives you access to an incredible library of political events, with more added each day through c-span's nonstop coverage of national politics, history, and nonfiction books. find c-span's daily coverage of official washington or access more than 200,000 hours of archived c-span video, everything c-span has covered since 1987. our video is all searchable and viewable on your desktop computer, tablet, or smartphone. just look for the prominent search bar at the top of each page. the new cspan.org makes it easy to watch what is happening today in washington and find people and events from the past 25

years. it is the most comprehensive the video library in politics. >> "washington journal" continues. host: the house last night after the clean extension of the nations borrowing authority to 25th -- through 2015, by a vote 221-201. 28 republicans joined all but 2 democrats to vote yes on this extension. the senate could take it up as early as today. tune into c-span2 to listen to that debate and see how that vote goes down. we want to get your thoughts this morning on the house improving a clean debt bill.

"the washington times" on page this morning has a headline -- "boehner clears path for obama to spend." " democrats meet little gop resistance for higher debt ceiling with no strings." that is "the washington times." "the new york times" this morning -- "house approves i have debt limit without condition." journal" street reports this -- "by avoiding a cliffhanging debt fight, mr. boehner's strategy may advance a central republican political goal ahead of the midterm elections to keep the public focused on the problems of the 2010 health care law, republican

candidates across the country are trying to pin on democrats. republicans want to avoid giving voters any reason to turn on the party ahead of the elections that might give the gop control of both chambers of congress. when this is over we will focus 6 our agenda and when we went -- win 6 seats in the senate, what we will do different when we control congress,'jim jordan of ohio said." club for action and inherited action -- excuse me, club for growth and heritage action put out a key vote alert urging members to vote against the measure. that in "the new york times" this morning. democratic caller bank, what do you think? caller: hello? host: good morning, you are on the air. caller: how are you doing? host: good. what you think of the house approving a clean debt bill?

caller: ok -- host: let me move on to michael in telefonica, republican caller -- in california, republican caller. caller: hi, how are you? i don't get too much in the details of the bill could i want to make a general statement. ok.: both parties bicker about this and that but at the end of the day they come together to pass the bills even though throughout the course of it, the rhetoric couldn't be starkly different. my question or comment is, there he -- if there are polar opposite views on issues, why at the end of the day doesn't always get past? host: ok. mike in georgia. although -- i am fed up with this debt crisis

being late on president obama's cable company think that industry, -- laid on president obama's table, when you think back in history, it was in a trust fund and ronald reagan had a general fund. after that, president clinton provided us with a balanced budget. see a race w. bush, that by having an unfunded war with iraq. they remove ad -- lot of the controls over wall street which resulted in the current crisis we have. to lay all the blame on president obama is piling on when the republicans need to look at our own house. host: senate majority leader harry reid said he was happy in "the new york times" that the was legislating "the way they should have

legislated for a long time." senator ted cruz tweeted this out host: he will use procedural maneuvers to require 60 votes -- that means five republicans would have to vote for extending the debt ceiling. and a democrat from connecticut tweeted this out yesterday. the list ofn see the 28 republicans that joined all but 2 democrats to vote for this. gerry connolly, another democrat, tweeted this out. also, this tweet from jake sherman.

host host: also, the senate conservative fund, a fund raising pac in washington that hopes to get conservatives elected to the senate, they have said that they want speaker boehner to be replaced as the leader of the house republicans, and the group is rallying supporters to the website replacethespeaker.com. "is to get 15 house republicans to support the cause, which, if there is no change in the balance in the house, will leave the boehner short of the votes he needs for another term as speaker."

host: kenneth in south bend, indiana, independent rate hike, kenneth. -- independent. hi, kenneth. caller: my question was with regards to raising the debt ceiling. i listened to your show the other day, and they were saying that the independent foreclosure review, independent foreclosure andew, debts were forgiven, a 1099 was sent out to those the debt was forgiven too, but the previous legislation, it was forgiven, it was forgiven, and that they would reinstitute it, to my understanding, if the debt limit is applied again. is that true? could you give any information on that? host: i'm not sure, kenneth, to be honest. deep, republican caller --

steve, republican caller. caller: i'm calling in as an american this morning. i want to give a shout out to these lying men and women of the power company's and thanks to the other states and townies that are sending power line men and women into our areas because of the ice storm. they are unsung heroes. let's bury the hatchet on our politics and did these men and women anything they need -- coffee, food, a place to stay, anything. we sure do appreciate it. host: steve, what is the weather like right now? icy -- it is host: do you think the area is prepared this time? do you think the atlanta area, the state of georgia is prepared this time? caller: you can't get prepared for ice. i don't know what to say about that. but it is the best it can be.

but these power people coming from these other states and everything, there is nothing you can ask out of anybody that would drive into something like this. host: all right, well, thanks for the call. we will go back to our topic for all of you, the house passing extending that bill -- clean debt bill extending the government's borrowing authority through 2015. you can see what happens by and watching-span2 the debate live. he was what house speaker john boehner had to say after he met with his colleagues and told them it would be a clean that bill and talk to reporters about it. [video clip] presidentand, the driving up the debt and the president wanting to do nothing about the debt that is occurring will not engage in our long-term spending problem, and so let his party give him the debt ceiling increase he wants. this is a lost opportunity for america. we are on a spending trajectory that is unsustainable.

the president knows it, every democrat and every republican in this town knows it. it has to be dealt with. it is disappointing, i can tell you that. >> mr. speaker, this is the first time you have gone for a clean debt ceiling bill without putting up a republican fight. is this a recognition that post- government shutdown, you don't have the political leverage to fight the president on this? >> no, it is the fact that we don't have 218 votes. you don't have 218 votes, you have nothing. we have seen that before, we've seen it again. >> last question. >> equal cuts for the equal increased debt limit -- is the boehner rule dead? >> i would hope not. as i said before, this is a lost opportunity. we could have sat down and worked together in a bipartisan manner to find cuts and reforms that are better than the increase in the debt limit and would help us begin to solve the

spending problem we have, again the process of paying down our the process of paying down our debt. i'm disappointed, to say the least. >> has the president or ms. losey the menu any indication, and -- ms. pelosi given you any indication how many democrats -- >> if we went this route i would expect every democrat to vote for it. >> and she said? >> and she agreed. boehneruse speaker john before the vote last night when it was approved and all but 2 democrats supported the extension of the government's borrowing authority. this is "the wall street journal" this morning. both of their districts were won by mitt romney in the presidential election. and then this on twitter.

memphis, arkansas, democratic caller. hi, alan. caller: hi you doing this morning? i watch you all the time. i think he did a good job, to me, you know. host: you are talking about the speaker? caller: yeah. i'm a democrat, but i would vote for him. host: why is that, because he made this decision? caller: he made this decision and then he made other top decisions. he is a good man. if you return run for president if he were to run for president, i would go republican. -- if you were to run for president, i would go republican. host: all right, alan. host: tom cole, who was a

republican from oklahoma and a close friend from the speaker, tweeted this out. nunes, republican from california, one of the republicans who voted yes, was quoted in "the washington post" as a saying, "it wasn't exactly a profile in courage. you had members saying they hoped it would pass but unable to vote for it." caller: greta. host: good morning. caller: i just wanted to let you know that here in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, none of our people 11, havews, 2, 4, or mentioned any of the stuff that goes on in washington. i want you every morning -- other you, whoever them

people are trade i'm a faithful caller. i want to ask you, what does clean mean for the debt bill? does that mean all the debt is gone? host: no, you are right, we should explain it more. it means no strings attached. caller: i don't understand what clean means. is it wiped clean? host: no, the debt still exists and some on twitter have sarcastically noted that in exchange for extending the borrowing authority, republicans do not ask for spending cuts or anything. nothing on health care, there is nothing attached to it. it was just so-called "clean." caller: oh. you know what i think, too? obamacare, which is going to kill -- mark my words, it is already hit us. here in pittsburgh alone 200,000

people have been laid off all over the place. it is going to really damage the country. i just want to say, obama better start working. he is the president and he is supposed to lead as the president of the united states, stepped in, negotiate. when our men and women were laying on the ground, he did not sign one executive order. that guys-- whatever name was, kick and body stuff that is terrible. bodies up.hem that is terrible. host: kelly ayotte, republican senator from new hampshire, tweeted this out this morning. host: frank in houston, texas, republican caller. by the way, if ted cruz insists that any increase in the debt ceiling on the senate side

requires 60 votes instead of the simple majority of 51, it will take 5 republicans to vote with the democrats to make that happen. kelly ayotte could be one of those votes. some consider her a moderate republican and some of these issues. let's go to frank in houston, texas. go ahead, frank could republican caller. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. representative boehner didn't have much choice after the shutdown could he didn't want to get burned again. personally, as a republican, i would've hoped that if they did go that far as to shut the government down, they should have kept it shut down. having said that, the young lady that called just a minute ago about -- mentioned obamacare. the dirty debt bill that boehner and the house of representatives have passed, obama is going to need that money because people who are getting on medicaid right now

are going to find out that they are not eligible for medicaid if they own anything of value, like a car, that is worth more than $7,000. a lot of people don't know that. if they have savings of more than $13,000 in the bank, they will not be qualified for medicaid. they are going to get letters and about 3 months telling them that. host: what do you make of the efforts by conservative groups to try to replace the speaker? the senate conservative fund, which tries to raise money to get conservatives into the senate, has started this petition on the website hespeaker.com. aboutorning they had 29,000 signatures and have gotten about 1000 more since then. caller: i tell you what, i have already seen this and never see the letter -- well, not a letter, but a notice on e-mail

to sign the petition. i don't think -- i think that boehner has been a very, very effective speaker in the house of representatives. i think he should stand there and stand tall and be strong, because we have to win the election in 2014. we have to take back the senate. this country is going off the rails. he knows it. i think most of america will know what -- will know if they don't know it already. host: the speaker has said that these outside groups do this so that they can raise money. caller: and i agree with that. every condition that they put out, they want money right behind. -- every petition that they put out, they want money right behind it. host: that is what you enough said this morning? -- what your e-mail said this morning? caller: yes. immediately if you sign the petition, because i have signed

some in the past, they last you for money -- they will ask you for money. host: do they ask you for a certain amount? caller: $30, $60, $90, something like that. yes, i think it is a way for them to get money. but the democrats do as well. it is just politics and that is money. host: frank, how old are you and what you do for a living? caller: 625 years old, just retired. host: what did you do? caller: i was an iron worker. host: always a republican? caller: no. i am a republican now because the way at the country is gone. myanmar family, we have always been democrats since the very beginning, all of my life -- me and my family, we have always been democrats since the very beginning, all of my life. i've never seen this country so divided, i have never seen a president that will down and negotiate. i am fearful for our country. host: when did you switch? caller: after the first 4 years

of president obama. host: did you vote for him in 2008? caller: no. host: frank in houston, texas, republican caller. some details about last night's state dinner honoring french president francois hollande. the white house saw the most delicate protocol issue of the state dinner for over francellande friends in a dignified but creative way. seated at president obama's right was the director of the studio museum in harlem who mounted a provocative exhibit at the whitney museum of american art titled 'black male.' mr. orellana came to the united states without his longtime partner after announcing they had split last month in the midst of a swirl of news media reports that he had cheated on her with a french actress. t wasichelle obama's lef comedian stephen colbert, whose

connection to france consists largely of his determination to pronounce his surname as if it were french. featured quail eggs and other features. plenty of hollywood names were in attendance -- the actor bradley cooper, actress julia louis-dreyfus, who plays a dysfunctional vice president on the series 'veep,'seated next to the actual vice president. also attending was edith windsor, who was denied tax benefits after the death of her female spouse. among the news media figures ofe jeff zucker, president cnn, and enjoy brinson, executive editor of 'the new y ork times.'"

also, the 2 presidents talk to during this trip about nsa surveillance. attending the dinner was keith alexander of the national security agency, along with dr. clapper, who heads the national intelligence agency, martin dempsey, and other national security officials last night's dinner. ron in a new hampshire, democratic caller. caller: how is everybody today? host: doing fine, ron. caller: i would like to applaud john boehner for passing a clean debt ceiling yesterday. maybe we can get onto other things, other pressing things that need to be dealt with, without getting downgraded yet again. though, id that, would also like to say that i am a little tired of the republicans and republican leadership talking about reducing the debt when they put currentlyebt we have

on the books, under republican leadership. at leastbama's debt, half of his current debt that he is put on the books since he has been in office, he has used to try to fix what the republicans broke back before 2007. president bush allowed our country, our economy, to crash. president obama has done nothing but try to fix things since he has been here through hell and high water and obstacles that the republicans are constantly throwing in his way. he is trying to fix the stuff that the republicans broke in 2007. the last caller said that this country is going off the rails could you know, this country was off the rails in 2007, under republican leadership. president obama has been trying to fix it and has gotten absolutely no help from any republicans.

in his littleart finger, it seems, then the entire republican party has combined. "the washington post" editorial page weighs in on the affordable care act and president obama's decision to you lay the entire mandate again. they say "the law is also mandate," criticizing the administration on their latest decision on that. we'll in tennessee, independent caller. caller: good morning to you, greta. i want to thank you and c-span for giving me another opportunity to expose my views on the topic today. -- expressed my views on the topic today. i think the major problem the american people are faced with, starting this new year, is our government going to really show some integrity and honesty and pass legislation that is going to help the american people?

we've already had 4 years of president obama's measures, all the reforms we've had. 4 major reforms that are supposed to be taking care of. here we have this debt ceiling, and wondering where all the money is going to come from. they've got trillions of dollars that's going to be passed on to our children and grandchildren, the next three generations. the sad thing about it is we the people, we are the ones who are going to have to make the difference in the next election. 2016 gets here, or 2014 gets , and people have to give an justt estimate of what getting public officials to do what's right could i appreciate it, greta. host: on capitol hill yesterday, the new chairman of the federal

reserve, janet yellen, testified for 6 hours before a house panel. thefirst testimony as chairman of the federal reserve. in her debut, "the new york ellen set of"y familiar direction for the fed." she will be back up there tomorrow and we will have coverage of that. you can join the conversation #cspanchat.shtag the other headlines in the paper about her testimony -- in "financial times," "sensible yellen wins praise on capitol hill." "the s&p rose steadily as ms. yellen testified as the markets are consta -- accustomed themselves to the new overseer."

"janet yellen has turned a cold shoulder to please that reductions in asset purchases will only be influenced by the u.s. economy, suggesting there will be no relief for those countries being battered by the taper." yellen on to say "ms. said that the fed is watching closely the recent volatility. however, she showed no sympathy for complaints that the fed has failed to coordinate its honesty with other countries -- its policy with other countries." alan in tallahassee, florida, republican caller. what do you make of the house are proving this clean debt bill? well, greta, first, thanks for c-span. you are more than fair and you do this country a great favor by letting people voice their opinions. but the fellow who called a couple of calls ago and said

that obama is just trying to correct what bush brought on the country is just so off-base. this country has been going in lbjwrong direction since and his war on poverty. and how anybody could blame it on bush is beyond my comfort pension -- the on comp rate -- beyond my comprehension. as far as this bill is concerned, it is just this is as usual -- business as usual, unlike the fellow who was just the fellow who was just on, the election this fall will tell the tale of if this country is going to survive or if we are going to be like another grease or another socialist country.

and if you liberals would read the history of what has happened in the world since it started, they should know that socialism does not work. for crying out loud, look at history. so thank you very much. host: "the new york times" noting the vote yesterday in the 1-101, relying almost entirely on democrats. "it represented the first debt ceiling increase since 2009 that was not attached to the legislation." .onnie, democratic caller what do you think of the vote? caller: i think the vote for him was for him to get votes. he wants to stay speaker of the house. he is trying to do a good favor for himself. but i am going to thank him for doing it.

considerationbush about bush, we were one fourth of an inch of having a dictatorship and the guy before us says that socialism is the worst thing we could ever have. well, i just want to say that capitalism is for the rich bush is stillnd going to be president, still working for us. obama clean up this mess and when -- went on a lot of little dirty things that were done. i hope we continue with him and straighten this country out to all these republicans are not for the people. you can understand that very clearly. host: william in st. paul, minnesota, go ahead with your thoughts. caller: hi, thanks for taking my call.

i think it was a good saving face measure for the republicans . they are really worried about the 2014 election. as far as the guy that called this morning, the guy from tennessee, florida, k if the nail on the hea when he said in his has more heart little finger than the republican party has altogether. the only mistake obama made -- i am an independent, and i voted for him. the only mistake he made was trying to get along with the republicans is first 2 years could he should have been like bush, just get in there and and ram and ramrodded through whatever he could in the first 2 years for that is my point of view. host: did you do that with a health-care bill -- did he do that with a health-care bill? caller: yeah, but that was after years and years of having

beers and inviting them over. ofwent through 4 years trying to negotiate with republicans and finally realized he was going to get nothing th t done. host: "new york times" this morning reports on chris christie's speech in chicago, raising money for republicans. his most expansive and engaging and combative remarks since the scandal enveloped him, mr. christie mocked president obama for entering office respect for the other complained that george w. bush was grossly underappreciated and no one has and seemed to make a novel case for his own -- and seemed to make a novel case for his own now-blemished run for the presidency." policeew jersey state

released a statement on tuesday saying that none of the three helicopter flight that carried governor chris christie during the controversial link closing's flew over the bridge or for the -- or fort lee, new jersey. the statement came one day after the committee investigating the administration's role in the closings authorized a subpoena for state police records." leeann in pittsburgh, democratic caller bank. caller: thanks so much for having me. host: you are welcome. go ahead with her, and. -- which are common. caller -- with your comment. caller: the house speaker gave himself a pay raise, which leads to a question. how much would we not be in debt if a large sum he received that he gave himself -- what would be the balance right now?

a lot of people have forgotten that he made the comment when he first took office that say that he wanted to see the president fail. short comment. thank you for taking my call. have a nice day. what would be the balance today if he had not given himself the pay raise? host: the speaker of the house mix $223,000 a year. are you there? caller: i'm still here. host: the speaker of the house makes $223,000 a year could majority leader $193,000. minority leader, $193,000. caller: there were other members that give themselves pay raises, two. would that have made a difference? host: what do you think? caller: i don't know. a lot of things have happened in my life. with the movements that have taken place -- i lost my wife, i

came home -- i became homeless. i had to rent a room just to catch a shoe. situation, in my should not have had to lose everything i owned over a 40-year period. it seemed like somebody knows what is going on. they know every move i make. every time i try to get ahead, i get three steps back. that when all of this is going on in all this money is flying back and forth so fast, and the comments that are being made that say that you want to see people fail, it makes you ask a question, and that is all i am trying to do, ask a question. host: alan cambered, ohio -- al in cambered, ohio. caller: hi, greta.

remember back in december you had one congressman on your line or on the show named duncan hunter? he called for -- he is a member of the house armed services committee. host: right. caller: he called for a nuclear first strike on iran. i watched that and i thought, where have we come as a nation? a nuclear first strike on a country that hasn't attacked anyone in 200 years? and i watched you, and you didn't bat an eye. you just have to write on like onwas -- just kept right like it was normal to hear that kind of talk. i'm from a generation where we abhorred war, and now it is the thing to do. everybody wants to have a war. my second comment has to do with republican obstructionism.

in 2009, on inauguration evening , the republicans strategized that they would filibuster anything to stop president obama's agenda. this has been documented. you can see it on youtube. newt gingrich admitted verbatim he was proud to be in the meeting to strategize, and that is what they talk about, and that is the admission. that is my, today, greta. host: msnbc wrote about what congress and duncan hunter had to say. finds itselfever on the verge of military action against iran, one congressional republican says he would favor nukes over boots on the ground. a ground war with iran with american boots on the ground would be a horrible thing,'" he said on our