mcleary will discuss pentagon efforts to boost technology programs and the facebook proposed budget cuts. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning. we have a three-hour washington journal for you this saturday morning. we will discuss election 2013, proposed reductions to the military budget and a new proposal to overhaul food packaging labels. but first, we will focus on the ongoing local and certainty in the ukraine. president obama issued a warning after the government accused russia of moving military personnel and equipment into crimea. ups morning, we are opening

our phone lines to your response to the president's statement. we want to hear what you think the american response should be in the ukraine or if you think the u.s. should be involved in this dispute. 2025 85388 04e democrats. you can also catch up with us on all your favorite social media pages. on twitter, facebook or e-mail .s a very good saturday morning to you. allstory that is leading the major papers in the united states and many of the papers around the world. the ongoing situation in the ukraine. here's the front page of the boston globe. russian baiting, ukraine says. it obama warns of consequences. guardian.page of the

a russian invasion of crimea fuels fear of ukrainian conflict . the front page of the chicago tribune. obama warns russia to stay out of ukraine. a bit from the front page of the washington post this morning. anding about the situation what is happening in the crimea. this happening to william booth and karen young reporting from the ukraine. governmentainian said that hundreds of soldiers and green camouflage without insignia had taken over to airports -- two airports in crimea. planes suspected of carrying 2000 troops landed at a military base near the regional capital.

is some of the reports that are in today's papers. here is the latest from the telegraph this morning. crimean airspace partially closed amid reports russia is attempting to seize missile base. telegraph -- that is tweet from the telegraph. the u.s.ou think should do with regards to the ukraine? we will start on our phones with william calling in from tennessee. on our line for democrats. crimea is under russia's sphere of influence. a majority is russian citizens.

and allow bothct of them to vote and determine for themselves which ever path forward they want. it is a huge mistake for us to influence -- push our strength or military force into crimea. i think that is a huge mistake. host: william calling in from knoxville, tennessee, talking about a referendum on the crimea's status. referendum is suspected to take place on march 30 according to a tweet that just came out from the afp. let's go to michael in riverside, alcorn you.

-- riverside, california on our line for independence. -- our line for independents. should the united states definitely not involved. when there were two major superpowers and the world, we do not have all these wars. the united states did not respect anybody's opinion when they went to iraq or libya or whatever. we won't have all these wars -- host: did you see the president's statement? caller: he is just a joke. that's why nobody respects him anymore. we can be heavy-handed going all er we want.rld wherev we are in poverty out here.

we are struggling. we have all this money to go to war with everybody. same moneyusing the that we could be putting back into infrastructure and people's lives and medicine. coming up with cures for diseases. nations likepoorer in africa or north korea. speechthe president's was an unscheduled appearance yesterday. we will play that for you now. [video clip] have that for you in just a second. we will continue taking calls as we talk about what is happening in the ukraine and we want to hear your response. waiting in mark

philadelphia, pennsylvania on our line for democrats. caller: i haven't been able to get through in a while. i have to second the emotion of the other people. crimea is 75% russian. they speak russian there, not ukrainian. let's face it. come on. it's their sphere of influence. i can't blame them for breaking off, especially after their president stole so much public money. i can't blame them for not wanting to be part of ukraine. just a out of it. from pennsylvania this morning. we will now play the president's speech from yesterday afternoon. [video clip] >> good afternoon a,

everybody. the next is that than responding -- the united states has been responding to events at they have unfolded. -- as they have unfolded. ukrainian people have the power to determine the run figured we have encouraged them to take a course in which they stabilize their country and forge a broad-based government and moved to elections this spring. i also spoke several days ago with president putin. my ministration has been in daily communication with russian officials and we have made clear that they can be part of an international community's effort to support the stability and success of a united ukrain brought forward. which is not only an interest of the people of ukraine but also in russia's interest. we are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the russian federation inside of ukraine.

russia has a historic relationship with ukraine including economic ties. any violation of ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilizing. which is not in the interest of ukraine, russia, or europe. represent a profound interference in matters that must be determined by d crane in people. it will be a clear violation of russia's commitment to respect the independence, sovereignty and borders of the ukraine. and of international loss. just days after the world came to russia for the olympic games, it would invite the condemnation of nations around the world. indeed, the united states will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be cost to military intervention in ukraine. the events of the past several us of wa remind

countries with divisions. ukrainian people of also humans havethat universal right to determine their own future. right now, the situation remains very fluid. vice president biden just spoke with the prime minister of ukraine to assure him that in this difficult moment, the united states supports his government's efforts and stands for the sovereignty and territorial integrity and democratic future of ukraine. i also commend the ukrainian restraint and ability to hold its international obligations. we will continue to coordinate with our european allies and continue to communicate directly with the russian government and continue to make all of you in the press and the american people informed as events develop. thank you very much. that was president obama at the white house yesterday.

we read you a bit from the washington post story. the wrapup of the president's beach. there was a lead editorial in today's washington post. here's what the post had to say about a combination -- to say about, "condemnation is not enough." mr. obama and european leaders must act quickly to prevent ukraine's dismemberment. insing was a necessary step demanding that all russian forces be withdrawn from all outside of the naval base and moscow recognize the authority of the government in the region. western leaders should make clear that russia will pay a heavy price, not just in condemnation but an economic and diplomatic sanctions. the editorial board of today's washington post. st night athner la

a statement on russia and ukraine. here's what he had to say. any of our partners and allies and feared acquiescence silence in the face of russia's systemic and persistent meddling in the fears of neighbors, especially georgia and moldova. it would in bold in russia to take aggressive action. those fears have been confirmed today. but the administration and the european union have a responsibility to work together to maximize the economic and political pressure on russia to withdraw its troops and work in a constructive manner to promote an inclusive government in the ukraine. speaker boehner's statement last night. we will be going through several tweets an from members of congress. we want to hear from you. let's go to cw in liberty, texas on our line for republicans. caller: good morning.

unlike the other colors. s. the other caller the stuff has to and. end.wo we keep going into other people's backyards and tearing stuff up. we have to revive nasa. we have to build the keystone pipeline. i don't understand why we have to continue to get our noses in that part of the world. say what you will, the russians have strength. this is the angle american government -- host: several comments on our twitter page. "if you're going to make something think about what they do come you give the kwanzaa consequences before they do it."

here's chris murphy of connecticut with a twitter response from last night. "i agree with president obama. there will be consequences for russia to continue offense of action in ukraine." miscoded tim waiting on our phones in los angeles on our line for independents. in morning. do you have ag. comment about ukraine checkup russia does not support the war for israel against syria and iran. victoria nuland was meddling in their. you can hear the wiretap that came out. what is an c-span talk about how she is married to the neoconservative robert kagan with the project? host: we're talking about the ongoing situation and ukraine.

we want to hear your response to the president's beach yesterday that we just played a bit for you. wanter editorial that we to show you this morning. this from the financial times. what theirut editorial board thinks is happening in russia right now. they write that the leadership in kiev also needs to recognize that mr. putin is acting towards ukraine as he did towards georgia in 2008. russia undertook a series of military maneuvers which provoked the georgian president to crack down brutally on ethnic russians. this gave mr. putin the excuse he sought for an invasion in georgia. ukraine must not fall into the same trap. thes go to steve waiting on phones in frankfort, kentucky on our line for democrats. caller: thanks to c-span. , i alwayss like this wonder about the truths. listens to a lot of

internet news and different things around the world. he told me that the protesters and ukraine were actually neo-nazis. is the goodr, who guy and was the bad guy? john mccain went over there several months ago to show support for these protesters. else knows anymore about this, i have not heard this on the corporate channels that we have a force field with. i would like to know what the truth is. protesters in kiev helped oust the ukrainian president. he fled to russia and made an appearance yesterday in his first public appearance. he maintained that he is still

president of his country and that the parliament that ousted him as illegitimate. he said russia is morally obligated to set things right but he bluntly rejected the possibility of russian military interference according to the washington post. he was speaking in russian with ukrainian flag behind him, blaming the chaos on western influence. there is a picture of him at that press conference. let's go to john in pennsylvania on our line for republicans this morning. caller: hello. hello tonted to say everybody and thanks for c-span. everybody always talks about these issues, whether it is here or the other conflicts within nationstates or bordering states. freedom.ople wanting

it's not as simple as that. this is about tribe and ethnicity dumping everything. -- trumping everything. work with georgian immigrants and people from the ukraine. i know people from russia. the same toactly us. but they don't consider themselves the same. for their own tribe and own ethnicity. that's the way the world. remember that the soviet union was a giant, multicultural experiment where the attempt was to get all these different to get rid ofr race, religion, tribalism and melt them all down through a powerful centralized your accuracy and make them into a new soviet man. it collapsed because when against human nature. the imperative of the human

nature. when it collapsed under the weight of human nature, there was no explosion of tribe and religion that is always under the surface. you will never rid the world of tribalism and ethnic identity. the same thing is happening now in america. we slowly lose our liberty as we have to have a powerful keepalized bureaucracy to the growing ethnic tensions in line. that is what is happening here. host: do you think there's anything that should be done right now in the ukraine? caller: no. let them do what they are going to do anyway. one thing i'd do is i admire putin because he is a nationalist. the russian people are dying out. he stopped international adoption and months to rescue his children with them.

he is encouraging that through different things. i admire the guy. i wish i would have a leader like that. from john calling in pennsylvania this morning. the senate foreign relations committee issued a statement as well yesterday on what they think the u.s. should do in a situation in the ukraine. ,he members of that committee democrats and republicans among them am a said that the u.s. should make use of the tools at its disposal, including targeted sanctions and asset recovery targeting corruption to individuals that would unrest ukrainian territorial integrity. they're trying to actively andrmine ukrainian unity force control on the ground.

the ukrainian defense chief, according to afp, has said that russia has sent at least 6000 troops to crimea. that is the headline coming out of the af he this morning. about 41 minutes ago. there is a picture of some of the unidentified armed men in front of the crimean parliament. let's go to mark, waiting in massachusetts on our line for independence. -- line for independents. caller: i think russia definitely has a right to protect their interests. they have bases down there. i know the ukrainian government is set up. is there any real military force ? if some he wants to come in and -- do harmia people in the upheaval.

it, maybes down to crimea will secede and become their own country. russia today reporting in an interview with the russian dispense -- defense minister that russia has 150,000 troops and 90 aircraft, 800 80 tanks and 1200 pieces of military hardware involved in drills on the ukrainian border right now. that doesn't concern you? host: i didn't know that they had that much stockpile. the do have their whole fleet. strength already huge in ukraine. what theyow if it's want to do. our member a week ago they said they were being pretty neutral. russians were saying, we will not go in and cause upheaval.

we will be moderators. that i thought was really interesting was, i was watching some videos from syria and some of the rebels there are ving ukrainian flags in syria. pretty interesting. host: the editorial board of the new york times writes that russia and the west both have legitimate interest in the ukraine. it fermenting more tension in a country that is already in a people is not in anyone's ofrest -- already in a upheaval is not in anyone's interest. another piece of news of how europe is reacting to this.

here's the headline from the wall street journal. putin.leans on foo on the loan merkle tells putin that she was concerned about a destabilization of ukraine and urged him to exercise restraint in relation to the latest events in the crimean region. it goes on to note that ms. merkel has taken an informal simmering crisis has boiled over. a piece in today's wall street journal. let's go to tom waiting in clinton, maryland on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: hi. a second on to take your previous colors. one who said something about president obama -- no one listens to him. obama speaks in

concert with the house and senate. he doesn't just come out make statements. he represents the american government when he speaks. president putin is going to do what he is going to do and president obama has no control over what he does. there are international obligations that russia has as far as ukraine is concerned. that man is supposed to speak out about these things. as far as what he wants to do as far as working to russia to resolve this problem is another matter. take supposed to opposition or exception to what he feels is a breach of international obligation by russia. thank you very much.

thanks to him and his administration we are not the country we used to be." "he's the twitter page -- to pray for ukraine." we will stay on this topic for the next 20 minutes or so here on the washington journal. we want to point out a few of the other headlines going on around the country this morning. this from the new york times today. vowed on friday to wage an aggressive political campaign this year on behalf of the democratic candidates, telling members of the democratic national committee that he will work to check and make the election a choice between opportunity for a few and opportunity for all. the story goes on to note that will participate

in 18 fundraisers for the democratic national committee between now and june and an additional 12 for the democratic campaign committee on capitol hill. aides said that mr. obama would help raise money for super packs that have been set up to preserve the democratic senate majority and take the house from the republicans. we will be talking more about election 2014 in our next segment of the washington journal today with david wasserman. he will join us for 45 minutes to talk election 2014. one other editorial we want to point you to this morning. this from the wall street journal. shrinking army. noting that there is plenty of cash in the pentagon boss budget government'snts -- budget for entitlements but not for the military. he will shrink the army to

450,000 troops. they write that the reality of these cuts is that it will leave the next commander-in-chief with far fewer choices to deter aggression and respond to threats. we will be talking about some of those defense budgeting issues 9:15.today around stick around for that conversation. we have about 15 minutes left to talk ukraine and your thoughts on the president's be just today which we played for you this morning. let's go to tim on our line for republicans. caller: the president gave a few minute speech and went across to talk to the democrats. he seems to be having a good time. washington is so dysfunctional and does not make any sense anymore. at the president or anybody.

goes, as the ukraine three weeks ago i was watching the current threat -- it was a house committee. it started off with the committee chairman and ended with michele bachmann. mike rogers said he went to and every one of our allies is coming up and saying that the white house is one thing and the pentagon says another. they don't know what to do. michele bachmann spoke and talked about the threat in the newspaper. was heads of the fbi, cia, counterterrorism. she did not understand why it was in the newspaper but none of those people knew about the threat. the last thing i have to say, i viewed c-span is/\ neutral.

but there was a headline on your website referring to michele troll getsretiring goaded." said that kerry russian intervention would be a mistake. he says any declaration from this of menstruation carries a weight of a feather. better than nothing, better still would be backing these words with the flotilla and the black sea. after the united states was leading europe to counter russian pressure and make up for its punishments until the ukraine is on a firm footing. you agree with that assessment? the weight of this administration carries the weight of the feather? caller: yes, i do. mr. putin will do what he wants to do.

he will do that. pretty much anything is going to do what they want to do. china, whoever. not much we can do right now. we are so wounded right now with the current president. he much the rest of the government. especially the senate right now. referringclip you are to is not a c-span clip by the user created clip. we will certainly look into that for you. let's go to ronald waiting in monterey, california. on our line for independents as we continue to talk about the ukraine this morning. good morning. caller: good morning. talk aboute to female senators. they need to stand up to obama because i wonder how he would feel if this was george w. bush doing this. he's getting a free pass. he makes a speech and then he runs away and does not take any

questions. armor when john f. kennedy dealt with the missile crisis and he had a thing and he took and was questions from reporters. democrats u.s. senate to not give a free speech here and just act as if this is george w. bush doing it. kerry and mccain goingto to ukraine. we need clear, progressive tea party people to say enough is enough. host: you said at the beginning that he won a female member -- that you want a female member. caller: i don't know if you're old enough to remember when crazyd nixon was going 1974.s the end of his we had republican senators going right to his office and saying,

hey, it's about time. he resigned because he was going to get impeached. we need sing, --c senators to senators to say, hey, you need to calm down. we are arming syrians and killing people on behalf of syrian al qaeda people. we are arming ukrainians and having them storm kia. all kinds of nasty things. ev.having them storm kia the: where did you see that united states is arming ukrainians in kiev? caller: it was proven that the united states had arms many of riotors. host: where did you see that?

caller: progressive papers in california. china today. russia today. you had kerry and mccain going ev to get coverage of this. at democratic senators should be the ones who are antiwar. left we have a few minutes to continue this conversation. we want to note that today marks the 50th anniversary of the shooting that took lace in the capital -- took place in the capital. here's a bit of a clip from our capital documentary. [video clip] in washington, d.c., fanatic violence erupted in the halls of congress. three men and woman believed to be members of puerto rican nationalist gangs attempted the

assassination of president fromn, opening fire the visitors gallery of the house of representatives. five comments men were hit. congressmen were hit. they were seriously injured. camevers noted the attack as the conference opened in venezuela suggesting that the motive may have been about united states feeling in latin america. it was carefully calculated to inflame america postulations with their neighbors. each bullet hole found is a grim reminder of the terrible surprise attack.

the gangs were held at police headquarters as a widespread search was launched for those who shared in the plot. the gun wielders and their perpetratedhave a criminal outrage almost unique in america's history. violence that shocked and disturbed the nation and it only harm to the cause of the puerto rican people. see thatyou want to full documentary, it is available on c-span's youtube page for you to watch in full there. a few other headlines for you. this coming out of the wall street journal. hopes dim. the u.s. economy's momentum is slipping as bad weather

restraint consumers and business. grew at a rate of 2.4% in the final quarter of the year. the commerce department said it is down from an initial 3.2% reading. the economist trajectory had slipped since the fall when they rate.he 4.1% growth that story comes with a chart showing gdp growth and quarterly change in gdp. again, revised down on friday. 3.2% down to 2.4%. several stories the new york times and politico on the clinton files story that we highlighted earlier this year.

those memos, pages and documents from the bill clinton administration that have ucheived so man attention. here is the front page of the new york times. clinton memos offer window into the past and fodder for 2016. the politico story on that same subject notes that without fail, the release of what is being called secret clinton documents serves as an irresistible catnip for the press and for clinton's clinton'snents -- political opponents. the documents were made available on friday. there are many more pages to come. even the first set serve as a reminder of how any future hillary clinton campaign will involve reliving history. you can see that story and politico and the new york times. left for someutes

calls from you on the ukraine. eric is waiting in george on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. we should not going to ukraine. if you remember, victoria nuland's phone call was intercepted by russia. no one gave these people the toe of information they need surveillance the united states. she was talking but ukraine and the situation. russia knows that the united s involved in the situation. i with her to see this -- if we monitor the situation, you will know that john mccain is always involved in russia-ukraine and georgia. where do you know that

from? caller: during the civil rights era, we were protesting with nonviolence. we were attacked with dogs and different things. nobody came to help us. nobody came to our aid. we were the original freedom fighters. when you go overseas, john mccain, he voted against martin luther king's birthday. these people need to determine their own destiny. that's what i'm saying. host: this could jamie, waiting in massachusetts on our live for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. careful withe who you listen to. people will say whatever sometimes. should president obama have been stronger vocally. we have a strong pentagon, strong military, strong leaders there. i would like to deter russia.

iran, north korea, china. they are always watching. , it's veryhe says important that he play a stronger hand vocally and let the pentagon and the leaders and the generals take care of all the rest of the stuff. can i ask you what you think the role of the united nations and nato should be ech ? caller: i've never really moved toohat the u.s. much with united nations. you can't lead by doing what you want. if you were to ask people around the world, who do you want to lead? people come to america. we have leaders here, people here, we are good people.

we have big hearts. we throw money around and help people. we have to lead. there is no other way about it. if we don't, the world slowly slips into the abyss. , lately, you have not seen obama being too vocal in leading. he is a great speaker. but he is alican great speaker. he needs to speak with the power he can bring. let all these leaders that we have in america use the power that they have with military and the pentagon and all that. host: what specific action should go with those words? we read a piece earlier in the -- hen which she said said backing up his words with

the flotilla in the black sea -- host: a caller: at least that. -- at leastke sounds like you are serious. it's unfortunate, in syria, he played his hand wrong. he drew that line and the line was crossed and he did not do anything. maybe he should not have said that if he did not mean it. you have to mean what you say. syria maybe should have taken action a little bit because when big things like this happen, if you play a game of poker, you have to go all in or people won't believe what you say. mentioned nato. here is a statement from the on late thursday.

concern over the developments and the ukraine's crimea region. he urged russia not to take any action that would escalate tension or create misunderstanding. tepurged all parties to s back from confrontation and return to the path of dialogue. take a responsible stance and work for stability. that is made upon secretary-general. nato's is secretary-general. sarah, good morning. caller: hi. democrat but i wholly agree with the last caller from massachusetts who is a republican. you a loto and it does not matter what subject you are talking about. somebody calls in and blames israel. whohad a caller before blamed israel for what is going on in the ukraine. it is just crazy. you guys never stop them from saying these ridiculous things.

there.want that out i think you should look at your policies. host: what do you think the united states should do right now? did you watch the president's beach yesterday? caller: i watched what you just showed. i do think the president should stand strong. i agree with the last caller. we had an opportunity, the president drew a red line in syria. he did it. then when he backed off of it and his weak leadership around the world, this is what happens. when the united states does not lead, we slip into the abyss. he is my president. but i wish he were a stronger leader and actually follow through. this is a great country. we are good people. we need to show that around the world because people around the world are hungering for american leadership. host: sarah will be our last call in the segment.

primaries holding this month and a special election in florida coming up, we will be joined by david wasserman to talk election 2014. and druge food administration proposed changes to labeling a packaged food. we will be right back. ♪ >> pearl harbor was in december of 41. almost immediately, people start talking about what is to be done. italiannd japanese and foreign nationals were enemy aliens. the japanese american population in general on the west coast

were rounded up and had to leave their homes if they lived in what was called the western depends on. so they were removed and forced to leave and they were put in camps and were not charged with anything in particular. west coast non-japanese-americans, most politicians and newspapers strongly supported the removal of japanese-americans. it was a very popular policy globally. the civil rights organization based back east did not pay much attention to it. major jewish newspapers on the west coast, they were having editorials talking about how the rights of all have to be protected and we should fight prejudice and all of its forms and so forth. without ever saying the word japanese specifically. it was almost as if they wanted to say something but were

nervous about actually doing so. so there was a kind of awkward silence or an uncomfortable silence around this issue. >> this weekend, book tv and american history tv but behind the history of literary salem, oregon on c-span2. and sunday on c-span3. "washington journal" continues. host: we are joined by david wasserman. the house editor. it the campaign begins this month. the contest in texas and illinois. the race is getting the most national attention regarding the special election in texas. theguest: bill young was

congressman from florida. he passed away last fall. we are holding a special election to fill the seat. this is one of those districts that is pretty much evenly split between the parties. there are too many of those districts around the country. test and ally a preseason battle for democrats and republicans heading into this fall. couple of unique advantages here for democrats. amocrats don't have much of shot at retaking the house this fall. they have proven to be really adept at localizing the special races to their advantage. one of the ways they have done so is they have recruited very strong candidates and former state cfo's who have raised more money. she has a higher profile to begin with then the republican candidate. the other way the democrats have really built a local advantage. , they have been able to gain

traction on the issue of flood insurance to take a little bit of a focus on obama care nationally. flood insurance is a big issue in bicoastal florida that allows voters to take a stand. they have been very good at targeting absentee ballots. there've been 84,000. 42% happened past by republicans. ed by republicans. elections, the republican return rate on absentee ballots is typically six points ahead of democrats. president obama still won the district in 2012. we can be reasonably sure that alex sink is winning a few more he isicans than winning democrats.

she will have the lead heading into election day. on spending you are seeing part of the campaign is geared towards chasing these last-minute voters who are going to make up the other half of the electorate. host: one of the reasons they get so much attention as they allow each party to test their message as they head into 2014. we want to play one of the national republican congressional committee's ads hitting alex sink on health care and taxes that came out last month. [video clip] 's cuteave seen alex sink ads. what do we know about her record? outlook sync supports obama care. it even though 300,000 floridians could lose their health insurance plans because of it. she supported higher taxes, too. more taxes on water and tv. alex sink -- another tax spender can'tlorida can afford --

afford. host: are those the kind of ads we will be seeing more of around the country and the rest of the 2014 field? guest: the classic cookie-cutter republican ad. alex sink being tied to obama care. against simply run obama care in 2014. campaigns matter and candidates matter. putting forward a diffuse message with a lot of attacks is a little effective -- a little less affective. host: let's talk about the ad

against jolly's campaign. [video clip] >> the spent millions on david jolly. to let insurance companies charge women more than men and deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. jolly praised the plan ending medicare plus guarantee, forcing seniors to negotiate with insurance companies. they profit, we pay the price. at the democratic national campaign is is possible for the content of this advertising. c runningsee that dcc on the affordable care act. guest: david jolly has billed himself as the county candidate running against alex sink, who actually lived outside of tampa before moving into the district.

what alex sink and democrats have been very effective at andg is to take david jolly transfer it to adc back room d.c. backroom-- a dealing image. host: if you want to talk about this race, call-in in. we will talk about it during this 45 minute segment on "washington journal" this money. david wasserman, take us through texas. their primary is coming up next tuesday. an overview of what is happening there. guest: texas is kicking off the primary season. race to watch, it might be the primary against rand paul. he has never been completely trusted by the most loyal to

party voters in his district. you have a former u.s. attorney who's running against him in the republican primary. he is 90 years old. he is running for what many people think is his last term in the house. yet, there is a long line of republicans who want to run against him because they see him as trying to stay one term to long. on the democratic side, we are in aing the primary and primarily latino district. there was a freshman who is an african-american. he was able to win in 2012 because more african-americans turn out in primaries and at a higher rate than a lot of latinos who have a lower eligibility rate to vote in that part of town. who isa latino opponent running a strong campaign at

both ends of that barbell district. he's trying to play up his endorsement from president obama and his support for immigration reform and attack sanchez as a former republican donor. host: the tea party -- this ison between something the democrats in particular try to play a. this battle between the tea party and other elements of the republican party. how much do you think this will be at play in the 2014 primary season? guest: democrats are really trying to pul play up that dynamic. where the narrative is unfolding , it does not tend to be in district where democrats have any chance of winning. is one of the most republican districts in the country. democrats will be contesting it anytime soon. there are a few open seats where republicans are retiring. where republican candidates could be headed for bruising

primaries where democrats can take advantage. one of them maybe and i what's iowa's thirdt -- district. frank wolf in virginia as retiring. it is likely that republicans will try to avoid contentious primary situations. but it still possible. they are places where democrats can exploit that republican internal division. host: we want to get to those retirements as well. let's get to calls. morris is waiting in florida on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to make a comment. he might not be the ideal candidate, we are tired of the republican party and w hat it has done to florida. government is the worst in the whole of the united states.

one of the things the state needs is some freshness to this state of where i was born. with all the things that are going on with david jolly, most of the republican party usually go to their relatives to talk with who belongs to the tea party. he knows that will be the kiss of death. we are tired of extremism going on in the state. we are tired of the republican party and what it has done to separate and destroy the state. whether it is medicare and all the negative as that the republican party seems to put out there. or one thing, we would just like to see a freshness in this state and get the republican party and those extremists out of there. thank you. host: what did you hear in his statement that is playing into the race as you are singing from

here in washington? guest: one of the most interesting parts of this race is that it is just as notable for the endorsements that candidates don't want as the ones that they do want. mentioned he that governor scott's endorsement of jolly would be the kiss of death. he is not in a place where he can provide a big lift to the republican nominee. you have seen republicans run an endorsement ad from jeb bush on jolly's behalf. by the same token, it is unlikely that alex sink would want to play up her association to president obama at a time when his approval rating is in the lower 40's. it's a case of candidates wanting to present themselves without too much endorsement from washington. host: just so everybody's on the same page. the report makes it very easy to see -- a 17 seat net gain that democrats need to take back the house in 2014.

be down to 16 seats. democrats currently control 201 seats to republican's 234 seats. seats.re arthur 17 seats that the democrats can't get in play this cycle? guest: it is very unlikely that democrats can get there this cycle. approval obama has rating fits the mold of a traditional six-year election. the patterns since the second world war have been an average loss of 29 seats in that 60 year election. democrats are not going to lose 29 seats. they already lost so many seats in 2010 that they do not have many to lose, but could they lose 10, 15? that is within the realm of possibility. second of all, the terrain, the map the democrats are working the is just so top after redistricting in 2012. houses that lean

more republican than the national average. only 188 seats that lean more democratic than the national seats,, so at 201 democrats are already overexposed after the last round . we calculated democrats will need to win the national houseboat by 6.8 points if you added up every vote for every democratic candidate and every republican candidate across the country to just break even in the house. that is they feel that is really uphill for them. they actually need to win more like 18 or 19 republican-held seats to take majority because two of their members from the reddest districts out there, utah and north carolina, are retiring democrats that have little chance of closing out in the district. the third is really this boom and bust turnouts pattern that we see between presidential and midterm elections. if you think about midterms, older,nd to skew

lighter, wealthier. the electorate can become as much as two, three points more republican over where it was in 2012 just by virtue of the fact of the opposition of the electorate changing regardless of whether opinions have changed and consider that 21 house in 2012s won elections with 50% of the vote or less. host: back to the phones. scott is waiting in westminster, maryland, on our line for republicans. we are talking campaign 2014 with david wasserman of the cook political report. caller: good morning, sir, mr. wasserman, right? i would like you to comment about the aspect that 2014 may democratsr when white who are elected to the house of representatives may be extinct in the south. there is a detail where all the only members of the house uof

representatives are either white republicans or black democrats. thank you. brings up anller excellent point. .12 was the first year in history where white males were actually a minority in the democratic caucus. i are to the 2012 redistricting elections, there were 53% of were whiterats who men. that number fell and it will fall again in 2014. and it has been quite dramatic. the traditional blue dog democrat -- host: mike mcintyre for example. guest: right. who held a lot of these rural seats in the south. there were 54 of them, 55 back in 2009. that number dropped as low as 14 blue dogs, now it is down to 18 members because it has added several. they are not all white men, but they were predominantly white men, and as a result of the wave in 2010, particularly in the rural south directed against

president obama and packed a lot that of african-american majority seats in the south and took away a lot of african-american voters from some of these rural seats, the bottom has just fallen out for democrats in that region. and there is only one true conservative democrat remaining in the deep south. that is john barrow from augusta, florida. he has got a race on his hand in 2014. host: he seems always have a race on his hands every year. guest: he beat the odds in 2012 that sealed his election it is a very weak republican. it is possible that republicans could nominate someone stronger in his district this time around. that is always something democrats have to watch. host: we want to talk to our viewers about the races in your district. let's get to tom in dayton, ohio on our line for independents. caller: good morning to both of you. i see a big switch in the country. i'm not trying to change the is wherebut free trade

we have lost 7 million jobs. all the people up north now are moving down south because -- why 18 you? ohioused to be higher in than in the southern states. just go enjoy the sunshine, which you can tell by what north carolina, virginia, florida it is doing, texas is getting there. amm a person -- i think i independent. clinton, watching him with nafta, and doing away. i see nobody out here really working for the working american person. hour people making $10 an now. i made $10 an hour in 1985. so yeah, all the money is going to rich people. in puttingix that

and their traders instead of free traders, we can outsource slavery -- and that is what i call them, outsourced labor to people who make $.28 an hour. this country is doomed. host: tom in dayton, ohio. what do you hear from tom's description of the situation that you might see in the 2014 election results? guest: thomas describing a lot sure,stration, and to be if there is one message that democrats are trying to advance in 2014 to kind of blunt the frustration with president obama in those parts of the country, it is tagging the republicans as the party against the middle class, advancing the idea of minimum wage. they are enthusiastic about their chances of putting minimum wage initiatives on the ballot in at least eight states this fall. democrats are counting on taking the focus away from obama and pelosi and putting it on house republican votes for what they call shipping jobs overseas, tax

break for big oil. this message of the republican party is watching out for millionaires and not you is really the message that has been saving democrats a couple of points in these kinds of white working-class districts that have been falling away from them in recent years. host: again, the phone numbers of you want to join the conversation on the "washington journal" as we talk campaign 2014. it is (202) 585-3880 for democrats, (202) 585-3881 for republicans, (202) 585-3882 for independents. we should note the texas primary taking place on march 4. illinois rendering on march 18, and that florida special election coming up this month is march 11. let's go to barbara waiting in south carolina on our line for republicans. good morning. you're on with david wasserman. caller: yes.

but sincesability, this health-care thing has come up, some of my doctors have pulled out. i cannot even get a medical doctor because it is not even excepting medicare. accepting medicare. and if we do not get some of these democrats and senators out of their, they're going to ruin this country. barbara coley from south carolina, again bringing up the health care issue. on that subject on our newsmakers program, senator tom harkin joined us, the chairman of the health education labor and pensions committee. he talked about whether democrats should campaign on the health-care law this year. here is a bit of what he had to say. [video clip] midterm election approaches in november, should democrats run on obamacare? >> absolutely. >> tell us why.

>> of course, i am not running for reelection. [laughter] >> let's hear about that. >> i have said many times politically, i encourage the republicans to keep running against obamacare. we have 4 million people signed up now. 4 million people that did not have health insurance before, or they had no coverage, basically. that is incredible. host: in our "newsmakers " program, which runs sunday at 10:00 a.m. eastern and 6:00 p.m. eastern. , he talks about saying they should run on it, but again he is retiring, so it might be easier for him to say that than some others. guest: right. one of the curious issues that have come up in a lot of the issues that i conduct with candidates for the house is medicaid expansion. for example, in arkansas, we had

a candidate, and recently who was describing the state of affairs on health care in arkansas, describing how the legislature enacted medicare inspection -- expansion on more of a private sector basis. kind of took the medicaid offer on obamacare but put a private twist on it. it was like a compromise between the democrats and republican governors to expand medicare for residents of arkansas. in that primary, it is possible that a very well-funded candidate who does not have a legislative background can still attack him over voting for something or helping work out a plan that would bring more obama care to arkansas. of course, attitudes toward the affordable care act in arkansas are driven at least in some part by attitudes toward the president, which are not very favorable. on twitter -- the house is not going anywhere in 2014 and the democrats may lose

by double digits in the senate. can you give us a brief overview of the senate battlefield right now? i know we are focusing on the house, but just to bring folks up today the latest developments there. guest: republicans could gain somewhere in the single digits in both chambers of congress. a six-seat gains for republicans in the house would not be terribly meaningful, but a six- seat gain in the senate would flip control of the senate. senate right now is 55 democrats essentially, 45 republicans, so the danger for democrats nathan is that there are seven states that they currently -- democrats is that there are seven states that they currently hold that voted for mitt romney. all of those are in some pretty serious and states of vulnerability. there are still a lot of interesting house races. host: let's go to ralph calling in alabama on our line for independents. good morning. what district is valley, alabama in? caller: i just wanted to talk

about hillary clinton. what the gentleman does not set, the gentleman was talking about the republicans and shipping jobs overseas when they attacked romney. if you think about it, they try to get reagan to sign the trade deal with china. he would not sign it and that it would destroy the american economy, the american labor. bill clinton signed that free trade, him and big business. he has got that global initiative. it did not bother him too but while he was in there because -- i worked in a machine shop while my wife worked in a textile mill. we were making the machinery to send overseas. if those poor countries cannot afford to pay for it, our government would give that company a voucher, and they would pay for it if those companies could not. i watched all of our jobs leave. i watched my wife lose her job.

really, it was not the republicans that find that. it was bill clinton, and bill clinton has that global initiative now. is theyy like to do want to share all of our jobs and everything would be poor countries. they have some more countries in there now. host: all right, ralph from alabama brings up bill clinton, who has actually hit the campaign trail in kentucky. and you talk about the role that bill clinton as a surrogate person for president obama on the campaign trail? guest: if you think about the states were bill clinton did well in the 1990's or barack obama is absolutely in a terrible place, places obviously like his home state of arkansas, west virginia, and democrats know that they cannot send members of the administration down to these districts to campaign and hope to have a positive effect.

so in a lot of these races, former president clinton really is a surrogate. one of his friends and a member of its immense treasure, james lee witt, is running a race in arkansas's fourth district for an open seat. you can expect him to hit the campaign trail there. president clinton's son-in-law's mother is running for congress in suburban philadelphia, marjorie margulies, who used to be a member of congress for a term back in 1992 and 1994. that is a primary that is coming that you may explain the contents -- the clintons to have a role in. int: let's go to john delaware, ohio, on our line for democrats. you are on with david wasserman of the cook political report. much.: thank you very this may sound uprising coming from a democrat, i would like to --e mr. wasserman

considering nancy pelosi seem to shut out all of the republicans when they designed obamacare, which i think should be called you think it is possible that maybe the democrats be better off in 2016 if they did poorly in 2014? because then finally the democrats in the house would finally wake up and get rid of nancy pelosi and the remainder of the current democrat leadership in the house. that is my comment. guest: well, there is a chance that we could see some change in leadership in the house, although more pundits right now seem to think that it is likelier to happen on the republican side. speaker boehner has had a really tough job keeping his troops in

line in the last congress. i thought that he actually played his hand fairly well during the government shutdown by showing his members where that road would lead for their party and then corralling more support behind him for raising the debt ceiling and other bipartisan priorities. seee is a chance that we do a change in leadership on the republican side. now, on the democratic side, there has been a lot of talk, retirement on the part of pelosi's top highlights in the house, particularly -- top allies in the house, particularly henry miller and harry waxman, to members of the class of 90s and before, who are retiring after 40 years in the house. they have been some of nancy pelosi's top 10 it -- top lieutenants. even after democrats have failed to win a majority in the last two elections, she has stuck around, see you can never have her out. host: let's go to v in silver

spring, maryland on our line for republicans. good morning. you were on the "washington journal." caller: good morning. i want to comment over what has happened over the last two weeks, starting with the leukemia patient in michigan. and a p.a.c.story, advertised it. commerce mcfeatters of michigan did not like the ad -- congressman peters of michigan did not like the ad, and his lawyers has threatened radio and tv stations with their licenses if they do not pull the ad. then i guess a couple of days ago, harry reid decided that everybody who is suffering under liar.are is a i am telling the republicans right now -- and the conservatives in particular --

wrap what these progressives are saying in your ads. is going to take off a lot of people. host: david wasserman, are you familiar with the ads that the caller was talking about? guest: not particularly. but what campaign consultants are attended to do is to first allies this in ads in 2014, and either of his of his is apple's about how the new health-care of his examples about how the health care law is keeping you from health-care or giving an example of someone who is in an otherwise very difficult predicament now has health care. and in the crossfire, there are bound to be situations where parties challenge the facts at the heart of the other party's ads. so we see a lot of attorneys for tv stations across the country having a very difficult jobs in adjudicating fact from fiction.

you will see a number of ads pulled from the airwaves this cycle for smudging things a little bit. it is always an embarrassment for the campaign but never really a game changer of a race. and less it is really high- profile. host: we are talking to david wasserman, house editor of the cook political report. he has been with the cook political report since 2007. he has worked election night, guest as an analyst for nbc news in 2008 and 2010. as you decide on these races and whetherank these races, they be republican leads, democrat, how do you make the decision on how to call a race? that is a great question. that is half art and have science. there are a lot of numbers that we dig into consideration. we are taking the result in the district, which i find to be the most predictive of what is going to happen the next time -- surprise, surprise. we also take into account the polling we see the district, all of the fundraising reports, and

all of the spending on ads and targeting. then there is a little bit of art that goes into it as well, and we interview over 100 candidates per house every two years. we are not looking necessarily arenterrogate them, but we looking to take their pulse and what makes them think of a person, as a candidate, and whether they would be a good fit for their districts in terms of biography and their ethics on the issues. that helps inform our analysis in a way that i think a lot of toers may not be able incorporate. we rate races on a seven-point scale from solid democrat to solid republican. we are seeing a slight downturn in the number of races that will timenuine tossups by the election day rolls around this november. so we are giving more and more

coverage to the primaries that are increasingly determining the identity of these members. host: you bring up the different numbers they take into account. one important number is fundraising, and some of the groups that contribute to that are the congressional campaign committees, the campaign arms of the house and senate republicans and democrats. the democratic congressional campaign committee, the house campaign arm, currently has $32.2 million in cash on hand at the end of january. that is compared to the national republican congressional committee, $24 million cash on hand. what do these numbers tell us about what the parties can do and how they can play in 2014? guest: it is remarkable because usually the minority party have a lot trouble raising money, and the democratic congressional campaign committee raised $75 million, and the republican committee raised $60 million. that is stunning.

there are two reasons why fundraising seemed independent of taking control of the house. when rorty leader pelosi and president obama have been tireless fundraisers for the party, particularly nancy pelosi, and she has appeared in person a countless fundraisers to raise money, and she still garners a lot of enthusiasm from big democratic donors. the second is the democrats in the house of really cracked the code of online fundraising. it really put together an apparatus that can capitalize every time a republican, no matter who it is, no matter whether they are a member of the house or not, said something interesting, sticks a foot in their mouth, democrats have really been good at that instant online reaction fundraising. overhas given them an edge republicans, that republicans are really seeking to make up. host: kevin on twitter want to talk arizona. here in western arizona, the only real races are the tea

party primaries. what is happening in arizona? guest: in 2012, arizona's itartisan redistricting in up with a map that democrats favored. there are three competitive house seats in arizona, all three of which will be up for grabs this november. the democrats won all three of them in 2012, and first district kirkpatrick -- and came back, and there is a about it if republican primary for that seat. the tea party is going to play a role in i could help kirkpatrick depending on how bloody that primary is. we have a tough race on our hands between ron barber, who succeeded debbie giffords -- shey giffords after resigned from congress following that tragedy.

a former air force i let randy murray close race -- led that race against barber. we are seeing a competitive race democratic take on kiersten cinema. she was a spokesperson for the green party. she is moderate in her politics. joined actually recently the blue dog coalition. she has come full circle. republicans are going to try to paint her as someone who will do or say anything to win, but she is a voracious fundraiser and campaigner. arizona is one of those states we are watching closely. host: back to the phones, terry is waiting in hawthorne, florida on our line for independents. where is hawthorne, florida? what are your thoughts on election 2014, terry? caller: i was thinking about the

-- raising the minimum wage. i want to know how many people really think they are going to get that extra three dollars an hour because the taxes from all the way from the city, all the way to the county to the national, state, everywhere is going up. the price of everything is going up, and it is going to take the three dollars just to break even. i would like to comment on that. thank you. guest: sure. hawthorne, florida, i believe is in the third congressional district of florida in the north central part of the state. congressman ted yoho is a republican freshmen who won a really fascinating race in 2012 against cliff stearns, who had been in congress since the 1980's. he was a chairman in the house. he had lenny of money in the bank. yet the ted yoho was able to leverage both the redistricting that offer the shape of the

enorityt and stearns' s in congress. he knew ran a very memorable ads and see if they animal veterinarian that per trade at a trot. pigs his message really resonated in that district and he has been one of the most reliably conservative votes in the house, often frustrating the republican leadership that has tried to cobble together support for bipartisan initiatives. people ask whether the house is going to get more conservative after 2014, whether it is going to moderate. look at ted yoho. he has got a pretty easy reelection in 2014. he is going to stick around. the question is whether in a lot of these open seats, whether we will see a turnover, republicans decide to nominate candidates who would align more with speaker boehner, or whether they would align with members like yoho. host: again, the magic number in 2014 is 218 for control of the

house. that would mean the mcgrath would need a net gain of 17 -- that would mean that democrats would need a net gain of 17 seats to take away the 234 seats the republicans now hold in the house. bill on twitter asks you -- what are the more popular early candidate stances on foreign policy? for example, the ukraine. do you see that playing in these races? guest: we tend to not see foreign policy coming up the big issue in these campaigns. obviously, it is the issue of the moment. it is something that candidates really have to take a stand on and articulates. when we were talking about syria in 2013, candidates really were coming to town, to our offices, talking about resident obama's reaction to syria, particularly on the republican side. republicans arguing that the president showed a we can in that matter. in that matter.

that may continue to be a theme for the public is. rent obama was found to be very weak on projecting strength to our allies across the world. found toent obama was be very weak on projecting strength to our allies across the world. obamacare, the medicaid expansion, democrats are going to seek to use minimum wage to neutralize that. host: let's go to troy waiting in kentucky on our line for democrats. good morning. you were on with david wasserman of the cook political report. caller: good morning. i am in district for with thomas massey postop i wanted to ask him about -- with thomas massey. i wanted to ask him about mitch mcconnell. a new poll just came out in kentucky putting the democratic challenger ahead of mitch mcconnell in his is yours election,-- year's

which could really be a big deal for kentucky and the senate. i was just wondering if out on that. masseycertainly thomas looks safe for reelection in the fourth district. the senate race is really a ballgame in kentucky and poll senate minority leader mitch mcconnell in some trouble in his reelection campaign against democrat allison -- he has to first overcome a primary against investment banker matt bevin on the republican side. expect mcconnell to be able to win that primary. he has taken steps to court elements that help elect rand paul on the previous election. by the time the primary and, i think that is the right time to take a fresh look and see where he stands against allison lundergan grimes.

elections are the giving a full picture of the state of that race. kentucky at the end of the day is a very republican state. president obama, even in areas of eastern kentucky, it is really suffering from poor approval ratings, so by the time mitch mcconnell is done tidying allison lundergan grimes to president obama, it could be a very difficult race. host: you think that is why president clinton did a rally for allison lundergan grimes to play up what is happening in the republican primary as well? guest: i think president clinton's prime motivation is that he is very close with allison lundergan grimes' father. clearly kentucky is a place he loves to campaign. it is really his bread and butter. his type of voter. rer partsrly in pooe of the state where voters have been reliably democratic but

have fallen off their image of the national democratic party in recent years. host: let's go to pat waiting in michigan on our line for republicans. good morning. you were on the "washington journal." caller: good morning. i'm looking at detroit, for senator, and we have levin who is retiring. we have dingell, who is retiring. we have a republican for governor. our state has turned around, but detroit has just been like a tumbleweed blowing along. so what is the responsibility of the senators and representatives to their districts and to their cities? and why should we reelect either a mayor -- we have elected a somewhat moderate to republican mayor in detroit right now. what are they doing for their homes?

it is a big game in washington, but what effect should voters have, what expectations for their elected? for cities like detroit. guest: michigan has accumulated a lot of seniority, particularly in the house but also in the senate with carl levin, who is retiring this year. it will be a challenge for michigan because john dingell, longest serving member ever in the house has decided to retire. you know it is bad when someone who has served 59 years says in their retirement announcement that he finds serving the house to be somewhat of noxious. in that district, we're likely going to see a transition of democratic supports to his wife, debbie dingell. in the caller's homebase of royal oak, representative sander levin, carl levin's brother cometh the current representative. he is getting up there in age as well and it is an open question of whether he will retire

anytime soon. john conyers from detroit's has served since 1954 in the house. so there is a lot of impending suleiman -- impending seniority loss in michigan which is another obstacle for the state to overcome. snyder,s governor the challenge for a lot of governors is that they really have to prove that their number one focus is bringing companies, bringing jobs to their state. that is what voters are going to judge him on this fall. host: another way of looking at the different race ratings around the country, here is rollcall's race rating map. a lot of solid red and solid blue on that map, showing the upper midwest, the michigan area that the last caller was from. very few yellows there. how big if the playing field the cycle in the house compared to previous cycles? guest: that is an excellent

question. we currently rate 14 races that top the political report. excuse me, 15 i believe. of those 15, 11 are currently held by democrats. only four are held by republicans. those are the most competitive races. it fluctuates a little bit between 40 and 45 races that we consider competitive when you include that the leading democrats in the later republican column -- out of 435. that is the other thing you need to know but the last redistricting process -- it really short up a lot of the seats. the number of seats that are within five points of the national average on a partisan basis have dropped from 164 in 1998 to 90 today, a 40% decline. that has driven a lot of action to be primaries rather than november. host: let's go to merv in los angeles, california on roi for democrats. caller: wasserman, you really are good.

with all the vacancies coming in california. waxman,iller, henry , howmiller, and bob mcewen do you see tim donnelly doing something and beating jerry brown? because i do not see anything happening in south l.a. or the minority communities that will drive them to the polls this november. we do not currently view governor brown as vulnerable, but there will be some interesting house races, as you .lerted to -- alluded to the only real opportunity for california's been 31st us district. thanks to california to talk to election law were everyone regardless of party lines is on the same primary ballot in june and the top two finishers make it to the general election. democrats actually failed to field a nominee in this district in 2012 on the general election ballot. it was a race between two

republicans in november. otherwise, it was pretty sure given the fact that president with 57% the district that it was going to go democratic. now that republican covers meant jerry miller is retiring, that is leaning towards democrats or already was even before he left his retirement. there is a competitor field of democrats and that's district. joe baca is running but he has murray little money. of mayor of redlands outside san bernadino as the favorites -- is the favorite. riaeyes have eloise gomez, who was endorsed by emily's list. she is working by the bootstraps and that race. that will be a very interesting one. for all the other open seats, places like northern l.a. county

parkerly hills, lafayette in l.a., eats december the go, those are all going to be interesting races. in the days of miller's see, that is pretty much a sure thing. waiting toore caller talk to, sharon is in minneapolis, minnesota on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span, and thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to say a few calls back, there was a call about someone talking about pelosi -- he was a democrat and he wanted pelosi out of congress and all the democrats out of congress, and it upset me not ae i know he was democrat. he does that not sound like it. but my other thought is as far as i can tell and as long as we

can, the african-american votes will not go to republicans. we really feel like they are not in our corner, and frankly that i have not heard you mention anything about the unemployment that was cut off. i am not on unemployment and have not been -- i am 65. but that is a serious thing, that they would just cut off over one million people on unemployment, some of those people have to -- happen to be republicans as well. david wasserman on those two topics that sharon brings up. guest: these topics will be essential to the democratic message and they are really essential for wringing out the base democratic voters who tend to vote in presidential spot for you to vote midterm. extensions, benefit nutritional assistance under .a.p., medicare, these

are all core issues that they will be running against republicans on in 2014. the caller mentioned african- american voters not going to the republican party anytime soon. we absolutely agree with that. the question is whether a, african-american voters show up in midterm elections because democrats in a number of senate and house races are counting on them to come in second of all, by the time 2016 rolls around, without president obama on the ballot, will there be as much enthusiasm in the african american community simply to turn out? we may see that go down slightly just by virtue of the fact that it may not be a historic election. host: david wasserman is the house editor of the cook political report. thank you so much for joining us both up come back later in the election season to talk with you. guest: looking forward to it. next, stacy snelling

joins us to talk about the food and drug administration's put -- proposed changes on packaging of food. then we will talk about these spending plan and focusing on funding for technology and cyber warfare programs. we will be right back. ♪ >> was is a technique that you hope will improve campaign, fundraising, more efficient? >> that is none of your business. [laughter] >> i think that the glamour of reagan, though, had less to do with his hollywood roots per se. it was not like it was the glamorous hollywood exactly, but it has something to do with the skills and the grace he acquired as an actor. he always hit his mark. -- being looks like

out there in fielding those questions look effortless, which was another aspect of glamour, so people who were likely to support him politically could see in him sort of the ideal candidate, the ideal representation of their views because he did not make them embarrassed in any way. they were not waiting for him to fail or that sort of thing. as he got older, that became more of an issue, but especially he had thisly days, -- about how to be a successful politician of the day. >> defining and using glamour sunday night at 8:00 on c-span's "q&a." >> the new c-span.org website

makes it easier than ever for you to keep tabs on washington, d.c. and share your finds the facebook, twitter, and other social networks. easy search functions let you access our daily coverage of events. new tools make it simple to create short video clips and share them with your friends via facebook, twitter, and other social networks, or you can send a links to your video clips via e-mail. just find the share tools on our video player or look for the green icon links throughout our site. watch washington on the new c- span.org, and if you see something of interest, clip it, and share it with your friends. >> "washington journal" continues. host: professor stacy snelling teaches undergraduate and on nutrition at american university. she is with us now to discuss recent changes on labels

proposed by the food and drug administration on thursday. what is being proposed and how drastic of a step is this? guest: good morning, john. it is a pleasure to be here and talk about this. the food label is used by many people when selecting foods, so it is a key piece to an educational component in order to promote healthy nutrition and healthy eating in our supermarkets. and what is being proposed i think is art of as has been announced by first lady michelle move!" campaign, they are tweaking it, folks will not need their reading glasses, perhaps, to read the number of calories on a label. they are starting to look at taking off a couple of items, but adding sugar is probably one of the more prominent changes that they are making. some form of sugar or of sugar is consumed by an

average american every year, and so by adding sugar content to the labor allows people to understand how much sugar, added sugar is in their food. a few other changes that are tweaking, there are two proposals out there, and perhaps your viewers will see that the second proposal looks at adding or use less of and to incorporate more into their diet. host: we showed our viewers that first change that you were talking about. this second one is a little bit more of a drastic change to the labels, but go ahead and explain how these work. well, what it is doing as it is trying to categorize foods that we need to be aware of. so added fats, sugars, salt, and cholesterol are all connected to obesity in our country. so major killers such as heart disease, cancer, and stroke are really important if consumers are going to eat healthy to protect her health -- their

health. eat more of would include things like fibers, fruits, and vegetables. host: first lady, michelle obama, as he said, talk about this new initiative, this new regulation by the food and drug administration at an event at the white house on thursday. i want to play our viewers a bit of her talking about why she thinks this is needed. [video clip] theo you marched into supermarket, you picked up a can or a box of something, you squinted at that little, tiny label, and you are totally and utterly lost. so there you stood alone in some , the clockstore ticking away the precious little time remaining to complete your weekly grocery shopping, and all you could do with scratch your head confused and be welded and --der -- and be willed or to is bewildered and wonder --

riboflavin a good thing or bad thing, and how on earth can this little package contained five whole servings? this stream of questions and worries running through your head when all he really wanted to know what should i be eating disorder not. when allood for my -- you really wanted to know what is should i be eating this or not. if it's good for my kids or not? how much of this should i be eating? and unless you had a thesaurus, a microscope, or a degree in nutrition, you were out of luck, so you felt defeated and you went back to biting the same stuff you always buy. the familiar scenario for far too many families and parents trying to do the right thing for their kids, and it is simply not acceptable. as consumers and as parents, we have a right to understand what is in the food we are feeding our families because that is really the only way that we can make informed choices. by having clear, accurate information, and ultimately,

that is what today's announcement is all about. host: first lady michelle obama at the white house on thursday talking about these changes. we are talking about them now with professor stacey selling of american university. she talks about what these changes would do for parents when they are buying these products. there is also an effort perhaps with these changes to nudge the food industry to make some changes. guest: the food industry plays a big role in what is available on our supermarket shelves was up and when a consumer goes in to purchase a food item, they are looking at pace, that is a factor that contributes, cost, availability, as well as nutrition. and the more information that is transparent by the food industry ofwhat's is in that cup cereal or those crackers or other foods that they have on their shelves is important. so it is transparency of information.

consumers are still going to have a number of factors. we are nudging them but empowering them and educating them to make the right choice for their family. this is not going to be -- stop the obesity a metabolic -- solve the obesity epidemic, but it is multifactorial. i educating individuals, give them the opportunity to make the right choice for themselves and their families. host: if you want to talk to professors snelling about these changes come if you have questions or you just want to comment on your thoughts on what these changes might mean for you, we would love to hear from you. powerful minds are open. democrats can call (202) 585- 3880. republicans, (202) 585-3881. independents, (202) 585-3882. if you are outside the u.s., it is (202) 585-3883. professors snelling, while folks are calling them, what has been the food industry reaction to these announced regulations?

guest: any change is going to going to- the sugar is probably require more analysis, so there are going to have to be able to analyze the foods that they produce in order to look at how much sugar is in their product. it is going to be meaning, just looking at their containers . they're going to have to put a new food label, restructure their boxes or their packaging in order to reflect that. this is going to take a couple of years, and it is going to cost them money from the food industry, but the food industry is a rather wealthy industry, and once again, if they are in their fight against helping people manage their weight, food is one part of the equation. certainly physical activity is part of the equation as well. it is going to take some money, sometime -- host: arthur estimates about how much this will cost -- it is not going to happen for another couple of years, correct? guest: correct.

there will be a 90-day period for people to put their comments in. i believe they will have two years, and one figure that i read was about $2 billion. however, that could be a substantial savings if people become educated. are theto look at what benefits, and it is hard to put a number on what that, projecting how much behavioral change will happen and as a result of behavioral change, seeie c do -- will we decreases in obesity and then crying to these? host: our four-month are open to talk to -- our phonelines are open to talk to professor snelling. the morning, you are on the "washington journal." caller: good morning. i have not talked to guise of a long time. i'm disappointed that there is not more disclosure on these labels. i was really hoping that the proposition in california on the gml'o's would pass because i

thought that would drive the labeling industry who why since california such a huge part of the economy. since california such a huge part of the economy. another thing that concerns me since i am personally dealing with it is the lack of labeling in thoseterone ingredients sources because of the have for its -- of the hazards they present to women recovering from breast cancer. i just wondered if you thought that labeling whatever move to that point. is there one cancer that we are going to pick and say this is dangerous for you to eat if you have suffered from a particular type of cancer? because, you know, all women takingst cancer are estrogen blockers trying to keep those foods out of their blood system so that they are not creating more breast-cancer.

host: thank you for the call. guest: i appreciate the call and the sentiment. i saido think that cancer is the second leading cause of death and disability in the united states. possibly in the future, these types of things will be disclosed to the american public. changesthat as we ecb's these changes, they have not gone far enough for you, but there is a compromise. i think the inclusion of sugar and more focus on vitamin d and potassium -- we are moving closer to including some of those other components that you mentioned. but i think at this time, we are not as firm on how to measure the amount of estrogen and other components in food in order for disclosure of that. host: what is the history of these labels and how many changes have a undergone over

the past 10, 15, 20 years? questionat is a great because right around 1990 there was an overhaul of it. they went into effect in 1994. sort of in two decades that we so it hashis one -- been two decades that we have had this one dramatic change. one of the changes that was very significant back in 1994 and also is going to be tweaked here is standardizing serving sizes, trying to give people the right information and is not these small serving size but what do people normally eat because that is what people will see in the amount of calories. host: help us out understand that, perhaps giving an example of an ice cream carton. guest: a small ice cream carton, which is only a pint, says that there are 3.5 servings to that.

perhaps people might finish that into servings, so the calories will then reflect what is a whatl portion size, and people normally eat, so they will understand how many calories they are really consuming. waitingt's go to mike in richmond, virginia, on our line for republicans. you were on with professor snelling. caller: good morning. i was wondering how hard is it really to get the gmo's or non-gmo's labeled on products, and you think it has anything to do with the fact that people who work on the boards on monsanto are also intertwined with the government and the fda and all of that? mike, for theou, question. as joyce mentioned, the first labeling is being handled more at the state level. so it is not a federal regulation at this time. i think the federal government

may be waiting to see what the states are going to do with gmo labeling. is ainly our food industry strong lobbying industry, so it is possible that some of this does get mixed in to policy. but i do think that the public has an opportunity to continue to push at the state level for more gmo labeling and perhaps at some point that will become a federal regulation as well. maker on her twitter pages watched the first lady's statements on these nude labeling changes and she writes -- how insulting, mrs. obama. people do not understand? you want to hold everyone's hand and slap it if they don't make your choice. how much pushback has there been about a nanny state telling them what to eat and what not to eat? be we my response would are just providing the information and education. people can choose.

we are not saying they cannot buy a packaged food that is higher in sugar. but remember, we only have one label for the entire united states, so providing the information and education to people, i think, allows people who want to exercise their right to choose a healthy food is there. if you choose to eat foods that are higher in sodium or sugar, that is your choice ultimately at the supermarket. it is your dollar, and you can choose what you would like to eat. host: john writes in the yes we -- in thatlack of yes we are eating fattening food, but lack of exercise contributes to bad health. guest: yes. we take a next or 400 calories a day. so it is not take much. the next are 200 calories a day is nothing -- if nothing else changed in your lifestyle

would result in a 15, 20 pound weight loss. and i could easily be a compass by walking two months. you spend about 100 calories for every mile you walk. so i agree. there needs to be a balance between the amount of energy you take in and the amount of energy that you expend, and we all need to move more, but we also need to control the amount of fat and sugar in our diet. professor snelling teaches at american university, undergraduate and graduate classes, on some of these topics that we have been covering this morning on the "washington journal." we have mentioned obesity rates a bit this morning. help us understand where we are. the two headlines that my confusion -- that might confuse viewers. a recent gallup poll -- u.s. obesity rates tick up to 27.1% in 2013. then here is a fox news story that says a new study shows a 43% job in obesity rates in young children ages 2 to 5.

where are we really? guest: in the past 20 years, the obesity epidemic has been part of our culture. we are seeing certain age groups -- it is sad to think that we are talking about obesity rates in 2 to 5-year-old children. this is a preschooler. whether it is in a childcare setting or an apparent -- or in their parents' home. said it did by fox, drop, but we still have a long way to go because we are talking about obesity in children as early as two and three years old. at the overall obesity rates are still taking up, so as a nation, we still need to address this. you can be healthy at a higher weight, but usually higher weights are linked to rates of diabetes, heart disease, cancer.

when we spend 75% of our health care dollars on chronic disease, we need to address it not only by the treatment side but also on the prevention and health promotion site. host: back to the phone, gertrude is waiting in new jersey. you were on with professor snelling. caller: hi, how are you? guest: thank you, good, how are you? caller: i am fine. my husband is a diabetic. how we go about making sure he gets the right calories he needs? you, gertrude. diabetes is a multi-systemic disease and have a lot of components in measuring it, and the new food label would certainly help someone like your husband, and as you prepare foods because they will include the amount of added sugars, which is a concern for people who suffer from diabetes, so the new food label -- where it will tell you how much added sugar versus the natural sugar.

let me make that distinction. naturally recurring sugars are found in things like raisins or fruits, but added sugar company -- comes in the way of high fructose corn sure of or table sugar, sucrose. take a look at the ingredient list which will tell you the added sugars and a food label. " likeng ending in "ose sucrose will indicate to you how much sugar ingredient items are in that food label. host: from twitter -- how far are we from that being mandated? guest: there is a lot of what they call front pack food labeling. when you go to the grocery

store, you will see lots of whole grains, trans fat free -- the food label as has been proposed is still part of the side panel. host: is the front labeling by choice of companies? guest: absolutely, they are tagging onto the newest trends. we seek lujan free, we see trans fat-free. those are helpful but the nutrition panel will tell you specifically how much of each of those nutrients is inside. they can put whole-grain but you would like to know how many whole grains or how much fiber is in that product. you would need to change to the food panel -- the nutrition facts. host: what about restaurants? are they going to have to label or let their customers know all these different things that they put into their foods some are disclosing that.

guest: restaurants are seeing see locallyneed to grown components or ingredients that are being used in their products. the affordable care act has given us the opportunity to inlude menu labeling franchises. fast food restaurant such as have toald's or kfc list calories on their menu label. it's another opportunity for people to make healthier choices if they choose to do so. host: from e-mail -- myplate is supposed to work. myplate is our new food guide. there are couple of tools out there to help people eat healthier foods. myplate is our food guide so

used to have the food guide pyramid. one of the changes that came out as the let's move campaign started is they started to put it in a plate so people could visually see how much fruits and vegetables vs a starch like potatoes or rice might cover your plate as well is your protein foods be it animal-based are plant-based proteins. myplate is supposed to be a visual icon and many times we are visual learners so it helps to have the idea of what you're played should look like. the nutrition facts is a complement to it. is nutrition facts transparency and what is in your food connecting that to chronic disease which is, as i mentioned, the number one killer in the united states today. host: let's go to warrenville,

illinois, republican line, good morning. you, i have two thoughts -- i think the food labeling is really good. however, when i go to grocery stores and observe people grabbing stuff off the can the shelves, the they -- there are very few people that read the labels. you see a lot of moms with kids and their goal is just to get through the grocery store and get out and go home. they are not reading the labels. do read the label, it's very good and the gives you information. i agree and i think more focus needs to be made on the carbohydrates area. from the information i have been reading, carbohydrates is a big problem with the american consumer. the common thread i see in all of this is the food industry, not the restaurants but the

people that make the food, the packaging people, the adm's, the whole group that of people and they are the common thread through all of this and really no push is being put on them. a nudge yes, but you have to do a push. if you can get them to start pulling out the high fructose corn syrup and all the sugars of start getting people off these foods, it will help extremely well. thirdly, maybe schools need to go back to the home economics and teach people how to beat once again vs not eating properly. guest: thank you. a lot of great comments. let me start with saying that i do agree when you are in the supermarket, there is a plethora

of items that we have to choose from. 21,000 new products are entered into our food supply every year. not all of them stay but that is a lot to navigate. say that my recommendation to many consumers is to shop on the periphery of your supermarket. if you enter your supermarket, you can go through the refrigeration aisle and pick up your fruits and vegetables and your dairy products and your protein foods and things like your red or starches. most of your processed wreckage foods are in the middle of the supermarket. by strolling up and down those aisles, we become susceptible especially when shopping with children. it's a marketing technique. when need to educate ourselves. i think the american people also need to sort of vote with their purchasing power. withey demand more foods less high fructose for an syrup,

then perhaps food manufacturers will see we need to reduce the amount in order to sell different products. host: we have been talking with professor snelling, an associate professor at american university of school. she has a focus on nutrition and behavior change. last caller brought up what is happening in schools. this is from e-mail -- guest: that's a great question and i will say that one of the last comments i will refer back to and that is the home economics classes. it is to reintroduce how to help students learn how to cook. it is a lost art right now. that information in the school system should be available from your food service. each school district has an office of food service or they contract out.

that information is usually made available to parents through a website. if you are looking for that information, you might contact your school districts office of food service and they should be able to provide that. host: we talked about serving sizes. from twitter -- guest: that is a great observation. one of the things that you are saying is right. when you look at a serving size, most people do not realize how small it might seem. for instance, in the ice cream ismple, half a cup of a serving size. you might not be able to visualize it but if you can visualize a tennis ball, that is the serving of a half a cup. many times what you are suggesting is they are tweaking or changing the serving size to reflect that people are eating

more like a cup of ice cream. you learned through that portion size control. i think that some of the administration is pushing for showing people what they are actually consuming. it may be a missed opportunity so your point is well taken. to forest hills, new york, on our line for independents. caller: good morning. i have a suggestion. all that youto see have been talking about and many people including me. i would like to see it taught in every school. i would like to see it part of a seven orm starting eight years old. i would like to see it in every grade.

eight years old, seven years old, as the kids bring in a closed can. i would discuss reading the label on the back of the can. foruld discuss age-appropriate children, of course, what they can understand , what is on the can, what can make you sick, what can make you fat. i would do it through high school. i do not say you have to give a nutrition class for the full time of the class. i don't care if it's sitting ingym and taking 15 minutes. to discuss. i would like to end by giving son who is 46a now. when he was a teenager, his

friends were drinking tons of regular soda. i will not name the name but it is a namebrand. they were guzzling it. are getting him you 12, 13 teaspoons of sugar in that and he would say i am not fat, leave me alone. ok, one day, i could not take it anymore -- dinner, he was a teenager already and he used to like a cup of tea. instead of a cup of tea, i took all that sugar and put it in the cup and served it to him. no tea, nothing. he says to me and where is the tea, what is in their? i said that is what you are drinking every time you go to the refrigerator.

i never had it in my house. you drink it that's what you have. let's put it this way, he almost gagged and that was the last time he ever drank it. host: that's a nice story. guest: that's a great story, i will remember that technique. you mentioned a lot of good points. mostly, i think it had to do with teaching nutrition in school systems. health is see that not a competing behavior in schools but a complementary behavior. we are learning more and more about the importance of good fiscal education and nutriti ous foods in the school system and we are working towards that because we not only realized that it affects our physical health but it also affects our brain and our brain development as well as our academic success. we need to take care of our children in the schools and not

only empower them with nutrition knowledge throughout their primary and secondary education but also to provide the right amount of physical education for them to be physically active. host: two comments from folks on our twitter page -- jail waiting in salem, massachusetts, on our line for democrats, good morning. caller: good morning, i have a question. i have a statement to make and it is about my doctor who has a sign in her office we can read what we are waiting for her. it is about weight reduction. i could not believe it. . i was obese

5'7", weighing 190, i was obese. i tried reducing. i am in college so this is all on a computer. i don't get the exercise i was getting by going to public computer places. i am gaining weight now. i had gone from being obese to overweight. to theeed to get overweight state again. i will shop the perimeter. i do shop the perimeter. i need more exercise. i do applaud you for putting the calories in big letters. i think this is wonderful. put thegoing to fructose and the sucrose on top where the carbs and the sugars and the fats are?

will you put those up there, too? note that these are fda regulations that were proposed. we are talking with professor snelling who teaches these subjects at american university. guest: thank you and it's admirable that your physician recognizes that your weight status is going to affect your health and at least makes you aware of it. beingded sugars is proposed to be added to both labels. either it will be framed underneath the carbohydrates or it will be framed under of under of voiding are getting less of those those. those added sugars you mentioned ,s fructose and sucrose will be if you will, added to the added sugars column. host: from twitter -- processed food is perhaps

a name given to a large group of foods. there can be minimal processing. there could be more processing. i would say an unprocessed food is things you buy such as apples or oranges, fruits and vegetables, in your supermarket. a processed food would be wings that have undergone -- would be things that have undergone some sort of preparation or processing. a processed food could be anything like a potato chip because they need to be processed. some people will say its foods that have added sugar, fat, or salt. those things at labor to our foods but they also can add calories and sodium. consumption is a concern for people with high blood pressure. i agree, it's a large component of our food supply but not all processed foods perhaps are bad.

we just need to balance those with foods that we prepare in our own home. nancy in northto carolina on our line for republicans, good morning. caller: how are you, good morning? ms. snelling - hello? host: go ahead. i am glad to see you are on. i am a person that reads everything on anything as far as ingredients. not so concerned about the fat and all that in foods. it's what's in the food for human consumption. i can give you two examples. like with subway, about putting that chemical and that belongs tires, i willnd not eat subway anymore. also, something else -- i did

andknow what it was, pbhq it's in a taco mix and another one is a pesticide. that is what bothers me. pull of this stuff you can up on the internet and it will tell you a lot of it can cause irritation, cancer and other stuff. nancy, i commend you for all of the reading you do of food labels. you have mentioned a number of what we might classify as additives. these additives can be found in these types of either quick mixes, some bread preparation like the subway bread as well. we vote with our dollar. therefore, if these are things you are not comfortable in consuming, by not purchasing those products, you provide yourself with the types of foods

you are interested in purchasing. at least you have use the ingredient list which is not going to change. what's not changing on the food label is the list of ingredients which is listed by the amount -- the first ingredient, the first few ingredients are the primary ingredients in those products. reading that food label will continue to aid you in choosing the right products for you. host: one of several folks concerned about specific ingredients -- where would you recommend viewers go if they have a concern about ingredients and want to find out more on the internet? where are the best places to go? guest: there is a number of them. the american dietetic association is eat right.org and that has a number of good information on all types of foods in our food supply. i would probably say that's a very reputable place. of differentmber agencies within the government from usda to food and nutrition

services to the fda that will give us information about those types of ingredients. is withofessor snelling american university and thank you for joining us. we want to bring you a quick news update on a story we talked about earlier this morning. this is from the associated rest talking about the latest development concerning the ukraine. the kremlin says -- that is the latest report minutes ago from the associated press. we will stay on top of that story as it develops. up next, we will be talking about the u.s. military with alma cleary who joins us to discuss the pentagon's proposed 2015 budget plan and efforts to support military technology.

we will be right back. ♪ ♪ >> deaths from other major diseases continue to decline, and that's from alzheimer's have increased almost 70% in the last 15 years. over 5 million americans have alzheimer's and at this rate, and 35 years, as many as 60 million will have the disease. the third reason i am here simply is to show people that they are not alone. so few people share their personal stories and so few people have something to relate to. i know if me and my wife saw someone like me talking about this, it would probably make us feel a little less alone. americans whisper the word alzheimer's because their government whispers the word alzheimer's. although a whisper is better that the allnce

summers community has been facing for decades, it is still not enough. it needs to be yelled and scream to the point where it gets the attention and funding it deserves and needs. i dream of a day when my charity is no longer necessary and i can go back to being the lazy self-involved manchild i was meant to be. people look to their government for hope and a asked that when it comes to alzheimer's disease, you continue to take more steps to provide more. >> this weekend, actor seth rogen on capitol hill advocating support for alzheimer's treatment. this morning at 1025 eastern. live sunday on booktv, author your josephs will take studies.on black power on c-span three, american history tv visit the national gallery of art to learn about 54tht gould shaw and the massachusetts volunteer infantry sunday at 6:00 p.m. c-span, we bring public

affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings and conferences and offering complete devil to gavel coverage of the u.s. house all as 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 or satellite provider. like us on hd, facebook and follow us on twitter. journal"ngton continues. host: we are joined by paul mcleary, a reporter with "defense news." we will talk about the pentagon's budget that came out this past week. with news coming out of the ukraine of continued unrest, the ap reported this morning that resident vladimir putin has asked for permission for use of the country's military in the ukraine. do you think the situation in the ukraine might toss out the

budget proposal that came out last week and change things? >> i don think it will change planning. with the white house strategic shift in the pacific, other parts of the world still matter. we have drawn down quite a bit in europe. we are not want to start a land war over the ukraine. presence and influence still matter especially diplomatic influence and the shows that the presence of the u.s. military is still important part you have to look at the globe. host: the 2015 budget friendly heard about from the pentagon on monday is being presented to congress this month. technological side and the expense of troop levels especially at the army, we saw some proposed cuts into fiscal year 2019. why is the pentagon deciding to make this sort of trade-off? a realm that the

government and the pentagon are struggling to understand still. ,radley manning, edward snowden internal threats and external threats from china, russian hackers, other actors -- it's a big problem and it is not well understood and it's a problem they are trying to solve by trying to quickly staff up. at ciber,1100 people and they want to double that. there is a range of offense of in defense of programs. they are in the early stages of getting going. int: are you expecting further years to see even more money going into these programs? guest: absolutely, the budget that came out of january, i think there was $400 million which double the budget from 2013. like $110here was million or so. that will keep going up as they hire more people and technology

advances. across theeams out world and the different component services set up their own cyber commands. host: when did cyber command, about? guest: it was several years ago, i think 2010. going to grow in importance and the services are rushing to set up their own cyber commands for the army is debating how low down to push cyber operations. know how to staff that and who they can hire to do this which is the big issue. host: on thursdays senate armed services committee hearing on capitol hill, u.s. strategic command and cyber command programs head keith alexander was talking to members of congress and was asked to senator john mccain about how the u.s. could and should employ it cyber capabilities in the future. here is a bit of what they had to say. [video clip] >> maybe this is more appropriate for a closed hearing

but as "the new york times" article said that the director of the cyber statecraft that usingargued cyber warfare for humanitarian purposes in syria such as taking steps to degrade the air power might be an effective tool and might reverse the tide of world usingn that the u.s. is cyber for nefarious ends. do you have a comment on that? things you and the administration would depend on is to create options for policymakers to determine which is the best approach in solving these? i think that is one of the things that has evolved and i think that is a good thing. i don't think i necessarily agree with the statement when and how to use it.

i think other countries are using as i would go back to your earlier statement -- what is the deterrent strategy and how do we help evolve that? i think that will be the key to this. in future environments, ciber will be the first tool used. >> by both sides? >> by both sides. host: we are joined by paul mcleary a you are watching the exchange at the senate armed services committee earlier this week. the united states, it there's not much dispute that the u.s. has the best conventional military force in the world but how do our cyber capability stack up against other countries? guest: it's hard to measure. the chinese have put a lot of money into this and they have a lot of resources and assets directed toward this but their budget is not public like ours. you don't know exactly what they are doing. what general alexander was saying cuts to the heart of the matter. mightwar, whatever that

be, offense or defense of, there is no manual for it. it is a whole new world, a new form of warfare. how do you conduct it, what does it mean, when would this lead to more conventional operations and how do u.s. collate or de-escalate and how do you make that a determined factor to prevent future conflicts? host: if you want to talk about these subjects or have a question or comment, our phone lines are open -- we will have a special line for the next half-hour in our last segment for members of the military. we would love to hear your thoughts on this budget line. -- budget plan. as folks are calling in, you had a recent piece in "the military times,"

the annual symposium where the army focuses on boosting tech. you write that the military planners to sign -- designed the army that one in the 1970's and 1980's. how do today's military planners designed the army on a battlefield that is changing more quickly these days? guest: the army is struggling with this. the apache helicopter, the bradley, the abrams, they are still best in class around the world. sureare very few threats. they have to spend a lot of money to modernize them each year. as it ages, the army is looking to develop what they called leap ahead technologies. they have the ground combat vehicle program which is opposed to lace the bradley as an infantry carrier. it will weigh in at 70 tons. the technology development is going well but it is so big it would be hard to quickly get this to hotspots around the globe. they put that on hold and reduced the funding to one or $2 million making it an r&d program

until they can develop lighter armor technology with more powerful weapons and better standoff capabilities, better protection. the story they are telling us they are trying to back to the 1970's and 1980's when they did not have much money and developed of these technologies. they are saying let's put our thinking caps on and work in r&d to develop new systems for the next generation. host: this is how secretary hegel put it in his 20 15th budget briefing from earlier this week --

we are talking with paul mcleary of "defense news." we are talking about the pentagon's 2015 budget plan. let's go to connecticut on our line for independents. caller: good morning and thank you for having me on. part of our national defense relies on a press that informs the public of real threats. how can anyone in the media say they have done the gem of a failed to report on the link sevens freefall destroyed on 9/11. host: we will hold off on the conspiracy theories and stick to the pentagon's budget in 2015. we will go to debbie waiting in massachusetts on our line for democrats. that morning. caller: good morning and thank you for answering my call. i have been waiting for 100 years.

i definitely hope the government will stand behind the wounded veterans. and all veterans especially the wounded ones are not getting a good break. hello? host: we are listening. wondering -- the ones that have been picked up at the mexican border and said they would have all the privileges of being a u.s. citizen, they did not include if they ever came back. are they standing behind them is what i'd like to know? brings up veterans issues. how did they fare in this budget plan that was tea tailed this past week? guest: the veterans affairs administrations as a separate budget from the pentagon budget. that will be released tuesday. i don't expect any cuts there. there are a lot of issues and

many people have mental issues. there will be no cuts i don't think in that budget. host: also of politically sensitive lights to make cuts -- we have not talked about how congress has reacted to the pentagon budget plan. talk about about what the response has been on capitol hill this week. guest: it has been relatively muted. i think they are waiting for tuesday until the whole budget comes out. the big fight i have seen this week -- will grow over time -- is the army plan to take apache attack helicopters out of the national guard and ring them back into active army. host: that's a long-standing bone of contention? guest: they had a commission a few years ago to figure out how much on that punch they might want to take out of active duty and put in the guard to save money. the army is going through that now.

the guard will be getting cuts over the next few years but not nearly as much as the active-duty army. , 13e's a big fight brewing senators sent a letter to secretary of defense hagel the other day asking for a reversal of the cuts and the national guard association which is politically powerful has come out against and governors in town last week of come out against the plan. that will be a big fight for the army going forward. let's go to alabama on our line for republicans, good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i have a quick gesture -- this sounds a little backwards -- we are developing our technological side and continue to develop with nsa. what is our plan b? satellites, a few you limit or eliminate gps or guided systems -- what is our

plan b? what do we do with boots on the ground if we continue to shrink our military? we do when we have to put boots on the ground and advance yourself but technology side of warfare makes you capable of taking each other's edge off the technology side and goes back to dropping troops on the ground and going back to war. do we have an area we continue to plan and develop our plan b? guest: this is a big struggle for all the services. countries like china and russia are further developed but have an area of denial of capabilities. and jamming capabilities, the pentagon is worried about having airplanes in the air and ships at sea and soldiers on the ground who get cut off from communications. they encrypt everything. they are setting up more and

more satellites. that they areing seeing more funding go into. they are pretty concerned about trying to maintain the technological edge and to medications and secure communications especially. it has not been figured out yet but it is a work in progress. host: we are talking with paul mcleary from "defense news." he previously served as a senior editor at "defense technology international." he has an embedded several times with u.s. army and marine corps forces. where did you do that? guest: in iraq several times and afghanistan. from we would love to hear members of the military in this segment as we talk about the pentagon's budget plans for 2015. we have a special line for those folks -- we have been talking about the cyber issue. from twitter --

that is a matter of much debate. going to some cyber conference is over the last couple of years, that was the date thing everyone was talking about. they continued to talk about it but not as much. it is probably not as secure as we would like it to be. in california, there was an incident where someone shot at a power plant and took some of the grid down. i think that is a major concern. that is more of a homeland security mission. they are pouring a lot of money into that. it's so big and complex and so that it will be a while before they get their hands around it. a pretty new organization and they are moving to new headquarters now. they are still working on coordinating with all the local agencies around the country. is itf the issue with dhs

took in all these agencies under one directive. they already have all their own cultures and their way of doing things and the trick for jeh johnson is to try to get everyone rowing in the same direction. previous heads of the department have not been as successful at. this is a real matter for concern. it will be johnson's number one priority. host: let's go to chesapeake, virginia, don is waiting on our live for republicans, good morning. caller: good morning, my concern is there are enough investment of preventing a man in the middle tax on the electromagnetic spectrum? in other words, the bad guy can capture the electromagnetic properand blocked the receiver and then send a false signal. is the defense department making

adequate investment in this area? yes, they are protecting the spectrum as much as possible. this gets pretty deep in the weeds. this issue is critical and i think a lot of that they are working with dhs and governors in states to work on that as well. host: one of the big ticket items in the pentagon budget is the 11 aircraft carriers that are being funded. there has been a debate over that issue of the size of the carrier fleet. can you talk about about that? guest: there are 11 carriers currently and there was talk of reducing the fleet by one. that has beenpunteed to 16. they got the funding to do it this year. is may be bringing that into overhaul a little earlier and then retiring that.

it would take one out of the fleet. host: let's go to the line set up are members of the military. waiting in norwalk, connecticut, good morning. caller: good morning, i am a veteran and now a defense contractor. i had a few specific questions. i am going to a number of executives where dod are speaking so i have heard a lot about the budgeting and drawbacks and cuts. budget,ial operations is that classified are public information? i know they will be growing and i am just curious about their budget. guest: it is public, it was about $10 billion last year. it has more than doubled since 2001. about 69,000were people in the program.

the budget might not grow over the next few years but it will stay flat which is growth in today's budget area. it is out there. you cannot yet specific budget lines is much as you can with other services but it's public. host: did you have a follow-up question? caller: i do, i have a few but i am curious -- do you know anything about the armed scout helicopter program and has anybody made any decisions at what they are doing with that helicopter or program? guest: yes, that one is on hold. the army's plan is to divest all of the warrior helicopters and take apache helicopters from the national guard and bring them into active duty and give the apaches the armed scout missions. last summer, the army did a bunch of fly outs with industry to find a new aerial scout and

they did not like anything they found. whilerogram is on hold the apaches come into the active force. there are not really concrete plans for starting it up but i think they will slow roll that out while budgets are tight. toward therking future vertical lift program which would replace the app -- the apache in the black hawk which they spec to have operational by the mid-20 30's. host: that was from members of the military and that's the special number we have set up. we are with paul mcleary of "defense news." lancaster, ken in south carolina, good morning. first, i would like to say i've got an idea for the show. show about blacks

who are disappointed by the barack obama administration? every time you have a military budget, you want to cut the soldiers. on c-span, you have representatives from lockheed martin. they want a million dollars per plane and now it's $151 million per plane. [inaudible] that's can to be the next big money pit. host: which plaintiff to mention? the f-135? f 35 fighter jet. host: can you give us the latest on that? has had a lot of problems over the past few years with budget overruns and things not working. right now, the air force is pretty happy with where it is.

the navy and marines are kind of in a different spot. i think the navy is putting it on hold a little bit or pushing it back. host: why are they less satisfied with it? guest: there are issues with it taking off from aircraft carriers. it will happen. they have invested a lot of money in it. they put a lot of time and it and it will replace several platforms including the a10 which the air force is getting rid of. it will take a while and it becomes increasingly expensive to operate. in the out years, once they start the maintenance and overhaul of it, it will in a pretty good chunk of the budget. host: why replace the a10? it's an airplane that has seen service in several different the answers. as i understand it, it has performed quite well. guest: it has. it's an old prof form.

-- it's an old platform. they don't want to support the old mission but the guys on the ground love it. i have seen it in action and it comes in slow and low and takes care of the problem quickly. as an old platform, it costs a lot to maintain and upgrade and i think the air force is looking at the f 35 as a leap ahead which can replace this. host: of the changes you have seen in this pentagon budget from the troops you have talked to on the ground, what are they most upset about? worried aboute the force becoming smaller and how that happens. will people be forced out? willow valuations change? what criteria will they use? the army will come down to 20,000 soldiers per year and they were up to 175,000 at the height of the words and are down to about one of the 30,000. 450,000 they will be

but of sequestration hits, it will be down to 420,000. many people are coming out of the force and their.concerned about how that happens they are concerned about retirement benefits. people put in 20 years get a nice retirement package on their promise that when they signed their contracts. now they are saying the government is going back on the initial agreement. that is a big concern. host: let's go to the line set up are members of the military, joe is waiting from new york, an independent, good morning. iller: good morning, sir, would like to talk with paul briefly. host: go ahead. because you are a defense news reporter, i'm sure i can get all the answers from you. number one, i'm concerned about the leadership of the military starting with president obama. let me cite two examples, if you will. i understand there were no aircraft carriers in the

mediterranean at the benghazi thing, i could be wrong on that. also the naval air station less than 30 minutes away by less speed, it is a huge place, why wasn't there any response from the leadership 9/11they knew at 5:00 on that it was a terrorist attack and hillary 4:00 that it was a terrorist attack. what is going on with the leadership of the military? obviously, it's a contentious issue politically in the military. i cannot speak for the leadership for hillary clinton or barack obama or chairman dempsey but the situation on the ground and benghazi was

obviously complicated. there was a demonstration and there was some violence and you have to think long and hard he soldiers,t any u.s. even special operations, on the ground in a situation like that. i would think they were not sure to drophappening and seals into the middle of that without knowing who the bad guys were and it was a rent could probably have made the situation much worse. the ambassador and the americans that were killed, i think they were doing the job. they took a risk by going to benghazi. it ended tragically. there has been lots of postmortems over it and the story is not over yet. there were assets in the region. getting assets where they need to be and getting the proper intelligence which is the most important part, you need to know what is happening on the ground

before you can insert u.s. forces or else things can go bad quickly. i think it was a matter of not having the right intelligence. there were multiple lines of communications and command structures working together and it did not happen on time. host: let's go to west virginia on our line for republicans, good morning. caller: good morning, i am --ling about the i'm calling about trying to decrease the military budget which i think is a good thing after world war i and world war ii, we decrease the military at it and decrease the number of people. when eisenhower was president leaving office, warned us against the buildup of military industrial complex which i think was a big mistake of hours to allow it to build up as much as it has. why do we feel we need to go to war all the time?

why do we think we need to be the military policeman of the entire world and take care of everything? it's impossible for us to do. host: we talked with our viewers this morning about the situation in the ukraine. what do you think the u.s. response should be in the ukraine? caller: just a few years ago, ukraine was art of a country called the soviet union. why do we think that just because they broke up or a few years that all of a sudden we should take care of the problems for them? i don't think it's any of our business. we need to stay out of it. host: paul mcleary, how much are the military landers at the pentagon and on capitol hill listening to these kind of comments and is that debate happening as they discuss military budgets? guest: about residence around the world? u.s. residents around the world? there is a deterrent effect of

having a large powerful military. the budgets come down some and could probably come down more. it all depends on how you and howe the military you decide what the threats are and where the threats are and what assets you want to what against those threats. right now, the white house wants to place emphasis on the pacific. there is a movement of some naval assets toward the pacific in the army last year stopped based in thedes pacific to afghanistan so they can stay in the pacific and partner with partner nations and do training and advise missions. part of the reason the u.s. defense budget is so large is that our allies spent relatively little. they kind of take a back on the size of the u.s. force especially in places like europe where we have the long-standing defense ties. we have had a large troop presence there.

we spend so our allies don't. in nato countries, they continue to cut the defense budget more than the united states and that is something the pentagon and the white house are concerned about. coming out of afghanistan, there are concerns that europe might cut too much. host: if you want to get a sense of the size of the military since the 1950's -- "usa today" has a good chart by the numbers. to our line set up for eymbers of the military, cor is waiting from pennsylvania. caller: good morning, gentlemen. in line with what you are talking about as far as budgets i haveensive military,

to reflect back on a comment made earlier that the apache helicopters are being taken out of the reserve force structure and back to the active force. i can understand the logic there being that the guard has a state mission. i am wondering about cost-effectiveness as far as training personnel. with anally am friends lot of aviators that certain combat and the guard and they are still in the guard. what are we losing their as far as personnel and experience? we've got a lot of combat veterans in the guard that flew the apache. i question whether or not that is a wise decision to move the apache out of the national guard structure and back to the active force. i wonder what comments you might have their. take thee idea is to apaches out of the garden and to

the general-purpose force. it would give the gartmore blackhawks -- it would give the guard more blackhawks which are multiple use helicopters. the apache is an attack helicopter. the black hawk can do several different missions. saying thoses missions are more in porton to the states to do disaster relief , humanitarian operations and earthquakes and things like that. to get rid oft those apache pilots. they want to retrain those post to fly blackhawks or chin-ups or other helicopters. i don't think that will be much of a cut. they will be re-tasked and some of the pilots might get out and not want to do that. they might lose some of those men and women. view, it makes more sense for the states to have the more multipurpose

logistical rotary wing assets instead of attack assets. had a"the new york times" lead editorial about the military budget in the wake of secretary hagel's plans that were discussed on monday.

we will see more on the pentagon budget this week and in the coming weeks as the debate continues on capitol hill. we'll time for a couple of more calls and bob is waiting in pennsylvania on our line for independents. good morning. caller: good morning, i've a couple of questions. back, some oflors my thunder was stolen on the f 35. on the cost-effectiveness of this, i heard you mention the a10 is pretty much outdated. if that's true, what about the b-52s that are still in flight? from what i understand, the 35 buto replace not the a10 the f-15 and f-16. complex that at any

given time, there could be as many as 2/3 of them down for maintenance and repair of was wondering what you thought about the cost-effectiveness of that. also, how is the navy moving along with their real gun program? gun program, i think the navy is putting that on a ship real soon for operational testing. is moving along pretty quickly over the last couple of years. f 35 will replace several different aircraft at some point in the future. i think the air force expects to get some savings justin having one aircraft to maintain as opposed to three or four. the f 35 has run into a lot of problem's and is not a cheap airplane. some allies, nato allies who wanted to buy it, have scaled it back which makes the cost

of each plane higher. it will be pretty critical to keep allies interested in wanting to buy this. host: paul mcleary is a reporter with "defense news." we appreciate you coming on "washington journal." that will do it for today. make sure to join us tomorrow, sunday, march two, as we are joined by john fund of the national review to talk about the fifth anniversary of the tea party and will be joined by randi weingarten to discuss union issues and education policy and finally, daniel markey of the foreign relations committee will discuss the u.s. role in afghanistan. that's the show for today, hope you have a great saturday. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014]

today, first lady michelle obama talking about the latest efforts to change nutrition labels. then a hearing examining the latest research to combat alzheimer's disease. rules of the being proposed for nonprofit groups seeking tax-exempt status. >> the new website makes it easier than ever for you to keep and shareshington d c this on other social networks. this lets you access