discussing the president's 2013 budget or postal. join the conversation on facebook and twitter. host: good morning, everyone, and welcome to the "washington journal." up on capitol hill, the house is expected to vote on that aid package to ukraine. the house foreign affairs committee will begin snoring a resolution condemning the violation of the ukrainian sovereignty and call for sanctions on russia. live coverage on c-span three at 9 a.m. this morning. we will also be covering the ways and means committee with treasury secretary jacob lew testifying about the 2015 budget blueprint.

the house armed services committee will be hearing from secretary of defense chuck hagel and general martin dempsey about the military budget for next year. our cameras will be there. go to cspan.org for more details. in washington, the american conservative union kicks off its annual conservative political action conference today with speakers including senators ted cruz, governor chris christie, marco rubio and mike leigh. go to cspan.org for more details. "e begin "washington journal with the headline across many of the nation's newspapers. the sat has decided to change its rules. we want to know your experience with the test. parents and students dial in

scott jaschick is joining us on the phone, the editor at "inside higher education." let's begin with why the sats changing its rules, and what will be the changes yo? guest: sure. so good morning, everybody. one will be changing the writing portion from the current situation where students are given a statement of philosophy and they respond to it to instead they will be analyzing a written passage and have to cite evidence in it. other changes are making the math more specific on just a few suspect -- subjects, not every possible subject. and eliminating the penalty for wrong answers on multiple-choice and trying to change the aboutlary words to less what people call sat words, which nobody uses, and more about words people actually use.

the sat has been criticized over the years as a test of people strategize, and what they are trying to do is make it closer to what goes on in high schools. the sat has also faced stronger competition in recent years. it is to be the dominant admissions test. now more high school seniors take the act that the sat. -- the acd has been seen as closer to the high school curriculum and the sat is trying to do that as well. host: who has been taking the sat and who do they want to take the sat -- who do they want more of, what type of student do they want to take the sat in the richer -- in the future? guest: many colleges require students to take either the sat or the act. this is when you are going to

most colleges, although an increasing number of colleges don't require it. act has historically been strongest in the midwest. the sat is strong is probably in new england. now both are offered everywhere. there is competition throughout the country for individual students and also for states that use the test as a minute -- as a way to measure their progress in achieving certain goals. what will these changes mean for how students prepare for the sat? guest: the board hopes it will make us less about being coached. of thee quite critical test prep industry. what they want it to be is that the best way to prepare is to take rigorous high school courses. the sat has historically been coachable and the concern is

that that has given a graded vantage to wealthier students -- great advantage to wealthier students. host: why give free prep? guest: they are trying to undo that advantage for the wealthy. for many years the college board denied it was much advantage to test prep. they shifted and admit that it helps and they say that if it helps, they want everyone to be able to get test prep. says and the prep industry they have been critical of it. what is the industry like and how much money are we talking about? about ae are talking lot of money -- also suppliers, from small to big, very expensive, less expensive. the reality is that this costs money and if you are a low income kid, he may not have that money and you may rely on a nonprofit group. the industry is not worried about all about this. business goes up

whenever the college board changes the sat, because people .et nervous about the changes you can expect your test prep writer to define pretty much no matter what the college board does. host: how much money does it cost apparent to go to one of these companies to prep their kid -- guest: oh, it can be 100s of ash hundreds of dollars, can be thousands of dollars. remember -- it can be hundreds of dollars, it can be thousands of dollars. this ranges from computer programs and classes to intense one-on-one tutoring time after time after time. there is some debate about how much the various services provide, there is probably some hosting, but if you have enough money you can hire somebody to work with your kid every day. host: we want our viewers to weigh in with their experience with the sat and react the these rule changes.

the lines, we are dividing them by parents and students. host: scott jaschick, what types of colleges look at the sat? guest: lots of colleges. generally the most competitive colleges, and many less competitive colleges don't. but a trend in recent years has been for colleges, even competitive colleges, to go test optional. this is a big concern of the college board. these colleges let students decide whether or not to submit scores. many students will look at what the average score is and decide whether to cement based on whether they are above or below -- to submit based on whether they are above or below. historically, low income students have done less well than upper-income students. years,cally, in recent black and latino students on average do not do as well as white and asian students.

going test-optional tends to result in increases in applications from lacking the gene of students. host: what has been -- black and latino students. host: what has been the reaction from sat folks? guest: the college board is trying to make the sat more t, so they cannot exactly criticize that but they are saying that they have been that way all along. what is the college board? what do they do? guest: it is an association of colleges and educators to provide not only the sat program but the advanced placement, ap program, and they do a lot of efforts to encourage more , toents to go to college plan, to save money for college, promoting the idea that education is important. host: and what did they say yesterday about the announcement? guest: well, they made the

announcement, they are the sat. host: right, and what did they say, why did they hold his news conference? guest: they announced more than a year ago that they were planning a revision of the sat, news --y specifics were while the specifics were news from the idea that they were doing and u.s. city was something they said they were going to do to they have been losing market share and they have been criticized. isy maintain that there test the best test out there, but they are acknowledging some of the criticisms. one of the big criticisms of the writing test currently, when you are just using your own feelings or reactions to a statement, facts don't matter. you can sit the much complete nonsense and if it is well-written by the rules -- you can say pretty much complete nonsense and if it is woven by the rules you will get a good score. this bothers a lot of educators and writing instructors and the new president of the college board. he is acknowledging that that didn't work and they want to do it better. host: when will these rules go

into place? guest: 2016. host: why then? guest: it takes a long time from going from the theoretical idea changes to having the changes. the college board and the sat and everybody in the standardized testing business do a lot of what is called the litigant -- what is called validity testing to make sure that questions work and yield the desired results, the questions don't confuse people. they don't want people to do poorly because the question isn't well understood. there's a lot of testing of the test before it is actually used. this is particularly challenging when you are instituting big changes. the first grade is group of students that will be taking this new test? guest: it depends when you take the sat, because many students take the sat a different times. but it would be are you taking the sat in 2016?

if you are a high school junior or senior right now, you are taking the old sat, or the current sat, i should say. confusion,ds to the because many students might hear something about changes and it won't actually affect them. host: you said that the college board is losing market share. what did you mean by that? guest: the act, more students take the act is that the sat. this has been the last 2 years. before that the sat was dominant. host: what about profitability? is it profitable, the tests for the college board? guest: i couldn't tell you exactly how profitable. yes, very profitable. basically, the revenue from testing supports all bunch of college board activities -- a whole bunch of college board activities pretty yes, they make a lot of money off of testing, and the college board is not

unique. everybody in the testing industry makes a lot of money off of testing. scott jaschick, editor of "inside higher education," thank you for your time. guest: thank you, bye. host: here is a little bit from the college board president when he made the announcement of these changes yesterday to the new sat test. [video clip] >> it is time to admit that the become far tooe disconnected from the work of our high schools. students -- missing we have been listening to students and the thames, for whom tests are serious and foster anxiety. they're skeptical that either the sat or act allows them to show their best work, and too many feel that the prevalence of test prep and expensive coaching reinforces privilege rather than merit. host: that was the college board president yesterday announcing

changes to the sat tests in place in 2016. we are getting your reaction this morning, hearing from parents and students and educators and all others. what is your experience with the test and what do you make of these changes? marianne is up first in new york. caller: hi. i want to quickly make a few comments. i'm an average citizen out here. i went out to get three college degrees eventually, at my expense with the psat and sat was very experience -- very discouraging. i came from a home life that was unsettled. i was a fairly intelligent person. at that time in my life, my parents could hardly get the rent money together so i could not take those prep things and everything could i found that the gentleman made some remarks -- i found it highly anxiety-written, my high school expense, but i want to say to

people to hold on. the motivation kept me through. i did not have good grades and i did not have the money that i matriculated and went to night school and i took one of those baskin-robbins service jobs types of things. everybody can persevere. i hope they make changes. some people get discouraged by all of this but you got to keep going and if you want to go to college, you will. host: do you remember how you prepared for the test? i guess we will never know. we're getting your thoughts on the new changes to the sat test could we have the lines divided by parents host: we will keep taking your phone calls and get your thoughts and you can post them on our social media websites.

@cspanwj is our tripleheader th -- that twitter handle their. the crimean lawmaker is saying that a referendum on whether crimea becomes part of russia will be held on march 16. dennis from the associated press this morning, as -- that is from the associated press this might, as talks continue. routing 2 is taking place in today, as secretary of state john kerry moved from paris to rome. his counterpart in russia's going there as well, as well as many others. and this is from an anger speaking newspaper out of ukraine. english speaking newspaper out of ukraine. host: a lot of movement on ukraine as that story continues to unfold up on capitol hill today. the house is going to be voting on that $1 billion aid package to the country. the house foreign affairs committee is looking at a

resolution that would condemn the violation of ukrainian sovereignty as well as sanctions on russia. a lot of moving parts on ukraine. we will keep you updated as we go along this morning. gilbert in jamestown, north carolina, and educator. what do you make of these changes to the sat? caller: yes, thanks for taking my call. yes, i am an educator, and i've been a graduate student. i think that the sat, as was a "scientific american" article that referenced the study, the sat is not productive at all for how students are going to succeed .rofessionally furthermore, in that article in "scientific american," the sat is not even predictive of how well students do in college. i would suggest we do away with

the sat completely and base college admissions on how students do in terms of their gpa and most importantly, what they do in terms of their ,xtracurricular activities beyond getting a 3.8 or 3.6 or .ven a 2.8 gpa what have they been doing in the community or what have they been doing to help others? in a click mentioned -- and a cup sure by the board of governors, the ,entleman said that the test you know, is really not viable or relevant. my last comment is that i believe the sat in the past has been very racially biased. if you look at students from , the test has always

been geared were based on criteria where the criteria has for students educated in a segregated environment. i think the sat should be done away with. let's base admissions to higher .ducation on other criteria if i may, you have been very kind. i think that we should have lsat, mcat,s the and test for progressions like that professions like -- tests for progressions like cpas because that is base for undergraduate expense. host: what do you teach? caller: i taught at a community college, anatomy and physiology. host: how obesity testing evolve over the years went at how have

you seen testing evolve over the years when it comes to the sat and act? caller: i cannot say specifically -- they tried to make the tests not as racially biased. however, once again, i feel that servests just doesn't students. cap, sofia is apparent in float -- is a parent in cap, florida. caller: hi, how are you? i want to thank you for continuing to make an emphasis on the future of our children and their education. one comment i would like to make as an eighth-grade parent, just may, each ofw it the step up for students program, how that program has , oneed my children, both

in columbia university now in his second year him and take all these preparatory exams that were needed. if that was not available to my children at that time, or even it would'veusly been an unfair chance for my hispanic boys. definitely is somewhat to a point where we are starting to recognize that yes, there has to be changes made in addition to anything that can be a positive impact on these changes will make a difference in addition to these additional programs that are out there for scholarships for students like my that were able to take these preparatory sats and all these other exams -- host: so, sophia, your boys were able to take some preparatory testing and i got a scholarship? -- they got us all -- they got a scholarship? caller: yes, they did, and it was through the step up for

students organization, trying to amend these things to quote an eight more and more -- to coordinate more and more for more possibilities for the children. erin in oak harbor, washington -- aaron in oak harbor, washington. what are your thoughts on these changes to the sat? caller: i don't understand why we are doing it. i took the sat in high school some 50 years ago. i got no preparation, no coaching, i went in and took the test cold, did well on it, and it predicted my performance in college. went on and finish a master's degree and later got a phd. host: what do you attribute that to? you didn't really study for it so that you have a good education, good school in a neighborhood? caller: uh, probably average. there was only one high school in the town i lived in at the time. it was a military community, and

therefore it was kind of a more diverse student body than would be normal in many places, because the turnover and the in in the out and the moves. but you could learn as much as you wanted to learn. there was classes i was totally bored and because the teacher was teaching to the bottom third of the class are there were other classes, like mr. mccartney, for instance, who challenged us all, taught at a level where you really had to work at it to do it. host: all right. so you just don't understand why they're making the changes? caller: i don't understand why they are making the changes. it seems like some students can't do well on the test, there is something wrong with the test pit is not possible that the students or education are getting bad. warrington,cator in virginia.

what grade do you teach? caller: i'm actually not in a school but i have worked in colleges and universities before , specifically in admissions, so i've dealt with the sat in one respect or another. host: yeah. what was your experience? caller: i think the changes they are making to the test are hopefully going to be effective, given that they are going to be a little more relevant to its student -- to what students experience in everyday life. studentsd, if i told -- as i told students when i was in admissions, i told him that the test is basically 4 hours out of a fun week of 4 years of your life. it will tell you something about what is going on, but as was alluded to before, it has to do with what you do in your everyday classes and how effective you are in the classroom. if the test is going to be made

relevant, i think it does have allowed tohould be make the changes to hopefully make it more accessible to more students. it will be a small predictor of what you are able to do but it will hopefully show a better picture of what does exist. host: we are getting your take his money on changes to the sat that will take place in 2016 -- your take this morning on changes to the sat double-click place in 2016. in 2016.ill take place in other news, front page of "usa today" has this headline. "obama delays key health care rule." that americans can buy insurance policies that don't meet the requirements of the affordable care act for another year if their state insurance regulators allow them to renew their policies this year. the law originally require that everyone buy a policy that

complied with the 2010 requirements by 2014. that meant skimpy plants which sometimes cost more in premiums than the coverage they provided had to be replaced by plans that pay for hospital stays and restriction benefits as well as other basic benefits. the change came following political backlash after obama told people they would be able to keep the same health care plans after the law was enacted. obama offered ensures the option to continue to offer the old plans, though some states chose to mandate a ca-compliant insurance. the new rules state that individuals and small groups may continue to renew old policies 1,to or beginning october 2016. the delay should be made permanent, according to senator mary landrieu, democrat of louisiana, who is up for reelection this year. administration's action today is a step towards keeping the promise that was made to the american people that if they like their health plan, they

could keep it, and i intend to will the administration to that promise.'" "usa today" reporting on the headline that the clock is ticking for people to sign up for the affordable care act. "feds will air ads on tv during march madness. it will be moving away from social media sites like facebook and twitter and instead spend money on advertisements on networks such as espn and fox, " according to "usa today." in role america's ascending buses to texas and ohio to talk of new coverage options, and a large national hospital chain is reaching out to people without insurance who frequent their emergency rooms. it is crunch time for obamacare. there is less than a 4 weeks left to sign up for coverage under the insurance market places." we will be talking about that

with one of the key architects of the health-care law, is equal emanuel, -- is equal emanuel, a physician who advises the white house on health care. he has a new book out, "reinventing american health : how the affordable care act will improve our terribly complex, blatantly unjust from outrageously expensive, grossly inefficient, error-prone system." we will talk to him and then we will talk to a republican, reid ibble of wisconsin, about budget issues. "the arizona republic" with this kathleen sebelius urges aca sign-ups." we are getting your take on changes to the sat test. we will hear from ken in ridgewood, new york, apparent --

a parent. what has been your spirits with the sat? caller: good morning. you colleges still even care about sat scores? our son took the test just one time and he got 6 perfect scores but he is still having trouble getting into us will. -- into a school. host: 6 perfect scores? caller: a 600 on the test, which is like 6 a-+'s. host: what schools did he apply to? caller: our local junior college and harvard. host: what have been the reasons? does he know why he was not accepted into those schools? caller: well, he studied for it. he bought all the products. .otebooks, pens and paper i think what it comes down to is

that the test itself has become irrelevant. host: ok. here are some of the changes to the sat. the point scale returns to 1600. the writing test is now optional. points no longer deducted for incorrect multiple-choice answers. the papers this morning saying that the test will encourage guessing. print and digital versions of tasks will be offered. vocabularybscure words will be replaced with widely used words. passages of writing will be included from significant moments in american history or science. math questions are narrative to 3 areas -- problem solving, data algebra, and passport and the newmath, writing and reading sections will require students to cite evidence to support answers. those other changes that the college board announced to the sat -- those are the changes

that the college board announced to the sat, coming in 2016. you are currently a junior or senior in high school, you will be taking the current sat test. east weymouth, massachusetts. go ahead, matt. caller: thanks for taking my call. i had a comment -- you were talking earlier about people who had the ability to pay for their expensive -- very effective tutoring for the sat. i personally didn't take any of those classes. but i think it is -- a thing to note is that a lot of classes prepare you for different sections of the sat. able to get, i was 2000 my first time taking the sat in early november. the important thing to note is that, like i said, paying attention in my imaginings classes through high school --

in my math and english classes through high school was what it took to get that on the sat. the coaching for the sat, i'm not going to say it doesn't help some students, but i think it is not as major of an issue as it is being made out. host: so, matt, what classes do you think prepared you for the test? caller: the math was the significant portion. i found that the english section was very easy. and my algebra and algebra ii classes as well as geometry for math, i felt more than prepared me for that section of the exam. host: ok. and you did well, you said? caller: i got just over 2000 on the score. host: what colleges -- have you been accepted to any colleges? caller: not yet. i just finished doing my applications. host: what schools are you applying to? caller: umass, boston -- all the

umasses. i am trying to stay local. host: cost of college? caller: not so much cost. i've never really been interested in going for. -- going far. host: we will keep getting your experience with the sat as the college board announces changes to the test that will be taking pace in 2016. "the star-ledger" out of new jersey has this headline. mission is to prove himself to the gop base." "the governor will be addressing as thee as the -- cpac bridge scandal lingers and rivals watched." "the washington post" has this headline. "republicans find resistance to christie bid."

new washington post-abc news poll found that three in 10 of all republicans say they would not vote for her jersey governor chris christie if he ran for the white house. also, the story about hillary clinton. "hillary clinton draws rebuke for her comments comparing putin to hitler." the former secretary of state hoss provocative comparison truce with for the while attracting various of support from hawkish republicans in congress. it puts her at odds with president obama and her former administration colleagues, who have been measured in statements ." ukraine that on 2016 politics today.

cpacill be covering the annual meeting today in washington. front page of "the washington times" this morning has the 50 the american conservative union, marking the 50 years. that is the front story on the page of "the washington times." hi, tony. caller: hi, good morning. host: good morning. caller: how are you? host: doing well. what are your thoughts on the sat and the changes? caller: i will first say that i am a parent. i've been an educator for the united states military. and i've been a student at the graduate level. one of the things that i think it's missed a lot is the psychological aspect of what it

means to take a test. and in that i'm explaining that when i took the sat back in 1977, i scored 720. math. verbal, 360 on the , with an retired today income of close to $200,000, less savings and retirement. -- plus savings and retirement. i don't even have a masters degree, but i did masters work. i grew up in a single-parent household, worked 2 jobs in high three, whileimes going through academics, and why speech about the psychological aspect of it, of course there is economic aspect. i needed to work, i couldn't participate in sports. the sat and college prep is a business.

they schedule when you are going to take the test. well, any psychological profiling helps to understand, if you had me take that test in 4:00 in the morning, i probably would have doubled my score. it was scheduled for 1:00 in the afternoon. uniquely keyedre in for tests at certain times of the day. host: what do you make of them going to print and digital versions of the test? caller: well, i have a background in cyber security. they have to go to digital. that is the only option. the reason i speak to that aspect is we have to look at who we are gearing for. we are gearing for a group of society who has knowledge, strength, ability to grasp digital. , i, they still need prep

have hundreds of books and i've given away thousands of books, but the judge -- the digital aspect of it forces them to understand that that is the way business is moving, that is the way government is moving. host: we will hear from robert next in maryland. .aller: yes, hello i was wondering about what was the reason they changed these tests? what was the reason? or was there a reason? or somebody decided arbitrarily just to change it because my kid didn't do good in it -- host: we talked to "inside higher ed's" editors star jessica earlier this morning, and the college board president had a news conference yesterday saying they want to close the socioeconomic gap of those who have access to the sat and those who do not. they also critical of the prepping industry, the companies small and large that make a lot of money off of repping students

for the sat. they will be offering free prep for students as well. the "higher education" folks told us that this is about market share. they are losing market share to the sat folks. what does that have to do with our students and educating them? for one, it seems to me that it will widen the difference between -- the economic difference between the 2, because students go halfway through realize they need or of a background and education at a younger age and didn't get it, and will do as good. -- and won't do as good it is that helping anything, or is it making the whole process a lot more mixed up? host: ok, robert -- caller: i mean, the whole reason you have the sats to make sure your students are qualified to take higher educational -- read the books and do the higher tradition thinks. if you don't have that, you have to learn it somewhere, and by taking the sat, that is going to lower the standards for all the students who currently --

whatever the economics of any of the students are good if they are smarter, they are smarter. that doesn't have anything basically to do with economics. anybody can read a book. one other thing i wanted to add is that computers -- we are getting to be so dependent on computers these days and the digital age that i think it is ridiculous. there is a limit to that. as soon as we hit that limit from we are going to have to go back to book reading and black port -- blackboards again. ast: james in new hampshire, parent. hi, james. caller: i appreciate the opportunity to speak. i think people on the show that that the tests aren't effective anymore, that is probably not the case. the history of this is that back in the beginning, they had to have a way to judge the quality for the student coming in -- back in the 30's or so, -- back in the 1930's or so, the president of harvard university was involved.

it is absolutely necessary that they have a way of judging the relative merits of students coming in and so far as secondary education was not equal in the u.s. that is a very unjust test in many ways because secondary education is not equal cross the u.s. students long before they take the tests are on a footing that is not equal. host: all right, james. host: we are getting your thoughts on changes to the sat. in 2016. take place want to know your experience with the test, but first -- we

will keep taking your phone calls, but first we wanted show you what happened on capitol hill yesterday. here's the headline in "the washington times." lerner irs official lois mum at hill hearing. contempt of congress charges seen as an option." darrel issa could hold her in contempt of congress. take a look at what happened at the hearing. [video clip] >> mr. chairman, i have a procedural question. mr. chairman, you cannot run a committee like this. you just cannot do this. we are better than that as a country, we are better than that as a committee. i have asked for a few minutes just procedural -- i am asking a question. i'm a member of this committee and i want to ask a question. what are you hiding? what is the big deal?

may i ask my question? may i state my statement? >> you are all free do leave, we are adjourned, but the gentleman may ask his question. >> thank you very much. i have one procedural question, and he goes to helping you get the information by the way you just asked. >> what is your question? >> no, let me say what i have to say. i listened to use the last 15 or 20 minutes. -- i listened to you for the last 15 or 20 minutes. >> ms. lerner, you are released. >> i would like my time to make some brief whites. for the past year, the central republican accusation -- >> we're adjourned. close it down. committee saw a single document -- >> thank you. >> shame. >> shame. -- ying about

>> mr. cummings. if you will sit down and allow me to ask the question -- i am a member of the congress of the united states of america! host: congressman elijah cummings, democrat from maryland, the ranking democrat on the committee, after lois lerner pleads the fifth, you see the chairman trying to release her from testimony from the hearing and saying that the hearing is over. the ranking democrat there wanting to make a statement and ask a question. you see the back and forth. if you missed that, you can go to our website, cspan.org, to watch the entire hearing. also i capitol hill, here is the headline in "usa today." "old taste derails civil rights nominee."

" objections to the role he played in the defense of a convicted cop killer -- the attorney general and the president weighed in on the senate rejecting the nominee." here is what mr. holder had to say, "it is a dangerous president where -- dangerous havedent when a lawyer can otherwise sterling qualifications than a graded solely based on clients their organizations represent." "the defeat of president obama's nominee occurred even after senate democrats last year it unilaterally change senate rules on judicial and executive nominees to lower the threshold from 60 to a simple majority." that in "usa today" on what happened on capitol hill yesterday. today on capitol hill, the house is inspected to vote on the $1

billion ash expected to vote on a $1 billion aid package to ukraine. we will have coverage on c-span when the house comes in a session. at 9:00 a.m. this morning, the foreign affairs committee will be taking a look at a resolution to condemn the violation of ukrainian sovereignty as well as endorsing sanctions on russia. we will have coverage of that. our cameras will also be at the ways and means committee, where will be secretary lew testifying about the 2013 budget blueprint, and house armed services committee will be hearing from defense secretary hagel and general martin dempsey about the military budget for next year. we will have our cameras at that. you can go to cspan.org for more details. on ukraine, peter baker has a story today in "the new york times" about who is to blame for what is happening between russia and ukraine and the united states and our role in it. tweeted this out

march 1. -- march 4. host: the white house responded -- dan pfeiffer is a senior advisor to the white house. rubio, senator from florida, possible 2016 contender, said this. host: so the back-and-forth there on ukraine as talks continue with secretary of state john kerry in rome with his russian counterpart and others to try to come to some sort of peaceful resolution there. coming up next, we will be talking about the affordable care act with author and former white house health care special advisor ezekiel emanuel. later, congressman reid ribble of wisconsin on the president's

budget and congressional debate ahead. we will be right back. >> the 3 elements of the package are, first, a sense of exceptionality. you can get it from lots of different sources. but it is just a feeling that you are special and destined for special things. the second element is almost seemingly the opposite, and that is a dash of insecurity to offset the exceptionality could that is a feeling that you have not quite done enough yet, you're not quite good enough yet. the third element is impulse control, self discipline, the ability to persevere and resist temptation trade >> as individuals who have these

qualities grow up in america, they tend to predict -- particularly second-generation, to have an interesting, creative destruction relationship between their culture and american culture, such that second-generation immigrant immunities start very typically looking back at their parents and grand parents generation and say, you know what, we don't want to do success the way you told us to, we don't want to do those jobs that he said were the only ones, and they make their own decisions, whether it is to be a standup comic or an artist, and yet, what we found is that, aspirational he, these same qualities can help them do that and achieve very different kinds of goals. capuperiority, and security -- insecurity, and impulsive control, "the triple package," part of book tv this weekend on c-span2. four march's booktv bookclub, we will be discussing peniel jos

eph's biography stokely carmichael. "washington journal" continues. host: we are back with ezekiel emanuel, author of this book, "reinventing american health care," and also a key architect of the affordable health care act and a former health care special advisor to the office of management and budget and the obama administration. thank you very much for being here. guest: thank you for having me. host: very timely, as we were just talking about. everything you write about in the book is in the news today. let's begin with another delay to the affordable care act. the white house announcing yesterday -- here is "the washington post" headline. "white house rewrites health-care policies." "they will buffer more health plans and insurance exchanges for my patient costs, give states more time to decide whether to run their own market unions and spare certain

from a fee they have presented." it goes beyond whether you like your health plan, you can keep it, the rule changes announced yesterday. guest: some of the rule changes are important. giving them time to do it is a very good thing. states want to decide that they think they can do a better job than the federal exchange or it allows them more control, for example, to think of different designs that would be better for their states. that in and of itself is a good thing. i think the delay in terms of people being able to stay on their insurance policy affects very few number of people, about 500,000, according to the rand organization. asis not a big deal as far transforming the system. we are trying to transform a system that is the size of the economy of france. it is going to take time and there is going to be a lot of movement over time. host: you don't think it is a big deal to delay this until 2016? guest: for the individual mar --

no. in terms of the long sweep of her forming the system, no. weekend -- i am as guilty as anyone else -- to be looking at the pot, is it boiling, is it not boiling? the fact of the matter is, a lot of this you will need to measure over a decade. by 2020, how will the bill have affected the american health care system? on almost every measure this system will be better. we will have more people insured . we will never get to 100%, but we will get closer. he will have a lot of cost control. and most important way for the american public, we want better quality of care. improve, more attention focused on people who are really sick and i actually am a big optimist about the transformation of the system. host: the new rule says that states and individuals and small groups may continue to renew old policies up to are beginning october 1, 2016.

why not make it permanent? landrieu, democrat of louisiana says, "i want to hold the president to his promise that if you like the policy, you can keep it." guest: i don't want to relitigate that phrase. none of the changes are in the law. those are interesting please deciding what is best for them, how they think the market is -- thosego -- that is are insurance companies deciding what is best for them, how they think the market is going to go. i don't think that these miniplans or suboptimal plans are ideal for the people who are on them and i would like to get rid of them sooner rather than later, because you have a plan that gives you $5,000 in benefits or $10,000 in benefits and you have appendicitis or you get hit by a car and you blow through that and then you are left with medical bills that you can't afford. that is not insurance and that is not protective. host: let's speak to that a little bit more. what has been your experts with that, getting rid of subpar plans? guest: i think that people have

a false sense that they are actually insured. the opening chapter of my book shows -- i portray a 48-year-old single woman mother in aspen, colorado, who had stomach pain and ended up going to the hospital and it turns out it is colon cancer and she gets operated on and she spends 6 days in the hospital and the bill is more than $70,000. the vast majority of americans cannot write a check for $70,000. that is why we have health insurance so that if, god for bid, something like that happens, we are protected. i portray a gardener who has chest pains one day and it turns out he has premature cardiac disease. he needs care. it makes him realize that he is young, he thought he was healthy, he has a lot of workers in his carpeting company -- and his gardening comedy but they don't have insurance because they are low paid workers. the affordable care act offer these people the possibility of having insurance they can't afford -- they can afford.

that will be transformative for people. if nothing else, it relieves them of worry. then they can start thinking about other things -- working, their family -- instead of constantly worrying about how to pay the bills. this as a key architect of bill, that is one success. where else do you see the law has been successful so far? where do you see some weaknesses? guest: first of all, one area it has clearly been successful at is cost control. we have had a real slowdown in health care costs. people on medicare have not seen a big increase in their premiums . they have stayed flat. the drug benefit and part b, some of that is clearly -- some of it is related to the recession and some related to other changes but some is the affordable care act. quality improvement. we started something called the partnership for patients, focusing on things like hospital infections, medication errors,

false, operating on the wrong part of the body. there is been a nine percent decrease in those problems, and if you look at infections, 50% decline in the hospitals participating. there is a real big improvement in various areas. one of my frustrations is that a lot of these improvements have not been correctly communicated to people and people don't see the real benefits. host: this is another headline in the paper today. "clock ticks for health care sign-ups." what do you know about who is not signing up how important are those people to it functioning successfully? guest: what we know so far is that we have about 4 million-plus people signed up we willthe last month get to 5 million or 6 million, if it is a big push. typically it is young people. the experience in massachusetts is that young people delay, delay, and in the end of sign up.

this is not a one-time effort. march 31 comes and goes and it is not the end of the reform, not the end of being able to get insurance. open enrollment will start again in the fall. again, we have to look at this as an overall process of trying to educate people about the exchanges and how they can get insurance on the but also, importantly, the fact that insurance is subsidized for the various majority of people on the exchanges. i think the exchanges will be pretty solid and i actually think there will be -- they will be a great thing for most people to get insurance. to give you choice and allow you to decide which plan you want, what, nation of doctors and ofefits -- what combination doctors and benefits. that is the american way, competition in the marketplace that gives the consumer choice. it was a republican idea. democrats embraced it. now the republicans don't like it, although they have no alternative because it essentially is their idea. host: let's talk about the future. guest: ok. host: in the book you talk about 6 megatrends to come.

the and t -- the end of insurance companies as we know them. that might perk up some years. guest: what you are seeing is that you are having some health systems, like long island jewish saying,ork, they are look, we can do the insurance side of this. not only can we provide care, we can do insurance. they are offering themselves as comprehensive, what i call integrated delivery systems. they do the insurance part, they provide care from the doctor's office to the hospital and back again. we will see a lot more of this. in response, the insurance companies, i think, will have to do something similar. they will say, look, we are an insurance company, we will get doctors and hospitals to work with us, and we will become integrated the liver systems. -- integrated delivery systems. you already see that trend. well point bought a provider network called care more, part of you -- and a part of united doctors primary care

they employ. they will morph from what they do now, provide insurance and pay doctors, to much more providing the whole care. that is what i see by 2025. today in "thee new york times" this morning, yup that session, "in health care, choices overrated." guest: what are the problem is that we think we can decide a quality person by our choice. we have very little data on which to base our choices. it is not the most important thing. the most important thing is going into a system that we trust is going to provide us good care right from the start. a lot of the choices i see down the line, as i mentioned, you will decide, do i want to get all my care with cleveland clinic? do i want all my care with johns hopkins or mass general? they will provide doctors, hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, home health care agencies. i think that is the way we are going, that you will make a fundamental choice about which

network of doctors and hospitals you want, and that will be the key choice. within that, the actual particular doctor, etc., is not so important. the worry about narrow networks is slightly overblown now. to calls,re we get tell our viewers what you are doing him. i teach at the university of pennsylvania and i continue to try to improve the health care system, and i teach my students and continued to conduct research. host: practicing still? guest: no, i'm not practicing anymore. too much travel is not good for caring for patients. host: eric in california, independent caller. you are on the air, eric. caller: it seems like almost every part of the health-care bill has been extended. do you believe at the end of the month at the mandate will be extended?

talking to friends, when health care came out, it was a fiasco like facebook's ipo. things turned around there, maybe it will turn around also. host: let's talk about the exchange, the first 2 months where a fiasco. nothing anyone could be proud of. president obama appointed jeff oversee the repairs, they were able to repair. it is a work in progress and is functioning much better. there are a lot of situations where websites start and fumble and thena little regain balance and go on to be successful. twitter was a good example. usedt is incredibly widely

and very good. i do think the exchanges going to get better. people are going to be happier with it. if you look outside the federal exchange two piec -- if you look outside the federal exchange two places like california. exchanges that have exceeded the expectations of people signing up. you can get it right and create a shopping experience for people that they like and that makes it easy for them to buy insurance. i am quite positive for the long-term on the exchanges. a headline from reuters. the house voted to delay the obamacare penalty for not enrollment, the individual mandate. fort: that is critical getting people to sign up. we know that voluntary insurance, even when you give people subsidies, is not as good as a mandate.

is criticalmandate to making sure that the exchanges are financially solid and stable and do not go into a debt spiral where only the sick itn up and the healthy think is too expensive. we will have the individual mandate. i do not see a suspension of that. host: another headline that broke last night. health insurance regulator gary cohen set to resign. he testified on capitol hill about the rollout of healthcare.gov. health insurance regulator was accused by congressional republicans of misleading them before the start of the insurance website. director iwn as the center for consumer information and insurance oversight. the website, the exchange -- it is more like an e-commerce site like amazon.

it needs to be run like that. you need a ceo type figure who can get up every morning and focus on what is best for the customer, how to get more organize in, how to and regulate the product being sold. that person needs to be in charge. successful again, as exchanges at the state level, they cap typically been run by someone who is a former insurance executive or someone who has got experience running a previous exchange. that is the model we ought to go for. this is like a business. you have to constantly be innovating and improving the product. it is not like a government program that once you have got the rules you just administer it. it is a constant effort. host: on our line for democrats, scott in new jersey. caller: hi.

i am unemployed. i am in my 50's. the ones that lost their health care plan. i am one of the ones that could not keep my doctor. that is not a bad thing. in new jersey, i have been hurried into medicaid. prettys out medicaid is good in new jersey. thisncern is that until point i have been burning through my retirement pay for health insurance. because i have no income, i did not have the option of getting a subsidy and continuing to help pay for my insurance. i am forced into medicaid. last week, i was disturbed to find out that under existing law, people who are 55 and older of theject to having all health-care costs provided after

the age of 55 under medicaid. by the government under a current estate recovery law. i do not have income -- all i have is my estate. i am flabbergasted at the thought that the government is going to try to take my estate should i die after age 55 because of care i was forced into. host: ok. caller: what disturbs me is that they did not put it on the cover of the document. host: we will see if dr. emanuel has -- sorry this has befallen you. i am not an expert in state law and how this intersects with the medicaid system. i will not give information there. the structure of the law is that people are newly eligible for medicaid, under 132% of the

line go into that and people above that and can buy private insurance go into privateange and get insurance. on the particulars of yours and how it intersects the plane medicaid and your estate planning, i apologize but i am not sure i understand it. i do not think that is part of the affordable care act at all. either very predict it and was part of the original medicaid arrangement. was your role in crafting the affordable care act? guest: i was an advisor to the office of management and budget and i worked on particular bills in which i had particular expertise. the of them, as i detail in book, are related to how we pay doctors. some are related to the patient centered outcomes research institute. working on malpractice.

thinking much larger. for how on other things to structure the benefits, how to think about the exchanges and what the subsidies ought to be. you work on anything, any decision that needs evaluation. there are hundreds of people who worked on it in the administration. they worked on it as aids on the hill -- they worked on it as aides on the hill. there are many architects here. just that i happened to be defending it and think it is a positive turn for the u.s. there are hundreds of people who contributed to this remarkable bill. host: bill in michigan, republican caller. glad to speak up. i am amongst the heavy republican area. i have been very happy with my

obamacare or whatever you want to call it. like $700 ausly month insurance costs. i have been diagnosed with cancer.colon i have been really happy. it is better than i was paying $700 for and i am now paying $283. my medicines are covered. i have had good and easy access to care. the really happy with insurance compared to what i had before. first of all, i am sorry you got diagnosed with cancer but i am glad you are getting good care and your insurance is covering it. i think your story as saying it more than $400 on the exchange is a common one. i was in new york on monday and one of the individuals i ran saving $900 as month in new york getting insurance on the exchange.

this is quite common and we need to get that story out so people who do not have insurance realize they can get a reasonable and good policy for a lot less than they were paying. as you point out, good private insurance. offer private insurance like people get through their employers in the marketplace for people who do not have an employer. it is a good way of having competition and having people choose what plan they want. i am glad to hear you had such a positive experience even though you may have, and as a republican skeptical of the whole affordable care act. here is a tweet. cbo said the affordable care act is costing less than a productive. -- less than it predicted. in 2010, itedicted had to estimate what would health insurance premiums be. health care inflation has been

low, coming down over the last year. to the rise in the economy and gdp. premiums are lower than the cbo expected. the consequence is we are spending less money on subsidies. money being spent on medicare and medicaid so the total expenditure for the whole health care reform turns out to be less than anticipated. there is a think tank, the center for american progress, where i am a senior fellow, they estimated that over 10 years it would be $190 billion of additional savings because of a slowdown in the health care inflation rate. what we have is a built working better than anticipated. i would remind viewers, especially republican viewers, the cbl always estimated that the affordable care act would reduce the deficit. every proposal the republicans the come up with to modify

affordable care act increases the deficit. this is a situation where we got a comprehensive health care bill and we are contributing to a decline in the deficit of the country. that is also a good thing if you care about our children and grandchildren. host: let's talk about republican alternatives. proposed one. i will show you a little bit of what senator hatch had to say on the floor in january. [video clip] >> one of the most absurd parts obamacare is that the majority of people it covers are in medicare. threatens the program. theplan is similar to

medicaid land chairman upton and myself about last year. currently, taxpayers have an open-ended liability to match state medicaid spending. this is a driver in medicaid's budgetary challenges. our proposal would create per capita spending caps. similar to what president clinton and many democrats in this chamber supported in the past. dollars follow the patients. this is coupled with flexibility for states to manage their medicaid populations. that, to give those on medicaid the option of purchasing private health insurance, more frequently accepted by quality doctors. host: dr. emanuel? guest: you have to be the only person who remembers this

republican alternative. ago andnnounced a month they disappear. the moment you unpack what they proposed, it was unpalatable. i wrote an op-ed in "the new york times" indicating that for the average american in the 28% income bracket, that would cost them $1500 in additional taxes. it is not a good deal. as a consequence, people realized it is no bargain and it disappeared without a trace. you might be the only people who are member it was ever introduced. this is a consequence -- we repeatedly get republican proposals that are half-baked. the moment you look under the surface they are really undesirable. the real reason republicans proposalme up with a to counter the affordable care act is fundamentally because the affordable care act is there kind of health care reform.

it sets up a marketplace, allows private insurers and health systems to compete in offering a premium to people and giving them coverage. and driving down prices and organizing better care. a market-based approach, competition and choice for consumers. what is not to like if you are a republican except for the fact it has the name obama attached? embrace a market-based approach. host: kim, texas, independent caller. caller: hi, dr. emanuel. thank you for all you do. i have lived in texas for 52 years. my mother, everybody, we have seen the whole system. the question is -- well, it is basically my case. -- indisabled when i was 2000 i got my back broke. they spent 10 years putting me

on different medicines. i told them they were killing me. i want on marijuana for myself. i was able to detox, i almost died. i can walk now. my doctors cannot discuss it. they are so afraid. it is ridiculous. i have seen the system. people pray to get any kind of health care. it is expensive, i have been paying $700 a month for the last 15 years. you want to stay optimistic that when doctors cannot discuss your files. i have a complete data on everything i have ever done and how my back was broken. even the tronics -- even three stimulators and my spine. it is hard to stay positive. really reminds us of why we needed the affordable care act.

people talk about problems now. 2009 it is not like we had a great system. 50 million people were uninsured and we had a high rate of hospital acquired infections. we had paper records so we could not find information. we had insurance companies 39%, asup rates wellpoint did in february 2010 just before the affordable care act was passed. wedid not have a system could be proud of. we are changing that system. one of the points i did not mention and your comment about records. in 2009ulus bill actually contained incentives for doctors and hospitals to adopt electronic health records. now 80% of doctors have an electronic record, a huge increase. as a part of a brick and a foundation for using the data,

not ever losing an x-ray or a record, there are some positive gains. need to beth records improved? absolutely. as you point out, we did not have a great system. we had to reformat. the reform is not over, it will take more years to restructure and make sure people like you get the highest quality care and do not have to self medicate and decide for yourself what the right care is. host: you also write that technology will lead to one of your six megatrends. digital medicine and the closure of hospitals. what do you see happening here? the rise you look at of digital medicine where people can get -- they can take a picture of a skin rash and have a doctor look at it and diagnose it by that picture. they can decide that is really serious, i need to see you. kaiser in california has begun

using this digital work for dermatology. they have been able to increase 50% the number of patients seen by dermatologists this way. you will have more efficiency. monitoring patients at home eight ifusly on their w they have weight related problems. being able to intervene and not wait for them to come into the hospital. and kind of transformation how we get information about health to doctors and nurses and to the health system will transform how we care for people. more care will shift out of the hospital to the home and other settings. we will keep people healthy and prevent them from coming into the hospital. readmissions, you are discharged and come right back within seven or 10 days, that will go down and has gone down. hospital acquired infections that delay people from leaving the hospital, those are going down. lots of factors that are going to make the number of people in a hospital go down. the needoing to see

for not so many hospitals. take this state of vermont, 400,000 people out there, 11 hospitals. no need to have 11 hospitals for 400,000 people. some of those hospitals will close. take over.e will what you are going to see is a lot more of the care going to the home and outpatient clinics, that will be a good thing. no one wants to be in a hospital. they should not be looked at as -- we can keep this people healthy. clinicospitals like mayo are really trying to make a push on telemedicine. is it going to be that kind of hospital versus the smaller hospital that can do this? guest: of course. the great thing about larger hospital is is they have all the specialties there. the resources to analyze the data and to put it in the right place so you get

the best specialist advice. those are going to be -- this will be a big improvement for care instead of getting care at a small hospital that should not be doing every type of medical service. you will be able to get care from the world's leading experts at some of our outstanding academic centers. host: tweeting in. aca wasbelieve primarily written for the insurance companies? senator sanders says all big bills are for big business." guest: no. i do think there is a place for insurance companies in the landscape. bookron number one in my says it is going to be a mixed blessing. they will be able to participate in exchanges but they will have to evolve and transform themselves or they will become extinct like dinosaurs. bill was fork that

them. if you like to know who the beneficiary of this bill is it is the american public. we will finally have a way everyone can get insurance. we will have better quality at lower costs. that is a big win. before you go, i want to ask you about another megatrends. the end of an employer sponsored health insurance? fewer than 20% of employees in the private sector will receive traditional and play sponsored health insurance. private companies now, there is no law requiring them to get insurance. they want good workers who prefer to get insurance through the employer. it is the best way of pooling, they do not get excluded. now you are going to have the exchange where anyone can get insurance, many people with subsidies will have a choice of insurance progress -- of

insurance. that allows a company to say i will give you a wage increase to buy insurance or i will give you this voucher for $10,000. you decide which health plan you want and use the voucher to pay for it. many workers -- this will be a big advantage. most workers who get insurance through employers have no choice. in the exchange you will have a lot of choice and you will decide what services you want. that will be desirable. for all people like me you are used to the old system and getting it through the employer, we might be hard to change. my daughter is 30 years old, she offered he buys everything on the internet. buying health insurance on the internet is not unusual. giving her more choice, she will like that. i see this as a generational issue. when my daughter is

41 and the majority of americans , you will see people be much more happy given the options they have to decide what kind of insurance they want without someone else deciding. i think most health policy economists think that will be a good thing. there are a few who dissent. i think that is the weight of the future and that will be better for the public. the choices will be more meaningful. interested inre the future of health care, the book is "reinventing american health care." dr. ezekiel emanuel, thank you very much. guest: thank you for having me. host: we will talk to representative reid ribble of congress. right after a news update. afghan officials say an american drone strike has killed

five afghan national army soldiers and wounded eight more this morning. a spokesman for the government of logar proffitt says the strike was a result of poor coordination between people on the ground and drought operators. the area is frequented by insurgents. american officials will investigate. the white house is imposing visa restrictions on russians and it says are threatening the sovereignty of ukraine. president obama has signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against individuals and entities responsible for activities undermine the democratic processes or institutions in ukraine. the white house announcement comes as western nations have been meeting on a response to russia's intervention into ukraine. we will hear more on this situation at 9:00 a.m. eastern when the house foreign affairs committee meets to hear testimony from government

officials. california republican ed royce chairs the committee. the ranking democrat is new york representative eliot engel. live coverage on c-span radio and c-span3. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. 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 coverage of the u.s. house. a public service of private industry. created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. watch us in hd. like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. "washington journal" continues. host: we welcome congressman republican of wisconsin. he sits on the budget committee. president obama unveiled his proposal for 2015 on tuesday.

he was talking about it yesterday as well. he is out rallying support. what was your reaction? all budgets, you are making a statement of values. he is making a statement of values. it is more of a campaign document it seems. the budget agreement signed into law a few months ago by the hegress and the president, seemed to ignore it. that was surprising to many of us. we thought he would try to use those baselines but he did not. taking a look at some of the good things. should we can agree we invest more in disease research. diseases like alzheimer's cost the american taxpayer a lot money and are devastating to families. more in research for those, that makes sense. we can really reduce costs down the line if we can't cure these diseases. the idea of investing in

infrastructure makes a lot of sense as well. that is a broad agreement the earned income tax credit does work to help people of lower income jobs get into the workforce. you can move up the food chain faster if you are employed. on the negative side, he never adjust anything with entitlements, which are the real systemic threat long-term. deficit,ore debt, more and more taxes. it is problematic. it did not solve anything. host: on the areas where you say there is common ground, do you think it get done before the 2014 election? guest: we already have a budget agreement that is the reality. host: the current income tax credit, the transportation. guest: we have a two-year highway bill in place right now. in the political dysfunction congress, the house transportation committee was able to pass a two-year highway

bill. extension forfaa our airports. will continue. the good thing about transportation infrastructure, it is generally bipartisan. every congressman and senator has roads, bridges, harbors in their states. i believe we are going to continue to work on those things. host: the house armed services committee hearing from general dempsey today about the military's budget. what do you make of what the president post -- of what the president proposed? guest: i am nervous. it is a flat line. there is modest reduction and it does not grow. the budget wasat really designed around what the are.nal security threats as opposed to an ideological statement about where the country should be. i have concerns. we need to project strength and we are better able to have a

position that we are not going to war. host: when you say project strength, what does that mean? money on weapons we do not need anymore. -- theget, 496 minus budget, fortis parties it's my $486r -- the budget, billion for the defense the biggest piece of the pot. into: we started moving trying to restart naval strength around the globe. these things are being impacted. when you turn that down, there is an extreme cost. there ought to be a leveling on how you spend for advancements in technology. if we will maintain our position

of global leadership, we should revisit that. host: do you think this military budget reflects what is happening in ukraine? the tension between ukraine and russia? caught theink it president offguard. the president's foreign policy is an area of disagreement i have had. i think he is projecting the wrong image for the u.s. feel like the russians are placing president obama into a position where they ignore him. i do not think that is a good foreign policy position. host: do you agree with lindsey graham that you can tie this back to benghazi? russia is ignoring the u.s. because of what happened at benghazi? on the foreign services or intelligence committee, maybe the senator has information i do not have. host: what is the impact of the budget on your district

specifically. do you have military installations? guest: we do not have an installation, we have military construction. halfittoral combat ship, of them are being built in marinette wisconsin. there was a drawdown on lcs. lcs is a program that has reduced costs. the first one was a rustic center $50 million and it are now at about half that. if there had ever been a cost effective program in the navy, lcs has been it. it seemed peculiar. commentsof all the prior. republican caller. theer: considering all

money that has been spent fighting the war on terror, what rational basis does congress have for overlooking the science that the third tower on 9/11 was brought down by explosives. group that does not trust the investigation into the september 11 attacks. are conspiracy theorists on every catastrophe in this country. thereare those who feel is a conspiracy behind 9/11. i disagree. i think the science has been clear. the video has been really clear. host: texas, independent caller. caller: hi. of interviewing dr. emanuel this morning. i am glad he got some good information out there. for your guests now, though

won't think the republicans always want to cut -- what about paying your taxes? going back to when reagan was there. they want to cut taxes. no senior citizen today was born after 2000 when george w. bush cut taxes. how about raising taxes? i worked 50 years of my life, i am retired now. doing well. tired ofwell but i get every time a republican is on they went to cut. guest: thank you. i appreciate the question. you have not heard me say anything about taxes this morning. let's talk about it. taxes went up a year ago with the fiscal cliff agreement.

there were a lot of changes to the tax policy a little over a year ago. revenue coming into the nation's treasury is at its highest level in history. we do not have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. we need to address it from that standpoint. and the fact that congress has been doing that -- discretionary spending is now down to its lowest level since 2008. that is a step in the right direction. if we deny the reality of what our entitlements are doing to our nation's children. that is a future tax on them. we are putting your retirement security at risk and our children's retirement security at risk. we have to reform these programs so they protect you and them. it is not one generation. i am cautious about putting one generation against another. host: how will you vote when the house votes on a $1 billion aid package to you crying? guest: -- to ukraine.

guest: i will support it, it is a loan program. it says the correct message. host: is it adequate? good first step. the eu did $15 billion. it keeps us involved in the negotiations and is important. the: lots of stories in newspaper. "the new york times" and "wall street journal, go putting pressure on the u.s. to expedite the exporting of our natural gas. help ease europe off of their dependence on russia and put more pressure on russia. guest: if they are buying gas or oil from the u.s. or any place in this hemisphere, that will reduce revenue going into the russian treasury, which will put pressure on because russia is a

big exporter of energy, particularly to europe. it is a good strategy. front page of "the washington times," a history piece. 1981, there was a memo sent to the white house saying that a new part line from russia -- weakennew pipeline would bargaining in the future. biggestnergy is the component of international trade. everyone relies on energy, our cars move with energy. everything we do, energy is around us. there is a power-play play that can be done with energy, no question. host: mary on twitter. "is it a good idea to stop making tanks and weapons they do not need?" they say warfare

is changing. we are to be looking at what is the newest technology. what does warfare look like in the 21st century as opposed to the 20th century? the idea of reduction in building tanks makes sense. host: another tweet. "the military budget is higher than it was. we need to protect the u.s., not ukraine." inst: there is a sentiment the country, particularly from those who are more libertarian minded, that we should not be involved around the globe. there are two ways of looking at that. one is economic. use around the globe increases lobeeace around the g increases consumers that can buy american goods. a way to avoid war is to have enough strength so nations are given pause. host: another tweet.

that is the't know 10 tatian, i think most 10 tatian's to -- i don't know that that is the temptation. host: another tweet. explain the difference between discretionary and mandatory spending. guest: mandatory spending is protected by law. interest on the national debt, we have to pay it. any promises that have been made by one generation of americans to another. security, medicare, medicaid. the only way you can change those areas is to change the law. discretionary spending would be for education, commerce, transportation. we have choices about that. it is a smaller and smaller piece of the budget. only about 35% or so of all federal spending is

discretionary. president'ss the blueprint for discretionary spending in 2015. put together by "the washington post." olivia, alabama, democratic caller. caller: good morning. i want to make this comment. tired of the republican party -- i will not say everyone. i have heard certain the not making this statement. -- he is weak. need toll americans, we be a unified force with what is going on in ukraine. not the president of america, barack hussein obama is the president of america. we are tired of gop members he is theutin up like

president of america. president obama is the president here. host: we will take your point. a united front. guest: i think we have always had a united front in areas that deal with military intervention. unanimity andject a lettevel of togetherness. after 9/11, how together the nation was and how outraged we were. there are certain changes in the americanpool people together. i think we need to dial the political rhetoric down and begin to respect the fact that we are all americans and want the best for our country. we do see things through a different ideological lens and

feel strongly about opinions on how we can help the country. host: jason, maryland, independent caller. caller: good morning. i have a couple questions related to the budget. one, if the guest code exchange about the $1 billion loan to ukraine. and just how guaranteed is that? what are the terms for us ?etting paid back questio it seems criminal that we cannot take better care of our veterans. i don't know why the country could get behind a 20% reduction id to the world. let's keep that money here and get the treatment our veterans need. on the loan guarantee to the ukrainian government. the ukrainian economy is in big trouble. for them to sustain a functioning government they are

going to need financial resources and some guarantee. we are providing a guarantee until the ukrainian people, through their tax system and economy, can't pay it back. it is a guarantee on loans for the government itself. regarding your second question about foreign aid, this comes up quite a bit. there is disagreement on what foreign aid should look like. i can tell you there are legitimate reasons you do foreign aid. part of that is chosen by economics. elevate a third world country to a second-tier level and ultimately to a first tier level. a country dependent on foreign aid the comes a customer of u.s. workers. heartbeat, tothe elevate poverty and begin to mitigate it. data is pretty overwhelming that that has worked. a good question. host: ricky, tennessee, democratic caller.

you are on the air. caller: my question ash me being a single parent. i want to know when they are going to make a decision on employment. i have not received a check since january. host: you lost long-term unemployment benefits? caller: yes. guest: what state are you from? caller: tennessee. unlikely that long-term unemployment benefits are going to be extended. that is a political reality. state of tennessee has within its purview to extend unemployment benefits to as many people or for as long as it is determined. the u.s. economy is diverse. economy inn, the tennessee looks different from wisconsin or here in washington dc. a one-size-fits-all approach to minimum wage, unemployment, efficient, things like that,

does not fit the nation's economy. there was a reason that the extension has now begun to be peeled back. it is the belief it should be controlled locally. host: another tweet. "we cannot reduce debt without tax reform." think you will see gop taking action right now. if you look at the history of tax reform in the u.s.. i think it is dependent on one thing -- whether the president will leave. last time tax reform was done was when reagan was in office. he was willing to leave. the gop has put out a discussion document. it takes years, the last major tax reform took 10 years of discussion for the american people to work their way through it. tax reform is essential for growing the economy and i hope we do some things incrementally. host: you don't think it happens

this year? guest: i don't see any chance of that. this year?happens what gets through the house and senate? guest: some things on process reform. the house budget committee moved a bill of mine that would convert the budget process to a biennial budget, go into a two-year budget system. it is where any bill gets through the house budget committee and to the floor, only 11% do. it passed 22-10 out of the budget committee. if we can get a vote, the senate has done a census on that. we could possibly have one of the most significant budget reforms in the history of the country. that would take the political year, the even-numbered year, out of the budget debate. you budget the first year for a two-year cycle. this how do you respond to study that says biennial budget

would make it difficult for the president to respond properly -- tly topond promp problems as they arise. guest: under the current annual budget system we have to do supplementals when does happen. under a two-year budget system, we would do supplementals. there would be no change. it is a pretend argument. legislative aide to the ukraine, that would be something -- hit,: if another hurricane you cannot plan for those things. congress will act whether it is a two-year cycle or one year cycle. we are doing it under a one-year cycle. if we go to a two-year cycle, we will not be able to do it, that does not make sense. host: florida, republican caller

. you are on the air with reid ribble. this is my first time. what i want to know is why people do not see and a states well.y republicans doing the runs that are run by democrats are doing poorly. that is not the only thing. why don't we stay out of all these other countries and build a big army. like china. you are afraid of them. why don't we build something great that we will never have war, they will be afraid of us. and stay out of these countries. another thing -- if you look back in history. people that work for the taxpayers went out poor. you people that work

for the taxpayers go at millionaires. how come you never go down with your pen? -- with your pay? you are overpaid and you could help our country a little more. they started the country. a lot of you come in poor. ones that come in poor go at millionaires. host: ok. guest: on your last point, just to give you a point of reference. there has been no increase in member of congress pay since 2009. that is now five years worth where wages for congress have been frozen. i am not in opposition, but that is the historical data. regarding states that are republican versus democrat, i think you have a pretty good

example in wisconsin and illinois. wisconsin is controlled by republicans. three years ago, when governor walker came into office, there was almost a 3 billion dollar deficit, today there is a $900 million surplus. , chicagoto illinois has just had their credit rat ing downgraded. the state has not dealt with pension problems. host: barbara, texas, independent caller. caller: hello. on this budget process. i was under the impression that when we signed the last budget agreement that it would be for two years. -- i needer question you to expand on that. next question is when are we going to a zero-based budget? two good questions. the budget agreed to in december

was a two-year budget. it was a biennial budget, what i have been proposing. we do have a two-year budget. since that is the law we are going to live within that framework. it would require an act of congress and the president to overturn it. host: we have a framework for 2015 and place? do.t: we whatever comes out of the house budget committee will be in alignment with current law. that does not mean we will not make a statement on the out years. we have to address medicare and social security at some point. host: when will that come out? by april 15. the house budget committee is meeting now. host: the budget committee came to an agreement on two years but it is now in the hands of the appropriators? guest: correct. the budget goes to the appropriators. the budget says the top line number for the 12 department and agencies. the appropriators appropriate

the specific dollars to them. hal rogers and his committee are hard at work to bring appropriations bills. each appropriations bill, in regular order, the committee works on it and brings it to the floor to be amended by members. it takes about a week. three or four days of floor time to get those done. i am hopeful we can do all 12 appropriations bills in regular order this year. host: a zero-based budget. now, the budget gets marked up every single year to adjust for inflation automatically. i prefer a zero-based land budget. what that does -- it forces me as a member of congress to look at an agency and say are you doing what you are supposed to be doing with the money you have? is what you are doing still relevant to our 21st-century economy? and then adjusting the budget. host: another tweet.

"to what extent does the committee considered the allocation of spending people want?" patricia, wisconsin, democrat caller. caller: good morning. i would like to see the congress and the senate, their pay, cut. and all their little perks. who pays for their flying back and forth? amount of time you work in washington is ridiculous. someoneny would pay that only works -- how many days a year do you people really work? you are either out getting money for your next campaign. this is ridiculous. host: we understand your point. guest: i do not disagree with you in respect to how you

understand it. your understanding is relatively accurate. if you consider the work of a member of congress to be just what they do in washington dc. is work i do in my district as important or maybe more important than the work in washington. the schedule we currently have is we are in washington for three weeks and we are in our district for one week. and so, the only way members of congress can stay in touch with their districts is to be in their districts. if we are in washington also time it is too easy to lose inch with what is happening northeast wisconsin. i need to be back and hear the voice of the voters and citizens so i can translate that into policy that is meaningful. it is an interesting paradigm. on the one hand, if you are in the district, they are saying why aren't you in washington working. if you are in washington, they say why are you in the district. it is both if you do it

correctly. host: florida, republican caller . caller: hello. you look beautiful this morning. i have watched the program all morning. you look very nice today. host: thank you. congressmen, we have family and wisconsin. they own a couple farms. i was originally from michigan. getting back to the budget. i think we should stop all forms of foreign aid. 100%. i saw how much money was spent through the years, this should be going to the people. and the veterans. was wounded during world

war ii. he did not ever go for any help himself. hasmain thing is, russia always taken control of the east bloc countries. they always will. billion or any1 money going towards them. it needs to go towards our people. please. host: can i have you respond to this story. u.s. seeks flexibility with shrinking foreign aid budget. $46 billion for the state department. the state department saying they are struggling this only represents 1% of the overall u.s. budget. if you look at the trillions that have been spent through the years. the state department

needs to be investigated by -- there is too much waste there. there isb, i think waste and all levels of government. if you look across the 52 weeks, the last week of the fiscal year, federal spending spikes. there is a use it or lose it mentality within the agencies we have to get at. that is one of the reasons i offer the biennial budget. to your point about foreign aid. i ask that you look at it through a different lens. only 1% of the budget. the state department's work goes beyond just foreign aid. all our diplomacy happens through the state department, much of our negotiations for trade agreements happen through the state department. it is essential to american sovereignty. there is going to be some investment there. i think it is a legitimate

complaint by the american people when they are concerned about investments that seemingly have no payback. right now, we are having to reconstruct a lot of roads in a corrupt country named afghanistan. with a president who is not particularly cooperative. there are places we can lever for an a to do a better job. i would not be an advocate of cutting all foreign aid off, that would be a mistake and cost us more. host: texas, independent caller. caller: hello. to find out about some of the issues involving how the republicans usually would know.t, you spending on wars and foreign aid.

extending unemployment for americans. holidays, during the they cut that off. it is more political. is -- you ignore american people, workers. make endsrying to meet. they have children to feed. go.: i will let you the house is about to come in early. is a bit of a misnomer. foreign aid is a trend this morning. foreign aid is a tiny amount of money compared to the $550 billion spent on medicare. billion spent on social security. $80 billion a year on food stamps. the american people are extraordinarily generous to

themselves. the american people are willing to spend money on these things and pay taxes for these things. the idea of comparing hundreds and hundreds of billions and even trillions of dollars against about $40 billion -- the math does not work. i hear the point. i think it is a misunderstanding of where the money is being allocated. up when youen comes start talking about the federal budget. it is a call we get frequently and probably something you hear in meetings. guest: no doubt there is a misunderstanding of how much money we are spending on foreign aid. people think if we eliminate foreign aid we would balance the budget. it is not true. if you look at the president's budget profile, discretionary spending stays relatively flat, up about a hundred billion about $700 of billion. of wisconsin,ble sits on the budget committee.

thank you for your time. as we said, the house is coming in early this morning. we will bring you to the house floor for live coverage on c-span. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014]