you can also reach out to us online. good morning, everyone. this appearance is certainly drawing lots of controversy. many people, including some members of congress say that they actually think he should not speak at the gathering. here is a statement from congressman mike pompeo.

that letter went to the , we would of sxsw love to hear your thoughts again. hugh forrest is the interactive organizer for south by southwest

in austin. let's take a look at his response. e writes -- that is from the interactive director for sxsw. that is the interactive film and music conference held each year in austin, texas. a deal pretty conference. let's go now to some of the headlines around that. in pr has a great take on this issue.

our first call this morning comes out of texas. tony is on our line for independence. tony, what you think about edward snowden's appearance? i look forward to it. i hope we are able to look at it. i think edward snowden is a type of hero because he has taken the chance to get information out there about the wrongs that are being perpetrated on the american people. it is people like edward snowden that are our only way

to fix this stuff. i would want the doors opened up so we can find out what is really happening. there is just too much corruption. there aren't too many lies and there is too much war mongering going on out here. the american people are not going to have a leg to stand on everybody spying on in the world. it is not going to be long before you have the whole world coming down on the united states, in my opinion. most want, what you to hear edward snowden address when he speaks later today? want edward snowden to unleash everything that he knows about. i want the american people to know exactly what is going on, and i want the american people to act on it. i want this resolved. thatt the corrupted people are destroying our country and allowing this to happen to be

taken out of office. they need to be prosecuted. they are violating our laws. there violating all of our constitution for their own selfish greed. i can't understand how long we're going to allow this to go on. another high-profile speaker at this year's sxsw festival, it is julian assange who is the founder of wikileaks. that from julian assange who

will also address the videoconference. he is at the ecuadoran embassy in london, also not in the united states. our next caller, what you think of edward snowden speech? aller caller: i have one question for the united states. why does the one-man to us and tells us that the doing states is still this still has his job. and why does the man who is exposing it having to hide for telling the truth? i want to look at how sxsw is billing the speech.

they say the conversation will be focused on the impact of the nsa spying on the community. next up is richard in malden, massachusetts. i'm waiting to hear what he will say. this government of ours is so corrupt and they are running it like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. they said they would interview nsa, but they won't come on because this government is so

secretive. we have no idea what they are really doing. we are not free and we are not open with the american people. i thank you for letting me speak. all right, let's go to some of your tweets. our topic this morning is edward snowden's upcoming speech at sxsw, the film interactive and music festival in austin, texas. he is scheduled to speak later this morning. our next call is from florida. it is from the democrat line.

i understand that guy from texas. the me tell you something. if we want our freedom, american freedom, edward snowden is a traitor. you are going to china and russia and tell them our business? the 50's, a long time ago, you are not going to talk on the phone about killing anybody are doing that kind of stuff. once they do, they need to catch you. not trying to hurt anybody so i don't mind them spying on my phone records. i love my american freedom, and with the technology that these how were they able

to bombard us on 9/11? you for letting me speak this morning. ray is on the line for independence from massachusetts. four independent -- for independents from massachusetts. caller: i think yuck to be tried and executed like benedict arnold. .e is nothing but a traitor if he likes being in russia, let him stay there, let his family go there. that is all i have got to say. i want to point your attention to a story that is on the front page of this morning's "usa today."

next call comes from jacksonville, florida. fran is on our line for democrats. say that ialled to really don't want to you anymore from edward snowden. isnderstand that america upset about him revealing that the government has been spying on americans and looking into our personal business, but it is another thing for them to be

revealing what we are doing to foreigners and people in other countries. that is what the nsa i thought was about, a security agency. they're supposed to be protecting us against outside interests. i understand that he is revealing all the stuff about us and we are upset about that, but at oddsold world is knowing what we are doing with them. what is the point in having spies if you have someone within your country telling the whole world that we are spying on them? russia, of allto places. no, i don't want to hear anymore about edward snowden. everybody should be upset about what he has done. fran, do you think the festival should allow him to speak? if you had a question to ask them, what would you want to know? to let himy are free

speak. i am just saying that i'm upset about him and what he has done. i don't want to hear what he has to say. he's time -- he is trying to come off as being just a concerned american. that is not what the outcome has been. he has revealed too much to the whole world, and the fact that he has revealed to us what is been happening to us is not going to forgive the other stuff that he has revealed. june is on the line for . dependents caller: the extreme hypocrisy of edward snowden whining about, oh, the americans are spying on everybody. listen, russia is monitoring his very thoughts, ok? not just his phone calls and

whatever else. to leavewas not forced america. if he was really concerned about what is going on here, he should have stood before a congressional hearing and said , butand that and the other where does he go? bastion of freedom, russia. and before that? china. there's something very wrong here for people thinking that this man is an american hero and he is in the very country that is trying to get the world on the brink of another war because of their failure to provide freedom for people? , wean, edward snowden really need to pray for him and all of those that think he is this tremendous hero who has tried his best to destroy this very country that gave him the freedom to spy on us.

--host ay god bless him host: aren't next caller is steve. here's on the line for democrats. caller: my wife and i are here on ocean short. tip of thethe iceberg. let him speak, but he seems too scripted. fukushimaoncern is to nuclear disaster and why the bouys were turned off. people need to go to global sky watch on facebook and see what is going on. anda is admitting srm's chemical cloud seeding. i would like to know why our reporter has a gag order on this

. as i first thought of it, i went to our reporter and he told me again, our topic this morning is edward snowden's upcoming speech at sxsw in austin. please keep your tweets coming o. next up is ashley. she is on our houston, texas line for democrats. is a very liberal city, first of all. i am not surprised that they would have something there on snowden. i have no use for snowden.

as far as i am concerned he is a traitor. anyone that takes our things and take some abroad. i would be real worried about this with russia invading ukraine and all of the things that are going on. i have no use for edward snowden. i think he is a traitor and i think he should be in jail. i thank you. clarion, pennsylvania on the line for independents. what do you think? congress knows about it and i am letting you know about it or it i think it is wrong. i don't understand these people with this attitude that he has done something wrong. the daniel ellensburg of our time. if daniel ellsberg had not

pointed out that that war was only for defense contractors to make that kind of money, we would not have known. about russia this , heing, over the weekend was asked whether russian president vladimir putin saw a weakness from president obama. let's take a look at what he had to say. [video clip] playing -- is paying a clear cost. president putin is acting out of a position of weakness. understand what has happened here. this is gone on for several months now. country that was taking aggressive action against its own people has left a government that is more oriented toward the in here that is

what president putin is afraid of. i think what you are seeing is the united states leading in this effort, and the president doing the leading. somehowon that this is the result of syria makes for a little sense to me. this is about ukraine. >> the suggestion is that the president looked weak in syria. >> the russians went into georgia and took over territory there under the bush administration when there were hundreds of thousands of american troops deployed in iraq and afghanistan. didn't stop the russians from going in. that is because this is not about what we do or we say in the first instance, it is about russia and its perceived interests. we made very clear now that there is a choice russia has to make any cost it will pay if it continues down this path. i think the impact of what we

have already done in terms of the pressure on russia has been significant. it will go stronger, but it is also the responsible thing to do to figure out if we can resolve this in a diplomatic way. that is why we have offered a path forward that will take into account russia's concerns. cannot change the status quo through use of force. host: that was from this weekends cnn's state of the union. aboutepublican was asked what president putin really wants. [video clip] is scoring huge points on his foreign-policy. i think that has bolstered his ability to try to be out of the box when he does something like put troops in crimea. i do think he wants to be back on the world stage, he wants to

be a world influence. if he has to do it through brute force, he will do it. that is his mentality. we should not underestimate the kinds of things he will do, that he thinks is in russia's best interests. a differentt was century and the administration thought well, if we just act nice everyone will act nice with us. that is unfortunately not the way that resident who team and the russian federation sees the rest of the world. host: house intelligence committee chairman mike rogers speaking on cnn this week. neil, what can we expect to hear on capitol hill today? it is a slow start to the week as is often the case. , certainly for the c-span audience, will be that the senate plans to not come in

until 4:00 this afternoon, but once they start, they plan on spending all night in session. there is a large group of democratic senators, at least 28 members of the democratic caucus so far, who plan on giving for speeches around the clock, basically, on the subject of climate change. this has been in the works for a few weeks. this thursday they finally locked it in and finalized it. they are going to be in session all night, probably until at least 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning on tuesday with speechmaking about climate change, as they burn through some unrelated to big-time on a circuit judge nomination. are the biggest votes you're watching this week in both the house and the senate? side, over on the house

there are two highlights of the week. one is a set of bills that are address what house republicans view as an undue overreach by the obama administration in not enforcing laws. they want there to be more transparency when the officials opt against enforcing statutes, particularly at the justice department. they want to be able to have standing in order to sue to try to get laws to be enforced if possible. the other thing that is big in the house this week is that i weeks and they are supposed to wouldp legislation that maybe once and for all resolve fix.o-called doc

is an issue of doctors treating medicare patients for long-standing situation where they face a cliff of payment on a basically annual basis. they want to resolve that, and that is on the agenda for the week. now once the senate is done with the climate change speeches, and once they're done confirming a few judicial nominees, we might well be already at wednesday. it is a week leading into a recess. it is not clear how much we will get done. in theory, they will do a child care and development block grant reauthorization, but that seems like it could all get pushed .side right before he came on, you were discussing the situation in

ukraine. the senate is looking to do something probably before they authorizationg an of additional aid to ukraine, and maybe something on the realm of russian sanctions, anti-russian sanctions. that would probably trump everything. how contentious is that? is that expected to pass easily? what are the politics there? guest: it will probably pass easily once it is put together. mature --eem for chair members men and this and corker would get easy passage. on thursday, secretary of state john kerry is supposed to be making his regularly scheduled

appearance to review the state department budget and the foreign aid budget with the state and foreign operations appropriations subcommittee which is chaired by patrick leahy of vermont. --re is a kerry citing i wouldn't be surprised if that veered off topic into news of the day. we have been talking with neil's less new ski who covers -- weast for roll call have been talking with niels lesniewski.

house republicans rebuff the president online reset include a separate package of loans from the fund. next call comes from flint, michigan. snowden isink a traitor any more than is cheney or bush or rumsfeld. thank you. host: next call is ron. he is in deadwood, south dakota. i haven't really made up my mind if he is a traitor or a

shouldut i think they let him speak. i would like to hear what he has to say. you never learn anything if you don't listen. host: ron, if you could ask edward snowden one question, what would you ask? caller: i would like to know what his ultimate intentions are , and keep austin weird. thanks. our next call comes from dearborn heights, michigan. independent line. hey there, you are on "washington journal." are you with us? we could have dealt with it and then we could listen to it. if he wanted to stand out, we could have taken her to court, and he should have stood up like a man. but when he took it out of the

country, we don't need that over there. if he had good intentions for america he would've kept it in america instead of taking it out of the country. host: more of your tweets coming in again. next up, in trenton, missouri, robert is on the line for independents. what you think about edward snowden's speech? caller: i think we should let him speak. fair promised an open and government. backdoorall these conversations and such. we were promised an open and fair transparent government.

i don't believe snowden is the traitor. i think he saw the corruption that has been going on and tried to wake america up to it. everyone also watching the story about the malaysian jet that is still on found. hear from the "wall street journal."

next call on our topic this morning is isabella in weston, massachusetts on the line for democrats. would like to say that i think edward snowden is a real american hero and he is done our country and the world a huge favor in letting us know what is really going on. criticizingead of for being inn russia, we should probably realize he would be in jail for revealing our secrets here. or we really need to be focusing on is what he has revealed, which is outrageous. i hope that our government will up their actning and abiding by the constitution. host: why you think so many people are so upset about the idea of edward snowden speaking at south and southwest and having public discussions about his disclosures? theyr: well, i think that

are comfortable with the way that he went about this and they are not really thinking about what it is that he has revealed. i think if they did, they would be more uncomfortable what our government is doing than what he has been doing. in terms of calling him a traitor, this man has basically given up his life to save his country. that is why so many of us feel that in fact he is a hero. i hope that someday he will be coming home to america and receive the thanks that many of us would like to give him personally. our next call is also from massachusetts. kevin is on the line in boston on the line for democrats. caller: i don't think snowden is a traitor. in thisut people here

country who talk about our president? the congress disrespects him. when you hurt america, you hurt the people. those who are of hiding their money offshore? don't want to pay their taxes or do anything for the american people like the republican congress. they don't want to do anything. they need to be standing right beside edward snowden if you comes home for treason. they need to be standing right beside him for treason, two. treason, too.or thank you.

our topic this morning is edward snowden's upcoming speech at south and southwest. for democrats, the number is 85, 3880. -- is 202-585-3880. our next call is on the independents line. i would just like to say

that i do not believe that edward snowden is a traitor. i believe that if they had not classified him as a traitor he would have stayed in this country and stood his ground. but when he was pushed out by the government because of these other countries, that was his only course. if our government had done him right he would not be there. host: robin, what would you like to hear edward snowden say when he speaks in a couple of hours? caller: i would like to hear him speak about them -- he came to try to attack the american , and the government made him out to be a criminal. he needs to stand up with that and stand up and say hey, the people that are putting this title on me, we need to look at these people. that is what he needs to do. line next, eric is in the from laurel,ts

maryland. caller: clearly, he broke the law, but what he is bringing to light is that our government is trampling on our freedoms. i'm glad i followed the last caller. as far as all the things that he has brought to light, i think it is great. countries know that we are spying on them? of course. gestapo,act like the you are the gestapo. if i could just ask mr. snowden one question, i would ask him if he thought is worth it. i think he is a hero. next up, travis on the line for republicans from phoenix, arizona. caller: i'm amazed that anybody could think about that. he has jeopardized so much for our military. have a job somewhat similar to what the nsa does.

you guys don't understand the amount of work that goes in and the amount of checks and balances that goes into ensuring at u.s.one is looking citizens. what the nst does, it is helping us save lives. understand why people think he should receive asylum after everything that he has done. host: so you don't think edward snowden should be going to conferences like this and speaking out anymore. caller: i do think he needs to be brought to justice. one more tweak. next caller comes from here in washington dc anthony is on the

. what youndependents think about edward snowden's speech? don't: first of all, i think he is a traitor. i respect what edward snowden has done, because he had the cojones to do what so many of us are afraid to do. everyone knows. he did not sit idly by and let the government trample on us. john from corpus christi, texas is on the line. morer: we need a thousand edward snowden's to tell the full truth about what is going on in this wicked, corrupt system that we live in here. to those who say he is a traitor and say you should have stayed here and spoken out here in the u.s., there's no forum for him to do that here. in the corporate controlled

media, there is no way he would have had a voice here. we need 1000 more edward snowden's. thank you. tennessee,mphis, beverly is on the line for democrats. anyone who thinks he is not a traitor is a fool. he is despicable. here are some more tweets. you can always find us on twitter. this weekend, as you all know, was the conservative political action conference just outside of washington.

from- next caller comes georgia on our line for democrats. good morning, how are you doing? good to be on c-span this

morning. i am a veteran. . served in the war i was in classified missions that i was afraid to talk about. any time that you get a man that takes information and takes it to a foreign country and you have people in the united states saying he is a hero? the people of united states are crazy if they think that man is a hero. they don't know what kind of documents that man has given to russia and china. countries that do not like the united states. people need to sit down and think about what this man is doing. people need to start to know about what president obama did. this has been going on for a long time. i was in war when bush was there. i member people talking about -- the same way that

people were talking about president obama. it made me sick to my stomach to your american people say that hero.an is a durn i think he should go to prison. he is putting us in jeopardy. thank you and have a blessed day. to jamaicae will go plains, massachusetts. fran is on the line for democrats. if snowden was really trying to do something to help the citizens of the united states, he could have gone and addressed that with congress, the senate, the cia, the ei, his congressman. to travel. avenues that is number one. number two, he didn't even know

what was in the stuff that he stole. that he didn'tch even know what was in this. number three, he did not leave this country and go to hong kong because we were chasing him out of here, he went there before anybody knew you was even going. this whole thing was preplanned. it was on the web. i don't believe everything on an web, but there was article on the web about the fact that he purchased a scraping tool so that he could do what he did with those documents. purposely applied to that intelligence company so that he could do what he did. host: our last call from this segment comes from waterbury, connecticut. joseph is on the line for independents. caller: if he had stayed in this

country and revealed what he revealed, he would have been imprisoned the next day. i think he is a hero. he would have been muffled and gagged. government may have ,ven declared him a terrorist which would have given them permission to torture him and maybe render him to another country and tortured him. guidelinesery strict on what you can reveal and what you can't. you can't even apply for credit if you work for the nsa and tell them where you live, i mean where you work. he would definitely have been in prison immediately, gagged, tortured and may be rendered. that's it. they have books of the library about the nsa. they have a brick written about

.5 years ago by nsa insiders all right, we're going to take a quick break. when we come back we will be joined by national journal's nancy cook to discuss the latest jobs report and other news coming from capitol hill. later, alex wayne will join us from bloomberg to discuss the economy. ♪

>> if more than one entity manages the key identifiers of the internet, then by nature the internet will no longer be one that. one net.o longer be the heart of the system is the root services system. people appreciate that in order to resolve names on the internet, there is an actual root system that makes that work for the entire planet. arehe root, all names resolved to make sure that when address, you go to the exact site that c-span wants you to go to all the time, every time for the last two plus decades. the head of the interim -- internet corporation for the assignment of names and numbers. tonight on the communicators at 8:00 eastern on c-span two.

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 gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house all as a public service a private industry. we are created by the cable industry 35 years ago and funded by your local cable and satellite provider. watch us on hd, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. "washington journal" continues. host: joining us now is nancy aok energy is in -- is correspondent for the national journal. by talkingtart out about the jobs report. 170,000 jobs added very tell us what it means. was an ok report. 100 75,000 jobs is a respectable amount to be added. there were some other bright spots. the average hourly wage has gone

up. there were some great jobs added in professional business services. the bottom line is that if you don't have a job, you are still really at a disadvantage. the economic recovery is still really slow. there are 3.8 million people who have been unemployed for six months or more. there are still a really high --mployment rate among teams among teens and african-americans. if you're doing ok, you're still doing ok. there are a lot of people being left behind, but that is what the job support continues to show. there are close to 4 million people who basically have been out of work for six months or more. that means skills deteriorate heard it is a lot harder for people to reenter the workforce after that. it means that economically it has a huge impact as it means is people are not working, they are not paying taxes as high as he normally would. it also means they are not contribute into the economy in a productive way. that is not great for us over the long run. host: let's talk about the

specific sectors that are adding jobs. ,pecial business services 79,000. what do you see in those numbers? guest: those numbers are pretty good this month. special government employment has been dropping over the past year. as you have seen federal spending going down, the fact that jobs of an added is a great thing. those tend to be higher wage jobs. what you have seen over the last five years is a lot of the jobs being added are in lower paying sectors like retail or hospitality, tourism. those are more hourly wages. they are not salaried, they are not high enough to support a family. that is a problem over the long run. join in our conversation.

the numbers are on your screen. you can also find us on twitter. where is that debate on uninsured -- an unemployed workers now? it is a great political talking point. it really puts republicans on the defensive and makes them look like a party that is not paying attention to this problem . democrats will continue to push it. there is really not a huge area of compromise their right now. those benefits expired on december 28 or around then at the beginning of the new year. it just means that there are a lot of people who stopped receiving those benefits and will continue to stop receiving them this year. will we see new people on that list? guest: yes.

if you lost your job four months ago, you're not going to get as generous benefits. those benefits will get cut off. host: talk about income tax credits and how president obama has opposed expanding that. guest: this is an interesting area and a place of compromise. the earned income tax credit is basically a refund that goes to people. you have to be working, it goes to a lot of families. what president obama talked about was expanding it for people who do not have children, people who do not have children can receive the benefit now, but they really only receive about $500, whereas a family will receive an average of about $3000 a year. by expanding it, just means that these childless workers will be able to get a more tennis benefit. it is really an acknowledgment that a lot of working people who

have low-wage jobs, the economy is not working for them. this will give them a boost to those low wages. host: we're going to throw up a couple bullet points about that. let's take our first call in this segment. flow, new york on our line for democrats. you're speaking to nancy cook. will put you on hold and try to come back to you. next up is chris in memphis, tennessee on our line for democrats. caller: i disagree with your speech.ctive

i am unemployed and not by choice. looking at my social media, things made of several billion dollars for people. they are not offering one opportunity in return. in closing, our president himself and his committee. i think you should make a correction to your comment anduse people are tired people like you are honest. i am so sorry to hear you are unemployed. i think it is a terrible situation. i wasn't meaning to imply that people aren't trying to find jobs. a lot of people are sending out dozens of resumes all the time.

there've not been able to find work are depicted as a problem that the parties are really trying to work on. they're going to need to work it on before the economy and get back to its full health. host: our next caller is ellen in saint augustine, florida on the line for independents. caller: i think it is government regulations and government overreach. there is no incentive to hire an american. if you want to make money, you can't do it here. you have to go somewhere else. maybe we could get everybody working again if we get the government out of the way. that is think definitely a viewpoint that a lot of republicans are try to get at with these anti-poverty pushes and their economic ideas. for instance, senator marco rubio later this afternoon is going to unveil some of his

economic proposals to boost the economy. some of those are things like lower taxes, less regulation, as a caller talked about. representative dave camp of michigan is the chairman of the tax-writing committee in the house. he has also unveiled a tax plan that is not good to go anywhere, but it has a lot of interesting ideas in it that would lower tax rates. ideasare a lot of those that the caller has talked about circulating. in aberdeen and we have a caller on the line for . dependents, caller: i work out of north dakota. comments onall your snowden. i guess i am -- how would i say this. i appreciate c-span and but i haveyou do,

worked my tail off. i am 52 years old. i have been on my own since i've been 16. my body is feeling the pain. i've done nothing but physical work. i guess my comment is that our congress, democrat and i have listened to everyone's comments. they come to work when they want to come to work, they do what they do when they want to do it. there are people hurting in our country. we are sending $1 billion over to the ukraine. where does it end? when we start taking care of us and our families? to recess now

after this week for two weeks. we have 4 million people out of work here. when the snow melts i will go back to work hopefully in may when all the ice is -- if you watch the weather channel you all know what is going on in the world. we do what we can do. guest: i think what the caller is talking about is a sentiment that a lot of people are very frustrated with as well. a lot of people feel like congress is not doing anything right now. they go on recess a lot. the fact of the matter is that they're probably not going to do a lot this year. it is a midterm election year. you go to score political points in those parties -- in both parties. there are a lot of ideas being thrown around. they're talking about senator and paul ryan. a lot of americans are extremely

frustrated because the economy is not where it should be. ryan,you mentioned paul the chairman of the budget committee. he recently started discussing poverty. guest: he hasn't put out a budget yet. in past years he has put out a budget rapoza for president obama. he did put out a long report detailing a lot of different problems with different poverty programs that he saw. he is going to talk more about different programs to combat anti-poverty. that is what he is saying he will do in his budget. we have not seen it yet, though. that is a push that he has been trying to make sense to 2012 presidential campaign. i think it goes along with what a lot of republicans saw after the threat of the government shut down this fall. their government approval rating really took a huge hit. house republicans in particular are trying to say that we are not just a party that wants to cut spending and argue about budget battles. to say they are a

party that proposes new ideas and he is a part of that. host: we have a call from california on the line for democrats. caller: manufacturing will return to america and how housing index is up. spending is down. guest: thanks. it is great to hear optimism from a caller and that you feel good about the way things are turning out. next is richard from florida on the independent line. caller: i just got through listening to donald trump earlier this morning. claiming actual

unemployment is somewhere around 22%. from what i've been reading from several different sources, unemployment amongst college graduates, 33% argue unemployed or underemployed -- this is the lowest percentage of workforce since the great depression. if the economy is good -- guest: there are a lot of things to pick apart. thecaller is right unemployment rate is twice as high for babel who just have high school degrees as it is for college degrees.

another key point is that the federal reserve is trying to figure out how long to keep pumping money into the economy when it is not sure how healthy the economy is ma unemployment rate is so high. that is a debate right now. what should be the benchmark they should use to measure the health of the economy since the employment rate is not quite the investigator. host: next from burlington, vermont, on the line for democrats. caller: good morning. i want to understand why the current administration does not attack business and outsourcing jobs overseas. jobs americans do at home.

they are outsourcing them overseas. that is having an impact. not understand why they don't tax these corporations. theof the problems unemployment is so high in this country. that is one of the major i like to ask. the federal government cannot really force employers to keep jobs here. it is the nature of the global economy at this point. president obama and the chairman of the tax writing committee in the house has talked about extensively reforming the tax go to get at some of these issues of how do you tax these global companies that do a lot of work .verseas it has been an issue both parties have looked at.

there is not a lot of political well. huge undertaking that would require a lot of politically unpopular decisions. looming,2014 elections people will not do that. the policy ideas are so -- floating around. us about a plan recently released. crisis plan was very interesting. it had a lot of different ideas, substantial ideas, and some of them surprising for a republican. one idea he talked about that got a lot of attention was an to tax big banks a little more. he would lower tax rates is getting rid of a lot of tax reductions people use for so peoplestate taxes

would not necessarily be able to take reductions they had. this is an interesting proposal he put forth. it not get a lot of traction. house republicans really distance themselves from it including john boehner. nothing about the policy proposals is they come out and can inform the discussion for years ahead. it will be a benchmark for which people talk about other tax ideas. >> florida, on the line for republicans. you are on. are you with us? we will put you on hold and try to come back to you. next is michael in new york on our democrat line. caller: two points. there was a gentleman speaking

about companies and jobs because of high taxes. -- bushhe books administration, they got a tax break extension for 10 years and created no jobs. this was before 2008. , articles written about these billionaires stashing their money from swiss banks, and i was wondering how that is coming along. release thee to being sassy?people i will take my answer off the air. >> thank you. a lot of good questions. write aboutically tax dodgers overseas. there is a great reporter who has written a lot of great things about the tax system. i would check out his work. the tax system is something a lot of people are concerned about.

a huges just not really amount of political will at this point to tackle that. but there are a lot of discussions. >> next is greg in virginia on the democrats line. >> good morning. thank you for this discussion. callers really hit on one of the main problems. america the most powerful purchasing market in the world still. not put terrorists on some of these foreign companies to allow them access to the market and great purchasing power. not as individuals, we're buying american-made stuff. it is hard to find things, but everybody is going to walmart and buying crap from china. you see a great economic shift from our middle class to china and that is just the latest. part of the problem is exactly

like you say, there is no political will. 435 people up on capitol hill. everybody says kicks -- kickbacks are illegal and they are the ones and their friends who are benefiting from this policy were people at the top are stashing millions upon millions of dollars we are sitting here and allowing it to happen. people do not vote or pay attention to the issues. a vote on social issues such as gay rights, which, what do i care what a gay person does, it does not affect me, but they vote against their economic interests. >> the caller is making a lot of points that a lot of people in this country feel. the callere themes expressed will come up during this election year. the caller talked about was the anger against congress, which has an all-time low approval rating month after month, and also the caller just talked about disdain for the gap

at this point between the rich and the poor peer that continues to grow. a lot of lower and middle class people feel like they have lost a lot of ground in the great recession and they really have not recovered it. haveains economically really gone to the top income earners. and just the top one percent of the people who have money in the stock market that has rebounded, investments, who own a lot of homes and things like that. those themes will continue to come up this year. there has been so much discussion about social mobility and economic income equality and trybos part -- both parties to resolve those issues. we will continue to see both parties talk about that on the campaign trail. >> i want to talk more about the earned income tax credit. mikeng at a statement bloomberg said, today, i join president obama where we discussed this budget proposal and his initiative to help young

black latino men realize their potential. -- to ask you about the last part of that. is this something we will see happen? >> i do not think it is something i will be passed this year, but out of all of the budget talks that happened last the expansion of the earned income tax credit is the greatest area of compromise amongst both parties. republicans really like it because it rewards working people and democrats have always

liked it because it helps low income people. it is a fertile ground for two is --s to compromise and it is something that exists. earned into -- earned income tax credits is something we are to have in place. it will be an expansion of programs that is successful. >> next is scott in ohio on our republican line. commenti just have a about what nancy has to say about obamacare affecting employment. a lot of businesses have said they have decreased because of obamacare. guest: i think it is a little bit too early to tell exactly what the affect the affordable care act will have on

unemployment. there have been a lot of glitches. it seems to be sort of working now, but we will not have a great gauge about how it is affecting employment and consumer spending, all these economic issues, until it has been rolled out for longer. we have more data to assess it. >> around 8:30 a.m. eastern, we our guest who by will talk about before look at. and economic correspondent for national journal. next up, ohio, where maria is on the line for democrats. say the reasonto why people cannot get jobs is because we have state and whatever, workers, they are their wives and sons, and you have the big

, they retire and come back and get another job making more money than what they was making when they retire. that is a problem we are having where people cannot get jobs because they're hiring their and they are hiring and coming back and making more money. i cannot really comment withat on the local level the local community. i am just not familiar with that. an is it -- it is interesting point and the caller expresses a general frustration with the ability for people to actually get ahead in this economy, regardless what those

roadblocks are and that is something a lot of americans feel. >> how regard these issues? the issues of the economic recovery and why is stalled and who's been left behind, how you help out working people, how you help out poor people, i think they will be the dominant economic and political issues in the 2014 cycle. it is partly because both parties really want to appear sympathetic and put forth policy ideas they think can help people. partly, it makes the party seem more sympathetic and overall. nobody wants to vote for a politician or party they view as heartless. these proposals give the party a little more in that sense. joe in texas on the line for democrats. caller: hello.

yeah. [indiscernible] why the testw people who put their money in the islands and stuff. something needs to be did about that. not pay your share of taxes. the caller is expressing frustration with the tax system again. it is easy for them to do that. money anda lot of teams preparing their tax returns. as i said earlier, both parties have really talked about reforming the tax system over the last few years. at this point, being so far in 2014 and so close to the midterm, where there is a lot of nervousness about who will

control the senate in the next two years, the parties are not going to overhaul the tax system at this point. >> our guest is nancy cook. you can call in -- the next call from some north carolina on our democrats line. caller: my name is james. with --lly concerned everybody is saying unemployment is at a stable level. you cannot say it is 7.5. it isve always got to say

20 points with everybody dropped out now. a long time ago, they would give you what the unemployment rate was and that was it. "but" now.lways a that makes people think we are not making no progress. ago, we are getting in unemployment report saying points andt was nine there were no butts. -- "buts." the caller is expressing the topline unemployment number everyone talks about does not necessarily give a full picture of what the jobs market looks like. have addedomy may 175,000 jobs, but the thing is there is still a ton of people and a ton of different groups of people who have a much higher than the toprate

line indicates. african-americans have an unemployment rate of 12%. few have a high school degree versus a college degree, the unemployment rate is twice as high. if you are a teenager, the unemployment rate is over 20% for you. the topline number does not really get at the nuance of all the different problems with the labor market. >> sean income cordia, kansas, on our republican slime. it looks like we lost him. virginia ondean in our democrats line. hello and thank you for c-span. my question is, i was wondering if there were any statistics on how technology replacing workers affects unemployment today. guest: i do not have those statistics on my fingertips but

there has been discussion on the role. i see it all the time when i go to my local cvs and i am checking out at a machine rather than with a person. that is a concern moving ahead. the thing is, technology is here to stay and it has brought a lot of great things into our life as well. a lot of advances. but it is a concern about what types of jobs it will displace. a lot of those jobs are lower that go to less educated workers who may just have a high school degree or less. it is a concern going ahead. john in moorestown, new jersey, on our independent line. i have a question for nancy cook. she mentioned multiple times about the political will in the capital. it seems to be a great disconnect between the political

will of people in the capital and the american people. she couldring if mention if she knows what the political will is of the people on the hill and why they have not done anything in years? thank you. capitol hill has done a few things. they reached a budget agreement that save jobs. the government shutdown this fall -- that was great with the democratic senator patty murray in washington, a real leader in the democratic party at this point, and paul ryan. there have been a few instances where people have done things. with the political will question, it is not necessarily because the two parties do not want to do things. the roadblock is that they cannot agree on how to do things. they both talked a lot up in the past few months about unemployment insurance and anti-poverty programs.

it is not that people do not have ideas and it is not that there is not a ton of political will for individuals, it is just that they cannot agree what the best solutions are for these problems and we have seen that year after year. in woodbridge for jenny on the line for democrats. know --i would like to i do not understand how poor people, not well off people, people who do not have anything, how could they vote for people year after year and keep them in office and all they are doing in office is doing the will of the rich people. people do not want poor people. they do not even want wealthy people. they want the country rich or poor. small business, they are the main reason we do not have middle-class. middle-class is declining.

not want to hire. they want to suck up and give a tax break. a nickel raise will break us. stuff like that. people gothese insurance. they make a lot of money. they would kill their grandmother if they could. i am wondering what is wrong with these people that keep on voting these people in because of buzzwords. i cannot explain why people vote for different people, there are a lot of questions that go into that. it is not just economic issues. their money on political questions and social issues like education and abortion. there are a lot of things that go into the reasons people vote for people. cleveland, ohio, greg, one for republicans. what you was wondering

felt about fair tax, that consumption tax, age 25 and s 25. it seems to be bogged down, not getting the light of day. tax, a sales tax, that has a rebate option for people up to their property level. it brings trillions of dollars from overseas back into our country. and helps create jobs, get rid of the multiple taxes, goods and products. people would not really feel the effect. it would be a 23% tax, but, without all the layers of taxes the cost for the product would not go up. to holdle would able our politicians more to account and we would be able to get rid of most of the irs. what seems to be onerous when it and, recently,ng

things in the news where they target certain groups. >> the caller is talking about a consumption tax. the things that people buy. policy proposal that has been circulating, and think takes for a long time. it seems very unlikely to pass or even really come up in the u.s. at this point. adding new taxes is not either party is really excited to see. even president obama in his budget when he talks about tax increases, there are tax increases on the wealthy or limiting deductions wealthy people can take, it is not introducing a home attacks. there is not a lot of appetite for that. john is on the line for democrats in michigan. caller: my comment is that i think the way to even the world playing field a little bit as far as jobs in the economy goes

is if the united states would stop importing goods from these countries that indiscriminately with noure things regard for the environment whatsoever. in the long run, it may raise but it wouldngs, also clean up the atmosphere and what brings jobs back to the country if it became more expensive to produce goods in foreign nations. is my comment. thank you. quest that is an interesting one. the problem with trying to manufacture everything in the u.s. or just buy u.s. products, for some people, that means they would pay higher prices on things. if you go to walmart and you are only buying american-made things, that means the prices will be a lot higher and that may not work for all americans trying to shop. interesting idea, but it does not seem like it is feasible in this global economy.

click next on the line for republicans is john. caller: good morning. that i havement is been watching this segment all morning. ratioced you are on a 4-1 for democrats to republicans. i have been trying since this program was on so i know republicans are calling. jobs and the the economy as i have see this coming for 25 or 30 years where, first of all, the jobs have been depleted because of all of the technology. it is plain and simple. every time you add technology, jobs will decline. as far as housing in this country, that is what has happened as well. you have given all of these these loans to buy houses

that they were not able to buy and then all of a sudden, the whole industry collapsed so you have got loss of jobs, loss of all of the employment in the housing industry, and those are the two main reasons our economy is going down the drain right now. i would like to hear what you say about that. thank you. guest: i agree with the caller someology has displaced jobs. moving ahead, there are a lot of ideas about how to help workers. it means workers, they're going to participate in the economy with more technology, more global economy, it means workers will have to have more advanced skills. there is a push for people to learn more math, science, technology, engineering skills. if you are going to be a

manufacturer, you have to have these high skills. and the value of a college degree is really important. that is on politicians minds as they propose and think about antipoverty programs, job training programs, and how to put people back to work. >> in illinois, jack is on the independent line. >> my question is, the supreme court today will start rolling on finance reform and i would like to know how the lady feels that it might help or hinder in changing job creation and all that stuff. class i do not cover finance reform specifically so i am not super familiar with what you're talking about with the supreme court specifically today. one thing that has been talked andt with financial reform the dodd frank bill, which sought after the recession to

put limits on big banks, is that finance reform, politicians view as important because you do not want another big bank failure. you do not want another lehman brothers collapse, because those tank thetimately helps economy and the housing market. there is a link. >> the last call from the segment is from south carolina. john is on the democrats line. class please do not cut -- caller: good morning. please do not cut me off. i want to ask this question click and then i have a comment. do you think you can live off $10 an hour? i think a lot of politicians and americans are aware it is tough.

caller: do you know the cost of local bread? guest: i do not know. caller: great. you said you could live off $10 an hour but you do not know the cost of the local bread. up --time something goes gas, everything goes up. walk in the store. you cannot buy anything. [indiscernible] raise my wage every time a raise gas so i can keep up. try living off $10 an hour for a month. talkingat the caller is about is basically that wages have remained flat for workers. not just people at an hourly rate -- wage. not remained flat.

conundrum,strating and that is what a lot of people are trying to think about with anti-poverty pushes and economic ideas. quest we will leave it there. nancy cook. thank you for joining us. quest thank you for having me. host: we will take a break. when we come back, our guest will discuss the affordable care act. the national center for learning jim will join us. >> eric holder is calling heroin related deaths a public health crisis. he says first responders should carry with them drugs --

opiate and heroine is affecting americans from all states and from every background and walk of life, his words. he added the number of heroin from 2006 245% 2010. on this day, when edward snowden at sxsw, the behavior of many federal employees was being focused on by u.s. intelligence officials. there is a plan to launch a system electronic monitoring. system would the tap into government, financial, and other databases to try to identify rogue agents, corrupt officials, and leakers. turning to the upcoming elections in afghanistan, a taliban spokesman says they will order their fighters to use all fours possible to disrupt the upcoming presidential election on april 5. a spokesman says claris across afghanistan are being told to

spread the word the election is an american conspiracy. the vote is seen as key to afghanistan posses ability that of financialad withdrawal at the end of december. we will hear more about the upcoming election in afghanistan later today when democratic senator casey speaks. you can watch the event live on c-span or listen to it live here on c-span radio. it begins at 2:30 p.m. eastern time. those are some of the latest headlines. entityf more than one , then by nature, the internet will no longer be one that. at the heart of the domain system is the root services system. people appreciate in order to resolve on the internet, there

is a root system that makes it work for the entire planet. all names are resolved to ensure www.cspan.org, for example, you go to the exact site c-span wants you to all the time, every time. of the internet corporation for assigned names and numbers tonight on the communicators at 8:00 eastern on c-span two. >> washington journal continues. .ost: our guest is alex wayne thank you for joining us. the obama administration made major changes to the health care. tell us about those. >> the big thing is if you're one of these folks who had their insurance plan canceled and then found yourself in a situation where you will eight -- you are

able to renew after all, you will stay in that plan for at least two doves more years long into 2017 if you're able to renew it in 2016. >> what was the reasoning echoplex the administration wants to give as much flexibility to folks to give americans as many routes to insurance coverage as possible through the exchanges, through plans you may already have, through work. is a worth knowing there congressional election in november. host: he think this could be a lift for democrats. guest: i am sure they hope it will. in the news, they named about one dozen democrats facing pretty competitive elections in the fall and said these folks have given them a lot of assistance on the policy. that is an unusual thing to do.

>> at least one republican has certainly made the suggestion. i will read a couple of comments from a republican in michigan who said the administration cannot run fast enough away from its broken promises. -- what is your take? guest: the administration says they are trying to be as flexible and pragmatic as possible. when problems arise, they want to address them as quickly as they can through regulation rather than waiting for congress to generally not do anything. representative upton posses complaints are not unusual. a lot of republicans around the country say the administration is stepping out of bounds on the things they're doing here.

there is a lot of question about extending these plants that would've been canceled, whether that is illegal. the ministration says so but there are independent lawyers in the country say there is not a persuasive test kitchen for doing these things. class health policy for bloomberg news. to join the conversation, call. -- talking about these latest delays, we heard gary cohen talk last week about why delay extensions for people. i want to listen to what he had to say and then break it down for us. >> we wanted to give people as many options as they could so they could stay in coverage. there has been a lot of discussion about the fact people who had health insurance were feeling the cost of moving into beew plan was going to

prohibitive for them, so we're trying to provide a transition. we're making a lot of changes in the market all at once. the last thing we want is to have anybody who has health insurance coverage to not have it here and we have done everything we can to provide options. those people can move into a plan through the marketplace if they are eligible for a tax credit, they may find it is less expensive than what they have. he recently said he is planning on stepping down. is resigning at the end of march, and he says that has nothing to do with the with obamacare rollout. it is the biggest overall u.s. health care since the creation of medicare and medicaid in the neck and 60's. the administration is trying to roll with the changes here, to be flexible, when these very difficult, very large

adjustments to the way people get coverage are made. the first call for the segment comes from new orleans. mike is with independence. death independents. -- mike is with independents. caller: i am an activist and it blows me away i listen to journalists who think they know what they're talking about and lied to us all away. i have talked in the past year. i am not exaggerating. i'm being kind. at least 500 medical professionals, from doctors, nurses, suppliers, you name it, i have yet to run into one, a single one, that is in favor of the poor -- the affordable health care act. i talk to someone who broke down and cried. she had been a nurse for 28 years and the affordable care act, and these are her words, are good -- is going to kill

more people than it will help the -- ever. it goes on and on and on. the entire thing was set up. i'm getting details every day from health-care professionals, death panels, primary care now. they're getting $35 to deliver a baby. the entiretroying health care industry. i would beg this so-called journalist to find one signal health care professional in favor of it. have a good day. i do not know what to say to the guy. the health-care profession, there are a lot of doctors opposed to the health-care law. i will go ahead and say there is no such thing as death panels. they are not in the law and they do not exist. i do not believe doctors are

being paid $35 to deliver babies. when we hear people talking about noncompliant plans, what do they mean by that. guest: the plants people were able to extend last fall, they might not comply with certain requirements under the affordable care act such as covering all 10 categories of essential benefits of the law requires, including maternity -- drugsscription jobs and hospitalization could not have been extended before the change of policy. host: the next caller is in nebraska on our republicans line. nurse. i am a i work in health care, but all i is they better straighten the law out before they ever introduced into the country, we would not have all

of this trauma or the political moves to do waivers. on and on a ghost. it is politically motivated and it is ridiculous. there is no health care and available, it is just health insurance. the law had an infamously strange route to passage where only democrats supported in congress and they had to do a totle maneuver at the end dodge the republican senator scott brown, who joined the senate in january before the law ever became final. fair that it is was a work in progress when it became law and they have had to do a lot of creative regulation, let's say, to get the law off the ground. let's go to west virginia. democrats. caller: good morning. off thelike to go

subject a little bit. this has to do with, are you aware the medicare supplement insurance program has pre-existing conditions in it, and it has been there for years? it has been underwriting since the affordable care act did away with pre-existing conditions, and it is still in medicare and nobody is bringing that up or doing anything to fix that problem? are you aware of that? >> the caller is talking about medigap plans, which cover benefits under the traditional medicare program, which doesn't pay for -- the not super familiar with program, but i do not think it is medically underwritten. i have gotten this call on c-span before from folks concerned about that. it is worth noting the president is looking to make real changes to require people to pay more for it if they get coverage, or

medigap covers all of your costs outside the traditional program. for some want to ask you more about the announcement from last week. what does it mean for states, are we likely to see them opening more exchanges or dropping them? >> another change they made in the look will -- in the lawn last week was they will have till the end of june to decide whether they want to create their insurance change. hours better. previously, the deadline was the end of january. june 30th of this year, they want to take over the health insurance exchange in november. they would have to be doing work now to make that happen. i do not know of any states the exchangeoin system or takeover the exchange themselves at this point. >> on our republicans line, dixon, illinois. question.had a it seems to me if you cannot

afford affordable health insurance, then most likely you will go back to medicare because of the subsidies and it might end up being more expensive than if you took to the affordable act. there are a lot of people who cannot afford the affordable act insurance policy. general, it will just go back to medicare anyway. i have a question about that. thank you for taking my call. you might be talking about medicaid. that is being expanded in about 26 states now to cover folks earning higher incomes just above the poverty line. it is a -- there is a clear demarcation in the law between ellsbury for medicaid and for the affordable care act insurance exchanges.

if you are not eligible for medicaid, you are eligible for insurance exchanges. if you are eligible for the insurance exchanges, you're not eligible for medicaid. it is not easy to fall back on medicaid if you do not fall back on if or book cap. next up in houston, texas, on the democrats line. caller: i was going to ask our the word you think will be reintroduced again? the only thing that has come true about the whole debate is that word has been eliminated. the delight of big business republicans. i do not know why democrats have allowed this to happen. the caller is talking about reimportation for prescription drugs from hump -- countries like canada. paper, butr put on

there has always been speculation that as part of the affordable care act, the obama administration may have promised the drug industry that reimportation would have -- not be brought up in a serious way by the administration and we have not seen it in his budget for the last four years as far as i know. it does not appear reimportation is anything anyone in congress is seriously considering right now. >> there is a march 31 sign-up deadline. how are things faring now? guest: they said in february they have for me -- 4 million people signed up by late february. we will find out this week how many people have actually signed up by the end of february. they are still hoping to get 6 million by the end of march. it will probably get a couple more million through the course of the year as people change

coverage, they lose their jobs and get divorced and have events in their life that require them to change coverage. they are hoping to have 6 million enrolled just in private plans by the end of march. host: how does the president's budget deal with the affordable care act? guest: there was not much in there posing to change the form will care act. much of his budget probably sees word -- were toward policies. he wants to cut spending in those programs to scale back growing costs. diana is in kentucky and on the line for republicans. caller: thank you. i just wanted to share my experience here. my husband's employer sent a letter in october that explained to us because we're turning 65

this year, our prescription drug plan with the insurance company is not creditable coverage. i had no idea what that meant. as a retired librarian, i have been do my homework. security'social website, the medicare website, medicaid and medicare website, i have called the insurance company, and the human resources employer, and i think i am getting there with answers, but i tell you i spent and ion this question what -- i think what i know right now is that you just d on medicare. you just have to take the whole package. histhat we know prescription drug coverage is

non-creditable, we have to dump our beautiful plan with the employer and go on to medicare. we could stay on until he retired at 66, but we are not going to be able to do it. that one little thing will affect a lot of baby boomers who are employed, paying for their own health insurance, and this small requirement will have all of these baby boomers dumped into medicare whether they want to or not, and that is what i wanted to share with you. thank you. guest: my parents were facing a similar situation a couple of years ago. does notpoint out that have anything to do with the affordable care act. seniors have faced this issue for a long time. 65, whether to join medicare immediately or try to stay on their employer plan.

it has never been smooth. the affordable care act does not make the health-care system any easier to understand, unfortunately. kathleen sibelius talked recently about how it would be fun the next year. take a look at what she had to say and then let's get your take. >> if congress funds the president's budget, written to the targets agreed upon by senator murray and this wouldive ryan, fully fund the ongoing implementation of the affordable care act. that proposal and hope they will indeed fund it. a lot of the $1.8 billion we have suggested is the appropriate target for implementation, is covered by user fees. 1.2 of the $1.8 iome for 2015. if congress fails to pass a budget, fails to implement the

president's budget, then we will at varying other sources of funding for the full implementation. so the administration has never had much luck getting mom -- money from republicans ever the house took over to met the affordable care act. they have been asking for $1 billion or more every year since 2010 to help implement the law and congress has always refused to give it to them. the administration has blamed that by the way for some of the problems they had with the rollout in the fall. in this case, the ministration is asking for $1.8 million next year starting in october, to enact year two of the insurance exchanges. they will not get that that they will have $1.2 billion they will collect directly from insurers for fees for using insurance exchanges. call from's from -- comes from cleveland, mississippi, on our independent

line. are you there? you on with alex wayne. caller: [indiscernible] or medicalicaid health, come down here in the south mississippi. know, the economy down your job wise, it is screwed up. some folks need this kind of help down here in the south. so many folks -- come down here and see how the economy down here, they do not understand folks down here need that kind of help. i do not think it is too much of a problem. mississippi is one of 24 states where the state or the governor has said they will not expand medicaid to cover more americans. you can blame that pretty squarely on your local state official there, although they say the medicaid expansion would taxpayers tooe

much money. that is where the blame for that lies. theout that expansion, caller is right, it is very difficult to qualify for medicaid, especially if you are a childless adult, and in most states, they are ineligible without the expansion. with children, 12 to 14% of the poverty line. let's go to chicago, marianne on the democrats line. caller: i wanted him to explain insurancef people lie that canceled people were canceled. it is easy to say because of the affordable care act. because they were going to cancel them anyway? i mean, you know, that guy calling and $500, he probably don't even know 500 people. i go to the doctor and i asked

my doctor, a real doctor want people to get help. they want them not to be sick. they love the people come in that are not sick. what about the people who do not have insurance and do not have health care? who wants a sick country? what is wrong with these people? thank you. >> before the affordable care act began on january 1, the caller is right the individual insurance market, which is what we're talking about these canceled plans, a pretty tricky market. in order to get coverage in the first place if you are buying insurance on your own, you generally had to be pretty healthy. if you had any sort of health condition like high blood pressure, an insurance company could either deny you coverage or charging more than your neighbor who is healthy. it was a pretty messy market to begin with and there was always a lot of turnover insurance.

some of the policies canceled would've been canceled anyway, just as part of the routine workings of the individual insurance market before the affordable care act. some of them were canceled because they did not comply with the new expanded benefits required under the affordable care act or some of the requirements under the affordable care act that limit cost-sharing in the insurance plans. the next caller is in kentucky. john is on the line for democrats. i would like you to comment, if you can, about the campaigning health insurance companies have had against the act. i am a perspective, firefighter and emergency medical technician in a large city. there is noe it, more six p -- sick people them there were before. no more injured people. the difference is now, more of them have insurance or more of

them are at least covered through medicaid now, whereas, in the past, they just called 911 every day and it was a greater expense for taxpayers and hospitals to pass on in terms of higher insurance premiums. >> yes. if you are seeing more insurance people on your job, that is exactly the outcome the president hoped for when he passed the affordable care act. right now, up from our seat in washington, we cannot really tell if the insurance expansions that are happening are all that broad. hopefully, that is what is happening. i do not know about insurance companies advertising against the law. a lot of insurance companies have grudgingly embraced the law. blue shield will cross especially our invested and

doing a lot of advertising in favor of the law to try to get people to sign up. the changesg about announced last week, how are they reacting to those? they're not real happy with them. they're told stu think they were not expected to do. the plans present something of a policy problem. before exchanges opened, the insurance had proposed rates for their plans and they are not allowed to change those rates. their rates had assumed all of these presumably young and generally healthy people who are on these legacy insurance plans would have been forced to sign up for a new affordable care act plan instead. the plans would have liked to price their rates a little higher if they know the old plans would be extended. >> the mess caller is in michigan. michael's on our republicans line.

caller: since you are an expert on the obamacare, number one, obama is taking money out of medicare advantage and number two, maybe you could tell our hasers how a law that become law of the land, how obama can just change everything he wants without taking it to congress. thank you. guest: the caller raises two good points. the law does depend on the financing for pretty big cuts to the medicare advantage program, a program in which private insurers provide benefits to elderly folks and medicare instead of those people staying on traditional medicare program. the law was passed there are government agencies here in washington who said the medicare advantage plans were overpaid compared to what the traditional medicare program costs. they were created by republicans in 2003 and democrats and the

administration have for a long time said they wanted to scale back what the plans were paid to help address the budget deficit. the law to take money out of those plans. it is a difficult question to answer if what the president is doing is legal. there are lawyers that are not republicans or partisan who question whether the changes the president has made are within the bounds of what the president can do. it would be settled if someone were to sue the administration over what they have done and it would be difficult to get into court. host: deborah in ohio on our line for independents. caller: i have a comment. grandchildrenlt who are in their mid 20's.

one is in college. the other -- o ne is still -- one is still in college and the other is in the real world and both of them refuse to buy anything that has anything to do with the aca. i understand that is a big problem with the affordable care act. young people being unwilling to buy insurance through the exchanges. question i -- the thisd to ask is, since first kicked in in november or over the last several months, changedt obama has just whatever he wanted to change whenever he wants to change it, which the previous caller made a comment on that. and i amike to know,

an independent -- does the president think that since the midterms are coming up that the american people are just blinded and don't realize that all of these recent changes are to strengthen the democrats who are running for reelection? does president obama not understand we see through the smoke screen? i just wanted to hear your comment on that. guest: i cannot tell you what the president thinks. after getting bolder about how the politics is portrayed, the press release that announced these changes last week 13tioned by name 12 or democratic lawmakers and said these people have help the administration in devising these policies. this was a message aimed toward the 2014 elections. i think they are aware that

people believe there is a political motive behind some of these changes. i think that motive is becoming more transparent. host: what are you hearing from some lawmakers as these changes come out? guest: landrieu was named. they are supportive. they want any sort of change they can get. that will buffer any criticism they get in the fall for voting for the affordable care act and being held responsible for the changes because of it. host: deborah is on the line for independents. caller: hello. i was calling to see his opinion on this going through. it is dependent on healthy people and all. do you think if they do not get the amount of people they need that this will be directed

toward the single-payer system? guest: hmm. that is an interesting question. the state of from on is the only place that is contemplating a single-payer system -- the state of vermont. the administration has not said anything they plan to support going to a single-payer system. i do not think that is the motive. it probably doesn't matter a whole lot how many young and healthy people sign up for coverage under the affordable care act because of some provisions of the law that are designed to prevent insurers from losing a lot of money in the exchanges. population,an older they are going to raise premiums that they won't have to raise him very much until 2017 when a couple of these programs begin to expire. host: quick question from twitter.

well, health care in the united states has always been racial and -- rationed. it is not a new phenomenon. if you had insurance, you had health care. if you didn't have health care, you are restricted. you could go to the emergency room when you felt sick and got presented with a large hospital bill. i do not think rationing has changing under the affordable care act resources are directed in different ways under the affordable care act. the president would say it is a more equitable division of health care resources now. judy is on the line for independentt. of are on with alex wayne bloomberg news -- judy is on the

line for independents. we did have a high risk pool in north carolina. because of the affordable care act, that went away january 1. we did actually in north carolina have going for people that were at risk to get insurance. i went on the website in october when it went up. i was 64 and a half at that time and i was informed that because of my age, i would not be able to subscribe to the the affordable care act. within six months i would be 65 and automatically go one to medicare, which i did. i have a question. i have a son who is 24 years old. the affordable care act says

that children up to 26 stay on their parent's plan. that is not going to apply to make as i am going on to medicare. tax that people thatbe paying, is 24-year-old responsible for paying that tax because he does not have insurance, or are the parents going to be held accountable for that additional tax? there again is the burden on the middle class and that is my question. your son your case will be responsible for paying that tax which ranges from $95 up to 1% of his income. for younger children, the parents are liable for the tax if they do not include the child on their plan. host: louise is on the line from

indiana. caller: hello? host: you are on with alex wayne of bloomberg news. caller: i want to say something about the insurance. this is way before president obama became president. bluee time i had two cross, blue shield's. plus i had medicare. twong that time, i had the blue cross, lou shields, -- blue shields, i had to let one go and keep the other. at that time i could not understand what was going on. this is before all the other insurance, all the other hell raising about insurance. i can tell you some of the young kids here, some of the young adults that did not have insurance and had problems and could not go to the doctor or

hospital. they are glad to get this insurance. they are glad to have it. guest: thanks for the call. i do not know exactly what happened with your insurance plan and your interaction with medicare. young people get sick and get hurt. they have skiing or biking accidents. they're not as invulnerable as they think they are. that is one message of the administration is trying to take to young people to get them to sign up. they will be doing messaging around basketball games. announcements on radios featuring pop stars trying to encourage young people specifically to sign up for insurance they may think they do not need. host: lisa is on the line for democrats. are you there?

let's try one more time. marry going to move on to from omaha, nebraska -- mary. meanr: what these delays -- republicans control the house. care for never wanted the poor or uninsured and do not now. thank you. in the houseicans have proposed some alternative plans to try to cover more low income, uninsured people. they are not as expansive or as copper hands of as the affordable care act. republicans would say that is because the country cannot afford it. host: we will go back to lisa in fort washington, maryland. are you able to hear us now? lisa, are you with us?

we will move on to our next call. kathy in florida on the line for independents. caller: hi. host: you are on with alex wayne of bloomberg news. caller: i think you're guest is doing a wonderful job of speaking objectively, and i do appreciate that. i was wondering about the cost of medicaid. i know there is criticism about particular states not choosing to expand medicaid so that people can get this -- i would not call it affordable. don't they realize it is the states that is going to have to incur that expense? the states already have some expense in taxing. that seems to be something that some people do not understand. they do not realize who is going to fund medicaid? guest: medicaid is not free and

cost a lot of money. in some states it is the second or third largest item. the federal government said it would pay for 100% of the cost of the expansion. for the first three years, states would not be on the hook for any of the cost of the medicaid expansion. after that the cost gets shifted to the states a little bit. the states' share never cost more than 10% of the total. said the 10% cost is simply too much for their budgets. host: last caller is nancy from chicago on our line for independents. caller: hi. host: hi, nancy. caller: i had a comment.

i hear the term death panel. i looked up the exact name. the death panel is not in the affordable care act. it is funded through the stimulus program. i had to look up the exact name. up. is where it was set unfunded through the stimulus. is that true? guest: there is a lot of debate about what exactly is meant by death panels. sarah pal and invented the term invented up witin the term. it wouldn't have required the doctors to do anything or the patient's to do anything. it would have given the doctors

some money for talking about it. the caller is talking about the patient centered outcomes and research institute which is supposed to do studies of what they call comparative effectiveness, looking at different drugs and determining which ones work better at perhaps which are more cost-effective. the health-care law was specific that the organization cannot recommend any specific drug or device or surgery method simply because it was more cost effective. host: alex wayne, thank you for being with us. guest: thank you. host: we are going to take a quick break. we will come back and talk about special education funding and will be joined by james wendorf. but first an update from c-span radio. >> three weeks to sign up under

majoralth-care law, a survey tracking the rollout finds the uninsured rate keeps going down. findsdex released today 15.9% of u.s. adults are uninsured so far in 2014, down from 70.1% for the last three months. turning to international news, a chinese lawmaker is promising to get tougher when it comes to polluters. he says china will tighten legislation and force polluters to pay compensation. there were renewed blast of toxic air over much of northern china through february and into march. an all-night session in the u.s. senate. lawmakers will be speaking on the senate floor to urge action on climate change. the session begins following

today's votes sometimes after 5:30, and they plan to hold the floor until 9:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow. you can watch the senate live always on c-span2 listen to the overnight session here on c-span radio. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. if more than one entity manages the key identifiers of the internet, by nature the internet will no longer be one net. at the heart of the domain name system is the root services system. very few people appreciate that noted to resolve names on the internet there is a root system that makes that work for the entire planet. in the root, all names are resolved to make sure when you .org, for example,

you go to the exact site that c-span wants you to go to all the time, every time, for the decades.plus >> the role that icann plays in assigning internet, names tonight on c-span2. "> "washington journal continues. host: we take a look at how your taxpayer dollars are spent. our topic today is special education and we are joined by james wendorf, the executive director for national center for learning disabilities. he joins us from new york. thank you for being with us this morning. guest: thank you. it is great to be back. host: let's talk about this year's budget. how much has a changed over the last couple of years? guest: i think the issue around

budget is they reflect values. what we see with the president's budget is holding onto the values that have been there. it is a level funding plan. there are some tweaks. it essentially holds the line. we are happy to see sequestration put aside for the time being. i would say for those in the disability community, values really go back to the beginning of idea, the special education law. what we see is the values that were indicted in the law originally -- were indicted -- embedded are not being supported. specifically with the budget and with the fundingl. governmentuch is the actually responsible for providing for special education? guest: almost 40 years ago the

federal government when it was signed into law said the federal government's responsibility of themount to about 40% excess cost of educating children with disabilities. 16%y we stand and less than in terms of federal share. so less than half. we are not even a glass half-full. this has been the situation pretty much year after year with some fluctuation, but that is a problem. it means there continues to be a shift of the funding burden for special education to states and the local school districts themselves. and that is tough, especially on the kids. they tend not to get the services that they need in order to be successful in school. host: we have a list of how the

government defines disabilities. this is not an exhaustive list. they include -- host: that is from the education department. that gives our viewers an idea of what we are talking about. you mentioned idea. tell us about that and what it requires school districts to give children. services,provides instructional services. supports for students in school. it pays for school personnel to a certain extent. it provides for research, especially research that is riven into practice. technical assistance to the states.

outreach to parents to support them so that they can advocate effectively for their children. idea covers a lot. pool a very large funding of more than $12 billion. but even with that amount of money, the school districts themselves and the states are having to pick up a greater share of the burden. and i would add on the chart you put up, specific learning disabilities constitute the largest category in special education. more than 40% of the students, about 2.4 million students. is so my organization, ncld, focused on ensuring that those students and all others with his abilities get the kind of instruction and the kind of support they need from their schools. host: we are talking with james

wendorf of the national center for learning disabilities. for democrats, the number is 202-585-3880. for republicans, 202-585-3881. independents, 202-585-3882. for parents and teachers, 202-585-3883. possess with idea, support the growth of autism? guest: it does. disorder is one of the 13 categories within idea. as many of the viewers know, there has been explosive growth in that particular category over the last 10 years or so. high are so-called incidence disabilities like learning disabilities, dyslexia,

and others. a family of variety of learning issues. also issues related under idea for blind and visually impaired students, deaf and hard of hearing students and others. mandate the types of teachers that have to be involved? do they have to be trained to deal with students with learning disabilities? guest: that varies. all teachers need certification. certification is handled at the state level. what we know is that teachers who work with students with disabilities need to be very specifically trained, prepared to do that. today there ise a shortage of special education teachers. we would like to see more budgets withuture

what congress will do with this budget more emphasis on teacher preparation program so that the teachers entering schools will actually have the skill sets to be able to hit the ground running once they are hired. that is not necessarily happening now. host: first call for this segment comes from houston, texas. gladys, are you with us? go right ahead. caller: i would like to know why there are not more schools that are associated with learning disability children. my grandson is in a public school and we are not getting the education that we need from the public school. we would like to know about more private schools or schools that will handle learning disability children and i will take this

off-line, thank you. guest: thank you, gladys. you raise an important question. parents and grandparents we work with every single day at ncld. they come to us through our website. more than 600,000 parents and family members each month asking questions similar to yours. how do we work better with our public schools? if we are running into problems in getting the kind of instruction and the kind of support that we know that our son were daughter and grandson or granddaughter needs, then what are the alternatives? there are very few independent private schools that work specifically with students with learning disabilities. i would put that number at about 300 nationwide. there are quite a few in the dallas area and elsewhere in texas.

and thee are not enough demand for those schools is very high. tuition tends to be very expensive. there are some charter schools that are now starting to focus more intentionally and explicitly on the needs of students with learning disabilities, dyslexia and related disabilities. that is a very good sign. by far the largest number of kids are in the public schools. that is where we would like to see additional support, getting back toward that 40% funding goal set i congress almost 40 years ago to get to that goal. it would make a world of difference, i think, for a grandchild like yours. host: next caller is brenda on our line from tallahassee, florida. caller: yes. i was just wondering if mr.

wendorf realizes there are some parents that have their children's -- disabilities so they -- fake their disability so they qualify for a monthly check and i will take my answer off the air. guest: there is a social security program for individuals with disabilities. this may be what the caller is referring to. i am not quite sure if what she was alluding to. through social security there is a program that provides support for individuals with disabilities and it is a safety net. host: you mentioned the budget challenges. this new budget includes a $100 million competitive grant program. explains me what that is and whether you think it is a good idea. guest: i think this is a very

positive thing in the president's budget. million competitive grant program is focused on the states. the details have yet to be shared. i think congress will need to step in and shape this. i think many of us in the disability community view this as a positive step. its focus is to move -- focus is to ensure that an emphasis on results is included in the way that states and local school districts address the educational needs of kids with disabilities. compliance is necessary but it is not sufficient. anything in the funding streams that actually incentivizes states and local school districts to put additional emphasis on the academic

ryegrass of kids is a very positive thing. so no the musgrove -- melody mess growth at the department of education has championed this along with the assistant secretary. we see this as very positive. virginia, in fairfax, you are on with james wendorf. caller: i am a college student. have experience with learning disabilities. when you screen your callers, you should define them into learning disabled or not disabled instead of them are crass, republicans and independents, because it seems it would be more appropriate for the topic. i have lived in many different countries and i know the differences. i don't think much exists. being a college student, it

becomes more difficult. we have to have a general educate -- all students have to have courses from different fields and every class is almost like starting from scratch for most students. especially when you go to the resources. these people provide nothing more than a referral to other places. it doesn't really help the students. you have to prove your disability. it is so hard. i tried to imagine what it's like for younger students, students just getting into the education system. sometimes i wonder if the organizations and the programs if they do any help,

and if there is a better way to do it, what would you recommend to help us perform like anyone else? >> i'm glad you called them. thank you very much. i would say to you and number of things. first, it is difficult. we know it is difficult to make the transition from high school and post secretary -- secondary. for those students moving into four-year institutions, it is especially difficult. learningtudents with disabilities at four-year institutions at a rate about half that of their nondisabled peers. when you move to community twice as many,d twice the rate of students with attend, disabilities

compared with their nondisabled peers. it is tough once you get to campus. there is no similar safety net in post secondary that one has indicate-12 education. it is gone. it is not there. there is coverage from other laws. services,disability as you say, but some work better and more effectively than others. a very positive thing you have done and that we would like to see more of is for students with to actually disclose. to go to the disability office and disclose and seek the accommodations and support they would need. >> i want to read a quote from you.

little work has been done to establish how inclusion affects regular students, whether they're average english language learners, advanced were homeless. fories seem to support children for disabilities and possibly for regular education students. op-ed fromt of an "wall street journal" last august. i am familiarh with really paints a different picture, that there are benefits , as you pointed out, for both students with and without disabilities. look at the economic progress of students with disabilities in reading and math , for example in the past decade or so, largely supported by some of the emphasis of no child left we see students with

learning disabilities actually gaining ground. that is a positive sign. i do not think the jury is out and i do believe inclusionary -- i think the majority of parents we work with on a daily basis embrace inclusion. >> let's go to jessica in massachusetts. ever public and and identified as a parent. caller: i had a question on your suggestion, or what to do. when you live in a small town,

and my daughter lives with dyslexia. what can the parent do who cannot afford to be private schooled that help kids with learning disabilities? get funding into to for additional help? guest: we understand the journey you are on. many parents we work with are on -- a lot of the journeys look alike. we hope you visit our main website. we have a wealth of information, a wealth of toolkits you can as you work with your public school in order to ensure the individualized educational program she has is makes the mostnk sense. what you're finding is what many

parents to find. you can advocate effectively , but sometimes you need help. that is what we try to do with our website and tools we can provide. there are other organizations that offer help. the learning disabilities association of america is certainly one of those. i would encourage you to reach local group in your particular area. effectively is what it is about. knowing what to ask for, when to ask for it, and how to work the schools in an effective way where you both have the interests of the student, your

child, in mind. that is really what it is about. are few and far between. independent and charter schools may focus on students with learning disabilities or other disabilities. those are the first suggestions i would offer to you. next is from woodbury heights, new jersey. a teacher. .ou are on with james wendorf morning.ood i am a parent and a teacher. if you turned on your tv, i think we will hear you better. caller: i am a parent and a teacher. and i would like to comment.

particularly with regard to title i's parquet with involvement, could you please tell me what kind of funding is available and needed to support parent groups to help parents be aware of the information they need to help support the schools and their endeavors and to become more aware -- it is well documented, the correlation between engagement, social competency, and achievement. therefore, i think there is a disconnect between teachers and their ability to understand. revenue.laces, it is they do not have the funding or to progress monitor that collect the data. parents do not know -- they only know their side and what they see and they do not understand how to put it in school terms.

we need continued support for and where they are engaged involved and the stage for information so they can really collaborate and work together. parents are always telling me you get in as school, you're not getting it at home. documented in autism. ada. come together on these kinds of things. that is my comment. i ask you to answer. guest: i agree. you have made a brilliant case about the two maine education laws. one, who serves disadvantaged students. this morning, we are talking about a focus on special education. the two large laws and the ,unding streams they provide should actually be braided together in very inventive and

creative ways. in the way you are actually describing. the point you make about social important is a very one. what we're seeing, and this is a good and positive sign, we're seeing more emphasis on social laws,nal learning in coming out at the federal level, and emphasis at the state and local level. there is a better understanding in the research community of the impact that social and emotional issues have on academic learning. children coming to school with anxiety or coming from neighborhoods beset with crime or other kinds of environmental impact that they may bring into the school itself. all of these things impact the learning of a child. a positive sign is some of the research conducted and provided

for with federal funds, and i am , is familiar with ide a helping to make the connections between social and emotional learning, positive behavior support and interventions, and academic learning. done is much more to be and your other point about what teachers need, but also what parents need, is a good one. for parentprovision training information centers. it is level funded. we would love to see more support for that network of centers throughout the country, providing assistance to parents. is just that we are struggling in this environment of limited resources. rationed resources. to get the tools and support to parents and schools desperately needed. >> our next caller is in north

carolina on the line for independents. caller: i am not sure the subject is a subject. the federal government should not be in our education in any way, shape, or form. it takes away our chores. if the state still controlled our education, -- how much of this money is going lobbyists? standing by. >> i am happy you called in and am happy to answer your question. my own organization is privately funded. we do not receive federal funds. answered that and i hope you will let me tackle the raised,estion that you which is about federal involvement in education. there is a long history of

federal involvement. it has been enshrined in federal law in a bipartisan manner. supported by republican and democratic presidents. understand, parents especially, around the country, that there is a vital role the federal -- roland federal government placed third it is especially vital for students with disabilities. is not only a law that provides educational opportunities, but also a civil rights law. and is enshrined in law upheld by the supreme court and everywhere else, that students with disabilities are a protected class. they require, they need, they deserve a level of support both in instruction and in other ways that go beyond the needs of

their nondisabled peers. there is a long history of this stretching back 40 years for individuals with disabilities. for thosell individuals who may come from disadvantaged homes. host: next up is sabrina, on our democrat line. a parent. ok, hi. i have a question. i have two kids. identified in the needs system as a special child. she has different disorders, emotional disorders. initially identified her as a specified learning disabled child, but she came in

with psychosis disorder, bipolar disorder, along with odd. out of five years of being in public schools, they just yearified her october last with emotional disability. , what stepsis should i take if the state is not properly identifying the with their special to get theders related services they need? also, what to parents -- what are the channels they need to take when the state is not in dea, ande with the also, when there is a violation of civil rights concerning the parent and the child, given the

needs the child needs. state funds, federal funds, and local funds. as far as special needs children, and i am not just talking about mine, because we have a major concern in our area , getting any help for special services, weated need to know what steps we need to take in order to be heard and get help outside of this state. >> you raise a number of important questions. first off, the issue of identification is critical in making sure students who struggle are properly identified and receive the services they need. in the learning disabilities

category, essentially five percent of the student population has been formally identified. but we know from research, converging evidence, that 20% of students in the school population actually have some kind of learning and attention issue. there is an under identification problem. the other issue you raise, which is the one of i get a five for what, which category? it is often true there is more than one issue in play. it sounds as if you have had a particularly frustrating experience in working with the school to get an absolutely appropriate and accurate identification. therefore, the kinds of services were child needs. your last question, where do you you feel that you have exhausted your options in working with the school, to get

the kind of support and instruction through an iep that you believe and you have evidence to support, that your child needs, there are legal steps you can take. there is a due process. procedure you can undertake. that can bevocates contacted in order to help you through the process. process to goult through and does not always achieve what it is you may want to achieve. but for many parents, it is what actually does result in the kind issupport they believe needed for their child, whether that is in public school or whether it is through a private placement in a school outside the public school system. that is your right. exercised and you can

move forward with that. in virginia, a republican and a parent. caller: good morning. my question, or statement, is, on a lot of these parent programs, they are excellent. my daughter lost her hearing nine months to disease. she was in montgomery county school systems. they had, ite laws a a lot of edge and relief for me, because i did not know what to do with a handicapped kid. as far as i'm concerned, i think they should get funding. teachers. beat the they're there because they want to be. particularly with parent parents need education themselves to reinforce what the kid is learning at school. fromy daughter graduated university. if it was not for a closer look going way back, and those

programs, i do not know where she would be right now. i want to thank you for the work you are doing. i really appreciate it. i thank god and my county and the school system and the learning disabilities act. thank you very much. thank you. my guess, i would imagine your daughter has achieved what she has achieved with your strong support. and comes through loud clear. thank you for what you have done. a couple of things. supporta does provide for early education programs, both section 619 as well as part c. the funds are level funded. they provide the kind of support you described, especially a programg through called child find, identifying young kids, preschool children,

who may have a disability and therefore need to be identified and need to be supported before they get to school. we would love to see those programs increase. earlyee that identification, early intervention, is absolutely critical for students with disabilities. we can see the results. when kids do get that kind of support. ownr you have seen in your family. we are talking today about issues around funding. i have mentioned a couple of responsibility backess really gave itself in the 1970 passes, but has never really fulfilled. couple of positive things happening with regard to that. representative jared huffman from california has introduced

and done a dear colleague letter, and have gotten more than 100 collies, not just democrats but also republicans who have signed on, and, calling for the congress and the president to move toward full funding. share off the federal the costs of educating kids with disabilities. seen a bill introduced to that effect, which we are happy to see in the house, and we hope this week to see senator harkin introduce one in the senate. that would allow for more early identification and intervention programs of the kind you just described. >> you mentioned the need for full funding. how likely is it a proposal like that, you think, could pass congress? >> it will not pass in one fell swoop. 40%, it will% to

not happen overnight. it would need to be a multiyear initiative. but there are signs that this could be the right time to move forward with this. republicans and democrats are talking to each other about this and that is a very good sign. host: our next caller on the line for democrats from maryland. i have a question also. a teacher in special education. we separate the children out in special schools. i have a little bit of both sides of the view. i like the american system and i do like parents have a choice here to integrate or not. but i think there is something outdated. -- disability, i

had no outlook of where to go and how does it work here. i think the parents could and if it from counseling. needs are very severe. my son is now in a center, which is special needs children, similar to what you would see in germany. you benefit from that because you have such great needs that there is no way you could put them in a regular classroom. in aa substitute teacher regular classroom with integrated and special needs. there are some needs you could easily integrate. the parents benefit in the beginning to have some counseling. guest: i think that is spot on. what you're bringing up is an issue we need to keep in mind. every student is an individual

and needs to be looked at in terms of what is best for him or her. some kids, it is not just a matter of what kind of disability, but some kids simply will thrive better in a self-contained classroom. some do very well and benefit from resource rooms, in other words, being taken out of the regular classroom for part of the day. other students, especially after they have managed to have some of their specific learning do fine in thed, regular classroom for virtually the entire day. i think we cannot be doctrinaire. we have to make sure schools have the flexibility and, as you point out, that parents understand what kind of flexibility there may be, what kinds of environment situations, learning conditions, might work one for their own child at

particular time versus another. thank you for the comment. thank you. charles in myrtle beach, south carolina, for independent. caller: thank you. a quick, and a question. the previous caller would ask if you reflect on the concept of our family document of we the people. and not, i the person. there is value in having compassion in our society for those. old, with an iq in the high 60's, a speech impediment, he came through the education system with love and compassion, but in the workforce today, he is not able to compete with the unemployment population and individuals applying for jobs he is trying to get. focus even with

the education system, a target of trying to look at the age when they graduate or even beyond college, of trying to find a way to help that person with learning disabilities to find a position in employment for the long-term, just acognizing that come -- from competitive perspective, most employers do not want to embrace somebody with a learning disability when they have other candidates that do not have a disability. thank you for your time. >> thank you for your comment. , based onur finger on your personal experience, which we hear from many parents about this issue, it is the issue of transition. transitioning of a young person from high school either into the

workforce or higher education, whether it is a vocational program, whether it is a four year or two year college, or whether directly into the workforce. it is not easy. we want to seegs happen, it wouldn't happen with this budget, but when the individuals with disabilities education act is reauthorized, and it will be eventually, we would want to see much more robust support for transition programs in high schools. in order to support young people like your son. time forhen it comes young people to interview for jobs, people who have , theylities of all kinds may very well have the skill set needed for the job, but there may be social or emotional issues that may interfere with interviewing in

a very positive and successful way. there are -- pardon me. there are a number of companies that are actually very involved in this area. walgreens, pepsico, home depot, many companies are actually stepping up and providing programs of this kind that would support individuals like your son. the executive director of the national center for learning disabilities, james wendorf, thank you for joining us this morning. that is all the time we have this morning. we look forward to joining you

for tuesday's washington journal at 7:00 a.m. eastern. have a great morning. ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> live on c-span today we will have remarks from senator casey. he will talk about the afghanistan presidential election next month. speaking at the center for american progress. we will have live coverage today at 230 you sent. -- 2:3