transparency and the obama administration. the guest will be sean moulton. you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. ♪ host: general motors ceo barraed borrow -- marry testifying on faulty ignition switches. toyota will settle in order to over criminal probe disclosure over safety issues. good morning. it was one year ago that the republican national committee embarked on a priority to reach out to other groups in an effort

to broaden the base on this year anniversary of the growth and opportunity project. we want to get your thoughts. the rnc is claiming that the project -- that they are making progress. for our first 45 minutes, we want to talk about the growth and opportunity projects and get your thoughts on the effort being made by republicans. democrats, (202) 585-3880. republicans, (202) 585-3881. independents, (202) 585-3882. on social media, off of twitter, @cspanwj. n is our page.spa .nd journal@c-span.org a little background provided by

abc news saying that the party has a long way to go on the front. they have hired a national and yelled staff to communicate with constituents like african-americans, hispanics, and asian-pacific voters. the partner must -- the party must stop talking with itself. they have been trying to woo younger voters and women, both will be crucial if they are to win the white house back. clinical -- of the political staff is in the states, including data directors and minority engagement staffers. and theydoing outreach have hired staff to connect directly with minority groups. what is not clear is if it is working. the rnc outreach tools helped in the recent florida 2013 victory. of the rnc says that we

are setting a new standard at the rnc and putting ourselves on a path to victory14. one year later, all the republican has gotten is one year older. we will share more of their thoughts on the projects. and effort by the rnc reaching out to minority groups and others in what you think about it as part of their growth and opportunity project. it is the one-year anniversary of the. the numbers are -- democrats, (202) 585-3880. republicans, (202) 585-3881. independents, (202) 585-3882. of some of a sense the marketing done as part of the project, the rnc put out an ad on it. it is called i am a republican. here it is. [video clip] >> children should be the focus

of our education system. >> a strong military equals a strong america. >> there should not be so much red tape. >> every human life is worth protect him. >> i vote for and all of the above energy policy. >> i am a republican. >> i believe in opportunities for all. the commercial that is coming out of the growth and opportunity project in an effort to reach other groups by the rnc. your thoughts on the first 45 minutes. the numbers are on the screen. capitol heights, maryland. the kratz line. if they want to know how to put a team together, someone may need to consult with because you have to get everyone from different neighborhoods is --.

you have to find the leaders of each neighborhood because those of the people that follow. host: it goes down to the neighborhood level and works up from there. caller: and has to start from the inner-city neighborhoods first. think the do you leaders can contribute to the process of trying to reach out to other groups? those leaders, i cannot comment on that one. host: lawrence, kansas. republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. the republican party has failed miserably. look at the recent presidential election. , theyomney and paul ryan

tried, but they failed miserably -- i willery time tell you something -- all they focus on is abortion issues. they do not focus on infrastructure and in washington. they do not focus on how our military can be strengthened. they're not focusing enough on getting our military strength ened, even through the ridiculous sequestration process. host: what do think about the effort being made? caller: they are not doing enough. the republican party -- it is sad to say that the republican party has been a humongous disappointment to this taxpayer. they are notu say

doing enough, what do you mean by that? caller: they are not focusing on many of us who are working our tails to the bone every day, they are not working hard enough to ensure that we get our fair share of the tax cuts and they to go outing enough support andow their do something for the veterans and the families in our current personnel serving in uniform in our military. host: don, ohio, republican line. caller: good morning. if republicans keep doing this,

[indiscernible] i don't like his policies, but i like his charisma and it is one of those things, start talking to the community. right now, the republican party, they do a credit check on you. -- i vote for the candidate, not the party. host: what you think about the effort to reach out to more groups? caller: they have been doing it since the civil war. since teddy roosevelt organized neighbors and republicans got wind of the likes of both. look at the american history. i think they have been doing it ever since the republican party got started. right up to george w. bush.

they have been doing a great job. they finally started advertising it. the releaset of an update, there have been back and forth tweets. saying "ose tweets facts are hard. gop rebrand cannot gloss over bad policies with words. ." have been going back and forth, taking a look at these .hings wit that is part of the process of this growth and opportunity project that has been going on. releasede that was yesterday by the rnc, we are

asking you about the efforts being made by the rnc to reach out to these groups. the lines will be on your screen. democrats, (202) 585-3880. republicans, (202) 585-3881. independents, (202) 585-3882. here is steve, independent line. during the bush years, since reagan, reagan to bush, i was straight republican. independent when the tea party started taking over. minoritieswith the -- i know they started that during the bush years. they were focusing in on that. the tea party scared me. i went independent. there comes a point when you have to govern. you do not take such an extreme position to scare people.

it is sad. during the bush years, the social policies fit for the minorities. andle forget that latinos with the african-americans, they are raised in church, a lot of them. a lot of the republican policies fit for them. they scared them. the tea party scares them on social policies. david, columbia, missouri, democrats line. good morning. the republicans involved -- when they went through the last election, they got voted in, promising jobs and other kinds of things. they have done nothing to work at that at all. that is all i have to say. a little bit more of the

exchange between the heads of the dnc and rnc. good luck on the ground game. response, keep beating manchester. when the ground game and beat you again like we did in 2012 in 2013, you will need more than words and an autopsy. anniversary of it. we are getting your thoughts on the effort by the rnc. you is off of twitter -- people would disagree with the i dia -- with the idea espoused in the gop ad. we will hear next from springdale, arkansas. independent line. good morning, bill. caller: i remember in the 80's

when they -- what was the thing between mexico, usa, and canada? host: the free trade agreement. caller: that is correct. they said we were going to lose a lot of jobs, but they would be replaced with higher-paying jobs. 25 to 30 years later and the only jobs available are service drops -- service jobs. all the products we buy in stores are from china. we are being accused of causing garbage in this country. every problem this country faces caused by the federal government forcing peoplees to volunteer for socialist security. if you look at the history, you will see that you are no longer in a free country america. wake up. john, decatur, illinois.

caller: good morning. all i have to say is don't talk about -- be about. host: what you mean? caller: listen to the calls that come in. they talk a good game. they promised they are going to do jobs, jobs, jobs. in, they went after voting rights. good day. it is the paul campaign for illinois governor between uner.uinn and bruce ra

earth withorched groups in a vested interest in the high-stakes race. quinn was on tv with an ad attacking the wealthy for shifting positions on raising illinois' minimum wage. you go underneath, it deals with senate races. senator durbin's run for reelection promises to be a contestough-and-tumble in which longtime democratic lawmaker has key advantages. overpriced -- oberweis emerge the victor, capturing 56% of the

x's 44%.doug trua the republicans -- their ads are not going to cut the mustard at all. when they will not give unemployed people the extended benefits, when they cut off food stamps, when they fall all over each other to send a billion dollars to ukraine, they do not people or poor minorities at all. thank you. host: no way of changing that? caller: i don't think so. host: james, georgia, republican line. if the republican party would quit cussing the union so much and help the middle class people a little, that would help them get a few votes.

i am a 75-year-old republican, but i do not agree with the cuts -- with why they cut the unions. states are crucial to the president's health care plan. that is why the obama administration has focused so much attention on california, texas, florida, new york, georgia, illinois, north carolina, ohio, pennsylvania, and new jersey. one of the states, they look at texas in this morning's "usa today. " the state declined to participate in the marketplace officials have been openly hostile to the wall. fewer than 10% of those eligible enrolled as of march 1.

is one of the graphics saying penalty box, federal levies for not buying health coverage will exceed the $95 many people expect. $199 if a listing of you are single with $30,000 adjusted gross income. 297 for a married couple with two dependent children. that rises to $1297 if you are married with two dependent children. -- two dependent children with ofadjusted gross income $150,000. caller: the republican party needs to do more education. they need to tell the folks what in the system that

we have. socialistssives are and communists. no one talks about that. that is a good opportunity to educate the people what is happening to the country. we are going into a socialist state and no one seems to want to discuss that. host: what do republicans have to say? they need to do a lot of education. only have to go to the -- webpage and look at the agenda and the democrats agenda. it is the same. virginia,olk, independent line. this is cleveland. hello. republicans want to

get more blacks, they will have to help the president more. they have shown no interest in trying to work with a black man. [indiscernible] they want to -- blacks, they need to work with the president. both parties have to work together, come together to try some -- to try to solve some of the problems in this country. they need to start showing that they are going to work with him and accomplished some new things that need to be accomplished. host: some of the goals listed -- one ofby the rnc to ads in which you saw was

hire minority communications directors and political directors. better data gathering and analysis. also, to design programs targeting early voting and absentee voting and to recruit candidates to navigate our demographic challenges. the autopsy report that was put out last year -- this is part of that. the rnc is leaving progress on that. -- is claiming progress on that. democrats, (202) 585-3880. republicans, (202) 585-3881. independents, (202) 585-3882. jimmy on the democrats line. caller: i just had something to say about the hypocrisy of the republican party. people need to hear this. when chris christie treated the president like he should have been treated, the whole party

got mad at him. is like a fifth grade school argument. if you speak to them, i am not going to like you anymore. damnest thing i ever saw. if it means anything about an hour reach. they need to stop being so hypocritical. to impeach a president because of an affair, and here they come with their president and vice president who started a war over a lie, which was an impeachable offense. bush should have been impeached and cheney should have been carried before a firing squad. the head of the rnc spoke ,bout national issues specifically the president's affordable health care plan and how that will impact going into 2014.

you can see the full comments on our webpage. [video clip] ,> these are races where granted, the candidate did a nice job of offering a positive vision, they did do a decent job at that. you had the nationalization of barack obama and obamacare and both of those places. it is a poisonous issue for democrats. there were national issues that 2008.s in 2006 and assembly races you are losing across the country because of isional issues that -- that what is happening across america and it will happen in 2014. the question is whether or not we can build on that to get to 2016, put a candidate on the ballot that people want to sit

down and have a beer with and be a party to speak to people's hopes and aspirations and whether they like and relate to the people -- to the person that we have on the ballot in 2016. host: lantz, springfield, missouri, independent line. i appreciate c-span and what you do. you do a great service to the people. i am an independent, but i tell you why i will be voting republican this upcoming election cycle. out of a massive recession, there is no jobs around, no a port mobility. ushave obamacare dropped on and i am not going to be dictated to. obama talks about raising a minimum wage. that is fine, but where will they -- four or five years ago when they had complete majority

in both houses and the white house and inflation was running just as rampant. gasoline and milk is four dollars a gallon. no one can afford anything. thank you. you go, in light of what you said, what you think about the efforts to reach out to groups and efforts being made on the state level as well? caller: they will not have to do that much reaching out. they have done a lot of reaching out in the bush years that no one gives any credit for. they wanted to pass immigration reform. they got a lot of latino support. libertiesore personal , more personal freedoms and less friction that we feel is people and free things up for us to prosper and giving us opportunity to climb up the ladder. host: you don't think that is the message they are delivering? caller: i do. i do think that is the message

that is coming out from the grassroots section of the republican party. host: who best represents the grassroots section -- as far as the candidates are concerned? caller: i would say rand paul. loop, indiana, republican line. good morning. it seems to me like you get a lot of criticism and outcry from -- against the republicans. i am a republican myself. i have been unemployed and for overt a good job two years because of the obamacare stuff. they want to play that game and try to skew things that way. i feel like when you talk about republican party, there are so many different views. there are the conservatives and moderates and all that. you have a lot of diversity.

aroundnt to try to turn and confuse people. a goaluses -- no one has or koranic view of what we need to do. -- goal or correct viewable we need to do. the democrats have their view, their view is it. that is the problem. they have one view and if it is not their view, you are a racist and you are crazy and you are anti-american. i find that ridiculous. ist: the justice department pending to make an announcement like him to toyota. charles levinson writing that it could be as early as today that it could be announced that the automaker will cost more than $1 billion -- spend more than $1 billion and a criminal probe into its disclosure of issues. the deal would cap a four-year investigation with one of the

largest fines ever imposed on an automaker. misleading statements about safety problems that were revealed by its own internal audits. misleading statements to the government and to the public about the safety issues. the automaker has been fined four times for a total of $66.2 htsa for failing to report safety defects to the government. hearing over the last few days about gm and its recall over the ignition switch. motors ceo, mary barra said she will testify personally before congressional

committees looking into gm's handling of vanishing -- and ignition switch problem that has been linked to 12 deaths. she apologized for the handling of the problem and ballot better vigilance on safety to prevent future defects from going unfixed. caller: thank you for c-span. it breaks my heart to hear republicans calling in blaming the obama care for everything. that would be nothing the republicans can say to me. you have to look at their actions and everything they have done. it has been against poor, likeloyed, and people that. we do not have jobs because every time they house the .epublicans, they pass a bill

the senate is not going to pick that up and obama is not going to approve it. if you do not have health care and you are still going republican, if you unemployed and cannot get benefits and you are still voting republican, if they're cutting food stamps and you are poor, regardless if you are white or black, and you still vote republican, if they denied you birth control and the men cannot take care of all those children and you are still voting republican, my god, what is going on? republican cannot say anything to me. i look at what they do and not what they say. al, pennsylvania. toler: the republicans have discuss the import of foreign labor.

there are millions of unemployed americans. the unemployment rate among young black folks is over 25%. the chamber of commerce insist newringing over one million cheap foreign labor workers every year. they want to legalize the seven or 8 million illegal aliens that are holding jobs in our country. put in an even verify system -- anti-verify system -- they cannottem so come into a country and take jobs. we have to limit the import of cheap foreign labor. that would be a big point for the republicans. it is young minority guys that are hit the hardest. talking about the 2014

optimism. a response from the dnc chair, responding, taking out the very -- taking a look at the prediction scales. [video clip] >> i hope my counterpart remains a lush and believes that democrats are in the dumps. that wee predicting would be inaugurating president mitt romney. their prediction accuracy isn't on the mark of late. when it comes to the competitive races across this country, we are focused on making sure that we get our voters turned on. we are focused on the next generation of our technological and data advantage. we want to expand the number of voters that are eligible to vote

and cast their ballot. we are focused on making sure that we can promote the democratic agenda. host: it was a year ago that rnc released an autopsy, taking a look at the 2012 elections and issues that stemmed from that. they made a plan to reach out to more groups and other people and come up with a strategy, especially on a state-by-state level. it is the year anniversary of that plan about retailing are getting your thoughts on it. contribute,to democrats, (202) 585-3880. republicans, (202) 585-3881. independents, (202) 585-3882. you can go to our facebook page, and you can/cspan go to twitter if you want to send us a tweet on this topic, @cspanwj.

joe, democrats line. caller: thank you for c-span. i wanted to call as a citizen of the united states of american. thank god. we are supposed to be god-fearing people, but i do not have any beef against any human being, but god will judge us about our inner man, our inner each how we treat other. the disrespect that president obama gets from the counterparts of our government is an embarrassment to this nation. people call and condone and support that. you call a spade a spade, but when you find among yourself like this, you tear the country down. everything he tries to do is challenge. that is the way it is supposed to be. --m talking to people who what is our right right.

when you have entities like the tea party and the conservative movement to have an agenda and it is interfering with republicans and the democrats, it is going to cause problems. we have to look at what is going to benefit the overall citizenship. nothing is easy and nothing will be a piece of cake. we have made it before. to put to the past the things that separate us and cause us to have a divisive attitude. times -- theancial tin pointed anger at the west to explain what drove him to the course he took on ukraine. "what happened in ukraine reflects a situation that unfolded in the entire world: after the bipolar world broke

down, the u.s. decided to use strong-arm politics. they think they have been used -- national interest, which we need to respect." mr. obama and for phone calls and failed to make headway with the leader he had cultivated as a crucial ally in trying to roll back the spread of nuclear weapons and international terrorism. this created a growing unease in washington that mr. putin was as politicalcy cover for moving his forces into crimea and possibly greater ukraine. kremlin officials have said that russia's diplomatic efforts were genuine. said his outreach to rush over the past five years

has been worth it. it was not a failure because the reset was premised on two things. there were areas that were out of mutual self interest and it made sense to kwok worry with russia -- cooperate with russia and second, there will be areas where we do not operate -- cooperate because the differences were too stark. pat, new jersey, republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am a filipino-american. i have been a registered republican since i was 20. i have three comments on the minority report. i want to summarize some of the previous scholars. -- previous callers. a lot ofns do a spouse the conservative values of minorities.

latinos and southeast asians are very catholic. compasses are in line with the republican party. programwo, the outreach really bucks the democratic that nonwhites are automatically going to be going to the democratic party. my final comment is that the outreach program is going to be necessary for the republican rapid rise inhe the minority report. in california, more than half of the voters will be in the minority. what kind of message should we spend as part of this our reach? the social issues our are touched upon

concern for everything, whether you are a mine or the or a nonminority. the form of government appreciated by the republicans is something that folks from oppressed countries would offhandte the smaller government. trade is important. we were talking about nafta earlier. party would curry the latino vote. ted, new york, democrats line.

caller: i am happy that you received my call. believe that republican party always seems to want to exclude instead of include people. why exclude people. we're all here together. let's get together and solve the problem. we are smart. everybody can see what is right and what is wrong. let's go with what is right for everybody. for the country. why do what they do? why start off with this person is going to be a one-time president.

we are going to work together and solve some problems. we have a lot of problems. let's solve them. he was handed a tough job. let's solve the problem. let's go to work. host: we are building for 2014 while the democrats do anything away from obama and obamacare. comments are available on our website, c-span.org. if you go to our website and type in on the library, you can see the presentations and see them for yourself as they occurred.

one year later, the republican party has gone one year older. hashtagludes the #sameoldparty. i am not a big political person. it started when bush was in office. president obama was handed a big mess from jump street about everything. the people are so divided now, which is crazy because they were not divided when bush was in that presidency creating all the mess. i do not understand why they do not understand that the little people are suffering from all this controversy and you would all this time and all the things that they have ,atched the united go through

which i hear a lot of people said it started after president obama got into office, but it started when bush was on -- bush was in office. i don't understand why we can't come together as a country. i cannot wrap my head around it. i hate to see the direction that our leadership is heading in. host: what do you think about these targeted outreaches such as minorities and other groups. what you think about that? caller: i don't have an opinion on that. host: do you think it is worthwhile? caller: i will remain neutral on this. host: democrats line.

i cannot understand why anyone would be republican. republicans have made this almost a third world country. i have 20 grandchildren and cannot get a job. now we have to be bilingual to get a job. i have been a democrat all of my life. i want to remain a democrat. i cannot vote for a republican. under no circumstances. positivehear anything coming from them. period. party be diverse ? it is my way or the highway. republican and diversity is an oxymoron. to start getting out the message that the gop does not intend to be the national manny y whene -- national nann

we retake power this fall. linda, grove poor, ohio. comment is i think we need to take a look at what we have gotten from the democrats. -- the president has never decrease the price of gasoline. he has ruined so much for america. you better wake up. randy, oregon, independent line. my criticism was on the piece you sent about russia. isn't it about time that we mind our own business?

what do these countries have to do with american interests? where's the sense here? your thoughts on the republican national committee? opinioni don't have an other than that. host: another story about actions by the nsa. on the fronten page of the washington post. -- records calls for an entire nation. programe interception began in 2009. againsted full capacity the first target nation in 2011. planning documents anticipated some operations elsewhere. it opens a buffer into the past, enabling -- the call buffer opens the door into the past,

enabling users to retrieve audio of interest that was not tasked at the time of the original call. if you go to the pages of the wall street journal this morning, an update about the shooting that you have heard about in washington dc at the -- naval yard. chuck hagel wants to establish a new system to oversee the more than 2 million people working for the defense department who hold security clearances. the department will people andng sensitive jobs to make sure there are no red flags. roger, illinois, independent

line. we have been talking about the efforts by the rnc. what do you think about it? the thing that i try to republics arethat talking about obamacare and they fail to realize that there are over 50 million people that do 4% have health care and only population of the world, you produce 35% of the product that is used by the world. the democrats, they are looking at -- they are not understanding what they are doing in terms of increasing and spending. in this country, you have free education all the weight is zero -- all the way from zero to 12.

technology wise, it is highly -- this is one of the best countries in the world. i don't understand why people cry because you have an opportunity. it is on believable. why do minorities succeed here? opportunities are given and they take advantage of it. peers that are here in this country, they should do the same thing. believe me, when they come here, technology does not look at the color of the skin. that is the thing people need to understand. i see what reverend jackson is doing today. he is going to go to hewlett-packard and start open it, why doesn't for the hispanics and african-americans. you have to look at yourself in america and ask why aren't these kids studying?

i wanted to touch on a comment a previous republican made about immigration. i have worked in construction all of my life. i have worked with jobsite trainers and was in charge of hiring. even though illegal immigrants get fake social security cards, they do pay taxes. host: what about what we are discussing this morning as part of this effort by the rnc? what are your thoughts on that? caller: i guess i don't have one. i wanted to say that they do pay their taxes. host: james, winter haven,

florida, independent line. caller: i am an independent. i used to be a democrat and i the oneed up with mindset thing. it is a free country. everybody should have independent thoughts. to comment on the rnc, i think the ad is a good ad. what you have is on the democratic side you are buying votes, you pay money, you get votes. with the republican side, they're trying to use logic, history, and common sense to get votes. people withet some those ads, but so long as people get paid to vote a certain way, it is going to be hard to overcome the people that are getting paid money out-of-pocket. of ank there is a bit challenge there to overcome the people to see that the economy

is what is really going to put money in their pockets as it has for the whole history of the country. a way to send the message besides the ad? is there a better way to communicate that? caller: that is a tough question. when you are getting money, you almost have on blinders. you do not want to hear anything , you do not want to listen to logic. you do not care that much about the economy as long as your check is coming in the mail. the pride of work and accomplishing something has been put to the wayside. the democratic side, when they on one side of an issue, they pet, pet, pet.

republicans have more independent type of thoughts. they do not get on the same page and try to repeat the exact same bumper slogan over and over. democrats are pros at that. i used to be a democrat. being an independent, i feel like the independents have the oft unbiased view everything. we are not with any party. we are trying to figure out what makes sense for the country, what makes sense for the people, and trust me, i do not know any republicans that are against minorities. i do not know one. host: the story in "the washington post" takes a look at distressed mortgage holders as part of a settlement. big banks meet a requirements. nation's largest banks meet obligations to provide relief to theggling homeowners under

25 billion dollars national mortgage settlement, the landmark agreement to clean up shoddy foreclosure practices. banks had completed their requirements to offer various types of aid to borrowers, including allowing them to nce or lowering the balance of their loan. only 20 point $7 billion of the money was counted under the settlement. the remaining $5 billion of the mortgage settlement has been housing two states for counseling and to people who lost their homes. max, pennsylvania, republican line. caller: i wanted to make a comment on the outreach program that is happening.

it is like i told the local gop, there needs to be specific outreach in terms of addressing the bias of the prison system and how there are swarms of people of color and why they are stuck in prison generation after generation who are lost. they're not free, they do not get liberty, they live in poverty across the board. it is something that needs to be taken the reins on. the decriminalization of marijuana has to immediately happen. they are starting to soften on those issues. they need to put them up towards the top of the platform. whatneed to articulate kinds of damage have been done to the african-american community by the democrats in

terms of keeping them in poverty for such a long time. thear people talking all time about the house of republicans. i am white. i am from white, wonder bread america. i experienced racial discrimination. white people do not understand black folks. lack people understand why people -- black people understand white people very well. do you think the messes that you talk about can have wider spread appeal amongst republicans overall? caller: we need to embrace a policy just like the democrats. if republicans who are moderates , or what is considered the established republicans, those of us who are on the side and embrace relationships and

, emotional relationships, financial relationships, with people of color and minority, they're going to lose out. we need to be represented on our end. we are christians, we do not discriminate. this is something that the republican party needs to put front and center. host: this is just. this report from the toublican party, they ought do whatever they can to do to outreach. i wanted to take issue with the gentleman who says that he is an independent and that the democrats are trying to shell out money to people and they don't use common sense and republicans are about common sense. i don't know what world this guy was living in. this is where i am from.

were madets that about all you want is a leader that you can sit down and have a beer with, we have been through that already. i do not drink and i do not care for a leader that i can sit down and have a beer with. i need a leader that is going to oriented,ic, goal open-minded, who will reach out to folks. i do not see that in the republican party right now. i am going to be open-minded, right down the middle, and i am a registered democrat, but i am an independent minded person. that i am assume going to vote with the democrats because they are democrats. you cannot assume i will be against republicans because they are republicans. i will take issue with your policies and your actions. they have to get to work. host: could you be swayed by a republican? caller: i have been my whole

life. i work with republicans, i have republican friends. i don't have a problem with a person being republican. i have a problem with a person being thickheaded and eight torrent about what is going on -- and ignorant about what is going on. you are not going to pee on my shoe and tell me it is raining. expand your thoughts on their efforts. stopr: republicans need to being hypocritical and stop being shallow and thinking there is something that people want to hear and that you can convince people that you have their best interest at heart. you have to give people their respect. i am african american. i

i am african american, i have so many friends who have experienced people looking down on them and trying to be -- sarcastic to them. i cannot find the right word. it is not sarcasm but it is just that folks tend to think they can shovel stuff at fulks without any kind of recourse. it is not going to happen. folks have a mind and they are going to use it, they are not going to let you shovel crap at them. created ancan party environment of the last 12 years or so, the last six or eight has been inbama a office, they have not done anything productive. why would i vote for them? host: texas, democrats line. caller: one of the problems is

the republican party thinks there has been progress made that is part of the problem. diversity in thinking and policy. they still have a racial overturns when it comes to immigration. .elfare is the first thing african-americans are not the biggest group that even receives welfare, but they still have thatold, 1980's mentality the social programs are dominated by minorities. when it comes to voting rights, look what they are doing to voting rights. do not speak to diversity and they do not speak to minorities. look what they are doing with the jobs bill and infrastructure. they will not even pass programs that would help this country with jobs and infrastructure. look what they do -- they are high-ranking leaders -- they

never stop up and say what this person said was wrong about the president. what this person said was wrong about a specific minority group. they never -- they put out all these programs they are doing now. but their actions and their policies really dictate what they do rather than what they say. call, nicholas from louisiana, republican line. caller: -- call.that is the last we continue our discussion by the effort by the gop to reach out as far as the report that was put out. joining us will be karlyn bowman from the american enterprise institute. later on, "time" magazine's mark halperin. to see ifck waiting the former secretary of state hillary clinton will run for president. "washington journal" continues

after this. ♪ >> mr. speaker, just a few weeks ago this house voted against funding. we decided against contra funding because we felt it is against american tradition to fund a private army whose goal is to overthrow another government. americant is against tradition to foster killing of civilians. we felt it is against american tradition to abandon the strength of our ideas and replace them only with the strength of our arsenal. later, wea few weeks

are again facing a contra vote. why? it is because daniel ortega went to moscow. i am not happy about any nation turning to the soviets for economic help. but that does not change the .ontra issue the president calls the contras freedom fighters. who are these contras? be majority are former some us a man who never believed in freedom. aid to anmanitarian inhumane army is a perversion of american morality. america has watched reports that i have the report here. i will give you an example. a woman, four months pregnant, was killed at a state owned coffee farm by the contras. she was wounded, her face

shattered by a grenade. knife wound in her side. unarmed civilians were slaughtered with their throats cut. ugly, yes. face this. sure, there is violence on the left, too. that isdocuments that decreasing. violence on the left and violence on the right must stop. it is not byop supporting a private, brutal army who wants to overthrow a government of a country the size , but by doing what america does best. negotiating a peaceful settlement with the democratic nation taking the lead. the way to stop the violence is to support the gephardt amendment, the hamilton amendment. let us not have the blood of the innocent on our hands.

let us not escalate the involvement of american troops in central america. i say vote against the michael amendment. from 35 yearsghts of house floor coverage on our facebook page. c-span, created by america's cable companies 35 years ago and brought to use today as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. " continues.journal of theur first guest morning, karlyn bowman of the american enterprise institute. their senior fellow here to talk about gop outreach to millennial's and minorities. this stems from the autopsy report. what do you think about the effort by the rnc? guest: they have made some progress but they have a long way to go. you have some serious weaknesses with groups, particularly millennials, women, and minorities. what is thenials,

issue? pew researchew poll, half of them call themselves independents. republicans have an opportunity. they are more democratic than anublican, but there is opportunity for the gop. host: how do you capitalize -- was is the best message to send to millennials? election, the 2014 they are dissatisfied with president obama and obamacare. theink those are probably things the republicans will highlight. in terms of a longer-term strategy, they have to be concerned about the visuals on social issues where young people tend to be more liberal on issues like gay marriage. they are not particularly different from the older cohorts on the issue of abortion. gay marriage is big for the

millennial generation. host: you highlighted minorities, why? guest: the population is changing, the demography of our country is changing rapidly. minorities will be a larger share of the electorate as time goes on. right now, hispanics are punching below their demographic weight. as the -- as more of them become voters in the population, they will carry disproportionate load because they are growing. republicans have to reach out for hispanics. they have to do better outreach to the black population and the asian population. between 2000 and 2010, that was the fastest-growing group in the country. callers talked about republican efforts when it comes to social programs. they said you cannot look at these policies and then try to use that as a recruitment at the same time. isst: the compassion a shoe one that republicans have -- the

compassion issue is one way republicans have work to do. they are talking in a different language than they have been in the past. they have a long way to go. host: is there a tug-of-war between trying to reach out to people and then philosophy with policies like those? they need to talk about the issues they care about a different way. host: which ones? immigration. it is important to the hispanic community. the economy and jobs are certainly the most important problems facing the country and are a great concern. republicans talk up their disappointments with president obama, that could pay dividends and 4014. host: what do you think it means for immigration reform overall? guest: hard to know what is happening. speaker boehner suggested it is not going anywhere and this congress. i think something has to be done at some point to take that issue

off the table. host: karlyn bowman to talk about the outreach to minorities and millennials. here to take your questions. here are the phone lines. for democrats, (202) 585-3880. for republicans, (202) 585-3881. independents, (202) 585-3882. our first call is kyl from chicago on our democrat line. caller: good morning. i would like to say to you that is -- the republican outreach is nothing but a lot of propaganda. i say this because -- they are talking about they want to do outreach. they went to do outreach for something they do not believe in. i will give you a couple examples. voting registration. this affects a lot of minorities. currently, they are writing new laws and republican legislatures

to put new obstacles that will restrict the time limit that voters can have to cast votes at election time. areas, primarily what they perceive as democrat areas. they will not give you as much time for early voting. the second example is on women. you have got the republican in states where they basically have made it almost impossible for women to have access to family planning. you have one state that has only one family planning center. in texas, they put in the restriction -- it is basically we do not want women to get buttions, which is legal, anything having to do with abortion. we will make it so restrictive they cannot have access. host: thank you. guest: clearly there republicans

concerned about voter fraud. that explains some of their concerns about the voter registration legislation in various states around the country. at the same time, that is an issue of concern to many voters. perhaps a deficit for the gop. if you look at public opinion data on the issue of abortion, fully support first-term abortions but they are more skeptical about second and third term abortions. that is why you have seen pro-life portions trying to advance 20 week dance. the public is very skeptical at that level. i don't think that is a big deficit for the gop going .orward abortion seems to work for the gop because gop voters care more about it. host: this is dave from georgia, independent line. caller: yes. elected,a first got

the republicans got together. they wanted to make him a one-time president of the worst president. the only way you can hurt the president is to hurt the people. you have got the affordable care act. you have got paul ryan telling to createican party confusion. we do not need confusion. ok, you have got the kids going to school, none of them left behind. republicans pop up and want to put less money in public schools and more money and private schools because they're more likely to succeed. that is the only time they are looking for the future. poor kids and uneducated kids. host: what would you like our

guest to address? nobody is going to work because republicans are blocking everything. guest: clearly, independent voters are going to be key to the 2014 and 2016 elections. you have raised concerns many americans have. we have a two-party system and republicans think they have better answers than the obama administration. it is clearly the central issue. people and local communities are very concerned about the education issue. it does not register as the top problem facing the country today. but it does in state and local areas. republicans and democrats will have to address that. asking howitter millennials feel about meddling in foreign lands. millennials are at this point in time very interesting. usually they are the most supportive group of going to war.

they like action. but they are very tired over what we call war weariness and the american involvement in iraq and afghanistan. they tend to seem isolationist in the polls overall. if you look back, the interesting contrast is there strong initial support for the vietnam war and even the iraq war. that tends to diminish sharply. cbs news on the new york times put out a poll recently asking about republican candidates and how they are generally. respondents, play percent among republicans said that republican candidates are too conservative. 32% said they are not conservative enough. 40 one percent said about right. as a data analyst, what do you think? of the most interesting questions was one that asked about whether or not or theocratic party republican party has your interests or the interest of the country at heart.

neither party did well. the response to that question, america is a center right country, more conservative than liberal. host: amongst the team party, same question, 8% saying candidates are too conservative. 50% saying they are not conservative enough and 40% say they are about right. party are going to go out and knock on doors, they are important part of the republican party and do not think the party has been conservative enough. host: what does polling say about the tea party's influence? the number of people who say that they are active parts of that hasarty movement, not changed. if you asked the nation as a whole how they feel about the tea party, nation -- negatives have risen. nationally there is more opposition than support. hampshire,new

democrat line, you're on with karlyn bowman of the american enterprise institute. caller: good morning. several caller-- s mentioned how actions speak louder than words. this economy basically took a major hit between 2002 and 2006 when republicans had absolute .ontrol they started changing all types of labor laws. i did not realize until yesterday watching the program that they pretty much eliminated $455 ae for more than week. their voting record is constantly to get rid of jobs. they hate unions and want to bust the unions and as many jobs out as they can. they will put the american worker in a situation will he work on their terms. the president has submitted a jobs bill over three years ago.

the house refuses to allow it on the floor, to discuss it. one of the provisions of that was to give tax breaks to american employers for keeping jobs in the u.s.. the republicans are paying american employers and companies to move jobs offshore. actions speak louder than words. and should discuss the bill bring that to the floor. guest: no question that the economy suffered at the turn of the last century and again after 2008. the economy has been very weak sense that point. republicans and democrats have different approaches to how to fix that problem. that is why you have seen the house reject the bill you discussed. i expect that to continue. the economy is very weak. americans are divided about which party would do a better job handling the economy. you would think the republicans would have a larger edge, but

there is very little confidence in washington. maryland,ony from independent line, good morning. caller: good morning. for taking my call. you all do a great job on c-span. i would like to say hello to ms. bowman. i am independent and a minority, i am african american. i want to say to her i was listening to her say the republican party should concentrate on the economy. every issue is important, immigration as well as the health care, which is much needed. when you talk about the republican party focusing on the economy, and my mind, with the furlough of the government workers, which they pushed for. workers.he government it deals with limiting overtime.

eden those with limit supervision. the republican party failed to support the people. it is not about millennials or minorities. it is about working for middle-class individuals that need support, whether it be republicans or democrats. in order to help our nation. whynted to ask ms. bowman does the republican party work so hard to hurt individuals by furloughing and doing certain things like not supporting overtime loss question mark -- overtime laws? as familiar with the overtime. but the sequester was something neither party wanted. there was the issue of trying to get control of the federal spending. that is why that approach was taken. people in washington were disproportionately hurt by the

furloughs. no question. host: our guest is a senior fellow at american enterprise institute. she analyzes polling data. one of the elements of the plant put out by the rnc, the autopsy. one of the points was to gather better data. is that a part of the average going forward? important tovery be aware of what americans are thinking about issues. both parties have big apparatuses to do that. in a moreoing it sophisticated way than they have in the past. that is not the kind of thing that we see in the public. i assume they are doing a lot of survey work around the country to understand what kind of appeals can be made and how their party candidates can make those appeals to voters. it is a big part of the postmortem you mentioned. host: how have republicans done up to this poing? guest: the -- up to this point? guest: that they did it is

something we do not see on the outside. the democrats did very well in 2012 harnessing they did a to target voters and communities. i think both parties will be doing that in 2014. bill,from massachusetts, republican line. caller: good morning. today, the federal government either print or borrows $.45 to $.47 of every dollar it spends. c-span, whose birthday is this week, 35 years -- host: today. go ahead. c-span's birthday today on the 19th of march. 1979. they have lived within a budget of $.10 per viewer. they have not only lived and survived, they have thrived and expanded. brian lamb has done an

incredible job staying within his 30 five-year-old budget. until everyone in america, i hate to use the term, comes together with this, we have got to stop spending. we have to follow c-span's lead. great fan ofy a what brian lamb has done. c-span is a national treasure. the fact it has kept costs down is a great story. happy birthday. i think said $.10 and it is lower, about six cents. when it comes to -- you talk about millennials. their view on spending? what are they saying? guest: they are not that much different from the rest of the population. most of them do not think they will see a social security check . they are worried about that going forward. or they think they will see one that has been reduced because of

the debt and deficit issues overall. that is an issue. it might not be on the front burner, getting a good job and moving out of their parents homes is another issue. the debt and deficit issues are further down the line. twitter, how would you contrast libertarians versus tea party? socially liberal or conservative? look a lotpartiers like the ross perot voters. higher income, mostly male, higher education, their activists. have a profile overall. they are conservative on social issues but mostly concerned about a. we do not haves, a lot of good polling data on libertarians. they tend to be concerned about spending issues overall. america's footprint across the globe. they are probably roughly equal

shares in terms of activists in terms of the population. i think we are going to be watching libertarians in the future. host: duties groups get along with each other? guest: whether the republican party is a big tent is harder to say. in the cbs poll you mentioned, tea partiers said they would vote for tea party candidates, they seem to be willing. host: gabe, maryland, republican line. caller: hi. thank you for taking my call. at 31 years old, a millennial republican. my thoughts and feelings in terms of how the republican party is moving. i do not really associate myself with the party any more. andrsonally decided to go officially change my voting registration to independent. the reasons are the social issues. harde my age really have a time identifying with so many of the things that the republican

party put out there in terms of communication. on the flipside of that, the economy -- i do not care whether you are a democrat or republican. the government needs to get out of the way. they are their own worst enemy. the government is trying to fix the economy, i don't know that should be their role. economy needs is certainty. all there is right now is uncertainty in terms of regulation, what the government is trying to do and everything like that. i worked in d.c., i am a real estate executive here. traction andget no no movement because there is no ability for business to make a sound decision on what is going to happen in the next three years or five years. nothing but gridlock. we are going to wait for the next voting cycle or the next the newregulations or administration. now you have a three year to five year horizon where nothing is going to happen and you cannot get any movement in the

economy. if we can put issues aside and agree on a few issues. get a time horizon of 10 years to 15 years where people know what things are going to be like. guest: many young people are feeling as you are. that is why there are so many independents among the millennial segment. the certainty issue is something that you can see below all of the poll data. thatst do not have a sense america is moving forward. we're wondering whether or not the kind of anemic growth we have seen in the last few years is the new normal. that is an enormous concern. one of the bloomberg polls this week asked about the stock market's rise. they said is this because of government action or the private sector. eight majority said the private sector. americans want the private sector to get moving and they are worried about government opponents -- about a minute and parents. "forbes" talking about

progress the gop is making. you talked about women, what does the polling suggest? since 1980, we have had a gender gap. men have been more republican and women have been more democratic. women are a larger share of the population and the electorate. the republicans have put forward people like cathy mcmorris rodgers, who did an effective job responding to the state of the union speech. you will see a lot more republican women trying to talk to women about republican ideas. their underrepresentation in congress makes it hard to get their message out to the country as a whole. cathy mcmorris rodgers was a good start in that regard. there was a "roll call" article suggesting that she was having regular meetings to get the message out there. host: karlyn bowman, this is fort worth, texas, independent line. caller: my name is reginald.

i appreciate you taking my call. so many things is years of stuff that happened years and years now. now, the government is involved in a few things that is going on . also, they are attacking minorities. minorities have been around. it is not going to go away. the republicans are basically targeting everything. voters rights, they are trying to jam things. i do not believe it is about voter fraud. that is hogwash. they know where they are going, republicans are doing thing after thing to block everything. during that time when we got our first black president, a lot of people did not care about that. now, they begin to show that. they have a lot of distractions. i do not believe republicans are trying to reach out to

minorities. that is years and years of hatred and controlling. that is not going to happen. thank you. gop has a lot the of ground to make up with minorities, african-americans, and hispanics. they have got to do better. the party is trying to be more sensitive to that. , thate of the callers message is not getting through. host: william from texas, democrat line. caller: my name is william. i do not agree with anything this lady is saying. she keeps comparing democrats to republicans. it is a different agenda. the republicans have ruined this country ever since 2000. they have never, ever done anything for this country but ruin it. the vote, trying to turn people away from the boat. in allto stop elections these different places and all the southern states. they are like the program this morning about down in georgia,

oldle will not even give people down there medicaid. these guys are destroying this country. i do not believe anything this lady is saying. guest: i am clearly not a spokesperson for either party, i am trying to analyze data. clearly, this caller and the last caller, the gop has problems with the minority community. data current perceptions? numbers say one thing, perceptions are stronger. guest: perceptions are very strong and it takes time to correct. host: new york, republican line. caller: hello? right.think you are reaching out sometimes should really mean educating. people are somewhat convinced that party a does not certain minority groups. americato say half of

-- people forget who pays their salaries. it is employers. employers are the ones who should have relief, tax cuts and regulations. once. , the enemy ist not the guards wearing republican hats but people who have taken away the rights for employers to legislate how much money they are allowed to spend and save. i really think we need term limits to solve these problems. i do not think presidents should be elected by people who, from what i am listening to, should not be allowed to vote. do not read and understand you should not vote. the governors ought to pick the president because the people pick the governors. thank you. guest: term limits are very popular in public opinion polls. the pollsters do not ask about that very often, but i have seen solid support for term limits. people are really concerned

about employers being able to expand their ranks. that is part of the deep concern we have about the economy and unemployment overall. data take any of your a look at 2016 and republican frontrunners? guest: there are already so many polls about the 2016 race, i do not pay much attention because it is so far away. before chris christie's recent troubles, he had a strong standing. there is a strong republican b jeb bush, some very attractive governors, scott walker and john kasich. a large group of republicans clustered close together. i do not pay attention to those in early days. host: as far as 2014 is concerned, any thoughts? the polling about 2014 suggests republicans will probably do pretty well in the house. is thatentional wisdom

republicans could pick up a few seats in the house and conceivably get control of the senate. that is a harder climb. they will lose a few of governor races. host: richard with karlyn bowman at the american enterprise institute. florida, independent line. caller: good morning. the color ahead of me explained what i wanted to say --the caller ahead of me explain what i wanted to say. republicans do not want us to vote. to say if people are not educated they do not want us to vote. i was in georgia this weekend talking to my grandfather. he is 90 years old and told me stories about what happened to people trying to vote. the point is that republicans, i hate to say it, all this is about race. this country was not in this beforeon it is in today barack obama became president. a lot of white people do not want to admit that.

the fact of the matter is these people have done everything that they can do to make sure that first of all he will be a one term president. they are going to make sure that they make him the worst president of all time. i am a veteran. i am notarty tells me patriotic. most of the tea party people have never thought about going into the military. it is time to try to pretend that the republicans care about african-americans -- i really do not believe they are trying to get any african-american votes. clearly the republican party is going to have to do a lot better than minorities if they expect to elect presidents. that message has to resonate and it has to be true. likeusly, a caller yourself is very skeptical about the message. public and will have to do better. host: as far as the rnc plan, what would you advise?

guest: i am not in the business of giving the party a vice. -- party advice. host: what can they do better? got to stressve the economy in a way they have not been doing. with creatingach jobs and growing the economy. that is something all americans care about. that is part of an appeal i would make, i am glad i am not in the clinical advice business. the: karlyn bowman is in data analysis business, a senior fellow at the american enterprise institute. thank you for joining us. guest: thank you. up, we look at former secretary of state secretary clinton. willlating on whether she run for president, a super pac is ready. mark halperin will join us. later, president obama promised transparency.

we will talk to sean moulton. those are coming up on "washington journal. ♪ >> the health care program in the u.s. is going to continue and not go anywhere. not deal with the issue of an innovation and we do not translate all the findings that occur at these pharmaceutical industries and at the university level into health care products that are affordable and vacherie disease and that cure them. as long as we do not understand how to treat and cure diseases, there is no point in talking about the solution to the health care problem. when it comes to drugs, when it

comes to the premiums, when it comes to subsidies, where are the subsidies going to come from? from taxpayer money. it is not that people are going to get a dollars out of the trees, people had to pay for that and there is a limit. the economy is basically the science of limitations. deal with a better system of working on prevention and working on understanding how we can take care of our health, there is no point in having health insurance. what is going to happen is what is happening in colombia right now. everybody can have access to health care. what happens in europe, too. people are covered but when it comes to medication and access to drugs, the government are having problems affording them. >> the future of health care, sunday night at 8:00 on "q&a." "> "washington journal

continues. host: joining us from new york, "ark halperin," "time's political analyst and political analyst for msnbc. in "time,"ent piece the not very quiet campaign for hillary clinton. give us some background. guest: this is one of the strangest potential presidential campaigns we have seen. secretary clinton has not made it clear she is going to run. most people suspect she will be caught up in the momentum of this and will run. this is a super pac that has been organized by young supporters of her, now being advised by older supporters. doing something no super pac has ever done at the presidential level. doing grassroots organizing. not what we think of sewer facts as doing normally, which is from wealthyhecks

donors to pay for television advertising. this is an attempt to address was hillary clinton's biggest weakness as a candidate against barack obama in 2008. which is building a grassroots organization all over the country. as president obama showed in 2008, this helps you win the nomination. if you can keep those activists engage, you can more directly from the nomination, primaries, and caucuses, into the general election. what i found in reporting this story is that hillary clinton, she has been publicly quiet about the super pac, she is supportive of what they are doing. she believes it is helping her if she does run to address this weakness of how does she have the foot soldiers that you need to do well in a country as large as ours. is calledsuper pac "ready for hillary." tell us about the key people, are they people we know in the political world? ofst: mostly not in terms

the regional organizers. a number of young people who are very dedicated to her. some worked with her on a junior level and mid-level. they want to see her run. it is being advised by a number of people who are more familiar to people who watch the cleanse closely. the person i focus on is a guy .amed craig smith as a teenager, he met bill clinton. he has worked with the clintons on presidential campaigns. he is now a senior advisory to the super pac. he is someone who the clintons been with them every step of the way and would love to see hillary clinton run. i told him talking about how they are trying to build a ferrari of grassroots organizations with the super pac . he says we just need someone to step on the gas. he has cut off all contact with bill and hillary because he have the super pac not to

any questions raised about it. a lot of people staffing it, they have a staff of several dozen. people staffing it they today are not very well-known. but some of the advisers and some of the donors are pretty big in the democratic party and parted aid a group of people who would like to see secretary clinton run for president. host: since it is a super pac, what kind of campaign-finance rules apply customer -- campaign-finance rules apply? guest: there are no limits but the super pac has imposed a limit. i think it is 25,000 dollars, self-imposed. one of the powers of the super pac, which has been under discussed, it is not grassroots organizing, but that is a big deal. the goal is to have millions of supporters, active volunteers by the end of the year. that would worth what anyone president hasor

in terms of people at their disposal. contributors. is they do a lot of fundraising events where they charge low dollar events. they do not feature hillary clinton but they feature people supportive of her. , those kinds of low donors, small donors who can give and give again and give un, presidentdoes r obama specialized and that as a candidate. it is something that no other republican, with the possible exception of rand paul, a potential candidate, has at their disposal. while big contributions are part of running for president, president obama has shown that small contributions are a big deal. the super pac is raising a lot of money and they are selling merchandise, they are taking in some larger checks. they have a fundraiser coming up featurington

lobbyists. president obama true a line and said he did not want lobbyists contributing money. this super pac is not drawing that line. although they are capping contributions. see their influence in places like iowa and new hampshire? guest: they did a big organizing event in iowa last week, two weekends ago at the side of the caucus meetings at the county level. they show up and they basically try to collect information and contact information for potential supporters. they are organizing in new hampshire. part of what they are doing is focusing on a longer-term strategy. president obama, people who watch c-span will know, one way he beat hillary clinton in 2008 after the early contests was he was organized in some of the caucus states and primary states further down in the calendar where she did not have an organization. her team did not build up the structure in multiple states. their organizing in all 50

states. both to preclude a nomination challenge that might threaten her, they know expectations are such that she will not attack to win contests but when big. very important to have his organizations carry over to the general election. notate like missouri does normally play a large role in the nominating contest. if you build an organization there, there will be a primary in other states. thegive it a test run in nomination season and then stay in touch with those people, keep them active and keep them going through the general election. that is what the super pac is trying to do. if she rents, there is disagreement among people about how impactful this could be if she runs. if they do it right it could be quite packed taxable. it is better than nothing. mark halperin of msnbc and "time" magazine.

themu want to ask questions, here is your chance. democrats, (202) 585-3880. republicans, (202) 585-3881. independents, (202) 585-3882. you can also tweet us @cspanwj. has secretary of state clinton either directly or overtly reference to this group? she does not in public. she wants to try to tamp down the engaged speculation about whether she might run. she has said to friends she is following what they are doing and she is appreciated and thinks it is effective. it is being followed by the by the president and current first lady. they are both kind of interested in who succeeds the president. michelle obama is very concerned that if president obama is not replaced by a democrat his

legacy could be undermined. there would be symbolism and a republican president could try to undo some of what he has gotten done, including the affordable care act. michelle obama is very in touch with the grassroots. she is underrated as a political actor and also in times of someone who understands the move -- understands the mood of the country. popularld she hears how hillary clinton is an she hears how much interest there is in the campaign. you do not hear the obama's or clinton's talking privately about the super pac, but they are paying attention. they know how important the midterms are to obama, but they are both aware that organizing now is being done for hillary clinton and if it can be done with a balance for 2014, they understand why that needs to take place. comes fromirst call eric, georgia, democrats want. you are on with mark halperin. caller: good morning.

issuelperin, there is one that is never brought up on tv. none of the pundits bring it up. the base of the democratic party. the base of the democratic party is the african-american community. this is what i would like to ask you. president obama won the race vote in history of any democratic president. he won like 35% or something. the things you never mention about the democratic party, it never gets told, the african-american community. what does hillary plan on doing in order to mobilize african-american voters like me? the first time i voted in 2008,

this has raised up black voting point something percent. what does hillary clinton plan to do to court african-american voters question mark -- african-american voters? host: mr. halperin? guest: thank you for the call. fan of c-span. whenever i come on i like to say thank you for doing all you do. for participating, it is always an honor to participate. thank you. the clintons in arkansas and when bill clinton ran for president had great relationships at both the elite level of the african-american community, as well as grassroots. one of the real shocks for hillary clinton in 2008 was she always assumed that if she ran for president she would get a large percentage of the african-american community. you are already seeing with the super pac we are talking about, ready for hillary, a real focus on courting african-american voters.

with specific agenda items and our reach also just in general as part of, as the ofler suggested, the base the democratic party. without a doubt, i think you will see hillary clinton do that. you will also see the republican nominee have outreach to the african-american community because they have been shut out of that vote. because of obama's attachment to the community. you will see republicans try to get some of that vote back. juste in both parties, not pure partisans, recognize that all americans benefit if there is a vigorous debate and a rigorous competition for votes. host: up next from tennessee, republican line. you for taking my call. it has been a while since i have called. as far as hillary clinton, i

hope the american people are smart enough not to vote for this woman. she is not qualified. the investigation that they talked about. what does it matter? they do not care about you or me, all they care about is themselves and their power. we do not even need another four years of extension of the obama administration. like myself are hoping that for some reason or another she decides not to run, maybe because of sickness or death or whatever. inhope she never gets office, that would be the distraction of america. guest: first of all, i cannot let your last comment go by. i don't think anyone should wish secretary clinton any health problems or anything like that. there is an article in "the wall street journal" some people thinking maybe she will not run. been atbecause she has

times a unifying figure, she was as senator and at times as secretary of state. she has also been one of the most polarizing figures in the country. benghazi, focused on those are things you see across america, tens of millions of americans feel that way about hillary clinton and the clintons. is balanced by extraordinary enthusiasm amongst tens of millions of americans. we live in a polarizing time. whoever the democratic nominee and the republican nominee, they will face tens of millions of americans who feel passionately that they should not be president. clinton has a built in history. the clinton had to do something to make a lot of people on edge and inspire a lot of people. the benghazi issue is one where there are still unanswered questions.

some conservatives make the mistake in believing that if they somehow just talk about benghazi that that will either intimidate secretary clinton out of the race or it will cause her to lose the white house. as tragic as the events surrounding benghazi are and there are unanswered questions, smarter republicans and see that stopping hillary clinton would involve talking about more than just that one episode. same mark halperin, the article you mentioned talked about her age and the grueling nature of a campaign. a tweet saying that she is too old to run for president. would be almost as old as ronald reagan would he got elected. she did have some health issues towards the end of her time as secretary. like her husband, she is incredibly energetic. there is the reality, not necessarily so much of -- that

her age would limit what she would do. as someone who has looked at why someone does run for president, she has to assume it will be a two-year proposition to run and four years in office, presumably a run for reelection. that is basically the rest of her professional life. it is possible, some people think, on a human level i see the point, maybe she does not want to do that. maybe after a lifetime of public service she would like to do other things. the foundation work she has started and other opportunities for travel, family, etc. clearly going to be a consideration as she decides whether to go forward. it will be for some voters. if you look at the age of leaders and other countries and you look at the rigorous schedule she kept as secretary of state, i do not think it is a barrier or something that would be disqualifying at all. massachusetts,m

independent line. caller: thank you. it seems to me what sums up hillary clinton, for me, and i think for many others. back in 1995, the conference on women. places, beijing, china. what a sign. it was not a review to china -- china,not a rebuke to but how women liberated from their families can be turned into automatons in a liberated underclass. most women in the feminist trend underpaid service workers. hillary clinton has spent her entire life serving the population control agenda and ensuring that killing facilities will exist where babies can be exterminated like pests. she has got more blood on her hands than lady macbeth.

guest: i will just say again, is passion the caller seals reflected in other people. if she runs for president, she goes into that knowing that people like that caller exist and feel very passionate. she has been on the kind of issues the caller was talking about, outspoken and a leader. those who support her agenda look at the conference the caller referenced as one of the great moments in her career. the caller has a different view and it shows the intense feelings that hillary clinton expires -- and spires. host: mark halperin, if she decides to run for president. being a secretary of state, a first lady, and a senator, that get looked at. arkansas,back to

there were questions when her husband did not run for president. law firm and her personal financial investments. the reason no, there has been documents released by the clinton library recently. lot of security. although she didn't run before and although she got more scrutiny than most anyone has ever gotten when she was first lady, i guarantee you there will be more information about her past that comes out of she runs for president. the way the clintons are treated, i have covered them to a 1991, they are held different standard, often a higher standard. there is no doubt that if she the, she will be facing same kind of travails she went through a national life. that is why there are people who do not want her to run or hope she does not run or think she will not run. right now, she has got a life where she can disappear for a to the theater and

travel and do all sorts of things that if she runs for president and wins would be off the table. host: a viewer asks how much of an asset will her husband be if she decides to run? guest: a pretty huge asset. and i wrote in "game change" about how president clinton, who had been a little rusty, was at times an asset for her first president of campaign. at times, he was a competition. based on the performance last cycle, he would be a pretty big .sset he has gone through a general election campaign. inis one of the great minds this country politically in the country's history. i say that without fear of contradiction.

he will have learned lessons from last time. he is more popular now and is, h is stewardship in the white house, particularly related to economic growth, is something a lot of americans look favorably on. as is always true with the clintons, nothing is linear or simple. president clinton would also provide a complication that he has in the past if she ran. i think on balance, there is no doubt he would be a big asset for her. i will say again, fundraising is a big part of american presidential politics. presidential clinton would help her raise a lot of money, more than any other spouse. host: mark halperin, senator rand paul making statements about monica lewinsky. we are not even fully into the campaign yet. paul has been pretty outspoken, as was his wife in one interview. again, it reminds some people

around hillary clinton of the type of issues that would be brought back up from their past that she would have to address. it also reminds the republicans that in 1998, when the republicans tried to run against bill clinton and bring up aspects of his personal life as well as questions about his honesty and legal proceedings, that the clintons have had an extraordinary clinical success. when the clinton was running in 1992, he would say, the republicans want the republicans want this election to be about my yesterday's and i want this to be about your tomorrow's. i suspect if hillary clinton , you will hear some version of that from both clintons. host: mrs. kelly from organ. go ahead.

-- from oregon. thank you for defusing those vitriolic callers. you handle them very well. supportlike to say -- i hillary clinton 100%. i will be proud to vote for her. she is going to be the next president. that black men were given the right to vote 70 years before any women were, i would have liked to have seen a woman get elected before a black person. 70 years is like three generations. before white men give their a chance toughters book. i think we're long overdue for a woman president. i think hillary would be wonderful. i hope she decides to continue to make the world a better place. if she did note

want to, that would be ok. 's monologuealler is very representative of what a lot of women feel. particularly the issue of history. if you look at the other female leaders in this country in politics and business, a lot of impressive people. the glass ceiling has been broken in a lot of ways. yet, if you look at the other possible female presidents, no one comes close to hillary clinton in terms of their experience, fundraising thecity, name id, by all measures used to say, can somebody get to that highest public office in the land? you see that for a lot of women. this not just the best chance but perhaps the only chance for quite some time. that is part of why hillary clinton has built such a strong base of support even without declaring a candidacy. it's why some people around her think she will run in the end.

it's almost a responsibility to go forward to try to become the first female president to break the glass ceiling. she has the opportunity to do it. she has her detractors and there is no perfect candidate. today,s no doubt that there is no one more likely to be the next president of the unites states than hillary clinton. i say, she has a strong chance to win the democratic nomination without significant opposition, which would be a huge advantage. while there are plenty of talented people in the republican party, i don't think any of them today have nearly a good chance as she does. you look at the electoral no guaranteee is of an easy run for the white house. the republicans nominate a popular person,

there will be the divide. there is a lot of support for her amongst women. a lot of men as well. that historical first thing is a big deal and gives her the best chance to be the next president. host: if she decides to run, could that be merged with the as far ass operation the ability to reach out to voters? guest: there are other super pac 's supporting her. on ready foreople hillary are people who did work for president obama. revamped lasts , betterto include tools organizing tools. -- algorithmss get more

sophisticated. you see extra neri level of support for her among grassroots and organizers. level ofraordinary support. president obama's top local advisors are quoted saying that he is struck at how there is extraordinary enthusiasm for hillary clinton. not just support, but enthusiastic support because hillary clinton was seen as a loyal member of the team in obama's cabinet. part of why she is so formidable, people down to the grassroots are really for her.

they like her and support her. her as theking at person they would like to see run. not vice president biden. while that has left the odd man out, he is aware of the reality. among the groups that make up the party come including labor and african-americans and hispanics and younger voters, there is a lot of support for her. from franklin, georgia. republican line. comments.st a couple i will let you talk after i get finished. there is one question that needs to be asked. what does it matter? the supposed this appearance of all the records at whitewater. what does it matter that she did things like insider trading.

benghazi -- what does it matter? e situationabout the in syria. the things she allowed slick willy to do while he was president. what does it matter? this country needs to ask, what does it matter? that's a very sophisticated caller. awareness on the callers part of a lot of things from secretary clinton's past that i do think would be and should be part of the debate if she runs again. for the good of the country and for the good of republicans who , theto win the white house debate if she runs should not be just about those things. every candidate who runs has things from the past that get scrutinized. how they handle those things is

a big deal. there are no perfect candidates. you want a perfect candidate, hillary clinton is happy for you to vote for someone else. the main thing i take away from intensity --heir tens of millions of americans feel that about her. they don't want her to be president and she would have to run knowing that. some other candidate runs and they don't start with that building base of intense level of disapproval. we are in a polarized time. whoever the democrats nominate -- they will catch up in terms intense level of disapproval. i'm a journalist and i think part of the response ability of people in my business is to give scrutiny to hillary clinton. i hope i have made clear -- i think every area of the caller mentioned, i believe there is unanswered questions. democrats will do their best to say that has all been looked at before. it's old news, move on.

i think if she runs, there will be more scrutiny and there should be. the election should be about other things as well. jobs, economy, international relations. her record as secretary of state is part of that. elections should be about who is the best ideas for the future. i guarantee you that anyone who's thinking about running for president on the republican side, including jeb bush, anyone doesn't have a third of the experience that hillary clinton has in dealing with how you handle scrutiny of your past. republicans who think they can either intimidate her out of the race or that she could win -- couldn't win because of problematic areas of her background aren't thinking through what their own candidate will go through. host: the story in the washington times today looking at jeb bush and his potential to run. -- what does he

face? guest: it does loom. he is in a class by himself as a potential candidate. he's not a perfect candidate. there are people who don't like his family. he has some problems with the grassroots. the populist wing of the party on issues like immigration where he has been accommodating. in a time when the country is still searching for fundamental change, what says that more than a clinton-bush general election? there is no laugh track on c-span. you have two of the most serious people i've ever covered. -it hillary jeb bush clinton general election, they would have a serious conversation about education and health care and the economy and international relations. i'm not endorsing either of them

were saying that they are the only two candidates who can bring this about. i have a fairly high degree of confidence that they were there parties nominees, we would have serious and important and substantive debate in the context of general election. i'm not sure jeb bush will run. i think he has to decide whether he wants to do it personally or go through it or put his family through it. i do think if he runs, he is the exact kind of establishment candidate with support from large donors and elected officials and business communities. he would be the front-runner for the nomination by a lot. i think people who underestimate him do it at their peril. one thing that is underrated about him in a polarized time, i have never met a democrat who as spent serious time with jeb bush talking about the country who didn't come away thinking, i like him. i may not agree with them on every issue but i would become bowl with him as president and i wish he would run. that is external area.

you don't hear that about too many people in public life today as they deal with the other party. looms over this field. it is a much different race with jeb bush in it. host: who do you think becomes the frontrunner without jeb bush? they don't really have one. that has never been the case in the modern era. analyzing how the fight would flow is impossible to do with any degree of specificity because we are in a world with different dynamics. been aycle, there has front runner already identified at this point in the cycle. easily, sometimes after a big scare. that has been the pattern. it will be the pattern again if someone can emerge. i think governor christie surviving, he would be a big player. paul ryan will be a big player. they both might set it up.

the other is my copy. -- the other is mike huckabee. i think it's hard to say after that. you have a lot of people with strengths and weaknesses. you have a lot of people who could play for media attention or fundraising. but no one dominating. the party has never had that. so it's difficult again that. that's why i think jeb bush is facing a fair amount of pressure and why he is intrigued because he would be able to step into that role he easily. particularly in fundraising right away. in a manner that no one else could do. host: up next is gary from ohio. independent line. clintoni voted for twice. at that time, i was uninformed. that a bunch of

and almost alls of the people of in charge of or the other 43 people that died real close to the realize -- i didn't arkansas was the dope center dope forled guns and years and years. bush was in there with them. this never comes out. if this is wrong, i would like to know if that's wrong. host: where did you get your information on that? show that was a bbc they wouldn't let in the unite states. that's where it came from.

host: any thoughts? a c-span aciding flashback to earlier in my career. the clintons have faced a career. there are things that they have both done for which they have been held accountable. to bring up things about them with little or no supporting evidence to suggest that they are immoral and should be disqualified from public service is something in holy clinton would face if she ran. that is daunting. that hillary clinton would face if she ran. why would she want to go through it again? 21 for president knowing that there are tens of millions of people around the country who feel about her as that color does.

the ready for hillary campaign -- do they have any influence on the 2014 elections coming up you go guest: they do. they have aspirations to be active. one of the big things going forward this year is, what would hillary clinton herself there iacobucci campaign with and for? who will she endorse questio? around theces country, they hope to use this year as an opportunity to build up the skills of their army. to have people who were enthusiastic about hillary clinton work on other campaigns in order to get political experience so if she does run, they have people who are not just enthusiastic but will train. -- but well-trained.

how much can that effort actually bear fruit? how much of a resource will that be after the midterms? i'm not sure what the answer is. it is better than nothing. it certainly more than anyone else has. you don't see even on the republican side among the more aggressive people -- people like ted cruz or marco rubio or rent paul -- you don't see the same level of organized efforts to say, how do we channel whatever it is as if exists for our potential candidacy into the practical liquid spirits -- practical political experience? here is sheldon in washington. independent line. caller: i enjoyed reading your analysis. in response to the woman who theed, indicating about

black man having the right to vote 70 years prior to women's vote -- she was incorrect. the ratification of the 15th 1870 and the 19th amendment was 1920. wasou think hillary clinton involved in the benghazi fiasco? 's commentswell during the 2004 election, calling her a monster. betweenthe difference obama care and what hillary clinton's health-care plans ?ould have been host: thank you. guest: thank you for the math.

no. yes, and both plans involve trying to introduce some market competition and government subsidies into trying to get more people covered. clinton and first lady was not quite asre n ambitious. health care is complicated. there are lots of other differences and similarities. writes political analysis for msnbc and time magazine. things for your time today. great to be on. thank you for c-span. host: we take a look at transparency and the government, particularly the obama administration. this administration had made promises to be transparent. we will see how they're doing with sean moulton. that will come up. we will take a news update from c-span radio.

>> some international news. joe biden is warning russia that the united states will respond to any aggression against nato allies. the vice president is aloof when you -- is in lithuania. he says there are growing costs that come with naked aggression. let it reboot and signed a vladimir- putin signed the treaty to annex crimea. malaysia's defense minister says the pilot of the missing jet is still innocent unless proven guilty of something. in the meantime, investigators are trying to restore files deleted from his hi in home flight simulator. they want to know if the files shed any light on the disappearance. the unite states has reached a settlement with toyota over its failure to disclose safety

problems. the justice department will announce a $1.2 billion settlement today. the investigation focused on whether toyota was forthright and reporting problems related to unintended acceleration troubles that led to massive recalls beginning in 2009. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. today's young adults, the millennial generation, having a lot of trouble getting started in life because they come of age in a hostile economy. they are paying money to a system to support a level of benefits for today's retirees that they have no realistic chance of getting when they retire. there needs to be a rebalance of the social compact. it's a very important challenge in a very difficult challenge because not only is social security and of oure not become half budget.

it is by far the biggest thing we do. the purestlically statement in public policy that as a country we are all in this together. it these are programs that affect everybody. the old mass of these programs doesn't work. >> paul taylor on the looming tional generally showdown. being west will take your calls, comments o and tweets. -- bing west. also this month, join the online discussion. tab.for the book club host: sean moulton joins us.

thanks for coming on. lines about the center. guest: center for effective government is a dc-based nonprofit advocacy group for pushing for three things. , a government that establishes rules and a government that our moneyour mone effectively. host: a report looking at transparency issues. what does this report tell us? guest: it looks at the top 15 agencies that processed the most requests they get under the freedom of information act. really covercies 90% of all the requests the government gets for information. it looks at how they did it in three areas. one, how they process or respond

to those requests. how fast they are, how much information there giving as best as we can tell. two, the website and the tools they put online to attract with . public and three, the regulation that governs their program. host: we look at these agencies when it comes to the social security ministration -- it's a bee. the department of justice gets a b minus. you go down to the department of labor and the fence, they all get a f's. guest: seven failed the scorecard. that is what happened. thegood news is, in each of areas that we measured, there were agencies that did exceptionally well. that proves that success is possible in these areas. agencies really have to learn from each other on the best ways to achieve that. agency, far as each

what are they responsible for? what is the law? guest: anyone can request records from an agency. the agency has to respond within 20 days. they can withhold records that fall under certain set exemptions. i can't request your tax records, for example. that's personal privacy. i can't request information on undercover investigations that are ongoing or something related to national security. if the information falls into one of those protected areas, it's withheld or rejected. the agency must provide that information other than that. host: what do people look for? guest: we're talking about hundreds of thousands of requests. it varies greatly. after hurricane sandy, i'm sure there were requests going in that looked at how that money was being spent in terms of the recovery.

after we had accidents in the virginia, they work west going and about those chemicals involved in this accidents and what the health impacts might be. there's is a lot of requests going in for information about immigration. medicare. it is a check and balance. and ability to find out what the government is doing and what it knows and use that intermission to try to help those agencies accomplish their mission better. host: we showed you the grades from the report that you just put out. how these grades have changed. is the first year we have done agency by agency scorecard. in the past, we have looked at the government as a whole. in general, the government over the years has varied. has been disclosing less as far as we can tell. it used to be under the clinton

administration, there was a much greater release of full information when someone requested. you get all the information requested. we have seen a steady decline obamah the bush and administrations were partial disclosure -- they withhold some of that information -- that is the norm by and large. it's very hard to figure out based on the statistics how much we are seeing. a partial disclosure could be, or 99etract one page pages. it is still considered a partial disclosure. we don't have the metrics to really zero in on how much information there giving and how much they're withholding. host: how much time does it take? guest: it depends greatly on who you ask. if you have a simple request and you go to someone like the environmental protection agency, you are guaranteed to get your request back within 20 days. if you go to someone like the state department who was by far

the worst in terms of processing requests, you are going to have about sevenverage months. even for simple request. host: could this information be found on the website ec? guest: it could be, but it is not. that is something we would like to see more. putting information that has been requested by previous people. more information that the agency thinks will get requested. we can get that information out and we can short-circuit the whole process. avoid the requests entirely. -- of what agency the agency going through this information. host: if you have questions about transparency, here are the numbers you can call. four democrats. (202) 585-3881 for republicans. (202) 585-3882 for independence.

the president said this about the administration when it comes to transparency. my ministration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government. we will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. using that? that? you seeing guest: there's a lot of use of technology and websites and social media that has been very effective. actfreedom of information -- we have seen more of a mixed reaction right now. some agencies are being very innovative. theyas put up information think will be requested. they have been one of those agencies that has been out there putting together new websites that allow you to request information electronically and track your request

electronically and file an appeal. national archives put that website together. we have seen some steps. there are areas outside where we have not seen these principles make a dent. the main one would be anything related to national security. this administration has not seen the benefits of transparency. host: our first caller from missouri. democrats line. caller: thank you very much. i blog to an organization of family farm defenders. a request on how money was being spent. over half of this thing was blacked out. who rules over this? we didn't get any information at all. host: when you got a response, how would he pages was it?

caller: probably 30 or 20. this is not a secret organization. everything was practically blacked out. about it.oncerned we don't know where that advertising money is being spent. it certainly did not help the dairy farmers. thank you very much. guest: thank you. that is a great point. it is hard to figure out exactly how much an agency is disclosing and how much they are redirecting. in some casese and questionable in many cases. it varies from agency to agency. you can request literally the same documents from different agencies who might have it and you will get widely different redactions. some will give you the document and whole and others will give you some pages.

back in 2007, congress passed the open government act. it amended the freedom of information act. one thing it did was create a new office called the office of government information services. they're supposed to be a spokesman for the public to try to get more consistent processing and more consistent interpretation through the agencies. they have been around for a couple of years. .hey are well underfunded they are trying their best to move these agencies to more consistent application. host: this is about dairy advertising. is a big aspect of almost any agency. people want to know where that money is going and there should be greater transparency. the agencies should step forward and be able to tell us what they are doing with our money. i'm not sure that there is a fair reason to redact.

i'm not sure if the color aller appealed. if you don't get your process there, you're left with limited options. you can go to the office of government information services and they can mediate between you and the agency. they have had some success. agencies are not required to cooperate with that mediation. if the agency really does not want to give it to you and they don't want to cooperate, they can be resistant. that is going to court, which is expensive and long in its own way. host: police from new york. democrats line. elise from new york. james from tennessee. democrats line. caller: good morning. somewhat glad to see that

effort. i bipartisan can see that in you. seeing that this thing is fair and balanced. runs -- organization this is prior to obama. -- office was created guest: it was created 30 years ago. host: i can see you are fair and balanced about that. .hat concerns me is the va i'm a vietnam veteran. i received my services through the va. i would like to hear more about va are lessf the

effective. the vaitalization -- administrating itself. va getting an athletic comes to their transparency. guest: they did. in terms of who was in charge for the freedom of information act request, it will be the headquarters, not the hospitals. if you request information from the v.a. as a veteran about your records, that is an entirely different type of request. they handle millions of those and those are privacy act requests care requests. they handle those and they handle them more efficiently now . poorlyrformed pretty across all three areas.

they have a lot of room for improvement. they have made some efforts on their website, which has to be done relatively easily. boasting more information online. -- posting more information online. they can move up the grade and the next scorecard. host: is there a standard form or does each agency have a different process? guest: each agency has their own process right now. there is some standardization in terms of the information they often provide. it is not uniform. there is no one place to go. even inside of agencies, it will be sub components of that agency that have information. the department of homeland security drive people to their component parts. you will be sent to immigration's website or fema's

website rather than the dhs. that is part of the problem is inconsistency. the administration actually committed recently to trying to develop a government wide portal where you could request information from any agency in one spot. we have a lot of promise. it is probably a year or so off. we will have to wait and see how well they do with it. host: mike from ohio. independent line. caller: good morning. several years ago, there was a book written about iraq. the book toubmitted the pentagon and all those people. they approved it with a few changes and then when it hit the bookstores, and was recalled. -- it was recalled. when they look at the two versions, he cannot believe some of the things that were redacted . cting theo be reda

constitution. see the ballot ed.act blacked out all the names because all we have is the same old same old time after time. we are arguing the same issues s we were when i was in school in the 1960's. it's time to get some new old people in their. 73be some younger ones, like where their memories aren't always after the civil war. guest: i think you raise an interesting point about the redaction. it is a mystery at times. can see examples of this that people have tracked down by requesting several documents from different agencies.

the recovery act -- when that went through, there was a lot of interest in how that money was being spent. on the website, they released the contract that they put out for developing the website. one of the things they redacted was how many visitors the site was being built to handle. nobody understood that. it was example that stuck with me as a mystery as to why you would redact that. it is not confidential or national security information. again whereme and information is withheld. it sounds like this author might have been dealing with a bit of retroactive classification. out, the information was the departments or agencies going out and saying, no, now this information can be released.

-- can't be released. in these agencies, information is either declassified or they reclassify. in our life in the electronic world we live in, most information is out there and it's out there. there's no way to get it back. host: bobby in michigan. democrats line. caller: my name is bobby and i m's calling in regards to some comments i've heard -- i'm calling in regards to some comments i've heard running getting information. securityving my social and i have found out that within -- workforce that i worked many places i've worked, i'm not getting credit for. important because it

is dependent on how much you get per month. we have requested this information and it has been over a month. i confirm what your guest has said. they are taking their time and there is no response in terms of information. host: was this request from a freedom of information act caller request? guest: yes sir. caller: yes sir. credit towards the work that your work and your history. host: thanks. guest: it is definitely a challenge for these agencies to manage this information. it's an enormous amount. there are mistakes that get made. it is good that you are looking at this information. and then following up on your right to ask for this

information. i'm not sure if it will be handled exactly under freedom of information. of foya and mix some under the privacy act. you don't want somebody else to get your information as it relates to your social security qualifications. it will probably be run under both. of the time frame social security ministration has been pretty good. i'm disappointed to hear that in your case, they are taking longer. i would certainly follow-up with them. you have to be an advocate after you make the request. basically asked them how long it will take and if they can give you an estimated time of completion. are vigilant in your request, it can make a big difference and how it's processed. host: is the freedom of information act something you can do your self or their advocates to help you through the process? guest: certainly both. anybody can follow up on a

request. you have to use any particular magic liquid. have to use any particular magic language. use some that will forfully make it easy the agency to understand and process your request. host: edward from georgia. democrats like. caller: good morning. is, how isestion your organization funded? then't want to live in past, but there were $13 billion sent to iraq and dropped off on pallets. that money disappeared. i have tried to find out from my senator what happened and they said they had a closed-door investigation going on. that was u.s. tax dollars that was dropped off. nobody explained to me where that money went.

secondly, why is it that the pentagon can't perform an audit? if you have any agency that has been spending that type of money and you can't do an audit, i would like to know if you have information on why it is the pentagon cannot have an audit. questions -- the first one, how my organization is funded -- we are funded through private grants. we get 95% of our money from private foundations. we get a little bit of money from individuals. it is by and large private. we can remain as objective and independent as possible. in terms of the iraq money, money certainly is one of the biggest things that people

really want to know about. where it is being spent, who is deciding on it, who gets it, what for. administration has a website out there called usa spending.go v that gives you a lot of information on grants and contracts. it does not handle a pallet full of money that has gone missing. aagree with you that closed-door investigation is not the most satisfying investigation of something that has to do with our money. that theope administration and the agencies involved would be more forthcoming when it comes to any problems that arose in terms of this management of funds. . the government handles trillions of dollars each year and they only to the public to be open and honest about -- the audit of the pentagon -- every agency should be auditable. they all have a responsibility to be accountable for how they

spend the money and how they make the decisions. that we have not set them up that way. you have to actually have quite a bit of logistics and bureaucracy put in place to actually manage your information to be prepared for an audit. andll say, the pentagon many of the agencies aren't necessarily set up for that right now. i do think they owed to the public to get set up and get prepared and start doing audits on a regular basis. an f.they're also getting this is put off for the center for effective government. -- put out by the center for effective government. guest: you can get the information run up our homepage. ffectivegov.org. host: deborah on our democrats

line. hello. have a similar situation as the previous caller. there are several jobs that are not on my social security form. disability going to for the past four years. the same denying me. symptoms that i had four years ago are just now being acknowledged. it is the same symptoms i had 4-5 years ago. i have copies where i was denied because they said i had a background of being arrested. someone needs to look into these things and why people are being denied because of race. transparency -- people should have another interviewer to look at it other than social security. howt: accountability on

agencies are making their decisions, whether it is social security disability or medicare, re definitely is a lot of interest in this. organizations are out there committed to looking at thiese types of issues. alwaysblem is, it is not easy to find information. it should be. it should be a simple as asking for information and getting it. that run decisions right into privacy concerns. if my agency wanted to investigate and get records to try to figure out if there was some pattern in terms of these denials, it would be difficult to get that information without stepping into individuals' erstwhile privacy information. there needs to be a way to get

this more proactively so we can all be inspector general's. 'personaldualss privacy. host: how does the government rank with the 50 states on records requests? guest: it is hard to say. in the world, we used to be a leader on the freedom of information act. we have been surpassed. host: by who? guest: we have not done the studies. there are studies that look at that. there are countries out there where it applies to all three branches of government. ours only applies to the executive. your senator or district court. you can get records from them and request them but it is not covered under the same law. to reply. have haverms of the states, you

50 states. you will have a wide variation in terms of how states are doing. that is what we hear when we talk to people. we focus on the federal government. ofan't give you a ranking all the states. ya-likeate has its own fo law. they require the government to be as open as possible. how well they do it and lamenting that various -- how well they do at implementing that varies. host: tim, good morning. hello? caller: yes, sir. on the subject of transparency, this is the least transparent form of government i could ever -- i'm 60 years old and i've been watching government for a long time.

becauseople think just they tell you a lot, you have to believe it. you are supposed to believe it. -- just because they tell you a lie, you have to believe it. that's all i hear from obama. he is not being held accountable for anything. hard to measure one administration versus another. to howre some pieces transparent administration is. -- how transparent and administration is. to say thathard this one is the least transparent of the recent demonstrations. have done an awful lot with open data. websites, social media. if you disagree with the administration on what they say or don't believe them, that's an entirely different issue than whether or not they are being transparent.

they do get more mixed remarks when we talk about something like foya implementation or something like national security where this administration has leaned very heavily toward secrecy. i think there are a lot of groups out there that say the department of defense and homeland security would benefit from more transparency and more count in terms of how they spend their money. host: there is something called sunshine week. what is that? guest: is started years ago in florida. now it is nationwide and it's a whole week. it coincides with james madison's birthday. he is the founding father that most people attribute to transparency in government. opportunity is an to take a moment and reflect on how important transparency is. how useful it is. so media and organizations around the country hold events.

release reports to highlight how they are going. host: have you had a chance to engage directly with the administration? guest: absolutely. that's one area they have done very well. they have engaged and try to start a dialogue with those were interested in this and other topics. they have been very collaborative. they're continuing that. under a program called the , theyrship international put out a plan and made some commitments around foya and other openness issues. they will put together a committee of federal advisers on modernizing foya, bringing in requesters and other agencies to talk about the problems and the best path forward. tom is next in virginia. independent line. caller: hello.

sean.calling regarding because iin a request was denied entering canada. they sent me a letter back saying thank you for your information. i was wondering if you had any ideas on how to move forward. guest: without seeing the actual letter, it is hard to say exactly what they claimed in terms of exemption. i would say, there are a couple of ways. you could try to appeal the letter you got. go back to the agency. some don't give you a lot of time to appeal. sometimes only 15 days or so. the agency and say, i want this looked at by someone else. i think i deserve this information. as it relatesme

to you. the other option would be to simply filing a request. one of the things you might want to do is to clarify what exactly you are asking for and specify in that letter that you are making this request under the freedom of information act and privacy act. some of this information when it relates to, that is not necessarily releasable to everybody. if you make a joint request, you might have better luck. is, i woulding highly encourage you or anybody else to contact the agency. staff to talkya to them about the information that they're looking at and what it is you are actually trying to find. the more you can communicate with them, the better you can tailor what it is they are looking for in their response to you. host: mike for michigan. republican line. outer: what i was getting

about transparency of this administration -- maybe it's because the media -- they are very closed doors on all the issues they're working on. i wondered if he could respond care --act of obama what they call the affordable care, which is really not affordable. everybody's encouraging us to purchase this insurance. it seems to be illegal in the first place. how the supreme court turned around and rewrote it as a tax. how they could do that, change it to a tax and rewrite the law. since then, the law has been changed 30 times or so. said, i disagree.

i don't think this administration is the most secretive or the worst on transparency. they have a mixed record. they still have a chance to write a legacy on transparency if they can get these bigger changes put in place before they leave. in terms of the affordable care act, i think this is something a lot people are going to be interested in. rollout ofterrible the website. there was a lot of requests for information about how much the website cost and what went wrong. as we move forward with the affordable care being of limited , we are going to see more implemented,eing we are going to see more requests for information. big programs attract the most request. as they should. this is where the most money is going to be spent. a lot of people will be involved. we will see a lot of accountability, hopefully.

it helps the act itself and the program operate better. host: from idaho, independent line. here's mark. caller: thanks for taking my call. people in ourese department, when we see requests, are any of them able to take the fifth amendment? like the irs did. guest: no. the government is not allowed to take the fifth. not quite. they do have one of those -- the fifth exemption they can use, ironically. personal privacy and national security. there is one for internal agency rules. i and other organizations would abused is the most exemptions that agencies use. there not protecting your rights

or your information or companies information. all they are defecting is their own interests. it is highly discretionary. the agency could give out that information if it wanted to. but they don't want people to understand how they made their decisions, who they talked to. it is one of those areas we would like to see the exception narrowed so they can't hide as much information as they do their. it is ironic that it is a similar number. they do have that ability. they overuse it. host: what happens next? guest: we will be following up with these agencies, trying to best path what their forward is. we want this to be constructive. we want these agencies to respond to these requests. we want them to be efficient. we don't want to cost them a lot of money. we understand that each one faces different hurdles in terms of where they're starting from reyna. we think all of them can make progress.

-- starting from right now. we will be doing another scorecard to see who moves up. host: talking thanks for watching today. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> mr. speaker, just a few weeks