comments. later the executive director of first lady michelle obama's let's move campaign. he talks about preventing ♪hildhood obesity. host: good morning, it is saturday, april 26, 2014. president obama continues his trip overseas in malaysia today. on washington journal we will cover the news coming out of those official visits as well as the latest on the ongoing crisis in ukraine. first we want to hear from our viewers about the u.s. housing market, as some indicators show

that the housing market is cooling, new opinion survey seem to indicate americans are optimistic about the housing sector and rising home values as we take you through the latest data and pulled this morning. asking our viewers how optimistic or pessimistic are you about the housing market. tell us how you see the market in the eastern and central u.s.. 202, -- 202 -- 585 -- 3881. you can also catch up with us on all your favorite social media pages on twitter, facebook, or @cspan.org.t journal we will talk about the data points of the housing market, this is courtesy of bloomberg.

after a roller coaster at gate a roller coaster decade of boom and busts -- according to reports this week, mortgage applications plunged 19% from a year earlier -- that is some of the data points from bloomberg news.

now some of the opinion polls. at this from gallup. out fromt poll coming the annual economy and personal finance pull. it notes that americans have a growing optimism about the housing market with 56 of america -- 56% of americans expecting their value of home prices to increase. you can see the chart here, the dark green line showing the increase. houses willthere increase in price. 34% saying they will stay the same and the 10% saying they will decrease. the gallup poll was found in 2008. public optimism outweighed pessimism and it has only gone up from there.

we want to hear from viewers about their home prices, how optimistic are you? here are some comments coming in from our facebook page, facebook.com/c-span. kathy writes and it is the government holding back the housing market, dodd frank, the poor economy. government needs to get out of the way. below that greg writes in, -- one more comment from our facebook page this morning, that diane writes -- you can comment on our facebook page and join the conversation there. diane talking about eating out

.rom the past we want to bring in the vice president from realty trac from california. thank you for getting up with us on washington journal. explain the definition of according to your report that came out last week. >> we look at the loan-to-value

loansbetween combined that are still outstanding on the property and the estimated value of the property. loans are worth at least to me five percent more than estimated value of the property, we are considering that seriously underwater. this is not just people who are a little bit underwater or people who are in a pretty deep .ole still they will need another rise of 20% in home crisis at least before they are close to breaking even. >> your data breaks down the 10 metro areas that are still seriously underwater, according to a chart you can find on realty trac.com. the metro area with the most seriously underwater home,

700-6000 homes still seriously underwater. lauderdale, coming in at 458,000. a pretty big jump from the top metro area down to miami and fort lauderdale. what do you account for for the large jump. is it the huge size of that chicago market? it really has to do with that huge metro area. percentagewise we are looking at 30% of homes underwater. when you look at it by the metro area with the highest percentage of underwater homes is las vegas.

hundreds of thousands of home owners are stuck and not able to participate in the housing recovery. column -- host: how does that compare to this point last year? caller: a year ago we saw 10.7 million homeowners who were still seriously underwater. that represented 26% of all homeowners with a mortgage. now it is down to 9.1 million representing 17%. the numbers have come down dramatically the past year thanks to the bounce back in home prices. we are seeing that pace slow quarter freeourth

and now we are down to 9.1 million. we start to see the home price appreciation number .lowdown as well we have seen a huge chunk of the underwater folks recover their equity or at least break even over the last year. of we believe it is going to be a longer road for the remaining 9 million as home prices slowdown. host: what sort of dragged to those 9.1 million folks -- what kind of dragged is that put on the overall housing economy? caller: i think it is the biggest challenge left over from the housing crisis. what these represent our homeowners that are stuck in their homes. they don't have enough equity to

sell so they did not become those typical move-up buyers you would see in the housing market. that is part of the reason we see low housing inventory in the market. even those two are breaking even on their equity. those homeowners are waiting until they rate in enough equity where they feel comfortable to sell their homes. for those homeowners individually it means they do not have that wealth in their homes. they are not going to have that confidence because of as much confidence in the -- not going to have as much confidence in the economy. the second effect is more on the macro market. when you do not have the move-up buyers participating in the market you are relying more on

the housing market and on investors and first-time homebuyers. you have the middle of the housing market. that is going to make it harder -- you have two of the legs of the housing recovery in place and you can argue that first-time homebuyers are not participating as much. you do have invested fit -- investors and first-time homebuyers. host: he is the vice president of realty trac freedom we have been bringing in comments from our viewers, asking them if they are optimistic about the housing market in their areas. if you are writes --

there are areas around the country in the deepest water when it comes to this equity issue. what are the metro areas that are doing the best right now? there is a positive side to this when you look at some of a highro areas that have percentage of equity rich homeowners. these are people that have at least 50% equity in their home. at the top of that list is san have california, where we seen a rebound in home prices over the last year and a half. that is followed by honolulu and san francisco. poughkeepsie, new york is on there with 34% equity rich. eddie nine has percent of the homeowners we would call equity rich. los angeles even has 32% equity rich. those are some of the markets. the coastal california has recovered their values very

quickly. they were fairly hard-hit during the crisis. if you look at a market like sacramento and california, 37% of the homeowners are equity rich. and phoenix, i was going to point out, the numbers are lower there but that was one of the epicenters of the housing crisis. it should put them in a position to feel confident enough that either they are going to run the economy.

host come vice president of -- realtyice president of trac. some of the indicators he is seeing in cities there. let's go out to anaheim. dan is on a special line we have set up for folks who are buying or selling homes. how optimistic are you about the housing market? caller: i am very optimistic. i am not a slumlord, i buy property, refurbish it to the top, then rented out. i am very optimistic. if you go by zip code, you have

buses that never boomed. 2008 we have 3 million homes finance. sale thee house for beach properties, which took a your last guest was talking about honolulu and san francisco, those are the most expensive places to live. the zip codes that took the biggest hit have recover. the houses that are most affordable are being purchased, whether it is investors, first-time buyers, what have you. i think those are good

indicators from somebody who is a low six-figure guy. host: how much trouble are you running into or are you running into any trouble in financing these days post housing bubble? caller: absolutely no problem. i have a model where i buy two each purchase. i have a rental on the property and the property i can go visit. i have a home in the mountains, the beach, the desert. no problem at all with the .inancing from ourwant to hear viewers this morning in this first segment in a washington journal today. you can call in at --

too many houses were built during the housing bubble so prices are destined to fall eventually. i am saving money until the economy gets better. , a recentt subject story by neil irwin of the new york times addressing the housing market and why some folks are choosing not to enter it. that ifs in his piece the economy still feel suck -- still feel stuck blame the housing market. reality that is more important for the national economy. is nowhereousing close to pulling its economic weight.

that then to write bigger thing holding back housing is simply demand. it may yet to prove to be temporary but for now at least millions more are doubling up with roommates, living at home with parents, and otherwise finding ways to avoid the one thing that would get housing economy back to normal. in's go to danielle waiting rocks, new york. it morning. tell us about the housing market in your area. caller: in our area specifically we are looking at houses to get into. a two-bedroom cottage and it makes no sense. obamacare we're renting an apartment where our rent is about $2000 and we even

lost our health insurance. it's really hard and complicated. host: what is your plan at this point? are you going to stay put and how long do you think you will have to stay put for? caller: it's not my choice, it's the government costs choice. if the people of that washington can see that, we would be more than happy. little moret: a on that piece in the new york times this morning --

to a large degree that can be explained by young people choosing or forced to remain home longer than they have in previous generations. toeven percent of 18 40-year-olds lived with their parents and now that shares up to 31%. that is attributable to lingering parts of the defect that struck young adults particularly hard. for young adults it is an important element in the story. even people who have jobs are more than often living with their parents. 25% ine has risen to 2013 from 22% in 2007." piecen read more of this at nytimes.com. we will go to joe waiting in georgia. caller: i am pretty upbeat.

i would say within a 10 mile radius of me -- i am in a county just immediately north of atlanta. i would say there is 15 subdivisions that are either new or selling homes in the three to $600,000 range that in the 3000 -- $300,000 to $600,000 range. thet of it has to do with fact that the state and the individual counties have made such a huge effort to invest in education and parks. quality of life is great and schools are often the northern counties. that makes a difference for families and the desire to be here. the activity is very high. i am very optimistic. host: on twitter --

we want to hear what the housing market looks like in your area. here is a front-page story in -- today'sition addition -- otday's edition of "the anniston star" -- the story writes -- we want to hear what it is like in your part of the country. bob is waiting in st. paul minnesota. caller: i think part of the problem is the regulations that are set up by the local communities have been stifling

housing for a long time. i am an older fellow. my mom and dad out their first house in the 1950's. it was only 800 square feet. that was a brand-new home. communitieshese will let you talk to them about building a house is only 800,000 square feet -- only 800 square feet. i think until there is a reality of what people can afford and the blow inr folks their investment and homes, not everybody can start off with $500,000 homes. that back himcale us there is more starter homes. host: you may be interested in

this story that just came out this week. the headline -- this is the explanation, the author of the story -- he compares the houston market to the san francisco market. there is a chart showing off the rise building permanent's ash authorized building permits for there is a blue -- chart showing authorized towing permits for houston. san francisco is more expensive. san francisco has better weather. it is not growing as fast as houston. that is the power of regulation, not just in the city but in the surrounding suburbs. comparing boston

openingnta areas, that up the spigots of development and high demand areas could considerably reduce housing affordability problems and create tons of new jobs in the construction center. most of the areas of the country where housing demand is strongest are generally the areas most lyrically dominated by left-wing people who are reluctant to increase a d regulatory agenda. if you want to read more about that -- we want to hear about housing in your part of the country, including annapolis, maryland, where. is waiting. caller: the one woman who said she wanted to get the federal government out of it, i am an economist. we have nationalized the housing market. we have done that by taking all the risk away from the lenders and banks and shifting it to freddie and fannie.

without the government taking the risk, we wouldn't have much of a housing industry. we need to slow down on housing. way -- basically if the government was not involved it would collapse. the housing industry would collapse. have you considered student loan debt? we talk about people getting into the housing markets on our twitter page. thatf the folks rights and students are two buried in student loan debt. that is the explanation they give to what is going on in the housing market. caller: that is exactly what is happening. 1.2 trillion dollars in student

loan debt and then on top of that the unemployment rate for 26 -- i believe it is something like 12%. is not there because these people are overwhelmed, they are doubling and tripling up. the demand is not there. we are eventually going to have to make some attached -- some adjustment and not have the government funding at all. host: thank you for the call. on twitter -- one of the explanations that was given for what is going on in the housing market and one of the stories we have read was over regulation. are's an explanation for store that also came out on their online edition this week.

to blame.ages are people are not just buying new houses or refinancing old ones -- 4.9% according to stats. you can read more the story at

mother jones.com. we are asking about housing markets in your area. in tallahassee florida, good morning. caller: good morning. i live in a neighborhood where homes are 13 or 1400 square feet. homes run 165,000 dollars. they're selling within two weeks or three weeks. not only do they have good prices but the taxes aren't killing them like they are in other states. host: are you a homeowner? are you optimistic about what that means for the value of your home? caller: yes but i am not concerned about that. here and to enjoy my life, not being buried in debt is something people are. host: enjoy it down there in

tallahassee, florida. on twitter -- you can follow the conversation on twitter by following us. hear how optimistic you are about the housing market. we also want to keep you updated on some of the headlines going on around the country. we talked about president obama's overseas trip to asia. here's the crucial day -- crucial trade deal. the japanese save the position is still far apart, talking about the president' to japan. obama highlights influences in the caribbean region. it is the headline from the pittsburgh post-gazette.

in the philippines, here's the headline. the centerpiece of the trip to the philippines is expected to be a new agreement of enhance cooperation. after nine months of negotiations, manila in washington announced in early april they produced a draft of that agreement, fueling expectations the pack would be formally signed in mr. obama's visit. that is on the agenda. mr. obama touched down in malaysia. of flight 370 hangs over that malaysian visit. the question of what exactly happened to flight 370 is still unanswered 50 days after. president obama arrived here

saturday. expected to discuss the missing jet in a private meeting. is missing. that is the news coming out of the overseas trip. we have 15 minutes to talk about the housing market. we want to hear about it in your part of the country. rent it is waiting in delaware. good morning. caller: i am in delaware. my neighborhood is a middle-class neighborhood. throughout the years i have seen more and more houses become abandoned. i just feel like the whole littlein itself can be a better because anytime i see a foreclosed house that has been on the block for four or five years and i am calling the numbers on there and i can't get in touch with anybody or find

out how i can purchase this house, i think that is a problem. problem,ink it is a getting lawyers and doing all -- i think it is real frustrating. i'm paying $1500 for rent. somebodyo reason why shouldn't want to sell you a house. it is the same companies that buy these houses that have them written out at high prices. fix it up the top dollar.

topy area people can't pay dollar. delaware is the second smallest state. about it being frustrating for people trying to navigate the process of buying a home. is this something new buyers have to deal with or is there government orl state governments can step in and make that process easier? caller: i heard of sony people that got halfway through the process and realize they did not have enough money and lost the money they did put in. host: thank you for calling in this morning. -- ur twitter page here is another comment from facebook --

we have 10 more minutes left in this segment of "the washington journal." a special line for current buyers and sellers. we want to hear about your as we see right now some of this data and some of the polls that have been going on. -585-3882. is 202 some other headlines from around the world.

we will talk about the situation in ukraine in our next segment of "the washington journal." here is a headline -- ms. merkel's comments came after president barack obama spoke to leaders of france, italy, and the united kingdom to support a new wave of sanctions against moscow. inwill hear more about that our next segment of "the washington journal" this morning."

another story out of "the washington post" this morning. the company faces probes over .ortgage security it negotiates a multibillion-dollar settlement a deal may suppress the $13 billion that jpmorgan chase pay to the government last year. the justice department made an initial offer of $20 billion, resulting in several investigations. the bank rejected that offer and has yet to counter those people that are not allowed to speak publicly. if you want to read more about hingtonpost.com. rick is in erwin, tennessee.

thank you for calling. caller: i was listening and the comparison between san francisco and houston came up. disingenuousty comparison. houston is out in the middle of the desert. san francisco has nowhere else to go but up. they have to start tearing down some old victorians. whether this person was evidently just wanted to complain about regulations. that comparison is ridiculous. a piece was talking about new housing unit authorization permits, building permits for houston, compared to the san francisco, oakland, fremont area.

what does the housing situation look like in tennessee? i think we lost rick this morning. more minutes if we want to call in and talk about the housing situation in your part of the country. comment from an individual living at home at age 26. could that be keeping young people from starting their lives , is the question that is -- that an individual asks on our twitter page. of you can follow the conversation on facebook.com/ c-span. the corporate challenge to an assay is the headline of "the washington post."

if you want to read more, that is also from "the washington post." susan is next in boston, massachusetts.

caller: here in boston the in the center of boston is $1 million and above. we live in a highly expensive market. it is very hard to purchase property if you are not in a significant six-figure salary. there are areas of affordability outside of the city. but you have to go pretty far. homeowner?ou a caller: i am not but i have been saving. host: what will be the tipping point to get you into homeownership? caller: feeling secure about my job and trying to get my credit score up. that is significant. it really causes people to take this process seriously.

sacrifice and commitment to saving and work on paying your bills on time, you just have to prove you are credit worthy. spend theirple knives not being responsible and have to try to amend their bad habits. host: will the fluctuations in the market make a difference for you? caller: we are having bidding war scenario. the market has spiked significantly. i will probably wait for the .ext price down boston is unique. if you have a lot of wealthy people from overseas and a lot of people's means who buy property for their college aged children, so their children can live in condos while they attend college here, there are a lot of little -- a lot of different

influences that would not be applicable to different parts of the country. our facebook page, tina armstrong says she is pessimistic about the housing market. let's go to john in florida. is on the line we have set up for buyers and sellers. caller: good morning. i think a lot of the problem has to do with the bailout for the banks. they have cheap money. yes we continue to charge 7.5%. down, your is mortgage is high, and that in ,he people that want to buy havee that want to sell

$50,000 below value. they want to rent for less than half of the mortgage payment. they want to buy a house for $50,000 less. that does not seem right. host: did you have to lower -- see that don't ever happening again. i think the housing market was a bubble. houses are not going to go back up. at the same time lower incomes, no income, even section eight people cannot afford rent. they do not have any other money. better see it getting

until the american people are buildout like the banks were. let us make the market work. thank you very much. is ourohn in florida last caller in this segment of "the washington journal." coming up hannah thoburn will talk about the latest in ukraine. later we will talk about the keystone xl pipeline. we will be right back.

foundependent scientist the gene was not -- that was normally silent was switched off. you may have an allergic reaction, someone you know may genetically engineered corn that is unlabeled tree that the process of genetic engineering created a switch on of that the dormant gene and a change of 43 other genes, as well as changes in the shape of protein. increase invenfold a known allergen. this wasn't intended, this was the background side effects of the process of that genetic engineering, the process that was used to create the soy and corn we eat.

>> here at the world health organization, national academy american medical association, no problem with gm owes. are all of these part of the ? if that isn't enough for you, here are the other enough for you, here are another bunch of organizations. these are real medical and protective organizations. in europe, australia, all over epa,orld -- there is the which we pay attention to when it comes to global warming. they say it would not pose unreasonable risk to human health and the environment. i could come up with dozens of these. >> this weekend on c-span, how safe is genetically modified food? weekend on booktv, the los angeles times festival of onks -- authors and panels

the realities of war, the medicine, and the politics of finance. and bonnie morris on title ix, discrimination against women in sports, and the education amendments of 1970 two. tonight at 8:00 eastern and midnight on c-span three. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we return to the crisis in ukraine, this time with the help , from thethoburn foreign-policy initiative. we have been a week removed from an agreement that eases tensions in east ukraine and we are seeing reports of more bloodshed , international monitors being seized over there. is the international communities -- community's efforts to de-escalated this crisis working?

guest: this agreement has done little to quell the violence. we have seen statements from the government -- they are almost fed up with it. we have seen from john kerry himself, they seem to be disappointed in the way it has worked out so far. today or tomorrow you may see more sanctions that the government, perhaps europe, would put on. russia is not fulfilling their part of that bargain. host: i want to get to what those sanctions may be. do headlines like this concern you? this is from "the financial times." the editorial board writes --

guest: it is sad but i think it is true. there were russian jets that violated ukrainian airspace. large columns of armories and tanks are moving inside of russia, very much toward the ukrainian border. it is looking much more menacing. ukrainian governments have said they are expecting this may not go in a direction we are all going to be happy to see. what further sanctions could change things here? guest: i think whether or not sanctions can change things has very much to do with what sanctions are. . i'm not sure it is going to do very much, we have already tried that, and we have already seen results. what we have seen are the encouraging symbols of their peripheral signals. we have seen

and massive amount of capital slight from russia. moore capital slight dent in the entire period of last year. it is not changing the actions of the russian government. i think the next step would really to be have sanctions on sectors. we are talking military playology and really sanctions on those particular parts of the government. host: two charts that go with --t chart -- with that story one showing key interest rates in russia. the rate raised up to 7.5%. then showing russian -- then

showing russian rubles compared to the dollar. it is now 36.2 -- 36.02 rubles to the dollar. these new sanctions, are they of that new sweeping sector variety you were just talking about? guest: i think that is the hope of a lot of people that have been working on the russian ukraine issue. love people don't think that any more sanctions on individuals in vladimir putin's inner circles or folks that have a lot to do with running the everyday today -- takingvernment steps to do the sanctions on individual government sectors or business sectors, sectors of the , that can really hurt the u.s. economy.

i think that reason people are trepidations of that possibility as well. think the u.s. business community that really invest in russia, they are really beginning to worry about whether or not their investments are going to have any kind of long-term stability at this point. the energyentioned sector as a sector that could be targeted. of another headline -- part of your work at the foreign-policy initiative is -- looking at energy as a political weapon. can you talk about what is going on right now? guest: the role is very interesting. it is something that i think europeans are lost to go forward , particularly on the energy industry. percentage a large of its oil and gas from russia.

seem -- therties gas problem was at ease with shutting up the pipeline. those were terrible winters that live on in the memories of europeans, who remember having the gas turned off and being freezing cold in the mid to -- in the middle of the winter. this is not something they are really interested in repeating. at that time he was in the middle of the winter. winter comes around again very quickly. you see some of the european economies are very tied to guest problems. germany has a pipeline underneath the baltics to connect directly to russia. i think that is one of the reasons you will see germany they do getnt --

their money from -- 40% of their gas from russia. the u.s. and russian economy is not nearly as integrated. there is certainly a love for he that it can cause us and european allies a lot of .inancial distress host: are we developing the infrastructure -- guest: i believe there are five or six lng terminal points. only one of those in louisiana is currently under construction.

we are a long ways out from making the u.s. export industry to where we can help our allies in europe. opened a have recently liquefied terminal. we are equal to get fish eager get ---- we are eager to a lot of them are buying gas from russians. all of these countries are coming to us and saying, look, we are interested in buying energy resources but the problem is we are at least 10 years out from being able to fulfill the requests. host: we are talking with hannah thoburn from the foreign-policy initiative. what is your group? is a small think tank founded about five years ago, really to look at the policy implications of our foreign-policy decisions.

energy is chief among them. had we made these energy decisions, perhaps the gesture of the keystone pipeline or to push out these lng terminals five years ago would not necessarily be in the same situation we are right now. initiative islicy really interested in affecting the policy discussion and really looking at our national security and how a lot of these issues play into our everyday politics. host: did is -- it is foreign policyi.org. republicans can call -- >> kratz -- -- democrats --

kathleen is waiting in chicago, illinois on our line for democrats. good morning. let me get this thought out because america needs to republicans,i hear john mccain and a lot of people, trying to push obama into sending weapons to ukraine. putin is not scared of america. he is looking for a fight. ukraine,nd guns to what do you think putin would do? he would crush that country. do that, then that is going to cause america to have to go over there and start a fight. we are not ready for another war. do everything other than weapons to help this country. please don't rile that man up because we are looking at world war iii. i would like for you to comment on that. i think there are two different issues here and

sending american troops to ukraine, which i don't think anyone on any side of the aisle really is considering whatsoever -- i do not think that is going to happen. there are different classes of what the u.s. can do to help ukraine out. i think what a lot of people are really worried about is that if we don't stop putin in ukraine, what else will he do next? will he start taking over other parts of europe the echo is that the europe -- of europe? is that the europe we would like to see? the ukrainian army is in very miserable shape. have 6000 troops for a nation of 45 million that are able to fight. ony are sending out calls twitter and facebook, asking people to send them socks and shoes and gasoline for their tanks.

if we do want to support the ukrainians, there's a lot we can do short of sending in troops. we can send them socks and bulletproof vests, tires. there are all sorts of things we can do to support this country. i was there two months ago walking around kiev. they are very disappointed that the united states is not taking more interest. the united states is not doing more. the american response will be that we cannot do everything everywhere. nor should we. the ukrainians do want our help. and it was should consider giving them some of that help. as far as troops on the ground, i think it is off the table. you will not find a single person who would agree with that idea. host: in terms of the administration -- they have taken an interest in this situation.

secretary kerry spoke about ukraine and russia's actions in that geneva agreement. here is a bit of what he had to say. then will come back and get your thoughts. [video clip] >> in the week since this agreement, we have seen more violence. geneva,ter we left separatists seized radio stations that broadcast in the ukrainian language. the mayor was kidnapped, the very day after the party committed to end the violence. one journalist was kidnapped and another went missing, bringing the total kidnapped into the double digits. shat same day, two dead bodie were found. one was a city council member unconscious.

they have reported the arrest of russian intelligence agents. including one who is responsible for establishing secure communications and allowing russia to coordinate the stabilizing activities. this morning, forces try to overrun another arms dept. ot. having failed to postpone the elections and halt the legitimate political process, russia has instead chosen an illegitimate course of armed violence to try to achieve with the barrel of a gun and the force of a mob what could not be achieved any other way. host: is this tougher talk than we have seen before? guest: it is certainly tougher than what we saw even a month ago.

as this crisis has gone on, it almost seems that they have gotten fed up with everything that they are doing. you are really seeing them come out with a lot more forceful language. they're stating with the u.s. sees. one of the things that has been talked about a lot is the media wars that have been waged over ukraine. who was right and whether might makes right. and whether or not that makes right. the things you saw from john kerry was attempting to repudiate a lot of propaganda organs ofm russian mass media. host: here is a little the more from secretary kerry on propaganda. [video clip] hasor seven days, russia

refused to take a single concrete step in the right direction. not a single russian official, not one, has publicly gone on television in ukraine and called on the separatists to support the geneva agreement or give up their weapons. they have not called on them to engage in that activity. in fact, the bullhorn that is the state-sponsored russia program, has been deployed -- actually, the network, has depl oyed to promote the fantasy about what is playing out on the ground. they almost spend full-time effort, tothis distort what is happening in ukraine. sight, russiaain continues to fund, coordinate,

and fuel a heavily armed separatist movement. russian leaders are making increasingly outrageous claims to justify their actions. ia invented the internet in order to control the world. or the forces occupying teeth,ngs, armed to the wearing brand-new uniforms and moving in military discipline activists.local that is absurd. there is no other word to describe it. host: that was secretary kerry late this week talking about the situation in ukraine. we are talking with hannah t hoburn and we want to bring in viewer comments and questions.

darryl? caller: good morning. the thing that is interesting to me is that this country has a memory of history for about 3-4 seconds. alaska was sold to this country by the russians for $7 million. the president makes that much. we have this iraq war. i do not know why the cheney and bush family stone move over there to see how magnificently we have done over there. the president goes to korea to talk to the troops for 10 minutes. jumps on the giant golf cart and leaves those people there to enjoy their days in korea. five people have been killed in ukraine so far. if you take the cities in this nation for this weekend and look

at how many people died, it is ludicrous that we are trying to get all up set. the news media is going berserk. hannahm, good luck on your job there. it is confusing to see how confused it can be. host: if you had a comment, otherwise we will go to chuck. guest: i want to comment on the first thing. the united states can have a very short view of history. that is something that sets us of that apart from the rest of the world. we forget how we got our country is. s you havee speeche seen from vladimir putin -- he reaches back into the history of the russian empire. this is a very long stretch of history that is important. we tend to forget that in all of russian history -- soviet union was just a blip.

in the big much more scope of russian history and eastern european history. i think you will see that really driving what vladimir putin has chosen to do. with his attempts to augment russian power. this is not about the soviet union or resurrecting communism. this is about restoring the glory of the russian state that has been around for far longer than most americans can fathom. it will be interesting to see what the end goal is and the extent to which it is rooted in history. host: but go to chuck on the line for republicans. caller: good morning. signal, so if i could stay on the line and listen. i do not need to make any comments afterward.

host: sure. caller: i have a comment. wase was a clip where obama thatg to whisper to medved putin needs to have more flexibility after the election. it baffles me that there has not been one replay of that clip. i think it is very telling. you would have the clip. i wonder why you would not show it. i don't even see it on fox news. it is very telling. he is hot on the mike. about the flexibility he will have after the election. host: what do you think the flexibility was for? caller: i don't know. it seems now that it's possibly more flexibility to placate all with a-- play kickball

robot. host: hannah can comment. guest: what you said about how that has not been shown goes back to what i said about americans having a short view of history. we tend to forget things. even that our politicians said a few years ago. it is difficult to say whether that is just something that we are all human. we forget all kinds of things. it is about point that you bring up. we have had these conversations, but we forget. at the beginning, we were trying for -- the reset policy. we tried to reset our relations with russia and get back on a better footing after the georgia war. faryou know those days are

away. i don't think we will see a return any time soon. you are right. things change very quickly. we tend to forget. there are lots of things are politicians have said that people forget about. we move onto the next thing. host: that is chuck from oregon. pan.org to tryc-s to find that clip as well. the library is open to everybody for their use. another question for hannah from twitter. what is the cia's involvement in ukraine? guest: that is an interesting question. we saw that john brennan showed up in kiev a couple of weeks ago.

what we have seen is that there is not much intelligence sharing between the ukrainian government and the united states community at all. a lot of people in the congress have gotten upset about the fact that there is a little intelligence sharing. we are not able to tell the ukrainians where the troops are positioned. and, i think the reason that john brennan flew to kiev was to attempt to build that intelligence sharing. the reason it has not existed to this point is that we know ukrainian intelligence infiltrated russian intelligence. a lot of russians are working inside. it sounds a little crazy to say that. we do know that the ukrainian

intelligence has had its problems. a lot of problems under the former government. he really did a number on the ukranian government. other, more sinister involvement -- i do not see it. a lot of people, during the protests, were very accusatory. they said that the cia or govern ment -- they were set up by the cia. when i was walking around on the field, on the square where the protests were, you could tell that this was a grassroots movement. they are not getting money from the cia.

people were walking around with clear plastic boxes. every person getting off the metro was dropping any money they could. there were old ran mothers bringing firewood to the kids s taked out, protesting. there were young woman who drop by for an hour or two two makes it which is. -- sandwiches. it was a grassroots movement. i do not think there was a cia involvement. host: this was not your first experience. can you talk about your experiences over there? guest: i lived in ukraine for 2.5 years as a peace corps volunteer. i lived in three different areas, first in the north. than for nine months in the southern region.

and then the bulk of my time was in crimea. we all know that has been annexed by russia. i have become very familiar with the civic engagement movements that are going on in ukraine. in comparison, russians have always been more cynically -- civically active. people encourage their fellow citizens to get involved. they have hadart, free and fair elections. that is the hope. because civil society is strong, every move toward their presidential elections on may 25 -- as we move toward them, ukrainians are getting

increasingly more positive in their attitudes toward what will happen. hopinge positive about they will bne free and fair. we will see what is going on. whether or not this will have any bearing on the results of the election. host: can you talk about that? who is running and what is there role right now? guest: there is a very crowded field of people running for the presidency. the two people that everyone is talking about oare -- ayny of you for watching me look, pe her angelic asant braids.

she also spent the last 2.5 years in prison. it was a politically motivated trial. she is no angel, but she did not deserve to be put in prison for what she was accused of. she was not present or ring -- during the protests. she was still in prison and was only released after the president left the country. she is still a force to be reckoned with. host: the washington post has a q&a sit down with yulia. you can read that online as well as in their column section. who else is in the election? guest: she does run her own political party. her poll numbers are surprisingly low. that is because you see a change

in the way they look at politics. they do not want anything that is of the old way. she has been in politics for over 15 years. independentine's lifetime. the man who seems like he will become president, who is getting most of the positive poll numbn named petro -- he is the willy wonka of ukraine . who made hisarch money through candy factories, chocolate factories. he has been in politics for a long time. he knows the man who helped finance the orange revolution in 2004. he is seen as a man who is not necessarily a career politician.

he has had other jobs in his life. people seem to look on him as something a little but different. something a little bit newer. he has been around for a long time. he served in the viktor yanukovych's administration. there are certainly a lot of reasons that people don't like him. when you look at the pro-russian said all these political parties that make up the ukrainian spect rum, he seems to be by far the most positive. host: are they on different pages when it comes to how they would like to deal with the situation? guest: i think that is the question that remains to be seen. they're both basically saying similar things. one thing you do see within the ukrainian press --

if you monitor their social media, a lot of people are distrustful of yulia. they seem to worry that she may in fact -- with vladimir putin and russia. because ofexists several factors. she has been called putin in a skirt. putin has said this is a woman i can work with. they seem to have a good working relationship, which bothers a lot of these active ukrainians who protested against yanukovich. she also earned her money working with gas. she was known as the gas princess in the 1990's. they're also worried that she has ties to big is messed --

business. to russian interests in ukraine. and she would be valuable. -- malleable. petro does not have that same baggage. so, i think it will be interesting to see what does happen. we have another month until the elections come around. we have not really seen the campaigning begin in full. host: several folks have questions. doug from staten island, new york on the line for democrats. caller: first of all, if you would please ask the young lady to explain to her viewers who her financial supporters are. where do they get their financial resources from? yanukovich was no

democrat in any fashion, he was booed in -- putin's guy. half the country was pro-russian and half the country was pro-west. this whole mess started with an out-of-control state department. they had this cooked up. that is why they are so behind. the whole idea of pushing nato a the eu has been perplexing problem for putin and the russians for quite a while. e.u. promised russia that they would not push the borders of nato. they were not interested in they kept pushing. they did it in georgia. they did it in those breakaway

provinces -- i forget how you pronounce them. of --stern part the northern part of the west part of russia. host: a question and, to address. guest: thank you for your question and comment. anukovich was the democratically elected president of ukraine. he absolutely was. oversimplification that has really been pushed is the u.s. media. there is a's late of stark splits between the east and the west. pro-europeannd union. ityou look at the polling, is a more complicated picture. pro-e.u. versus

pro-russia. most people in the eastern part keenhe country are not so i'm joining the european union immediately. when you break down the question -- should you join now? most would say no. if you say five years, 10 years, 20 years, the fervor on you go -- the further on you go, the more you find a willingness to join. i am convinced it is a generational question. , what much about whether language they speak. mind, a lot of the older people in ukraine are still very attached to what they remember is a wonderful life in the

soviet union. they did have a very good. teed had a guaran income, vacation, pensions. what independence means for them is a decrease in their standard of living. a lot of people are eager to go back and be part of russia. russia has all of the oil and gas money. people were very eager in crimea to join russia because they would say -- my pension will be larger again. for those reasons, people certainly have a lot of pro-russian sentiment. when you do read those polls. i have been pouring over 3 for the last several days -- even in those far eastern regions, it is only 10% of people who want to rejoin russia.

of course those sentiments exist. at the end of the day, ukraine is united about the idea of being a unified ukraine. putin may have miscalculated. he may have united them more than it was before. host: and he wanted to know about funding? host: host: -- guest: i truly do not know. we will work on the funding side. host: fave is up next and atlanta, georgia. david, good morning. caller: i have always wondered -- why is the united states always ready to spend money to get involved in these conflicts? murphy,id, chris these are democrats.

i found out, they have personal relatives in these countries. also, we are here in the united states. cliven bundy is an anarchist. he is doing nothing different. they are neo-nazis. this is no big issue to you and white people in the united states. if a black person did that, it i s anarchy. it is no different from what they're doing and russia. host: we will stick to ukraine and russia. some of the issues he were up,nging up -- is bringing anything you know about? guest: no. most americans are immigrants. we do all have some kind of origin to other countries. that is the beauty of the united states. as far as i know, i don't know

of any particular interpersonal relationships or relatives that these folks might have back in ukraine or in any of these countries. asks if we really want an alliance with the country with 6000 troops. how can they help us? guest: very good question. i should explain this. when i say 6000 troops, i mean battle ready troops. they certainly have many more troops. they are not battle ready. host: what does that mean? guest: to be fully equipped and outfitted and prepared for war. to have the kind of training that you would need to engage in a battle with equally trained troops. most of the rest of the army is rag tag. they have outdated equipment and no proper training. that is also one of the reasons

that ukraine is not a member of nato. they do not have the same ally status as a country like estonia does. that is because they are not ready for it. 2006 wasdent in interested in joining nato. the people were decidedly against it. it was a step too far for them. you have seen them really back down from joining nato. we do have different classes of allies. nato members are one. it is important to remember that the united states, great britain, and the european union did guarantee assured ukrainian territorial integrity.

during the 1990's, they signed the budapest memorandum. that is one of the things that has tied the united states to ukraine. we said you give up the nuclear weapons. at the time, that was a very big deal. acknowledge the fact that you exist as a free country. we will assure your borders. we will assure your territorial you arey and make sure giving up these nuclear weapons is not something that will come back and bite you. a lot of ukrainians are feeling like, wait, we signed this agreement. now the united states did not say they would send troops to whoever may invade you -- but that is why they are looking at wanting to have more american input. and why the united states is so involved. host: one more call from jared

in chippewa falls, wisconsin. caller: thank you. what kindke to ask, of message, with all the military and political posturing going on by both america and russia, would it send to russia if america truly became a green energy country by installing solar and wind in american homes across the country? built and installed by homeowners themselves. off thethemselvesof grid. host: i will let hannah answer. we are talking energy issues in our next segment. question was preowned. -- for you. guest: i think you bring up a

good point. russia is an energy superpower. i think anything that we can do on the energy front -- to say, look, we are in this too, is very important. solar and wind are an important part of that. unfortunately, for folks who are involved in green energy, at the end of the day, when our allies need are hydrocarbons. gas, oil.g, shale i do think that all of this can be taken as a signal to putin. we're are in this game to play it too. we will amp up our work on solar, green energy. we will export those hydrocarbons.

we will begin to export that to our allies in europe and asia. that would send a powerful message. look, we know your game. we are in it too. eurasianna thoburn is analyst with the foreign-policy initiative. thank you for joining us. up next, we will discuss the keystone xl pipeline with a roundtable of energy experts anduding cindy schild benjamin schreiber. we will be right back. ♪

>> i remember on saturday, the first encounter i had with those people at that table. it was not about where you from, what is your school like. it was what is ukraine? it was about politics, religion. after that moment, i realized this week would be intense. it has been cool to see the evolution of our friendships and bonds. we have talked about politics and our experiences, who we have met. this is an expense i will never forget.

>> i always thought i could never go that far in politics and politics is such a caustic environment. i have slowly chipped away at that opinion. it has been so ingrained in my head. maybe i do want to make a difference in run for something local and stay local in the community. like president obama said yesterday -- don't get cynical. the nation does not need more cynical people. that will not help us relieve the problems we have. >> one of the things that gets brought up as our social media. we are able to express our opinions very easily. we can send a tweet about what we think. that starts the conversation. we like to talk a lot, so there is conversation in social media. >> i think this whole week has been about learning. i come from a small tear --

town. it is homogenic. people do not get their opinions out without being ri diculed. this has given me the opportunity to get other viewpoints and get my ideas out without being shunned. >> high school students discuss their participation in the u.s. a weeklongh program, education program held annually in washington. ."nday night at 8:00 on "q&a years, c-span brings public affairs evidence from washington directly to you. putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house evidence, briefings, and conferences. and offering complete gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house. all as a public service of private industry. there c-span, created by

cable tv industry 35 years ago and brought to you as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. watches in hd, like us on facebook, and follow us on twitter. >> "washington journal" continues. host: it has been a busy seven days when it comes to the keystone xl pipeline. a key state department decision last week -- that has been going on on the national mall. here is how to break down both sides of the debate. we're joined by friends of the earth, ben schreiber. he is the energy program director there. and cindy schild. bring us up to speed on the state department decision and what it means for when and if the keystone xl pipeline will get approval. us is at certainly for sad day to see that policy was trumped by politics.

we have had five environmental reviews over five years. each continues to show minimal environmental impact. we were far into the national interest determination. the state department, in consultation with federal agencies, was looking at things like the economic benefits, energy security and stability. are trading partner is canada. we are looking at this being -- some labor leaders have said it is a gutless move or slap in the face. that is really a summary of where we are at. host: always the underlying court case that was the reason for this? guest: the underlying court case came up in nebraska. it was the result of a ka,ermination that, in nebras there was not a viable pipeline route. it without a pay plan route,

is impossible to analyze the environmental impact. how can you know whether it will damage the water? was beat these will be impacted? the impact statement needs to have a pipeline route. therethis week in d.c., has been a protest camp. here is a story from energy news talking about that, calling it a protest march with a side of victory lap. is that how you would describe what is happening? guest: i think the people of nebraska should be proud. they have put up a staunch opposition to this pipeline. they have been victorious in the court cases. they are on the mall talking about how this will impact their way of life. there are considerations and concerns that have been taken into consideration.

their part of this debate now. i think there is a bit of a victory element. to we think that this fight is over? no. the folly not. we will continue fighting to the finish line. host: what has been the reaction to this protest camp? again, we have seen a lot of protests along the way. there is a lot of funding by one particular billionaire who has yet to be present. large support. when you look at the opposition, it is a small vocal minority. as opposed to the vast support that this project enjoys. confirmingen polls

the vast majority of americans, over 70% -- 78%ad a poll showing believe this is in the nation's interests. a poll.n had and gallup -- over and over. you have labor leaders, democratic leaders. it is about politics, not about the merit or the environmental impact. keystone is being used as a symbol. host: who are you talking about? guest: tom stier. host: he was on our "newsmakers" program. or you can watch tomorrow at 10:00. we will have some clips. i want to stay on that protest camp on the national mall. here's a cartoon that has appeared in several places.

tomorrow.like energy life without fossil fuels -- it shows a cowboy saying we are camping out to protest the pipeline and advocate for a simpler lifestyle. thelittle girl says look, cowboys want to give up cars and electricity. the father says i think it is an exhibit of 1800s america. some of the comments -- from the houston chronicle, some folks on the national mall thinking that api was mocking their camp. is that with they were trying to do? guest: absolutely not. this is part of a series, life iwthout fossil fuel. we are pointing out that clean petroleum cap done and

can do for our consumers. that is all that is about. host: a landowner in nebraska says we are trying to take america to the 21st century with clean energy and we do not need car -- tardirty sands to do it. take?hreiber, your guest: you help farmers and ranchers who have taken time out of their busy day to come to the mall and talk about the concerns they have with the spy plane. -- pipeline. they're talking about their water source and the impact that this will have on there every day lives. you have api mocking them. you have an oil company talking about seizing their land.

their target by using eminent domain. they have mold their lawns to pave a pathway. they have totally overstepped. now they are mocking their way of life and the concerns they have. host: since the decision from the state department last week, there have been several editorials from newspapers around the country. some of believing newspapers are calling this delay by the state department absurd. that is what the washington post calls it. there are others. keystoneork times says pipeline may be big, but this is bigger. i want to get your reaction. board at the washington post says this is laughable. to delay a project that has been scrutinized for five years -- tive.ewards are too attrac

we would rather see canadian crude traveling a well-built pipeline than on ocean tankers. that does not mean we like burning dirty oil sands crude. this will have no impact on climate change. toy should devote energies an ambitious carbon pirice across canada. is this the best fight to fight? guest: it is an important fight. it is not the only fight we are fighting. to integrate the entire pipeline by saying it is not enough by itself misses the whole point. of our to leave 2/3

reserves in the ground to avoid the worst impact. that is with the leading experts go.t recently said, 2 weeks a if you cannot start with the dirtiest oil in the world, in that youhat is the 2/3 will leave in the ground? taskedve actually been with the united states and their interests in avoiding climate change internationally. they are not going to stop dirty oil for making its way into our country. that is an abdication of response ability. it is not in our national interest. andneed to stop railcars means of getting this to the u.s. host: i will a you comment, cindy. guest: every energy expert has sayid this oil will be

developed. i can go on and on. even with the editorials. not the onlyis means to bring this to market. there are five other significant pipeline proposals. there are rail transportation options that are increasing as a viable and flexible mode. china is making significant investments. they are looking out for their energy futures. this is canada's largest source of gdp. it will not remain in the ground. if you care about the environment, getting it to u.s. refineries in the most efficient manner is the win-win. what we should be looking for if we care about in missions and the future. host: we are talking with cindy schild, the operations manager at the american petroleum

schreiber,and ben the program director. if you have questions or comments about the keystone xl pipeline for the next 45 minutes or so, the phone minds are open. if you are in canada or outside of the united states, 202- 585-3883. we will start out with wayne in texas. caller: i don't see any real benefit to the american people from this pipeline. this stuff will go to the gulf, be refined, and shipped overseas. gas prices in america will not go down. americans are being fooled. it will make a few jobs.

somea few jobs to mind pumping stations. i am really against us. host: cindy, i will a take it. guest: the export question has,. the benefit to the u.s. and consumers from the economic level and the supply standpoint is that more supplies from stable sources -- keep in mind that it is canadian oil, as well as additional supplies from the booming u.s. production in the northern plains states. we can connect the southern half of this pipeline, which was fast tracked by the administration. we bring oil from oklahoma. that is where we have the largest refining center. we need to connect this northern leg to our supplies.

bring that down so we have the ability to refine this oil in the u.s. you can then make more valuable products. that is good. more supply, stable sources, is good for consumers. gas prices are largely linked to international markets. host: our view are brought up jobs. jobs.wer brought up the part that would be built is the dotted blue line there. what are the estimates on jobs? direct, indirect, and induced jobs. jobsaw about 6000 direct

created from the southern leg. there would be 9000 estimated for the northern portion of this pipieline. that is why the labor community is coming out in droves for this. you will hear the temporary nature of these jobs. but the labor department will say that it is the temporary jobs that built this country. that is how they accrue pension benefits, build bridges. infrastructure is a priority for the government and the president. that is why they are hammering to get this built. ben, do you agree? guest: we are talking about a handful of jobs that will put at risk an aquifer. it will have an impact on farmers and ranchers and american lifestyles. that is a trade-off that we should not even be considering.

the inflated job estimates they have been trumping have been knocked down repeatedly. we're talking about a handful of permanent jobs. host: you brought up the aquifer. explain what that is. guest: the aquifer that runs through nebraska -- it is the largest source of freshwater in the united states. that is were roughly 30% of our agriculture gets water. what we're talking about is the michigan, inlls in the kalamazoo river. that polluted that river and we still have not been able to clean our water up. we're talking about a shallow aquifer. if you spill dirty tar sands o il, you could never recover the products or the lifestyle. host: let's go to bob in

trenton, new jersey. caller: good morning. you know what really irks me? the oil will come out of the ground. canada is going to sell it. they will sell it to whoever they can. some will go to china. they have very little standards or controls of any kind. once pollution is in the sky, we will breathe it, sweetheart. if you could stop canada, then you would solve the problem. they need the money, they're going to sell it. we are better off if we have control of it. we can refine it better than china. canada doesa and -- not want to build pipelines. the northern gateway pipeline that is proposed on the western side of canada, into vancouver.

the canadian government wants to build the, that the native american people, the community that will be impacted are standing up and fighting bigger sleigh. -- vigorously. it is not a done deal. we do have the opportunity to bottle it up. we're are talking about the massive expansion of the canadian tar sands. they need every railcar possible. every day that this pipeline is worldilt, barrels of the dirtiest oil is staying in the ground. there is no way that this is just going to be built and come to market. host: seems like you want to respond, cindy? guest: the government has endorsed of the northern gateway. that is one of the other five significant pipeline proposals.

host: wherewith that run? guest: from the alberta province to the west coast of canada. there is another one already underway and ready to go. it has been approved to the east coast. there is another one that already exists that is a natural gas line. that will bring 900,000 barrels and will be converted to the east coast of canada. not to mention the rail options that we talked about. this is going to get to market. there are major expansions of another line that already exists. do not be fooled by easy soundbites. there have been 12,000 miles of types built since the application of keystone xl. the initial application in 2008. more than half of that is crude oil pipeline. that is enough to go across the united states four times.

this has been extensively studied. the environmental impacts have been put to rest. this is clearly about politics, symbolism. it is not about the benefits of how we can add value and keep jobs in the united states. while making clean fuel. host: we have a half hour left as we talk with ben schreiber of friends of the earth and cindy schild of the american petroleum institute. if you want to check out both of those groups. xl means ohio says no we will protect the most valuable resource in the world, not oil, but water. we have talked about nebraska in this segment. let's go to omaha, nebraska on the line for republicans. dave, good morning. caller: this is for ben.

if you have been to nebraska, you would know the majority of people strongly support keystone xl. we are embarrassed by the stunts that these people are pulling. what i want to ask about his tom stier. about his green investments, but we just recently learned that he has invest bentz in a competing pipeline company. he is responsible for coal mines in asia that have produced the equivalent of 28% of the carbon dioxide that the united states produces. given his hypocrisy, will you return his money that friends of the earth has received? guest: we do not receive any tom stier money. we have been fighting this pipeline way before tom stier was involved in this campaign. there is nothing to return. is notid, key is -- he

the merits of this. how do we ensure that two thirds of the world's fossil fuels remain in the ground? we cannot do that if we continue to build infrastructure like this pipeline and continue to make it easy for fossil fuels to make it to market. host: we have talked about about tom stier. he joined us this week for our newsmakers program. that airs on sunday at 10:00 eastern and 6:00 eastern. here is bit of what he had to stay to c-span this week on the y.esident's role in energ [video clip] >> the keystone pipeline is things that people are focused on. it is a measure of our commitment to a progressive energy agenda and an awareness of climate. not thinkitself, i do it changes the picture that much for november 2014. host: again, sunday at 10:00

eastern and 6:00 and on c-span.org as well. steyer says heom does not believe keystone xl will change the picture for 2014. guest: i don't think it will be the picture for 2014. the majority of americans want to see regulations for greenhouse gases. we are moving forward with important steps to actually put in place regulations on power plants for the first time. we are making important steps on climate change. the environmental community is very excited about some of the steps moving forward. keystone xl obviously is huge. it is becoming a de facto fight. this has gotten our activists energized in a way that something abstract like the clean air act maybe has not.

we have had people on the mall and had huge rallies. that is really great. i do not think this really will impact the election atthe electt should not matter. on thisndy schild specific state department decision. guest: i entirely disagree. interviewers are not surprised by that, nor would any expert or any opinion -- i mean, this has clearly become about politics other than a handful of people in the administration right now that would tell you that it is not. and to hear tom stier say this is not climate, well, really? that was the whole lot form he started this campaign on a few years ago, so it is frustrating to hear it keep changing. the whole thing has become about politics, the political symbol, the political football, you have yer pledging $100

million to support the democrats who will vote his way. you hear every editorial say the administration really is taking a chance about losing the senate when they are making the decision that they made last friday to delay this again. completely a political issue, it is completely about whether or not the democrats and maintain the senate, that is why you are seeing the fact of this splitting of some democrats and it has not become a liberal versus a conservative issue. it is a bipartisan issue and you are seeing policymakers who are listening to the voters, and the vast majority of the people that want this project built. host: when you think a decision should come from the state department? guest: it should have come three years ago. host: do you think it comes after the 2014 election? guest: i do not see any decision-making coming out of the white house. when you ask what is it going to come -- i mean, he made the

decision based on the fact, if we had an administration being a leader in energy policy, this would have been done long ago. what kind of decision are we sending to the rest of the world as far as our leadership and decision-making when we cannot make a decision here at home? situationsing at like in the ukraine in your previous segment. it is used as a means for peace as opposed to holding something over a country that does not ite energy resources, so exemplifies things all the more. you are seeing both of this administration -- president nationalormer security advisers saying that they would approve the pipeline, that this is our nation's best interest. host: kevin denver writes in on xltter -- i am sure the keystone pipeline will be a campaign issue for those directly affected. toby go to gail anin

get, kansas on our line for democrats. caller: some of the arguments against the pipeline have already been stated. i understand that there will only be 18 permanent jobs as a result of the pipeline. are thend nebraska breadbasket of the world, and definitely the breadbasket of leak ined states, and a those pipelines would be devastating to our farmland. really been said about imminent domain. sometimes republicans are all the eminentrid of domain laws in favor of eminent domain. i am against eminent domain, but this time they want our farmers to acquiesce. the other thing i want to talk about is china.

thiss actually funding pipeline? i know that they have invested billions of dollars in the canadian end of this sort of thing. i want to know how much does china have to lose with this pipeline? schreiber, gail brings up several different issues there. guest: i think the first is again the water issues. transcanada, the company wants to build this fight like him i has a horrible track record for safety. they are a company that cannot weld astray. they have built the first keystone pipeline, which had 12 weeks in the first year. we are talking about a pipeline that would go over some of our most sensitive water areas. the breadbasket, as the caller and possiblyu.s. the world and we are talking about entrusting that with a company that has a terrible safety record.

talkingwhistleblowers about how they are not willing to take the steps necessary to comply with welding regulations, let theme going to build a pipeline across one of our most sensitive areas? it is ludicrous. i think this gets back to the cartoon we have been talking about. the idea that they will mock the lifestyle of ranchers and farmers, that they feel like they are above them and they can just take their land, mow it before they have even had proper treating itd start to build a pipeline, it is an incredible arrogance on their part. host: cindy schild. guest: the mowing has not happened, and that was one scientist who had something to do with looking for an endangered species years ago, and we know that. as far as the investment, this is not a chinese pipeline.

this is trans canada, they are a canadian company. it is all privately funded. there is no taxpayer dollars that would be going into this pipeline. it would be a 5.3 billion dollar investment, and what the state department has found is that $2 billion would be going into the workers' pockets as well as an exceptional amount of revenue to the landowners as well as the taxpayers in the states that it runs through. that is from the economic value and potential that this pipeline have. s. as far as pipeline safety, pipelines are one of the most efficient modes of transportation with an incredible safety record. 99.998% of crude and petroleum roddick shipments make it safely to their recipient or their in point. now, transcanada has agreed to extra safeties conditions. they have also been called

state-of-the-art by the state department, and it would be built to a degree of safety above any other. as far as eminent domain, they are complying with the same laws that every other pipeline or any company wouldor be entitled to, and 90% of them have been agreed to, and the two other states, i think almost 100% of the landowners have agreed, and all land will be restored as is to the landowner and taken care of for perpetuity. host: ben schreiber brought up the idea of spills from the pipeline, it is a subject of concern. mrs. harrington on twitter asks -- please give an example of an oil spill cleanup that has been completed. spills -- excuse me, there have been several that have been completed. no incidents is acceptable, and the industry have it a goal to get 20 industry.

a goal to get to zero in the industry. there have been a few that have occurred recently. the kalamazoo one was certainly a shame and tragedy. the biggest thing is response, response time, and what we can learn from it. getting out within 12 hours of a spell is tremendously important, having the right emergency response plans and protocol in in order to respond efficiently and quickly and do the best job to clean it up. host: a couple of questions on spills. one asks -- what company will be response when a spill occurs, and will they split the bill? guest: transcanada will be responsible. in their emergency response plan, they have things like drills, community response outreach, coordination with emergency response coordinators, so there is preparation prior to a spill as well as consultation

during and after, and there is a special liability find that it set up and fully funded by transcanada. host: ben schreiber, you're writing something down, did you want to jump in? guest: first of all, the great irony that tar sands would pay into the liability find and that is a huge exception. the other thing is that you pointed out the process, and we can talk about these processes -- they do not work. the kalamazoo spill has been horrific. that is more than a year later. we are talking about two years later. that area is never going to be the same. in nebraska, with the agriculture there, this is a much more sensitive area. this is the breadbasket of the united states and of the world and we are talking about farmers and ranchers that would never have their livelihoods back. host: let's go out to michigan. bob is waiting on our line for independents. bob, good morning. caller: good morning. i hate to say it, but we are

probably going to get some sort of pipeline, but how about we do a little more of a sustainable, economic boom. less takinglittle the sludge out of the ground, we may have to compromise a little, but why not build these refineries in north dakota? and cut the dakota impact of the pipeline a little bit. i think we're going to have to do it. and, we will also keep our clean oil, that is going to go to houston. man city, come on, cindy, this all is going for export. that is like sandpaper through that pipeline, we are going to send it to china for well over the world price. in order to avoid that from making or america once in a ten-year windfall, that is a way we could be competitive in the world without charging slave labor

rates. guest: you raise a couple of thoughtful points, and a few things about the building refineries, and you are seeing a few small ones start to be developed in the high production areas in the north dakota, etc., but you are seeing be challenge we are facing when it comes to building a pipeline. you can imagine what would happen when we try to build infrastructure like a refinery. it is difficult, it is challenging, not to mention the other infrastructure that is required, so often what happens is there are expansions at resisting refineries that already have certain things in place and have familiarity with the community is there. so that is some reason why you do not often see new refineries being built. when you are talking about the export factor, again, there are differences in the price of

crude, and no two crudes are the same, you are correct. the crudes from canada are crudes anddes, the our northern plains states are lighter crudes. the facts are that we need the instructor, the pipelines, the presentation in place to bring those crudes where we need the most, and no two refineries are the same, so what happened, canada is our top supplier of imported oil and gas, so we have importing more oil from canada. we could be 100% energy secure in a few short years from north american sources. furthermore, we would import more of its heavier oil from venezuela, mexico, but venezuela does not like it so much. mexico production has been the clinic. canada has been filling this gap. for we trade with canada, every dollar we spend on their goods and services, $.90 gets

returned to our economy, so the trade benefited economic benefits just take on an entirely new context. that does not happen with our other trading partners. host: cindy schild is the downstream and industry operations manager at the friends of the earth join us -- at the american petroleum institute joining us with the friends of the earth energy benjaminirector schreiber. we have about 15 minutes left in the segment of the "washington journal," taking your calls and comments. carolyn is on our line. caller: good morning. a longbeen sitting here time. cindy, you're one sharp cookie, honey. cindy, am i wrong, this pipeline, i mean, it is not like burdened territory under the ground. it is not like the first one. is the sum of this oil already coming south by rail or truck?

and we are polluting the air, mr. ben, already. when you talk about water -- what about the san joaquin valley? cohorts cut the pipes off coming up north, coming off of san joaquin valley, which was our bread basket of vegetables and things like that, but you don't talk about that. it is not like the ground under nebraska and kansas is virgin territory. pipes have been there for years. host: we will start with ben schreiber and go to cindy schild. guest: every new pipeline you build is a new risk for spells and disasters. the other thing, one of the callers mentioned that all not not all oil is the same, and this canadian tar sands oil is far more viscous than traditional crude, and the science is not fully out there,

the research has not been done, , therecdotally at least are a lot of spills with tar sands pipelines. we are seeing the first keystone had more than one dozen spills in its first year of operation, and that is a transcanada pipeline. so this is a concern. i think the other thing -- as we talk about the impacts on farming and ranching, you cannot have a discussion without thinking about lima chains. california is in a historic drought right now. the worst in hundreds of years. and scientists just this week tie that directly to climate change. you cannot talk about the impact of agriculture without understanding that our burning up fossil fuels is having a direct impact on that. host: for folks that don't know, the original keystone pipeline is the brownish, reddish line xl pipeline,stone

the proposed keystone xl pipeline, would be the dotted line, just to show you the map websitenscanada's showing the different pipelines. the cindy schild, on caller caroline's comments. caroline, andou, you are correct. there are already 20,000 miles of crude oil pipeline running under the aquifer we have been discussing. and this route that keystone has proposed has been moved twice. transcanada has moved it out of the most sensitive areas, and let's keep in mind that it has been approved by the governor, by the environmental agency within nebraska, so we can again look at it, we can use more taxpayers dollars and look at it six more times. the facts are going to remain the same. there has been sensitivities and there have been precautions

taken. as far as the oil sands and the nature of oilsands, there have been studies, and it is comparable to other oils that are refined and have been refined in the u.s. let's not pretend that this is new. we have been refining oilsands in the united states for decades, and as far as the ,pills go that ben referred to the 12 spills in the original keystone pipeline, they are exactly what i was mentioning earlier, there were 12 spills that pumping stations contained, they were not released into the environment, so we have got to qualify our statements and not be inaccurate when we are giving out sound of information as well. host: let's go to joe in bronx, new york waiting on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: hi, how are you? cindy, how are you? nice seeing you on tv this morning. i am a counselor from

the bronx, new york. usually when i call i say that because i am not a diplomat. [laughter] i understand that people talk about the haphazard about the keystone pipeline, that is a given, so i'm not going to discuss that. but here is the message i want you to give to the republicans for me. when i say republicans, i am talking about the power to be, the politicians. was a last month there republican that was right there where you are today on c-span, were calling,ople the people that were driving the they were speaking with this man to say if this pipeline is built, it a lot of them who are making $50,000, 60,000 dollars a year to feed their family, they would lose their job because they transport

the oil from one place to the other, so if the pipeline is built, they will lose their job. it seems that this man, the -- this was falling on deaf ears. he was not even listening to these people, and i'm saying, this is the american people that plead to the republicans that they want to keep their jobs to support themselves and their families, and the republicans are not even concerned about these people. int: that is jodie counselor bronx, new york. i'm going to let cindy schild jump in, joe. call, thank you for your joe. i am sorry if the guest was insensitive to those callers or unfamiliar with their job like, but really that is what we are advocating for, and that is why you see the labor unions, the workers, the construction saying inlling and advocating and writing to the

president, writing to the secretary of state and saying how important this is. it is the same workers that want to keep and remain in the middle class. and that is what this is about. it is about those jobs and employment, and from your specific concern, from a truck driver's standpoint or other employment, remember the pipeline jobs also create both indirect and induced jobs, and it brings in economic activity. and once we have the oil and refined the oil, used to have the other modes of transportation in order to bring it to the terminals and into the gas stations and from the gas stations, you know you will be driving. is going to be a spur of economic activity. host: the job numbers that you cited earlier, with those net job numbers or did you factor in some of these folks that joe was talking about? guest: all those induced, indirect jobs. it can be anything from when you were ill doing those staying at

hotels, restaurants, that type of employment of everything like that, manufacturing. ben schreiber, cindy schild brought up the pole, i wanted to get your response to some of the findings of that harris poll that without, the registered voters were questioned according to the api release on it. eight in 10 voters indicated that their vote would be influenced by politicians' stand on energy issues while almost seven in 10 report that it would be more likely to support a keystone who supports xl. will beemocrats that it more likely to support a candidate if that canada is for approving keystone xl. your thoughts on some of the findings in that poll? an issue about the merits, not the polling numbers. i could try out polling numbers that show the majority of americans want the oil and gas

to get back the tax breaks that cost taxpayers billions of dollars every year, but we do not see congress moving forward with subsidies that the portland deaf ministry are dependent upon. i could suggest that the american -- that the oil and gas industry are dependent upon. i'm guessing that my collie care, my friend would not is about to api support regulation of greenhouse gases through the clean air act. this is about the merits of this pipeline and how we are going to keep two thirds of the world's natural carbon in the ground so that we avoid the worst impact of time and change in how we stop a pipeline from potentially destroying sensitive habitats that is the bread basket of the united states. , you anne in sugar grove are on with benjamin schreiber and cindy schild. caller: hi. good morning, everyone. thank you for c-span.

the foreign country having eminent domain of the united states, i just fine that astonishing that that is even happening. as far as transcanada goes, i don't know if this is actually true, but i heard recently, and i have not had a chance to check into it, but once a pipeline is transcanada is not really responsible for any kind of leaks. that is left up to the local people to clean up. and there is sand running through that, so it creates a grading like sandpaper, little, tiny holes. about the kalamazoo incident, that was four years ago this month, it may even be like today because it happened two weeks after the gulf horizon blew up. kalamazoo gotwas absolutely no media coverage. that was four years ago. those people up there -- their lives are destroyed. no one is coming to bail them out. i have seen several

documentaries on it, on free speech tv, which i highly recommend people look into that channel on dish and directv. and then the one in mayflower, arkansas, that happened two or three years ago. those neighborhoods had 15 minutes come and can you imagine? imagine you are in your home, taking care of the children of a blah, blah, blah, and you have 15 minutes to get out. host: cindy schild. guest: the eminent domain applies to any company in the same laws apply again. is transcanadag has gone above and beyond in that regard and again, they are not just building a pipe and leaving it there, they are responsible for the life of the pipeline. just for any incident or

monitoring or taking care of the pipeline, but also for taking care of the land around it. so it is not true that they are -- forilding a pipeline the life of the line. guest: you can claim responsibility, but what kind of response really did we have an kalamazoo where four years later we still do not have that area cleaned up, and we don't have clean up on the horizon anytime soon? we can say that there is responsibility, but does not do any good to the farmer and rancher whose livelihood has been destroyed because their fields and their water source has been covered with oil? host: we have got just a few minutes left in the segment. i want to get to some of our e-mail essence, this is from john in hoover's bill, pennsylvania who asks cindy hild -- with the increased potential for hurricanes in the gulf area, is it wise to be putting all of our

"eggs" in that basket? what would the cost of building a refinery near the cruise source be? guest: it was on average a difference of a per barrel basis, i want to say maybe double, two, three times as much. few, i did not a talk in cost terms, but you need the infrastructure, deceive and water supply, but the permit process, we try to build it to new refineries, the really significant ones. there have been a few, one in north dakota riesling, but there is one in yuma, nevada, as well as hyperion, south dakota. for have been trying, gosh, 14 years, 10 years now to build these refineries. the one in south dakota was going to be this green refinery was what it was called. they even got their permit. andot some of their permit

are getting opposed the muscle that is a challenge. again, you were seeing something for a pipeline underground, can , it has been a very difficult ross us. host: let's go to keep waiting in sanford, florida on our line for republicans, good morning. caller: good morning. this is a comment for both of our guests. mr. buffett owns a lot of those rail lines of their that transports oil. they have had a lot of accidents via the rail lines up there also. in a couple of those states. i am all for the pipeline because i think mr. buffett -- he has got a lot of undue influence with the white house, and i think he is sitting on this. brought has never been up. he owns a of the rail line up there,, rail lines and they have had a lot of accidents, so isn't that already a method that mr. buffett is

unduly influencing with the white house? host: ben schreiber on rail lines and mr. buffett. guest: i have no idea what kind of influence warren buffett does or does not have with the white house. i wish i knew how the white , and was making decisions i would love to be able to use that information to convince them to do some other things that we would like to see done as well. is railidea that it lines or pipelines, i think that is what people needed to get over. canada and the oil companies -- they want to send every ounce of canadian tar sands oil possible out of the ground, so they are going to use every piece of rail infrastructure possible, they are going to use every pipeline possible. it is not that if we build keystone we are going to stop shipping this stuff by real or vice versa. they are trying to have a massive expansion, and so if we want to leave oil in the ground,

if we want to leave fossil fuels in the ground to avoid climate change, we're going to have to stop these projects. guest: can i? modes oft all transportation. we support all forms of energy, and in fact warren buffett has come out in support of this pipeline, so he is on record in support of this pipeline, specifically saying that this is a project that would be good for this country. while wedy schild, have you in our last two minutes, i want to give you both each aca chance, here is john boehner on the decision of the labor day state department. he says host: can you talk about the global impact here in our last minute or so? guest: what you are looking at

now when you have a vast support of voters and leadership in congress, we have a president who has not been able to make a decision and has been led by politics instead of good policymaking. we need an act of congress to take this decision out of his hands and approved the pipeline. it has been studied, it is in our nation's interest. time and time again is about politics, not the merits. all indications are showing we are not a global leader in energy policy, and i think it is sending terrible sig nals. we are not an energy leader globally. host: ben schreiber that we may not be an energy leader that cindy schild just said. guest: we are talking about having more oil and gas production in the u.s. than we have had in decades. and we are talking about potentially shipping coal and natural gas all over the world. allidea that we can have an

of the above energy policy and have it be at all compatible with meeting climate goals is a huge problem. we have to be a leader in energy wind,ean energy, in solar, renewable power. we cannot continue to be using the dirty fossil fuels of the last decade if we want to be a true energy leader and show true leadership as the world deals with climate change. host: ben schreiber is the climate and energy program director at friends of the earth you can follow them on twitter @foe_us. and cindy schild is the downstream and industry operations manager at american petroleum institute. we appreciate you coming in to talk about this issue. up next, we will open the fonts to our viewers, but first, congress is returning from its two-week recess on monday, and here they look at what they will working on next week. >> the house and senate return from their recess on monday and

for a look at the week ahead, we are joined by billy house of "national journal," their congressional leadership correspondent. the house getting to work almost right away on a couple of fiscal year 2015 appropriation bills. it will take up the 3.3 billion-dollar legislative grant spending bill. in that is an extension of that pay freeze for members of congress. do you expect to hear any opposition to the measure being continued? >> there have been some lonely voices in the wilderness who that said maybe it is time -- they have been without a pay raise a sense 2010, lord help them. and maybe this time to alter that, but no, this is a midterm election year, and one of the odd positions that a lot of members might take on the campaign trail is that they need more money. laste of the pieces in the week, house republicans see opportunity in appropriations bills about some of the possibility of adding policy writers to these spending bills. what are some of the policy

writers we will see in the next couple of weeks? >> the topline spending levels have been set by the two-year budget deal. there are other battles to be fought within the appropriations bills themselves. they're done every year, these battles, and they're called policy writers. they're technically temporary one-year pieces of language that limit the administration from spending money on specific aings, even often this is procedure taken into do things that cannot get done and stand-alone bills, so for instance, lawmakers -- in a recent memo, chief deputy whip a peter roskam of illinois bragged about the successes in the past, blocking such things as funding for some abortion programs, ,locking united nations funding you know, keeping epa regulations from extending as far as they were intended, or

even not funding some environmental positions, but these go on both sides of the aisle, the sort of writers. the majority of course always has the advantage. >> the other 2015 spending bill we will see in the house in the coming weeks is deals with the military construction programs, veterans programs. any roadblocks are big issues that are excited to come up in that debate? >> the criminal justice one will be a third. on friday afternoon, we just received a copy of an internal memo that majority leader eric cantor had sent out to members laying out the agenda for the spring. it is a really sparse agenda. he likens that republicans are doing to jeffersonian. but anyway, to the point that you are making, these first three bills are the three least controversial bills, so therefore they are being taken out. there is little desire, though, thisy, a lot of lawmakers

election year to wrestle with some of the tornier issues in looming later bills such as health and human services, homeland security issues, that sort of thing, so what is more likely to happen is they will do a handful of these bills, and sometime this summer agree that perhaps we should fold the remainder or even all of them into a continuing resolution that would allow existing funding levels to continue past the election, and then let's take up the bills for real after election. >> one of the non-spending bills coming up in the houses a bill that came up a couple of weeks ago, this bill by john carney that deals with a piece of the health care laws, coming up again next week. it was defeated -- why is it coming up again? been in this long session and the previous session productions about the abilities of the house republicans, of course that is led by with kevin mccarthy.

he may or may not be lamed by other things. the majority leader eric cantor has decided. this is one of the ok's and that they put this bill i believe on april night on the floor in the procedure were is generally left for noncontroversial items, so as part of that expedited process, you have to get two thirds of those lawmakers voted to approve it, and is so that the majority approval but have not reached the two thirds, clearly a miscalculation on the part of the republicans. even so, they're coming back to -- they didput it get a majority vote last time. this is out an example of who is counting votes on the house republicans side? >> let's turn to the senate. majority leader harry reid tweeted about the minimum wage. he said when the senate return to my look forward to a debate on raising the minimum wage. i hope my public and colleagues

will join us to act on it. what is the status on that? are we likely to see any sort of debate on it? >> yeah, you will see debate. democratic leaders have been promising for months that they will bring this to the floor and have. but wednesday's procedural vote is still excited to win 60 votes to expand the bill, and that is good i guess in terms of the election year politics for both as thethe republicans creed that this is merely a measure aimed at driving democrats voting base to the polls. >> billy house is the correspondent for "national journal," thank you for being with us. >> i enjoyed it. thank you. host: and for our last segment of the "washington journal" today, we're opening our phones to the viewers. we would like to get your thoughts on what you would like commerce to address when members return next week, but we would be happy to hear your take on

any of the issues we brought up on today's show from the housing market to the ukraine crisis to the keystone xl pipeline. the phone numbers are on the screen, republicans can call (202) 585-3881. democrats (202) 585-3880. independents (202) 585-3882. and if you are outside the u.s., it is (202) 585-3883. open, soone line's are are our twitter page and facebook as well. you can also e-mail us at journal@c-span.org. while we're waiting for you to dial-in, i want to show you a story from political this politico- from yesterday evening from the nra meeting in indianapolis on friday. the story noted six essential republican candidates for allegianceledged the to the second amendment. those six include rick santorum, a runner-up for the 2012

nomination, louisiana governor bobby jindal, indiana governor mike pence, senator marco rubio, senator ted cruz, and scott walker sending in a video message as well. governor scott walker. that happening in indianapolis this weekend. another story from that event newspaper,ill" senator mitch mcconnell to the nra -- i will expand gun rights in a republican-led senate is the headline there. woulded friday that he work to expand the right of gun owners if he was given the opportunity to lead a new senate majority next year. speaking at that convention in indianapolis, mcconnell said he would work on behalf of legislation providing new privacy protections to gun owners. for mcconnell, the appearance seemed designed to boost his conservative fight the head of his upcoming reelection cycle, the story needs. this each was full of red meat, accusing the obama theirstration of "shut up

critics." you can see that story on thehill.com. one other story on gun issues -- republican resigns from bloomberg. tom ridge, the homeland security secretary hundred resident george w. bush has unexpectedly resigned from michael bloomberg's gun control efforts. the group has been planning mr. ridge's affiliation with the group, which mr. bloomberg has pledged to give $50 million to this year was considered a coup for mr. bloomberg, the former mayor of new york, because of mr. ridge's credentials will of a few of the stories on gun issues in the paper this morning, but our phones are open to our viewers. we want to hear from you on any of these subjects we've talked about today or what you want to see congress take up when they get back. debbie is up in philadelphia, pennsylvania. debbie is an independent.

good morning, debbie. caller: yes, good morning. i was wondering if you all will ever interview any of the indigenous people that are now set up on the national mall. host: debbie, we always take viewer suggestions. we are out there filming some of the protests on the national mall, and there is some video from that from yesterday. debbie, what issues would you like to address? caller: well, they have been here for thousands of years, so i think they would have an opinion that would be credible. i heard a lady call in saying that she is surprised that foreign countries are able to have imminent domain in this country. well, this country was taken over by foreign countries, so you know it is interesting be different opinions that i have heard. very interesting. thank you. host: debbie calling in from

philadelphia, pennsylvania. warren, to a caller in ohio on our line for republicans. caller: this imminent domain, let's talk about that, if it is not present to the u.s., how can they force them into imminent domain? this country is not getting anything from it from what i don't understand. and if it is so important, and if it is so good for a country, then why is in canada shipping across their home country? ok. delmasll right, that is in warren, ohio. michael grimm about to be

indicted, republican of new york, he is expected to be indicted by the u.s. attorney for the eastern district of new york according to the new york republican's lawyer. graham has been under investigation for alleged campaign-finance contributions. the charges against grimm are excited to include mail and wire fraud. grimm's attorney denounced the justice department's looming al action. "after more than two years of investigation played by malicious leaks,

host: that is the quote according to politico. back to the phones, john is in lakeland, florida on our line for democrats. john, good morning. caller: good morning. i have got a couple of complaints. i had that 1 -- when the congress comes back from session, when they are on vacation all this time, taking taxpayers money -- they do not even work. well, when they come back, i wish they would take obama's billand take the senate's on jobs and pass this jobs bill, and people would not need the food stamps and stuff if they pass this jobs bill. come on, democrats, pass this jobs bill. that is election talk. and then they are on this oil thing. republicans know that obama has nothing to do with this oil pipeline. states are having to go to court.

that's what they're going through now. if the goat through court to passes. obama ain't got nothing to do with it. republicans, they want to blame obama for everything, folks, wake up. host: ruth is waiting in ohio on our independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: my complaint is that nobody is talking about the koch brothers, who own this pipeline. do they pay taxes in the u.s.? canada refused to let them build a refinery on the west coast of canada so it could be shipped straight to china. host: all right, that is roots in ohio. one other story on the front page of the "houston chronicle" concerning a member of congress in an ethics investigation,

congressman steve stockman of texas. ethics committee inquiring into him. he has been questioned repeatedly over the last year about mr. ported campaign contributions and disclosure forms. host: you can read more of that andhe "houston chronicle" several of the papers on capitol hill reporting that as well. billy is waiting in texas in crockett, texas on our line for democrats. billy, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call, man. my concern and discomfort this presentis about the industrial complex of prison,

industrial, whatever you want to call it -- the locking up of so many people in america, especially in texas. they are taking advantage of the people, the black people especially, black young man, and even older men, giving them long sentences, the prisoners do not have air conditioning, the in the 150 degree temperatures, no air-conditioning. it is inhumane. it is really another form of modern-day slavery. host: what would you like congress to do? is there a member of congress who is speaking out on these issues? caller: yes, sir, i would like to see congress addressed this in a row way. this is modern-day slavery. we have got millions of people tied up in these prison systems with monitors and under house supervision. it is a police state and no one is talking about it. ,he people who hold power whoever holds a position, but i'm here to tell america, it is not going to work. this is modern-day slavery.

congress needs to address it. host: all right, that is billy in crockett, texas. let's go to randy waiting in chicago heights, illinois on our line for independents. i would like to bring up this bill that was in the senate it was the long-term unemployment extension of their for three months. they couldn't get past in the house, now it is in the house, and it one man, mr. boehner, holding 2 million people hostage. the people need this extension so bad, and they are talking about this type line that is only going to create a couple thousand jobs. and with 2.5 million people that are out of work, it is very important extension. and that is what i would like to say about it. host: and lee is in new york on

our line for republicans. hi.er: i just wanted to say to you have not cover the irs scandals, the benghazi scandal. other people have called in about them, but i have never seen you show a program -- i have been watching for a long, long time. i got very disheartened. in the beginning, your program used to be very fair. you would have one of one opinion and one of a different opinion, and we would hear both opinions, which was wonderful, and we could decide for ourselves, but i've seen so many things put out there that are not answered because one party is on without any rebuke or rebuttal, so i think it is very unfair. and you always so republicans that are doing something bad or the democrats go after them like crazy, and you pick it right up, but all the ones that are accused of fraud like jefferson, when he had some fraudulent

money in tinfoil in his freezer and he was a democrat, and he even got reelected because you did not say one word about it, you never mention berger, who stole the money out of the archives before a hearing, and then he shredded the documents, burying them under a trailer until it was dark. host: issues like benghazi and the irs, we have done segment on that. i hope you go to c-span.org, check out some of our video archives. you can check those out. it always appreciate segment suggestions from our viewers as well. let's go to mike waiting in philadelphia, pennsylvania on our line for democrats. mike, good morning. caller: good morning, sir. i just wondered if you knew it the house will have a vote scheduled this week in regards to the unemployment benefit extension. i just cannot believe that they drag this out so long, and they are screwing millions of americans out of money that they deserve. host: mike, i monday's edition

of the "washington journal" will be talking about the house schedule for the week and bring you the latest on that, when it is available. toecommend you turne in monday's show as well. lead editorial in the "new york the fda,lking about new controls that are out there that have been proposed on electronic cigarettes, an issue we talked about last week and on the "washington journal," electronic cigarettes. the editorial board writes that the rapidly growing electronic cigarettes as this would be finally brought under a regulatory supervision under long-delayed rules proposed by the fda on thursday. host: the proposed rules prohibit sales to retailers under 18, requires revocation by

photo identification, and restrict vending machine sales toelectronic cigarettes adult only facilities, to prohibit free samples. host: the editorial board of the "new york times" writes that it has been four years since the passage of the law to give the fda authority to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products and three years since the agency began grappling with alternatives like e-cigarette and who best. he agency ought to move quickly to issue the final version of these proposed rules and then proceed to develop the other needed safeguards.

segment we will also be talking about in the coming week on the "washington journal." let's go to nancy waiting in missouri on our line for independents. nancy, good morning. caller: hello? i have several things. i have a lot of things, but the main thing is why are we giving billions of dollars to iran, iraq, pakistan, egypt, afghanistan? all these countries that hate us, and we are not taking care of our veterans. there have been 40 veterans died arizona waiting for treatment, and we have veterans all over the united states of america waiting for treatment, and why are we not pushing back on muslims? they have invaded our government and building mosques all over the place. i think we just need to impeach obama. i really do. host: is it a specific religion

you are concerned about? caller: no, but every time the muslims object to something, it is published all over the place. christians, they can't object to anything. god for bid. carolyn in york, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. i have been listening to the call ind i had several about the eminent domain in canada. i would like to know if c-span or these people know about the north american army. i think they ought to look into that. withgned an agreement canada and we now have a north american army and nobody knows about it. they are keeping it very secret, and i'm telling you people, hang onto your guns because we are going to need them. that is all i have to say. york,ok, carolyn in pennsylvania.

a viewer writes you can't take obama out of the keystone pipeline decision because it is being built across international lines. damascus removes most of its chemical arms, syria has removed more than 90% of the lethal chemicals from the country and could finish shortly after its a sunday deadline. international inspectors say marking a milestone. completion would make it likelier that u.s. experts could destroy syria's chemicals at sea by a june 30 target date or close to it. if syria completes the job within a few days, it would be a significant achievement, according to the "wall street brycel," and it marks a bought -- a bright spot. the story notes that many answered these remain as chemical weapons could surface in syria after not being disclosed by the regime.

reports surfaced recently of a chlorine gas attack in mid april. that is the story from the "wall street journal" in today's paper. let's go to joe waiting in alexander, virginia on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to follow-up on the xl pipeline discussion. excuse me. i do concur that the risks to the aquifer is huge compared to the benefits, and i would just want to say that there are a lot to oilfits given companies and oil extraction. companies are making huge profits now. if we could redirect that money, which i know would be extremely hard given all the lobbyists and influence of the oil industry, we could redirect that to conservation efforts. other countries have tremendous entrepreneur conservation effor. some have moved tremendously

toward solar and other renewable and surgeries. -- other renewable energies. if we went ahead with the pipeline, there was a leak, and the aquifer were contaminated and then who would be on the hook for the remediation? probably taxpayers, probably not the corporations. thank you very much. and: let's go to robert brooklyn park, maryland on our line for independents. good morning. caller: yes, hello. host: yeah, robert, you were on the "washington journal." caller: i was wondering how many jobs will be displaced by these at sign talking about the rail and transportation in the area, rail entrance rotation industry. how many jobs will be displaced? start newhey will job. there are already a lot of people working in this field.

i wonder how many will be displaced because of this pipeline, and another thing, i thought back in a day, 30 years ago, the reason the gasp rice increased is because we did not have enough resources -- the reason the gas prices increases because we did not have enough resources in this country, that is why we were importing it from saudi arabia. now all of a sudden we have tons and we have enough to ask or now. well, if we do, what a they lower the price of the gas then like venezuela, which is $.25 an hour? i don't understand that. if we had that much oil in this country as a natural resource, why are the gas prices so high? they need to lower them back down because for the last 30 years, the united states citizens have been lied to. they need to give us a refund for that. that is why we imported all of this oil from saudi arabia. host: robert m brooklyn park, maryland. one other story to point out, this and the free for all section of today's "washington post," we talked about federal

workers issues and subjects that,. here is a free-for-all, a letter written to the "washington post ," responding to another letter from another reader, vincent gardella objected to the "po st's" use of the word "bureaucrats" host: that is in today's free-for-all section of the "washington post," and that is all the time we have for today's show, but make sure to tune in tomorrow when we will be talking with clarence page, a columnist 'to the "chicago tribute, talk about the politics heading into the midterm elections,

also, terry jeffrey, the editor-in-chief of cns news.com, will also be looking ahead to director philip mudd, of counterterrorism, will join us to talk about some anti-terrorism issues post up that is it for today's show. hope you have a great saturday. we will see you back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern, 4:00 a.m. pacific. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> next, a debate about the genetically