tv Washington Journal CSPAN May 6, 2014 7:00am-10:01am EDT
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fund,at the highway trust which provides most federal support for state transportation projects. "washington journal" is next. ♪ there are three primaries today. it is the first big test when it comes to the primaries come it is north carolina. thereican house speaker is trying to avoid a republican runoff. turning to the supreme court. the justices handing down a 5-4 decision that allows the prayers that opened the new york town council decision that says it didn't violate the prohibition against government establishment of religion. there were supporters and opponents alike.
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-- on public prayer. joining us on the phone is mr. hurley,ley. welcome. -- what dide bit the justices have to decide on this? talk about the decisions that were made. about this case is not whether you can pray, it is about what types of prayers you can have. the court does not weigh on the subject very often. what has been established is that prayers were ok before a legislative session in the same way they had been before
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sessions in congress. the reason for that is that they always happened in large part. the case was about whether specific prayers at issue in this case, which arose from a town meeting in a place called greece in new york. whether those prayers went too far because of the sick terry and nature of the message -- of the sectarian nature of the message which was distinctly christian. were prayers for other religions offered as well? in practicehappened was, before the lawsuit was filed by residents who objected to the prayers, prayers were christian almost exclusively. after the lawsuit was filed, they had some people from other religions who gave the prayers.
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in the decision, the supreme court said that the fact that the prayers had been sick terry and was not by itself a problem. said that they messages are ok, as long as this paper does not go too far in seeking to intimidate or coerce people or try to convert people. justice kennedy's argument being that justice kagan who wrote the dissenting view -- talk about about what she said. she said that the prayers did go too far and that she gave other examples of the types of , or government sanctions each as it were that the court would not find acceptable.
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one of the writeups in the papers say that those kind of arguments getting some comments from justice alito as well. justice alito took issue with the way that justice kagan , and then theyt blasted each other in their opinions. i think that justice kagan's , justice alito's issue was that justice against point could have been just as easily represented -- misrepresented.
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a classic 5:4 decision. where do justice kennedy fall on this one it was the conservative majority of the court that got the decision. it was a clear 5-4 split between the conservatives and liberals. just to be clear, the liberals would not be opposed to some types of prayer, it is just a specific rares in this case that they had issue with. i was going to ask where we go from here. guest: this case was specifically about legislative and a specific line that stem from the historical practice of having prayers before meetings that goes back
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to colonial times. it is almost a first amendment carve out. the language in this case could be used to try and encourage more religion in public life in other contexts such as displays in public buildings and that type of thing. host: i was going to ask if this decision may affect other decisions like prayers at high school graduations or prayers at other events in ways that are not government sanctioned. that: is quite possible this case would get cited in those types of cases, but it is not clear if they would have any weight. lawrence hurley joining us to talk about prayer in public life.
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you can give your thoughts on this decision that was handed down yesterday, what you think of it and the overall topic of prayer in public events, or especially those with local governments and the like. we have about 65 postings on facebook before the start of this program. that is facebook.com/c-span.
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let's hear from you. jed on the pennsylvania republic line. go ahead. i'm a devout satanist, i worship the devil, and i think that if they are allowed to have christian prayers, they should allow us to pray to the dark lord satan. host: do you think that will happen? caller: i hope so. they're building a memorial for baphomet in oklahoma. they allowed the moses
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commandments --host: host: the 10 commandments. they allow them to be displayed in a government building. tear from james who is calling in from missouri on our independent line. -- let's hear from james who is calling in from missouri. i think that it is about time that the supreme court upheld certain rights and freedoms of the united states people. everyone has an opinion and
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everybody wants to pray to their god. everyone thinks their god has powers. the truth is there's only one god with to power. he knows his name. he doesn't have to tell anyone. he said that i am that i am. he said he has all power in heaven and earth. there are rulers, there are many rulers. their many motives to pray, most being selfish. everybody wants their own way. guess what? he gets his, and no one tells the many different because he is the extreme and supreme ruler. i think it is about time that this government and the supreme court uphold the freedoms of the .nited states people the freedom to speak, the freedom to pray. the freedom, sir, to act reasonable in public, the freedom to negotiate reasonably
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jennifer from cedar rapids, ohio, democrat line. i think we are taking attemptingpproach in to create religious freedom by restricting religious freedom. i think that christians should be allowed to pray, and other people should be allowed to pray . my daughter, in her school, was expelled for praying out loud while a muslim child was given a special room to take his prayer rug two. i understand if they were to say if you need to pray you need to do it in present, but why are christians specifically being as oppressing others,
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when all we are seeking to do is practice our own religious freedoms? the: did you appeal to school about your daughter's decision? caller: i did. host: what was their decision? they told me they would allow her to pray silently, but they would not make any special concessions for her to separate herself from the other children to be able to pray. it, -- if she do were to do it on the playground again, she would be expelled, though she was not attempting to convert other children or get other children to pray with her. i think it is a nationwide thing. it is not just the school. that tore argument is pray would impinge on other people's religious freedoms varied what about the religious
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about it in this morning's edition. this is terry from york, pennsylvania, democrats line. good morning. hello. yes, this country is founded on prayer. if you look back into our constitution, it was founded on prayer. was a was a child, prayer normal part of your daily practice. all of a sudden, always different countries start coming in and screaming for their rights for prayer. our country is entitled to
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.rayer like any other country i am not disputing their right to prayer. our people should be entitled to prayer the same as anyone else. host that option for prayer be open to faiths other than protestant faiths? yes of course. it is why we broke away from the british, because of our religious needs. when it comes to christian topics in politics, he weighs in on a tweet this morning. terry, this is eileen from florida on our independent line.
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i am an independent and i want to say i am really tired of both parties, republicans and democrats pointing fingers when actually in reality, on both sides, there are -- they are only 50% right. i am an independent. nobody is really there for my point of view. i think that the young people today are very confused because they are force-fed by the or the on one issue other, on one side or the other. i think a lot of them really do think independently, and they like some of both sides. host: what do think about the topic of prayer in public vents? caller we might have fought other countries off because of our believes, but that is all well and good. i think that everybody here in should bery, they
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represented. i think that prayer does not belong in government. i think that if they are going to have it in government, supreme court, which i don't they are onlyause represented by conservatives who want to push push push all their issues, religion and god and guns, i think it needs to be a silent prayer where everybody is covered. god way -- there's only one , and he calls us everybody. we can't live in the past. this is the century we need to live in now. host: the aclu's national brands ch leaves this message.
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you can make your thoughts on twitter and facebook as well. rosemary from michigan, hello. i am for prayers in public. there's only one god. we need more prayers. that is why we are in the bad shape we're in today. tot: so you would be open prayers from many types of faith? yes.r: there's only one god. we could use that prayer. host: what about people who don't have religious faith? should they be able to express some kind of opinion? they are minorities, so
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treat each other with integrity as citizens. another editor this morning in the "the wall street journal." william, up next. fromm sorry, we just heard william. allen is from washington on the republican line. caller: i was the supreme court would read the dictionary so they could understand what establishment means. it does not mean across on a hill. that establishes nothing. it does not mean any of that.
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establishment means to form. they have not formed a religion by putting across on a hill. am i right? is up next, massachusetts, independent line. yeah, i think prayer private. left some people don't believe in it. it seems like the republicans want to bring stuff up so they don't have to pay taxes. about thethey care 45,000 people who died because they didn't have health insurance? talk about a few don'tns died, but they care about the poor people. they don't talk about stuff like that.
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tom from maryland. caller: i agree with the supreme court. it is crazy to say this is a violation of church and state. somebody said before, it is not an establishment of religion, for crying out loud. you quoted the aclu as being upset with this. during the past several season, seder luncheon at the white house. i didn't hear any complaints from anti-religious groups. it is ridiculous. about three to his justices all voted against this. this is a win against religious
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to you and tell you that the reason why these people are trying to stop people from preaching and teaching and talking on the street in public is because they know about these israelites that are on the computer. all you have to do is go to their website. next on the republican line. this vote was very close. i think it is a sign of where we are at as a nation. the fact is, if you go to any other country, let's say i migrated to a muslim nation like egypt and i tried to force my way into litigating my own
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theyr in their country, wouldn't make the concessions of them a clear. we're the only country that allows a minority group, a special interest group, to dictate how things will be run. the majority should rule. the majority is you. in my opinion, everyone should be tolerated, but i believe that there should be a precedent where the majority gets its way in general. so as far as pressure mother religious groups, you wouldn't -- you would agree with that? or would you? caller: i believe everyone should be allowed to have the podium, but there shouldn't be all these hoops that christians have to jump through just to .ave an equal voice
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if you are look at them charting the metals, every country had their own. to have yourlowed prayer in front of me. again, the supreme court weighing in on this town in gre ece, new york. weighing in in support of those prayers. weigh in on your thoughts on the decision. as we talk about that, a few minutes to take a look at
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primaries that are taking place across the united states today. indiana, ohio and north carolina. the carolina being particularly looked at the papers this morning. it, a phone to talk about reporter from the north carolina paper. a court to take the issue. it is pretty closely watched. somebody needs to get to 40% today in order to win and avoid the runoff. who is tom tallis and is he the strongest contender? thom tillis?
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>> a lot of establishment groups , the chamber, he is -- they have spent millions of dollars on his behalf. from mitch money mcconnell, john boehner, john mccain, so the leading republicans on capitol hill. it is clearly their choice. -- he is clearly their choice. another pastor named charlotte harris is running. mr. tillis doesn't reach this number, what happens ext?
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>> if you have a lot of energized tea parties or bunch of energized social conservatives, they could ring you problems. is the speaker of the house, a pretty firmd record. the -- it is no doubt that there is a conservative platform. he sounded even more conservative during the primary campaign in which i believe is little space as possible between him and the tea party candidate. ist: what can a position hagan in? president obama is not
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popular down here. his approval was in the 30's, i think, maybe low 40's. we have been bombarded over the air by all these groups that are criticizing her support of the ford will care act. carved -- she has not carved in identity out for yourself here. she has a little bit of work to do. this is going to be a national race. it will have natural implications for the senate. national -- be a host: can you expand on her television ads? caller: she has been going tillis, calling him to radical and criticizing
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his support by the koch brothers. just going after him that way. some of you say she is doing a reach out to republicans who she might actually find support with. host: should been sending materials out for republicans. money did she have available to spend? guest: she is getting a lot of money and will have a lot of money. this is going to be a national race. is already one of the most
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expensive races and topsy outside spending in the country. what is turnout expected to be like today? ago turnedr years the primary, it was 14%. in early voting, and has been running a little ahead of that. it is still not going to be very high. it might be as high as 20% shared that we the kind of a stretch. host: what did polling suggest? guest: the last time it showed tillis being right at the 40% line he needs to be. harris, the social conservative was at 11%. but the race is measured by the polling company. morrill.t is jim
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thank you for your time. james, north carolina, democrats line. good morning. i want to thank you for your show. it is a great, great show. i think is a good thing that people have the freedom and the .hoice to pray i think also in regards to your caller earlier who said that he was a satan worshiper and what to worshipbility satan pray to satan before meeting, the point here to me is that communities really are the ,ase, and then come the states and then comes the national government. we very a lot throughout this country. communities should be given the freedom to elect their
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officials, and allow these officials to conduct a meeting in a manner that is powerful to the community. if it is a predominantly christian community and that is how they wish to pray, i think that a lot of people in this country don't understand importance of prayer too many people. they begin the day with that, they say grace before meals, they pray to their god. andry and neuter the gods call him an object and say you cannot address the true god, it is almost a force of idolatry. i believe a democrat, in freedom, and i believe in the ability to choose. i think it is a good ring. going back to the satan worshiper, if all the commissioners were satan worshipers and that is how the community wanted to be, i guess it community to go to hell in a handbasket. host: john from new york
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independent line. go ahead. caller: i think everyone is forgetting the most important part of this discussion. this country was founded on the christian religion. that is the basis for this country. we have taken all other religions and have allowed them to practice their religion in this country, but it is still a christian nation. that is it. they're not going to change it. the christians are primary. but everyone else has the right to their own view. dawn is forcing them. it is like christmas. we have christmas, everybody celebrates it, and put up the tree, they go to church, and if you don't want to be involved in it, don't have christmas. this is monti from twitter.
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their rooms for muslims there. as you know, there's a very large concentration of muslims in dearborn, michigan. it has been going on for years. no one has ever mentioned it. i found this out a while ago. i heard about it through friends and family of mine when i'm up there. like i said, i have not seen it myself and i don't know it for a fact, but i've been told that they exist there. host: what you think about the decision that was made by the supreme court yesterday? i believe in prayer. it has its place. however, we have been told not to pray in public schools. that this a long time
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muslim prayer room has been there for many years. maryland,ard, republican line. i am reminded of that 9/11 after 9/11. could see the number of churches and synagogues, especially all the churches, people, thousands of people went to the different churches to pray. i believe that the united states of america is one of the blessed countries of the world, actually, the most last country of the world, mainly because of religion. this is a country that is blessed of god. i am from india. is thek that india largest democracy in the world. if your name is a christian ine, that is a bias for you
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colleges and workplaces. i do agree with the previous callers. we must a prayer. this country is blessed of god. we will see more and more young and at leastg having some faith in god rather and thinkhe drugs that our country is moving so much toward secularism. we need religion back and we need prayer back. trey gowdy of south carolina has been tapped to lead the select committee. began serving in congress only in 2011. he made a name for itself -- for himself.
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we will talk more about that in our last half hour this morning. gail from south carolina, republican line. i just wanted to call up and remind everybody that it was martin luther in europe that whole face of religion in europe. once i came about, that changed the whole european mode. when the kings and queens wouldn't change it because they controlled the people at that time, they all came to this country primarily to be able to pray to god in the way that we christian people believe today. believe it or not, a third of the jewish nation has become messianic jews which also believe in jesus. constitution, our
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under god, and also that we follow the 10 commandments and all that area that means if you come to this country, that is the religion that can definitely have its prayers and everything because it was founded under god and what that we know martin luther gave us in the new testament that everyone could read it. it says that about 13.4% uninsured rate among adults, the lowest since gallup started tracking. it is down from 17.1% near the .nd of 2013 and 15.6% the uninsured rate fell 2.2% from april in the 20 -- and the first quarter of 2014. it was driven by people who previously lacked coverage.
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one more call. this is don from california. cut me off.se don't i'm trend to get the word out .hat the bible is not real it is not meant for everyone. it is meant for the jews, --ican-americans we will talk about housing legislation that is before the senate, specifically fannie mae and freddie mac. we will have a roundtable discussion about the senate's plan and what it means in the overall picture with fannie and freddie. later on, adam snyder of politico.
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what happens if the highway trust fund runs out of money. what happens to policy when we talk about transportation? that is coming up on "washington journal" when we return after this. ♪ >> we set up our own prison. we set up our own trap. drugs,u get addicted to your whole world is built around your need for drugs. it is a beautiful day, your parents and people love you, but everything gets closed in and all have to think about is i have to go. we ourselves get caught up in the straps that society contributes to. on the other hand, we take it on
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how could you be enthralled with the knots revolution? but there she was. larson, one of many voices in the book. now available at your favorite bookseller. you cannot now take c-span with you wherever you go with our free c-span radio app for your smart phone or tablet. listen to all three c-span tv channels, or c-span radio, anytime. for each ofhedule our networks see you can tune in whenever you want, play podcasts of recent shows from our signature programs like afterwards, the communicators, and q&a. take c-span with you wherever you go. download your free app online for your iphone, android, or blackberry. "washington journal" continues. host: joining us now at her frederick.ight
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is dwighttable frederick. the topic is fannie mae and freddie mac. first of all, welcome to both of you. taking a look at the future of feddick, entities, mr. what is this issue and why is it being considered? guest: during the crisis, it became clear that they needed taxpayer help. the question now becomes, does the current structure still work, or do we need to alter that structure and how does the federal government stay involved in what is known largely as our secondary mortgage market.
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what happens after somebody takes out that loan and the bank originates at? deals with theis way the mortgages packaged, right? house, you purchase your the mortgages transferred and pooled with other mortgages and transferred into a security which is then sold on wall street and then is purchased by investors, anywhere from pension funds to banks, other financial institutions. host: under the current model, who takes the most risk? intook the most risk terms of losses on those mortgages? freddie and fannie are responsible for taking the losses. aose institutions, like in number of other banks, suffered
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severe losses. then then the senate poll --guest: the chairman of the banking committee and others are working on a bipartisan bill that the committee is going to consider. the idea is to bring more private capital into the system so that the government goes further behind. there still can be a government guarantee, provided, but it would be done with more private capital up front very the idea is to bring more private capital into the mortgage finance system and reduce the government's role. that processing more privatized. what you think about that the questionst: is, how do you transition such a large market. we are talking about trillions of dollars in terms of the mortgage market area how you
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transition from the current system to what would be this new system? that is the difficulty in the complexity that they're dealing with in this legislation. it started out with a 442 page draft that really tries to get at those transition issues. how do you wind down freddie and use their current infrastructure to continue to support our system, while creating this new system that allows for more private capital. what do you think about the issue being considered? is a massive undertaking. there are lots of moving pieces. every time you deal with entities guaranteeing the mortgage market, it impacts everyone who is buying a house to financial institutions to underwrite those mortgages and investors to purchase the securities. making sure that this process works for everyone involved, and also making sure that everyone
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in the country is able to get reasonable access to affordable housing finance, as well as making sure that taxpayers are protected. a number of issues that need to be protected. from aou get to hear number of entities that have a stake in this. i imagine the lobbying will be pretty intense as well. say it is always something that congress is looking at when it comes to housing finance. i used to joke to dwight way into the banking committee, the full title is the committee for banking, housing and urban affairs. it turns out most of the work the committee does is on housing issues. because housing issues are so pervasive, everyone in the committee is very familiar with these issues, but there is a good background for the people
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who are in the process of crafting this bill. beings one thing about familiar with the issues and another when you try to take all these different pieces and try to put them together in a workable bill. that is a trick, to make them workable. what is a trick for making the current system and train new system? key systems.l they undertook an extensive series of hearings last fall and winter. they had more than one dozen hearings. they had 100 and some odd staff meetings and briefings of stakeholders. they're trying to do is make systemat that finance maintains and is continued to be widely available. it is the preferred mortgage for most americans. making sure our market stays very nationalized. earlier 40 years ago it was very much a regional market. if you can get credit from a local bank a regional bank
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because of a downturn, that would affect housing. if that were the case today, we would want to make sure that small lenders have the same access to secondary mortgage market so they have somewhere to sell their mortgages and don't have to keep them on their books, the same way a large financial institution might have that opportunity. trying to preserve those characteristics of our current system that freddie and fannie helped facilitate, is a large part of what the committee is trying to do. that list, what would be your list? it was a concern through the crisis about taxpayer exposure. you have to make sure that taxpayers are never again put in a position where they have to for at and payout
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downturn of the economy that we saw. that was another really come to getting factor. guest: andrew is right. results in two key points that the committee is trying to resolve as a get closer to voting on the bill would have not yet done. -- which they have not yet done. how much cash do you require to protect taxpayers? you need to make sure that the entities involved, whether they are a -- that they are adequately capitalized. secondly, you need to make sure that capital is not so expensive. expensive mortgages could have a negative impact on the mortgage market area we need to have that balance between protecting the
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taxpayers and keeping a system that is as liquid incredible as we know it and as we expected. it.s we expect you have questions for them, you can call them and ask them. if you want to tweet us, if you want to send us an e-mail, the numbers are on your screen. is this a bipartisan kind of philosophy when it comes to the approach? i think housing finance is an issue where there can be sharp divides. there are remarkable variations in people's viewpoints on ho using finance.
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everyone earlier hopes to own a home or owns a home has to take part in that process. the democrats are very concerned about affordability issues. where one ofally the divides comes down. it is much more complicated than that when you take the next level down. you get into issues about how should mortgages be financed, how secure the process should work. thewant to make sure that rule governing the mortgage finance process is vibrant and innovative and competitive in the market. you also have to make sure that system that works. you can talk about a lot of these ideas in there he, it is another thing to come up with a system that works. that is one of the reasons you
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see so much activity right now on the bill. divere doing that deep into the legislation and talking with lots of stakeholders to make sure that you get a workable bill. guest: at this point they're --guest ing to get guest: they have done an incredible job on working with existing legislation. the two of them work for well together on the bill. andrew would agree that the chairman and ranking member really took that bill and filled in some of the missing pieces and doubled a transition issues and really tried to improve upon an existing bipartisan product that had five cosponsors on the
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republican side and five on the democratic side. 10 members on the committee out of 22. now they have developed an even billthorough approach, you have at least 12 members supporting it. senator harrys to reid, who would want to see more support from committee before putting it to a vote. guest: naturally, you want to have a strong majority. if you do not have a strong, typically bipartisan majority, it makes it difficult to survive a filibuster. so, you need 60 votes. because of the existence of the filibuster, it does force both sides to attempt to work together, and when dwight fettig
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and i were there, we would spend a lot of time trying to work on -- host: you were there at the same time? guest: we were. so that when you get a bill, it is something everyone in the senate can support. if something passed out of the senate banking to midi with unanimous support, the chances of a going through the senate floor are very high. if it is a more controversial issue or a split vote, it tends to make it harder for not impossible, but another hurdle you have to overcome. guest: one of the differences on this bill, if it turns out to be a 12-10 vote, and it could be higher than 12, but the 12 would be split between six democratic supporters and six republican supporters. means that the conversation will likely entail you even after the committee takes about, and while there is
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always time between committee action and potential for action. that conversation for members of the committee and members off of the committee that are interested in this continuing could lead to a broader -- guest: if this is not complicated enough, we have spent the entire show trying to engulf the complicated issues. another issue to be inserted is even if you have a path to get it the senate floor you have to think about the house. at some point those will need to be reconciled. host: we can talk about it a little bit, let's take some calls for the gentleman that both served on capitol hill. first, susan, washington. independent line. good morning. caller: to me, it is really disgusting. i do not know if some days i want to call myself an american.
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what they have done to me initially caused a heart amid -- heart attack trying to get my modification through, and now i'm just waiting for the sheriff to show up for foreclosure. it just perpetuates. the same people that stole my property are the ones that i cannot get rental space of anything, because tried to live on a social security check of $1000. you can not find housing in this area, not on a bus line. i have given up hope. host: well, gentlemen, alternately this affects the homeowner. guest: yes, it does. certainly one of the goals in housing finance reform is to ensure we do not have a repeatable we saw during the 2008 financial crisis where the sank and resulted in a lot of foreclosures. one of the goal that is a
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bipartisan goal is making sure that housing is underwritten in an affordable way, and in a way that makes sure homeowners are able to pay off their mortgages. issue andmplicated underwriting standards are important to make sure homeowners get into a mortgage that they can afford, and it is another way to protect taxpayers if taxpayers are standing behind mortgages making sure that homeowners are able to pay for those mortgages. guest: i would only add, foreclosures are a devastating to go for those that have through them, and one of the things throughout the crisis that congress and the administration have tried to do is figure out ways to help with modification, and many lending institutions have worked on modifying mortgages to try to help folks that are in trouble,
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but at some point you have to be able to pay the mortgage. as andrew pointed out, it is important that people get into mortgages that they can keep and afford, and when they do get into trouble we have ways to help with modifications one possible. the caller speaks to the affordability issue, which is an underlying part of this debate, keeping the mortgage financing system operating in a way that helps to address affordability concerns, particularly in high-cost markets as we know living here. money --h a change the would you change the money a homeowner would have to put up with the changes go through? guest: it could. the numbers for the minimum down payment have been discussed as beented five percent-to--- 5%, which as 3.5%-to-
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is always a tricky number. that will be an issue that until the bill is passed will be a subject of debate, and probably even afterwards. host: william. oregon. republican line. caller: good morning. i am really confused. all of this stems -- i am asking a question, so, i am confused with the beginning of it as far as you are looking for people to governmenthat the won't have to stand behind this, is that how is that meeting so far? my understanding that part? -- am i understanding that part? in other words, the bill is going to have more people involved? you gave issue is these people loans they could not afford it, and now you are saying that is the issue as to
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whether or not they could afford up they, and it ended could not afford the loan, and that is why the bottom dropped out, and in the government had to go and give the money to fannie and freddie so that they had the money to compensate the people that you sold the packages to. am i following this correct? host: ok. we will let the guests respond. mr. fettig. guest: i think the best way to answer that is to remind viewers the question of whether or not the person taking on the mortgage can afford the mortgage is really the underlying, sort of, central question in any housing finance system, but it howot -- it is part of people are going to qualify for a mortgage. whether or not the mortgage and sold by the bank after they have
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originated in the borrower has taken it on, we are talking more about what happens to that mortgage after it has been originated. we are talking about those mortgages being packaged together in terms of a mortgage-backed security that is sold to investors all around the world. how and when people qualify for a mortgage, as the caller outlined, has always been a key part -- obviously, the front end of the system, and a key part of making sure we have a mortgage finance system that is safe and sound, and we do not get into trouble. obviously, we saw what the housing bubble leading up to the crisis that underwriting was not wearing needed to be, not where it was historically were people had to demonstrate they had the down payment, the income stream where they could afford a mortgage going forward, a credit score that would allow them to qualify. the process became too easy, not
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just because of fannie and freddie. fannie and freddie, remember, do not originate the mortgages. to giveors were willing mortgages to people that did not have the down payment, that did not have the history or the credit score that would allow them to undertake the down payment. it was primarily the originators who made those decisions on underwriters, and then it was the purchasing of those mortgages, and fannie and freddie were part of those purchases, but so were other investors, private label securities. host: we have if you are asking on e-mail what would happen to the 30-year mortgage if this change were enacted. is there a penciled change? guest: that is one of the big issues. there is a debate about what would happen to the 30-year mortgage depending on the amount of support the government provides for mortgages. one camp says the government has orderrantee securities in
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for the 30-year mortgage to be widely available. another group will say it will still be available, probably at a slightly higher rate, but it will be out there and set by market principles. you will likely see a debate that continues about what happens with the 30-year, and that is one of the additional issues that makes it such a complicating factor. the 30-year has become -- host: why is that the magic number? i have always wondered. what i would add to that why weou think back to created the mortgage market, the securities, and why fannie and freddie were created by the government, was banks originating mortgages for decades, it was not a perfect match. banks have short-term assets in
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terms of the deposits people put in the bank and those deposits come and go depending on when people want their money. a 30-year fixed mortgage is a long-term liability. the assets on the liabilities do not match up, so the goal became to have a more liquid finance system and have more mortgages be available. if the banks could sell those 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages, and get them off of their books and packaged into securities that investors would buy, they would take on the risk, and that would be better for the system because now the bank can turn around and make more loans. that is the notice -- notion behind it. the 30-year fixed rate notion -- mortgage, and the government guarantee, is really what any economist will tell you makes our finance system in the united states different than most other countries in the world, and it is why it has become such an important part of what people
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can afford. it is a 30-year mortgage. you know what you are to pay every month. there are no surprises. it is pretty -- it is in many payable, you can't add up quickly, and you can refinance. it has -- you can pay it back quickly, and you can read and -- refinance. it has characteristics of people like, certainty and affordability. host: nelson, massachusetts. republican line. caller: thank you, gentlemen. nelson and i would encourage all of your listeners and the legislators to go to thefhn solution, and that is basically dealing with
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everything you are talking about for a solution through the housing market. what i said the government leading towards is turning our system into a covered bond banking system, realistically, and by doing that, and they would keep to 30-year mortgage, eventually put the power in the hands of the people. investors would be happy to invest because they would get more of a return than what they are currently get on savings account, and changing it to a simple, old-fashioned simple , it is amortgage solution to everything that you are talking about. get rid of derivatives. ok, mr. ullman, any take away from then -- mr. olmem, any take away from that? guest: there are a lot of potential ways to address the problem.
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you have seen the house take one way. the senate is working on one. they have thrown out a draft. additionalking changes. i do not think there is a silver bullet on how to reform housing finance. if you are asking every expert, they are probably giving you a different opinion on what is the best way to go about it. host: the senate has one version. what would the house version look like? guest: the house version takes a different approach. it would wind down fannie and freddie, remove them, and not replaced him with another entity, and instead rely on , and toening fha a provide government support through that existing agency. you can see they are different models. the house approach aims to have less taxpayer backing of the mortgage market. the viewpoint behind that bill is that right now the housing
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finance system is 90-some percent backed by the government, and that is an unhealthy position for taxpayers and for the markets. that much government distortion in markets can potentially set up the stage for additional -- distortdestroy the efficient operation of the economy. so, that bill takes a different approach. you have the senate bill coming up with a little bit different -- so, for dwight fettig and i, it is interesting to think about how this gets resolved and what will be the eventual outcome when the bills get together at conference. it is to be seen. host: go ahead. add,: i was just going to the difference in terms of the approach of the house -- when the chairman of the house financial committee decided to push forward with this did sotion last year, he
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largely working within his own party. so, when the vote came about in their committee last july, it only with republican support. there was no attempt to reach out to the ranking member, maxine waters, and the members on the committee, to develop a bill together. that is different, and it should be compared and contrasted with the senate effort where chairman johnson and ranking member crapo decided from the beginning of this conference when they began this effort to really work together. so, their effort, virtually from day one, has been let's work together, have our meetings together, work on the hearing schedules, the hearing topics, figure out the underlying goals we want to achieve together and develop legislation based on that process. it has been bipartisan from the get-go. -- guest: a lot of that
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reflect differences in the institutions. the senate really does require a bipartisan effort to pass legislation. the house is a majority institution, and it is very common to see legislation that begins in the house passed on a more partisan basis. look back and think of numerous pieces of legislation that were passed solely on a partyline in the house, because that is just the way the institution works. the senate, as long as the filibuster is around, makes it very difficult to pass legislation in that manner. host: both of our guests have expands on the senate side working with the senate andission on urban housing affairs and with fannie mae and freddie mac. your questions for them laura. virginia. good morning.
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caller: good morning. from my perspective, i see that the banks are going to be the winners again. fha mortgage that has four years left on it. unsolicited, i got applications delivered by fedex offering me a , so when i called to get some understanding -- because if you do not understand something, there's not much you can do about it -- but the replacement they were offering, and no upfront cost, the government was paying for all of the fees, but the catch was my 40-year mortgage balance could only be replaced by a 10-year or a 15-year mortgage. so, they kept emphasizing that you will save $200 a month, and i said what is the additional interest going to be, and they
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had to pass that on to two or three people there and managers, and they came back on the line and set another $19,000. to me, it seems the banks are the winners. "the banksat point, are the winners?" guest: the issue is what role will larger financial institutions continue to play and that is one of the dynamics at the committee, trying to systemis the new developed by the legislation that would be asking for larger, private capital of fund, and push the government's role further into the background, does that create the potential, at least, for some of the larger financial institutions in the country to become even larger? that is something that is being discussed. some amendments to the bill that were filed by committee members a week or so ago attempt to
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address that very question. the onesthey were stepping in front of the government facing the risk -- i guess, who would step in front of the government? what entities are we talking about? question.is a good it is not limited who wants to become an aggregator or a bond guarantor of those loans. limitedslature does not -- the legislation does not limit those roles, but obviously some of the larger institutions are in a better position to take on that role, certainly in the early going. so, some of these transition questions they are looking at is who are some of these likely new participants in the system. who has that private capital? host: we're talking about smaller banks, community banks in able to do that because their resources are not as great as larger banks.
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helpful to step back because we are conflating two issues sometimes in this discussion. on the one hand there is the origination, the banks to go out and make your mortgage to a prospective homeowner so that they can buy the house. have the process of once they sell those mortgages, and we package them in a security, how does the loss -sharing in that security -- how is that allocated? what percent goes to the government, what percent do we want to have somebody else step in and take losses on that back end? certainly, there are investors in the present market that are interested in taking that risk on. that is what investors do. that is their function in our financial system. so, i think there are a lot of people in the financial system that would be willing to take that risk. naturally, how it is structured will increase the number of people that are interested, and
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the availability of that risk capital. host: if these changes go through as planned, i am a current investors in securities held in the previous regime, what happens to me? guest: that is another complicating factor. and this is a simplification, they would move fannie and freddie into a wind down and allow the current book of business to wind down largely over time with some of the transition issues. what happens to investors in fannie and freddie is another debate on what happens on those operations -- are they sold off, are they distributed to investors, how much goes back to the taxpayers, does the government still stand behind those entities? as you can see, these are the transition issues the bill is working on, trying to figure out what the steps are. host: it sounds like i could take a hit early.
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guest: as an investor, that is certainly a possibility, yes. host: ron. ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. i have some comments. i am an investor, and i am in a county, and we have, probably close to 70% of our loans.s fha, and usda there is a lot of concern about funding. did an fha loan, oh, about six years ago, and it was with a credit score of over 800. i had to jump through some major ops.ps -- ho
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we went from one extreme to the other, but i was able to get my yearsaid in a couple of and i said on self-imposed poverty. i refinanced it and learn my interest rate, which was great. host: the process of what is going on in the senate -- what would you like our guests to address? caller: ok. back then, when this whole thing collapsed, i was real concerned that the type of mortgages does --owed, and how the originators, there are a lot of originators that i say should have been penalized in some way, if not gone to jail.
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host: thank you, ron. actually, before the house and the senate were given about what to do about fannie and freddie, it really attempted to address the caller's question or concern about the kinds of mortgages that were originated, and ultimately got the financial system into the trouble that it did. that was addressed through thatlation and rulemaking resulted in what is known as a qualified mortgage or a qm, so the government was trying to come up with some parameters, if he will, that outline what is a the qualities and characteristics of a mortgage that, frankly, will be safer for the system at large. it does not mean that mortgages outside of that cannot be originated. it is just a way for the government to outline what is a safer mortgage and how those
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mortgages will factor into the government's role into the system. so, coming up with a better-defined qualified mortgage is something that was a key part of the post-crisis reaction. host: we have a viewer off of twitter -- and you have hinted because of the complicated nature of what is going on -- james is asking even replacing fannie and freddie would still become a burden on taxpayers sense to many loopholes would be in legislation. guest: i am not sure which loopholes he is referring to, but naturally it is always a concern where taxpayers would be vulnerable down the road. there is a debate to the extent where taxpayers would be behind in the lead up to the crisis, and the fact of the government would have to go in and provide support to the gse's
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has created more skepticism about the ability not to provide support in a downturn. problemsne of the big that the committee is struggling with right now -- how do you provide some kind of commitment exposureits taxpayers' and insures losses are borne by taxpayers, and not investors. guest: it is important to understand that at the time the crisis in 2008, when the federal government and fannie mae and freddie mac's regulator had to step in and take over the management of the entities, at the time, given the crisis, it did require significant taxpayer support, $180 billion total for the two entities. as of today, with the mortgage market having improved, and the help of the market improving, fannie and freddie have returned over $200 billion back to
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taxpayers and the treasury. it has already been a net loss you and supporting fannie and freddie with taxpayer support. the question, long-term, is do we want to have the taxpayers potentially face that exposure again, even though when the market is good, it could mean significant -- host: why change it? to add an additional complicating factor to the analysis is the moral hazard. if the markets know ultimately the government will back something and cover them for losses, they will not have the proper incentives to make sure they invest properly, doing the due diligence, making sure that homes are written in a way that are one, good for the homeowners , so that they could afford them, and two, good for investors in that these are mortgages that are going to be paid back. that is a big problem that needs
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to be addressed there -- how do you correct for the moral hazard that has already happened? once the government intervenes, that sets a precedent, and market participants factor that into their decisions going forward. it is not an easy thing, but it is also one that with the government backing 90-something percent of the mortgage market, the committee is struggling to get our markets to operate in a competitive, and non-distorted fashion without government interference. host: you just heard from andrew olmem and you have been hearing from dwight fettig, who both have senate experience, and talk about the future of fannie and freddie. .iriam good morning. ofler: i have a couple comments, not really any questions. first of all, i would suggest that given the landscape of the congress today, i think this
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an effortversation is in futility, all right? [laughter] i am sorry. we have major elections coming down the road. everybody, i guess, in d.c. and the local states are scrambling around to raise money for their future roles in the congress. i think what has to be done here -- this would be a good example of where i am coming from -- you continually remarked about the american taxpayer. tax reform in this picture, because initially i would suggest that this entire process has to start with tax
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.eform so far, as i know, our congress has failed to act on any piece of legislation that would reflect a positive view on tax reform. host: thank you, miriam from connecticut. mr. fettig? guest: i do not profess to be a tax expert. i do know that as we have seen with chairman camp, the house ways and means committee chairman, his efforts coming forward with a comprehensive proposal, the downside and the difficulty is -- we've not had major tax reform since 1986, and the reason is there are winners and losers. if you take away one tax break or credit, that affects some industry or groups of americans,
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so the winners and losers makes it a difficult process. everybody likes the idea of tax simplification, but the reality is you are picking winners and losers so very directly when you do tax reform, and that is the hard part. guest: i think tax reform is complicated enough. you add that to housing reform, and you really have a complicated situation. [laughter] that is one of the reasons congress is divide the way it is in terms of the committee structure. it allows members and their staff to specialize and focus in on issues. theissues can be handled by financing committee, and banking issues can be handled by the banking committee. it is more efficient, and i think, increases the chance of legislation getting done. frustrationcaller's with the legislative process, and i can't emphasize with that
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having been up there and worked can empathize having been up there and worked on bills that i would like to have seen past. it can be frustrating. it does work reasonably well. it can be very frustrating. these are not complicate having -- these are complicated issues. they are not something you can just throw out there as an idea and have a quickly pass. the best ones that have been thought about, we try to address potential on anticipated consequences. you get input from as many people as possible. it is part of the legislative process. it takes time. it can be very frustrating, but that is how you increase the chances of getting a better bill. host: she mentioned elections, and both of you have probably have experience on election processes and could come ok things going forward. guest: no question, keeping an eye on the calendar, it has an
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impact and sometimes affects the amount of time that the house and senate are even in session, but it is a system we have, so we have to be able to legislate, structuremmittee helps staff focus on the issues at hand. at the same time, we have an electoral process. we have to be able to do both things simultaneously. yes, sometimes they get in each other's way, but historically we have been able to work through those things. elections have consequences, and election results may affect who will chair a committee, or control the house or the senate, and at the end of the day the legislative process has its own, sort of, ability to continue to move forward. as andrew and i know in the time we were together in the banking committee, some of the bills the house and senate have to work on do not get as much attention, but whether it was issues we dealt with with sanctions on the larger transportation
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bill, flood insurance, the reauthorization of the export/import bank, these were all bills we were able to work together, and sharon johnson and ranking member shall be from alabama were able to work together so that the committee approved those -- chairman johnson and ranking member shel lby were able to work on those bills with committee approval. elections are certainly a complicating factor, but there are plenty of examples, even in the last few years, of the committee's able to do their job. host: jim from missouri. hello. caller: to the tax reform, the lady is right when she said tax reform. that is part of it. they will volley back and forth. a couple ofspond to
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your questions. it is a big spin. it is asset grabs from the american people, and they will spin it back and forth. i am telling you, they are in the direction of the rich. the is who will lose, american people. consistently, we have seen that tens of thousands of people have been thrown out in the street, , how willwight fettig you say i recognize the problem? tell that to the people that have their kids in the street when the rich bankers have literally stolen the american people's dream to them. -- from them. tell that to them. calleri think the indicates the problems of the current housing finance system and the need for reform and put it on a better basis. the foreclosure process has been a difficult thing for many
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families. the hope is here that eventually by reforming the housing finance system, we will never have this repeated again. guest: no question, and, i think, a shared goal among policymakers to try to prevent the problems we endured during the crisis, particularly the foreclosure crisis that was part of all of that, and really, the goal is to limit foreclosures as much as possible. host: a viewer is asking about privatization again includes privatizing all of it -- hud's low income housing. guest: that is another issue that will be discussed. the current senate bill establishes a housing trust fund, and uses fees that are allocated on, levied on securitizations guaranteed under the new bill and allocates them toward a housing trust fund to
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make grants and other funding available for more affordable housing. that, in the past, has been something that has generated some controversy on what is the be inment's role going to providing housing finance, not only in supporting the secondary markets, but also directly. 60-year-old to date about how much the government should step in and -- debate about how the government should step in and if they are going to subsidize it, how do they do it. guest: the notion of the affordable house -- the housing trust fund is really to supplement and augment the hud public housing programs. it is not to replace them. host: mark, indianapolis. good morning.
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caller: good morning. my question is, the gentleman talked about formerly these were guaranteed. securities 101 is fannie and freddie were quasi-political not supposedy were to be paid off. now, conveniently, these loans are going to be bottom-line, public/private, however you want to put it, but the returns in the markets are going to be high single digits. we can take 50% of your portfolio, put them into this bond, and they are guaranteed by the government, so i could get 6% yield on these bonds risk free, so they have
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moved that to what should have never been guaranteed by the government -- it was implied, not guaranteed -- now they are guaranteed under this bill. it is a shell game to move it from what was never guaranteed by the government to a guarantee by the government. host: ok. guest: the issue here is than if the government is going to continue to have this, rather than the implied guarantee, as the caller points out, and that is accurate, under fannie and freddie there were shareholders, rather capital as part of fannie nowfreddie's existence, but we are talking about having the federal government have an explicit guarantee of these mortgages but if and only if the private capital is in front of the guaranteed. you have to qualify for the government guarantee. the legislation creates a federal mortgage insurance
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patterned after the fdic, the fdic, the we are all , and it isth designed to provide the after assessing, as andrew highlighted with the affordable housing trust fund, providing those assessments and institutions in the same in the fdic assesses banks for insurance to protect deposits. that government guarantee and the assessments that will then pay for it, are only in-line if people follow the originators, and ultimately the securitize ,er's of the mortgages following the rules, and providing that capital. it is becoming an explicit guarantee as opposed to an implied one, but under the legislation that is drafted, it would ensure that you have to
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follow these explicit rules, including the amount of private capital in front of that government guarantee. host: 11 call. paul from -- one more call. paul from maryland. when tarp wasally voted on, it was envision the money would be given to american consumers and it would trickle up into the mortgage markets. when it was implemented, the money ended up going into the banks and was supposed to trickle down, but it never trickled anywhere. in factple think that, i is one of the roots of the problems that we face today. i would appreciate hearing the comments. host: mr. olmem? tarp is probably one of the most controversial government programs of modern times. what the caller is getting at is
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what impact it had in the markets? there was a believe, sometimes, that the money was supposed to have gone to the banks and went out. -- lent out. most of that has been paid back now. so, it gets into the question, then, i do not think there is a right connection to tarp now. the program is in the process of winding down. there were a lot of regulations added in. frank, and that is probably more what he is referring to for the new regulatory regime for banks. -- other subject for us another subject for us. host: if we get a wind down, what is the timeframe that we are talking about? guest: that is a good question,
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and part of the transition issues that chairman johnson and ranking member critical have been working on extensively, to create a wind down period in an amount of time that allows the markets to continue to function and is not too disruptive because we need to avoid market disruption that would make mortgages more difficult to obtain or reduce credit availability. we are talking anywhere from five-to-nine years under the bill. there are different periods where the new regulator would have additional authority to atend periods, so there is range. it depends on how the market would adjust, how quickly everything would fall in place, but there is a need for an extended period of time. even the house bill, i believe, has a five-year window. the way the current draft has been put together by chairman johnson and ranking member nineo, it is in the five-to-
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year range. host: that is if things go smoothly. i wish -- i am sure that could be bumps along the way. you could easily get agreement that provides the bipartisan majority, or it could take time. it is almost impossible to know at this point. it is a complicated issue. they are certainly making a lot of efforts, and you just never know as part of a legislative process when things all come together. things happen right when you think the bill is about to die. there is a change of heart, and a member changes their mind, or sometimes when you think a bill is about to the past, people get cold feet, we consider something, and the bill does not happen. served on thelmem
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u.s. senate committee on banking and housing affairs. dwight fettig was a former staff director of the u.s. senate committee on banking, housing and urban affairs 2010-to-2013. taylor for your time this morning. host: -- guest: my pleasure. guest: thank you. host: coming up, we we'll talk about the future of the highway transportation fund. -- adamnyder from snider from "politico" will give us details. first, an update from c-span radio. playbook reports hillary clinton will appear at her first political event raising money for a candidate with close ties to the clinton family. the potential 2016 residential candidate will headline a may 15 fundraiser for marjorie margolis in new york, and she is the
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mother-in-law of chelsea clinton. it will be at a midtown manhattan home of lyn foster the rothschild. 1000-to-$5,000 per person. elizabeth warren plans to offer allowsthat open that borrowers to refinance debt at the same rate that current prison paint can get. loansraduates qualify for at a 3.86 percentage rate. byis part of a larger effort democrats to focus on college costs. the bill would be paid for by raising taxes on wealthy americans, and this new report by the associated press says that could make passage difficult. louisiana democratic senator mary landrieu, the chair of the natural resources committee, speaking earlier on msnbc says
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instability in the ukraine makes the case for building the keystone oil pipeline. she added that the proposed pipeline from canada to the united states would contribute only marginally to air quality problems, telling msnbc that the approval process has been too slow and when asked about president obama's hesitance to she said "i think he has sears questions about how much it would to. the climate situation." c-span is covering the afternoon rose garden event. those are the latest headlines on c-span radio. over 35 years, c-span brings public affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings, and conferences, and offering complete gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house, all as a private service of the cable
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industry. byare created 35 years ago the cable industry, and brought to you as a service by your cable or satellite provider. facebook. follow us on twitter. act thatass-steagall was passed in 1933 after fdr came to power was a very clear line between the speculative versions and services and things that a bank could do, and the deposits it took, and the services they provided to regular individuals and small businesses. it was a very, very clear distinction. the bankers were on the same side as fdr. the population was on the same side as fdr, and things became stable for many decades after that. you contrast that to what happened in the wake of the 2008 crisis, which has been a much more expensive crisis for the general economy, for the actual
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unemployment level, for what was lost by individuals throughout, and relative to the bailouts and subsidies that have been given cents, and dodd frank came along and did nothing remotely like dissecting regulation from depositors and traditional banking activities. >> a look at the relationship between 1600 pennsylvania avenue and wall street, saturday night at 10:00 p.m. eastern and sunday night at 9:00 p.m. on "american "afterwards." our book selection is "a call to back her, join others to discuss the book -- back." join us to discuss the book at booktv.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: our next guest is adam
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snider of "politico." we are talking about the highway trust fund running out of money. why should i be concerned about that happening? guest: you get from point a-to- point b at some point. you are driving, taking a train, a transit system, a bus, something like that -- all the goods you get, everything you order from amazon, that comes on a ups or fedex truck that travels over our roads. it is the lifeblood of our economy. it really is what drives our nation. host: this goes specifically to a fund. what is the fund and what is it tasked to do? guest: it is the highway trust fund, created in 1956 under legislation by president eisenhower, starting with a toee cent gas tax that went fund the initial construction of the interstate highway system.
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things were going well for a few decades, but as they continue to grow and build the system there was more and more work to be done, and less and less money coming into the fund. so, we were starting to have the problem of not enough money to repave roads, to fill potholes, to fix crumbling bridges, and things like that. primary funding the gas tax? guest: 90%. there is also the truck the and a few years ago the fund was given the ability to earn interest. interest rates are next to nothing now, so it does not mean much, but down the road that could account for a small bit of money. recent stories talk about it running out. is that the case? guest: under the antideficiency act, it cannot go fully broke, but as it gets closer to zero,
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the department of transportation is tasked with managing that and making sure it does not reach a zero balance, so whether that be slowing the money that goes back to the states, totally shutting down the program, they have a few options and none of them are good and then as lawmakers scared. host: what is the timeframe for running to that point? is thepart of the issue dot does not know exactly when that is. there is no computer screen that they can see as an up-to-date balance that takes up or down every minute or every hour. they put out these monthly updates. right now, they are projecting the end of august, but that could change, that could slip into the next month. tocould be back up early-august. keep in mind, congress is out for all of august. host: it is also the height of the driving season. guest: exactly, and the summer construction season, right now in the northern states, which is
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a crucial time. a lot of the winter states need to be working on their summer plans because the ground is thawing and they only have a few months to get the work done before the winter freeze. host: as a solution to the fund running out, what are the options? guest: there are a number of them. one that gets the most attention is a sample gas tax increase. a number of people like it. it is as close to a user fee as we can get at this point. it is not directly tied to how much you drive, but it is close enough. as far asother ideas repatriation, using a corporate tax, closing tax loopholes to bring back foreign money back to the u.s., but the one that gets talked about a lot is the gas tax simply because it is a thing that is fund this program for over 50 years. host: one legislators on capitol hill here "increase the gas tax" what is the reaction?
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guest: they focus on the increase and the tax. president obama campaigning in 2008, he said he did not want a gas tax increase. a number of democrats do not. republicans, some privately do, but they are really all over the place. that is feeling a lot of concern as there is no obvious consensus solution. host: what is the current tax? >> 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline, and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel fuel, and a little bit of that extra money, mostly paid by truckers, those two freight and other projects. host: if the money comes in from all 50 states, does that mean all 50 states get a general payout as far as those funds are concerned, or does it depend on the size of the state? yuko it is actually a complex set of formulas. all -- guest: it is actually a
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complex set of formulas. it is based on population, there has been politics to the way they write of formulas, which helps if you are the chairman of a committee with control over this, but he goes to a complicated system of a number of formulas and several different programs, and then back to the states. one of the hot topics has been the rate of return, which is sort of the minimum that every state gets back, and i believe that is about 95% now. --state is paying in and they are getting near everything they are paying in, but not all of it. host: you ever the guest talk about the highway trust fund, as far as its solvency, its future. he is adam snider of "politico." if you want to ask questions, here are the numbers to call if you want to send us a tweet,
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.ou can do so @c-spanwj outfolks at pew stayed put a study and looked at the funding and a broke down as this, with $57 billion coming from the federal government and more productive the state and local governments as well. talk about the breakdown. what happens if the federal torsion is affected by the trust fund drying up? what does it mean for the state and localities? guest: a couple of other things. for one, when it comes to the mind, thiskeep in price -- crisis has been going on for quite a while. nting for as been pu long time. everyone patted themselves on the back and it ended up being a
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two-year bill. you cannot finance a bridge. you need that long-term certainty. it means on one hand the states are pursuing things on their own. on either side of us, virginia and maryland have taken action to adjust their transportation funding, and it is not just partisan. red asing, which is as it gets, they have implemented a gas tax increase. so, states are not counting on the federal government anymore, so they are doing things on their own, but at the same time the federal program is very important to them. a number of states rely on that. rhode island, for example, the small estate in our country -- country,state in our their state program simply matches the federal program. you could envision that if that
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is gone, rhode island has zero original dollars they could use. that is not the case in every single state, but there are states all across the country that are facing a backlog, stumpage, or other that issues. programsheard about done under stimulus for these types of projects. do states have access to that type of money? guest: that was a number of years ago, about five years ago. it is starting to wind down. i am sure some states have some money left, and one of the big forshes was $8 billion high-speed rail, and california is just starting to put shovels and the ground to build their project. host: as far as the legislation that oversees the trust fund, when did that run out, and when does it have to be renewed? guest: there are two different tracks. there is the policy, where d.o.t. does, and that comes from the house transportation
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committee, and in the senate, environment and public works committee has most of it. to big issue really is going be financing, which is up to the house ways and means means and e finance committee's. host: your first call comes from john, democrat from maryland. caller: hey. host: john, go ahead. good morning. caller: what i would like to say is, yeah. host: john, you are on the air. caller: what i would like to say, it seems like they are running out of money on anything. it doesn't seem like we have anything to spend on domestic issues in the united states. but the republicans, they have plenty of money. they are ready to go to syria, to ukraine, to use all this money. we asked taxpayers are the one who really suffer. any more money that is given on
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aid, everything in the united states domestically needs to be taking care of. i feel like this is a violation of the constitution when you take our money to help people overseas in ukraine. would stickif you to the transportation funding aspect, what do you have as a question or comment for our guest? caller: basically at is where the money is going. good point.kes a a lot of people especially during the height of the war years ago say why we are -- why are we building roads in afghanistan and iraq instead of here in america? focusmakers, they need to on rebuilding our own country after we have rebuilt so many other countries over the years. host: jane from florida. you're on with adam snider of "politico." caller: let me take you off speakerphone so you can hear me better. i do a lot of work in miami with an organization called --
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it is interesting. i think to frame the conversation popular -- properly, if the feds are pushing the funding down to the said scum of the states are pushing the localities, -- to -- for instance, my transportation and toll related tax. eating my property this will put it right in the taxpayere of what the is paying. one of the things that we would like people to be aware of nationally is that you have got to have a very open dialogue with your state legislators because your problems are going to be the small or large depending on how these things are being handled in the legislature. i think thankfully our legislature in florida is fairly conservative, so we are starting
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to get them to look at the debt ceiling. we are also talking about the withhat they inflate taxes the consumer price index. we really want this on the radar all across the country. host: thank you. guest: i think we have a little bit of concern over tolling, which has been discussed over the past few weeks. president obama's administration, they have proposed the grow america act, is what they call it. they have proposed that, and they do seek to roll back the current prohibition on states choosing to toll. i think the caller hits an interesting point, which is not only is all politics local, but most transportation is local. everything is connected in some way or another, but it really comes down to support at the
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local level. it is why a lot of these transportation groups have focused their efforts on individual members of congress, not just bringing in an association, bringing in constituents to each member to say i drive over three deficient bridges every day to get to my job. make it a local issue to get states worried about it, localities, all levels of government getting them involved in this. to know hower wants much is spent on the bureaucracy related to the highway transportation fund. sure of thenot administrative costs of the department of transportation. several federal watchdogs keep an eye on those things. reports thatof any they are using that in any bad ways. from vermont, good morning. go ahead. caller: good morning. for several years back in the 1980's, i worked for the state of vermont as a highway planning
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economist, and that had to do with the construction and maintenance of the highway, federal and state. the federal highway trust fund was set up under the eisenhower administration. it was an excellent way of funding our transportation system in america, and then as usual, politicians and activists made inroads into it, and it paid for itself. it was based on a user fee. but what happened over the years , the highway trust fund was set up very similarly to the federal one. but over the years they started like ants making inroads into sacred trustbe a fund used only for the construction of roads and highways. makes a veryller
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good point. there have been a number of politicians tom a interest groups, and a number of other people working on crafting their own sort of pet issue, and these are all on paper very good ideas, whether it is safe routes to schools, getting children to school safely, which is much more healthy than sitting in the car. mass transit was added, about 20% of the fund's money goes to transit. controversial,y too. -- seeing aa pew drop and leveling out as it hits 2010. a viewer ask about electric cars -- if they have electric cars come clearly they are not buying gas. guest: senator barbara boxer
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says she does not pay -- she admits readily she herself does not pay her full-featured into the fund simply because it is based on fuel. it is interesting because the government has these dual policies to reduce pollution and climate change, which encourages greater fuel efficiency. that greater fuel efficiency means less money for the highway trust fund. so eventually something has to give with one of these two sides. host: does this also go to the government for higher café standards, higher mileage for vehicle on the road? guest: these café standards are toigned -- a side effect is have less money in the highway trust fund, and that is why a lot of lawmakers are looking at corporate tax or some of these becausethe-box ideas there are more hybrid cars, electric cars on the road and the numbers will continue to decline.
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host: from tennessee, good morning. caller: good morning. i live here in tennessee, of course. tennessee is one of the top 10 most dependent states of the federal government -- on the federal government. exactly how it is. i cannot repeat the numbers off aretop of my head, but we voting on never bringing up the state income tax in august, which i think is the wrong idea. i think we should have one to help fund the state. but with president obama wanting ,o bring up the infrastructure wanting congress to bring that up in the house and vote on it, and then pass it onto the
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senate, i am sure hopefully the senate would pass that without a 60-vote -- would be filibustered. guest: there is definitely the hope, a broad consensus for the need to act on this. i have not really heard any talk as far as any filibusters or anything like that. a few of these callers really illustrate how important this is on the local level to people. we have heard from a couple of different corners of the country and people definitely seem to care about it. host: glen hansen makes that point. that point.en makes "those poor infrastructure affect where -- guest: they want to be near transit, good roads, not only to get their own workers there, but they want to attract is this. not walking on the sidewalk to come in. if there is a street under
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construction and there are cracks on the sidewalk, people do not want to be there. it is the same with schools. that is why the transportation issue is so important. it affects all parts of life, our quality of life, too. sitting in cars long-term, if you commute in a car for one hour or two hours for 30 years come you will probably have a slightly shorter life than someone walking around more. host: you talked about congress being out in august. do you suspect that -- guest: there is a consensus on the need to act. the details, the policy part of it is very easy. dot programs, how projects are approved, things like that, very sort of wonky things. that is not quite near as controversial as the issue of how to pay for it. host: kentucky's up next.
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that is where charlie is. good morning. caller: i am a trucker running 100,000 miles per year in this country, so i see what the roads look like. both percent -- i pay 12% federal excise tax on my truck, on my tires. the roads are not that bad. they are not as bad as they are let on to be. is a lot of just waste and corruption. for instance, all these stone walls they are building around when the roads right beside of them are crumbling -- it is millions and millions of waste. just for a good example, the little town i am from in kentucky, they're building a $10 million interstate exchange through a town of 3000 people which really has no use. i can speculate as to why, but i kentucky'svernor of brother-in-law is in the
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concrete business. we have got to cut the corruption and the waste out of this, and we can have 20. at four dollars per gallon for -- we are just about tapped out. i don't know how we are going to be able to continue with more tax. thank you for your time. based on that, i think it is interesting to note, to show -- interesting the issue is how important this issue is. not that caller, obviously, but , therucking associations big freight truckers, they would like a diesel tax increase. that caller did not seem to want one, but this group represents truckers that would be affected by it. asy wanted because they know long as it goes back into the roads, they would appreciate something like that. there are a number of other programs and issues that people
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have targeted as wasteful. a lot of truckers do not like to gastheir money going to transit. sidewalks or even street signs or a number of flowerbeds on the sides of the road. a number of people target these very specific things that make up a small portion of this program. host: a viewer asks about the lost of waste -- the loss of that can be attributed to government contracts given to private contractors. government contracts to private contractors. guest: i think that is more up to the states and localities that sign the deals with the contractors. that is only something that the federal government can address, and that is why dot has guidelines on the ways that you contract and get a project the liver all the way from the design -- project delivered from the design phase to the contract phase. every contact -- every contract in d.c., we have had some issues
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with the metrorail silver line extension. it is really on a case-by-case basis. host: another viewer makes the "wages for highway construction under the davis-bacon act are grossly disproportionate to those of the rest of industry. common laborers in california can expect to receive $15 per hour." he goes on. guest: that has not been discussed much this time around. if we do have a silver bullet or a 100 billion dollars happens to fall out of the sky, whatever it be, there will be a lot of focus on things like that. couple of these other callers have addressed issues that lawmakers are definitely going to be talking about once they get that out of the room, which is the funding. host: george is from maryland, talking with adam snider of
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"politico." man,r: when i was a young i helped complete the baltimore beltway's and some bridgework, and it was a great way to work my way through college. my brother is in the highway business at a local level, and the contracts even in western maryland are absolutely minimal. with the bad winter, work is starting later. asphalt plants have been reluctant to open because the air temperatures have to be above 55 degrees. i greatly fear the competence of transportationd at a reasonable level. they are not doing it now. what is grover norquist and the neo-confederates saying about an increase in the gas tax? it goes against their religion. would they like to crater the whole public transportation system? does opposeorquist
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the federal gas tax. i spoke to him about a year ago and he said it -- that at the time he might be open to a penny or two. not only was the winter hard, but there are a number of other issues as far as kicking the can down the road. lawmakers have been doing this for a number of years. they have done these short-term patches, salted for six months, they be one year. a couple of years ago we had a bill that lasted two years, but that is about to respond -- that is about to expire. there is big uncertainty for states when they do not know how much memory -- how much money they will get in the next few years. that means that states have slowed down projects over the past few bad winters. host: up next, bob. caller: hey, i am a retired
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teamster between state and federal, and i paid $10,000 in taxes. why do we send other countries $50 million, $1 million, $1 billion? why don't we just charge a nickel on every roll of toilet paper that we spend in this country. that is the end. people, maybe not as much as a -- as specific as a nickel on toilet paper, but the concept is that transportation is important to the entire country, and everyone should pay into it. there definitely are a few proposals out there. i have not seen the nickel on the toilet paper when yet, but i will keep an eye on it. host: what about miles driven? of a: that will be more
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long-term solution. it faces a couple of hurdles. there is the technology hurdle. this is a concept phase. there is no one deciding anything yet as far as gps. it has received a lot of attention from big brother spying on people, things like that. one alternative is to use simple odometer readings. you get the yearly car inspection, you go in and they write down your own, reading and they can calculate your fees that way. that would avoid the issue of the electric cars and hybrid cars that solely pay into the fund. that is one idea. host: pat from florida, good morning. caller: hi. i don'tn a magazine -- remember if it was "time" or what, several years ago, about how the government was reading the funds on the transportation tax just like they have done on social security tax.
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i would like a response on that. i am not sure what the raidfic grade -- specific is that she is referring to. the last gas tax increase was in 1993, so under president clinton. for the first two years of that, much of that went to deficit reduction. raid by someered a transportation advocates, but over the decades of this program, not all of it has gone directly to highway and transit problems, and that is something a lot of are that that is something a number of lawmakers are not too happy with. faith from maryland, hi. caller: i have a problem with all the taxes they take out on the working person. for them not to put the money where they say they are going to put that money.
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they need to keep our money in this country. i can understand import and exports, but they don't have to send all their money to these democrats. we have enough problems over here that we need to deal with. have heardink we that from a few callers today. focus on lawmakers to our domestic problems, and infrastructure is one of the biggest ones. story about the grow america act, which you reference also. the secretary of transportation's first real test ? guest: yes. small disasters and other news cycle events that have come up in his relatively short tenure. this is really the first big issue. he has been working on it for a long time, basically ever since he came in. he knew that this was going to be his first big task.
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series through a lot of -- a lot of cities to talk about the value of infrastructure, what they want done. dot has their own proposal that just recently came out. he is continuing to urge lawmakers as best he can to address this because dot fans are really tight on this. they have to manage the account but they are bound by federal law. they cannot change the tax rates, they cannot change the spending rates. they basically have to manage this thing, so their hands are tied and they are counting on congress to come through with some money. an additional $87 billion to address the backlog of deficient bridges and safety concerns because of those things. guest: the bridge in andeapolis collapsed
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people died. dieily people do not always in these, but there are bridges falling down, being closed, having detours put up around them. these hangs does these things are happening everyday in this country, and there are tens of thousands of bridges. odds are, if you're driving, you're driving over a bridge. with adamre up next snider from "politico." about eisenhower. toused government workers build route 80, route 70, route 66. i have been around the country a whole bunch myself over the years. things through government workers, including -- i remember eisenhower's days because i was a kid but i was living.
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1980, reagan said shrinking government and that is what republicans have been living on. eisenhower's days, using , is almostworkers impossible. guest: one of the ironies is that president ronald reagan and the idea of shrinking government, he advocated for it, he asked congress to pass it, and he then funded into law a five cent asked -- five cent gas tax increase. some would argue he expanded government in the way that he increased the gas tax because he saw the value of it and saw the need for the transportation projects around the country. host: you were asked if the gas subways and trains. are those riding the subways and
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trains paying their fair share? guest: it depends on who you ask. that is definitely one of the political issues on the hill. that drivers are the ones paying into the trust fund, and a transit project does not affect the road that they see in front of them. but think of, especially in the d.c. region -- this is important -- think of the hundreds of thousands of people that take our subway system every day. many of those people would probably have to be driving otherwise. while you might not see it in front of you, the train systems take the cars off the road, meaning less traffic for you. host: this is charles from wyoming. hello. charles from wyoming, hello. go ahead. caller: i was just kind of wondering, why is it that congress can always seem to find money to give themselves pay raises every year with no problem whatsoever, and the irs can afford to give themselves a
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yetbonus every year, and you guys are always having problems trying to figure out ways to tax the people on issues like highways, like highway funding. guest: i think that hits up why congress has record low approval ratings right now. i am not sure about the latest action on there -- keep in mind it is a small percentage of the federal total. i don't know if they want to do six years or keep things as they are for six more years, which has been the tradition. that would need about $100 billion, many times more than the pay increases to congress would cost. it comes to shares of spending for the federal government, federal is 82%.
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it goes from the local and total. what should we know from these numbers? guest: how much more even it is all the local level. that shows that these localities -- not only are they tasked with building these transit systems, but they see the value of it. they see how a train system or a subway or even buses -- we have talked about subways a lot, but bus rapid transit. they use buses and things like that. the localities see the importance of a keeping a good quality of life for residents. host: carlos from florida. caller: thank you for having this show. i am part of a program in miami-dade county that was a largerecause we fear abuse of toll or agencies down .ear miami
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they concern is, from a lot of onele, as tolling is mechanism of funding roads, the gas tax will not go away. so the concern is that we have more and more roads, the percentage of roads in miami-dade county, where they we are stilld paying the same amount of gas tax at the pump. --understand these agencies particularly the miami-dade what would be to address the percentages? we could have double taxation with the gas tax and ever-increasing amount of road tolls. guest: that is a concern amongst many people, the double taxation that you referenced, as far as the gas tax and the tolls. there is a common agreement that a gas tax might not be increasing to pay for this bill,
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that it does not seem to be going away anytime soon, as the caller referenced. that is an issue him and i think some places like the port authority, new york and new jersey, and some other major toll increases proposed over the years, have been given tolls of that name. they definitely do have a place in some parts of the country. it is a concern, and that is why the reason that the big truck or group that i referenced earlier, that they supported the syntax increase but not tolls because that could really open the door for more double taxation. so nothing is being done right now, though we do not have answers yet, so it definitely will be on lawmakers lines -- lawmakers' minds. host: last caller from tennessee. caller: from january of 2009, i paid $1.99. $4.16 for gas. that is outrageous.
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the federal government is sucking the life blood out of people who are working. they send us what is left. washington, d.c., is awash in money. they have pulled in more money than they have ever pulled in, and they do the line dancing and a hot tub with champagne. they make us look like fools that we are funding things like this for eurocrats. they are -- their salaries are almost twice as much as the average working man. they have better insurance and retirement. it is about time we have some kind of revolution to clean out washington, d.c., and get back to working for the emergent people instead of skimming the money off the american man and woman. asst: in 2009 at today and far back as 1993, that fluctuate in gas prices is a summit price of oil. your state might have changed their tax rate. pushed federal fee has 21 years here. that was not accountable for the
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jump in gas prices. host: what is the next thing to look for? chairwoman barbara boxer is hoping to roll out a bill text this thursday, in a couple days, that could set up some markups the following week that puts pressure on the house. we have seen the administration with a proposal already. that helps move things along, and will lawmakers need your dresses in a few months or for anything bad happens to the trust fund. adam snider with "politico," thanks for your time. in our last half-hour we will do open phones. 202-737-0001 for democrats. 0002 for republicans. .02-628-0205 are independents >> the commerce department says
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the u.s. trade deficit narrowed in march as exports rebounded to the second-highest level on record. of by strong gains of sales aircraft, autos, and farm goods. u.s. exports rose two percent with sports to canada and south korea hitting all-time highs. imports rose but bias lower margin. a smaller trade deficit can boost growth as it means u.s. companies are murdering -- are earning more on overseas sales. u.s. home prices -- corelogic says prices rose over 11% in march compared to march of 2013. prices rose at a slightly slower pace in the 12 months that ended last month, a sign that weak sales have begun to extreme -- to affect the housing market price gains. rises in march rose one point -- prices in march rose 1.1% from january.
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56,000 saturns or midsize cars have been recalled because the automatic transition shifters can fail. affects certain cars with four-speed transmissions manufactured in 2007 and 2008. gm says the shift cable can fracture. if it happens while the car is moving, the driver will not be able to shift into park or remove the ignition key. those are the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> we have kind of set up our own prison, our own trial. we don't know that we are contributing to it. world that isle built around the need for drugs. world is youof the have to die. is not beautiful sunrise, it is beautiful dead. your parents love you but everything is closed in. i think we ourselves get caught up in those traps that somehow society contributes to, but on
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the other hand we taken on personally and we can see what is really -- we cannot see if the world is really there. angels and mentors of people who do care for you. >> this month, the book club selection is "it calls you back." by former gang member and community activists luis j rodriguez. start reading and join the conversation with other readers in our book club chat room. find us at the tv.org. host: "washington journal" continues. the number for open phones. 202-73 7-0002 for democrats. 202-737-0001 for republicans -- e-mail to --
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the report coming out from the white house. taking a look at climate change. here is "the new york times." host: that is the national climate assessment put out by the white house. you can look for more information on some of the news that is making headlines today. if you want to give us your thoughts at, and other stories, or maybe a segment you have seen
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this morning, now is your chance to do so. 202-737-0001 for democrats. 202-737-000 two for republicans. hello, frank. open phones but i was going to refer to something on the last guest you had on. he was talking about transportation and taxation issues related to transportation. what i wanted to bring up was, because you have a lot of online shopping these days and because you are delivering things individually to people rather than in bulk to retailers, maybe they ought to start rethinking how they packed some of these online people, just like they were talking about as far as state and local went. that might be another issue. transportation taxes might be something that people like amazon and ebay ought to gin up to. of that you do a lot
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stuff online, perhaps? caller: i have done a little bit, but most of the stuff on retailers. i am starting to be more supportive of retailers, particularly when borders books went out of business. here is peter from new york. caller: a comment on fannie and freddie. 80% of all the mortgages that were originated went from fannie and freddie, which they packaged . hard controls, fannie and freddie. the policy was for fannie and freddie to buy more subprime mortgages, and they did that by pressuring the banks to lower their origination requirements. the guest you had on the other day, jesse and zinger ger, who said that
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fannie and freddie were not pressured to buy subprime mortgages is totally inaccurate. for him to say it was a republican conspiracy, it is totally off the wall. if you read the book "reckless endangerment, she explains that it was government policy -- naturally the banks were at fault also because they comply with what was going on and took advantage of the situation. host: next call up is from new jersey. caller: good morning, pedro. i want to say a couple of things about the gas tax, the federal gas tax. i drive from new jersey down to florida every year, and one of the things that i find is the dot or the politicians are allowing the interstate highway system to be used as local roads. if you drive on 95 around
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washington, the traffic is terrible. ,he interstate highway system eisenhower used it -- the autobahn in germany -- as a model. i go to germany usually every year, every other year, and i drive over there. you can drive 100 miles per hour, 150 miles per hour, if you want to. the roads are so nice over there . in america, there are potholes everywhere. over in germany, if they have a pothole, they come and they take out a whole section of road and repair it. host: cornelius is up next from virginia. caller: how you doing? look, i am calling to ask you about these potholes in virginia that are messed up. they need to straighten out this
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unemployment five-month extension. because more people are losing their homes left and right, losing hearts, and losing airplanes. the representative needing to respond and taking care of this and still playing politics? host: there is a shot of the capital. -- of the capitol building. "the washington times" takes a look at the story out of nigeria, the capturing of the young girls there. haram plans to sell and kidnap schoolgirls. determining what the u.s. can do to help free the schoolgirls --
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linda from newst: jersey, good morning. senator spirit is saying that there have been 13 extensions provided to other people. for the first time in my life after 61 years of working on and off, i collected unemployment this past september. never had i applied for it before. only to find out in january that i cannot even get my first extension, let alone take advantage of 13 extensions. where are we going with this? is there any possibility in your
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mind or heart that these people are going to relent and help us? i am about to lose my car. i will not be able to afford gas. why electric is going off. i cannot go on the internet and find jobs. i want to work. i am not a young woman, but i need to pay my bills. have you tried talking to your legislator directly? caller: i have written letters. i have never done anything like this in my life. i am so hurt and upset with my government just ignoring us. i am sure you understand. you have heard so much about this. what do we need to do to get this to the house? i am ready to take senator boehner and choke this man. this is marianne from pittsburgh. hello. you're on, go ahead. caller: i listen to you every
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morning, and i think the american people had better wake up because obama and his administration -- when anybody ever hears the words "fundamentally change," this is what it is all about. it is called socialism. it does not work here in america. are you listening to me still, pedro? host: go ahead. caller: it is socialism in america. they don't care about the american people, their policies, everything. a marxist -- i heard him the other night -- has the obama , which iation's ear heard him specifically say, he is one of his advisers. and the muslim brotherhood has worked in the white house for the first term. host: john from virginia, good morning. morning, sir. i am calling about the transportation infrastructure. many callers do not realize the noeral government has
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responsibility for local roads and bridges, only for interstates. your state is responsible for local roads and bridges, the county for county roads and bridges, and municipality for municipal roads and streets. host: the person responsible for heading the select committee for benghazi will be trey gowdy from north carolina. here is more about the committee. a staffer joining us on the phone. caller: -- guest: how are you? host: when do we expect a vote? end of the week, although we have still not seen a legislative test on what the committee would look like -- how many republicans, how many
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democrat. congressman trey gowdy of south carolina will be chairman of the committee. host: why him? gowdy? an, why trey guest: he is on the oversight committee now, and is a former federal prosecutor in south carolina. by republicans, particularly conservatives, for his tenacious style of questioning witnesses. he gives passionate floor speeches during house debates. that with the background of the federal prosecutor is something that john boehner was looking for. he was very involved in the underzi investigation darrell issa of the oversight committee. scope,hat will be its
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how is it different from other committees, and what is the length of committee going to be those are questions we are still trying to get answers for. it is still being worked out whether there will be a deadline for the committee to report its findings. they expect -- i think the first several weeks, if not months, they are trying to get more cooperation from the white house, because the reason this committee has been created is that republicans are accusing the white house of stonewalling, as with the release of the e-mail from benjamin roads last week under the freedom of information act request, and republicans are asking why wasn't that e-mail released earlier when various committees asked for documents. is question is, what else the white house hiding on this? inre are a lot of subpoenas
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the early going. what a was going to ask select committee doesn't other committees looking -- what a select committee does from other committees looking into the matter? they want to consolidate all that work into one and streamlined. theit is not clear what our select committee might have that the other committees do not. they are going to be able to issue subpoenas, but beyond that it is more of a consolidation of the process, an extension of the time period. keeping the issue in the media spotlight for several more months. ultimately, what does the select committee have to find out regarding benghazi? the key question republicans have been asking is,
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when did the white house know that it was a terrorist attack and not related to the video and the protests going on in egypt at the time? what theof course talking points on the sunday about after the attacks. some republicans are saying that the white house deliberately misled the public on what the attack was all about and who was behind it because they did not generate criticism of president obama's foreign policy two months before the election. the e-mail from ben rhodes was saying we do not want to focus on the broader foreign policy failures because of course obama was taking credit at that time for dismantling al qaeda. i think what they are trying to find out, this was all a pre-election cover-up. of course the democrats in the
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white house dismissed those claims. senator barbara boxer sent out a tweet saying benghazi is a tragedy, not a scandal. ' hearings ares about politics, not the truth." mark meadows -- "it is clear there was a systematic effort by the obama administration to keep in ghazi documents from being made public -- keep benghazi documents from being made public." it has not been said whether they would do so. it is just a statement this morning from nancy pelosi to makeon the speaker the committee equally divided between democrats and republicans as opposed to traditional committees in the isse have -- whichever party in the majority has more members than the minority, and where
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equallyomes crucial is divided democrats and republicans, and democrats would -- whatever some subpoenas are issued. it is likely the republicans are going to grant the request. there are already comments from spokesman, from speaker john boehner, who are pointing out that when speaker pelosi formed her own select committee on global warming, it did not have any division between the parties, but more democrats than republicans. berman, thanks for your time. guest: thank you. host: we have 10 minutes before the program ends. mark, from illinois, good morning. long.: i will not be too i am an independent. i wanted to make a simple comment about the gas tax.
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gas from the our government. we buy our gas from shell oil, from exxon mobil, from bp. if they paid their fair share on their earnings in the billions of dollars that they may, we would not even need a gas tax. we need to end their subsidies and we also need to speak with one voice -- stop trying to for what isvernment a prophet by the oil companies. host: ray from texas. caller: republicans are always talking about the debt. how many hearings have we had on benghazi? bush saidbefore 9/11, we could be attacked. how many people on 9/11, that morning, watching the planes going into the twin towers --
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said what the hell is the president still sitting on his -- is a curb on profanity in the former so meet union -- soviet union, put in place by vladimir putin. susan is up next. arizona is where she is from. caller: i just have one question for obamacare. under 26.r is the last four years she has been under my husband's elf insurance at his work. every year we apply for taxes
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$150 a month in 2010 for her to stay on our health insurance. but when she gets hers and goes to her doctor, she has to pay a co-pay, $2000 a month, just like for my husband. that is for the year. then we have to pay doctors and medication. when we applied for our taxes, we cannot use the money that she pays for her co-pay for prescriptions, doctors visits, braces. that on our taxes, so we do not get reimbursed because she is over 18. so there are two laws combined together for parents to have their kids under 26 under their insurance, but the daughter or the sun, the child, pays for her
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and whenprescriptions, we apply for taxes we cannot use none of that. host: herbert is from georgia. caller: hello. good morning, pedro. this country is too divided. and a 63-year-old veteran everything else. there are two bank any problems. too there are many problems. minority, wethe voted for obama. the people spoke, pedro, and the thate need to understand if we are blaming this president -- white america is in denial. we are claiming it. you understand me i go we need to -- you understand me?
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i would not even vote republican. they are for the rich. they turned their back on health care. they don't want to do nothing with unemployment. they don't want to do nothing, man. host: there is a new designation for syrian opposition forces in the united states. now they are given foreign mission status.
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host: rick, good morning from florida. caller: what i wanted to talk about -- i have been listening to the show and everybody is talking about the unemployment benefits, being able to get those and having those extended. well, the thing is at least they have that chance to go back to work. they have that chance even if it is going to mcdonald's to get some work. you have people like me -- and i know there was another caller who is a veteran also -- that we are living on veterans benefits, and mine is somewhere less than -- i think i am somewhere down 70% below poverty level. make,an make it on what i then other people, if they should just deal with their needs instead of their wants,
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they should be able to make it, too. senator marco rubio has an op-ed in "the wall street journal." a little bit from the senator, saying -- read more on the pages of "the wall street journal" is morning. donnie from georgia, good morning. caller: i have a quick comment and i am glad you brought it up a few minutes ago when you talked about the missing girls, the kidnapped girls from nigeria. disappointedd or
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in the media coverage of this tragedy. i am wondering why is it not getting more media coverage. why isn't the major networks talking about it more? had it happened in a country like australia or canada, it would get more coverage. i am just wanting to say that i am glad you mentioned it a few minutes ago. thank you. host: greg from illinois, hello. caller: good morning. i would like to see c-span do a live call-in of, say, senators and congressmen in prime time because i think the electorate needs a lot more interaction with their elected representatives. thank you. book "gameu know the change," which follows the 2008 campaign, they are now moving to bloomberg media to start a series of activities there. are jumping toen
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launch ship into bloomberg politics. they are fixtures as msnbc pundits. it will be a policy themed -- it will also be streamed online. this is greg from illinois. have already taken him. john from indiana. hello. i think both of those guys i may have accidentally dropped, and my apologies. the story in "the washington post" takes a look at the american legion, their activity toward the current v.a. secretary, saying --
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host: john from indiana. is this john? caller: yes. tim. host: apologies. go ahead. caller: am i on? as far aso talk about the people were saying as far as then giving money for the unemployment extension benefits , theyee the republicans are calling for ukraine to give them money, but they don't want to do anything for the american people. am i still on? host: go ahead. caller: as far as our system
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going down, i was watching yesterday and they made a good point. it is directly related to money. the more money that are in the rich peoples hands and less for other people, they cannot afford education. that is where we are falling behind the rest of the world at. last call we the will take on the topic. a new edition of "washington journal" tomorrow at 7:00. thanks for joining us. we will see you then. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >>
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