to help in the search for nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped last month. ♪ to the washington journal on this thursday, may 8. burwell becomes the next hhs secretary. live coverage on c-span3. on the house side, the budget affairs committee will focus on the veteran affairs hospital after allegations that 40 bits vets diedng for -- 40 waiting for care.

.ets that live --(202) 585-3880 you can also e-mail us. veterans only this morning. your experience with the ba system. the congressional reporter for the military times joined us on the phone now to talk ulk about the situation. why are their calls for the secretary to step down? caller: there has been a lot of controversy lately stemming from the allegations against administrators at the phoenix veterans hospital. there are allegations and reports that they were keeping two lists. 'actualt had veterans

waitt times -- actual times. cnn did a larger board -- large report that 40 veterans died waiting for care. bunch from the american legion have called for his resignation. host: why is that? caller: the legion said it is not this situation. there is a list of things that they are frustrated with from how he has lived at the department. information,lic and to punish folks who have

made mistakes. we have heard a handful of scandals over the last 6-9 months. there were some deaths in pittsburgh and problems in south carolina. bigv.a. says this is a democracy. 8.5 million appointments each year. as problems come up, they investigate them, dress them, but they can't be everywhere at all times. host: what about the backlog issues we have heard about in recent months as well? to peakthat really came about this time last year. of 2013.rch a backlog of over 600 thousand disability claims. folks who are waiting for for-five months. some for even years. has have to that number in the last year.

the legion and a few others have said, it is not moving quickly enough. lawmakers have recently started to put things in the annual budget bills pushing for more -- theyand quicker v.a. plan to get the backlog done sometime next year. what areat arehost: lawmakers saying? we have had 5-6 different calls at this point for him to resign from republican lawmakers. several of them have called for him to resign in the past for a lot of different issues. want surprise that they would push for that. the house affairs committee says he has serious concerns and wants to get a lot more information. he's not calling for the secretary's resignation. we have not heard from speaker boehner yet.

mcconnell has said that a change might help the v.a. but has not pushed for the secretary to resign. it is the same partisan politics we have heard in the past. pointing out past failings and calling out the white house to step up. we will see if the american legion -- they are the largest veterans organization in america. they have a lot of lobby influence and we will see if their call starts to sway more lawmakers. host: jeff miller is going to on whatay an update happened in phoenix. what is going on with that situation specifically? chairman miller has been very frustrated with the

information that is,. he wants more information -- they will issue some subpoenas this morning. i 9:00, i will head over and see what is going on there. right now, what the v.a. is saying, we have an independent investigation going on. we need to give them time and resources and let them get to the bottom of exactly what happened here. what was the problem? were they systemic issues or specific administrators that need to be punished? we have heard calls from capitol hill that if any of this turns out to be true, if there was a secret waiting list, there will be criminal charges. the v.a. is asking for faith in them. they have approached this the right way and are doing a thorough review. most lawmakers are

intent on seeing what happens. host: we will have our cameras there. for more details, go to c-span.org to find out when that is going to air. that is an update on what happened in phoenix at the v.a. system there. with the secretary. what did he tell you? do a fewe started to media reviews. he expects a lot of frustration about the situation because he wants to make sure that veterans have faith in the system. with allegations like this, it undermines that. he is working to do damage control there. he admitted that the american legion's call for his resignation was a shock to him.

he did not see it coming. he has worked over the last five years to build relationships with the veteran service organizations. he has monthly meetings with them. there is some real surprise to see the american legion quickly decides to call for his resignation. farmistakes he has made so he is confident they are handling the investigation right. give the inspector general time to look over this. what does he say about allegations of an unofficial patient waiting list? does he deny that? now, he is saying he does not know. he is concerned that if he makes public comments, it will

influence how the investigation goes or how people make up their minds. there is a lot of pressure on condemn what may have happened here. but he is cognizant that there are employees of his who were in the middle of this. he does not want to condemn them until he has the facts. when the results come out, they will be quickly reacting at the department. haveolks on capitol hill attacked the v.a. for months over account ability and how let administrators retire instead of facing punishment. not having enough reaction time to problems that might be coming up in the system. the secretary is heading someto do with som

interviews. there was a back-and-forth the other day about why he's not talking to the press. what happened here? caller: i talk with the v.a. and i'm familiar with the secretary. there are a handful of us who do get access to them. have done profiles of him in the past. if you meet him, you realize he is someone who does not love the media or press attention that some of the other folks here do. he has sat down with reporters in the past couple of months. he is aware that it is not what people would want. he said he is planning on doing more and be more visible. -- being more visible. , the the secretary

philosophy is, let me not talk about the work i'm willing to get done. that draws criticism from veterans groups and lawmakers. he is not saying enough and do .ot explain enough we will see if this changes his approach to how he approaches the media and the public. he does meet with the veterans service organizations on a regular basis. i have heard from veterans that they're largely happy with the access they have in the presence that he has. it is within the veterans community where he is mostly seen, not so much in the public eye. shane, thank you. let's get to phone calls here. veterans only this one. carmen in montana. what is your experience with the v.a. health care system?

caller: i'm 65 years old. i did three tours in vietnam. when i got home, hospitals were so crowded, it took me three months to get attention. here guys all over montana with heads blown off when i go to the va hospital. it is unbelievable. here inlly care montana. the stem of this problem is, we have to start critically thinking about, why are we taking care of somebody veterans? what is going down here? they die from chickenpox. condoleezza rice, dick cheney and the president -- all those -- it's only to benefit

the rich. people like me when i come home, our limbs are everywhere -- these people have three or four homes all over the ad states on the backs of all of us veterans. i want a movement to start to make the oil and mining companies pay for our veterans. not the people in this country. we did not start the war. senators areen and no good for nothing. as long as we keep these people who want to bring us to war and lie right to your face -- they scare you people who never have been to war. s. you vote for this year host: bill in illinois. doctor thatd a

performed a bad surgery on me. the v.a. has a locked in system so the complaints are never broadcasted. you can verbally complain, but if you make a written complaint, they will assign you to a different region. complain, rather than drive 30 miles to get my feet looked at or anything like that, i have to drive 220 miles. gas money for anything over 25 miles. if you get assigned to a different region if you complain, they only pay you to the closest v.a. facility. they would pay me from gills burgh to iowa city on my own dime. a couple of doctors that should not be in the v.a. host: what are they doing?

caller: i went in because i had a bit of pain when i had a bowel movement. i went to the pre-appointment and ask the dr., what exactly are you going to do? he said, you have a pimple -- host: we in sterling, virginia. it is hard for me to hear what happened -- i'm sure we will hear what is happening in different areas. it seems that these are old symptoms. corpsman.vy experience on combat medicine. -- i will start studying to get my masters in management on the health care

side. these are symptoms we are seeing in the health care overhaul. health care is becoming more complex. d or to theng move outpatient centers. you would stay in the hospital for 7-8 months when he got back on. now, it's about what it is. care is being pushed the outp atient side. -- now, it's about 20 days. that sees aeteran specialist at the v.a., they're getting the most amazing treatment. unlike the vietnam veterans. the treatment was not good. now, you're getting state-of-the-art -- the actual management of the outpatient care -- there was a commission report about the issues at walter reed. the care management in

outpatient settings -- there were several issues. because of the influx of patients and the influx of have --needs, we don't unless we address the structure of the system, which is really -- those twosed lists -- i don't know the facts on it, but it seems very similar unless you have a system to manage on the outpatient side, you have split information. you are not going to be able to manage care properly. host: you are a veteran? caller: i am. host: do you agree with the

american legion? should the secretary step down? caller: it's really tough. the mostbably one of honorable men. he has done an amazing job as the army chief of staff. i think he is the most visionary leader. in the lifecycle of the organization, you need various leaders at different times. he's a visionary leader and he has set some bold goals. i know they brought in a deputy secretary that is a very -- has a very business mindset. was the president of the u.s. so and a banker. why did they pick him? o. president of the u.s.

maybe it's time to have a mitt romney or a donald trump or someone with a business mindset to come in. host: let me go back to what you said about the secondary. he put some bold goals on the ba v.a. caller: increased access, reduce the backlog and zero homelessness by 2015. those were the bold goals. you think about increased access, that was a bold goal that he said when he first got in. -- it's great that you put bold goals out there. but you have to put control in the business in place to make those happen. until we do that, we won't be able to get anywhere. twitter, "note the

states that have a ba problems. is there a time for a real investigation and not benghazi?" "overwhelmed big time equals run services in i a down economy ." in fromi was a veteran the 1960's. i was drafted under richard nixon in the vietnam era. has been the v.a. pretty good to me, personally. i can't complain. v.a. ess the it may not be the best, but for all the veterans and such that i know and my income has always been susceptible to the economy and things. with the veterans committing

that we it is so sad have to keep fighting wars. system where the elitist class gets to the head of the line like in britain and some of the old crusades were the kings actually fought in class- until the elitist gets on the sidelines -- gets , we will belines consistently doing the stuff. thank you very much. thank you, brothers. host: joel in texas. caller: the v.a. system is an antiquated system. it was built in the 1940's and it did well for the people in these inner cities. they can get to the va hospital. i'm 73 years old. i don't have a car. i live off social security and i

can't get to the hospital. i'm 40 miles away from the hospital. why don't you let the veterans use it? 60% of the veterans today are over 65. 20% and its up the will relieve the pressure from these hospitals. work?how does it caller: the v.a. system was built for the cities like dallas. world war.second now they live in the suburbs. we are 60 miles away from a hospital. in the imagine people on t midwest in the winter. host: if you have to go see a you see a

regular doctor outside of the v.a.? they will tell me to go to the emergency room. i go to the emergency room and they have one or two doctors there and you sitting there for five hours. host: will the v.a. pick up the tab? caller: you have to fight them on that. bronchitis.d had i went to the emergency room and the doctor gave me -- did some i took this thing down to the va hospital and they denied it. when you pick up the phone and call your va hospital for drugs or appointment, that is the first thing to tell you. if you have an emergency, dial 911. it's up to them to determine whether it's an emergency. they will fight it. guys live 50 miles

away. figure -- congress is at fault here. they started a war and they never -- thought that technology would save all of these gives. group ofve this huge veterans who have never used the v.a. system in their lives and are going down there to the hospitals because they need health care. --t: from the ba website v.a. website, it has grown from 54 hospitals in 1932 include 152 hospitals. -- in 1930 two include 152 hospitals. the responsibilities and

benefits programs of the vets grew enormously during the following six decades. we are talking to vets only this morning. your experience with the v.a. system. we will come back to more of those phone calls. front page of the wall street journal this morning is the headline on many of the papers. putinn president vladimir softens harsh tone on ukraine. russia calls for delay in its secession vote. the u.s. dismisses the step as insufficient. up on, jenin yellin was testifying about the economy before the joint economic committee. the headlines this morning, lowballing rates are needed for considerable time to come. job market still far from satisfactory. about theoman worried housing situation in this country. here is a bit from jenin yellin yesterday. -- janet yellin.

> >> the unemployment rate will continue to decline gradually. inflation will begin to move up toward two percent. a faster rate of economic growth this year should be supported by reduced restraint from changes in fiscal policy. gains in household net worth home prices and equity values. andrming economic growth further improvements in household and business confidence as the economy continues to strengthen. u.s. financial conditions remain supportive of growth in economic activity and implement. , considerable uncertainty surrounds this baseline economic outlook. currently, when prominent risk

meets adversative elements of a broad such as heightened geopolitical tensions or in intensive occasion of financial stresses in emerging market economies could undermine confidence in the global economic recovery. origin risk, domestic in , is that the recent flattening out in housing activity could prove more protracted of than currently expected rather than resuming its earlier pace of recovery. both of these elements of uncertainty will bear close observation. testifying yellen about the economy before the joint economic committee. go to c-span.org if you missed it. we will go to rush in las vegas. talking with veterans only this mind about your experience at the ba system -- v.a. system.

lawmakersf republican and the american legion are calling for the ba secretary to step down -- v.a. secretary to step down. caller: they have treated me very good here. they have a brand-new hospital. they are great doctors. in memphis, tennessee, they treated me real good when i was there. i have not had a problem. they will come and get you and give you a ride to the hospital. i don't understand come if you don't have a ride, call them and they will come get you. host: john in new york. -- i have experience been going to the veteran hospital for quite a while now. they have been very good to me. tumor.und a pituitary they work closely with a good

team there. they saved my life last month. they took good care of me. i am very happy with the team they have there. --y work closely wit host: what is the access like? caller: it's fast. sit there and waste time with complaints. the doctors are very good. they listen to me and do follow-ups. i have had issues before with the v.a. in 1971. with -- iily sprayed have had the leg problems for quite a while. said it was because of water and it was. since then, it has changed. they look at the situation more closely.

i'm am not being treated for the nodules and tumors . host: we will leave it there. the front page of the washington times has the story related to our topic here this money. -- the latest insult to u.s. veterans. the wait times for medical care. adding 26 minutes in the hospital emergency room before are being treated. war veterans must wait twice that long as others for the same care. the average wait time for retired troops can last hours. the disparity documented in the washington times review of v.a. medicare records is raising questions about why americans have given all to serve the country can't get the same speedy care from the v.a. that they would if they went to the

local hospital. the consequent is a delay treatment can be fatal. consequences of delayed treatment can be fatal. there. have our cameras the investigation -- the boat to create a select committee to investigate what happened in the benghazi expected to take place today. c-span for live coverage. views -- than ghazi needs to be put -- than ghazi needs to be put into perspective. benghazi needs to be put into

perspective. instead of looking into the so-called talking points of what happened. the opposing view this morning is written by the congressman will be heading up that select committee. he says it needs deeper security. these are the questions he asked. why the security -- why was security inadequate and why were calls unheeded and explicitly rejected? was the military response sufficient? with the obama administration transparent and forth right with our fellow americans in impetusng the behind the attack? hillary clinton talk to abc news about this. >> absolutely. ofcourse, there are a lot reasons why, despite all of the

hearings and information that has been provided, some choose not to be satisfied and choose to continue to move forward. that is their choice. i do not believe there is any reason for it to continue in this way. they get to call the shots in the congress. asked by robin roberts of abc if she was satisfied that all questions had been answered. also up on capitol hill yesterday, here is the front page of the washington times. s official -- the deep political divisions over the way republicans have handled their probe into her activities. than two dozen democrats joined republicans to vote on a resolution asking the justice department to name a special prosecutor to look into the question of virus targeting more broadly.

-- irs targeting more broadly. the back and forth on the floor yesterday ring the debate -- during the debate. democratbit from the from maryland. has thisnce mccarthy been tried. the stripping away of an american citizen's constitutional right to not incriminate themselves. then, holding them in contempt criminally. mccarthy. we are better than that. we are so much better. the idea that somebody can come in after their lawyer has sent a

letter in saying they will take a bit -- the lawyers behind them fifth and take the when they say, i declare my innocents, we say, gotcha. it's not about that. said,preme court has these rights, no matter how much you may not like the person who we are talking about, no matter how much we think they're hiding, they have rights. debate over that resolution to hold the former irs official in contempt of congress. the chairman of the oversight and government reform committee. the fifth amendment is protection. a shield -- she used it as a sword to cut and defend herself

from any response. a witness cannot come before the committee to make a voluntary statement and then refused to answer questions. you don't get to use the public hearing to tell the press and the public your side of the story and then invoke the fifth. about evoking the fifth and previous testimony she had made and documented, she answered and authenticated those and then again went back to asserting her fifth amendment rights. they debated that contempt of congress resolution for lois lerner. back to veterans only this morning. we are getting your experience at the v.a. health care system. this is what the new york times says. expected toy is

testify next thursday before the senate veterans affair committee. he has placed to a top officials at the phoenix hospital on leave and vows swift action if allegations are substantiated by an investigation being carried out by the government inspector general. as 40 veterans died waiting for care in phoenix. james in arkansas. what has been your experience? caller: good morning. want to talk about my care and treatment at the hospital in louisiana. taken to the hospital act in the mid-1990's. position.he fetal my mind had totally shut down.

after four days, i got to see the psychiatrist. he was of spanish dissent. i did not know what my problem was and i asked him what my problem was and he said -- i could barely understand his speech. i had poster manic stress disorder. -- post traumatic stress disorder. he would not diagnose it. --re is no such thing as this was the chief of psychiatry. advocate a patient between you and the chain of command. nothing was done. like aient advocate is defense attorney. if you go to trial, the defense

attorney represents you. the patient is paid by the judge -- patient's attorney is paid by the judge. he is not -- host: does everybody have access to this type of person? caller: every veteran has access , but the patient advocate is employed by the v.a. compete -- id to went to the hospital to the eye clinic. the gentleman there had a credential behind his desk. it.e was a sign on host: i'm going to get anthony in. go ahead with your comments and your experience with the ba

system. -- v.a. system. caller: just like any hospital or medical care system, you're going to have good eggs and not so good. same thing there. it is not so much the service or the care you receive. it's a system itself. you can delegate authority, but you can't delegate responsibility. it i think that is a part of this. i have had a good experience with the system, after i got out of the military, i did radiation safety for the dod. i have been from palo alto to .ugusta, georgia to milwaukee

illinois, 15 years ago, they had 11 deaths. a lot of them were from infections and surgeries. comingurgery scheduled up. since the system had suspended the surgery, i was diverted to kansas city. surgeons that i spoke with him at one of them was on the investigating team for what was going on in illinois. , it was eachold me department, one department came up and said we had 11 deaths. it would go to another department and they they would only seven. , rehabilitation, internal medicine, infectious disease, eye care don't work.

when i transferred from the milwaukee system to the illinois system by moving my address, it took me six months to initially get my first visit. that first visit to be accepted --o that regional hospital pretty simple stuff. host: we will leave it there for now. we will take a short break here. we want to give you some other quick headlines. come back to the washington times real quickly. the sequestration job toll. one measly bureaucrat in the entire government. that was the toll of sequestration. it math reading performance is stagnant among u.s. 12th graders. this new annual assessment finds

. we will be talking about that on saturday. a quick update for you about the second district race in north carolina. clay aiken clings to a slim lead in north carolina. his democratic primary vote -- opponent is not giving up. the counting continues for that race. up next, we will be talking with tom schiff about the efforts create the select committee to investigate the manga as he attacks. benghazig guy attacks. >> we set up our own prison. we don't know that we are actually contributing to it. when you get addicted to drugs,

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now available at your favorite bookseller. >> washington journal continues. host: we're back with adam schiff. he sits on the intelligence committee. talking about the benghazi investigation. the first committee to investigate what happened. how will you vote? should democrats participate? don't think democrats should participate. i will vote against the committee. we have been down this road semi times already. the seventh investigation of benghazi. accountability review board made a strong finding about that. recommended numerous changes that are underway.

this is really a political exercise. i'm not sure the democrats ought to give credibility by joining this exercise. republicans are using it to fund raise. this is a key indication of what the select committee is all about. turning out voters in the midterms. at a certain point, as the republican chairman of the armed services committee said, after you have asked the questions over and over again and gotten the same answers, you have to decide, ok, enough is enough. host: the republican who is going to be heading up the select committee rights the opposing view in today's usa today. he poses several questions that he believes have not been answered. tell me if you know what the answer is. why was security for our facility in libya and adequate and why were repeated calls for additional security unheated and explicitly rejected?

guest: those questions are not only the questions that the cut ability review board investigated and read about, but the questions that the government oversight committee looked into. to all received answers of those questions. people might not be satisfied or did not like the answer. security was inadequate. it was plainly. on the backs of congress. the ministration -- the administration requested more funding. powers do you have that the chairman did not have? what guarantees will we get that you would not conduct your committee the same way? one of the most iconic images of

this congress is shutting down the microphone so that the ranking democrat can't be heard. that is their idea of bipartisanship when it comes to investigating the ministration. i think the track record is pretty poor. the questions being asked have already been answered many times. do the administration -- did the military make a mistake there? guest: the republican chairman has addressed this. they try to find out if there were military axis points that could be called in. the long and short of it is, heartbreaking as it is, we simply do not have the assets near enough and fast enough to make a difference. theory thatnspiracy the state department vetoed or a

beenstanddown, that has debunked time and time again. statement shows that when you look at it passionately and objectively, these questions have been asked and answered. host: was the obama administration and transparent fellowthright with our americans in describing the impetus behind the attacks? some: can they find critique of the administration? that is what this is all about. it's a select committee on talking points. which degrades the importance of the select committee's history. the ministration -- the administration believe that the immediatein the

aftermath of the attacks, and began as a protest. extremists were involved and attacked the facilities. that information came from the intelligence committee. on something the white house created. something the white house created. she was given the best information the intelligence committee had at the time. it was proven to be wrong. if we are still getting information. this may change. nonetheless, the deputy director of intelligence and director of the cia all said the same thing. there was no political spin involved. the usa today agrees with you. these are talking points. it should be focusing on something else. the board also says this. the republicans are not run to investigate. the white house is absolutely wrong for not putting all the facts on the table. you agree there? guest: i don't think the republicans are wrong to have -- to haveestigation

wanted an investigation. we have had 7-8 now. it was a bipartisan interest. have we gotten to the bottom of it? yes. has that revealed any kind of stonewalling? no. if you look at the so-called smoking gun, this e-mail, it's a four-page e-mail. only two sentences of which deal with benghazi. there is no mention of a video. you toe gop would like believe, because they don't really want anyone to read this e-mail, is that the whole e-mail was about benghazi. the whole e-mail was about two things. it was about the protests going on around the world. denunciation of the video. our call for moderate muslim leaders to stand up and condemn

the violence. you might remember, the world was going up in flames all around the arab world. almost half the memo was talking about that. not about benghazi. the other half was talking about the u.s.-israel relationship. raising the question, did we snub netanyahu? orally two sentences were about benghazi. -- only two sentences were about benghazi. let's get to phone calls. felix in north carolina. the credit color. democratic caller. go ahead. caller: hello. in hollywood, florida. republican caller.

caller: thanks for taking my call. the investigation does show is a huge security failure. , why didnt to know is susan rice go up and tell thisbody in five shows great big lie? if i was to go before congress and like, i would be thrown in jail. caneems it's ok, they parade her out before an election and make these points -- it's funny, the ry about george bush in iraq. premise thatct the she lied and got away with it.

susan rice relied on what the intelligence community had as their best assessment at the time. the days following the attack, when we are still trying to piece together what happened, it was conflicting intelligence. the best analysis -- the intelligence included press -- that wassignals invented evidence. the intelligence community tells ambassador rice that this is our best assessment and she relied on that. you blame thew messenger. blame the cia if you don't like what they came up with. critique the cia for not getting it right in the immediate aftermath. for my own part, understand

there is a certain fog of war and it takes time to sort it out. it's one thing to say they got it wrong and should be held accountable. southard to say there is someone i don't think that is fair to the ambassador who is a dedicated servant. host: "protecting foreign diplomatic missions is the response ability of the host government." this tweet, "do you know who is responsible for benghazi attacks?" responsibility a for the host government to protect our facilities. as a practical matter, we are not going to delegate complete responsibility for the protection of our people to a foreign government. sometimes those governments don't have the capacity. what we have found in libya it

was that we were relying on these militias affiliated with the government who are unreliable. many of whom fled when the fighting started. that proves some of the inadequacy of relying on these militias. we often have our own security presence on the ground. depending on the local climate, and may or may not be sufficient. i wish the republicans were more interested in looking at this question. how do we protect our diplomats on the one hand when not put them in bunkers so they can be effective? host: who is responsible for the benghazi attacks? guest: this is the other key question. have we done enough to protect our people in the wake of this? where are we in the hunt for the

people responsible? the investigation goes on. we have identified some of the people responsible. we are still trying to identify some of the other people who were participants in the spirit is.re aren't som they don't appear to have been planned long in advance. there is evidence of at least some preplanning. we have come a long way. we are operating in a difficult environment. getting the evidence and talking to the witnesses in hostile territory is a challenge. host: from your post on the intelligence committee, what is happening now inside of libya? libya is on a downward trajectory in terms of stability. there is a large segments of the country that are not under the central control of the government. very powerful militias control certain talents were regions. -- towns or regions.

very promising in terms of the end of the dictatorial regime has descended into something that is just a step above chaos. host: do we have a diplomatic presence there? guest: we do have some presence there. but not much of a presence outside the capital. host: we will go to ken and south carolina. -- 10 in south carolina. independent caller. caller: give me a bit of time. i want to talk about two things. obama and benghazi. host: we are listening. are you there? go ahead. caller: barack obama with the drones --

host: i apologize. it is too hard to hear you. democratic caller in missouri. caller: hi, greta, high, representative shift. doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. where does the committee expect to gain from the investigation? what would be your estimate on how much this is costing the taxpayers? terry, thank you for the questions. what do they expect to gain? speaking quite candidly about it, they expect to gain success with fundraising, excitement in their base, they expect to get enhanced turnout from their base

in the midterm election. you might gather from my answer to your question that i think this is largely if not completely political at this point. there may be some true believers in the republican conference. i don't know. i don't think the speaker is one of them. the speaker did not want to create the select committee. as recently as last month he said "what is the point of creating another committee to take months and months to ask the same questions we have been asking?" he flipped hard on that and i think the base was coming down hard on him and it is capitulation. undermines the significance of the select committee process to create a select committee on talking points or a select committee whose ultimate goal is fundraising and voter turnout. they have already spent many millions of dollars on the investigation of benghazi, maybe the tens of millions by now. host: i think i saw the figure $14 million. does that sound --

guest: that sounds about right. you have to anticipate on this new select committee at least millions. if it goes on for a long period of time, we are talking tens of millions of dollars on yet another duplicate of an partisan investigation. host: here's a headline in "the washington times" this morning. obama's actions on night of attack underscored me -- under scrutiny. obama was not in the situation room the night of the attack when he was speaking on the phone to secretary of state hillary clinton." here is a quotation from someone who worked 12 years as an agent.

"if he was not in the situation room, that's a really big problem." guest: that argument has been debunked even by some of the conservative commentators, who pointed out that when a president is being brief, the situation room, oval office, private residence, it doesn't matter where he is as lazy cap up to date on events and communicated any decisions -- as long as he kept up to date on events and communicated any decisions necessary. whether he was physically in the presence is not an issue. host: it doesn't affect your decision-making, as a president, you don't think, when the situation room as you wired in and you can see real-time what is happening? guest: there may be reasons to be in the situation room if you are doing videoconferencing. but if you are being briefed by your staff and you are having face-to-face meetings and you can get all that information in the oval office, i don't see the necessity of the in the situation room -- of being in the situation room. there is been no indication that the president was outside the

loop, no indication that there was white house interference or standdown orders. all that has been debunked. if the most they can come up with is his geography in the white house, that is a flimsy read. host: "the washington times" -- this republican candidate for congress in the sixth district -- in maryland six the district. hi, patrick. caller: the interview that susan rice went on, the fairytale, the disinformation campaign -- she did a full-court press on the news channels. and you know obama in the back of his mind, he knew that this was the achilles' heel for his election. and he had to do damage control. , this bogus fairytale video out there -- you could

tell the cia or somebody trumped up this phony video that they were trying to shovel the american people. host: ok, those are patrick's comments. let me add to that with a couple tweets here. host: let's talk about the intelligence agencies here. guest: well, patrick, thanks for your call. again, in terms of the susan rice, i think it is really hard and unfair to blame the messenger who was giving the cia and intelligence community's best assessment of what was taking place in libya and the immediate aftermath of an attack , to blame her for basically sharing with the country what the intelligence community said they shou -- she should share

because it was their best understanding of the events. quarrel with the intelligence community if you must but don't quarrel with what the ambassador relied upon because had the ambassador deviated from what the intelligence community told her to say, she would have been the subject of legitimate criticism. what about the intelligence community? have they been held accountable? in the immediate aftermath of an attack when the intelligence community says this is what we think has taken place, and we are telling you this because you want answers right away and we want to let you know as much as we can come can, as soon as we can, but we need to tell you, this will change, we will have new information all the time, really hard to come down on that, and if we do come down on them to heart, in the aftermath of some other tragedy, when we sense ofget our best this so far, they will say no,

no thank you, come back in a week and i will tell you for sure. we want -- we do not want to discourage the intelligence community to share information when it is available. as a member of the intelligence committee, i was there day after day as the information was coming, being. -- being briefed by general david address and other ,ntelligence immunity members -- intelligence community members -- the nsa number for example, signals intelligence. there was no uniformity of information coming in. there were press accounts saying there was a protest, there was a president saying there wasn't a protest. -- there were press accounts saying there wasn't a protest. it was a difficult analysis to do and ultimately they came down and said it began as a protest. of course, you have to keep in mind what was going on around the world at the very same time, and that is a couple things.

number one, there were protests going on all around the world, and there is no question about that. was the cause of most of those protests going on around the world. .t did inflame passions the video played a very significant role in those protests will stop number three, even the cia station chief, in benghazi --benghazi is a long-distance from tripoli -- he said he did not believe there were protests going on and he ultimately proved correct about that, but even the indicated he could not rule out the video for being one of the motivations for the attack on the facilities in benghazi. look at the you totality of intelligence, it is hard to come down too hard on what they came down with those early hours. host: christina, michigan, independent caller. caller: thank you so much for

c-span. i get all the information -- please let me -- this has been driving me crazy for a long time and i'm so glad to get through to somebody. igot the information and formed the opinions i have from watching actual hearings on c-span of what was going on. questions.any the person who is second in command to ambassador stevens, who was in tripoli, where the real conflict was, i listened to him under oath, his testimony, when he heard about all the uprisings going on everywhere else due to the video. he called a master stevens -- he called ambassador stevens to let them know about it and a master stevens said thank you. i'm hearing how horrible everything was, and yet that man does my that he went back to his

home and watched his favorite tv programs and missed 2 calls coming from ambassador stevens saying they were under attack. if somebody on the ground knows what is going on everywhere else and didn't gather everybody and say "we have got to find out, we have got to prepare here," no one is asking why ambassador on 9/11 ifbenghazi the security was so bad -- there are questions to be asked. the wrong ones are being asked about talking points. host: ok, christina. guest: i would have to say that i agree that the wrong questions are being asked because they are so heavily focused on talking points. we have a lot of hearings that probe into the questions that you have mentioned in terms of why the ambassador was there when he was, what was the ambassador's understanding of the security situation. ambassador stephens was a bright, talented, capable, dedicated diplomat.

he loved thea, libyan people, and i think he also recognize that is much as he needed to be prudent about his security, he also didn't want to be sitting in a bunker all day. he wanted to be out with the libyan people. and that poses risks. one of the things that this ought to impress upon the american people are the extraordinary risks that our diplomats go through every day in their work, in an increasingly dangerous climate in many parts of the world. they don't have a lot of the military capabilities surrounding them that our people in uniform do. they are out on the wire. that is one of the reasons we admire their work so much. the ambassador wanted to be close to the libyan people and that is a risky thing, but i think he understood the risks and i have nothing but admiration for him. host: bob in jacksonville,

florida, democratic caller. caller: good morning, you people. how are you doing? caller: doing w host: doing well. caller: embassy attacks throughout history -- can you hear me? host: we hear you, bob. caller: a complete documentary going back to the clinton during theion, and last administration, the bush administration, there was 11 embassies attacked and 88 people killed. benghazi wasn't even an embassy. outposts witheral one outpost attack, benghazi, wasn't an embassy. they did interviews with all of these republicans after the , likes on these embassies

john mccain, lindsey graham. it is laughable what they were saying then. host: all right, congressman schiff. guest: i have to say that watching the benghazi hearings we have had so far has not been very edifying. it has mostly consisted of a lot of grandstanding. the hearings we have had in the intelligence committee have been far more substantive and a focused more on what the intelligence community can tell us now about the hunt for these people. we have done our share of looking at who created the talking points and going through all that. we had a director morell testified many times in closed session and open session will stop but i think they have been far less partisan than some of the open hearings.

and that is an indictment of the process when you only have a grandstanding with the cameras are available in closed session, intel committee, is more of a matter-of-fact investigation. and the words of the speaker until recently, another committee of having months and months to cover the same ground we have covered innumerable times? host: on twitter host: what was the role of the former cia director? guest: that is a great question and something i have raised as well. i have great admiration for general betray us pet -- i have great admiration service.al petraeus'

we all viewed it as a terror attack by definition. we recognize that when we are shooting rpgs, that is a terror attack. the question was who was responsible and why. additional questions were why didn't we have better security. he said exactly what we heard in the talking points from susan rice. the gop wants to go after susan why?and the president, and they don't want to go after a general who is respected. that tells you about the political character. host: i want to bounce this off of you -- nsa legislation going to the house. what would you do, and do you support it -- what would it do

and do you support it? do.t: i on the intelligence committee today we will market our legislation as well. it ends the book auction of metadata for some time. -- bulk collection of metadata for some time. the intelligence bill does not require prior court review. that is something i am trying to change and hopefully we can get a majority vote on the intelligence committee to follow the model where prior court approval is required except in emergencies. .ost: one last phone call georgetown, south carolina, republican caller. to know what, you have got turn the television down. go ahead, caller. all right, let me go to jack in davenport, iowa. you ready? caller: yes.

al qaeda typically attacks just before an election. for example, that spanish train attack, before spanish election. republicans are playing into the hands of al qaeda to let al qaeda effect an american election -- in other words, our republicans aiding and abetting al qaeda? guest: no, i wouldn't say they are aiding and abetting al qaeda. i think al qaeda is very much aware of what is going on andtically around the world bears that in mind when they plan their attacks and time their attacks. the attacks in benghazi were probably more related to the anniversary of 9/11 than the presidential election, and as well, related potentially to what was going on around the world in terms of all those protests. ayman aalso hearing --

l-zawahiri, the number two and al qaeda, now the number one, called for anniversary attacks on 9/11. that may have been a significant motivation behind those that were involved. --t: huntsman, quick, congressman, quick, boko haram, is this group a threat? guest: it is absolutely a threat, one of the most violent and despicable organizations on earth. the secretary has been strong on this. we're sharing intelligence and we will have advisers on the ground to help find these girls and help the nigerian government obtain their release. it is just completely appalling happening, andis yes, we should be concerned about them. host: congressman adam schiff, thank you for your time. we will be talking about the situation in nigeria in our last hour of "washington journal." u.s. efforts to aid in the search for those nigerian girls. coming up first, we will be

talking about federal charter with congressmangrams luke messer right after this news update from c-span radio. >> president obama's nominee to head the health and human services appears before the senate today, the first of the wrote to senate committees that will hold hearings on -- 2 senate committees that will hold hearings on her nomination. kathleen sebelius resigned last month after presiding over the passage of the health-care law and the disastrous rollout of the federal enrollment website. the senate health, labor, education, and pensions committee hearing for nominee burwell begins at 9:30 this morning on c-span3 television. russian president vladimir putin has overseen a military exercise involving russia's nuclear forces amid escalating tensions over ukraine. said the exercise had

been planned back in november and that the maneuvers involved the military across the entire russian territory, including that nation's nuclear forces. meanwhile, a pro-russia insurgency in east ukraine has decided to go ahead with a referendum on autonomy. despite a call from president putin to delay the vote. and a new pew research center poll from washington finds a strong majority of ukrainians want their country to remain a single unified state am including in the largely russian-speaking east come aware pro russian insurgencies have been fighting for autonomy -- where a promotion insurgency has been -- a pro-russian insurgency has been fighting for economy. that's the tatian secretary anthony fox seve -- transportation secretary anthony gm says there is no need for drivers to stop writing them. -- riding them.

2 senators have asked the government to order jim to tell owners to park their cars until the problem can be fixed, but secretary foxx says that the national highway traffic safety administration engineers have determined it is not necessary. the government releases numbers on weekly jobless claims today. also, freddie mac will update mortgage rates, and selected chain retailers will release their april sales numbers. finally, the european central bank ratesetting council meets today in brussels. analysts are not expecting new stimulus measures for the countries that use the euro currency. the ecb president says that the make is ready to provide stimulus if things start looking worse. but recent surveys show that the euro zone's economic outlook is looking a bit brighter limit -- looking up. -- looking a bit brighter

lately. >> the glass-steagall act that was passed in 1933 after fdr came to power was a very clear line between the speculative version and services and things that a bank could do and the deposits it took and the services it provided to regular individuals and small businesses . there 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, many decades after that. you contrast that to what happened in the 2008 crisis, which has been a much more extensive crisis for the general economy, for the actual unemployment level, not those sort of tagline unemployment levels, for what was lost to individuals throughout, and andtive to the bailouts

subsidies that have been given since. dodd-frank came along and did nothing remotely like dissecting speculation from depositors and traditional banking activities. the relationship between 1600 pennsylvania avenue and wall street, saturday night at 10:00 eastern and sunday night at 9:00 on "after words," part of book tv this weekend on c-span2. online, our book club selection is "it calls you back," by former gang member and community activist luis j. rodriguez. c-spanover 35 years, 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 public service of private industry. we are c-span, created by the

cable-tv industry 35 years ago and brought to you as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. watch us in hd, like us on facebook, and follow us on twitter. >> if you were accused of being ambitious in chinese, if you are accused of being wild hearted, it was a death sentence. what it meant was you put the group before anything else -- i'm sorry, you put yourself before the group will stop for chinese history, that was totally unimaginable, under the confucian period or, of course, the socialist period. when i got there, things were beginning to change in some deep way, and when i began to hear around he was people talking in a themselves not self-glamorizing or self-promotional way, but just in a self protective way, in a way that they would say it matters what i want in this world and the world i want to define for myself. even the term in chinese for

myself was transforming. people were getting comfortable using it. in the united states we talk about the me generation about this period where we focused on ourselves perhaps too much. in china, it is a revolution in our conception of what it meant to be a person. in the past people would talk group, the family, the clan, the village, the factory. all of a sudden, beginning after embarked the country on this economic transformation, evil had no choice but to think about themselves and that became the -- people had no choice but to think about themselves and that became the dynamic that began my investigation and fascination. s on the conflict between the individual and the chinese government, sunday at 8:00 on c-span plus "q&a." withlection of interviews some of nation's top storytellers.

>> when she arrived in berlin lovethe family, she was in with what she referred to as the nazi revolution. she was enthralled by the nazis, which struck me as a complete that nash completely surprising thing about but there she was. of 45 uniquen, one voices from 25 years of conversations. now available at your favorite bookseller. "washington journal" continues. host: congressman luke messer, back at our table this morning, a member of the education and workforce committee. we are talking about charter school programs and reforming, with legislation making its way to the floor. what would this bill do? guest: it is a bipartisan bill and the ranking member and the

chairman of the committee have put it together. 10 a washington number, but it essentially is the charter school bill. it helps states to expand charter schools and is designed to replicate the best performing charter schools. 2 million families across america are involved in charter schools, but one million families can't be because they are on waiting lists in areas across the country. that is an injustice in a country that promises everyone should have an opportunity to succeed. our hope is that through this bill we can promote the best performing charter schools across the country. it should get a strong vote in the house this week. when he was on the floor 2 years ago it had broad bipartisan support, around 350 votes. host: when do you expect a vote? guest: the vote should be did today.

the debate will certainly be today. what happened last time was that d in the wasn'tt hear senate. this is something that arnie duncan, president obama, many are supportive of charter schools. it should not be partisan. host: what is a charter school? guest: it is not bound by all the migratory albatross that ash all the regulatory albatross the regulatory albatross that we stick over your typical school. they can be innovative and flexible on still public, which means they have to provide access to all students and comply with academic standards. but they can go in and challenge communities and provide better .pportunities for kids some charter schools are very successful, some of them are less successful. one difference is that those schools can be shut down if they don't perform.

probably the best indication of whether charter schools are making a difference is the fact that you have got one million families across america who are on waiting lists to get into these schools. as a parent, the most important responsibility you have is to make sure your kids have a chance to succeed. it, thell name of success and opportunity through charter schools act, to expand charter schools. there is a price tag to that. guest: $300 billion operation. host: billion? guest: yes. it is comparable to money that prioren spent in years. probably a little bit less. the basic idea is that we need to provide further opportunities for families that are in need. the vast majority of kids in america are going to be educated in our broader public school

system. the vast majority of kids in america have access to high-quality schools. but in a country that promises we are and down with unalienable rights ndowed with unalienable rights, this is not something that should be partisan. i'm optimistic that we should keep it bipartisan and the vote this week. the real question is, can we get the senate to hear the bill? i think we are optimistic that we can get the senate to hear the bill or some version of a bill that would be similar. host: critics say that charter schools do know better than traditional schools. what is the goal? guest: the goal is to make sure every child has access to a

quality educational opportunity. the best response to the critics are the one million families who are on the waiting list i'm to find an opportunity for their child. -- trying to find an opportunity for their child. it is not fair to hold individual kids and families hostage to the long-term effects of those reforms. i also believe that competition makes everybody better. if schools of competition for students, they tend to rally and do better. -- beenlts have met mixed in some ways. when you see the smiling faces of these kids whose lives are getting better because they have an opportunity to go to a great school, it is hard to not be moved. add $300it wise to billion to the system when there are reports that there is $100

million in waste and fraud in charter schools? guest: this is a highly politicized effort. you have a lot of folks highly invested in the status quo. fraud,would defend waste, and abuse. charter schools are far more accountable than your traditional public schools. charter schools that are not shown to be delivering or art performing an appropriately are closed. in indiana, there are not very many public schools that are ever closed despite performance. we try to fix that in some ways. it is important to note that i believe that most big decisions should be made at the state and local level. charter schools are authorized

by local leaders. host: a letter said the bill should be amended to allow charter schools to be held to the same standards. toy should be required comply to the same open meetings laws as public schools, disclose private donations, and comply with conflict of interest guidelines. charter schools nationally under enrolled students with disabilities and english language learners and are more segregated by family income, ethnicity, or race. guest: again, highly politicized area.

i can tell you the charter schools i visited are very diverse settings. they tend to be. they tend to be in the most economically challenged areas of the country. that.hools reflect i do believe charter schools ought to have to report with their results are. i see nothing wrong with that. i also don't think charter schools ought to get equal funding. charter schools do more with less because they get -- do not have access to some of the other federal dollars that typical school has. -- schools have. the vast majority of kids will always be going to a more traditional public school system. this is another option for some families. frankly, the one million families who are on waiting lists are the best evidence yet that we need to expand access to charter schools.

hopefully our bill will open up more seats so that more families have access and opportunity. i don't know if you have seen these lotteries. there have been several movies and news stories out about the lotteries. or families sit and wait with baited breath to see if these families have an opportunity to go to one of these schools. that is not where i -- right in america. --o have to wait and watch no kid ought to have to wait and watch a bouncing ball to decide the future. we're talking with congressman luke messer. the legislation will likely get a vote on the house floor. you can watch that on c-span. the legislation quality charter schools act will consolidate existing charter school grants,

refocus the new program to promote higher-quality schools -- charter schools at the state and local level and allow states to use federal funds to start new charter schools and expand and replicate existing high-quality charter schools. caller: thank you. thank you for taking my call. and iformer u.s. marine served 13 years including a combat tour in iraq. is at what point investigate the independent -- our topic.is not we are talking about investigation. if we're talking about terrorism or something related, you're welcome to call back. caller: good morning. senator congressman. i agree with you.

you that charter schools are better for the kids today. the public schools of no education at all. my grands kids -- grandkids go to private schools. the unions fight because they do not want the charter schools because the kids get more education because they should get it. they fight for that. also, it is my real estate tax. why did they decide where they got to put their money? there is so much waste. that goes on in those public schools. those teachers do not control what is going on. only the unions control them. ok? katherine expresses the frustration i hear from many parents. want to make sure those dollars are well spent. she hase she said that a great financial struggle and

expense to make sure her kids go to private school. i believe very simply that every family ought to have the opportunity to send the child to the school of their choice. the ultimate local control. i support school choice and all of its forms. i certainly support the options we are looking at in hr 10. host: why not invest the time to better the public schools? one, charter schools are public schools and subject to most access standards that would apply to the broader public school system. what do we do in the interim? i am all for public school reform. we have kids that are locked in schools where the data shows they are not succeeding. they do not have a chance at success. rateschools of graduation of 20%, 30%.

each one of those children is an individual is future is being hampered while we wait for reforms. charter schools are not the answer for everybody, but they are part of the answer while we work to reform our public school system. host: colorado, democratic caller. caller: hello. good morning to everybody. i want to say that my experience seeing children going to charter schools is a lot of times, if they don't like the grade that they have, they can retake the and and get a better grade it makes the school look better by being able to take a second test where they get instead of a d, they get it be because they

know what is going to be on a test. host: does that happen? guest: that has not been my experience visiting the schools across the country. the folks that go about forming the charter schools are going to the most challenged communities and delivering better results with kids that are struggling in public school. host: who runs these charter schools? the charter schools have their own individual board. authorizer, typically. a college or government entity. in indiana, the mayor's office can authorize charter schools to rid there was a state government authorizer. and othere universities can do things as well. accountable to the authorizer and their board. they tend to be more parentally

managed than many of the public schools because, ultimately, everyone of these parents are there by choice. the school has to respond to the needs of the parents. host: how are the teachers held accountable? guest: there are academic plans for aegon -- each individual school. if they are evaluating by their academic board. they do not have the enormous regulatory infrastructure that you have at the state and federal government. they are a little less regulated. they are far more accountable. if they do not meet the standards, they can be closed in as little as a few years. host: what happens with the money from the federal government? is there oversight? yes.: through the federal department of education and the state and local authorizer's that the money tends to go through. a lot of the money would go from the federal government to the state of indiana, for example, and then back to the charter

school. host: if they are not succeeding, they can be shut down -- is it because the money is taken away? guest: that is what happens. and they lose their authority to operate. i frankly think that any school that is not performing on to be and ifried to improve it it cannot deliver, we had to close it. and find better opportunities for those kids. the reality is that charter schools are far more accountable for results than your typical school. tweet.ere is a vic in florida. republican. caller: i believe that mitt romney had a plan to have the money follow the kids to school of their choice. that could be public or private schools. guest: i believe that is right.

that is what i support. the tax dollars we spend on educating children ought to be portable to the family. it is the ultimate local control. moms and doubts will look out for their kids better than any government entity. my ultimate goal would be that every child have the opportunity to use those dollars in a way that would fit them best. and that system, the vast majority of kids would continue to be educated in our public schools. the 19 counties i represent have a lot of great school systems. i think many of those parents are very happy with that school system. that wouldut a plan allow the dollars to follow the families would end the schools. america,ny places in families and kids walk into

schools where they do not have a chance to succeed. i think it is un-american and we should do something about it. i have yet to see a study that says charter schools are superior to public schools. indicatest e-mail that somehow they have to be a lot better. in my mind, if they are equal and the family wants to make that choice, why would we take that choice from them? you are also not going to find a study that shows the traditional public schools do worse were the charter schools happen to be. i have seen studies that show where there are charter schools, that local school performance improves in that environment of competition. the ultimate measure of whether charter schools are successful and something that parents would like to see in the community is the fact that there are one million kids in america sitting on waiting lists to a public

school to go to those lotteries and watch these families cheer when they make the school and cry when they are not able to go to the school. that is the ultimate measure. why would we not promote more access to high-quality options? host: barbara on twitter -- ron in new work, delaware -- newark, delaware. caller: i agree that charter schools need to be there now because they are a symptom that the public schools are broken. therefore, we cannot take the charter schools away until the public schools are fixed. my worry is that you are not going to fix the public schools. you have a top-down management. teachers need to be empowered in each school to be able to run their system to make it

worthwhile for the kids and help the kids. the best thing that can happen is we have a k-three, non-graded, with teachers in charge to help the kids as they come in. right now, the parents that are knowledgeable enough to put kids in charter schools are not the kids normally who really need the help. the parents of those kids do not have the knowledge or ability, some of them are on drugs, all kinds of problems, that those kids that are in those families are ever going to get to a charter school. guest: the caller makes an important point. charter schools are a response to communities where parents are concerned about their schools. these are not some sort of special order families. these are families that are representative of their communities. they love their kids. they are seeking an opportunity for them.

i do think it is important that we continue to support local schools. the caller highlighted that the vast majority of teachers in america are hard-working. they are trying to deliver for their kids. we would be better served if we empower teachers more, if we give teachers more authority in the classroom. that is one of the benefits of charter schools. the you move away from complicated regulatory structure and empower teachers and parents on local school leadership, it is amazing, the results you can see for kids. here is "u.s. news & world report" with the headline. is indiana right to drop the common core? guest: we have had a robust debate on the common core. it was not established originally to be a national curriculum.

it became a debate about a national curriculum. what happened in indiana is we decided that we did not want to be part of a national curriculum and we would establish state standards. the governor said that those standards should be uncommonly high. the state school board has reviewed a set of standards and we have established indiana-based standards. the of them look like common core standards that we had across the country. that has caused some controversy locally. host: what are some of the common core standards? guest: the idea is to establish what are the basic skills that you need to be a functioning fifth-grader? one of my daughters is in the fifth grade. i have a fighting chance to answer that one. questions about whether you can answer or analyze a basic graph then explain the

answers to the question spaced on the grass. that is a fifth-grade standard. earlier grades, you have to be able to accomplish basic reading . in the high school years, it might be ultra bra or basic standards in history or government. , i am not concerned by the fact that our standards look a lot like the national standards. what i believe ought to happen and it was the right process, is our local leaders decide what they think the standards should be. that process has been complied with. that is the way it ought to work. host: don in st. joseph's, missouri. you are on the air. go ahead with your question or comment. caller: yes, i don't believe that charter schools should be funded by public money. it does nothing for the inner-city children. it shows that only the rich can get into them. i do not understand why there is

a million waiting list anyway. a millionre is waiting list because families are locked in communities where they do not feel good about their local public school and are not delivering results. the demographics of charter schools are frankly the complete opposite of what you have described. they are not the rich students. there are those families that otherwise cannot move. we already have school choice across this country. if you can afford to can't -- send your kid to a private school or if you can afford to move if you're unhappy with your local schools. the people who did not have it, our folks were locked in a zip code because they have bad public schools. they cannot afford to move or otherwise pay for those options. again, i think the vast majority of kids in america will continue to be educated through our traditional public school system. that is in large part because the vast majority of kids in our country are reasonably well

served by the school system. parents are happy there. the question is, what are you going to do for those low income families who cannot afford to go somewhere else and are locked in a failing school? i think it is un-american to tell them, hey, tough, take it on the chin, that is just the only opportunity you're going to get. for those families, we are to do better than that in america. the charter school bill as an example of the kinds of reforms we need to do to do that t. i am excited that the bill has bipartisan report. i think that is a reflection of it in college meant that for too many families in america, they are not well served with their local public school. host: billy in indianapolis. democratic caller. caller: good morning, greta. thank you so much for c-span. good morning mr. messer. i know quite a bit about education here in indianapolis. i have raised four children and

i am raising three grandchildren. they all go to ips. we are completely satisfied. my youngest daughter had 10 years of spanish from the minute she started kindergarten. ips do noters in the classroom supplies that are necessary. this been a lot of their money. they go to college for a lot of time to become a teacher. for them not to be able to even make a living wage by the time they pay their student loans and take care of these poor children , who 30% are homeless, how can you compare those children to children who go to carmel? they have a teacher, a tutor, both parents. how can you compare what ips has done? plus, i know mr. bennett. he got voted out. his party, his celebration party was scheduled

at the ruth chris steakhouse. i bet they had tartare that night. we got rid of him. let's stick to the education arguments here. guest: it sounds like he is very happy with the opportunities for his kids and grandkids in the ips school system. a lot of very hard-working teachers in that school system, a lot of gray principles and the new superintendent is very dynamic. thereat principals, and new superintendent is very dynamic. what he described as the way that school choice should work to rid or those who are happy, i would never want to take that option from you. those the question is for parents were not happy, who feel like their school is not delivering for them. what should their options be? particularly if they cannot afford to pay for and neighboring private school or to just move.

i believe the best way to handle this issue as a country is to promote local control, but to give families the ultimate local control and take the tax scholars -- dollars and spend the more they see fit. salaries do teachers compare and charter schools and public schools in the same community? guest: traditionally charter school teachers are paid a little less than the traditional public school system. the caller mentioned low wages for teachers. i think every teacher ought to have a living wage. there are areas of the country where teachers are not paid that. indiana has made a lot of progress over the past several decades in what they pay teachers. it is not perfect. it is a reasonable wage. charter school teachers tend to be paid a little less. many of them are excited to be at the school. they're willing to make a little less to be there. host: shreveport, louisiana.

independent. caller: i have a comment and a question. basically, other parents and school boards still involved as a lot of what is going on with the charter schools? basically,is everything now is to take a test. are we teaching our students just to take a test instead of really showing them how life works? i remember in high school, we only took half a semester of things everybody should know. why do we teach more about the financial markets is part of the education? guest: there were several comments in the question there. i do think we are to have a financial curriculum for students. i don't think it should be federally mandated, but i think the federally -- basic understanding about how a checkbook works and credit cards

should be part of what we do with kids across america. au know, as we talked about little bit earlier, the government structure for charter schools tend to be structured this way. there is a charter school authorizer, which tends to be a local government entity or university or credible institution of that like. the school is then run locally. the parental involvement and charter schools frankly exceeds the parental involvement in most typical public schools. host: democratic caller. caller: i am sitting here with kind of a smile on my face because republicans tried to privatize social security, medicare -- you know how that would've worked out. and the privatized prisons. you see how that is working out. and now they are doing it with schools. i went to public school. it was the best way to be educated. do and iare trying to

am looking you straight in the eye, you are trying to kill the unions. can't stand that teachers are unionized. the corporations are funding private schools. why not put the money into public? poor those resources into public schools. but no, the republicans don't want to do that. they want everything in their pocket. as soon as you on privatize prisons, you will get back to arresting less people. host: let's focus on education and the accusation you are trying to get rid of unions. guest: to me, again, the clearest evidence of the demand for charter schools is the million families across america to thoseaiting to go schools. charter schools are public schools. talkis not come when you about the charter school bill on the floor, this is public money going to public schools that just are not burdened by all of

the excessive regulation of the more traditional public school. again, the real response to your question are the results of the current public school system -- if resources along with solve alone would solve the problem, we do -- we would have solved this multiple times over already. as spending has spiked in the last 30 years, performance has flatlander declined into many communities. declined in many communities. i think of the young children who are going into the school where they did not have an opportunity. we need to support the public schools that are doing their job. we need to do more to help the families who were locked in schools that are failing. are the regulations that traditional schools have that charter schools do not? excessive reporting

requirements, locked in facilities that are antiquated and did not work in the modern -- in a world where -- i grew up in a school with libraries that are not needed now. the burdens of expenses of those. in many charter schools, you can use a computer and have access to those kinds -- host: why not just get rid of those regulations? guest: i am for that. charter schools have regulatory relief. i am all for lowering the regulatory relief for all of the schools. we only need to regulate in ways that kids out to be safe in schools, they ought to have access to a reasonable curriculum. we ought to measure results. the ultimate measure of whether a school is successful or not is whether they're graduating kids or whether they are performing

at grade level. is going tothink make -- it is a time worn phrase , but we have all heard the phrase, the definition of insanity is doing the same and expecting a different result. kids are not getting the opportunity they deserve. are a wayhools, they to try to break that cycle. it is not the answer for everybody, but it is the answer for some. the best indication is the million people waiting on a list. catherine. caller: it is important to note that a classroom that has be therewho want to and want to learn and are supported by their families in all ways is a different inssroom from the classes

public schools where the kids have to be there and their ,amilies, for whatever reasons are not as supportive as the families in the charter schools. parentally managed charter schools and ultimately they are thereby parental choice. this is so important. and the parents. guest: i agree. part of what this is about is empowering parents. it is important to say this ought to be handled and not be a federally driven enterprise. the federal rule is to help incentives and funding back in courage promotion and duplication of great schools. there is no substitute for parents who are engaged and want to help their child succeed.

what charter schools do is help those parents in communities where they might not otherwise see a way out or see an opportunity. we ought not stop there. part of what the movement should be about, we are trying to make -- promoting the successful schools and using those best practices in the more traditional public school. i want to remind the audience that charter schools are public schools, different men private schools across the country. scott, democratic caller. watching have been charter schools for some time. they reversed things. they started out as schools for the neediest kids and they have become magnet schools, where they get the choice kids and leave the regular public schools

to deal with the toughest kids. miracles, with the toughest kids, i would say let's do private management. that makes sense. need to reform themselves and the member used the term "robust con common core.out i think he needs to have robust conversation about charter schools. guest: the statistics bear out differently. charter schools are in communities across the country and they are the most challenged. they take the same kids, the same kids with engaged parents who have decided to try to give their child an opportunity in a charter school and they deliver

much different results. to tell you every charter school in america succeeds. where they do not succeed, the charter schools should be closed and they have been closed. that cannot move, that cannot afford to pay for a private education elsewhere, they deserve a chance too. charter schools are the way to do that. the best indication of that demand is the fact that a million kids across the country are trying to find the way into a charter school. that is an injustice in a country that promises everyone should have an opportunity to succeed. host: we are talking with luke messer. he is the republican freshman class president. we have about 10 minutes left on this topic of charter schools. the house is going to vote on --islation that your backing

that you are backing. who else is supporting the bill? guest: george miller is the ranking member and is by no privatize or wing of education. he is a champion of unions and traditional public schools. we have talked -- this is an issue that is not broken down along party lines. many democratic senators are supportive. demand response to the they see on their communities. public schools, as several callers have described, there are millions of families across america sending their kids to traditional public school and are happy with that performance. we need to make sure the success

stories continue. for kids that are not happy, for parents that are not happy, they ought to have options. 10 is a way to promote opportunities for more education. illinois,rey, independent caller. caller: thank you. i am wondering if you could share some thoughts on diane research that shows charter schools perform worse than public schools. not only her research, but the research from stanford university. only 17% of charter schools outperform public education. i want you to comment on that. comment on --u to

when students are in local communities and are removed from traditional public schools and put into charter schools and public funding goes to charter schools, the board members and the boards do not function like a traditional public education. the are not subject to freedom of information act, they are not subject to the same actions in terms of the school school code, so that essentially erodes democracy in our country. i would like for you to speak on how charter schools will continue to promote democracy in that vein. thank you. guest: there was a lot in the caller's western. to the study -- there are a host of studies on charter schools. some show results that are better, some show results the same, show some results that are worse. it depends on the assumptions and who the study or was.

it depends on what point they are trying to prove. the ultimate study that matters is the parents on the waitlist and the fact that people want to see these opportunities for these kids. as ad that, we know society, that we have kids in america that are going to schools where they do not have a chance to succeed. it is not right. we ought to do something about it. charter schools are not the silver bullet. they are not the end-all be-all answer to our education challenges. they are part of the answer. the question about governance -- we talked about. charter schools are, by definition, manage by parents. every parent is there by choice. they do not like the school, they can leave and go to the next option.

or parents and communities where they cannot afford to move and there only option is a local public school, they do not have that choice. that is un-american and we ought to do something about it. host: the house is expected to vote on a bill that would set up a select committee to look into what happened in benghazi. how will you be voting? guest: i will support the select committee. four americans have died. the administration has not been forthcoming with facts. we have seen e-mails a year plus into this that show there was a cover-up on what the motivations were for the attack. this ought not be political. i do not say that naïvely. to be resolved quickly, if the administration would be forthcoming with all of the facts. host: there have already been 13 investigations, numerous hearings, some reports putting

the costs at $14 million. is it worth continuing having another investigation that will cost taxpayers more millions of dollars? guest: the american people deserve the truth. i signed on a year ago. i thought it was the right approach. some of the costs have been compounded by a broad array of committees that have looked into it. each committee chairman has tried hard to get to the bottom of it, but when you have an administration that is -- it is not interested in producing the facts for the american people, it is interested in painting a political story, having all of these different hearings has made it easier for them to do that. we need to get all this information under one umbrella, get through this quickly. there is no reason this should take a year. it should take weeks and months. i ampe is, although already hearing signals that the democrats may not participate, this ought not be partisan at

all. we want to know the truth about what happened to these four americans that died. host: democratic caller. dorothy, good morning. caller: i would like to say this about charter schools -- there is nothing wrong with charter schools. there are good things going on in charter schools, but i am aware, and i think we should read our children to between the lines, but i am aware you are trying to deviate from fax. -- facts. people need to be aware of what is going on in congress, period. then ghazi, everything else that -- then ghazi, everything else that wastes money. gahzi, everything else

that wastes money. thet: i am involved in education debate for one reason. kids in america should have a chance to succeed. it is an injustice that kids walk into school where they do not have a chance. we need to quit defending the status quo and standup and defend the kids in america. i do not think we have a silver bullet yet. private school choice should be part of it. the vast majority of kids are going to have to be educated and should be educated through our existing public school system. let's just make sure every kid in america has a chance to succeed. politico has a story about benghazi. republicans should not fund four off the backs of murdered americans. agree?

guest: i have a lot of respect for trey gowdy. this is about getting to the facts. about politics. every american deserves the right to know what happened to those four young people. it is more than that. if the administration can cover this up and they are unwilling ts, what elsec are they doing? what he said makes a whole lot of sense to me. host: jake, riverdale, maryland. c-span, washington journal is one of the few avenues that the public has to speak to a congressman. i wish you would go back to the form of having open forums instead of specifically for a topic like today. there are a lot of bills and things on the floor at the public may have questions for the congressman or

congresswoman. i wish you would go back to that to allow an open forum of questions for the congressperson that comes on. to allow thefree teachers of the charter schools be unionized? -- pleaseknow that , as me a yes or no response well as -- would you be open to having hearings on weapons of mass destruction in iraq? >guest: there were a lot of different questions there. the hearings on weapons of mass , a lot ofn in iraq information has come out of that. i'm glad to polder that question further.

question further. i do not see a reason why charter schools should prohibit teachers from being unionized. i believe in a right to work. i think everybody ought to have a right to work. unions should have an opportunity to go in and explain how they add value. congressman luke messer, thank you for your time. we appreciate it. we are going to turn our attention to u.s. efforts in the aid to locate the kidnap girls in nigeria. joining us right now, the former u.s. ambassador, john campbell. we want to find out a little bit more about nigeria, its history, and specifically, this group, boko haram.

what is this group? diffused,is a decentralized movement rather than an organization. , it is islamic language jihadist in many ways. overthrow theo nigerian state and replace it with a purely islamic state. host: who makes up the group? do not know.lly we do not know how many members it has and we do not know how many people support it or how many people acquiesce to it. least oneucted at ,peration that required analysts estimate, 500 operatives. it is pretty big. it is mostly concentrated in the far northeast. its operations are spreading to the west and the south. there has been a highly

publicized operations in abuja, the spring where there were two bomb attacks on a bus stations. host: how did it start? guest: it started in 2009 when -- it is a sect or a colt -- that was islamic and sought to withdraw from the world. ,he leader, mohammed yousef staged an uprising against the government. government put it down white brutally. mohammed yousef was captured and by the police. on amurder was captured cell phone camera. it went viral. who is the leader now? guest: it does not have a single

leader, what it seems to have is a number of different warlords. the most prominent one is abubakar shekau. he periodically communicates with the outside world using a video. it was by video that he announced last week that it had been his group that had kidnapped the girls. why is this group focused on the west? guest: it is not so much the west. it is the destruction of the nigerian state that it is focused on. promotesducation secularism, secularism promotes the nation state. the nationstate man's worship, orngs like a national anthem ledge of allegiance to the flag.

the worship of anything other idolatrous.s western education that promotes it is evil. the destruction of evil is an end that justifies any means, including the slaughter of .6-year-old 218-year-old boys that episode occurred about two months ago. what is the religious makeup of nigeria and how does that play into what is happening? a big place.a is it is bigger than the russian federation. 177 million. about half the populace is muslim and half is christian. operates isaram overwhelmingly muslim. it would be best to think of boko haram as a kind of civil war within the islamic

community. most of their victims have been muslims, not christians. they claim they are muslims that and supportt goodluck jonathan. that includes much of the northern islamic establishment. they actively seek to murder people, traditional leaders of northern nigeria's muslims. the united states has labeled this group a terrorist aoup are they like -- terrorist group. are they like al qaeda? guest: they use the same kind of language. in terms of ultimate goal, boko haram will say their ultimate goal is the establishment of

throughngdom on earth justice for the poor. there's a huge difference. boko haram is focused on nigeria. vocabularyi-western and abubakar shekau has andunced goodluck jonathan president obama in the same breath. the focus is really on nigeria. it is not on worldwide jihad. host: how are they able to operate in this country? guest: in nigeria? host: yes. what is the nigerian government doing? guest: basically, they are weak. governance in the area where boko haram operates has been very thin on the ground. boko haram operates in a part of the country that many peace --

that many of the residents see themselves as marginalized, as ignored by a predominantly christian government in abuja. host: we are showing viewers a map of nigeria. geographically, where is this group that feels isolated from their government? the whole area north of abuja, straight across the country. the northern half of the country that is predominantly muslim. further, that area that we are --king about alliance aligns straight across the country with abuja. it is impoverished. the gulf between the north >> the gulf between the north and south is growing. shockingnigeria has

social and economic statistics. the average age of first marriage for women is around 14. percentage of women who are illiterate, traps 20%. born by achildren seven and eight. they feel marginalized and has increasingly turned to religion, onehich boko haram is manifestation. host: what about its relationship to cameroon and how it relates to the kidnapping of these girls and the ability of boko haram to operate? guest: the border between , cameron,iger, chad

those are lines on a piece of paper drawn by the british and french. they do not mean very much. it is essentially the same people on both sides of the boundary and people can move back and forth across international boundaries. it would be better to think of northeastern nigeria and the adjoining parts of niger, chad, and cameron as a single, cultural area, as opposed to being part of three different countries. it is easy to move back and forth. the people share the same culture. in parts of cameroon, particularly, there is much the same sense of marginalization from the rest of the camero ons. host: the united states, europe, china, they are offering to

help. why do they care? guest: the horror of the kidnapping has raised the humanitarian dimensions of what boko haram does. we need to put the kidnapping in a larger framework. i referred earlier to the attack on a school a couple of months ago. -- between 50 and 60 boys were all slaughtered by boko haram. the girls were released and told to go home and find husbands. you have the humanitarian dimension of this that has captured international imagination. the biggest and most strategically important country in africa. the population is bigger than that of the russian federation. it is the largest oil producer in africa.

had aically, it has commitment to the development of a democratic institution. placea is an important and if nigeria fails, it will have negative impact beyond its borders. host: the united states has given aid to nigeria. when did that start and how is the money used? guest: almost all of the money to countere effort hiv, aids, and malaria. the bulk of it is part of a program that was established under president bush. very little of that money, almost none of it is for development of systems. it is almost entirely tied to health. what do you make of the grassroots campaign that started?

there is criticism in a paper that the media did not pay attention to this for weeks. and other countries and their leaders start paying attention. movemente grassroots in nigeria and also in -- in --, theyrians refuse to let this situation go away. there have been demonstrations, but there have also been demonstrations in los angeles, new york, washington and london. the focus of these demonstrations is to force the nigerian government to do something. genuinelyike it is a popular movement. up until now, it has almost entirely involve women. involved women.

they have to struggle to make their voices heard. for: what does this mean the nigerian government as they try to put themselves on the world stage, holding the world economic forum right now, and the second largest economy in africa. is an enormous embarrassment for the nigerian government. i tended to think that the siming of abubakar shekau' video, announcing he was responsible for kidnapping the girls, i think the timing was influenced by the opening of the world economic forum. ist this whole episode does it -- for many nigerians -- it highlights the weakness and , even thecy incompetence of the nigerian government. , the ambassador campbell

former u.s. ambassador to nigeria. thank you for your time. guest: thank you. host: let me turn to nicole. we read in the papers this morning -- president obama has said the u.s. will send help, a small group from the united states. is the united states doing enough? right now, for what our best opportunity is, i think we are doing the right thing. they are not calling for troops on the ground because that is problematic. givekes sense for us to technical assistance right now. that is what the nigerian people are calling for. strongill, the diplomacy, to make sure the nigerian government fulfills its obligation to its own people.

it has been weeks. host: why can't they find these girls? guest: the opportunities were in the minutes, hours, and few days when the girls first went missing. -- biggest problem is according to the family -- the military on the ground in chibok , there are military outposts in the area. they refused to help. the families were left to figure out what to do for themselves then when they went to the major cities, they were told to keep quiet and not make a big fuss. i think it was their fear that really brought this to the world apostate attention. there has been a lot of discussion about the grassroots campaign. y for people is

important when you talk about a movement. some people say the movement began in the united states. really, the origins are from nigeria. started usings the term "bring back our girls." they knew the power of social media. they knew they were out of options. a lot of the strong, powerful movements come from a place of despair, come from when people do not have any other options. wereknew the governments not paying attention. host: what has been the impact theoko haram on nigeria and surrounding areas? guest: it has had a major psychological impact. thatlk about the 59 boys were killed two months ago, these kidnappings, this is not the first incident of human trafficking in nigeria.

think about need to is the fact that leading up to the world economic forum, there were bombings all over the country, specifically targeting the capital. people -- ago, 300 there are reports that 300 people were killed by boko haram . it has an impact on the people who are directly affected. it has a psychological impact on the country. people live in fear. i have been told by many people on the ground that they fear andibution from boko haram the government, being angry at them for speaking out. blame falls on boko haram group that kills girl. how did the anti-western movement began in nigeria? there is a lot of

discussion around how boko haram began. had different leaders and has come together as a web, if you will. a part of boko haram started out as what we would consider to be a motorcycle game. it was young men who drove motorcycles. that is a major form of transportation in nigeria. they thought they were being picked on by the local police and military for infractions that were very small. they banded together. ideology became next. -- ideology came next. isnigeria, the west considered to be part and parcel of the problem of the central government. nigeria is a democracy, but the truth of the matter is, the oil revenue that comes from the multinational corporations that

are coming in and doing business in nigeria, that is not trickling up to the northeast. people are living in poverty. they see the west as profiting from nigeria. haram, i do not believe it has popular support, anti-western sentiment has roots in some of the major problems nigerians experience. host: bochum iran grew out of an altar -- ultraconservative --ement of islamic ultraconservative islamic movement of well-educated students. western education was available only to a small amount of elite who traveled to british universities and returned to roll from the capital over the impoverished north. guest: it is a web.

we have to understand is those that do leave nigeria and many other countries and go to western universities and realize the imbalance in the world of -- the economic -- economic imbalance and the political imbalance, they often have western criticisms. bochum iran has has anyort --boko haram support. it has the language of the people. i believe that is to hide and mask terminal activity. what is the transafrica group? by theit was founded congressional black caucus to be the voice for african-americans foreign policy.

when nelson mandela was considered a terrorist, transafrica took up the cause and explained to the people what was going on and why the apartheid regime was so evil. work arounda lot of democracy in nigeria. we continue to fight to make sure the voices from the ground in africa, latin america, and even in europe are amplified in the united states. this case in nigeria is the perfect example. people need to have an opportunity to be heard, an opportunity to speak. it is amazing that mothers from secluded partll of nigeria are being heard all over the world, especially in washington. host: william, arizona, republican caller. did you notice that the parents wanting to look for

their children, they were using bow and arrows. i do not think they had any type of gun. host: that was in one of the stories i read today. the initial search was done by parents with bow and arrows, going into this for us today has camps,boko haram trying to find their children. guest: they reported the entire and whenunder siege they came back to the town to go to the school to find their daughters, that is when they found they were missing. they went to the military and said we need your help in finding our daughter's. -- finding our daughters. these were civilians. it is so important that we understand they were not armed. they had no hope, no one from the central government willing to help them. they went out with rocks and machetes to try to retrieve

their daughters, to no avail. host: michael, california, independent color. caller: good morning. i believe until we have women running the world, in charge, which is not going to happen anytime soon, man has a problem. i would almost bet my life there was not one woman involved in the induction of those girls. until we have a mental change in this world that men are the problem and women offer the better hope, things like this are going to happen all over the world. guest: i think patriarchy and sexism is the problem. be real allies to women and women can exude sexism. shoulda that young women not be educated is a patriarchal idea. i welcome, when i see countries

elect women, and we are seeing countries in latin america and africa electing the women at greater rates. the head of the african union is a woman. women have a place in leadership, absolutely. we need to promote women leaders. there are terrorist groups around the world that do have women in their ranks. that scares me. that is quite an issue. i do think that women leadership different aspect. we bring a different focus. men are fathers, but women are mothers. women bring that perspective that is so important for leadership. host: the world economic forum is this week in nigeria. all of these different countries and heads of states are coming to nigeria and this article -- goodluck jonathan is scheduled to take the conference stage

with the chinese premier, talking about the opportunities of his country. investors from companies, including ge, siemens, they say they plan to invest billions of dollars into nigeria's powerplants in the coming decade. guest: part of the conversation has to turn to what corporations are doing in nigeria. we know corporate responsibility campaigns can have a major impact. it is going to be interesting to see whether the "bring back our , if itworldwide campaign hasn't impact to make sure that the country as a whole is developing. executives that came to nigeria insist its promise out raise its problem.

-- outweighs its problem. guest: this has to do with the resources. oil nigeria is the largest producer. there's oil all over the continent of africa. the question remains -- are the country's growing to the benefit of their people or is this benefiting the west or is it benefiting corporations in a benefiting corporations and a small elite. numbers are not on their side when it comes to human growth, the ability to get a job, have a home, to have the basic needs met.

what theirto do with opportunities are. host: peter, republican, connecticut. my heart goes out to these young girls who are being abducted. i have two questions. arst of all, we are sending small force, but apparently, we fight. going to help we are just going to provide method so they can track them. send the pentagon will fewer than 10 people to help provide information expert takes -- expertise on logistics and communication. there is a lot of concern about u.s. troops on the ground. on the ground in africa have always come with a

lot more then just assistance. arele of the continent concerned about a large u.s. contingency. the africa command, which has established -- which was established about six years ago, was met with harsh criticism by the citizens and by government. technical assistance is warranted and is appreciated. the nigerian military needs to be -- needs to take the matter more seriously. body can be called in. the answer is not always u.s. troops on the ground. now tosmart right provide any and all technical assistance that is needed. even spy drones, not drones that drop bombs, but spy drones are

appropriate right now. to go any further, i think creating a situation would foment more conflict than there already is. host: kathy. caller: thank you for taking my call. it seems that the west and its are swapping resources with nigeria and the african people. if we go over there to mind something or get something, we are paying for. officials those utilizing all the money flowing into that country to build a proper infrastructure, to benefit the citizens, why is there such a disparity between the classes? why aren't these women having to -- those that

wanted to retrieve the girls only had bows and arrows. it is it really such an environment of corruption that they do not want to take care of their own people? things,e purchasing taking something, we are flooding them with resources to improve their lives. think i wouldt argue that the swap is equal. u.s. corporations do a lot of business and make a lot of money from the resources that come out of the entire continent. any time you pick up your cell phone, the minerals within your cell phone, from the continent of africa. what the raw materials, what they buy the raw materials for and what you buy your phone for is a vast difference. there is corruption at work here. times, this is what we have seen historically, corporations have been a part in the corruption.

they have worked with government officials or with elites to take land away from people or to use land that is not being properly used. we have to be clear about the history that the u.s., corporations and corporations in .urope from many points of view in -- you mentioned women. the fact of the matter is, they feel the government is at the behest of governments -- of world governments in the international community then working for the people of nigeria. i have to believe we play a role in that. could this be a precedent that is set, the social media campaign, that allows countries

to take this example and use it in other ways, to make change on the economy or whatever other problems they're facing. we have seen an international outcry before. we were talking about the free south africa movement and how that was -- how it ended up being an international movement. it was built by people within south africa first and went globally. social media allows it to happen so much faster. take the next step, not just say we stand with the people of nigeria and we will send up a hashtag, if we take the time to learn about nigeria and the government and corporations and our own role of what is taking place in nigeria,

i think this can impact the country. that brings up education in africa. what is the status of women getting an education in africa. the statistics remain pretty grave. , these know for sure young women were in a catch-22 situation. the context of those girls being at the chibok secondary school was that they only had that one day to have the opportunity to take their exam. meant aics exam completely different life for them. they could become the dr., the lawyers, the economists of the country. it was such a security problem, there were questions about whether or not they should go to school. they would have had to wait a whole mother year without the next step of education.

many women in the continent are put in the situation. .omen have to choose in most countries, you have to pay school fees. you have to choose between your son and your daughter going to school. you have to choose whether or not going to ee or pay the school fees. we were talking about public schools educational for. would radicalize the situation in africa in a positive way. host: united states sends about $700 million a year. does that go to education? most other goes to the emergency relief for hiv and aids and other infectious

diseases. host: tammy, alabama. i want to ask a couple of questions and make a comment. nigeria is a young country and a lot of economical power. it is the most populated country. is part of the problem that they are so young and do not know how to manage and run the country properly and that they are so very rich, also. they are having trouble there. when young kids going to the draft and they are all of a sudden, they come from poverty to millionaires. do you think the problem is there?

that they are so very young is a country and do not have the experience. nigeria is a new democracy. 15 years this month. most countries in africa are coming out of a period of colonialism and are creating infrastructures. there are a couple of things that work that do not have to do the the longevity of country, but the conditions they found themselves. rule was harsh. not a lot of agency was given to the people in africa. colonial rule was harsh. it did not focus on infrastructure. we have emerging countries. colonialism out of -- 150 50 years ago

years ago. what makes democracy is people. what makes infrastructure is the ability for people to use democracy to the benefit of themselves. nott of this has to do with who was young and who was old, but who has the capability to control their own resources? on the most part, the people the continent of africa have not been able to control their resources. when they have, we have seen an impact and a change. the change we see in liberia right now, they are an extremely young country if you do not county dictatorships, and their leader has taken the resources that she has and create futures for people to make sure people can have jobs, that they are building clean water and infrastructures. there are so many countries you can point to that are in the same situation, but because they have control over the resources or are getting control of the resources, they are able to make change.

u.n. in this? the they have produced documents and resolutions. i do not believe peacekeepers have been asked for. there has been both positive and challenging situation with you and peacekeepers. peacekeepers. it is important to push the governing bodies. union, they put out a statement yesterday condemning the kidnappings. she said she is calling upon all countries to get involved and it's -- and assist nigeria. caller:, goodic morning, you're on the air. the girls that have been

kidnapped today is not just an event. terrorized the people of nigeria. the problem we are having is corruption. there is so much corruption in the media, in the congress, in the government. there is corruption everywhere. thatconomy is so corrupt -- one of the major problems boko haram has with the government is corruption. the government is not doing anything to address corruption. think this is why women and men, starting with the

families and the communities and spreading all over the country of nigeria took to social media, to say to the world, this is happening and we need your help. i doi find interesting is see that the people of nigeria knew that if people around the world knew what they were experiencing, knew what they were going through, they would respond and that they would act. it took us a long time to do so. corruption is a problem. one thing being spoken about now is the fact that there is this growing pressure against the government to say boca iran has been target --boko haram has been targeting citizens for a long time. the government needs to act. if they refuse to act, it is not legitimate. a real call see is for the nigerian government to pivot and prioritize.

one of the problems has been that in the fight against boko haram, civilians have been caught in the crossfire. it is not just boko haram killing citizens, it is also the government as well. there will be a lot of pressure brought to bear. nigeria, theyin are looking towards change. i do not think the pressure is going to end anytime soon. i hear a lot of callers calling and making excuses. there should be no excuses. there should be no talks. woman,e was european that they were caucasian woman, or chinese woman, we would be up in a up oroar. there is no way we should stand

for this. these are our sisters. could be gone now and mutilated and dead. then what we going to do? say this is what we should have did? a mother, grandmother, two daughter's, and east. i feel this in my heart. should not be no talking. we could go get any other person -- these are people. sentiment andthe i truly agree that it took way too long for the international immunity to react. when i first saw this come across, i knew this was something important. brazenok boko haram's

activities to a new level. while we did see a few media reports, there were not very many. 73 people were killed and a bus station just because they wanted to go to work. they needed to use bus transportation. they experienced a bombing. there is definitely a bias at work when we talk about what gets covered in the media and what does not. i am glad to see the media covering it now. the sentiment of the caller is something i am hearing from around this country and around the world. we have mothers. care and love women. the fact that this can happen, and there was not any action, that is disturbing to people on a lot of levels. host: tommy, tennessee, independent caller. aller: i would like to wish of the mothers a happy mother's day and the situation to me is

very disturbing. i really cannot say what i want to say. i believe the women of this world need to unite on mother's day and say we are going to ourthe suffering to children by oppressive governments. the women of the world need to stand up and say no. oppressived of governments who continued to mistreat our children and us as well. thank you. have a blessed day. we are seeing that. one of the things i thought was at the rally in washington, d.c. is that it was not just the nigerians. it was not just policy. it was mom's. -- it was moms. they had their kids, pulling them and widens, strollers,

ringing them to the nigerian embassy to protest. you cannot imagine what it would be like to have your child kidnapped from you. wouldou think about what you do if you had no government that came to your aid immediately. in the united states, when there is a kidnapping, we see it on the news. the police come to your house, take a report, say they are investigating. mothers hadt these no one doing anything, i think that is what is hitting people's hearts. host: nicole lee, we appreciate your time. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] from the speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the speaker's room, washington, d.c. -- the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., may 8, 2014, i hereby appoint the honorable kerry l. bentivolio to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives.