town? >> we will be here for a few years. it takes a while to find your way around. >> the you want to go back to china? >> eventually. >> evan osnos, thank you. we are out of time. ♪ >> for free transcripts or to give us your comments about this program, visit us at q-and-a.org . "q&a" programs are also available as c-span podcasts. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] book, an's newest collection of interviews with some of the nations top storytellers. built onountry was those who have immigrated to this country, some of them legally, some of them illegally. in my case, i came in with no

documentation and no ability to get a job or an education. when i first came into the united states in the late 1980's and i cross the border between mexico and the united states, i came into the san joaquin valley to work as a migrant farm worker. it was no challenge to find a job. there were not thousands of people trying to get the jobs of pulling weeds with the very same hands that are now doing brain surgery. one of 41 unique voices from 25 years of our book notes and "q&a" conversations. nowan "sundays at eight," available at your local bookseller. >> next, british prime minister david cameron taking questions in the house of commons. then a discussion about the dodd-frank laws institution -- impact on institutions that are too big to fail. then another chance to see "q&a"

with author evan osnos. on the next "washington journal," david hawkins looks at the history of congressional committees. health policy reporter louise nofsky explores the following uninsured rate in the u.s. also, pay and benefits for active military personnel. we will take your calls, and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. during question time this week, british prime and mr. david cameron called the kidnapping of hundreds of nigerian schoolgirls and active. evil and said that the u.k. would offer any assistance necessary to nigeria. later, the prime minister responded to questions about the proposed takeover of the u.k. pharmaceutical giant astrazeneca

by pfizer. this is just over 35 minutes. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. thisdition to my duties in house, i will have further such meetings later today. >> thank you, mr. speaker. as the proud father of three sure that them entire house will share my deep concern for the more than 270 nigerian schoolgirls held captive in that country. the only so-called crime, which had, is they aspire to receive an education. what my honorable friend set out for the house the steps this government is taking to ensure that we help to ensure their release as soon as possible? that my right

honorable friend speaks for the whole house and indeed the whole country. i am a father of two young daughters, and my reaction is exec with the same as his and every father or mother in this land or in the world. this is an act of pure evil. it has united people across the planet to stand with nigeria to help find these children and return them to their parents. the foreign secretary in the british government has made repeated offers of help to nigerian government since the girls were seized. i'll be speaking to the nigerian president this afternoon and will again say that britain stands ready to provide any assistance where we can, working closely with the u.s. we already have a british military training team in nigeria. the foreign office has counterterrorism experts. we should be proud of the role we play in that country where british aid is helping to educate 800,000 nigerian children, including 600,000 girls. we should be clear, this is not just a nigerian issue. this is a global issue. there are extreme islamists around our world who are against

education, against progress, against equality, and we must fight them and take them on wherever they are. >> ed miller band -- milliband. >> mr. speaker, let me begin with associating myself with the prime ministers remarks on the terrible situation in nigeria. on our proposal for tenancy in the private sector, can the prime minister tell us when he expects to make the inevitable journey from saying they represent dangerous venezuelan-style thinking to saying they are actually quite a good idea? >> i haven't had the time to study the rent control proposal, but i'm sure he will be able to lay them out for the house. let me be clear about my view. tothere is an opportunity find longer-term tenancy agreements to give greater made aty, a proposal last year's conservative sure we canthen i'm

work together. but if the proposal is for rent controls that have been tried all over the world, including in britain, and are shown to fail, i think that is a very bad idea. this isby his standard, a pretty quick u-turn, mr. speaker. week, the chairman of the conservative party -- i know you haven't gotten a briefing on this, but you can listen to the question -- the chairman of the this wasive party said completely wrong, but indeed, the secretaries have supported these proposals. the question is, how are we going to make it happen? >> i got a very good briefing on these proposals from labor mps. here they are. let's start with the housing minister. you think she would support labor's policy. she says, i do not think it will work in practice. over to theng

department for local government, where the shadow secretary of state says this, we don't want to return to rent controls because the rental sector is meeting demand for housing -- is meeting demand for housing. then we go to the head of the select committee, a labor mp, and he said this, we concluded that rent control was not feasible. there we have a labor politician completely unclear about what it is. the one thing that is clear, labor mps don't back it. -- shows is that he has nothing -- >> order. i know it has to be said every way, but i will happy to say again. however long it takes, a very simple exercise in democracy, the lesson should be learned -- the question will be heard, and the answer will be heard. incredibly simple. is he has nows

idea about the incredibly important issue facing our country. let me explain to him. there are 9 million people renting in this country. thereoposal is to say should be three-year tendencies as the norm for those people with predictable rent changes. right? that is the proposal. many people across this country think this is the first time a party addresses the issue they face. wrong explain what is from going one-year year tendencies with unpredictable rent rises to three year tendencies with predictable rent? why has the conservative party given up on millions of people who are generated -- who are struggling? >> we want to build more housing -so we haveave more affordable rent. i said in my first answer. tenancyis about finding

and long-term security, yes. if it is about mandating rent control and destroying in the housing market, no. the problem i have with so many of his policies is they all come from the same place. they come from the unions. united says, renationalize the railways. he wants to do that. old-styley to have rent controls, he wants old-style rent controls. is problem with rent control their candidates are for rent, and their policies are for rent. that's the problem. thank you, mr. speaker. the prime minister will be as encouraged as i am that unemployment in my constituency third. by almost one however, mr. speaker, the future

for almost 1000 workers related to the power station and my constituency is less certain. will the prime minister meet with me to ensure we have a future for this very important asset in my constituency? >> i'm very happy to meet with my right honorable friend and discuss this. it is welcome what he says about the fallen and on inclement, which we are seeing right across our country. employment is growing fastest not in the southeast, but actually in wales. it shows this recovery is increasingly more broadly based. i know about the problems at his power station and the demand for further action, as has been agreed. i'm very happy to discuss that with them and see what can be done. i have two world-class hospitals and my constituency at the moment. the secretary of state for --lth has decided that some one will be demolished. [indiscernible]

will the prime minister stop as health secretary from putting my constituents' lives at risk? >> what we are doing in northwest london is making sure the nhs gets more money. it is going to be getting 2.4 billion dollars this year, $74 million more than a year before. his own party's policy was to cut the nhs, like they are doing in wales. the changes that are being made in northwest london are backed by clinicians and local people, and we want to see our nhs improved. >> does my right honorable friend agree that ukip's policies are based on fear and fear of the world, fear of foreigners, and there is a great -- we shouldn embrace the world -- if anybody goes to my constituency and goes to hospitals or to nursing homes or to farms or to building sites, they will see the great

contribution being made to our communities by fellow eu citizens. >> my right honorable friend is absolutely right. britain has benefited from being an economy that is open to investment and open to people, and who want to contribute and work hard here. i agree with what he says about ukip. so much of their view seems to be that we don't have a bright future in this country. i absolutely believe we did. if we have our deficit down, if we have apprenticeships, we can show that we will be one of the success stories of the 21st century. we are making progress, and that is the way to challenge their worldview. >> ed milliband. >> there is deep concern and the british business and scientific communities about the proposed takeover of astronomical by pfizer. the deal would have an impact for decades to come.

the business secretary said yesterday, he is "not ruling out intervention." what type of intervention is under consideration by the government? >> i have to agree with what the secretary said yesterday, but let me be clear. the most important intervention we can make is to back british jobs, british science, british r&d, reddish medicine, and british technology. i asked this hectic -- the secretary and my ministers to engage with both companies right from the start of this process, and i make no apology for that. we know what happens when you don't engage. back, just say you are opposed to everything, what you get is abject surrender and no guarantees for britain. we are fighting for british science. i think it is a pity he is trying to play politics. let me say first of all, mr. speaker, it is good to hear he agrees with the business

secretary. the secretary said this, one of the government's options would be to consider using our public interest powers. there needs to be a proper assessment of this. yesterday, as i said, the business secretary said he was open to doing this. this could be done straight away through this house, and we on this side would support making that happen. will he agree to do it? >> what i want is from the business department on this deal or indeed, because there isn't now an offer on the table, and a subsequent offer, and i will judge all of these things about, does it expand british jobs, british investment, british science? let me make this point. i worry it may be lost. i know, of course, he thinks he's extreme a clever, and we all know that. [laughter] he may have missed this point. britain benefits massively from being open to investment. nissan is now producing more

cars than italy. jaguar land rover has created 9000 jobs in the west midlands since i became prime minister. haveone and astrazeneca benefited from the backing of an open country to go out and build and by businesses around the world. there is more inward investment into britain today than the rest of that you combined. don't let us put at risk. >> he doesn't understand. this is simply about something very straightforward, having an independent assessment of this bid and whether it is in the national interest. i want to asking the question again, because it matters to people right across this country. inhe ruling out or ruling using the public interest test on this takeover? we could make it happen. his business secretary could make it happen, and we would support him. if he does not take action now, and the bid goes through without a proper assessment, everyone

he was cheerleading this bid, not championing british science and industry. >> i think it is deeply sad that the leader of the opposition makes accusations about cheerleading when what the government was doing was getting stuck in to help british science, british investment. doesn't it tell you everything that, given the choice of doing the right thing for the national interest, working with the government or making short-term political points, that is what he chooses to do? we might ask why the public interest test was changed in the first place. it was when they were sitting in the treasury. yes, they wrote the rules. they stole the gold. in ourld manufacturing country. we will never take lectures from the people who wrecked our economy.

>> will the prime minister confirm that, under his leadership, this country will never spend less than the nato recommended minimum of 2% of gdp on defense? >> what i can say to my friend is we are spending in excess of 2%. we are only one of the only countries in europe to do that. the greeks are spending ahead of 2%. not all on things that are useful for all of nato. we should continue to make sure we fulfill all of our commitments in terms of defense spending. >> thank you. will the prime minister urgently meet again with me and with fellow mps to find a way forward on consultant services to be run by the university hospital? the right honorable lady has asked this question in the past, and i was very keen to make sure

that despite all of the difficulties at the hospital, there was an opportunity to look to see, if possible, to have a way over the long term to have consultant-lead a maternity services. people who live in our major towns want to be able to have their babies locally. i think it is vitally important that we do that. theregularly updated by member of parliament for stafford. i will be happy to meet with him and indeed the delegation of staffordshire mps if it is necessary to talk further. >> thank you, mr. speaker. week, a consultant group published research that found britain to be the number one competitive manufacturing country in the whole world -- in the whole of western europe. globally behind china, the united states, and south korea. does my right honorable friend agree with me that this is just the sort of company we should be keeping an further evidence that our strategy to rebalance the

u.k. economy towards in the westg midlands in other regions is working? myi'm grateful for what right honorable friend says. for the first time in almost a decade, all three main sectors of the economy, manufacturing services, and construction, have grown by at least 3% over the past year. this is further evidence that the economic plan is working. manufacturing is important itself, but it is also important because it is tradable. we want to see britain export more, make more. the moves by my right honorable friend in the budget are very much dedicated towards that angle. also, as i said, we must remain the open economy that will encourage people to invest in our manufacturing base. week, the opening stages of the -- with the tour de france coming to yorkshire, these world-class sporting events

allow us to showcase our region and tourism and grow the local economy. with the prime minister agree with me that, as we seek to build a more prosperous and better future for all of our people in northern ireland, that it is vitally important that the suffering and hurt of the victims is never forgotten, and whether it is one year ago or 10 years ago or 42 years ago, justice must be pursued and the police must be allowed to follow the evidence wherever it may lead? i agree of all, can with the honorable gentleman about the importance of these great sporting events? the one he mentioned in northern ireland, and also, the tour de france which will be starting in leeds, a great moment for yorkshire and the whole united kingdom. i think we should do as much as we can to promote these. we should draw the line at the. -- at appearing at either event. we discussed recently the important issue about trying to secure greater assistance from libya.

as for his other remarks, we should be proud of the fact that a free country has an independent judiciary, and independent legal system, an independent police service. they decide who to arrest, who to question, who do charge. that is the way it must remain. will the prime minister join with me in congratulating the alzheimer's society in public health england and launching a major campaign to raise awareness and challenge stigmas? given that 50,000 people quit their jobs to care for people with dementia, will he ensure that there is a new strategy at the end of this year? the current one ends of this year. we want to ensure people with dementia get the support they need. >> i pay tribute to my right honorable friend for raising this issue. we turned the zero on number 10 into the dementia flower today to help boost the importance of raising awareness about this issue and encouraging more for friends with

dementia. as he knows, it is about investing in research and science. we have doubled the budget for dementia. making sure our hospitals and care homes better treat people with dementia. we will carry forward all of those, and i will write to him about the updates to the strategy. thousands of people are already dead in syria. others are dying as we are here today. desperately.p we have talked about humanitarian help. what on earth are we doing about it? >> the right honorable lady is right to raise this. the answer to what we are doing about it is that britain is the second-largest bilateral aid donor in terms of humanitarian aid going into syria. we are helping to feed, clothe, and house people, both in turkey, lebanon, jordan, and elsewhere. she raises the important point

about getting aid into syria to read more is being done on that, but it is extremely difficult because of the security situation. we will continue to do what we can. the century of the first world war, it is a national disgrace that the graves of the victoria cross are derelict. can i congratulate the secretary for pledging 100,000 pounds to help restore some of those graves? has the government pledged to match funds for the victoria cross trust? will the prime minister join me in encouraging people to go online and donate and ensure we have 50 memorials for the bravest of the brave? >> i would certainly join the honorable gentleman who is the patron of the victoria cross trust for the hard work that is being done, and i think "the sun" did a great job

highlighting the importance of this issue. the community secretary has announced a 100,000 pounds funding for the victoria cross trust. this should go towards restoring the graves of the victoria cross recipients. we have a program letting local authorities put up paving stones for people who want victoria crosses in their area. we are looking at other ways to commemorate this vital anniversary. the most important thing we are doing is the huge multimillion pound investment going into the imperial war museum, which will open this summer, which i take my children to. it brings world war i to life in the next ordinary way. >> thank you very much. disabilityent's means he needs a special bed and cannot share a room with his wife, yet still they are hit by the bedroom tax. and the prime minister explain why he is punishing this man for his disability? >> as the honorable lady knows,

we have the discretionary housing payments for exactly this sort of case. topped out.s been there is no reason for people to be disadvantaged in the way she suggest. has two thousand employees. i share my constituents concerns about pfizer's proposed that a good i welcome the steps made by the government to secure initial commitments from the company. can the premise or tell us what further steps -- can the prime minister tell us what further steps are being taken? >> i'm grateful for my honorable friend's remarks. there are 2000 people employed by astrazeneca and his constituency. he is right to speak up for them. our entire approach is based on trying to secure the best possible deal in terms of jobs, investment, and science. that is why i believe it was absolutely right to ask the cabinet secretary to engage with pfizer, just as we are engaging with astrazeneca, and i do find

it extraordinary that we have been criticized for this. the commitments that have been made so far -- of course, there is no offer on the table -- are encouraging in terms of completing the cambridge campus, making sure 20% of the combined company's total are indeed in the u.k. going forward, and it specifically mentions "substantial commercial manufacturing facilities." it goes on to say, because of what we have introduced, the company would look at manufacturing more in the u.k. let me be absolutely clear. i'm not satisfied. i want more. the way to get more is to engage, not just stand up and play party politics. >> thank you, mr. speaker. another prime minister on a number of occasions has raise the important issue -- about awareness of mental health, and can i think and for that? can he explain why that there is a 30% drop in mental health beds

in the nhs? is it right that mental health patients have to travel up to 200 miles to access a bed? iswhat matters in our nhs the quality of provisions and the parity of esteem between physical health and mental health. in this government, we have not solved every problem, but we have put into the nhs constitution and the mandate proper parity of esteem. we have also put in proper targets for some of the talking therapies that are absolutely vital in terms of mental health. measuring the output of our nhs purely by the number of beds is not a sensible approach. >> thank you, mr. speaker. as the government is making a substantial investment in renewing and expanding the nations infrastructure, there is a real need to get more young people into engineering so that they will have the long-term skills for these projects. will my right honorable friend assured me that his government will help the next generation of engineers?

>> i absolutely back with my right honorable friend says. i know he has been campaigning hard to get the academy kim il-sung keys. there is a vital bit of skills work that needs to be done. i'm sure there will be a lot of competition. the key thing about these investments, whether it is crossrail or the olympics or hs two, is to plan in advance about the skills we are going to need so we can fill them with british people leaving school and college wanting to take on those skills. today, the chancellor and minister for schools have which isa campaign, all about encouraging young people to get into stem subjects and to stay in stem subjects. there is a massive falloff, particularly in terms of physics amongst young women, and we want to encourage them to go on studying. that thelighted to see prime minister is wearing his badge today, and he will congratulate the society on their commitment to get --

will he also today commit personally to put an end to the and zerof low wages our contracts for the dedicated home carers who look after people with dementia in our country? >> let me praise the right honorable lady for her work on dementia and the amount of work she has done to spread awareness about this. 15-minuteue about working times, this is an issue for local councils. my own local counsel has decided to stop these 15-minute visits. they don't believe you can get any meaningful work done. i think it is for councils. on the contracts, the first government had a proper review in 20 our contracts, and we are happy/unhappy about those with exclusivity clauses that don't allow you to work elsewhere. as important as those things is to make sure that our care system has people inside it that are really caring and understanding about the problems of dementia. she and i have both been through

the very short dementia friends training course, and i don't know about her, but i think i'm ready for a refresher. speaker, with 1.3% growth in manufacturing in the last quarter and some strong performances from my local largely through innovation, does the prime minister agree that one key element of the long-term is actually the furtherimprove and strengthen our skills base so that these firms can continue to grow and work hard for britain and generate exports? >> my honorable friend is right. a key part of the long-term plan is to rebalance our economy away southeast ande also towards manufacturing, exports, and investment. i know he has been playing his part by running a festival for manufacturing and engineering. this is really important.

one of the things we have to do is inspire a new generation to think of these careers and think of the subjects they should be studying at university to open up these careers. >> >> last thursday, the european union ban on the import of indian mangos took effect. as a result, hundreds of businesses in leicester and throughout the uk will suffer millions of pounds of losses. there was no consultation with this house and no vote by british ministers. next week, the prime minister will have his first conversation with the new indian prime minister. will he do his best to reverse this ban so that we can keep our special relationship with india, which his predecessors and he have worked so hard to maintain, and have our delicious mangos once again? >> i know how much the right hon. gentleman cares about this issue, so much so that he delivered a tray of mangos to no. 10 downing streetmissing the deadline, i might add, so that they could safely be consumed by

the people inside. i am very grateful for that. this is a very serious issue. the european commission has to consider it on the basis of the science and the evidence. there are concerns about cross-contamination of british crops and interests, so we have to make sure that that is got right. i understand how strongly the right hon. gentleman and the indian community in this country feel. indeed, i look forward to discussing the issue with the new indian prime minister. >> will the prime minister join me in congratulating vitsoe, the world-class furniture manufacturer, on its decision to locate its manufacturing facility in leamington and on the jobs that will create? i am proud the decision was based in part on our community's rich industrial heritage. will the prime minister also pay tribute to local businesses that have created jobs and reduced the number of jobseeker's allowance claimants in warwick and leamington by a remarkable 54% since may 2010? >> i congratulate my hon. friend

on the decline in unemployment in his constituency, which is incredibly marked at 54%. i note what he says about furniture factories, because those are the sorts of businesses that were going offshore. what we are seeing in our country is a slow trendbut i want to encourage itof reshoring and getting businesses to come back to, and invest and expand in, britain. we must do everything we can to encourage that by keeping their taxes down, keeping national insurance down, cutting national insurance for young people, training more apprentices and investing in infrastructure. that is what we will do so that there are many more success stories like that mentioned by my hon. friend. >> my constituent lorraine seath's son has recently returned from serving our country in afghanistan. does the prime minister think it is right that she has to pay the bedroom tax to keep a room available for her son to stay in when he is at home? >> let me look at this individual case, because we made

a specific exemption from the spare room subsidy for people who were serving overseas. if the spare room subsidy exemption does not apply in this case, there is of course the provision of the discretionary housing payment, which is another way of dealing with this, and i would hope that scunthorpe borough council would take up that offer. [cheers and jeers] there will indeed be more, which is why we must hear the right hon. gentleman and then, at my request, others. we are concerned also, i am sure, about others. >> the prime minister will be aware that last week the service sector grew at its fastest level this year, with the ensuing creation of jobs. does he agree that that demonstrates that we must stick with the long-term economic plan, because it is working? i trust my right hon. friend has enough time to answer the question in full.

>> my right hon. friend is absolutely right: we have to stick to the long-term economic plan and deliver it. for my right hon. friend to be called at 12:33 on a wednesday shows that if you stick at anything, you can win. >> i have always practised that philosophy myself: however long it takes, we are going to get through them. >> the prime minister will know that recently it has gone into the public domain that more than 365 people in northern ireland were given the royal prerogative of mercy, despite 10 years of files being lost. will he give a commitment that those names will be made public? after all, if the queen takes the time to sign 365 names, surely the public and particularly the victims have the right to know. >> i would say to the hon. lady,

who i know takes a very close interest in these issues in northern ireland, that difficult decisions were taken, principally by the previous government at the time of the various agreements, which involved very difficult choiceshard choicesthat had to be made in order to try to build the platform for peace and reconciliation. i am very happy to look at her specific point and see whether there is anything i can do to reassure her in a letter, but i do not want to unpick decisions taken at a difficult time to try to give us the peace that we enjoy today. >> the chief medical officer warned last month that we are misusing antibiotics to such an extent that we risk returning, in just a matter of years, to a 19th-century environment where routine operations carry a grave risk of death. a couple of days ago, the world health organisation issued a similar warning, saying that we are hurtling towards the post-antibiotic age. on that basis, it is surely madness to continue to allow so many

antibiotics to be used on our factory farmsabout half the total use in this countrywhen we know that that contributes to resistance. >> my hon. friend raises an extremely serious problem, which is global in its nature and could have unbelievably bad consequences in terms of anti-microbial resistance leading to quite minor ailments not being properly treatable. one of the problems is that the way research is done currently by pharmaceutical companies is not necessarily bringing forward new antibiotics in the way that we need or solving this problem. i have met the chief medical officer to discuss this. there are a number of steps that we can take here in the uk and working with other countries, and i hope to say something about it soon. >> yesterday, the secretary of state for business, innovation and skills said that he was working with civil servants to ensure that any assurances given by pfizer during the proposed