security. thy conversation with dr. michael dell about the potential threat of the mers virus and we will take your phone calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter on "washington journal," next. .

>> at the end of the day this makes no sense. my husband was a veteran. went for the vietnam war. when he was gone, it was the worst thing in the whole entire world. especially when they are whening him -- especially they miss most of this and that. especially at the end of the day -- you need help with veterans. host: what you think? should the general have to go? caller: you can't just not know about a whole cover up. he has computers, he has this, he has that. host: thank you. a republican: there. cruiser has this.

forwashington post intuition seki's testimony from last week, concluding that if obama wants to resolve this debacle, he will need a less passive secretary. secretary who became in january 2009, is not up or go visitor to the obama white house. he visited the white house 33 times, according to the official visitor logs, roughly one visit for every two months of his time in that position. that is less than some cabinet officials with higher profile eric holder visited five times. the name of arnie duncan, the secretary of education, appears 30 times. that gives you a comparison of how many times the president has met with should seki.

as we said, the general was on capitol hill to testify for the senate about what is happening. he was asked why he should not resign. .ere was his response [video clip] >> everyday i start out with the intent to provide as much care and benefits for the people i went to war with, and the people i spent a good portion of my life doing. this is not a job, i am here to accomplish a mission that i think they critically deserve and need. and i can tell you over the past five years, we have done a lot to make things better. we are not done yet. and i intend to continue this mission until i have satisfied goal, or i'm told by the commander-in-chief that my

time has been served. host: veterans affairs secretary up on capitol hill last week testifying. if you missed it, we cover the whole thing of course. go to www.c-span.org and you can watch it there. at that hearing, the secretary also said he was mad as hell about what happened, and then you heard it from the chief of staff yesterday on the talk shows that the president also met as hell about this. put out a video on youtube, a new ad, making issue of the emotions over the situation by the white house. [video clip] the white house says they are mad as hell about the treatment. >> the president is madder than hell. >> is inexcusable, and it is right to be angry about it. no one is madder than me about

the fact that the website is not working as well as it should. >> just how mad is the president about all of this? >> on this issue, he was apoplectic. >> is very upsetting to me to think that somebody showed such bad judgment, that they would allow something like that to happen. >> if it turns out that some of the allegations that were made in the press are confirmed, then, of course i will be angry. >> if the president is mad as hell, he should be mad at himself and his staff for not only ignoring our reporting, but the governments own reporting that showed this was a problem. it fact, ignoring his own campaign promises from seven years ago. this was posted on youtube yesterday making issues of the white house's emotions over what happened at the ba health facilities across the country. we will your thoughts on that

this morning. your take, what do you think the handling of it from the white house? my brother is in the va hospital in houston with four different types of cancer. he is receiving excellent care. there, thebeen hospital is overwhelmed with boys coming back from two wars. we are winding down and bringing our folks home. and we should expect the hospitals to be overwhelmed. why not? we have millions of people coming home, and the problem is the sequester. the republicans knew that they were all but going to be coming home when they cut money across the board. they didn't make any arrangements for the va hospital's to have more money. i don't know what else we can expect, and i think we're doing

the best job that we can do with all of those boys coming home. i don't blame should seki -- shinseki. i would republicans. worththis is from fort host: we will keep getting your thoughts here this morning on the white house's handling of the ba controversy. in other news, front page of the washington post, is the story

about lbj's legacy, the job corps program. an oklahomae of wildlife refuge at a campus so remote that buffalo wander in people aret 100 taking classes in hopes of the u.s. government can turn their lives around. given the statistics, most of them will be disappointed. host: it says about 55% of those graduates found jobs in the fields that they were trained for. a lengthy piece inside the washington post this morning on that. and then, overseas. this is the wall street journal. the iraqi premier leaves the vote, face a stalemate. a third term,or

but faces long negotiations to form a government amid heightened levels of violence in that country. last week we spoke with the christian science monitor. she was back here in the united states from her coverage of a rock. --iraq. if you missed that, you can go to www.c-span.org for more details. showdown brews between rival militias in libya, that is the wall street journal. there is aat deepening chaos in libya, and the financial times.

host: a lot in the papers about falling into a civil war situation. bob, in reno nevada, an independent and a veteran. caller: these people that got us in to that disaster in iraq especially, and descendent -- and to some extent afghanistan, they do not care about veterans. they never did. and to try and blame president obama for the situation in the va.-- no matter what happens, they point to obama and say he cannot

do anything right. you don't care what happens to anybody. they should have been brought up on charges of war crimes for starting a war. the judgment nürnberg said the supreme war crime is aggressive war. what about the complaints of the administration was aware of what was happening with the va hospital system back in 2008? caller: that is very disturbing. it is. i think they should look into it. i watched bernie sanders on c-span two or three, i forget which, conducting hearings on this. i think that bernie sanders is competence, and will get to the bottom of it. host: he is the chairman of the veterans affairs to midi in the

senate, who heard testimony on thursday. again go to www.c-span.org for more info. this is from yesterday. it puts out a news update from people who follow him on twitter. host: they asked the secretary if they cooked the books, the secretary said he does not think they did. again, go to www.c-span.org to see the rest. caller: good morning. a highly trained union

lumber that has done a lot of hospital work. both on the civilian side, and on the ba side i have extra licenses that allow me to run oxygen, medical error, nitrous oxide -- in the local hospitals here, i was on a mechanical reef as a contractor for two years. and when you were a mechanic working in the civilian hospital, you see everything that goes on. the difference between a civilian hospital in the ba. mistake -- nobody hears anything about it. i was on that for two years, they had mercer running for a hospital. mersa is more dangerous than staff.

did anyone ever hear about that? nobody. -- as farthe ba goes, goes, i have had excellent results. care for theva room -- care through my insurance. i choose use the ba because of my experience. they were the first to do a lot of things. but with the end of the draft in the early 70's, we have an entire generation of what i call coulda, of -- woulda, shoulda guys. now, decades of gone by since the draft, and every one of them says maybe i should've done my time.

you can understand what went on in phoenix, it's because family retirees go to phoenix? maybe there should be a great big supercenter built in phoenix for the load. as we said earlier, the house is expected to vote to for the greater authority entrenched bureaucrats. largen here on c-span for -- live coverage of this. a follow-up on yesterday's conversation about commencement , whates, and of course has happened at the new york times with the firing of their former executive editor. she spoke at wake forrest yesterday. the speech was scheduled before she was fired. a classy speech that

makes the publisher look even worse. taking the high road, she tells grads that her form is paid -- her former paper is important. the new york times covered her speech as well in her business section. talks ofmson resilience. carolina,om north alongside parents and students were reporters from news organizations including political, the wall street journal, and several television stations. host: she was leaving the times more vibrant than ever. she was reproached -- she was

approached by reporters after the ceremony ended, and she said she had nothing more to say. the article also says that a smooth transition was tried, but she refused to participate in a peaceful handover. reports that she was fired for seeking equal pay set off a debate on gender equality. those reports were strenuously denied by the times, which said that she earned it 10% more than her male colleague when her tenure ended. mr. sulzberger issued to more statements about ms. abramson and attempt to quell the furor over her department -- her departure. lostcluded that she had the support of her colleagues and could not win it back. as the been confirmed speaker for wake forrest for some weeks. she said in an interview before

the commencement, she was recruited to speak by an alumnus and member of the board of trustees. whattle context for you on jill abramson had to say. when we come back, we will talk about primary day in six states. [video clip] are a lot more resilient than we realize. resilience and perseverance. there are so many examples of that. for me professionally, three heroes are a groundbreaking hero from the new york times, and catherine graham, the publisher of the washington post, which broke the watergate story. discrimination in a much tougher, more male-dominated newspaper industry. they went on to win pulitzer prizes. , who wasgue jim rison standing up against an unfair washington leak investigation,

is another hero. book about anita hill, who testified about sexual harassment before an all-white, all-male senate judiciary committee in the 1990's. the senators per trade her as being in -- as one of her it,actors so delicately put a little bit nutty, and a little bit slightly. --slutty. potential that humiliation into a great career teaching and writing books that help truth to power. anita was one of the many people who wrote me last week to say they are proud of me. those messages are so appreciated. faced danger,ve or even a soul scorching loss. but most of you haven't.

and leaving the protective cocoon of school for the working world must seem scary. you will probably have a dozen different jobs, try all different things. sure, losing a job you love hurts. revere, work i journalism that holds powerful institutions and people accountable, is what makes our democracy so resilience. this is the work i will remain very much a part of. yesterday atramson wake forrest, the commencement speaker there. if you missed it, go to www.c-span.org and watch the whole speech. up next, we will be talking about primary day. it is primary day in six states across the country, we want to know if the 2014 election is important to you. four democrats, republicans (202) 585-3881, and

independents (202) 585-3882. twitter.lso join us on politico story today is that there are five things to watch on a primary. today is the closest thing to a super tuesday this primary season, the results of voting in six states will set the stage for some of the members -- november's races. mitch mcconnell faces a tea party in spidered -- inspired challenge. polls finished closing in kentucky and georgia, at 7:00, at pennsylvania at 8:00, in p.m., and in8:30 idaho and oregon at 11:00 eastern. we will have coverage later this

evening at c-span2. joining us on the phone now is jim galloway, editor and political columnist for the atlanta journal-constitution out of georgia. primary day in that state. senate a closely watched primary for the gop, featuring three house members. what is expected for this race? guest: if i knew that, i would be more than editor here. this is a substantially different race than it we expected in december. is first candidate in what paul broun who had that u.s. rep out of athens who had that about the big bang theory, evolution, were fertilized from hell.

he is really not in the mix here anymore. it is likely that the u.s. rep phil gingrey isn't either. appears congressman who -- who may survive today, is jack kingston out of savannah. i think that says something to voter appreciation of congress these days. host: who is in the lead then? -- a: we have a debt businessman named david pretty. he is the former ceo of dollar general, he ran reebok for a small. period. he has lived abroad, in hong kong, paris. test of the tea party movement? do, but thenk we tea party is in a little bit --

a little bit baffled and a little bit outgunned. perdue has been shown in the lead, and put into but $6 million of his own money. fundraiser the best in the group thomas and he also has a backing from the u.s. chamber of commerce. and we really haven't had those outside groups come in and play, other than the chamber. in a way that we felt that we might. that has left that side of the equation pretty much underfunded , in fact what you've seen in the last few days is that -- one candidate i haven't mentioned this caret handle, former secretary of state of georgia. to be a vp with susan g. komen, cure for cancer. like what we're seeing in these final few days is the tea party groups are kind of broun, and lining up

behind her. host: how does it work in the primaries today? who goes on? of the fewge is one remaining states in which you have to win a majority in every election. -- have to win 50% less one less --plus one. i don't think anyone is exceeded 25% yet. so your top two contenders will go on. host: when is the runoff scheduled for? july 22.: will have low turnout, it will be in the hands of party activists. host: that is one of the things that your paper writes about

today, key issues to watch during today's election. one of them is turnout. what are you expecting? looking at early balloting, it is only running about half of what they are respecting in 2012. this is different for us. this is the earliest primary we have ever had in georgia history. host: why is that? guest: we have a situation where you had a generally primary in july, and then three weeks later you had a runoff. we got into a little tiff with the u.s. justice department over overseas ballots for military personnel. the ballots cannot be physically transfer that quickly. so they mandated a larger space between that. the original plan was to have the runoff -- to have the primary right after memorial day weekend.

and then, people thought that might not be a good idea, so they bumped it up. done now isy have put the primary smack in the middle of the close of the school year. a lot of our polling places are in schools. so you can imagine the chaos, families are all -- all of the hubbub. these six candidates, is there one that democrats would like to face? want tohe one they face, paul broun, is the one they are not going to get. or phil gingrey, they would've loved to have had those. that is how michelle nunn was with thelast year, premise that paul broun was going to be the candidate. i think each one of these top three you could say have their own vulnerabilities. andhave an jack kingston member of the house andopriations committee,

congress -- what was the last approval for congress? wasn't even in the teens? host: it might've been below 10%. guest: that's what i thought. so you could go with karen handel, and she is gone to the right on a lot of issues. including immigration. georgia has never elected a senate, and its. is been hard for women to win statewide office here. host: as you said, the candidate is michelle nunn. who is she? guest: she is the daughter of sam nunn, georgia senator, former chairman of the arms services committee. maryland, but in she has lived down here in atlanta for a good 20 years i believe.

,he still has property in perry georgia, which is where the nunnamily is from -- the family is from. she is head of the points of light foundation, which she has beenand she was head of the pois of light foundation for george w. bush. host: does she have a chance? guest: she has a chance. she will not be an odds-on favorite, not even and even -odds favorite, but she has a chance. the state is changing demographically, but we do not know how fast. host: how is it changing demographically? guest: 10 years ago, 15 years ago, you had whites making up 68% of the voting population. now they have dipped below 60%.

that is likely to increase. youeally comes across when look at younger voters. we had a poll out last weekend looking at overall approval ratings. barack obama is a good measure. statewide, he is at 51% disapproval here but if you look 18 to 39 years old, he swings to 48% approval. host: will lowes voters turn out? the younger -- ne guest: that is the question. in a general election, it will be hard to turn them out. they do not turn out like they do in presidential races. you have to have an organization that prods them and brought them. is you doteresting

, youave just michelle nunn have jason carter. he is the only democrat on the ballot today so he is really not hard of the equation. but he is raising times and times of money with the help of his grandfather. all of that money is going to be put into turnout. when you throw in the money -- will probably have $9 million. host: are you saying she may ride the coattails of jimmy carter's grandson? is youwhat i am saying have two good-looking candidates who will have lots of money, and that money is key to registering and turning of the voters that do not usually show up in off year elections. look at the "washington

times" this morning -- it is important to look back retrospectively and say, what would you have done if you were there? guest: this was the msnbc staff? host: right, voting for obama she been in the senate in 2010. guest: that is a little bit of an experience showing pier g needed a crisper answer than that. i think she said there are parts that i like -- in her usual says that i, she support obamacare and i support the affordable care act, but i think it needs tweaking. she usually argues for a third tier to coverage that is a little bit cheaper, even though it covers a little bit less an terms of diseases and such. galloway, three house

members trying to win this senate seat on the republican side. happening to the seeds that they are leaving in the house? very goodre are some races, most of which will go into runoffs. rey, bob barr, ed lindsay. you will more than likely see laudermilk and bob barr in a runoff. bob has tremendous name id. another one could sneak in. ed lindsay probably will not make it. there is a little swath of that district that reaches into the city of atlanta, and that is

where he lives. host: what does this mean for the congressional delegation, losing seniority on the house side? guest: jack kingston's seat hurts the worse. he sits on house appropriations. he has been working on that port ofseven the dutch port savannah funding, and it looks like it will come through sometime today. that is one piece of legislation they are working on on the house floor this week. jim galloway, appreciate your time for setting up the georgia primary today. we will be watching. this turning to all of you morning, getting outside of washington, what do you think of the 2014 election? is it important to you? democrats will call 202-585-3880 . the republican number is

202-585-3881. the independent number is 202-585-3882, and that is for all others. tweet -- no new blood in the democratic party. why is that? michelle nunn running for that seat in georgia. jim says -- tea party is a movement to streamline and make accountable those in d.c., something absolutely necessary. it is not a political party. what to do you think? we want to hear from you, whether or not it is important. do you plan to turnout and vote? what do you think of the tea party movement and the candidates and their influence this year? joining us on the phone is -- we're going to be talking about other primary days as well, primary day in pennsylvania and then primary day in kentucky. we will talk to reporters in

those states about what they are running andho is what it means for the control of the senate and what it means for the tea party movement and some of those states. this is the front page of the "washington times" this morning. will two most vital states pick nominees. we heard about georgia. and then kentucky. and kentucky, primaries could leave the gop champions bruised as they prepare to face strong female democrats. idaho, oregon, and pennsylvania also have primaries tuesday. it is the two republican-held senate seats getting the most attention because of the stakes involved in the bitter turn the primaries had taken in the five-way georgia contest.

host: william is a democrat in south carolina. what do you make of the 2014 election cycle? doing? how are you yes, it is very important to me because here in south carolina, seeow a lot of people who the gap from the affordable care act and our governor refused to accept it. so it is very important to me. the problems we have here in south carolina among the african-american community, we do not come out and vote during midterm elections. we need to change that. it is enough blacks that we can turn the table if we get motivated and turnout and vote in midterm elections. host: the medicaid issue, do you

think that is important enough for democrats to get out and vote? most definitely. people are dying everyday in south carolina because they cannot get the health care they need. it is too expensive or there is that gap or they do not make it up to qualify for the subsidies and they do not qualify for medicaid. so there are people in the state, white or black, does not matter what color you are, they are dying every single day. caller: kelly next from georgia, republican. are you going to vote today? caller: i just came from my local precinct at my daughter's hospital. i did vote for purdue, and it .as packed to get in as a lot of people were just kind of standing up in the parking lot, the consensus was, i will tell you, nine out of 10 people voted for perdue, and

nobody was voting democrat. the democrats think they have this limit but i would say nine out of 10 people voted for purdue. host: why was david perdue attracted to you? caller: i think it was the business sense, the conservative since, and we just want something different. [laughs] you have got conservative lawmakers who are running. very conservative lawmakers. ingrey used to have our district. we felt david perdue actually has a better sense in the general election, and even with the name michelle nunn, we remember her father. you are a republican. would you vote for any democrat? caller: no.

i would consider an independent if they were a fiscal conservative. i can be lenient on social issues somewhat, but you have to be a financial conservative and there is no way that no democrat will ever be a financial conservative, and there is no way that the state of georgia, i hate it for democrats, but republicans are too fired up this year, even in the state of georgia. just kelly from georgia voted in that primary today for david perdue, businessman, over three house lawmakers running for that open senate seat. here is one of the late ads running in that senate republican primary contest, highlighting this battle over insider and outsider. >> kingstone companies been in washington for more than two

decades, but georgia voters do not want more washington big spending experience. so what did desperate jack kingston do? politicians do. he lashed out falsely a david perdue. the truth is, david perdue has saved and created thousands of jobs. we do not need more washington. we need a conservative outsider. perdue, and i approved this message. host: one of the late ads running in that senate republican primary in georgia, one of six states having primaries today. we are talking about that this morning, leading up to the 2014 general election in november. is it important to you? i want your thoughts on that this morning. keep dialing in, and we will also take your comments on twitter and facebook. you can also e-mail. i want to go to pennsylvania were kevin zwick is joining us, staff writer there from capitolwire. what are you watching?

what is the race to watch here, kevin zwick? guest: thank you for having me. obviously, the democratic primary is the top race to watch today. the four-way race is high on the list. no independent polling out there actually, so it is kind of a tossup. the the democratic primary is the top one. that let's focus on governor's race. what are you expecting today? what are polls saying about who is running? guest: tom walsh has had a commanding lead in the polls -- had a commanding lead in the polls. he has held the lead solidly.

schwartz is inn the second place position, but still a couple digits behind wolf. showed him ink the lead this bite the attack ad from allyson schwartz. host: is there a lot of outside money, outside influence in this race for governor? guest: not from the front runner. tom wolf had money they came from a personal bank loan he received, a little less than half, and the rest came from personal finances. lot of big-money groups, national money groups, throwing anything into this race. host: in the 13th district, the

democratic primary there, marjorie margolis, tied to the clintons. explain. married to son is chelsea clinton. she has got some support from them. she held a fundraiser in new york city recently. but without having any independent polling in the race, it is tough to see the impact. it will come down to her and maybe state representative boyle. there is also a state senator, dylan leach. another one running that has some personal wealth, but she really did not get on the airwaves too early.

impacted herve standing in the race. marjorie mark -- servedarjorie margolies in the house. when? guest: that was for one term. she passed a vote for brooklyn budget. out of office in the next election. she is trying to reclaim her congressional seat after a couple of decades. vote -0- that flora about,ote he is talking we have coverage in our archives on c-span.org. the republicans were taunting her during that vote, saying, bye-bye, marjorie.

now she is running again in pennsylvania. when do the polls close their? guest: 8:00 p.m. host: we will be watching that. kevin zwick, thank you very much for your time. again, we will have coverage of the primaries in six states on into that later tonight. we are getting your thoughts ahead of that on the 2014 election. is it important to you? jimmy from georgia, independent caller. did you vote today? buter: i did not vote yet, i am planning on going. i am voting democrat this time. i tell you, this state georgia, there are farmers with all their cows, hogs, fish, crops, and every thing else, but the poor people, they do not believe in insuring htethem. they steal from us and try to

fill up the schools. that is all they believe in, throwing money at stuff. host: walter in south carolina, democratic caller. what do you think about the 2014 elections? caller: it is very important to me. thank you for taking my call. host: why is it important to you? states because we have that have not extended medicaid. you have poor people dying. when you have republicans, you have to understand their base. they want to send everything to the top 2% and let it trickle down. the trickle-down effect does not work. you have to look back to when jenny -- jimmy carter was in office. we had a budget of 64 billion dollars. when ronald reagan left office it was 280 $4 billion. when bush left office, it was almost half a trillion. when clinton left office, we had a surplus of $286 billion. who is the conservative here?

who is doing the right thing? that is what matters to me. people matter to me. i love bernie sanders. oh, my lord, there are so many democrats trying to do the right thing and all you have is republicans trying to cut voting rights and everything else from people. the republicans are just for the top 2%. host: ok. in delaware.warrin what about election 2014? caller: i do not think it will make a difference. whoever is giving up the money, they will get their point across it their way. this comment from twitter agrees with you -- it doesn't really matter what we think of the 2014 election or only what corporations in the 1% think? and another twitter -- of course, we will keep working to turn south carolina blue even though it is a tough road to get

there. from karen nelson, tea party want small government, wants to follow the constitution, wants to open the keystone pipeline. people agree with the above. frank and georgia, democratic caller. hello. who do you plan to vote for today? yes, i am just calling to let you know that i think statea will become a blue because of medicaid expansion. a prostate cancer -- i had surgery done on medicare. hard now i am stuck in a place because without the medicaid expansion, i will not be able to get the other care that i need for this cancer that i had. also, i have one more statement. i am a vietnam era vet, and i have been turned down by the

v.a. i was diagnosed with conditions from water contamination. at camp lejeune, north carolina, i was a marine. i have not been able to get help from the v.a. for three years. i have been trying to get help from the v.a. for three years and have been denied. host: kirk in georgia. what do you think about the primary day in your state and what it means for november? caller: it is very important. i have voting democratic test the republicans worry about fiscal responsibilities, code word for cutting government services. it is never more evident than with the snow storm we had in atlanta. it paralyzed the whole city and state. they did not buy the equipment or materials necessary to keep our roads clear. if we cannot have a government that at least takes care of our

roads, what good is government at all? the tea party is taking this too far. we need government. i agree with the last call, we also need medicaid expansion. i will proudly vote for democrat. independent, arkansas. you are on the air. are you voting today in the primary? caller: yes, i am. i am going to -- i am a conservative, so i am going to go conservative. it is important that any time we have a chance to go to the polls, we need to vote for our children and our grandchildren, the future of this country. host: from the "washington times," races to watch -- spirited republican races have broken out in the deep red district --

host: in oregon today, the implosion of the health care exchange has made things more interesting for democratic john kitzhaber. host: those are some of the other states we have not talked about yet that will be holding

primary day today. good morning to you. what do you think about the elections in 2014? important.y we need to get those republicans out of there. i'm tired of them knocking the democrats all the time. they are the ones -- nixon did watergate. ronald reagan illegally sold arms and got away with it, lied when he was in court. got, because of the republicans, we ended up with these two wars going on. it has cost us a lot of money and is draining our economy. we need them out of there. republicans are always after obama. no matter who -- i do not think

the republicans would be satisfied with who we have as a democrat in the white house. they're going to cut them down and cut them down. the: we're talking about 2014 elections, whether or not it is important to you. do you plan to vote? a recent gallup whole shows that voter enthusiasm is down sharply from 2010. a majority of u.s.-registered voters, 50 three percent say they're less enthusiastic about voting than in the previous election, while 35% are more enthusiastic. a sharp downturn from 2010 on this tuesday, may 20, primary day in six states across the country. these races, as political observers are saying, will set the stage for november and who controls the u.s. senate. joining us on the phone is sam youngman, a political reporter with the "lexington herald-leader" to talk about the kentucky senate gop primary.

sam, said of the race for us today. is artwell, i think it of anti-climactic after what we saw this fall. we were sort of expecting global businessmen matt bevin, who is challenging mitch mcconnell, we were expecting more of a heavyweight challenge from him which might have been a fair expectation given that he is a first-time candidate. mitch mcconnell made the decision early on after watching the first wave of the tea party aul pickeden rand p his successor. .cconnell prepared accordingly when matt bevin got into the of last summer, mcconnell was prepared. i think we are seeing the fruits of that preparation paying off. host: polls show that senator mcconnell has a 20-point advantage heading into the primary today.

guest: exactly. what it comes down to tonight, and i guess i would cover my bases and say -- [indiscernible] we have seen shows senator mcconnell with at least a 20-point lead. look at the margin. mcconnell is locked in a dead heat with grimes. we will be looking closely today to see how many republicans who bevin and see what that will do in the fall. host: what are you looking for? looking at historical data, i have heard numbers from 33% to 40% that would put mcconnell and a danger zone, where he would struggle to win

back republicans. he needs them all to beat grimes. there is enthusiasm for her campaign or could be content for a five-term incumbent. but mitch mcconnell means the republicans to turn out. one thing i would point out is after the 2010 primary between rand paul and trey grayson, which was very contentious, i believe 41% of republicans said after the primary that there was no way they would vote for rand paul. ultimately, 91% of republicans voted for him. so it will take some work on mitch mcconnell's part, but i'm not sure it is a mountain he cannot climb. host: what about outside groups in the primary, but in the general election, i mean, a lot of people are already looking to november here. question, i was with senator mcconnell over the weekend and he kept saying that this would be the most-watched race in the country.

outside groups, we're thinking this race could be anywhere between $75 million to $100 million, the most expensive senate race really in the country. i broke the news yesterday that are aligned with senator mcconnell and are putting in $5.2 million starting tomorrow in ads. i think what you will see is this race is going to accelerate starting tomorrow. the whole campaign will start right away. host: what do the coffers of mcconnell look like, as well as his opponent grimes? guest: mcconnell has a reputation for being a money machine and this race is no exception. he has raised well over $22 million. as of the last report, and april fundraising report, he had a little over $10 million left in cash on hand. this primary has cost him considerably, though his aides

would say they have been able to put in a lot of infrastructure that will pay off in november. imes has proven to be a fantastic fundraiser, and she has raised close to $8 million to it it is unlikely she will cashcatch mcconnell's advantage, but she has proved that she can hang in there. matt bevin really struggled from the beginning to raise money. he initially put about $650,000 of his own money in. $350,000ut in another in april. we will find out after the election if he put in any more. overwhelmed by mitch mcconnell's cash advantage, but at the same time he was a better-funded challenger and just about any incumbent senator has ever seen. 2012, richard murdoch if fetid luger in the primary and spent only about $2.3 million.

just has not been able to find the traction. host: appreciate your time. back to your thoughts this morning on election 2014. it is important to you? rginia, what do you think? caller: i think the 2014 elections are very important. i am a registered democrat, but i am independent. i go either way. but we have to get rid of these progressives. the obamacare expansion for the health care for old people, there are a lot of cheaper ways to do it without obamacare where they will have better treatment and more choices. right now, there are people that cannot see the doctors they used to. their insurance is being dropped. i'm aher thing real quick you had a man here talking about reagan and old republicans and

what they did -- let's look at clinton. obama, fast and furious. irs, benghazi, obamacare, and everything else he has done. this is the most lawless administration from as long as i can remember. pennsylvania,in democratic hauler. your thoughts? caller: i am very excited about this election. first, for governor, it is very important. i am a democrat, and we have four candidates running, which is very confusing. more importantly, i have an 18-year-old son who is voting for the very first time, and he is very excited. we have talked about all the candidates. yesterday we watched a question and answer session with the four

candidates, which we did both find a little confusing. but we are very excited about it i'm a and we did our research. when he gets home from school at 3:00, we are going to the polls, and we're going to go vote. we're going to give them our two bits. host: i encourage you and your son to watch c-span2 tonight as we will be covering the primaries. he might enjoy watching. yeah, i have been voting since i was 18 years he is going off to college in the fall, and i said i will get you an absentee ballot and you are going to vote for college. we're going to take it from there. for me, it is very important because the current governor we have has done some things that really -- i'm really uncomfortable with. one of the major things is he cut funding to community colleges by 20%.

that is the most affordable college out there, so i figured if, you know, the best way to give your opinion is to vote. the other thing i have hoped for is that the democrats and the republicans can get together. i really hope -- i keep hoping -- my husband is a republican, so we are a bipartisan family, but i really hope that down the road, there can be cohesion. host: ok. jo from texas, democratic caller. go ahead. caller: i would like to say to the people that the republicans voted down unemployment. they voted down equal pay for women. they want to end the aca and the contraception which means a woman would not even be able to get an iud.

grants they want to give to the state, they say it is for food stamps or medicaid or whatever, but it does not have to be spent on those programs. host: is this an important enough issue for you to -- to impact your vote in 2014? caller: oh, yes. they shut down the government. host: ok. 2014, way, coming up for some dates for you. may 27 in texas, a runoff election. l tries to hold off a challenge. on june 3 in mississippi, one of the few incumbents at risk of a primary have an election loss this year faces senate terry chris mcdaniel. they crowded senate primary field in iowa represents a rare instance of conservative groups and top republicans backing the same candidate. in oklahoma on june 24, you have

shannon, a former state house speaker, with the backing of most conservative groups from outside the state. the: we're leading up to general election in november of 2014. coming up, we will talk with vince's gender -- ben fitzgerald and we will look at the charges filed by the u.s. against those chinese hacker spirit later, more about this middle east s andratory syndrome or mer what kind of threat it poses.

we will be right back. and look at back coolidge, he was a conservative hero. 25% with whatas he got the top-rated down to. he fought like crazy. it started with wilson in the 1970's. that was an epic battle. when you look at what the socialites said about coolidge in washington, how cold he was. you want to remember that we were -- that they were probably from families that endorsed different policies. one's father had a different

model of president, a let's get them, bully pulpit presidency. here is coolidge, pretty and cold and not giving out favors. she said it looked as though he had been weaned on ethical. his silence was cultural. he was from new england. farmers do not talk a lot or wave their arms about because a cow might kick them. he was a shy person. but it also had a political purpose. he knew that if he did not talk a lot, people would stop talking. of course, a president or political leader is constantly bombarded with requests. his silence was his way of not giving in to special interests. here take you waited that quite explicitly. >> the author and columnist and many slaves will take your calls, e-mails, and tweeds. "in depth" for three hours on

sunday, june one, at noon eastern on booktv on c-span2. >> "washington journal" continues. ben: we want to welcome fitzgerald, program director for technology and national security at the center for a new american security, here to talk about the justice department filing espionage charges against chinese hackers. let me begin with attorney general eric holder yesterday when he outlined the indictment against these chinese military officials. [video clip] maintainpla officers about this unauthorized access to computers to steal information that would be useful to competitors in china, including state-owned enterprises. in some cases, they stole from secrets that would have been an official to chinese companies at the time that they were stolen. in others, they stole sensitive internal communications that would provide a competitor or

adversary in litigation with insight into the strategy and vulnerabilities of the american entity. the hacking appears to have been conducted for no other reason than to advantage state-owned companies and other interests and china at the expense of businesses here in the united states. this is a tactic that the u.s. government at a greatly announces -- categorically and ounces. as president obama has said, we do not collect intelligence to competitive advantage to u.s. companies or the commercial sector. with the indictment, what is he accusing the chinese hackers of? guest: it is against withination unit 61398 the pla. the department of justice has indicted them for undertaking commercial espionage against american business. host: who are these chinese hackers? west: interesting thing is

have identified five individuals. it is not murky figures behind keyboards. their officers within the pla. host: so this is promoted, encouraged by the chinese government? yes, there are a number of command and control documents which outlines the responsibilities of the organizations. host: what are they doing exactly? they have a sophisticated attack methodology where they go out and do reconnaissance of large american and international businesses. they figure out ways to get inside the network and maintain access for up to three or four years at a time. then they pull out information which is of use to chinese businesses. host: these u.s. companies, are they not aware that this has been going on for three to four years? guest: well, they are now.

but this is been an ongoing issue. this is a very sophisticated attack on the chinese and very hard to detect. host: you cannot tell that your information is getting stolen? guest: in many instances, no. host: what do they do with the information? guest: we are finally seeing evidence of how the information is being used, being used to provide commercial information on pricing, on strategy, on negotiations, on a series of things which advantage chinese businesses in competition with america. ,,st: u.s. companies hacked -- allegheny technologies, steel corp.,, u.s. still workers union, westinghouse electric. can they prove that the companies have been hurt? absolutely. there is specificity laying of the allegations and impact.

and if your viewers are more information, there is a company called mandiant. if you google them, you can get all the details. host: the attorney general for national security was at this press conference yesterday. he explained that they have got the hard evidence. [video clip] 61398 to hack into computers of six u.s. victims to steal information that would provide an economic advantage to the victims' competitors, including chinese state-owned enterprises. in the past when we brought concerns such as these to chinese government officials, they responded by publicly challenging us to provide hard evidence of their hacking that could stand up in court. well, today, we are. for the first time, we are exposing the faces and names behind the keyboards in shanghai

from american businesses. thanks to the investigation of the fbi and the hard work of the western district of pennsylvania, this indictment describes with her to give air t specific actions with toticularity pacific actions use computers to steal information from across our economy. it describes how they targeted information from industries ranging from nuclear to steal to renewable energy. host: from page of the "wall street journal," the names and faces of those wanted by the fbi, the chinese hackers. if the fbi has names and faces, how do the chinese react? is somewhateaction predictable. they have denied it. then said the allegations are absurd. even though we have provided the evidence they are requesting, they say it is untrue and that it is also damaging to the u.s. of a chinese relationship. host: here is a piece this

suspense security deal -- deal?what was this cyber guest: it is interesting when you consider the current indictment. i view it as part of a 12 or 24 month-long effort by the u.s. to try to create more effective norms between the u.s. and china for all sorts of cyber-related stuff. we had the president and china in june of last year talking about this, and we have set up a discussion group your the chinese have reacted now to our strong action and said they want to suspend that. host: what would it have done? >> it wasn't ongoing dialogue to allow us to talk about these issues beyond -- behind closed

doors. those private discussions are not going anywhere, so the u.s. has taken them public. that weic holder said do not do this. president obama has said we do not do this sort of thing. is that true? does: it is true, the u.s. not spy on other countries for commercial purposes. damagedibility has been with the edward snowden situation. about large-scale nsa activity, and they will say we are being hypocrites. davidthis is a piece by sanger today and the "new york ."mes the chinese argued that the distinction is an american artifact to provide for commercial advantage. they believe that looking for business secrets is part of the

fabric of national security, especially for a rising economic powerhouse. guest: i think that is exactly right. what we are seeing here is sort diplomaticower negotiation to establish the rules of the road in the 21st century for how we undertake action online. after commercial organizations? if so, the u.s. can do that very effectively, but we choose not to. therefore, is it ok to spy on other countries? what are those norms? we had to do that during the cold war, but what does it look like now? host: who makes up the rules, the wto or some sort of world

body? guest: i think depending on how this current action lays out, we may see it getting through the wto. ultimately, we see this as an ongoing negotiation between multiple states and international organizations, that will balance out over decades. happens next here? could china retaliate somehow? do they have justification to retaliate? trade war, currency war, something on that front? guest: seems like it will be sort of a tit-for-tat. networksas deeply into , and i think we will see discussion on that front. interestingly, i think the u.s. has been very smart in the way it has laid this out. this came out from the department of justice, not from the pentagon or the state department. the filings were also made in the western district of pennsylvania. a have applied it against

specific unit with a small set of businesses. we have plenty of room to escalate if we need, and we have been very specific. host: attorney general eric holder was asked yesterday about whether or not these military officers would ever appear in a u.s. court. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> our intention is for the defendants to have due process in an american court of law. that is the intention of what we have done today, hold accountable people who have engaged in activities that violate american criminal law. that is our intention. >> it does seem unlikely, doesn't it? have we ever extradited people from china? >> you can never tell. we will see how things play out. we have stated our intention spirit we have brought a charging indictment. it is our hopes to have these people stand before an american jury and face justice. ont: ben fitzgerald us

twitter, the same question. how likely these five chinese will be brought to the u.s. to answer charges, realistically? guest: highly unlikely. that is not the point. what we are trying to do is send a message, and we want to engage in public dialogue about this because private dialogue does not work. the united states is playing a very sophisticated hand here. host: we're talking about the u.s. justice department filing espionage charges yesterday against chinese hackers. i want to get your thoughts on that. ben fitzgerald is an expert with the center for a new american take your comments and questions. democrats will dial 202-585-3880 . republicans dial 202-585-3881. .ndependents dial 202-585-3882 here is a tweet that says it was in the 1980's that computers would change how things are done from now on.

this one says that they came in the back door and meanwhile we sell them all our manufacturing technology through the front door. i mean, have the chinese really benefitted that much? do they make these products just as well as the u.s. companies? guest: increasingly, yesterday interesting that will happen in the future, the chinese economy a second moverom or advantage where they can leverage other people's intellectual properties and manufacture more effectively and cheaply. they are becoming an innovative economy themselves. front page of "usa today" -- spy cases the new normal. more hacking indictments likely by the fbi. this new normal, what does that mean? guest: it is a great headline. i am not sure exactly what it means.

cyber domainat the reaching out to people internationally and polling information. we will have to figure out the rules of the road. absolutely, we will see more , more diplomatic negotiations to try to figure it out. -- thisre is the quote is what you are going to see on a reoccurring basis. diplomatic efforts and public exposure have failed to curtail these activities. we have taken the next step of securing an indictment. "usa today." when will the president next meet with the chinese president, and what is expected from this meeting given what happened yesterday? guest: the timing of this has been interesting and that we just had a visit here in d.c. from a general who leads the pla

. i think this action has taken series ofhe end of a discussions to say that the united states is not happy with the outcome of our attempts to have bilateral conversations. so they will set up some sort of future dialogue. host: culturally, you know, the fact that we printed and named these faces of these chinese military officials, what does that mean for the chinese? is potentially very embarrassing. they have to try to deal with it. interesting will be to see the chinese reaction domestically. internationally, there will be denials. they will say we do not recognize any of this and it is absurd and challenging. the real message is what they do internally. they have to save face and cannot admit any wrongdoing, but they will have to cut back on the activities now. host: how big is the hacking unit or units in the chinese

military? how much resources do they put towards this kind of thing? guest: significant. if you look at the unit that these five individuals are from, the sense is that there are at least hundreds, potentially thousands. but that is one of many organizations. there are thousands and thousands of people within the chinese government and also more shadowyith -- some more hacker groups that are contracted by the chinese government. ha from st. paul, minnesota, democratic caller. caller: thank you for c-span. some ofndering about the multinational corporations who call themselves american in name only but they played fast and loose with their own intellectual property by high rating -- it is getting pirated and they are giving away their i.t. for free. host: can you give us an

example? , ge, honeywell, anybody. guest: it is interesting to think about how in the global economy we manage these issues. the key challenge with this indictment is that there is clear evidence that these individuals from within the pla have reached into american servers and american businesses and taken and information, which is a very different set of challenges. how do we hacked? do we come to this claim with clean hands? guest: it is an interesting sort of thing. when you look at the nsa allegations, it was a very different approach. we got ourselves into a little bit of trouble through mass collection of data, which is different to what is happening here with the chinese. essentially we collect everything and then do analysis on it for national security

purposes. these individuals are going out and offensively taking up specific information for commercial uses. host: do u.s. companies internally or outsource hackers of their own to go to other foreign companies to try and get their information? guest: it is an interesting an ongoing debate. it is referred to as active defense good should private businesses do it? i see this action as an attempt to try and manage that. if the government does nothing, private is mrs. are incentivized to go out and take care of themselves which could create significant international issues. host: are they starting to do that? guest: i think we're seeing some of it. but it is a political risk to do that. we want to avoid that kind of wild west behavior. host: john in buffalo, new york, independent caller. caller: good morning. i wanted to pose one scenario.

the sensitive data is out there and can be hacked. if we return back to our old school was before the 1980's and have allot use the information backed up on computers. if it is not out there, they cannot hack it. is that something american companies are entertaining, not allowing the information downloaded? guest: it is a very interesting technique. we have seen it in some areas. but for some critical infrastructure, and increase in the networks. for businesses, they make the the positivet economic and business benefit of operating in a highly networked environment always has the risk associated with being hacked. do we need to come out with better protection for networks. -- theere is an e-mail chinese hacking problems have

been going on for years. this is a way to deflect attention away from the v.a. scandal by the current administration. they have used this tactic on all their scandals and there are a lot of them. christi, texas, democratic caller. caller: i am actually independent. i wanted to know what was specific about these american companies that were targeted. what is unique about them? thank you. guest: i think that the key differentiator are that these businesses have been willing to come forward. there are much larger and many more organizations who have been hacked, but there is the question of what would be the reprisal against those businesses, so i think you have seen a number of organizations willing to name themselves. there are a dozen others who could have come forward. host: eight tweet -- how does -- how does the u.s.

have jurisdiction over chinese soldiers? guest: i think the jurisdictional issue is absolutely going to be question. the point is not to successfully extradite these individuals to the united states. it is to increase the diplomatic pressure on china. we are now beginning down a path of legal remedies for this problem. virginia,ngton, republican caller. caller: good morning. i am puzzled by your guest. what you're describing are the way the private companies work in the activities they do on a daily basis. i am actively following -- looking to change when it comes id theft and the behaviors of these companies

that are actively going in and taking our data, which is no different than what the chinese are being accused of. the if they're going to after anybody, have to go after these companies. that has become a push of the congress. democrats side, the legislators are realizing that the behaviors of google and is what we are accusing china of. this is just the internet. guest: they're a couple of interesting things. this is qualitatively different. if you sign up for google or yahoo!, use the sick -- except -- you accept terms and conditions.

argue that we don't know everything that is in those terms and conditions and we may not like them. there is a legal process that has been served. this is the new normal of living in a society of ubiquitous accessibility for good and ill. this is where we need to figure out the rules of the road. host: one of the chinese say we are financing the united states anyway? guest: that is an interesting argument. you can question how much of that debt they own. issues ofseparate debt versus international norms. host: is china the only country that is hacking into u.s. --?anies westmark guest: it is all in the area of hypothesis and allegation. you can look at any advanced

country that has an intelligence background in undertaking this background. you can look at some work the french have done in the past. host: what about russia specifically? guest: it will be interesting to see how they do things. they are getting using proxies. it is hard to tell if it is them in particular or some shadowy network of hackers. that is fascinating with this indictment. we have said these are officers within the pla. china.oudin courts he will be meeting with the chinese to show he is not isolated. michael is on the independent line. caller: i want to congratulate your debt -- guest on his

presentation. given the facts that the united and china hasna customers on the market, as opposed to any sanctions or indictments. guest: that is exactly right. neither the united states or china benefits from any sort of conflict. we have more to gain from a positive relationship to in a cooperation and strong economy. perspective, they view economic issues as part of their national security. they do not distinguish those as we do in the united states. host: were these companies aware that this was happening? how did the government find out?

earlier,mentioned there are private firms that are in the business of helping corporations figure out who is in the network and what is happening. that is how these things came to light. nsa had somehe involvement in figuring out what was happening and providing support to those businesses so they could triage what was happening to the forensics and build a case. host: marshall is on the republican line. caller: i want to congratulate and gettingration this right. for is been an ongoing item over six or seven years. c-span has been excellent at covering this area of i called once before.

we were covering the chinese cyberattacks on the american electrical grid. some of them went down to florida. i recall when the president in there powerhawaii, system went down on the island of a law who. who.lot i had asked esther taylor if he had traced that back and if it was a cyber attack. it was lightning strikes on the two elliptical plants. people know there is very little lightning there. twice.ng does not strike in this particular instance, two different places. i wanted to see what your take was on that and how it is related to it. i can listen for your answer. host: marshall mentioned our

coverage of this issue. a covertly spoke to story for fortune magazine about one of the companies that does what you were just talking about. they monitor other companies systems to see if they are being hacked. guest: it is fascinating to know. it is much more dangerous and difficult to make allegations about those types of attacks. the administration has been very wise in taking this issue with these particular actors as the initial salvo that we fire in an ongoing discussion. moreis significantly dangerous in a military area. startconomic matters, we getting rules of the road. host: we should take action

through trade policy. what do you think, donna? caller: i think it was eight college professors were sent back to china because they were stealing our stem cell research and rocket technology. withcut a chinese guy chips at o'hare airport. they have got 300,000 chinese and our colleges. i doubt 10% are covert ops. about 95. government they caught a shipping container ak-47s thata with were chinese. they said they were going to street gangs. they caught to shipping containers with chinese surface to air missiles. here for?hey host: i wanted to ask you about

internal hacking in the united states. are there domestic hackers in the united states doing the same thing? guest: i think that is the case. it doesn't have the same international ramifications. we have more tools available to us as a criminal matter. the cyber things get interesting because giving the ubiquitous nature of cyber technology it brings together a lot of different communities and we are not sure how to behave with each other yet. host: you're the program director at new american security. how are you following this? this is a difficult subject for reporters to report on. where are you getting your news? where'd you find information? guest: it is challenging at

times. it is a mixture of keeping up with breaking news and social media. to have to tie that back other academic and think tank analysis. where able to think about deterrence or norm building in international relations. how do you build new norms with the news of the day. host: this is cheryl in thefornia. she is on independent line. any of the targeted companies have offshore operations? out of theufacture country? americans might lose jobs because of it. do any of these companies have call centers that are offshore providing access to consumers

personal financial information? i am not sure of the business practices of these particular entities. they are international businesses. business inen doing china, which is why the chinese are interested in this. they undertake production offshore. it is also an economic benefit for the united states. chinese steel military secrets to build their new fighter that looks like rf 35? we are using a non-military instrument to talk to a military organization about commercial practices. this is clearly the first step in a longer conversation. there are significant concerns u.s. chinese hacking businesses that build weapon

systems. particular, we have seen trends for hacking associated with businesses that build propulsion systems and unmanned vehicles. watching in fort myers, florida. caller: good morning. i believe the nsa and the obama administration got caught red-handed as evidence by the letter that john chambers put out saying that technology had productsported cisco so they were able to get exported to china. in order to the criticism, they had eric holder come out and show china is the bad guy even though we have been doing it all along. what is the extent of u.s.

hacking directed at china? guest: this is the challenge that the nsa program. one of the snowden disclosures is legitimate and wise hacking. it also exposed less wise hacking. we have significant capability to hack into almost any country that would need access to using backdoors and other means. that is where it becomes important for the united states to say what we think is ok and what we think is not ok. we need to have a dialogue with other nations so we can set up credible for how we're going to behave and the actions associated with noncompliance. host: would there ever be frameworks for however when would behave? guest: it is going to take a long.

of time. it is going to continue to change. this is empirical to the cold war. if you look at that, that was a decades long process. what is the threat from the cyber attack? what is the vulnerability? guest: there are many. one homogenous cyber attack. there is economic stuff. there is political information campaigns. there is a tax on infrastructure. the threat is quite large. tohave lost more power grids squirrels chewing control boxes and we have cyberattacks. thes about getting ahead of technology and having good international measures for protection. we appreciate your time.

guest: thanks for having me. this was fun. host: next we will talk to dr. michael bell from the centers for disease control. first, a news update from c-span radio. a white house official is promising that the cia will no longer use vaccination programs as cover for spying operations. advisor says the cia will not use it it materials obtained through such programs. providedni dr. vaccinations as cover to get dna samples from children at a compound where bin laden was killed. today at the white house, president obama meets with executives from 10 foreign and us-based companies to talk about creating u.s. jobs.

the gathering is designed to show growing interest in the united states by firms able to open new plants in the u.s. instead of overseas. this would create high-paying jobs. outreach to foreign companies have resulted in $18 billion in new business investments in the u.s.. a we will also look at the first ever white house talent show. the committee on the arts and humanity is hosting the show. they will be from academically poor performing schools. the program started with eight elementary and middle schools is about to triple in size. c-span will cover the event. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. for over 35 years, sees bran -- sees bran -- c-span brings washington to you.

we offer gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house. all is a public service of prime minister. we are c-span, created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago and brought to you as a public service. watch us in hd. like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> you can take c-span with you wherever you go. we have an app for your smart phone or tablet. listen to all three c-span channels or c-span radio anytime. there is a schedule so you can tune in when you want. you can play podcasts of region -- recent show. take c-span with you wherever you go. download your free app online for your iphone, android, or blackberry. washington journal continues. host: dr. michael bell is joining us.

he is joining us from the cdc this morning. we will talk about the mers virus. what is mers? guest: it is related to the sars virus that spread several years ago. it is normally an animal virus. it can spread to humans. it can cause a severe respiratory infection. host: what does it stand for? it stands for middle eastern respiratory syndrome. the arabian peninsula is significantly affected by the virus. we have seen cases throughout the region. there is information that it seems to be a link with camels. that is not completely pinned down at this point. that is an early clue that that might be part of the animal pathway. host: why would that be the

source? guest: it is interesting. when viruses get into the human world, the path can be mixed. the meatth sars that animal in markets seemed to be the original source. who weher infections have seen bats be a source. they are not necessarily the direct source. they transmit the infection to pigs or horses. animals in between the original source and humans can be part of the pathway. they can be very difficult to pin down. host: how is it spread? guest: what we know so far is based on early and limited information. it does not seem to spread from person to person very efficiently. it does not spread across a group of people like chickenpox

in a summer camp. it is not like that. it seems to be related to very close contact with someone who is actively sick erie people who have taken care of a sick family member or somebody working in health care settings, they have had secondary cases. host: what are the symptoms? genetict causes a very -- generic looking respiratory infection. coughs and fever are at the top of the list. some people will have a runny nose. there might be headaches. host: is it fatal? guest: no. a few people have died. more than a few, actually. they tend to be older with other diseases like heart disease or diabetes. these are people for whom any infection is a bad outcome. the majority of people have a mild respiratory infection.

they get over it. we are concerned about the fact that some people have died. those people are at risk. host: this is the headline in usa today. 'third casemers brings more questions. guest: there are two cases that were imported directly from the middle east. those individuals arrived home in florida and indiana. is somebody who had face-to-face contact in a business deal with the end it -- indiana patient when they got back in the country. that person had a mild cold. because we have been careful about tracing everyone who might have been exposed, this is behind the scenes that nobody ever gets to hear about. when something like this

happens, cdc mobilizes a tremendous amount of personnel resources and communications resources to make sure that every last person who was sharing a flight or a bus gets identified and tracked down and alerted so that they know that if they start to feel ill they need to take it very seriously. if they will allow us, we do testing. in the case of the business colleague, we did an early test and it was negative. a follow-up test was positive. it looks like he was opposed -- expose and became mildly ill. he is fine. after he turned positive was another piece of that work. man, is hehe indiana a carrier now? is it in the system? could other people contracted from them? guest: that is why we are so careful. we don't want multiple people to

start new chains of transmission. while we are sick, it is possible to spread the infection to other people liked other respiratory viruses. what you are better, you're not a carrier anymore. -- once you are better, you are not a carrier anymore. host: have you been able to track down everyone on the whatt or on the bus? reaction do you get from people when they hear from you? guest: the impressive thing is not only that we tracked down everyone, and we don't do this alone, we do this with airlines and other health authorities in other countries. there is a lot of cross communication takes place. it happens amazingly quickly. this is the investment that we airports, ourjor system for tracking travelers and so on. these are things that we maintain because when push comes

to shove you do need very quickly. two,the course of a day or the vast majority of people received some outreach. the reaction is mixed. some people are ho-hum about it. some are quite concerned. the value of been able to speak with them directly is we can guide them to information. we can answer questions up front and we can connect them with their state and local public health resources. host: you have seen the headlines about mers. if you have questions or comments about that, dr. michael bell is our guest. he is from the center for disease control. you can start dialing and now. host: is this preventable? that is a broad and mixed

question. yes. in a way it is. heavily insting several ways to make sure that we can control is. part of that control is preventing the problem abroad before it gets imported. cdc has been working night and day since this began to devise tests so that we have a very effective way of testing for this infection. if you can't test for something, there is no way to track it or control it. having that test and being able to distribute it through our oure health departments and gears, that is one of the major activities it takes place. you never think about it. commercial test for a newly emerging virus. that is something cdc does very

quickly because we have a base of capability. one thing we do is make sure that everyone can detect it. you can imagine that if a health department in a state is able to quickly identify a case, we can surround that case and make sure that it does not spread to other people very effectively. if it takes weeks and weeks to get a result tom a there is more possibility it will spread. in the middle east, working with the partners there, we can improve infection control practices where the disease is originating and make it less likely that the infected will carry it around the country. host: in what about vaccination? guest: there is not a vaccine right now. i know they are thinking about the potential vaccine that might work for this. we don't have one to rely on. it would be wonderful if we had one.

this is the most impactful public health item you can imagine. host: is this an issue for the whole world? guest: when you think about what happened with sars, a similar virus that caused very severe illness and killed a good number of people spread very effectively through air travel. instances, in canada, it caused chaos at a major hospital. if you think about what that does to the business world in terms of travel and international location, the ability to do business is significantly compromised when there is a risk of that kind of severe illness. whether it means you can't have meetings or your in country staff is incapacitated or if chaos, alllogistical of this affects the bottom-line

and makes it difficult for business. host: hello, bonnie, you are on the air. caller: i have a question about the test that you do to identify mers. it during the fever stage that this is identified? mentioned one person that was negative and then a positive. some of those were negative and then went positive later on. host: are you in the health field? caller: i worked in the health department here years ago. host: dr. bell? guest: those are great questions. in the learning

phase about this virus. we are collecting specimens from the nose and throat and bless -- blood specimens and stool specimens. we want to know how the virus is likely to spread. was sars, we found that it released in the stool. that changes how we try to control the spread. tothis case, it is due respiratory and found the bloodstream. allows us to refine the testing and better understand the transmission. out, during different parts of the infection, the virus may not be detectable. immediately after an infection, the virus needs to build up in your body before we can detect it. both of those are targets of tests. it usually takes a few days for those things to become positive.

generally speaking, these respiratory viruses tend to have detectable virus during the fever stage. that tends to go away slowly. it is different from virus to virus. with each new challenge that we see, we spent a good amount of time describing that new pattern so that we can understand the. of risk and the best time to test. host: kimberly is an independent color in new jersey. caller: thank you for taking my call. a few weeks ago, i was in new york city. at night and i started coughing. i did not stop coughing for days and days. it turned into a fever. my respiratory system -- i have never had anything like this in my life.

it turned into this thing where i could not get out of bed. took of the pack. i went to florida to try and feel better. i went to a doctor down here. he never mentioned anything about mers. doctors have a notice go out to them? i am feeling better. i am a little achy. host: i will have dr. bell give a response. guest: you have a couple of great questions mixed in there. i would not blame new york. that wheneat reminder

you are traveling or would you are in crowded places, you need to take some precautions and keep yourself healthy. there are any number of viruses that can give you a respiratory syndrome like you describe. contact or touching your eyes, nose, or mouth that may have touched a handrail or something like that. about not touching things. i'm able to make it through airports without touching anything. that is probably overkill. it is a reflection of how i think when it comes to transmission of infection. the most common thing that is going to deliver anything to your eyes, nose, or mouth is your own fingers unless you have a toddler. or washingg things your hands before you touch her face. i am constantly handwashing. keep a large social

distance. again, i am neurotic. i don't get up in someone's face very often because i like to keep my face clear. some contact.d that is why we promote cough etiquette. cover your cough when you're coughing. . think about wearing a disposable mask to make sure the you're not spreading things to other people. the question about should doctors be testing for mers routinely, the answer is no. you are extremely unlikely to have been exposed to mers traveling to new york. there is clear recommendation for somebody who has been in the middle east, especially somebody who has had contact with mers where it is likely. those people need to be tested.

if some he had contact with a case,or suspected mers like the indiana person, those people he to be tested. there is no need to test everybody with a respiratory syndrome. host: people touch their faces on average 1500 times daily. stop touching your face. something you look into? how can that contribute to the stretch -- spread of viruses is to mark --? guest: we know that people do it. we need better ways to keep our hands clean. not touching your face is great. touching it with clean hands is necessary. host: this is a tweet from the las vegas review.

ironically, globetrotting health-care workers may make mers a worldwide epidemic. guest: that is a great point. they were health-care professionals. in many parts of the world, strategies to protect are vital. personnel had separateay, we hospitals because we knew we needed to contain them. we did not think we could prevent the spread to other patients. by sticking to some pretty straightforward practices, we call them standard precautions, we can prevent the spread from one patient to the next. we can protect our health care personnel. we don't want doctors and nurses becoming ill just because they take care of patients. these practices are used uniformly for all care.

that is something that is built into our medical system. i think we see the benefit of that and the fact that we don't have health personnel getting sick left and right. in places where we see this kind times what wey see when we look is that those wellices are either not established or the adherence to them is spotty. that is what we are seeing in many parts of the world. colleague tweeted out that the mers risk to public health is very low. how is the cdc working with the world health organization on this? guest: we have many partners. one of the major ones is the world health organization. they send teams around the world. they bring together

multinational groups that help bridge communications challenges. a bring respective to the ground. the combination of the cdc's global lab form and wj's -- maintains arm presence and supports our staff in the field. shared resources and have a bigger impact. it is a dual benefit, this kind of partnership. int: donnie is a democrat georgia. caller: good morning. questions. myck first question is how safe are we? epidemic? become an

i want to know how close we are to finding a cure for the aids virus? guest: let's start with mers. tweetjust read from that , the risk is extremely low. we are taking it very seriously. many people get very sick. we don't want that infection to spread. wet is the same reason that pushed so hard for people to get their flu shot every year. most people have a mild illness. it might keep you in bed for a few days, but we get better. many people want up in the hospital and die every year. this is just like that. we don't want a new challenge coming into our country for which we don't have a vaccine or treatment area we are aggressive in tracking people down and making sure that we control it. in general, the risk is extremely low.

hiv, thatf a cure for is ongoing. there are many researchers working very hard. this would take us into another direction. it is an important aspect of public health as well. host: the hill has the story on their website. well budget cuts help spread mers? what impact does this have on the spread of a disease like mers? guest: they are hugely important safety net. we would not have the ability to reach out quickly and contain diseases. when the net becomes weak, our public health system is a risk

area of the challenge that we have is it is invisible until it fails. it is like so many of those things we don't think about. a bridge is ignored as long as it is working. if there is a loss of structural integrity, there is a catastrophe. it is concerning when state and local health departments are that is one of the reasons that the cdc is working to make investments that strengthen that safety net. i mentioned that we distributed the mers test around the country. that is how we use the safety net to make sure that we have a rapid and effective response to this problem. we are investing in diagnostics so that rapid tests and precise tests can be updated in spread

throughout our health system. host: we are talking about mers in the united states. take a look at the world map. virus. the mers there have been 636 infected. 194 have died. there is a 30% fatality rate. paul is an independent scholar in largo, florida. i went to the hospital and had my gallbladder out. right after that, i started getting pimples. doctor and they gave me and about its. the next day they look golf ball sized. that happened three times and it

happened on my face. i told the doctor i could not deal with. i went to a special doctor that was an infectious disease control doctor. i was wondering what the difference was. me something. host: people have heard of mer sa. guest: they are as different as they can possibly be. what our last question was describing was a staph infection. services arewhen contaminated or hands are not clean. we are seeing a lot of it in the community in general. mersa is a staph infection that

does not respond to antibiotics. we are making a big deal about mers, even though it is affecting a tiny number of people i'm a antibiotic resistance is a huge problem. we see too many and cases a year -- 2 million cases a year. it is the thing that if it happened in one place, it would make huge headlines. it is spread throughout the communities him we don't actually see it. this is a huge problem for this country. superbugs?hey both what is a superbug? guest: a super burg -- bug is a janitor -- generic term. some peoples have

getting very sick, it is not a super high fatality infection. the only thing that makes it super is that it is new and there isn't a clear treatment or vaccine yet. other than that, it is not a lot different then something like influenza. it is a respiratory virus that spreads. we have ways of preventing that spread. the word superbug has been used a lot relating to a type of resistant bacteria. virus, which a uses the human being as its way of reproducing, bacteria divides on its own. they can live in the environment and multiply. that is the big difference. the superbug that we talk about is cre. this is the family of bacteria

that includes e. coli. these are not back here is. if we don't have them, we get very sick. they are gaining the ability to resist treatment with a lot of different antibiotics. we are getting to a point where some of these are completely untreatable. where getting to a point if you go back 150 years, ,omebody with a bad infection all you could do for them was put cold towel on there for had. when we developed antibiotics, that was a game changer. we in treated infections that used to kill people. more people died of infected cuts in the civil war then the looks. when the thing about farm injuries back to the day, audit and the tatian's happened -- amputations used to

happen because of infections. we have amazing health capacity because of antibiotics. it is like our public health system. it is invisible. antibiotics provide a safety net that otherwise we could not do. by a truckget hit and my guts were spilled out all over the road, there are doctors that could put me back together. the best surgeon in the world would be able to save my life. if somebody is treated for cancer, we have technology and the ability to transplant stem cells and chemotherapy. those things require turning off the immune system for a while. if during that time we don't have antibiotics to treat an infection, that person will die.

career it is intensive medicine or cancer care or burn care or surgery, all of these things rely on the ability to treat infection. ability, we are in a very different era. we are going back to the dark ages. host: we have a republican caller. caller: i have two questions. first is has patient zero been identified? is this the possibility that this is a weaponize to biological weapon? i will hold on for your answer. guest: there is an interesting pattern that we see almost any time there is a new virus introduced to human beings. patient zero is almost never found. i'll use a different virus as an example. ibo love has taken us decades to figure out the original source.

bolo has taken us decades to figure out the original source. we did not know that for the longest time. the first person had contact that -- bat,d tha they died. these things tend to happen in rural places. you are on your fifth or sixth generation of infection in a more urban setting. finally there is an alert that there is not right. nobody remembers that first case because that chain has been largely removed because of the virus being so deadly. , it is difficult to go back in time and figure out who the first person was who got sick.

at the beginning of this, there was no test to detect it. it is likely that somebody developed a fever and died of a respiratory infection. they may have been told that they died of pneumonia. i doubt very much that there was any specific agnes is. -- diagnosis.ero that patient zero will likely never be found. we maintain a large lab capacity. our facilities are tremendous. the impact ofand pathogens and they appear. what we are seeing so far with the limited number of samples that we have had available, the virus that we are seeing is very closely related to the natural viruses we find in camels. there is no evidence that anybody is weaponize in this at this point.

it still looks very much as though the camel reservoir is the real source. host: why is finding patient zero important? or is it? guest: in this case it is not. in other cases where the source of the reservoir or the place where it hides between outbreaks is an issue, then finding that original patient is important. that is the person who can tell you what they touched or eight or where they went. see a clearady connection with the source, that is less important. the other value in finding the source patient is understanding transmission dynamics. in sars we had patient zero in hong kong. were cases of sars in the market place in china. web of particular global

transmission, we were able to trace it back to this one person. that helped us understand the lack of efficiency with which that virus bed. caller: this is very informative. i would like to know your opinion about shaking hands between a patient and a doctor. i don't think it is necessary and should be avoided because of the obvious public health aspect. guest: in a perfect world, i would hope that everyone's hands were so clean the chicken hands would not be an issue. i think there is a trade-off to be had. we live in a culture that values and shake. if you are somebody who was to make a strong in action with your doctor, that can be valuable. the main messages to make sure that hands are clean every time. handshake, you need

to ask your dr. to wash their hands so you can see them do it. sometimes that comes off as obnoxious. it is ok to be obnoxious when you're defending your health. you can ask in a nice way. you can explain that you are neurotic about it. once they do, thank them and shake their hand. handshakes should never happen is a little extreme. host: two airlines have any equipment to stop germ spreading on airplanes? guest: this is a very interesting topic. from more about airplanes than i ever thought i would. it turns out that a couple of things work. routine hygiene is important.

making sure that surfaces are wiped down in bathrooms between trips is one thing that airlines can stay safe. the air handling system is interesting. the reason it is warm is because it gets heated through the engine. it is very clean. perspective, the air handling system of an airplane is beneficial. plane, thepassenger likeravels in little discs lifesavers in a package. that reduces spreading. the combination of that engineering approach and the ability of passengers to cover their own coughs or make sure their hands are clean, those are things we can do to keep from catching diseases. host: cnn is doing a segment

cant now on how superbugs survive on planes for days. guest: those superbugs are troubling the back. that we talked about. they survive and household furniture. they survive in any number of public places. anything that is touched a human beings as likely to have some sms on it.im' i have seen it kitchen sponges and boards. they are never sterile. people focus on grocery cart handles. those have nasty things on them, but so does your steering wheel. everything you touch has a ton of bacteria. you need to make sure you don't deliver it someplace susceptible.

that is your eyes, nose, and mouth. are -- hands that are clean are the ones that keep us safe. that is another way we can introduce these superbugs and create a bad infection. host: we will move onto any in texas. caller: hello. , i saw ang to ask episode of frontline. it is about hunting the nightmare bacteria. if this had not been on frontline i would have ignored it. bacteria talking about that is resistant to everything it. , it is a thing

wonderful episode, it nearly .hut down and ih --nih it does not have to be the same bacteria. they found four different bacteria in a mud puddle that one had given this packet of genetic material to the other bacteria. now all of them were resistant. host: are you familiar with this? guest: i am so glad you watched that and that it aired. how we great example of be thinking about these things in a routine way. , the are the same bacteria earlier, i mentioned they cause real infections.

we all carry bacteria in our guts. that is all part of a healthy intestinal system. if they get into the bloodstream or if you have an invasive can get into your lungs and cause pneumonia. those infections can be treated. if we lose the ability to treat those, the basics of intensive care medicine become very difficult to maintain. bacteriathat those swap genetic elements is an additional issue. not only can the organism resist the antibiotics, they can spread that resistance to other back area. we have seen that happen. these are bacteria that cause severe infections. they are very serious. when we think about what the

implications are, because we carry these germs and need to, we cannot get rid of them the way that we can a staph infection. it is very likely that my doctor would test before a staph infection before an operation. you would test my nostrils. you would probably put ointment in my nose before the operation and asked me to shower with a special soap. that is a great way to reduce the amount of carriage,dge -- . this is a huge problem. to be called antibiotic related diarrhea. that back here is spreading

across the country. it carries a toxin that is able to turn the: into hamburger. it is horrible. only alternative is to remove the:. the scenario that we see is an otherwise healthy elderly person slipping in the shower and breaking a hip and going to the hospital. they have a perfect hip replacement. because she has a catheter, she has an infection. the antibiotics wipe out the:. colon. she winds up having it removed. it is a huge problem. host: we have about 30 seconds. what are you watching for in other parts of the world? guest: switching back to the virus in the middle east, we are working with multiple countries

in many jurisdictions. we are working to the world health organization. many countries have had importations across europe and the middle east. case, the chain shuts down quickly. infectionndard can -- controls. this is nothing new or special. we can change our practices and shut it down as soon as possible. host: we appreciate the information from the cdc. , thank you very much. guest: you are most welcome. host: the house is about to come into session. that doesn't for today's "washington journal." enjoy your tuesday.

[captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the .s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., may 20, 2014. i hereby appoint the honorable kerry l. bentivolio to act as speaker pro tempon