at 915 eastern, on -- the emergence of regulating the bank industry.

>> host: it was 50 years ago when congress passed and president johnson signed the civil rights act of 1964. 50 years later, what impact has it had on you and your family, on our nation and around the world? we're going to get your thoughts and comments on this important anniversary. at (202) 585-3880 for democrats and (202) 585-3881 for republicans. if you're an independent, the number to call is (202) 585-3882. you can also send us an e-mail at journal@cspan.org or join us on twitter at @cspanwj >> as we look at some of the headlines, the headline to hold the senate democrats rely on single women, respected the supreme court decision on the hobby lobby case, jackie collins

writes the following. >> host: we mentioned the july fourth holiday. this is the headline today from the "boston globe" along the east coast. a lot of folks keeping an eye on hurricane arthur as it makes its way up the carolina coast and this headline from the "boston globe". >> host: we want to begin with your thoughts on the civil rights act 50 years ago. we found this from the daily beast which looks at the miracle of the passage of the civil rights act and the photograph of

president johnson handing out pens after signing the legislation. the network executives preferred 6:45 and johnson gave in to their wishes. he wanted maximum exposure for his speech and he decided postponing the white house signing ceremony for the fourth of july which fell on a saturday in 1964 would be a mistake. his determination to sign the civil rights act as quickly as possible reflected his worry over the emotions surrounding its passage. the president wanted to make sure those who favored the act, as well as those who opposed it, wouldn't demonstrate against the momentous legislation itself. we want to hear from you. call us or join us on facebook or send us a tweet at @cspanwj. this past month, the house of representatives paying tribute to the civil rights act

including these words from speaker john boehner. [audio clip] >> congress completed a fundamental and consequential legislation of our long history. the civil rights act of 1964 recognizes that every citizen has the right to pursue happiness without discrimination or segregation on the grounds of race, color, religion or national origin. this was a long time in coming and it was the work of many people, including, of course, martin luther king, jr. and coretta scott king which we honored today with a congressional gold medal. >> host: congress paid tribute to dr. king and his wife and the passage of the civil rights act. the only time malcolm x and m.l.k. was in march of 1964 during a congressional hearing looking at the friction between the two leaders in the 1960's.

in politico, an essay is titled "why the civil rights act could not pass today." he points out the climate in today's washington is so different. celebrating the law's legacy is awkward for republicans and democrats alike. the bipartisanship that carried the day then and now is all but dead. congress is deadlocked on everyday questions from immigration reform to a grand bargain on taxing and spending. it's hard to believe the two parties once cooperated, especially during an election year, to address the single most controversial domestic issue of the day. this morning, the president is written about hardly hiding his patience with house republicans. his speeches in the rose garden and the key bridge in washington, d.c., he points out the president has signaled more than his mere annoyance that the

halfway point of this year, his disdain for republicans has steadily decreased. this morning from the "washington post". let's get to your calls and comments on all this. teresa from south river, new jersey. democrats line. good morning. >> caller: good morning. >> host: you're on the air. go ahead. >> caller: i would like to say thank god for president johnson and the civil rights act. if everybody would just know we're all the same, no matter the race, creed, color and religion. we're one. we're one. we should all try to get together and there would be less war. >> host: thank you for your call. now we're going to brian with new hampshire. good morning. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. my call about the civil rights act is something people don't know. lyndon b. johnson was the

serving president at the time and gets credit for signing the civil rights act. however, he was opposed of the civil rights act up until the assassination of martin luther king, jr. why this is interesting is because lyndon b. johnson takes the credit today for moving the civil rights forward and honestly it was basically society and the government lacking behind. that's the case we have today. >> host: thank you for the call. from our twitter page, there's this. the civil rights long overdue in 1964. one reason a chasm remains is civil responsibilities are not embraced and a congressman said i stood with lyndon b. johnson when he signed the civil rights act of 1964, the most important part of my career, from congressman john dingell. call (202) 585-3880 for

democrats and (202) 585-3881 for republicans. we welcome our listeners. it's streamed live on the web at c-span.org. here's james from oregon. good morning. >> caller: a lot of things have changed since that time. people's minds and hearts haven't really changed. i be around 55 years old. i started off with a segregated school. it was a lot of hate. same type of hate that you see in california toward the hispanics. it was 20 times worse. they was not only treating us like that, blacks, they was sicking their dogs on us, killing us and terrorizing us. we had 144 bombings against black churches. people were killed during this time. so it's no reason why that

people just think that this was easy. even here in georgia, someone was considered -- he was adamantly against the civil rights act. it's not going to be easy for the hispanics in this country to get their rights. these people are hateful. thank you. >> host: thank you for the call. using religion rather than race to get things signed a viewer writes. when we look at the iconic photographs that took place about 6:45 in the evening with the president delivering remarks to the nation and signing the legislation. you can get a number of these photographs online at the wall street journal website. they pointed out by the numbers. 14 hours is the number of hours

that senator robert byrd from west virginia filibustered to keep it from a vote. he later said he regretted his vote and endorsed barack obama back in 2008. another number from the wall street journal. 85%, in 2012, 85% of blacks age 25 and older had completed four years of high school. in 1964, the number was only 25%. you can get a full set of numbers on wsj.com. here's eric from decatur georgia. good morning. >> caller: good morning. it was a good, positive thing for our country. we didn't really give it a chance to work. right after johnson didn't want to run for a second term, nixon came in with the republicans and it mainly started attacking it.

it went on there for a while and when reagan got in office, it really started to chip around the edges to where we are today, and you look at the voter rights act year after, we're under attack right now from the -- i guess the southern -- the southern part of the country that legislators are coming up with ways to block minorities from voting. >> host: eric, do you personally, have you felt in your words, under attack? >> caller: yes. in many ways.

voting. gave money for college. it was a big deal. let me say this. during the early 70's to maybe mid-70's or early 80's, there were more black men in college that finished college than ever before. and like i said, after reagan came in and chopped a lot of programs that derived from the civil rights act, it cut a lot of people down. >> host: okay, eric. thanks very much for the call. max points out that friends at morgan state university, a predominantly black college in maryland, could use dressing rooms in downtown maryland, stopped for a soda or burger

anywhere. a person who had a front row seat to all of the events congressman john lewis, a democrat from georgia, now 74 years old. he sent this tweet out, the civil rights act of 1964 changed america forever. we're getting your calls, 50 years after president johnson signed the legislation. on the independent line, we're getting a call from john of louisville, kentucky. >> caller: let's look at the modern-day south. we know what happened in the 1960's. the last four or five wars have been started by a texan in the white house. texas has the largest military base in the world. it was the home of halliburton/brown & root. exxon, enron calls texas home. we've got illegal waivers coming

out of texas. when we talk about immigration, it's not a problem from the united states, it's a problem from texas. and then we go to our radio, 90% of our radio comes out of clear channel which comes from texas. then we go to the great state of georgia and the great state of georgia is loaded with military contractors and military bases. >> host: i'm missing your point on all this. what are you trying to allude to? >> caller: the north and the south have two different ideologies. they will never co-exist, similar to east and west germany. you also have religious extremists in the south. so you can analyze this thing all you want, but the reality is -- and there's a book called "taking back the restaurant."

we have people here in cleveland, in youngstown, in ohio that come on a local radio station from texas. >> host: thank you for the call. speaking of texas, the front page of the houston chronicle and the target issue from yesterday, don't bring guns into our school. inside "the new york times" texas governor rick perry dropping the official state footwear is the piece. the prospective 2016 candidate rick perry is turning away from cowboy boots. and this is a restaurant in rifle, colorado, 180 miles from denver, and all nine of the servers from the restaurant pack heat, saying guns are welcome on

the premises. back to your calls and issues of the civil rights act 50 years later. if you go to the baltimore website, there are photos from the 1960's to remind you what happened as the civil rights movement was underway. we'll watch the photos courtesy of the baltimore sun and listen to ralph in delaware. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. the civil rights act of 1964, i was in the service. i was in the marine corps. when they showed us how to shine shoes, there was seven black guys in our platoon and he had the nerve to say, shine it like an inch behind. i came from overseas in 1964 and also 1964 and i was in baltimore in 1965 in my uniform, went into the bar around the corner from the bus station and they said we

don't serve brown in here, you know. i think the civil rights act helped quite a bit, but i think the republicans are trying to roll back everything as fast as they can especially the voting rights act and i don't understand why the rest of america, white america, doesn't see that and step up to the plate on that. >> host: ralph, thank you for the call. michael up early from california on the republican line. good morning. thank you for joining us. >> caller: i'm sick and tired of this lie being perpetrated as republicans being racist. it was white male republicans who volunteered to go to the south and die horribly violate deaths to free the slaves. people were sicking dogs and fire hoses on black voters and marchers and they were all proud southern democrats.

>> host: michael, thanks for the call in california. fox news points out five things about the civil rights act. among the points, five hours after congress approved the legislation, president johnson signed it, then turned and handed pens to various key figures in getting the legislation passed, including then attorney general robert kennedy. since the law, congress followed up with the voting rights act of 1965, which banned the use of literacy tests at its federal oversight for minority voters and allowed federal investigators to investigate the use of poll taxes in state and local legislations, prompted in part by the blood sunday attack in that year. john boehner said on this date in 1964, referring to yesterday's official anniversary, the house passed the civil rights act. relive this history in oral

history. you can go to speaker boehner's twitter page to look at that video. and next we have edward from north carolina. thank you for being with us. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm proud of this day to see this anniversary. i'm just concerned that over the years that black democrats in office are still continuing to preach the same thing, but we're in the same position. i'm just trying to figure out what is the message? because they're doing well. congressmen are doing well. the senators are doing well. but the black democrats that keep these people in office are still economically in the same position, poor schools, i don't get it. >> host: thank you for the call. richard has this point.

news flash, equal opportunity. why do you fear it, referring to the civil rights act from 50 years ago. let me go back to the daily beast article which has a photograph of president johnson signing the legislation on july 2nd, 1964. this is from a book "like a holy crusade, mississippi, 1964, the turning of the civil rights movement in america," he points out, from public accommodations in hotels and restaurants and hiring in the workplace, the civil rights act of 1964 outlawed discrimination and even gave the federal government the power to cause school segregation. roy from fort mills south carolina, good morning. >> caller: yes, i just want to make a comment it was the democrat party, that was the party of segregation.

they're the ones who enforced the jim crowe laws and it was governor george wallace, democrat, that stood in the doorway so that african-american girl couldn't go to school and it was republican eisenhower that called in the national guard so that she could go to school. so the democratic party has been the party that has held black people down. and that's basically all i wanted to say. >> host: thanks for the call. from inside "usa today", there's this. what america means. and photos and words, readers tell "usa today" what makes the fourth of july special to them. tom is joining us from maryland. independent line. good morning. >> caller: good morning yourself. i wanted to say that i am much less liberal today than i was in

1964. and i think the blacks have brought on most of their present-day problems themselves. they insult white people. i've heard them -- right here on your own show i heard a black person call someone a white boy. i don't think that's right. they're attacking white people in the big cities. and we're supposed to put up with that kind of stuff and like them and say, well, come on into our neighborhood? and how about a discussion of some of the black crime that goes on in this country. you people will never discuss that and won't discuss discrimination against irish, how about the irish, they were discriminated against. so were the mormons, the italians. you people will never, never discuss that. you only discuss discrimination

against the black people. and their poor schools. we pour more money into their schools than we do to any white schools, predominantly white schools. >> host: have you felt discrimination in your life? >> caller: yes, i have felt discrimination in my life because i'm of irish descent, yes, i've felt it. >> host: thank you for this call. from the twitter page, a writer wrote the republican party is racist. you can share in the conversation at twitter.com at @cspanwj. here's more from 50 years ago, president lyndon johnson. [audio clip] >> we believe that all men are

created equal. yet many are denied equal treatment. we believe that all men have certain unail rights, yet many americans do not enjoy those rights. we believe all men are entitled to the blessings of liberty. yet millions are being deprived of those blessings. not because of their own failures. but because of the color of their skin. the reasons are deeply embedded in history and tradition and the nature of man. we can understand without rancor or hatred how this all happened. but it cannot continue. our constitution, the foundation of our republic forbids it.

the principles of our freedom forbid it. morality forbids it and the law i will sign tonight forbids it. >> host: president lyndon johnson addressing the nation at 6:45 on the evening on july 2nd, 1964, just five hours after the house and senate had finally passed the 1964 civil rights act. atlantic magazine, writing on congressman john lewis is available online. he was at the aspen institute in colorado. it makes john lewis an important link to the civil rights movement. the long time georgia democrat talked about it at the ideas festival in aspen yesterday. he spoke about the powerful feeling he got the first time he had met martin luther king, jr. he said, quote, "to be in his presence, to be able to talk with him, just made me feel stronger and more daring."

and he remembered exactly what was said the moments before the alabama state troopers attacked the peaceful marchers in selma, alabama. the full story is available online. back to your calls. the civil rights movement, 50 years later, james from fort worth texas, democrats line. good morning. >> caller: i don't remember the irish being lynched and denied access, public spaces for 400 years. i'm a 70-year-old white male transplanted into the south for about half my life. i can tell you living in a community of a very segregated community, the attitudes of race has not changed much in my lifetime. it really saddens me. we are one of the most racist cultures and the fear of the

browning of america has given rise to all this fanaticism, people pointing guns at officers and things like that. it's really disgusting. i have very little hope of the future but my optimism of a lifetime has become pessimistic at the end of my life. thank you to c-span. >> host: thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. this is from danny who says the racist are those who set out to destroy the nation's white identity. that is racist. join the conversation on @cspanwj. good morning on the democrats line. >> caller: i'm 76 years old, a black woman, transported into north carolina. i don't need to say anything else. the dixie crats were the

democrats. i remember my parents talking about them. they were all democrats. and when the civil rights act was passed, lots of them moved over, the whites in the south mostly, moved over to the republican party because the klan is and everyone else. most blacks now are democrats. the whites in the south are republicans. that was split right then. as far as us getting along together, i don't know when that will be. >> host: thank you for the call from north carolina. john also from north carolina has this point. i am convinced that blacks will remain at the bottom of the economic totem pole, culturally dependency on government, all the factors. michael is joining us from

pensacola, florida on the independent line. good morning. >> caller: good morning, sir. thank you. i wanted to remind everyone that the civil rights act was the creation of john f. kennedy and lyndon johnson signed it and grabbed all the glory for it after he had kennedy killed so he could become president. >> host: i'm going to stop you on that point. we're going to ohio and joe. welcome to the conversation. >> caller: good morning. i think there's a war on white men in this country from liberal women who claim there's a war on women. no country has created a better thing for white people. where else would people in america or color or any other race want to live other than america? it's time for white men to start standing up because there's all kinds of groups of other races and it's time for white pride. we have built this country. irish, italians, germans, irish,

wherever they have come from, from europe. no country in the world has produced what the white man has produced for every culture and race in america. >> host: on the republican line, terry is joining us from canton, north carolina. good morning, terry. >> caller: good morning. it's so bad to listen to people calling in about dixie krats. i think it was the supreme court's justice, mr. thomas, had said that he's experienced more racism in this country from northern, liberal elites, than he has from anywhere. the white man has done more for the black man in this country. i think the black man owes the white man a "thank you." >> host: terry from north

carolina. the question this morning, civil rights act, 50 years later. and its impact on you, your family, our country and around the world and we'll continue with your calls and comments. join in on the conversation. the numbers will continue to be on the bottom of the screen. the front page story before the fold in the washington examiner. this is based on a new quinnipiac university poll. george w. bush came in second followed by 28% and richard nixon with 13%. the results were partisan. part of what makes the numbers so bad for the president is the g.o.p. respondents are more united in their loathing of president barack obama. that's in the washington examiner in the front page fold, the washington times i should say. and from the wall street journal, obama's troublesome congress. at a cabinet meeting in january, the president said i've got a

pen, i've got a phone, thus was born mr. obama's theory of presidential authority and then this says his presidency hasn't been much fun, not for republicans or democrats or the washington press corps or comedians. that piece this morning is the assessment of the wall street journal. chase is joining us from michigan on the democrats line. go ahead. >> caller: good morning. how are you? >> host: we'll go to ron in slidell louisiana. >> caller: i was just going to give you my experience of the integrated high schools back in the days of the early 70's. hello? >> host: yeah, please go ahead. >> caller: it's like a mini race war. i went to school in new orleans

high school. violence every day. the police were there. the blacks were just, you know, they're very violent people is all i can say. that's been my experience with them and now all the schools in the -- in new orleans are 99% black. >> host: thank you for the call. still there at 200, francis scott keys ode brings pride and tears. in an interview we'll be airing this weekend on c-span 2's book tv at 7:00 eastern time saturday evening and sunday morning 9:15 eastern time, among the topics in our conversation, the issues this morning, relations between the president and congress, is it broken? is there gridlock in washington that can be repaired? here's a portion of the interview with former first lady

hillary clinton on her book, "hard choices." [audio clip] >> there are candidates and elected officials who proudly say they'll never compromise because after all, they have the truth. i have a person of faith but i don't think any human being has the truth. they act as though they have a direct channel to the divine or to some other source of direction. and that is just contrary to how democracies work. so, first, citizens should not be endorsing those kinds of views. you can be very conservative, but you know that in a democracy in the give and take of a legislative process, no person is going to get everything he or she wants. secondly, people should not be funding campaigns or organizations that take that view. it's not just this president. it's going to be any president who has a responsibility to the overall population of our country. and to be put in a position

where you can't cooperate because people are uncompromising and being funded to be uncompromising, it's dangerous to our democracy. and then, of course, our leaders themselves, on both sides of the aisle have to do more to reach out. i was actually quite taken with the recent mississippi senate primary where long-serving senator cochran, who is just a great gentleman, someone whom i came to know when i served in the senate, expanded the base of the republican party in order to win his primary. that's what you're supposed to do. you're not supposed to just reach out to those who already agree with you. i think one of our problems in our country today is we're not talking across ideological partisan lines. we're not listening to each other. >> host: our conversation with hillary rodham clinton airs this weekend on c-span 2's book tv. you can get the full schedule at

book tv.org and watch the interview saturday at 7 p.m. eastern time and sunday morning at 9:15 a.m. eastern time. the washington examiner writing about the interview and another aspect of the conversation on the media, hillary clinton on the coverage of her book. a lot of it is inaccurate or unimportant to me, saying she decided to write off the bad press as either inaccurate or something that isn't important. part of the interview with hillary clinton on c-span 2 this weekend. back to your calls. we're focusing on the civil rights act 50 years later. there's this tweet from elise. it says when will you stop hating? it's going to be a while. let's go to ray joining us -- we're going to everton next from boynton beach, florida on the democrats line. good morning. >> caller: good morning. the vision of america has perished and as they continue to die out, it's a new generation,

new demographics. this is why there's so much fear and hatred. the national democratic party was the one who sacrificed and made sure under a democratic president made sure the civil rights act was passed. what the republicans did was engage in southern strategy was to -- i played the race card. if you look at a map, the whole southern region transformed into race states because of the civil rights act. and when lyndon johnson signed

that act, he said, we have lost a generation. >> host: thanks for the call. another viewer weighing in. it's ashame so many people are unaware of their own heritage, many black ancestors who have been here long before yours. trapped in an emotional girdle of her own construction and james rosen of the fox news channel has this essay online at national review.com, called -- our next call comes to us from huntsville alabama, indiaepende line. good morning. >> caller: good morning. thank you. you and greta are the best moderators in my opinion.

in 1955, in selma, alabama, i witnessed all of that stuff, demonstrations, the march across the bridge. >> host: how old were you at that time? >> caller: i was 10 years old. >> host: tell us what you remember. >> caller: i lived in a house right behind good samaritan hospital off broad street. i remember seeing the ambulances. i was looking out my front window and i remember the ambulances bringing those people in. because i could see the emergency room entrance and i remember them bringing all those people in who had been maimed and everything else in the demonstrations. i saw that with my own eyes as a kid. it was quite frightening to tell you the truth. i wanted to say this. i was in the first integrated high school in selma, alabama. we had 0 to 2 or 3 incidents the

entire three years i was there. i played on the football team. we got together with the white players and we played. we had no problems, the whole three years i played there. if you keep the adults out of it, most of the time the children will get along. i had white friends on the football team. we got along so well. it was incredible. we never thought about race, to tell you the truth. the last thing i want to say is this. the democratic party of today by and large is the republican party yesterday. and the republican party today is the democratic party of yesterday. it bothers me when the republicans try to take credit for things that their predecessors did not do. they just changed parties. have a great day in america. we'll get it right. we usually do. goodbye. >> host: thank you for the call and thank you for sharing your firsthand experiences from 50 years ago. on the independent line, ross is joining us next. welcome to the program. >> caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. it was 80% of republicans in the

congress that voted for the civil rights act while only 40% did. i'm an independent and i believe the two parties are the cause of many of the troubles we have in our country. when you listen to the rhetoric that comes out, it's all about who's against who, who's the enemy, who hates who. we can't have a common nation with a common goal and reach great objectives when the politicians on both sides of the aisle are using these issues to drive us apart. we need to change our direction and realize that we do have common goals. and, yes, nothing will ever be perfect. that idea on ideals in society will not occur because we're human beings. >> host: ross from kentucky. some of you joining in on the conversation. we encourage your comments at facebook.com/c-span.

there's this from victor who says president johnson got the civil rights act through congress. the dixie krats because they were racist abandoned the party and turned the south into today's red states. and williams points out historic legislation that would have in every passed if it not for republicans. the democrats seriously opposed the legislation. for dale from kansas city. ray from little rock, arkansas, good morning. >> caller: good morning. i was listening to the last two callers and i agree with them. a lot of -- you can listen to some of the calls that called in, just angry, mad. making comments about people based on the stereotype comments, based on their color

of skin. now historically true, the republican party and the democratic party and most of the republican party was responsible for the civil rights. but it's not the republican party today. the reason the women, blacks, hispanics and even some whites are moving away from the republican party is because of their policies. is what's driving the blacks and different minorities away from that party. i just think that we need to be honest with ourselves and we need to grow up, stop calling one another names. i've been hearing it all morning. stop calling names and just be honest and truthful about what's right and what's wrong. we're a christian country. that's the christian thing to do. >> host: little rock front and

center with the integration of central high school, tell us your own experiences from there. >> caller: i graduated from central high school. i'm an ex-marine. i didn't recognize a lot of things. a lot of my friends were white, had a couple of hispanic friends. we got along pretty well, fishing, boating, we did all those things together. but here lately, i'm very disturbed at what i hear. even on particular broadcasts, msnbc, fox news. you can tell what broadcast, what news organization they listen to, based on the rhetoric they're spilling out. >> host: we'll go to rodney in indiana, good morning, democrats line. >> caller: i'd just like to say i've been listening to the

program this morning and i'm 68 years old. i remember a lot about the civil rights movement and stuff. i'm a white male and at that time i was a young man, maybe 9, 10 years old. it was so terrible to see that. i hear them talk about the republicans and the democrats. you know, racism originates in the heart and the mind. it don't make you different whether you're a democrat or republican or whatever. it's what's in your heart and we have to change our hearts and our minds and get along, like the person before me was speaking. we are one people, americans. i don't care the color of your skin. you're a person and you have a heart and a soul. we need to take that into consideration and quit calling

names. >> host: can i ask how old are you? >> caller: i'm 68 years old. >> host: when the civil rights act passed, you were about 18 at the time? >> caller: no, i was about 9 years old. i lived in a small town at the time. there was no african-americans in this town at all. a lot of racism existed even around me. i just grew up -- i try to be a christian. i'm not saying i'm a good christian, but i'm a person that cares for others. and i just like to see our country come together as one nation. >> host: thank you for the call. they're saying the company

communicated poorly which tested whether facebook could manipulate users' emotions. british regulators say they begun to investigate the facebook experiment. and arnold says affirmative action is like training wheels on a bicycle. when will african-americans learn to ride without training wheels? you can join the conversation on facebook.com as well. this is a look back to 1964 as president johnson signed the legislation at facebook.com/c-span. coming up in a moment, we're going to turn our attention to the assessment in iraq. james jeffrey is going to be at the table to take your calls and comments and later, raising the federal gas tax. you're watching and listening to c-span's "washington journal" on c-span radio around the country on this thursday morning, july 3rd.

we're back in a moment.

>> my first reaction was surprise because i had worked for mr. scully. he invited me to his daughter's wedding. i had no idea exactly what was going on. but i also, because of my association, i know elgin baylor and i know what he was complaining about, so i was confused, not knowing exactly what set of facts mr. sterling stood behind.

and then when his words came out, it was so obvious and shocking. and just disgusting. all of those things wrapped in one. but the surprise of it, to find that type of sentiment from someone who relies on black americans for so much of his success and public profile. it was amazing. i just couldn't believe that someone could have that much bigotry inside and think that it was okay. >> host: we want to welcome

ambassador james jeffrey, a 35-year ambassador of the state department and now a visiting fellow at the washington institute of eastern policy. thank you for joining us. >> guest: thank you for having me. >> host: what do you think iraq is going to look like years from now? >> guest: we'll have the islamic state covering parts of syria and iraq and a very autonomous kurdish entity in the north. >> host: how will that function? >> guest: it won't function very well. all three entities will be at odds to one another. the other alternative is to try to find a way to unify the country through the parliamentary system and have all forces directed at retaking the territory from the isil. that's the best plan but it's in trouble right now. >> host: i want to begin with news on this thursday morning

and the reporting of the "washington post", the full story available online, prime minister nouri al-maliki trying to prevent the break-up of iraq by heavily armed insurgents who already declared an islamic state stretching across iraq into syrian territory. but the threats are many as the kurds prepare to vote on the independence to the north and the shi'ite dissatisfaction bubbles in the south. prime minister maliki yesterday offering an amnesty to sunni tribesmen to join the insurgency, his latest attempt to claw back control. will it work? >> guest: that won't work but the efforts under way with the kurds, the sunni arabs, the parliamentary meeting which wasn't successful two days ago, but nonetheless they will meet in less than a week. there are efforts to bring this together. it's very hot with prime minister maliki because most of

the kurds and many of the shia parties have rejected him as prime minister. but he's holding on to power with every bit of strength he can muster. >> host: and this is from "usa today" isis poses a threat beyond iraq. he says the u.s. is not doing enough to protect jordan. >> guest: he's absolutely right. isis is not only a threat to the region but it's a threat to us. we now have a state comparable to the taliban in afghanistan in the center of the middle east, not far from some of the biggest oil wells in the whole region. this is a real threat for all of us. >> host: where were the mistakes made on behalf of the u.s.? >> guest: we can go back over 10 or 12 years and look at iraq. the most important mistake was not to engage in syria. with the moderate opposition three, four years ago, when that fighting began. the second mistake and very

specific was when the isis people took over fallujah, some 40 kilometers to the west of baghdad back in december, the iraqi government and all of the iraqi factions asked us for help. we promised help and gave them none in the face of this and that led to the disaster in mosul. >> host: if you're interested, go to the national geographic website and they took a look at the areas. we're going to look at how this has changed. over the centuries, the region once known as the cradle of civilization has seen incredible changes. you can see how it's evolved from the empire and what iraq looks like today. a 7th century split with an islamic cell between sunni and shi'ites will only grow wider as the centuries wore on and the region known as iraq was traded

by a number of great powers. the question is getting into iraq by president bush and getting out of iraq by president obama, tell us about that. >> guest: it's clear that we can't do social engineering on the backs of 150,000 american u.s. troops in a place as volatile as the middle east. that's a lesson we made the hard way. president obama made no real mistake by pulling us out. the iraqi people didn't want us to stay on. they're probably thinking differently today. >> host: we welcome your phone calls. the line for republicans is (202) 585-3881 and (202) 585-3880 for democrats. you can also join us on our twitter page at @cspanwj.

can iran be a viable partner? >> guest: here again, the administration has a right, at least what i hear them say, and that is we share certain goals with iran. in making sure this isis state doesn't survive. we don't share the same interests or the same basic approach to the middle east. the more iran gets engaged in iraq, the more difficult it is to ever poll the sunni arabs back into a union. they see that as turning themselves over to iranian dominance. they will not do that. >> host: can prime minister maliki survive the summer? >> guest: i think it's quite unlikely, but i wouldn't rule it out. people have named former deputy president mahdi from the supreme

islamic council. maliki's chief of staff. there's also his national security adviser. and there are other figures out there. there is no dearth of people who could possibly lead this country. the question is will maliki step aside and can they get him out? >> host: hearing president bashar al-assad is doing, he's looking back and watching this all unfold. what do you think he's thinking? >> guest: he's thinking i'm benefitting from this. essentially, the tactic to portray the sunni majority as a terrorist attempt to overthrow legitimate government seems to be working. i've got the russians and the iranians backing me. the americans are focusing on isis. isis is a terribly dangerous threat for us and the region. but no less of a threat is iran,

hezbollah, syria and russia together, winning a victory in the middle of the middle east. we have no good options. we have a set of foes, all of whom are fighting each other and threatening our allies and our interests and this shouldn't have been allowed to get this way. >> host: saddam hussein was able to maintain control in the country. what was he able to do that his successors are not? >> guest: i would challenge that. first of all, he faced repeated uprisings which had to be put down by force. we intervened right after the first gulf war so the kurdish area was protected by the u.s. air force and to some the shiias as well. this is not something that began in 2003. >> host: his days were numbered had he not been forced out? >> guest: absolutely.

>> host: let's get your calls. we have a call from philadelphia. good morning, john. >> caller: good morning. my comment is when the republicans stole this election with gore, it told me one thing, they would steal the children's and the sunni war to get to the treasury. you can connect the dots now and look back. elections have consequences. that's what i wanted to say. >> guest: i have no comment on that. >> host: let's go to matt in concord, new hampshire. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i hope the fourth of july is wonderful for everybody in america. i have a brother who serves. so i have great interest in this. when you opened your show up, ambassador, you stated bush

signed the status forces agreement. i keep reading on this and getting conflict. could you explain that a little bit, please. >> to allow our troops to stay

on is that it was not quite finished in 2008. president bush needed to acknowledge that we would withdraw our troops by 2011. earlier in 2011, after taking advice from his military commanders, president obama decided we should keep a contingent on beyond 2011 and e they did not want to give the troops legal immunity. president obama was following my advice and advice of everybody else in this regard and decided we could not keep troops on under those circumstances. we tried other ways to provide security assistance. they were not very successful. this comment from edward perkins. you can share your thoughts on our twitter page.

let me go back to another story from "the washington post." sticking with iraq, kurds -- the kurdistan region is pursuing two different paths to the future. one as part of iraq and one as an independent state. how would that work? guest: only in the complicated way that things work in iraq. they are committed to trying to make the parliament terry y -- they want more rights, what they call a confederation rather than a federal system, where they would have total control of all kurdish lands. they would have total control of oil and say in their international relations.

whether iraq is willing to give them that or not, we will have to see. he believes the party, primarily sunni-arab will rise from the ashes. he took over the position of the minister of defense and commander-in-chief. he selected that leaders. he did not continue the outreach we had done to the tribes. there was no big thing you can point the finger to. there were only really bad incidents where his troops fired on civilians. i standards of the middle east, it was not unusual. signalcally sent out a that he was not about inclusive government. he was not about sharing power

with other institutions. they sensed that and his soldiers did not want to fight for him. host: our guest earned his masters from boston university. james jeffrey. he spent more than three decades serving as our ambassador to iraq. he is associated with the washington institute. you can see his work online. kurt, hamilton, montana. caller: good morning. 1991, [indiscernible] they arrest me in germany. the cia put me in -- and asked me questions about iraq because i was not there anymore.

desert storm, why they call it desert storm, [indiscernible] i was successful. [indiscernible] everything he got was on a small [indiscernible] and to get this advice. was i learned from a [indiscernible]

that is why they were not successful. operation freedom, they called me back because i -- the air rack bunkers -- the iraq bunkers. they asked how we could destroy saddam's bunker. i can tell you they have -- three days later, there was a time where they found a tunnel by my advice. saddam had two tunnels. thank you for the call. thank you for sharing your experiences. let me go back to the point about trying to track down saddam hussein. were you part of that effort, trying to figure out where he was? was ambassador to albania. i came a few months after he was there. does bring back

the point that there was opposition to saddam by most of the population before 2003. host: what is your best theory about why we fought this war in the first place? iraq did not attack us. people in they administration and the think tank and academic immunity and in congress believe that is true, but that the middle east attacked us on 9/11. the dysfunctional situation in the middle east, where american , wass had to be engaged the underlying problem and the hope was that saddam was not only a real threat, people did believe he had weapons of mass destruction. this was not cooked up to justify an invasion. having the problem of weapons of mass destruction, people fought this would the an opportunity to transform the middle east the

way eastern europe had been transformed in 1989. if you get rid of the evil leaders, the people would embrace a western, liberal, democratic agenda. i was in europe at that time. i can tell you the differences and attitude towards the west and the united states could not be more different between poland and air rack. that was a major mistake made then. host: k benghazi suspect is to be held without bail. the suspect in the attack on the u.s. consulate was ordered held a hearingil after that offered a glimpse into the emerging legal strategies for the high-profile terror trial. there is no evidence of his

involvement in what happened. i mentioned the headline because of this. please ask ambassador jeffrey to give his thoughts on the security situation benghazi on 911 2012. /11/2012. thet: he has to look into deaths of americans. i have met with both of them. i talk to others involved in it. bureaucracypartment , not the leadership, did not put adequate security into that installation. why that happened, i cannot answer. in all institutions, on a given day, people make mistakes. a lot -- they put lots of security in places that did not

need it. officersthree security , only by chance that when ambassador stevens arrived did he bring two more. that is way below the minimum standards for a place as dangerous as that. host: john is joining us. caller: good morning. is, intion and my point 2011, when the mandate was turned over from the od to the department of state that that happen, the united states poured billions of dollars into her iraq.- into this was all department of state run programs.

this year alone, it was 47 million dollars. does not including the funding going into as 16 aircraft. scheduled to sell prime minister malki f-16 aircraft without any conditions for political outreach and more inclusivity. guest: there is no easy answer. while we continued giving the purchase --ng to almost all of this was purchased using iraqi funds. i have been involved with allies around the world.

western europe, off the coast of east asia, most of the countries iraqve relationships with, had and inefficiently there. there were many characteristics that we saw with the taiwanese, the filipinos, and in central and south america. have -- we wind up having to deal with folks like that. i have a couple of questions. what makes everyone think that because of these people from the mesopotamians to the ottoman the british getting

thrown out that these religious people and in these tribal people are going to shake hands and kiss in the morning because they ate each other from the day they are born to the day they die? guest: that's a good question. we have asked it many times. under various regimes, for many , at times, over the past decade, and in other circumstances, including we have religious andr, ethnic groups can work together. it does not work very well. it does not work even in europe. have the sameth religion and language. we saw this in ireland and northern ireland for decades. it is a challenge to try to

preserve a peaceful world with a at thecomplex struggles subnational level that cover much of the world. this tweet -- the was aboutin iraq oil. about iraqf the info and sadly, we got no cheap oil. let's take it moving forward. what question should we be asking as we determine policy and the role of the u.s. military in iraq. guest: is president obama right? can we tolerate an al qaeda state in the middle of the middle east, bordering our nato ally, turkey, our regional partner jordan, close to israel and the iraqi oilfields?

my answer is no. american people will have to think this through. caller: you sound like somebody with a lot of integrity, but i disagree with the first question. recognize that we did not mention saudi arabia? this is about american business doing business with oil and with arms. energy torect our there would not be anything like what we are doing now, catching other people's property to burn it in our

lands. reshape the world without the violence that we are weating here, latin america, are creating all this violence with our arms. it is for the sake of gaining oil. is that not correct? guest: it could not be less correct. saudi state is not funding isis or al qaeda. where you are right, many saudi citizens from the gulf and in the middle east are funding these people. they have a lot of money on their own. i would agree with you that if we went to alternative energy, this would be much safer and it would be a much healthier world as we look at global warming. i do not see that happening. not just here in america, but nowhere in the world but germany. we have to deal with the world

as it is. this is globally traded oil. most of it is held by nationstates. commodity.ket it has markets at prices. no one is squeezing the market to do this. it is oil and it is expensive. emand fortremendous da it. reaction in the rise of the gasoline, you know what politicians act to this. host: we left iraq when they wanted us out, was that too soon? guest: i think we left too soon. argument of our operations in iraq after 2003 and our activities around the world -- you may disagree, but i

was on the ground. part of the purpose was to promote democracy and help constitutionalh systems. you have to listen to the people and their representatives. when the representatives say we do not want to give you special legal status and when a maximum -- 60% wanted the american troops to stay, it was hard to keep troops on. we tried. the troops can stay, but we will not give you special legal immunities. said we cannot work with that deal. we will have to try other ways. title 22, essentially, foreign affairs authorities and programs was not successful. that is where we are now.

host: our conversation is with james jeffrey. he is a veteran of the region and has served as a member of the u.s. army germany and in vietnam. associated with the washington institute. andy, brevard, north carolina. caller: good morning. articleead the reuters that quoted ambassador jeffrey and was impressed with it. i got up this morning and turn on c-span and there you are. the reason for my call -- i was ofinstructor in iraq in most 2009. host: what part of the country?

you were working with what organization? caller: i was a contractor to the air force, teaching iraqis how to fly. the elements i wanted to bring to this discussion was -- i have communicated with some former students in the last few days everythingthem lost and had to send his family out and that they were experiencing pure hell. he is in the tikrit area right now. the other one flew the last and theyout of tikrit are all disillusioned with us.

they said we cannot depend on the u.s. anymore. same young kids, ,ust like our rotc graduates 20-something, sharp, intelligent, motivated, and they -- several said it is not our generation that is owing to. tranquility ofhe putting together a democratic nation. it is my kids that are going to. said. sharing yourou for experiences. of my majoris one concerns. we are hearing this from iraqis fighting against isis. isis is part of the al qaeda.

we are fighting al qaeda today in pakistan, afghanistan, yemen, libya, sometimes somalia. it is hard to explain why we are not doing anything against isis on the ground. it is clear that we cannot use use u.s.- we cannot air power. that will require a unified country, sewing it back together again. isis represents a military threat to shia and kurdish areas. they represent a threat to cut off baghdad. important tould be show we are willing to do this and for us to use some military force. administration has not taken a decision yet.

host: what makes them have a formula for a good leader of another country when they cannot get along in their own nation? gary has this point, saying if we try to devastate the oil industry, we will only cripple our country and empower china and russia. harrisburg, pennsylvania. good morning, sir. i am listening to your talk and i keep wondering why you keep apologizing and keep asking us why we should pony up more money . why citgo andask exxon, all of these multinational corporations -- why don't you start asking how come they are not ponying up

more money? guest: that is a complex question. people are paying by and large less for military actions and diplomatic activities that we have made over the past 70 years. over those 70 years, the united states and the bulk of the world has gotten more prosperous, peaceful, and much more democratic. i think the deal has worked. host: rick, you are next. caller: these terrorists need jobs. president could get them on at columbia university as professors, like it did the weather underground. it's slow them down. i do not think they have blown anything up lately. they need to have jobs. host: how good or bad is it in iraq at the moment?

guest: it is not bad. iraqi exports about 2.5 million barrels of oil a day. that has not been impacted by the fighting. it is unlikely to be so. it is making about $100 billion a year. there is very little else of significance going on in the country. there is a dearth of jobs and a dearth of good jobs. run by the government which has control of the oil funds. market activities and to government jobs, there is no economic activity in iraq come even in the best of times. it has been disrupted by the insurgent attacks. host: miami, robert is next.

caller: i do not think you should be trying to promote democracy in these types of the lack ofving democracy, the government we have. with regard for why we went into iraq, my understanding is when this started, there was some linkage between al qaeda and saddam hussein. also, there was a suggestion that they had nuclear weapons or that they were building nuclear weapons. when he suggests that the iraqi that the war was started because saddam hussein had ,eapons of mass destruction there were things that were said

that leans towards not so much, lying. caller is right. there was evidence that saddam had weapons of mass destruction. he wanted to give that impression, even though he had ended the programs. all of the intelligence services that i knew of was very certain that he did have weapons of mass distraction. he folded us before. we thought he was fooling us again. trying to establish links --ween the saddam or sheen the saddam regime and al qaeda -- there was nothing there. a caller raised the question on how we know how to pick leaders. we are not good at this. it works best as in japan and

germany if we deal with a country with experience and democratic systems that has suffered a military defeat and fears some other force area and then, we have a partner we can move forward on a democratic basis with. it is very hard in the middle east if you try to promote democracy. and -- monicade we -- ifeets if another country invaded the u.s. because we can't run our own country, how would we react? isler: i see your topic options in iraq. we should not be pushing democracy in that region. we need to push the terrorists out of the country.

how do we know they will not feel -- a build these first bomb that will wipe us off the map? our airstrikes a viable option? guest: what we are dealing with is highly mobile personnel he countryside t and attacking government positions, trying to get to the north and the south of baghdad. toy lend themselves airstrikes to stop them from moving forward. retake territory with airstrikes. you have to have ground forces. they have to be from that region or the very problem we have been discussing comes up again. tople do not want outsiders

come in and occupy their land. it has to be organized by the sunni or the other iraqis, not by us. host: where are isis forces getting weapons? from the arms desire -- the arms bazaar that is the middle east. a tremendous quantity of arsenals and other stocks of weapons have fallen into the hands of all of the insurgent. that is feeling fighting there and in iraq. host: john, waterford, michigan. turn the volume down on the set and go ahead with your question. do you or don't you think cheney, rumsfeld, rice and powell should be charged with war crimes and why not? allt: i think they were

patriotic americans who thought america had to use its power for a better world and to protect american citizens. mistakes, butade that is the nature of government. they made it every day they were working -- they were trying to morethis more peaceful, prosperous and more democratic. the biggest mistake was going into iraq without any plan on what would happen after. host: new york, go ahead. i have a question about the basis of the entire war on because over 2000 architects have basically stated that there is no -- that the

buildings in 9/11 were destroyed by controlled demolition. host: we will stop you there. we have had a number of calls on this. do you want to weigh in? guest: no. there was no doubt there was an attack with two aircraft's. host: what advice would you give? guest: i would say the same. they are making mistakes like everybody does from time to time. they are trying their best to protect america and protect our interest. they need to double down on the effort to put together a comprehensive government. they should be doing some strikes, very limited. we are willing to limit military force.

we need to settle in for the long term. dealing with a new store -- a new state in the middle of the middle east is a new dimension in the terrorist threat. host: james jeffrey. foreign forces. thank you for being with us. we talked about iraq with hillary clinton. the full interview will be airing this weekend. you can check out all of our book tv scheduling information v.org.kt we are going to take a kwik brake and turn to the federal gas tax. dubay and beth osborne will be joining us. then, we will learn more about

bitcoin with drew breakspear. numbers should be coming out right now and we will have them shortly. turning to u.s. intelligence and keeping america safe, officials they areing say concerned that al qaeda is trying to develop a new and improved bomb that could go undetected through air or its security. aere is no indication such bomb has been created or that there is a specific threat to the united states. the obama administration called for tighter security measures at foreign air flow -- foreign airports that have flights to the u.s.. against a been warned potential attack against an airport. the warning came from ugandan police. back in the united states,

president obama in some financial news. in an answer -- in an interview, he says bank customers need to be better protected against failed risk-taking. changes he pushed for and signed into law in 2010 protect taxpayers from having to bailout failed banks, but that bank traders can still make huge bonuses on high risk traits. if that's go that, -- if bets go bad, everyone else is left holding the bag. those are some of the latest headlines. book tv sat down with hillary clinton in little rock to discuss her new book, "hard choices." >> getting to the point where you can make peace is never easy. you do not make peace with your friends. you make it with people who are

your adversaries, who have killed those you care about, your own people, those you are trying to protect. it is a psychological drama. you have to get into the heads of those on the other side. you have to change their calculation enough to get them to the table. iran.bout what we did in we had to put political trash -- political pressure to get them to the table. that is what we did in afghanistan, trying to get the taliban to the table for a conversation about government. in iraq, what we have to understand is it is primarily a political problem that has to be addressed. the ascension of the sunni extremists, the so-called isis

group, is taking advantage of the breakdown of political dialogue and the total lack of trust between the malki government, the sunni leaders, and the kurdish leaders. >> more with hillary clinton on saturday. >> c-span brings public affairs events from washington directly to you. we offer complete gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house as a public service of private industry. we are c-span, created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago and brought to you as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. watch us in hd, like us on facebook, and follow us on twitter. journal" continues. host: many of you hit the roads

of for the july 4 holiday. we want to turn to the issue of the federal gas tax. joining us, beth osborne, who is with transportation for america. guest: it is looking to see more funding go into local representatives who are closest to the people and their needs. host: i want to begin with this story that points out anthony foxx, who met with reporters, states can expect a large topple -- pothole in their construction budgets. the deadline is early august. if the highway trust fund reaches below $4 billion, the cuts will begin to take effect. >> this is something congress

needs to fix. raising the federal gas tax is not the solution. let's keep in mind the federal gas tax is a user fee. it is a good tax. the more you drive, the more gas you buy, the more you pay. the bigger and heavier your car is, the more gas you buy, the more you pay into the fund. the federal gas tax has not been used as a user fee for a long time. a good portion of the funds are diverted to non-highway usage. talking about raising it now would be unfair to drivers until we get the gas tax used to pay for just roads and bridges and infrastructure. host: let me share this chart. you can see two significant plot lines when it came to the federal gasoline tax rate. throughes us from 1933 2012. a big increase in the 1980's and again in 1993. . flat line since then

just over $.18 per gallon. guest: that is correct. the cost for construction and for everything has gone up. the cost of gasoline since 1993 has gone up substantially. gasolineyou could find for less than a dollar per gallon. of the maintenance on the roadways, having a flat line fund has eroded its ability to keep up with its need. our needs are great. we need 30 million -- $30 billion more poor year -- per year to bring our transit up to a state of repair and keep track of conditions at current level. considering we are moving over 50 million tons of freight every single day and we will be moving 60 million additional people over the next 20 years. they could be an economically competitive nation. we're going to have to get people to jobs.

the pointael gets to with regard to highway traffic calming -- highway traffic, saying roads and bridges would be far lower if it were not for heavy track traffic. guest: i had gray -- i agree with everything beth said. we do not need to raise the gas tax, but right now, it is unfair and premature because the funds are convert -- are diverted. subways, buses, metropolitan planning, sidewalks, ferry boats and interpretive science. i -- interpretive signage. i have no idea what interpretive signage is, but that is where money is going to.

until we get the highway trust fund money going to what it is supposed to pay for, we should not be talking about increasing the tax. from the federal highway administration. these are in terms of billions of dollars for the most recent fiscal year. the performance fund is about $22 billion. surface transportation is just over 10 billion. two point 5 billion for highway safety improvement. administration expenses, .4%. guest: i am not saying we look at raising it in the future, but until it is used for what is devoted to, it is unfair. are really high. to increase that tax now is not fair to the american people. talking about the federal highway tax. maryland is the latest to raise its tax. taxes around the country, you can see in the

northeast come pennsylvania is just over $.60 per gallon. almost $.70 per gallon in new york state. california is almost $.72 per gallon. gallon innts a florida. far lower in louisiana, texas, and nebraska. sometimes localities will have an additional fee on top. some states raise the gas tax to make up for the fact that the federal expenditures have remained flat. i would like to point out that a is af the area referred to form of infrastructure and the purpose of the program is to move people efficiently. it is not to require that people move in a particular way. it is just as helpful to get somebody out of their way and it

can be much cheaper to move them outside of their car. we are looking for efficiencies, good outcome in the program. my trip in this morning was by transit. i think curtis came in by foot. it would have been more expensive if we were required to come in by car. these taxes are being utilized to move people the way they want to move. is on the phone. good morning. caller: good morning. hear highway trust fund, i see highway slush fund. in the boston area, it was since the stimulus in 2009. putting americans back to work on all of these massive projects. some of them, they are still working on. they are rebuilding a bridge. it has taken over four years. i drive by there. end. projects will never

i see sound barriers, multimillion dollar sound barriers in front of swamps. this is not helping the efficiency of the drivers. is allstuck in gas, this just for union jobs. they are not efficiently using this money. it is going to waste. they're planting shrubs three feet apart that are going to be growing into each other in a few years. they are digging up spots that are complete and utter wastes of money. leave it as it is. when the road needs potholes to be fixed, fixed them. it is crazy what i see around here. host: and debbie, oregon. caller: good morning. my question is this -- in 2009, when president obama took and a, he had a bailout

lot of that money was supposed to go to fixing our bridges and roads. what happened to that? guest: in terms of the last question, about $45 billion of that was dedicated to surface transportation. of that hasirds been spent. in terms of waste, one of the things the federal program is performance do measures for more accountability on how the money is spent. it goes out to state departments of transportation with very wide eligibility's and flexibility on how the money is spent. are setting up performance measures. where the states are not spending the money, where will not be improving safety in those sorts of things you have

mentioned, they will be required to spend more money in those areas. hopefully, the u.s. department of transportation will make sure that those rules are very stringent and if not, congress will step up and require it going forward. host: one of our viewers says the price for a gallon of gas is close to four dollars a gallon. she is calling that painful. "the washington post" there is this essay -- why we need to raise the gas tax and get rid of it. this is a conversation we need to have. we have not had a hearing in the ways and means committee. we have not had an opportunity for the truckers in the aaa and the u.s. chamber of commerce and the environmentalists to come in and talk about the pros and cons, what they need, what they're willing to do, what the governors need, as well as the mayors. why are we not having this

conversation? it is just now coming to that because the highway trust fund is running low. i am sure the ways and means committee will pick up on it soon. one thing i want to go back to is the discussion of diverting the money to non-highway uses. i have no problem with those ifer types of spending states and localities determine it is efficient and that is how they want to do it. the gas tax is a user fee. the user fee should go to pay for what the user fee should pay for. it is unfair to tell people that are paying for gas taxes that it is going to be used for service roads and bridges and it is being diverted to all these other things. the gasre is a look at

tax. cents per gallon. the diesel tax is my 4.4 cents a gallon. -- is 24.4 cents a gallon. the average miles traveled per vehicle is just over 11,000 miles. the average fuel consumed per vehicle is about 529 gallons. the average of federal gas tax paid by each vehicle is under $100. guest: this is a user fee. that, in terms of taxing is something that americans are more comfortable with area in i ay in as a user and i get benefit from the system i'm using. there are ways you can get benefit in the system. driver, i can get

benefited from making sure my road is in good condition, but i can also get benefit from removing people who are in front of me that do not need to be in front of me by reducing the amount of traffic on roadways. ais is highly useful to me as driver and something i am in favor of. host: americans opt in for and -- higherance performance and heavier vehicles, which where on roads. from a i have heard couple of sources that the federal government subsidizes the -- industry to make alcohol subsidize theto 10% alcohol content in gasoline. we are getting less power for our money instead of more. is there any truth the hind the statement? the federal government mandates ethanol be put into motor fuel.

i think 10% is the mandate. they provide a tax credit. that is to offset the mandate. it is distorted energy markets. there is no doubt about that. there is a growing dissatisfaction with the ethanol mandate and the ethanol subsidies. to always crop back up because of the power that iowa holds in our electoral process. say how see candidates we need to invest in ethanol. we should not be trying to tilt the market in any forms of energy. it should work itself out. is a graduateubay of the university of richmond. beth osborne is the current vice president of transportation and development at transportation for america. she is a graduate of louisiana state university.

gary, sterling, virginia. caller: good morning. do not want to pay more in taxes, call the white house. 202-456-1414. tell them to put you in the comment line and say subsidize, prioritize, analyze, and design our transportation infrastructure with satellite computer technology instead of ey system we have right now. the allocation formula for states and is it fair? guest: that is a big question and a very good one. the allocation formula was basically set in the early 1990's. ofwas based on the amount lane miles, population, and a whole host of things. there has been a lot of discussion about whether or not

it is fair. we are only bringing in $38 billion a year by the gas tax and our program is 50 $5 billion a year. it is subsidized by general taxes. every state is getting back more in federal transportation dollars than they are putting in through the gas tax. we could talk about whether or not that is a fair user-based system, but it is hard to say that any state is not getting their fair allocation. a look at the decline of money being allocated because of reaching this for billion dollar mark and what would happen moving into august and september. what are the possibilities? foxx has toldry folks that they will slow state's reimbursements. currently, the row graham is paid for state -- currently, the

program is paid for by state reimbursement project. they're not bringing in enough money to handle all of those reimbursements. some states have prepared for this and have cut projects. arkansas cut about 14 projects worth about $70 million. other states are hoping that congress will keep its word that the program that they promised will come through with the money that was offered. if you are interested in how much of your gas dollars going into the product itself versus the refinery and a taxes, here is the breakdown. regularfocused on a gallon of gasoline retailing at about $3.67 per gallon. the oil.to 13% for refinery. 11% for distribution and marketing. 12% goes to taxes.

pat, bear, massachusetts. i heard beth say the cost of construction and all of the different things have gone up. taxpayer? the average the small person that pays all of the axes -- a pays all the taxes and repairs on his our has gone up. the cost of clothing, anything we buy in the stores. food has gone up, but that is all right, you can add something on top of that. my husband travels an hour to work. it will not give us any more money to do some of the things we want to do. smor resume hurts -- touri hurts. if you have money, it is ok. it will work out in the end. if i could afford a car with better gas mileage, i would love that.

i have 218,000 miles on my car. what does your husband say about his communion what are the roads like? guest: they are not too bad where he is. i think he'd rather pay less tax and deal with it. any problemsad to our car because of it. i would hate to see more taxes on that. i think we are taxed to the hilt. i agree. raising taxes is not a good idea. gas prices are high. raising the tax would be burdensome on american families and the drivers. that -- it ist not to say never to raise the gas tax or that there is no reason why we would do so, the

point of that because it is a user fee, until it is returned to its original purpose, to be a user fee, we should not talk about raising it because it is not fair. until 100% of the tax dollars go to those purposes, the gas tax should stay where it is. massachusetts, the state gas tax is about $.45 per gallon. the administration wants that as many as 700,000 jobs could be in desperate -- could be in jeopardy if congress does not move on the highway funding issue. we always look at raising the cost on people instead of looking at reducing cost. construction for 50 years. i have worked for union and nonunion contractors.

can pick up 25 percent to 30% on every construction job that is funded in this country. program hasederal large needs. program is worth having, it is worth paying for. -- it is not to say that paying for it is ever going to be easy, but we do pay for it in other ways. we pay for an inadequate system in sitting in traffic and having to spend more time to get to work. we pay for it in safety costs. right now, the average bridge is 42 years old. they have a design life of 50 years. one in nine bridges is structurally deficient. needs,not pay for those but there is ramification for

our access to opportunity, four hour access to jobs and economy for do not pay for those. cared about our citizens, we would want to see them travel on safer roads and bridges. you can send us an e-mail. withoached the issue senator john thune. [video clip] want to keep a user fee based program, that is the most logical place that most folks would end up. senator corker and murphy came out with their proposal. indexing it would help, but you have more fuel-efficient cars. more hybrids on the road. it is not raising it the amount and has in the past. it is still something that highway users pay for.

why that, ifsons you are looking at the different scenarios and options, if you have to raise revenue to do this, it is an option that is being discussed. there are other things being talked about as well. some republicans and democrats are talking about repatriating funds, multinational operations that have earnings that are part off shore -- parked offshore right now, getting them back here at a lower level. that would generate revenue for a time, but is not a permanent solution either. host: the www.c-span.org full interview any time at the fulln.org --host: interview any time at www.c-span.org. i think the thing we have missed talking about before is

other programs other than raising the tax. a previous caller talked about reforming davis-bacon, which is wages form for higher construction workers. there are other regulations that go into transportation projects. we could look at reforming them to make transportation projects more affordable. and we could look at sending this back to state. we have a federal system and if the drivers know states want to pay it, that is all right. we should look at doing those reforms, and returning the gas tax to its user fee basis before we talk about raising the tax that -- that gas tax. it should be the last option. other things have to be done before that to be fair to the people. host: beth osborne? with theagree proposal. there have been folks like representative rodney davis of illinois and him -- and dena titus of nevada to my democrat,

to put more in the hands of the locals to address the day-to-day transportation challenges. we would very much like to see some reform to the current program and that should very the be a part of conversation of putting more money in. we would also like to see more competition. competition spurs innovation. project sponsors to figure out ways to get -- it spurs project sponsors to figure out ways to get more with less. hit: if you are about to the road or you're listening to this program on c-span radio and about to fill up your tank, you are paying about $.20 per gallon more this year than you did last year courtesy of the triple-a information and the headlines from the "wall street journal." and from one of our viewers, we pay from not maintaining infrastructure in the damage to our cars that have to be fixed on our dime.

john is joining us in lakeland, florida. good morning. caller: good morning. experts are calling the united states the saudi arabia of america. .here is one difference in saudi arabia, they have free education, free health benefits, free everything because of the oil-rich country. the united states, because of fracking and everything else, why doesn't the federal have a 50-50 partnership with these big oil companies and offshore exploration? taking that money instead of getting 1/8 of what they produce come and get 50%. produce, getey 50%. all these other countries, they pay less than a dollar. you're in this country, it is the highest ever been. and then they are talking about exporting more oil overseas. host: john, thanks for the call.

who would like to respond? they do payroll fees when they extract oil from the ground. they pay the government. whether those should be raised or lowered to my don't have a good grasp on, but they are certainly paying them now. host: this is from the association of civil engineers. they put together a report card --bridges and road in the roads in this country and they said overall there about 150,000 bridges that are deficient and 66,000 bridges -- ridges that are structurally deficient. further down, 42% of major urban highways are congested, costing about $100 billion annually. in dutch ofh is roads are in poor or mediocre condition, costing motorists about 324 million dollars -- 300 and $24 per year.

-- $324 per year. the metro just raised its rates. -- thathat is a right is right. in terms of addressing everyday challenges, there are a number of ways to do that. -- you expand congestion can address congestion by expanding roadways. in some ways that is very expensive, but we can allow people to move shorter distances safely outside of their car. outside oflives just baton rouge, louisiana. if you walk to the right you can see a grocery store about to blocks down, two but you would never walk there because it would be too dangerous to do so. with a sidewalk or a strip of of paint, heipe could walk or bike there and not use the ethylene to go just a couple of -- use the gasoline to go just a couple of blocks.

we really need more money in the hands of local officials. they have a better understanding of what people need locally to have access to opportunity. host: from new jersey, our next caller is clyde. welcome to the program. caller: good morning. i remember the oil embargo back .n the 70's if they're thinking about raising a federal gas tax, this to what going to return people pay for gas, 20 be more. we are paying $3.43 per gallon for regular gas. and people aren't working. they can't work. i'm on disability and i cannot work. have to go to the doctor.

i use bus transportation in new jersey transit, but i don't want to go on the bus, because sometimes people smoke on the bus. it's ridiculous. jersey., clyde from new we go to edwin, from cambridge, massachusetts. good morning. caller: good morning. my senator has introduced legislation in the senate. i think he has 20 supporters. has 100 million dollars in profits last quarter. he also says that wall street and the oil companies control .0% of the market for oil there is no free market. there is technically no market at all. what he suggested is that there needs to be a breakup. legislation would break up the control of wall street and the oil companies on the price of oil. it has gone up about a dollar a

gallon since either last year or sometime not so long ago. street and exxon and the companies that control the price of oil to our disadvantage. host: edwin, thanks very much for the call from massachusetts. we will get a response from both of our guests. we will begin with beth osborne. guest: the price of gasoline is certainly a challenge for everybody these days. and there does not seem to be any reason to believe the price of gasoline is going to come down substantially in the foreseeable future. that is clearly a challenge. and one of the things the federal transportation program to support highways and bridges should be doing is to figure out ways to allow you to the move around more efficiently, more quickly, and more cheaply. and that should mean more congestion, so you are not having to burn gasoline sitting still. it may mean allowing you to walk

to the grocery instead of getting in your car. it may mean walking her kids to school as opposed to having to drive your kid. we need a federal program that is focused on the outcome, looking at moving people to opportunity and moving goods to market. are -- theink people market is kind of solving the move ability and walk ability issue. people are moving closer to cities. people are deciding they want that type of life. they're moving to washington, d.c., or staying in manhattan, or san francisco. they are not living out in the suburbs as much as they used to be. drive liket want to they used to. having a car and driving is not as dramatic as it was in the past. that is for sure. is thing i did not touch on raising the gas tax for inflation. i think it makes a lot of sense to do that. i'm not so comfortable with the federal program always

getting a larger slice of pie every year. be left up tould congress to consider every year or every couple of years rather than automatically giving a higher amount. why the question of congress has not talked about reforming gas tax and highway trust fund until now, it is interesting. the obama administration did float a major reform. it was called the vehicles might -- the vehicle miles tax. it is where you get taxed on the miles you drive rather than gas. and they floated it two or three times with the transportation secretary and it got hammered. i think it would get worse treatment today, even with the highway trust fund. -- even with the problems with the highway trust fund. privacy issues, there's no way it's going to happen. but it is an option out there and they could be an interesting one as long as you get over the

privacy issues. >> and we've been hearing a lot of comments about the price of gasoline. this is from a survey conducted in june saying that two thirds of americans, 68%, should believe that -- believe that the federal government should increase transportation spending. the follow-up to that is that means higher taxes. guest: and there are a number of different ways that we could raise more money. there's the vehicle miles tax, which has the challenges that he very aptly listed. there is also the discussion of allowing more tolling on the roadways, also a discussion of allowing more financing. and curtis is also right that we are seeing a big change in , in their preferred ways of movement. if you have people who are older what their most of -- most prized possession is, they will say their car. if you ask people who are younger, they will say their phone or the computer. to do in we need

recognizing this change is make sure that the federal program is supporting that market demand. and while people are certainly demanding more walkable transit through communities, if we are only building roads that are safer cars, that we are telling people that what they want, what our taxpayer wants is not what they are going to get. that is not the student -- that does not seem to be appropriate use of federal power. host: here is something from earlier this week on the gas tax and the federal highway trust fund. [video clip] workers are paving roads and modernizing our transit systems. and soon states may have to choose which projects to continue and which ones to put the brakes on because they are running out of money. some have already done just that. just because they are worried the congress will not get the tax together in time. host: that was the president along the key bridge in washington, d.c.

the "u.s. news & world report" says there are couple of things that congress should be doing. number one, whether congress austin rely on the current gasoline -- whether congress ops to rely on the current gasoline tax or switching to another, resources, states are not allowed to toll. guest: out of have a big problem with tolls. again, if the user fee. i don't like tax increases. but we're talking about something like roads and bridges and infrastructure where you are using it, i have no problem with the user fee model. i think they should be allowed to increase tolls if that is an option. but there are other reforms that need to be done as well. s. cannot just look at revenue there are plenty of programs where there is work to be done to reduce the cost.

host: michele in washington, good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to mention to mr. dubay appear in washington state, our defense system is our highway system. not only did we pay $15 to get from our location to seattle, it is $15 back again. not only do we have to drive to the ferry, that would pay another using -- user fee to get on the ferry and then do our business across the water. it falls into the department of transportation. where do you suggest that we get the money to do this? i have not heard any solutions from you, just complaining. host: thank you, michelle. -- i'mwhy should someone from massachusetts. why should they reduce -- why should they pay gasp tax to reduce the fares in seattle?

there should be fees to pay for your ferry system. it is a local project. the state of washington and seattle should be funding it with their own taxes. guest: i think the purpose of the federal program should be to move people as cost effectively and efficiently as possible. if in your area of the country it is by ferry, that was should support that. it should not be a more expensive of -- form of travel just because someone in washington, d.c. decided it is the best expenditure. also -- we give money to the states to move their people locally. i also noticed there is an undercurrent in washington that local priorities are somehow beneath the federal program. but most people move locally every day. my trip and here was local. when i leave here, my trip to

work will be local. i'm a taxpayer and i expect the federal government to take my local transportation needs and challenges very seriously and otherwise i've been -- otherwise i should not be paying it. host: the one thing you both alluded to is that cars should be more efficient. that goes back to the funding formula. guest: that is exactly right. we have seen a fuel efficiency increase and we've also seen driving plateau. the leveling off of the amount of money that we are bringing into the gas tax occurred before fuel efficiency standards and before the economic downturn. i think we are seeing a change in behavior. you're seeing people who want to live closer to what -- closer to work. live in walkable communities. there is certainly a long-term challenge there in terms of paying for the system. guest: there is something interesting about this. there is a big push to get people into hybrid cars and more

energy-efficient cars, which means gas tax revenues decline. also to raiseh gas taxes, but that decreases the incentive to buy a hybrid car or electric model. there is a tension there. peter in new york on the republican line. caller: the problem i have a thick tax is a couple of things. number one, it favors people overworldban areas areas. people in wirral areas have to drive more. of 2015, we will be an exporter of oil. we have the next wording gasoline. we pay the world price for oil and gasoline because the american people are not getting the benefit of the excess reduction that is going on in the country, which is keeping gasoline prices elevated. york, it is almost

$.50 a gallon for gasoline. if you want the economy to do well, you need cheap fuel. in saudi arabia, gas is very cheap. and the big winners here are the oil companies. share with you this statement from the transportation secretary in light of the looming deadline. it is courtesy of the dot. "the department will continue to take every possible measure to fully reimburse your stay for as long as we can. however, as we approach insolvency, the department will be forced to limit payments to manage the reduce levels of cash available in the trust fund. this means among other things that the federal highway administration will no longer make same-day payments to reimburse states." how big of a deal is this? deal. it is a very big it is why you see several states already canceling projects. in itss canceled 14

construction season. several other states will cancel. we will see next morning season. more next season. budget, it ise about 50% of the construction program full stop in some states that is higher and in some states that slower. when they seek re-immerse men, many of them do it on a daily basis. as secretary foxx has stated, they will have to slow those reimbursements. as the money becomes even more scarce, they will have to stand in line and wait until enough money is coming in to be able to reimburse them. host: from tennessee, naked on the phone. good morning. caller: good morning. in terms of the increase in the federal gas tax them i don't think we should do that. number one, some of the things tocan do to divert the funds the highway projects is to stop subsidizing the oil companies. on commodities that are a

, wessity, such as gasoline should not increase taxes. what we should do is increase the tax on the speculators. and really, to stop the speculation on that. increase the refineries to handle any increase coming out of -- increase of oil coming out of north dakota. response, curtis dubay? think much is going to come out of the speculators in any way. i do think congress will handle this for the next few weeks and it will be dealt with. what i hope to see, though, is that they do not do these gimmicks that they've been talking about, like repatriation of foreign profits. what i want to see congress do and what i hope they do it that

they plug the hole in the trust fund, funded with general revenue, but commit to this not having this in the future. get it to the next year, but then commit to making reform so we never have that problem again . host: how likely is that to happen? guest: to be able to solve the problem in a long-term, it is a huge challenge. the committee that took this up just to get this to the calendar year, they had to can -- they had to do is continue their action and try to negotiate a bipartisan solution will stop they are struggling even to move it through committee. this is going to be a difficult thing. nobody wants to come up with more money for the program, but we have to make a decision about whether or not investing in this is worthwhile. recently said,er if it is worth having, it is worth funding. guest: they put a lot of

gimmicky pay force in their -- pay fors in there. if they commit to solving this problem, they could not have in the future. if they commit to making long-term reforms going forward. guest: i'm going to agree with curtis here that we have divorced the conversation about the policy from the conversation about the funding. i don't think that is a good strategy over the long run. from the american taxpayer's perspective, they want to know what they are getting from the program. and they should absolutely have a conversation about policy and doing that will make it much easier to have funding. were talking about using passport rules and retirement. those have nothing to do with a highway program. that is why i don't think they're getting any support for the things they are throwing out right now. host: you are optimistic that a resolution will be in place by august? guest: i am, but not with any ideas that are out there right now. it a 50-50.ld give it will be a challenge to get

this done before the august recess. guest: they've got to go back and campaign. this is the kitchen table issue and it's important for a lot of states. they don't want to be going around in august about -- and hearing about how someone is out of work because of the transportation program. they will figure out something. guest: it is very important. we certainly hope congress can find a way to plug the hole and get us through the rest of the construction season. host: to both of you, thank you for adding your voice to this debate. today --rne and curtis dubay. we appreciate you being with us. we will turn our attention to some of the latest news from c-span radio. bitcoin, thet, currency, drew breakspear is going to be joining us from the conference of state bank supervisors. we will get more about how this is playing out not only in the u.s., but around the world. but first nancy kilo in the

c-span studios. numbers show hiring over the past five months have been the strongest since the late 1990's tech boom. 200 88,000 added jobs in june and the unemployed 288,000 jobs in june and the unemployment rate from 6.3.1 applyingr of americans for jobless benefits edged up slightly last week. the labor department says weekly unemployment applications rose by 2000 up to 315,000. the four-week average, which smooths out week to week volatility was essentially unchanged at 300 15,000. the u.s. trade deficit fell in may as u.s. exports hit an all-time high, helped by exports of petroleum products. the trade deficit narrowed 5.6%

in may to $44.4 billion. after hitting a two-year high in april. a lower trade deficit boost overall economic growth when it shows u.s. companies are earning more in their overseas sales. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. i,i tell the story about how whose every aspect of whose identity is in one way or another a threat to israel. my gender is male. my religion is muslim. my citizenship is american, but by nationality is iranian. my ethnicity aspersion. my culture is middle eastern. send off allout me of the warning signals for israel. so the experience of an iranian trying toingle man get through ben-gurion airport

in the 21st century is a reminder to everyone that despite the way globalization has brought us closer and has thatished the boundaries separate us as nations, ethnicities, as cultures come a despite all of that, all you have to do is try to spend a few minutes trying to get through ben-gurion airport and you are member that those things that separate us are very much alive. one --r resolved will take your comments live for three hours sunday at noon eastern on booktv's in-depth, part of a holiday weekend of nonfiction books and authors. booktv, television for serious readers. >> washington journal continues. host: we want to welcome drew

breakspear. he is currently a commissioner with office of financial regulation and also from the conference of state bank regulators. thank you for being here. guest: it is my pleasure. host: the me share with you something from bankrate.com. two out of five consumers carry less than $20 cash on a daily basis. nine percent don't carry cash at all. what does that tell you? guest: i think we are moving very rapidly to a cashless society and to any revolving and different set of payment mechanisms. course includes debit and credit cards, which most of us now carry. mobile electronic banking apps, and prepaid cards. guest: and a bunch of other things in addition. host: and we want to talk about that. what is bitcoin? virtualitcoin is a

currency. it is a currency created through a form of mathematics, but it is something that people are using to transact business now on a constant asis -- basis. you can buy anything from an apartment in amsterdam took our -- to a car or pay for a meal. people go out and get bitcoin points and have them in their so-called bitcoin wallet. host: this is from the wall street journal. russian authorities have softened their tone on bitcoin. the central bank in russia, according to the journal, now says it will not hamper the usage of the virtual currency, whereas previously that vowed to crack down on the electronic payment instrument. what is happening over there? guest: i think what is happening is that people are recognizing the virtual currencies are here to stay. we talk about it going, but there is anywhere between 10 to a hundred of these. think what is happening is

normal people are accepting bitcoin has a payment. it is here to stay and we will be dealing with bitcoin forever, and it will grow and grow over time. atst: how safe is it? host: the moment it is not particularly safe. i do not mean to cast aspersions. most currencies around the world have central-bank with a lot of consumer protections around it. today, many of the virtual currencies do not have those protections. there have been a few thefts of these crypto currencies, virtual currencies. it does not have quite the same level of protection as a regular currency. host: you are familiar with this type of the currency. do you use bitcoin? guest: i have not used bitcoins. some of my staff have gone out and done research on this topic, to use bitcoins, by bitcoins, and see how you transact with them. host: what advice would you give the consumer? guest: be careful. host: let me share with you what

janet yellen said earlier with democratic senator joe manchin. she was questioned about this topic before the senate banking committee. [video clip] >> the fed does not have authority with respect to bitcoin, but it certainly would be appropriate, i think, for congress to ask questions about what the light -- the right legal structure would be for virtual currencies that involve nontraditional players that are not regulate it. >> if there is going to be a new american exchange for the bitcoin, they will be using banks. if this exchanges using banks, you all will have -- >> if they use banks, but my understanding is that bitcoin does not touch bank. whited other countries believe they had to get involved? -- why did other countries believe they had to get involved? >> you could get involved if congress wants to get involved

instead of a supervisory regime. it's not so easy to regulate bitcoin because there is no central issue were or network operator to regulate. host: that was back to your earlier point, no regulation, no oversight. guest: that is correct. at the moment, there is no oversight. it is out there and used in multiple countries. it is used by travelers. but there is no regulation of this at the moment. host: but there is obviously a company or companies behind this type of currency. who is it? guest: there is a bitcoin foundation. but a lot of it is a number of anonymous people out there and providings bitcoins from one to another. you can buy them, sell them, use them for various transactions. there is not anybody you can necessarily go to. there have been exchanges where people would hold these and trade these, but one of those exchanges were broken into and a number of bitcoins were stolen, worth $300 million or $400 million. talking about

electronic payment and digital currencies. if you have questions on this topic, we welcome your phone calls and e-mails and tweets. our phone numbers are on the screen. another story this morning from "the new york times" on the issue of bitcoin. this is from the money section. when the government authorized 30,000 last friday, many were hoping to buy the virtual currency at a discount and flip it for a short term profit. but the winner, venture capitalist tim draper. he is not seeking a quick hit, but instead three partnership with the bitcoin exchange startup, mr. draper intends to make them available to the

emerging markets. first of all, who is tim draper? guest: he is a venture capitalist getting out there in the marketplace. in terms of emerging markets, one of the things you can look at is that bitcoin may provide more stability than these emerging market currencies. host: what is he doing? guest: he has purchased a large group of funds and will make them available more broadly. what thisk over time, will do is provide more access and more usage of bitcoins. because in emerging markets, they are probably not used as heavily as they are in the u.s. and other countries. this is a way of expanding bitcoin as a virtual currency will bully. host: that is interesting. much is at stake? guest: at the moment, the value is about 7.8 billion. the bitcoin trade up and down. i think it is around $600 per bitcoin at the moment.

but the value and price of these move over time. if you bought them five years ago, you could have bought them for $10 to $20 each and they peaked at 1000 about a year ago. bankrate, thisom is a look at what may be in your wallet, to paraphrase the capital one commercial. about 30% of americans have anywhere from $20 to $80 in their wallet. matthew from alabama, the democrats line, good morning. caller: good morning. , for, i would like to say tomorrow, happy birthday to america on the fourth of july. i hope you all have a good fourth of july. cashless society and bitcoins, who will regulate it? the federal reserve and congress? and in that case, they would have to redo the internet

also, right? host: thank you, matthew. that point from this and another viewer, saying that most currencies have to be backed by something to give it some. what backs bitcoin? guest: bitcoin is backed by anyone trading it, or executing transactions in how much they pay for it. in a lot of cases, regular currencies are backed by the government, but they do not necessarily have anything behind it. host: paul from eagle lake, minnesota, you're next. good morning. caller: why do they come up with a currency that looks like another bernie made off scam? guest: i think there are groups securele who feel more with something like this. also, if you move from country to country, the discount rate, or the amount of money you pay to exchange a bitcoin going into a local currency is less than if

you were carrying cash from another country. host: bill makes this point on our twitter page, saying don't try bitcoin in china. you would go to jail if a direct card is issued. is that true? butt: they are against it, you mentioned earlier that russia has backed off. they have oversight and have excepted. i think this will be more excepted. ted.ccep host: our phone lines are open. the numbers are on the screen. if you're listening on radio, we are heard coast-to-coast on xm 20. what questions should we be asking? guest: i think the question is, what oversight do we need, who is going to provide it, and where is he going to be coming from? at the moment, i am involved with state bank supervisors and

we are trying to look at emerging payment, which includes virtual currencies such as bitcoin, but it is a much broader perspective. for example, in sweden just recently, you can go in and put your hand on a device and it will read your gains and charge or checking -- read your veins and charge your checking account. a person can walk into starbucks and use a starbucks reader that charges them for their coffee. bitcoin currency is just one piece in a much broader perspective and what is happening on payments. host: which goes back to something you said earlier. obviously, a big concern is that of our own identity in this digital age. of our own identity in this digital age. what precautions should be in place that are not there today? guest: i think there are a number. there are a lot of people that have absolute faith in their phones.

first, they need to be a little more careful. they should always check balances. they should check their reports, bank statements, credit card statements to make sure their are not unwarranted charges. before they dive into something, they should understand the risk behind it. if you are going to buy bitcoin, that is fine. at least understand they do not have the same level of backing as the u.s. dollar or other currencies around the world. host: this tweet from a viewer. should the fed take control in regular adding bitcoins? is a: i don't think it matter of controlling bitcoins. i think we need to put some regulation in place that does two things. one is, provide consumer protection. and the second is very important in my view, not to stifle innovation in new payments. host: from new york city, bob is on the phone, democrats line. good morning. caller: thank you so much. where these old

newer technologies intimidate me, but this whole idea of going --risk for a bit bitcoin is absurd to me. i don't even own a smart one -- smartphone. this whole business of waving your phone for a two dollar item to risk possible checking account disclosure, i mean, this whole new world to me is singing -- is seeming more absurd host of the idea of actually putting at risk your personal information -- is seeming more absurd. the idea of actually putting at risk your personal information for a two dollar item, or a $100 item. i have many opportunities to pay bills online, you know, all of the utilities. i lick stamps and i put a check in the mail and i'm happy to do so. i'm curious what your comment would be to me about not following through with these

electronic type of payment. host: ok, thank you. guest: i think the answer is that people have to make their own personal decisions. i think it was a great question. but we also have a generation who is not prepared to carry cash, write a check, but they want to do it on the phone. -- someone, the gives him a check, they press a button on their phone, and there is expectation that it ends up in the checking account through a photo. we have an evolving group of people out there who are evolving more and more into a cashless society and we need to have protections in place. but i think it was a wonderful question because it shows a broad spectrum of interest in the payment systems. host: the federal reserve is keeping track of how we are making those payments. it is available on the fed website. whether it is cash, check, credit, debit, or electronic. we will look at that. let's listen to michael from grand rapids, michigan, good morning. caller: good morning.

happy holidays to everyone and thanks for c-span also. effect ofbe the bitcoin on jobs? you mentioned starbucks, you waive your iphone and your transaction is made. and of course, someone loses their job, the cashier. i can imagine there would be other ways that bitcoin would be taking jobs that we currently have. guest: i think we have gone through history with technological innovation. you go back to the old days of horse and carriage, and the car put out of business the buggy whip makers, but we have much more employment. we look at silicon valley and what they've done over the years . we have created a whole different society and technology has provided many great jobs. we have to look at this as a new, innovative approach. there are people going to work on it and they are making money

and employing more and more people. it is just another wave of innovation. we need to be there not to stifle it, but let it grow and provide the jobs to american people. host: writing about the chili's restaurant chain where you can sit down and the tablet and order your food. somebody delivers your food and you pay for your food on that same tablet before you leave. guest: it is part of the innovation, the technology host: , and putting it into the workplace. another question on our twitter page -- the technology, and putting it in the workplace. host: another question on our twitter page. who is making a profit off of bitcoins and could there be someone using my identity? guest: when you use your wallet, it is a digital wallet that has a very long number that identifies your ownership of bitcoin. his characters, letters, and alphabetic characters, about 30 of them.

it does not identify the identity of the person, but the number of bitcoins that are owned with that particular digital wallet. host: our next call is from edmond, oklahoma, john. good morning. this would be perfect for money-laundering. what do you think? guest: you can have money-laundering with any type of business. clearly, the concern among a lot of regulators is that this will allow money-laundering and we need to make sure that there is appropriate reporting so that we do try to avoid money-laundering. host: our guest is true .reakspear -- drew breakspear he is a task force member of the conference on state bank supervisors. we are talking about digital currency, bitcoin, and other forms of payment. our numbers are on the screen. here's this from mike, who says when a bitcoin is used to buy

something or to acquire foreign currency, is it not a taxable transaction? the irs has come out and said a bitcoin is property. presumably if you are trading property and making a profit, it is a taxable transaction. i do not claim to be a -- an expert on this at all. host: can it be traded on wall street? guest: it is not today, but resume will be at some point it could be traded. beagle dubai bitcoins -- because people do by bitcoins and trade them as currency. technically, you could at some point. the mostch nations are advanced when it comes to using this type of currency? guest: i really don't know the answer. it is used in a number of nations, but it is clearly growing in the u.s. and in europe. like i said, someone could buy an apartment with bitcoins in amsterdam. host: when did you first start

hearing about this phenomenon? guest: i heard about it a few years ago, but it has grown in the last 24 months as the value has gone up and more and more have traded. that is why congress decided to -- the conference decided to get involved. the conference is not just looking at bitcoins, but much broader payment systems. host: who is behind the conference? guest: it is the conference of state bank supervisors. it is my counterparts in the 50 states, the commissioners of banking across the 50 states. we get together and we have an organization. host: this gets back to the earlier point of innovation versus regulation. you touched on at a moment ago. we are moving so quickly when it comes to technology. and as we know so well in this town, the regulation and laws are slow and cumbersome here in washington, d.c. guest: i think the benefit of having the states involved is we bring multiple jurisdictional perspectives to regulation. we have many different viewpoints. we understand close to the

ground what is happening at the .tate level and we, as a group, really believe we need to protect our customers and our citizens, but we also need to not stifle innovation. it is a balancing act. host: grady, good morning, from akron, ohio. what is on your mind today? caller: i would like to ask a bitcoin.about the it just seems like the american dollar is, i guess, the leading currency of the world, but there is nothing behind it. and i african-american look at the rich country of africa with diamonds and gold, but they are the poorest people, it seems, in the world. they tell me there are so many diamonds their that they lead the african people mind their own diamonds -- that if they let the african people mind their it would be, that

the richest place in the world. the first thing we do is cut off the money and there is nothing really behind the money. host: we will get a response. thank you, grady. you've got two questions in there. one is around echo ruble -- equitable payment of people, and that is why people have government out there to help them negotiate that. in terms of trading various types of things, such as diamond , mining diamonds is very complicated. .hey don't lie around i think we have the full faith and credit of the government the high and the u.s. dollar, and that is what gives it its stability. host: we have about eight or nine minutes left with our guest as we talk with drew breakspear

about bitcoin and other forms of digital currency. in terms of how often we use our debit or credit cards, two out of five consumers carry less than $20 cash on a daily basis. nine percent don't carry any cash at all. quite familiar with counterfeit currency. it was so prevalent in the 19th and 20th century. bitcoinssible to see counterfeit currency? guest: we have not seen it today, but it is always possible. the u.s. dollar, if you look at that, the government is constantly changing it to prevent counterfeiting. i think it is more a matter of control. the theft of bitcoin that we saw earlier is more of a problem. host: from livermore, california, connie, up early today. connie, you are on the air. we will try one more time for connie in livermore, california. back to i want to trace

the inventor of this bitcoin. who invented this bitcoin? -- guest: if you read the press, it is the toshi seco moto sakamoto is the name. it could be a person or multiple persons. what is the value of the dollar in the digital currency echo guest: -- digital currently? guest: as we see more digital people using payments, we will see more and more people using non-cash forms. i also think debit cards and credit cards will also decline as other forms of payment are in

place. waving your phone and charging your checking account. retinal scans. i think we will see a different form of people conducting their business and making their payments. host: let me take it one step further. if you go outside and you get $100 from your bank, your often charged a two dollar, three dollar, sometimes for dollar fee just to get the money. if you want to get a visa or mastercard, it is often a $5.95 for it. making moneyle are off of this. guest: they are providing the service and they have the infrastructure that they have to carry, which is the machines, the electronic networks. accounting when they give money. they take money out of your account, but they provide a service for which they have to charge. host: lynn from westminster maryland with drew breakspear,

on the republican line, thanks for waiting. caller: thank you for what -- for taking my call. the countries that are warming up to the bitcoin -- china not so much yet -- what is the risk that the united states would have that this could possibly become the reserve currency? is the united states collaboratively looking to create policies that would and that stay strong consumers pay whatever whatin other countries? great i think that is a question. i don't think we really have an answer at all with this at this point. governments want to stand behind their currencies because those are the things in which people do business in their countries. makingne of our viewers this point. the dollar is on its way out. russian and chinese currency to come soon.

adding that bitcoins and gold is the currency of the 21st century. from dallas, texas, brian is on the phone. good morning. it,er: if you think about we would not even need the nsa if everyone was tracking where we spent our money. what is more telling than that on our daily behavior? i'm not sure we are tracking everything that everyone is spending. the banks to have to track where expenditures are made so they can appropriately bill them and provide their customers with the backup of why a charge current in their account. host: but unlike facebook where they can track where you're going, google knows what website you're going to come and that can result in advertising the next time you go to that particular website or to google's homepage. could it be the same when it comes to bitcoin? guest: no, they cannot at the bitcoin is ase

digital wallet. it is not necessarily identify the person behind it. it has a degree of anonymous features, in fact, fairly significant anonymous features. they can track a wallet, but not to use it. to timothy back draper from this morning's "financial times" -- and of course, he was the buyer that bought up a huge amount of bitcoin currency for investment. your thoughts? guest: i think we will see more and more people step into it. i think we will see venture capitalists focus on the point. it is a new technology. it is a new payment system. i think we will see people get

into it and invest in it, and expand it. host: our next caller is from portland, oregon, dave. good morning to you. caller: good morning. countries that have acquired large sovereign debt historically have worked their way out of it by inflating their currency. challenge for countries trying to stand behind their currency -- my question has to do with the interaction between the federal reserve, or possible interaction between the federal reserve and bitcoin, or other electronic currencies that might appear. does thistent currency that is not controlled by a reserve policy that could include overprinting of money, be anwere, will that

effect that will inhibit inflationary policies of sovereign nations, including, let's say, the united states? guest: that is a highly complex matter, which i don't think we have time to delve into today, because that would get into the whole concept of economics and how people manage currencies. on the numberit of bitcoins out there. it is meant to be, i think among by the time they are all -- i think, are the time they are all mind, 20 million. eventually, the cost of those will go up. of could have something economic debt or debt being becauseby bitcoin economy rises for bitcoin. .ost: robert in delaware, ohio good morning. caller: i recently spent a year

in beijing, china, and i found 213,000e are multimillionaires living within the city limits of beijing. i have also heard there is this $23 trillion bubble that is over the whole country. where do they get all this money? and to george bush and paulson --e anything to do with the? did george bush and paulson have anything to do with it? guest: in terms of china, i cannot really answer all of the details of your question. it is an interesting question. china has been actively working to lift their people out of poverty. they have been building their economy. they have become an export superpower. they are putting people to work as part of that. they have created a lot of millionaires. they have also lifted a huge number of their people out of poverty into the middle class in china. host: we have gotten about four

or five different tweets, so i will summarize. into acoins be turned utility -- can bitcoins be turned into a utility echo guest: what do you mean? host: like when trading stocks. can you trade it like a utility? up is thatfirst bitcoin looks at a commodity, ba gold or silver or coal or -- be it else, which gold or silver or coal or something else, which could be traded. there are people creating funds where you can invest in bitcoins. host: let me conclude with a couple of points you have already touched on, but for those who may just be tuning in or listening on c-span radio, the biggest concern that consumers should have been trying to use bitcoin currency is what? guest: understand it, and understand it is not backed or insured by anyone at this point. host: and its biggest potential? guest: it becomes global and make it easier for people to transact.

host: what worries you the most? guest: consumer protection, or lack of consumer protection. that is why we are trying to protect ibo by putting some level of regulation around this. host: and the role of the federal government or the federal reserve should be what? guest: i think they have a role manyay, engaging as parties as possible, so we come up with appropriate and equitable solutions without overwhelming regulation. host: and finally, the future of currency, both here in the u.s. and around the world. guest: i personally -- and this is personal. i think currency continues to exist. but i think new forms of payments will explode nationally, globally, and we will have people transacting totally differently than they have in the past. and finally, your job as a commissioner in florida the office of financial regulation come a what are your duties? guest: we cover the financial

services industry totally. it is the banking industry, the consumer industry, and the finance industry. our job is to make sure those people are appropriately licensed and apply -- comply with laws and statutes. it is twofold. one, we need to protect the citizens of our state. the second thing is to provide an environment in which people and businesses who want to act appropriately can grow their businesses and support jobs and grow our economy. host: gregor in johannesburg, and drewica, breakspear also with the florida financial conference of regulation. thank you for joining us. guest: thank you for having me. it will be interesting to see how this evolves and how people react in the future. we had a lot of great questions. i appreciate it. host: and we appreciate your perspective. theou're heading out for

july 4 holiday, have a safe holiday. we are here all weekend here on c-span. booktv and american history on c-span3. we have turbo programming coming up over the weekend, check it out at our website www.c-span.org. happy fourth of july. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> employers stepped up niring une adding 288,000 jobs. it was the fifth straight