. >> house of representatives is in at 10 this morning and is set is to continue work on several measures including a $34 billion energy water spending bill and $21 billion financial services spending bill. the senate also reconvenes at 10 a.m. today with nomination votes later this afternoon including one on shawn donovan to be the next director of the white house office of management and budget. on today's washington journal we'll discuss president obama's appearances yesterday in colorado and texas and we'll begin with a point that the president made during his remarks on the economy when he

was in denver in which he said that america is better off today than it was five years ago. we're asking our viewers this morning if you agree with that assessment. is your part of the country better off today than it was five years ago? republicans can call it 202-585-3881. democrats, 202-585-3880. independence, 202-5 the 85-3882. if you're outside the u.s., 202-585-3883. you can catch up with us on your favorite social sites, twitter, facebook, or e-mail us. a very good thursday morning to you. want to start off with the president's comments on the economy yesterday in denver. it wasn't the first time that the president made this assessment, but he reaped yesterday that his assertion that the economy is better off today than it was five years ago. here's the prefro president from yesterday. >> there's a cottage industry in washington that counts on you

just being cynical about stuff so you don't vote, you don't get involved. you get discouraged. you set a plague on both your houses, but you can't get into that cynicism. do not let them win by you being cynical. because despite everything that's happened, despite all the obstruction, america's making progress. we're better off now than we were five years ago. we'll be better off five years from now than we are right now, despite the unyielding opposition of a few that are working to have jobs, for their families to have health insurance who didn't have it before, students who go to college to couldn't ag afford to home, troops home with their families after serving tour after tour in war. don't get cynical. don't do it. >> that was president obama yesterday. here's the washington times wrapup of the president's appearance in which they note that president obama shifted

into full campaign mode in the speech in denver painting a rowsy picture of the u.s. economy while blaming republicans for refusing to deal with any remaining problems that the country faces. we're asking our viewers this morning about that assertion that america is better off today than it was five years ago. our facebook page is open for comments. the facebook.com/speeps. yo/c-s. follow along at c-span w j. our phone lines are open on this topic and we'll take your calls in just a second. first, we want to turn to cq roll call. neal is a staff writer there. good morning. >> good morning. >> the other appearance that president obama made yesterday was in texas in which he tried it apply pressure on roundups to move on his emergency -- runs to move on his emergency supplemental bill for funding.

what's the stat status of the supplemental measure, and what n might it receive a vote in the house and senate. >> well, it might be some time, at least a couple of weeks, i would project, before it gets to a vote, and the format it comes to a vote may be far different from what president obama has requested. first thing we're going to get some indication of how it's looking in the senate this afternoon when the senate appropriations committee meets at 2:30 to have a meeting with the secretary of health and human services, the head of homeland security to review the details of the proposal, the 3.7 billion dollars roughly that are being sought for border issues and for these unaccompanied my grant children as well as money

for the wildfire situation that has broken out throughout the west. but there's been no appetite so far for the package as presented among house republicans, and so it seems as if there's going to have to be some sort of substantial policy changes or conditions or limitations that are probably not what the white house wants to see in order for that measure to advance. >> i should note that that hearing that you're talking about that's taking place today in the -- on the senate appropriations committee, happening at 2:30, and viewers can watch live on c-span 3 if they want to watch it. the president yesterday seemed to imply that time is of the essence here in terms of moving this funding measure. are you seeing that sentiment among members of congress? >> the sentiment that we're seeing among democrats on both

sides of the rotunda who seem to be largely on board with the president, and they're resisting calls to add additional material to that proposal, although you know, it's one of those situations when you have a divided congress, you have two parties, the opposite parties controlling each chamber, there's certainly going to have to be some sort of a compromise. so i would -- if i were guessing, i would exec that the senate goes -- expect that the senate goes first in this case, whenever they move, because senator majority leader reid would be the one most likely to want to call up the package for a vote which would leave it with the question of what the house would then do in response. >> i should. note that also in his comments yesterday, the president said if the texas delegation is prepared to move, we can get this done next week

with his statement from his speech yesterday. later in today's show we'll take up this topic with texas republican joining us for 45 minutes to talk about this. i want to shift gears, niels, to talk about the highway trust fund and the latest on keeping that solvent. >> well, there are certainly going to be a mark up this morning that's being scheduled at the house ways and means committee with the house versions of the pay forses to keep the trust fund solvent through the end of the year and on in through about the first quarter of may of next year. that's the house proposal which speaker john boehner and others in the house have been saying is a plan that could move quickly. it's a package that was assembled using some often familiar offsetting technical

provisions, user fees and something called patience moving which is an accounting method change, basically, and those things have surfaced in the past. we have a store at roll call this morning in which senator jack reed from rhode island is none too pleased with the idea of using those offsets because those are the ones that were previously at one point in time used in a senate passed unemployment insurance stedges # extension. what we're log at on the senate side is a bit less clear this morning because there were rumbles last evening that there may be a sort of bi-partisan agreement or at least some sort of agreement in the senate. it's not even clear what the details of it are yet.

but there was a markup notice that has gone out or at least was posted last night, and i don't know. this thing has been so in flux, who knows whether it will actually happen? as of late night, there was a mark up notice for 2:30 this afternoon at the finance committee for continuing work on the highway bill. i suspect we will n know more by 2:30 in terms of what the senate way forward might be. >> we'll keep watching rollcall.com to stay on top of the latest. niels, thanks for the mid-week check inn in in if the issues we've been following on capitol hill. >> we've g about 30 minutes in this section of the washington journal to take your comments on president obama's statement yesterday that the u.s. is better off now than we were five years ago. that conversation already happening on our facebook page. if you want to join along, charlotte writes in on our page

said i guess we are. my skippy wall th skip skinny wr wise. we need better paying jobs and a congress that works. below that, jim cook rights i'm not sure about the country, but i'm not better off. prices on everything increased, wages stag nated, no disposable income. we want to hear from our viewers as well. we'll start with damian calling from houston, texas on our line for independence. damian, good morning. >> good morning, sir. i believe that if you use whatever economic indicators that they're using or indices may suggest that the economy is getting better, but it's not apparent real-time in the lives of every day americans. there seems to be a disconnect, a great disconnect in washington from what they do on the hill to real-time every day.

>> what do you want to see that would make a difference for you? >> i use some of them, but jobs. there are millions of americans who are long term unemployed, or they're employed off and on for the last five years if that's the time frame we're using. the cost of running a household and doing things that you have to do every day that add to the quality of life. the quality of life has not changed in the last five years. >> that's damian calling from houston, texas. paul is in appleton, wisconsin on our line for democrats. paul, good morning. >> hello. >> go ahead, paul. >> i would say the economy is always better under a democrat, you know.

under bush we had dan quayle running around, shutting down paper machines. he shut down a bunch of machines in wisconsin, and remember dan quayle as vice-president under old man bush? he runnin is running around an investment company shutting down paper machines. i'll tell you. it's taken a toll on wisconsin. that's why walker, he is a big -- you know, he talks about all them jobs and he didn't do a single thing to keep the paper industry going in wisconsin. he's a total joke. he's a toll joke. >> paul, do you work in the paper industry? >> i used to. i worked there for 28 years until they ripped my -- ripped the paper mill down. i mean, it was a big mill. we had two of the biggest

machines in the united states. >> paul, what do you do now? >> what's that? >> what do you do now? >> actually, i'm unemployed still, but you know, i had my husband paid for, so i'm doing okay, but like i said, dan quayle, he runs that company. he used to own chrysler, too, that daimler chrysler. like i said, they're in the business of shutting machines down. >> we'll go to michelle on our line for republicans in churchton, maryland. michelle, good morning. >> good morning. thank you for taking my call. >> glad you called. >> i like how they, you know, democratic party always seems to want to blame bush for everything, but my comment this morning is i'm one of those middle classes who michigan

family is pleased to death and know we are so worse off than we were five years ago. the price of food, the price of gas, just the price of every day living. we can't -- we can't live like we lived five years ago, and so when president obama makes these campaign speeches, i don't know who is really believing him or who he thinks he's talking about because us middle classers are not doing so well, and we need a big change in this country, not only in our congress, but the people in my community are scared to death about the country in general, about our military an everything going on in israel. the irs. it's just one thing after the other. it's a frightening, frightening place to live. it's really scary to have to say that when you

live in the united states of america. >> michelle in maryland, a good place to go to look at five-year comparisons, backcheck.org run out of the university of pennsylvania. they have obama's numbers in the second quarter, the latest quarterly report released. you can scroll through that. some of the highlights, according to factcheck, all job losses during the great recession have been erased, but long term joblessness remains much higher than it was when obama first took office. corporate profits and stock prices continue to set records while workers wages remain stagnant, and the homeownership rate continues to decline. the number of food stamp recipients has retreated from record highs in 2012, fewer beneficiaries have been added under obama than were added under george w. bush, and under obama, federal spending has risen more sploal than the rate of inflation, but total debt owed by the public has nearly doubled during obama's tenure and large annual deficits are

continuecontinuing as far as thn see. we're asking what it's like in your part of the country. are you better off than you were five years ago? nick is in fairview, tennessee on our line for inspects. nick, good morning. >> we you ask that question, it's got to incorporate my family and my neighbors. >> okay. >> thank you for talking my call, anyhow. gasoline has doubled in price which escalates the price of everything else under obama. food stamps, if they've gone down, it's marginal. if i have million people are still on them, and they've been on them. my grandchildren at this stage, and it's going to increase, their payment on the debt is 65,000 apiece. college kids can't find employment which i have relatives in that. my neighborhood had an investment in coal. he's going to take a beating. my medical insurance which i

held that job for years, that's one of the reasons i held it, is in jeopardy. yeah. i'm doing a lot better under obama. also, this fear, this man and his people have said they can garnish people's salary without explain why, so if you build a pond in your back yard and you don't let them know about it, they can garnish your salary. the irs, his gestapo. we're doing a lot better under obama. we're got fear, chaos, ignorance, corruption. people gotta realize that dc, the district of corruption now, is at war with the rest of the country, and this man is its commander-in-chief. >> that's nick in tennessee. monimonte makes the point on twitter. we could be much worse off now. vicki is on our line for democrats calling in from california. vicki, good morning.

vicki, are you with us this morning? i don't think we have vicki, but we'll go to andrew in rochester, new york on our line for republicans. andrew, good morning. >> good morning, john. you're looking dapper today. >> thanks, andrew. >> and the thing that bothers me, john, is the -- and i like what is said on the computer thing you just had up where no number can tell the whole story, but the long term unemployed number is kind of skewing the unemployment number. with the kind of debt that we've been running up in the last five years and even before that, we're going to need people to have full-time jobs, many more full-time jobs, not this part-time stuff, and we're going to need to get the people that have quit looking for work, even if they own their house and all this kind of stuff, you know, to get back employed.

i think the way you do that is if you can get harry reid to get out of the senate because one of the biggest stories is that harry reid has really changed the senate terribly. nothing good tor big can get done with harry reid running a big part of the government. he won't let anybody do any amendments. he won't bring up any bills or anything. you can't really do good tax reform which would get businesses really cranking and people employed again if you have harry reid shutting down the whole thing. that's my comment, john. >> andrew in rochester, new york. as we said, the president was in denver yesterday when he made these comments. here's a little bit more from the president's address in colorado. >> the other thing i want to make sure people understand is that we are making progress as bad as the news looks. if all you were doing was watching cable tv all day long.

yes, the crisis that hit towards the end of my first campaign hit us all really badly. 2007, 2008, that was rough. but today our businesses have added nearly 10 million new jobs over the past 52 months. construction and housing are rebounding, our auto industry is booming, manufacturing is adding jobs for the first time since the '90s. the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest point since september of 2008, the fastest one-year drop in nearly 30 years. and look. most of this is attributable to you, thepaying down debt and tig belts and doing all kind of stuff just to make sure that you kept on and were able it look after your families, but the decisions we made early on not

only stopped the slide but also built a new foundation for our economy, and they're paying off now. >> president obama talking about some economic indicators there as part of that speech yesterday, and yet, his approval rates on his handling of the economy is down today than it was five years ago. today, just 34% approve of the way that the president is handling the economy with 64% disapproving. five years ago, 47% approved of the way the president was handling the economy with 49% saying that they disapproved. we're asking you your thoughts on the president's comments yesterday that the u.s. is better off now than we were five years ago. leo is up next in lafayette, louisiana. leo, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> go ahead, leo. >> yes. i think that we are better off today than five years ago because there's a statement that the whole world knows that it's

factual, that the truth shall set you free. today we have found out that the war that we fought was solely founded on lies. we've had government shutdowns. the whole world is looking at the truth and see people that are largely responsible for the conditions and the positions we are in today. not you or i, the whole world. and it's back to the statement that i made from inception. the whole world know the truth shall set you free. have a good day. >> all right. joe is in amsterdam, new york on our line for democrats. joe, good morning. >> good morning. thanks for taking my call. >> thanks for calling in. go ahead. >> we're way better off than we were five years ago.

for all these short memory people, we were losing 700,000 jobs a month in january of 2009. we were involved in two big wars, losing hundreds of people every month with casualties. we were in terrible shape. now we have 20 million people with health insurance that didn't have it before. unemployment is down almost two points from where it was when he took over. you know, i don't understand the vitrio l against president obama. i think a lot of it has to do with race, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that he's a democrat. if most people sat down and thought about his policies, i think they would actually under and agree with them if they had any brains, anyway. don't forget. we're trying to raise the minimum wage. we're trying to get out of the

mess that bush got us into by declaring war in iraq. you want to blame isis on obama, you gotta be crazy. i mean, this is all bush's doing that we're cleaning up. things were pretty stable there before we went into iraq. in case these people tend to forget. thank you. bye. >> and again, factcheck.org has a good five-year comparison, different key indicators on the jobs issue. it notes that the economy as of june had gained over 4.8 million jobs since obama took office in january 2009. the unemployment rate declined to 6.1% which is 1.7 points lower than when he took office, and 3.9% lower than it was at its worst point during october 2009. again, you can check out those numbers and that chart at factcheck.org. one other economic indicator that is concerning some. this is a story from the "wall

street journal" from earlier or from late last month noting that gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, fell at a seasonably adjusted annual rate of 2.9% in the the first quarter of 2014. the commerce department said in its third reading of that data at the end of june, that was a sharp downward revision from the previous estimate that output fell at an annual rate the of 1%. it also represented the fastest rate of decline since the recession and was the largest drop recorded since the end of world war ii that wasn't part of a recession. you can see the chart there talking about the gdp numbers. go to tyson waiting in california on our line for republicans. tyson, did i get the name of the town right? >> good morning. thank you for c-span. >> go ahead. >> i'm so grateful for c-span having a republican line because some of these democrats over the years that i've been listening

is the blame bush, the close mindedness and ignorance, uneducated folks. the last one i heard thought he was brilliant. did you listen to the president and how he addresses us? he always says if you can see, if you listen, or can't you see? why not as you can see, the numbers say. as you can see, our nation is. no. it's always listen to me, to what i say, the lies, the deceit. i mean, you talk about health care, the other gentleman said. i'm sorry, but the deductible, it's a big snowflake screen. the deductibles are as high as blue cross if you do it privately. it's a big smoke screen. you ask how are we doing, are we better off now than we were five

years ago? i ask you would a big business ceo honestly tell you that he's not doing better? the president's not. you know, it's just a real shame. i mean, i don't know what else to say, but obama's gotta go, and we've gotta get some common sense, whether it be in the air or here on earth. >> you say obama's gotta go. i wonder. there's been some calls among some republicans for impeaching the president. where do you stand on that issue? >> i stand on another waste of time and a waste of taxpayer money. impeach him for what? for taking away our more than 30 hours a week from citizens? for what? i mean, honestly. breaking the law for what?

>> tyson in california, here's a story on the impeachment in today's "washington post". boehner rejects call to impeach. house speake speaker john boehnd former g.o.p. vice-president candidate sarah palin are going in different ways among the republicans that he should be impeached. she writes it's time for impeachment and on behalf of american workers and legal immigrants of all background, we should impos oppose any politicn the left or right who hesitate on voting for articles of itch peachment. boehner's response wednesday, i disagree. the impeachment the topic of the lead editorial in the "wall street journal" today called the impeachment delusion. that's the head line there. the editorial board of the "wall street journal" noting you know it's bad when sarah palin and msnbc agree. they write republicans aiming to

rebuild a governing majority should be making a systematic case about the failures of democratic governance that include slow growth and stagnant incomes, fewer health care choices, and higher cost, growing word disorder and more. trying to impeach mr. obama now is firing at the wrong target at the wrong time with the wrong ammunition. you want to read more on that in today's "wall street journal". >> back to the phones. drew is waiting in palm coast, florida on our line for independents. drew, good morning. >> thank you for taking my call. it absolutely, positively amazes me how these republicans think so inside of a bubble. it is absolutely, positively crazy. we've seen -- look at the kansas with their tax cuts and what it's done to kansas. we had two wars going at the same time. we had a prescription drug that wasn't paid for. we had tax cut after tax cut

after tax cut, and we had a financial situation that just almost crippled the country. this guy comes, saves the auto industry. i shouldn't say he did, but he worked with the auto industry to bring it back. he convinced companies to start investing back into the united states. he actually -- the thing that i like about this guy, and i'm glad he didn't go to the border because i'm so sick of presidents going and standing on a boat in front of a school, putting the military behind him and doing absolutely positively nothing. yes, we're doing better. we're doing so much better than we were five years ago. is the country as a whole? we are so selfish that even if we -- even if the country was doing ten times better than it is, we don't have mansions and we would complain no matter what. yes, we're doing much better than we were, and i believe that we're going to do even better as long as we don't let the

republicans have the white house. we let them have the white house, you've seen nothing yet. thank you for taking my call. >> drew brings up the president's trip to texas. here's the front page of the "washington post" today. obama defends itinerary in texas. talking about the questions that the president answered about whether he would go to the border or not. this is not theater. he said about the decision not to visit the border. also, the president met with texas governor rick perry before that speech he made last night on the border. rick perry released a statement yesterday. he said in that statement 500 miles south of here is the rio grande valley. there's a humanitarian crisis unfolding created by bad public policy. in particular, the failure to secure the border. securing the border is attainable and the president needs to commit the resources necessary to get this done. that's governor perry's statement that he released yesterday evening. we've got about fifteen minutes or so talking about the

president's statement in colorado, in denver when he said that the u.s. is better off now than we were five years ago. on twitter, david writes in that we are worse overall now versus 2009. wakes are stagnant and costs of food and education continue to rise while u.s. marketable debt has doubled. we'll go to kenneth in arkansas on our line for democrats. kenneth, good morning. >> yes, sir. i'm doing a whole lot better than i was five years ago. right now i have obamacare. i have insurance for the first time in years. i can go to the doctor, and i'll get taken care of and everything. i want to say one other thing. there's an article that was written in one of the local papers. you can get on line and look at it, and they was saying about the n in the white house. they was saying something about a lot of people, the older people who hadn't gotten over

the racism problems. one of the things i want to stay to you. i went to new orleans this past weekend. i went down to lake pontchartrain. my son lives down there. those houses that were flooded, he lived in one of those houses. those people are doing very well. now, the economy is coming back. i put the my hands in the water in lake pontchartrain. i went down there and set on the steps, went by the museum. we had a good time there. those people are doing good. i found out one thing about those people. those are educated people. they have five or six universities down there. those people standing on the roofs, those were educated people. they're trying to compare katrina with what's happening down here with those kids down here. that's a whole different story. those were educated people left on roof tops. they flow over the top looking at those people. i sat in the back yards and they had picnicses down there this past welcome. those are educated people that were left hurting. that's all i've got to say.

>> all right, kenneth. we're talking with a member of congress who made that comparison between katrina and the current crisis on the border. thahe's the republican from tex. he'll join us at about 8:30 to talk about some of these issues and the ongoing crisis on the border. kenneth also brings up the health care and signups under the new exchanges. according to the factcheck.org numbers, the latest reports, the exchange signups at 8 million with new medicaid signups at 6.1 million. we're talking about whether you think the united states is better off now than it was five years ago. paul, you're next from waterburr yowaterbury, connecticut. paul, good morning. >> good morning. thanks to the panel, yourself and everyone who works to get this show done. i do not think we are doing better, and that is simply because there's too much in-fighting. there's too much arguing and

instead of trying to find solutions to some degree to move forward, it's not happening. it's happening at the local levels. we see it at the border because instead of the local people going to town hall and arguing their case about the immigrant situation, i'm in the saying their rightthey're right, i'm sg they're not taking it to the right area. they're taking it against the people who are dealing with basically, you know, they're living in hell in these foreign countries. you know, we have the resources to help these kids. you can't not help the kids. the other problem is that when you go to d.c., the district of corruption, you know, they're not working together. they should be trying to find solutions instead of trying to get all these billions of dollars to the border. they should be building

desalinazation plants for california. it doesn't make any sense that the american federal government is not willing to work for the country. whether you're a billionaire or you're working for minimum wage, they're not trying to help, you know. they want the corporate people to be mad about taxes. they take it out on workers' wages. they want the workers mad because they're not getting any raises for a couple years now. >> let's paul in connecticut. paul, at the beginning of that, you brought up some issues on the border. one other article i might point you to today, former president bush advisor karl rove wrote a piece in the "wall street journal" in which he addressed some of the border issues. if you want to read that story, again, the "wall street journal" is where you can find his piece today. let's go to c.t. waiting on our line in rhode island for

inspects. good morning. >> thanks for taking my call. i like to call the listeners' attention to a couple of issues that occurred a few years ago in the news watch magazine. it's a news watch magazine.org on the internet, and these were the november and december 2011, the year 2011 editions. and the front page of each of those had a very, very scathing caption at the bottom. it reads obama trained to

destroy america, and from all of the things that he has been doing, and his attitude towards the constitution of the united states, he is fixing to destroy our very legacy of the constitutional government. we started off about two and a half centuries ago with a constitutional republic that all ultimately over the past century has been very cleverly ripped around and changed into a communist super broc bureaucrac. >> that's c.t. in rhode island on the issues of threats to the constitution. senator ted cruz, republican from texas, has a front page piece in the commentary section of the washington times today.

the headline, fahrenheit 451, democrats with a constitutional amendment is playing with fire. if you want to read more on that, it's in the washington times. patrick is up next in hampton, virginia on our line for democrats. patrick, good morning. >> good morning. yeah. i think, you know, when you hear some of these comments from the republicans, you just realize the kind of nonsense that we're dealing with. i just -- yeah. i'm sorry. i just wanted to say that i think when we have a news propaganda machine similar to fox news where you get a very biased opinion on everything, you quickly realize that we are kind of having two different sets of facts in america, and they both can't be right. what's happening is that when you have two different sets of facts, people can never agree to

compromise because there's no room. there's no common ground that they can give in on. no one can feel like the other side is actually giving enough that makes them want to give in algorithm bit. it's a real problem. when you hear these kind of statements about, you know, obama wants to destroy the country, he's a communist, all of this kind of junk that just gets repeated over and over and over again. some people, all they do is listen to fox news. you can't blame them because they're not getting any other information. they start believing it, and pretty soon you have a toxic environment not based on facts. >> patrick, do you think the media environment is getting better or worse than it was five years ago? >> i think it's -- i think it's worse. i think it's definitely worse. i think now you start seeing some of the more liberal networks, they start playing, you know, fighting fire with fire. they start having just very biased programs that present one side. people are just listening to one side of the argue many, not

really looking at the data, the facts. they're never going to be able to agree with the other side because they're not even talking about the same facts. you can't agree when you don't have the same facts. >> and some of those facts we're pointing to today from factcheck.org run out of pennsylvania, the university of pennsylvania. it's factcheck.org. it has obama's numbers an the 2014 second quarter report that imca out. on the issue of the country better off than it was five years ago, wild and wonderful says the economy is better, but don't underestimate the importance of stopping the free call. >> let's go to carol from virginia. carol, are you with us? all right. rachel is waiting in texas. she's on our line for independents. rachel, good morning to you. >> yes. i just want i to say one thing.

cruz has done nothing but be the tea party. they blamed obama for tarp for two years, and then after the november elections, he was on tv and he said he was responsible for tarp. another thing, bush said $800 million over into iraq that nobody even guarded, and the al-qaeda got a hold of it. that's how they got all these weapons right now. nobody's made a big deal about that. and a lot of people listen to talk radio. one of the big persons is rush. he's been married five times, and his last wife looks like barbie. >> let's not do personal attacks. talk about the environment as it is today and what are the indicator you look to that

compare it to five years ago whether you think the country is better or worse off? >> i think as long as they keep being negative, everything is negative now. anything is never positive now, and it's just bringing our country down, and i see it. i don't even know if i'm ever going to vote again. it's just su upsetting me so. >> a few other head lines. the former new orleans mayor sentenced to ten years. ray nagin, the former mayor who rose to national prominence, leading the city during hurricane katrina, was sentenced wednesday to ten years in federal prison for his participation in a $500,000 bribery and conspiracy scheme that operated during most of his time in office. if you want to read more on that, it's in several of the papers today. also, some more news from capitol hill from yesterday. the senate approved castro by a

large margin. the senate approved san antonio mayor jowlan castro t jowl julie housing secretary. the texas senators senators were split with john cornyn voting yes and ted cruz opposing julian castro's nomination. there's a picture of him from the front page of the "houston chronicle". we've got time for just a couple more calls. randy is in iron river, michigan on our lines for democrats. randy, good morning. >> good morning, john. thank you for taking my call. john, i really think things are going a lot better right now. five years ago i was sitting in jail for growing marijuana plants. today i can grow marijuana plants legally. i was on five different medications, anxiety, depression, pain relief. could i please suggest a topic? could you please bring on some doctors that prescribe medical marijuana so these people really know how many pills they have to take instead of marijuana?

>> randy, you can always suggest topics. e-mail us at journal@c-span. that's all the time we have. up next, dennis van roekel will join us, the outgoing president of the national education association. we'll talk about the group's recent call for education secretary arne duncan to step down. we'll talking about the ongoing crisis at the border with a texas republican congressman. we'll be right back.

>> the president may be right in how he reads the constitution, but he may also be wrong. and if he is wrong, who is there to tell him so? if there's no one, then the president, of course, is free to pursue his course of erroneous

interpretations. what then becomes of our constitutional form of government? >> watergate 40 years later. sunday night at 8 eastern on american history tv on c-span 3. >> we're brought to you as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. watch us on hd, like us on facebook, and follow us on twitter. washington journal continues. >> dennis van roekel is the outgoing president of the national education association. that's the nation's largest teachers union, and the nea has

made plenty of headlines in the past week after calling for education secretary arne duncan to step down. dennis van roekel, would i does arne duncan need to step down? >> i think the question here, the real story is not who but why. educators across this country are so frustrated. they're frustrated with a billion dollar high stakes testing industry that is now taking 30% of all their teaching time with students. they're frustrated with 12 years of no child left behind, all of the testing, a failed accountability system that has not closed the gaps and has created greater inequity than ever before, and they're frustrated with the whole new onslaught of teacher evaluation where 70% of teachers are evaluated on test scores of students they don't teach. i think that's welling up and they're looking for leadership to say we're going in the right direction or the wrong direction. we need to change this. >> you talk about years of frustration. what was the tipping point for this vote that happened in the past week at one of the nea's meeting?

>> i think the california case. >> if you could explain that case. >> it's a case where some students brought forth a lawsuit saying that they were not getting what they needed in that school, and the lawsuit was brought to eliminate due process for teachers, to eliminate any seniority in layoffs, and it was so wrong headed because the kids there, the students there really do have some legitimate needs, and this will do nothing. i mean, it's a sad thing. if you really care about kids, if you really want to make a difference for those kids in california, invest that money in early childhood education. that will make a difference. invest in living conditions. three weeks ago i was at a school in trenton, new jersey. 300 kids in the building. there are two bathrooms. one for the boys, one for the girls in the basement. the hallway in the baseman where they line up to pick up their food from serving tables to go

in a dingy lunch room. if it rains, the hallway floods. those are conditions of learning that need to be changed. if you really want to change something, change the system that instead of hiring people who are untrained, uncertified, and unlicensed and putting them in the class many radio, start requiring that they have to be licensed. >> the nea didn't like the outcome of the case but didn't like secretary duncan's response to that case. >> correct. it's so sad to me. you hire licensed contractors, plumbers, electricians. when you go into a medical center, you assume those are licensed people to practice medicine. yet in this country, you can send your kids to a school, especially in areas where there's high poverty and students of color, and many of those educators are not licensed to teach. it's wrong, and i don't know why we tolerate it. >> what didn't you like in secretary duncan's response to the case? >> he said it was time we solved these problems. the problem isn't due process. due process is simply that after three to five years, depending on the state, where at the end

of any year they can simply say we're not hiring you for next year. after that three to five years, you have the right to a due process meaning they have to tell you the reason they're dismissing you and give you a right to a hearing. so that, to me, is not the problem they're trying to solve there. and what we ought to be looking for is how do we make sure that every single person who is the teacher of record is fully trained, cente certified, and licensed? i always say it's quality at the front door, a pressingsal ready on day one. >> in this section of the washington journal, we'll have section phone lines. patients can call in a 202-585-38 the 80. educators. 202-585-3881. administrators can call on 202-5 offens85-3882. we're talking about calls in the past woke for education

secretary arne duncan to step down. he responded in a white house briefing to that call for his resignation. here's a bit of what he had to say. >> the nea seems to be aiming some of the frult frustration we ad administration on you directly. they've called for your renation. can you respond to that call and the other issue. >> i try to stay out of local union policy. we have had a great working relationship with nea in the past. we meet every month for breakfast with them. won't have work on a national labor summit conference every single year. they elected a new president, and we wish her the best of luck and look forward to working very closely with them as we move forward. >> is this local union politics? >> well, what he says is really important. he said we've had a good working relationship. you know, from the beginning of the obama administration and secretary duncan, i've always said we don't disagree on what

we want for every student in america. i think we're in total sync on that. where we often or sometimes disagree is on how to achieve that, and i think that's a good discussion. i think we're two parties who are trying to achieve the same thing and have a good, rich discussion. out of that can come better ideas. i don't see it as problematic that we disagree on the how. i think what's motion important is that we agree on what we need for all kids in america, excellence and equity. i served on the task force for excellence and eck it. secretary duncan was very supportive of that. i really believe the more we talk about the how, we can come to better solutions to achieve our common purposes. >> secretary duncan has been in his job about as long as you've been president of the nea. what's your personal relationship with him like? >> it's a good one. >> even after this past week. >> i think it will remain the same. we've disagreed on issues, and when we meet, i make sure he

knows where i am, and i know where he is. i very purposefully don't disagree with him necessarily by talking to a reporter. when i have an opportunity to see him face-to-face, i tell him where our members are upset or angry with specific policies or actions. i think that's the best way to do that. >> you said the tipping point came after this california court ruling, secretary duncan's approval, applauding that california court ruling was something that the nea particularly disagreed with. here's a pose by jason reilly in the "wall street journal" talking about that california court ruling. the headline, hooray for arne duncan. i want you to respond to this. he writes that the job protections pushed by the teachers union are a perfect example of how powerful groups like the nea put the adults ahead of the students while claiming to do the opposite. there's knowed indicational justification for giving a teacher a job for life and making it next to impossible to fire based on performance.

after just a couple of years in the classroom, these policies are borne of a system that views public education as a jobs program first and foremost. >> totally inaccurate. what we have in terms of due process is not a job for life. it just isn't. i think they sometimes confuse within higher education tenure which is very different from what we have. the second thing is i believe from the students' point of view, number one, we need a good process that is fair and efficient in terms of cost and time to remove people from classrooms who shouldn't be there. it's just as important to a student that we have a process that allows good teachers to remain and not be removed for bad reasons. the history of the due process laws comes way before there were education unions, and my own state of arizona, many, many years before, and the reason those came forward is because of abuse of the system. the superintendent would get angry at a teacher or for

nepotism give a job to a friend or relative and dismiss them for totally arbitrary reasons. that's why those laws came into place, to protect good teachers from being fired for bad reasons. again, i'll go back to in any system, whether you're talking about business or whatever, turnover should be low. if there's high turnover, it indicates there's a problem in the system, that you're not hiring or training the people well. and so in education, those who keep talking about we need to fire more, we need to have higher turnover, i think they're totally wrong. i think the way you build a profession is to ensure that no one gets in who is not profession-ready on day one. you build in a good evaluation system with professional development so they grow from day one until the last day in the classroom. that's how you build a profession and quality. you can't fire your way to success. >> again, we're talking with outgoing nea president dennis van roekel. been on the job six years now. >> yeah. >> here to answer your

questions. take your comments on the nea. we'll start on our line for parents. we have special lines in this section. parents can call at 202-585-they 880. educators, 202-5 offens 85-3881. administrators. 202-585-thro5-3882. william is a parent calling from california. good morning. >> yes, good morning. >> i'd like to get a solid answer from your guest on why are youth up through high school as my kids are, they're so absolutely blind to our nation's geography. name a few states in the union, please, any of your callers, for that matter. we need to focus on the united states, our nation' nation's g ,

and when they are adults, they can name more than three states in the union. >> william, i was a high school math teacher for 23 years. i love those teenagers. i knew when i start credit teaching that was the age group i wanted to be with. your point is one we're troubled by ourselves in education. in the 12 years since no child left behind, we've seen a really narrowing of the curriculum. as the emphasis became more and more on the math and language arts, we saw history and civics and geography being diminished. we have to educate the whole child. we need a rich whole curriculum that incorporates not only history, science, mathematics and english but also the arts, drama, physical education, so what we believe is we need a comprehensive, solid curriculum for all students. >> this calls for geography education coming at a time when

there's so much focus on stem education, science, technology, engineering, and math. >> a number of them call it steam. they want science, technology, and they put arts in there for the a. i believe we have to think about the purpose of education. it's about educating the whole child. part of that is academic. part of it is equity of the system. part of it is your civic responsibility. then there's this whole part about meeting all of the student's needs. they came to see me to know how they were doing academically. they wanted to know that they were happy at schools, that they got along with others, they were enjoying their time. it has to be on the whole child and not a inner row piec narrowf mathematics and the arts. >> dennis van roekel, teacher for 46 years. >> i started teaching math mat i matics 23 years ago.

>> betty, good morning. are you with us? >> yes, i am. go ahead, betty. >> let me say to you all i'm calling from south florida. i'm a parent, always will be. go ahead with your question. >> used to work in miami-dade county public schools. i ended up having a brain aneurysm.

caller: to not take away this 's job because this person did not apply himself when it came to education of others. host: what is your response? guest: i graduated from college with a degree in mathematics. there were a lot of careers. i chose teaching.

that i can dove anything that requires a degree in math. i do not believe that anyone with a degree in math can do what i do. it is not just experience and education. that is part of it. i do not want anyone in the classroom without the content knowledge. i have the professional skills that it takes to create a learning environment. i don't 160 kids every day. between every class, i interacted with students to interact with them to see how they were doing outside of my math class. those are skills that you develop over time and with training. it is a combination of content knowledge. there is a whole bunch of professional skills that individuals need, before being a teacher. host: a comment.

part of the problem with public education is that students were taught what to think, rather than have to think. we're talking with dennis van r oekel. good morning, jerome. caller: good morning. it is strange that we are putting all the blame on the teachers. i have kids and i inculcate that the importance of having an education -- children are not prepared to learn. the parents do not discipline the kids enough. candies andhem with gifts, instead of preparing them for an education. guest: i really like your comment. the real task and real thing

in education includes a partnership and collaboration between the parents and the teachers. when i was a teacher, i would ask parents if they knew things about their son or daughter that i did not know. the more we converse and collaborate and talk, the better we are able to help a student. it is important that they come to school ready to learn. there's is an atmosphere that can be created at home. host: i want to come back to the call for the resignation of arne duncan. i see the response to that call and what he said. strauss says he can downplay, but nobody expects him to take the nea's advice and resign.

vote is a new sign that his policies have a growing disenchantment. guest: i agree that this is coming. if you look at the news from day to day, there's a real groundswell coming. k, parents are opting out of this high-stakes acti vity. the firstslatures, was california, the most recent was rhode island -- have said that we will no longer use these test scores for high-stakes decisions. longtime.s a it has not worked. host: her comments about a more activist nea. talk about the political involvement of the nea. guest: we are becoming more and more vocal.

about the use of testing and test scores. we have been vocal about the value-added model. on a weekly basis come out and say it is not reliable or valid. we filed a lawsuit in florida two years ago. teachers were being evaluated a star on the scores of their students. they did not ever teach. there's something wrong with that system. one was a first grade teacher. she was teacher of the year when you're. the next year she got an unsatisfactory evaluation. 50% was based on students in a different elementary school. the more that happens, the more that anger wells up. it is with parents and legislators and edcuators. i think the system will collapse and fall. i do not think it is a question

of if, it is only a question of when. the real thing that is most important is when you sweep that aside -- this high-stakes testing system, instead we put in its wake an accountability system that drives equity. that deals with school readiness. the deals with the conditions of learning. that deals with high standards and a rich and robust for a column. -- curriculum. that is what is happening. host: do you think that the nea is going to be more willing than i have in the past to get poli tically involved for canada to view the system in that way? guest: we will remain active in the political arena. teaching and i realized very quickly that almost all decisions that impacted my students were made outside.

we will continue that. garcia will be an incredible spokesperson for nea. she will take us to new heights. i have such high expectations for her. host: bill is up next in pasadena, california. bill is a teacher. good morning. caller: i have been a teacher and a parent. my concern is for southern california. there are incredible rules that it takes to get somebody fired. if they are caught committing a misdemeanor or felony in the classroom -- years of paide leave, before any action can be taken, will nea take any action on that area? guest: absolutely. we very much support that. no one wants an effective or bad teachers in the classroom, especially us. we have come out very strongly. we have a fairly equitable

system. it should not take four years. it should be no more than one year. someone ought to be informed of what the deficiency is. they cannot or will not improve, they should be removed. across the country, we have developed good dismissal procedures and evaluation systems that help every teacher grow every single day. i taught 23 years. my best years were my last 9. based on the training and received -- i have my masters degree. those were great years. that is in every career. most people when they hire a doctor or lawyer, they want them experienced. they know professionals grow with experience. that is what we need to have. if they have a process --

two, make sure no one gets and who should not be there. number three, make sure there is a procedure for them to grow. host: if the parent component is not where it should be, then the teacher will fail each time. but go to the line for administrators. richard, good morning. are you with us? on the lineo josh for others, calling in from connecticut. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. scranton,to pennsylvania. donald is waiting, good morning. caller: i have two comments. one, i think that the school year is way too short. 180 days is not enough. second, there is too much

politics in schools hiring. around here, i can tell you for sure. if you have somebody on the school board or related to so mebody, you have a job. thank you. host: politics in school hiring. guest: this is one of the reasons it is so important that we develop a system of how we recruit, train, and hire individuals. it should peep people who are professional ready. when you let those other factors in, there is always a system that is not good for kids. experience, the politics that he is talking about -- guest: it is less than it was years ago, but it is still very real. host: let's go to the virgin islands, mike is a parent. good morning. they said, politics

are controlling most of what is going on. econdly, there was a case in california where they show that most of the teachers are going to lower income districts. and this is a problem. this, there are those people who -- way off. low income neighborhoods deal with latinos. then they're trying to figure out where these people are failing. guest: there's a really important point. across this country, there are uncertified and unlicensed teachers. too often, the majority are in

schools where there are students of poverty. that should not be that way at all. it is essential that we reversed that. there is a program about excellence for all educators. they'rehe things calling on his states developing a plan. that is a very positive first step. we have to change that. we cannot have a revolving door. one of the most important factors is knowing the community and the families. get better and better because you know people. that is a very important point. the second is on the prison -- the pipeline. i could not agree with you more. one of the things we have seen -- host: explain them more. guest: we look at policies that are implemented at the local level. that gets kids in the system.

it makes it more probable that they end up in prison. so, we're starting to for more policemen on campus for security. if the student misbehaves in class and is sent to the office to deal with a correctional officer, there are things in that system. that is not what it should be. kids in theve judicial system because they miss behave in my class. we need to look at the factors and say how do we impact them? what are the policies that we have to change to ensure that they are not this proportionally suspended or expelled? what is it that is causing that? my frustration with the test know, is that i already after 12 years, just which students are not getting the education that i believe they deserve. they keep giving the same scores.

what are you willing to do about it? what are you willing to change? what programs are you going to institute? what resources would you give to change that cycle of what is happening to kids? accountability to me is not about the test scores. accountability is what did you do to change that as a teacher. if my student is getting a d and i want them up -- that does not do anything. look in my student and i do together to raise that up? host: you named a program by arne duncan that you like. if arne duncan were to step down, heavy thought about who you would like to see replace them? guest: it is more about the policies than the who. what is our focus going to be is a federal educational policy? we need to get away from these

competitive grants where there are winners and losers. always been about creating a level playing field to lift people up, from elementary and secondary johnson toy lyndon the individual disabilities act -- all of those things were to lift up those who were left behind. it is the policies more than the person. host: scot in michigan is next. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: go ahead. caller: dennis, i would like to talk to directly. i've spoken on this before. if you really want to educate young people, what you need to do is look at how the navy, in their training approaches such a matter. they break down the course studies. they have 16 weeks, four months.

every week, you have a quiz. it is usually 20-25 questions. if you do not score 72, you repeat that week again. you may think that that is undue pressure, but it is not. they will adapt to it. a lot of those i have spoken to agree. please do take a look at the a-schools, see how they approach it, see what you can mark from it. at the end of the semester, you do not have a big test. you just have another quiz. now you know. you will have kids more engaged than. host: can i ask you, what happens if a child keeps failing that quiz and cannot get by? caller: i failed one because i had to come home for a funeral. i missed a couple of days of course of a. want to start go to that week

again, it is the same teachings. you will pick it up. but the middle of the next week, i was helping my fellow students. i did not feel like i failed. i just feel like i needed to do a little more study. host: he brings up an important point. guest: what you describe is how i approach teaching. hardly a week went by when i did not provide a quiz. they needed to know where they were and i needed to know where they were. that is what is different from this testing maze, where there is one test given one day of the year and everything is based on the. it makes no sense. what you describe is what we have to do. performudents all poorly on the quiz, i do not go on to the next section. i need to find out what is stopping them from succeeding. that is the philosophy of education.

i will look at the navy model to see what i could pick up. host: potomac, maryland is next. caller: thank you for having me. i am grateful. i am a first-time caller. i am an immigrant from asia. also, i am involved in the pta. --, due to my i have opportunities overseas. i am a coordinator in asia and other countries. i have some comments and a question. what i see -- people talk about closing me gap. hand, there is a heavily global competition over there. nothing is closing the gap for us. schools closee

those gaps. program.go to a magnet all the rest are compressed. not typical. also, i believe -- host: what is your question? caller: on the question said, i view the system was not designed efficiently. first point, with kids everyday, getting the knowledge of their needs -- now, there is a particular way. teacher is overburdened. i cannot teach efficiently.

there are a lot of parents whoa are capable and well-educated. is this a resource problem? we cannot allocate all of the kids to their level. host: the inefficiencies that he brings up in the educational system. host: -- guest: when we do international comparisons, our system is very different. one agency controls are direct all of the schools. federal government with a lot of rules and regulations. we have 50 individual states and 50,000 school district. i think it will remain. we need to figure out how to make them more effective than it is now. within that, the key is collaboration. if all of those distinct parts are not working together, it

makes it very difficult to do. so, to me, the solution in this complex system is to focus on the student. what is it that he or she needs? what are the obstacles that stop them from succeeding? what can i do with the resources to do that? we never solve the problems if we do not take the time to sit down and collaborate. host: the outlook on twitter -- schools are not equal and do not provide equal opportunities for education. florida is next. victor is a teacher. good morning. caller: good morning. i am a retired teacher here in florida. when i started teaching, i started in virginia. i was a tenured teacher. i worked for 30 years. i got my retirement and i was treated very well. teachers in florida are being dismissed every day. they do not have tenure.

they have no continuing contract grade they have no protection. i was substituting in florida and one woman had a phd. she was making $70,000 per year. she got a bad valuation and was dismissed. the teacher told her that the reason was that they can hire two right out of college for what they are paying you. teachers going into education today in certain states should be aware that they will not get any protection. they will not give any benefits. they will not be treated like other professionals. they will not be treated like a doctor. they will not be treated like an engineer. you will not get that kind of compensation. long hours.k when you get close to retirement, they will find a way to get rid of you. that is the problem with education today.

that is why i told my son, i do know want you going into education. host: are you a member of a teacher's union? caller: not at the present time. host: were you when you taught? caller: yes. host: were these issues prevalent than? caller: no. it just started when they got away with tenure laws. it was just a way to get rid of good teacher so you with -- it was for budgetary purposes, so they could balance their budget. why pay $70,000 when you could pay a new teacher $35,000. they were hiring people without degrees and telling them you have three years to get a degree. guest: he brings up are really important point. he gives examples of how good teachers can be dismissed for the wrong reasons. the other thing that is so important to me individually and my organization is the de-professionalization of

teaching. people are calling for less and less training. they want more turnover. that makes the profession less desirable for people to come in. the department of education estimates we will need 1.5 million teachers over the next decade. that is a lot of individuals. we have to compete with professions that require similar education. essionalizede-proffe a profession and think you'll make it in getting people in. i set high standards. make it a very professional place that people want to go into. then you will have more people that want in than you need. that says you are doing something right. i agree. we need to protect the professionals. we need to protect good people from being fired for the wrong reasons. host: time for a few more calls.

the outgoing president of the national education association. when does your term and? guest: august 31. host: mary is up next in new york. when i went to school, each state had their own education districts. eight state had their own educational department. time, new york was number one. they had the highest. host: can i ask when this was? caller: pardon? host: can i ask when this was? caller: before the second world war. host: go ahead. caller: maybe they could do that. the states would be competing with each other to see who could do the best with their teaching. guest: i like that idea.

i appreciate your comments about education. caller: before my kids went to school, i talk them to mark their letters and know their numbers. guest: it makes a real difference. caller: i sent them to parochial school. they are doing real well today. why don't people study how the parochial schools work? guest: there are a lot of good schools out there, public and private. the challenge to us is to be able to create those schools everywhere. the previous caller is talking about international scene. in finland, they are often held up. they stress equity. they want every school to be as good as the one next to it. that is something i wish we had

in the united states. we have such disparity between one school in the next. the real secret to success as a noton is that it shoudl nold matter where you live. when you go to the school in your neighborhood, it should be equipped with the programs and resources and quality of workforce to enable any and every student to do the best of their ability. that is the definition of success in the public school system. host: washington is next. betty is a teacher. caller: thank you for having this program. i am calling about two specific issues we're dealing with in my district. are having to teach to the common core standards. this is not a current curriculum. we will get a which arts for caleb in the next two years. we will have had that for about 14 years. the other issue is about so much

political involvement. our legislature makes decisions on what we can do. and also, the private interest as well. the bill sponsors charter school initiatives over the last couple of years. it failed the first couple of times. we had a charter school initiative in the state that passed. we do not have the control in our state that we would like to see. basically what i would like to say. host: common core is an issue we have not gotten into yet. you have about one minute and 35 seconds left. guest: common core, we have been very supportive of. i do not believe you can ever have an equitable system without high standards for all students. problems isentioned

the limitation. they need time to develop or refine a curriculum aligned with the standard. they need time to explain to students. most of all, they need time to collaborate. we need to pull our members. teachers who teach math want to talk to each other. had we make things come alive in our classroom? that is a huge issue. the political involvement is frustrating. people outside of education believe that they know exactly what i ought to do as a teacher. i think they have good ideas. they should establish their goal. when it comes to the actual doing of work or the implementation -- people spend their lives in training and service. so, the common core standards are something that i think are essential. if we do not do it right, my greatest fear is that we will lose them. it is just too important that we

do this right. roekel beganvan teaching your sicko. he is the president of the national education association. guest: thank you for having me. host: coming up next, blake farenthold strides us as we talk about the ongoing crisis at the u.s.-mexico border. and later, we will talk campaign 2014. news update from c-span radio. >> last month, a three-judge panel in denver rules 2-1 that states cannot give the fundamental -- deny same-sex couples the fundamental right to marry. this overturned utah's gay marriage ban, approved in 2004. utah will go straight to the supreme court to argue same-sex marriage. any said that they will file

appeal to the high court sometime in the next couple of weeks, rather than taking the case to the u.s. circuit court of appeals. meanwhile, a judge in colorado has struck down the gay marriage ban. scott crabtree ruled that the 2000 6 a.m. by late the state and federal constitution. he put the ruling on hold pending an appeal. to oppose16th judge the ban since it was ruled last year that the federal government has to recognize marriages in the state. thate walsh of cnn tweets the house side of the capitol is closed because of a spill. the capitol police spokesperson says that a piece of ceiling fell after 3:00, exposing a chemical substance, likely asbestos. materialsdous burial response team is there. no one was injured in the industrial accident. capital police say the incident

is confined and not suspicious. the house will convene at 10:00 eastern. we will keep you posted. those are some of the latest headlines. in touch withp current events from the nation's capital using any phone at any time with c-span radio on audio now. call to hear congressional coverage, public affairs forums, and "washington journal." listen to a recap of the day's event at 5:00. you can also hear audio of the sunday public affairs programs at noon on sundays. call 202-626-8888. long-distance or phone charges may apply. our republic is so focused and so dedicated -- futile by stupid labels.

[applause] i would remind you that e xtremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. [applause] let me remind you of this.

moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. [applause] goldwater's acceptance speech at the 1964 republican national convention, this weekend on american history c-span3.l america" on >> "washington journal" continues. obama was innt texas yesterday talking about the crisis on the border. we're are joined by texas republican congressman, blake farenthold, to talk about these issues. also, the front page of many of the papers in texas -- here's the san antonio express. on borders texas gop bill. officials tell congress that the surge is overwhelming.

and on to the monitor, obama to border critics: this is not theater. presidentbit of the talking about calling on congress to pass the supplemental funding bill and also a long-term solution to the border crisis. [video clip] >> last week am i send a letter to congress, asking them to increase penalties on smugglers and move migrants through the system faster. yesterday, i asked congress to fund those efforts. about half of the resources would go to border security, enforcement, and expedited removal of people who do not qualify for humanitarian claims. about half would go to make sure we are treating children humanely. we would also make investments to tackle the root problems in central america. so, right now, congress has the

capacity to work with us, work with state officials, local officials, and faith-based groups and nonprofits. congress has the capacity to work with all parties concerned to directly address the situation. they have said that they want to see a solution. the supplement offers them the capacity to vote immediately to get it done. in the long run, the best way to a dress this problem is through the house of representatives passing legislation to fix our system,mmigration which would include funding for thousands of border patrol agent. something that everybody down here indicates is a priority. host: the president is saying that the ball is in congress' coirurt on this emergency

supplemental. what is your take? guest: his initial request for $2 million -- expedited repatriation and some rs was good.awye we have gone from $2 billion to $4 billion. included is relifef from wildfires. we have started palling stuff on this and gotten away from the problem. host: the associated press rakes down that funding request. that 1.8 billion dollars would be for care of unaccompanied children. one point $1 billion is for transportation and removal. $433 million for border agent pay and facilities. and $64 million for hiring of additional judges. so, what do you see as the track for the spending measure?\

guest: my concern is that we are trying to address a symptom of the problem and not the problem in the first place. we have a problem where if you are other than mexican, you have a much more -- a much longer course to go through before we can reunite you with your family and your country of origin. the first step needs to be turning off the magnet that draws these central americans here. and then dealing with the one-two are here in and expedited matter. host: there is some debate over what the policy is dating back to 2008. obama,t under president some of the policies he has unlimited? it is the belief in what central america and guatemala and el salvador is. when they get there, they believe that when they get to the united states, they will be able to stay.

they are running to the border patrol agent. we do not have to go find them to arrest them. they are saying word way sign up? it is a missed interpretation or mis understanding of what the laws are. if you are a child, we are not going to return you home. that is not correct, even under the dream act or daca. children entering now do not qualify for that. what they do qualify for is a long, arduous process. we were looking at 2-3 years before we got an immigration hearing. now, the estimated 60,000. you come up from central and your friends see you get to stay. you call your home and they do not see you sent back home. the message is reinforced that

if you did to the united states, you have the golden ticket. host: what would be your fix if you were in charge? gopusa today, they say that balks at a sensible plan. let's call the republican response what it is, a tactical decision to let a problem fester. guest: i hope that is not the case. i am disappointed that the border working group has not gone proposals out there. host: and what are they? guest: that is the group -- it is an informal group that has to come up with a solution. was to modify the 2008 law to include central america. we can have expedited repatriation. when you do higher judges on a basis. administrative judges who hear

the claims of children. hire a bunch of them to come in and expedite the preceding for the children who are already here. it will take some money. i forget who said it yesterday, but it was a great cocmment. if someone leaves a child on her doorstep, you take care of them. but you do try to get them back to their parents. host: what is the long-term fix here. the president talks about governor perry requesting national guard troops on the border. the president said he would consider it. that is not a long-term fix. guest: we do have to secure the border. there are multiple magnets that draw people here. the belief that people get to stay is one magnet. the fact that we do not have e-verify to determine eligibility for jobs. there are economic incentives to come here. we have to crack down on that incentive and we do have to

secure the border with an adequate number of border patrol agents. host: what about the people who are here. is there a pathway to citizenship for these folks? guest: my constituents and lots of folks that i have talked to have said that the government can control the border. we were promised a secure border when president reagan offered amnesty to the legal spec in his term. until we can show the border is secure, there is no pathway forward. once thek that american people believe the border is secure, we can address those issues and there will be a lot less passion -- passion is probably not the right word. there would be a lot less pressure to not do anything. host: would you consider a pathway to citizenship? guest: a pathway to legalization

will be easier to do in the house of representatives. but, again, let's get the border secure and cranked down the emotions and that to what is best for the united states. blake farenthold kummer presented above the 27th district until the redistricting. part of your district was on the border. guest: they went down to brownsville, texas. now we go to the outskirts of austin and houston. host: we will take your questions and comments for the next half hour or so. 202-585-3s can call 881. -585-3880. 202 james is calling in from p aurea, illinois. good morning. caller: good morning. why youlike to know

keep talking about the border not being secure. it is secure. you say that you need more border patrols. you have it. as far as these children coming in from other parts -- from other countries. you know that they've president needs the money. what a to give him the money and let him do it yesterday. guest: how can you sit of the border secure? we have all of these children were able to make it over. big, tough, burly guys with drugs. these are children escorted by one person. i do not think the border is secure. this crisis is evidence. theve no problems giving president the money he needs to address the crisis. we do not want to throw unnecessary money at it. we want to treat the root cause and not the symptoms. we need to spend our money smartly. host: jodi is in iowa on the

line for republicans. caller: good morning. how are you? i am a little nervous. guest: don't be. caller: corpus christi is wonderful, it is beautiful. being a truck driver, an ex- truck driver, i know with the border looks like. it has not been secure sense reagan was in office. that is part of our problem. i'm so sorry about the kids and it is not fair for them, but our country cannot do this. we can't. it is an incredibly dangerous charity for these -- journey for these kids. i do not know if you have seen him riding on trains from mexico. coy have to go through these

yotes. they are being used as pawns by pro-amnesty to sell its -- zealots, but also by the drug cartels. they flutter border patrols with a bunch of children. they know that we will do the right thing and take care of these kids. then they come across with a load of drugs. host: can you expand a little bit more. you say our country cannot do this. why is that? caller: we have so much need here. i have been out of work for two years. we lost our home six months ago. there's a lot of infrastructure here that needs to be done. i do not think we have it in the budget. will we have people borrow this money from china to pay for this? $4 trillion? guest: we are borrowing $.40 on the dollar of everything we s pend.

we do have a financial crisis. the president would have a lot of better reception for his supplemental request if he said this is what we can do. by saying we have to spend $4 islion and not cut anything like saying we have to take care of this children and this is the least important thing the gover nment does. there is not something we could not do. host: what could we not do to find $3.7 billion? guest: we are always looking for offsets to efficiency. we do need to take a step back and look at everything that the government is doing and ask, is this something the government should be doing at all? is it appropriate for the federal government or should we send it back to the states? or should we let the people take care of it themselves. host: are there obvious ones in your mind? guest: you go back to this last

presidential election. rick perry's classic -- what do the agencies need to do? on the dollar0 that we spend on education is lost to bureaucrats here. we could save 20% of our education by sending them money to the states. they would probably spend it more wisely than we do. host: chile is in long beach, new york. good morning. caller: good morning. u think the president should have had the photo op at the border? days in thent two rio grande valley last week. it was really a moving experience for me. seeing thousands of children packed into adult ascension centers --detention centers and cells.;

imagine concrete floors and benches on either side and a toilet separated by a half wall. then pile 30 plus children on the floor. some without blankets. it is clear that these children are making these dangerous trips. they do not have the facilities to deal with it. one of the things the president wants to do is build more facilities. i pick a different path. let's deal with the problem that is causing them to come and get them to stop coming. host: you think the opinion may have changed if the presidents always saw? guest: i do not think we can build our way out of it if we do not get to the root cause. more children will come. eventually, they will start to come from all over the world. it is convenient to come from central america. there is a land route. what is stopping folks from other parts of the world? mexico or central america?

we have to turn the magnet off. host: here's a little bit more from president obama on why he did not visit the border during his visit. [video clip] >> jeh johnson has visited at my direction five times. he has gone for his sixth this week. he then comes back and reports to me extensively on everything that is taking place. so, there is nothing that is taking place down there that i am not intimately aware of and briefed on. this is not theater. this is a problem. i am not interested in photo ops. i'm interested in solving the problem. shouldose who say i visit the border -- when you ask what we should be

doing, they give suggestions that are embodied in legislation that i already sent to congress. it is not as if we are making suggestions that were not listened to. in fact, the suggestions of those who were at the border, who visited the border, are incorporated in legislation that were already prepared. it is a very simple question here. congress just needs to pass the supplemental. there is a larger issue that involves politics. why aren't we passing comprehensive reform? that would put an additional $20,000 --20,000 border patrol agent and give us additional authorities to deal with some of these problems. that should have been done two years ago. it has gotten caught up in politics. the president says he is not interested in photo ops, he is interested in solving the problem.

guest: i am interested in that too. his not going to the border is equivalent to president bush not going to visit new orleans promptly after katrina. look out the window behind you. you have a beautiful view of the united states capitol. who has come to washington and walks into town. it happens to me almost every week. i see something and i get goosebumps. there is an emotional connection you receive when you do something yourself. you see it with your own eyes and you're able to touch it. the emotion of being down there will affect your thinking about it. you're bound to get goosebumps occasionally in the capital to. does the exact same thing. you do not fully understand it until you see it with your own eyes. host: long beach, new york, shelley is on the line for democrats. caller: i do not really get the

connection. what would the value have been for him to go there? whatould that have changed was already submitted? is.know what that breakdown all of you folks have it. nobody -- this is -- these people are coming. if the president flew in their and there were all of these cameras and security details, that would not have been necessary. it might have frightened the children. what would he have done? it may possibly have been put on television down there. it would send a very strong message not to send their kids. the coyotes and gangs down there are convincing to people to send their kids.

this is the propaganda coming from him. you know they will get a picture of the president there was all the children. guest: they do not allow a lot of pictures up there. most of the pictures we see are actually snuck out of those facilities. it is because it is so bad. it would send a message that the conditions you have come into our not as good as you think. also, emotionally, it tells the president you have to stop all of these people from coming. we do not want to put anybody through the dangerous trip up here and the stuff -- the procedures and attention that are there for a short period of time as we processed these folks. host: on twitter -- let's take the politics out and discuss what needs to happen.

in new york, linda is on the line for republicans. caller: good morning. off, i would not pass any immigration bill that chuck schumer had anything to do with. as far as the money goes, let's take some of the $4 billion that energy.nts for green let's take some of the money that air cold or has in the banks. let's send that to the borders to take care of these people. host: ur energy issue something you have looked into? guest: we spent a ton of money on green energy. we had some pretty bad investments there. in north's go to don arlington, new jersey. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: i have a two-part

question. when there is a natural disaster in the united states, the governors can immediately call out the national guard. why can't they do that now? my second part of that question is, where are all of these illegals getting the money to bring themselves to the united states? i thought that they were all poor people down there? lot that theis a national guard could do in support of the border patrol. we just need to get the president on board on doing that. host: do you know about what perry can do on his own with the national guard? guest: it is limited. he has chosen to send the highway patrol troopers down there. they are backing the border patrol. the border patrol is dealing with the kids. the epc is set back. they're dealing with the drugs.

they could but the national guard and the lookout posts. they have lookout towers like you will see in parking garages. there are a lot of issues. let's talk a second about the money issue. a lot of these children -- their trip is being paid for by parents or family here in the united states. happens with the children as they come in and surrender to the border patrol. border patrol has to process them and is required to do that within 72 hours. border patrol typically finishes in 24 hours. hhs sometimes cannot take them four days. somebody in the united states, rather than the home country. they reunite these children. they put them on airplanes or go send escorts.

they are them all over the country to reunite them witht their parents or friends, who i believe are the ones that pay for the trip. host: are they required to pay back the cost? guest: no. we just reunite the kids with their families. out,as taken the easy way rather than try to work with the countries and reunite them. they look for somebody in the u.s. we take them with the promise to appear. the united states government is the last mile. we take the kids when they get to the united states and deliver them to their final destination. is estimated to be over $1 billion. is up next in california on the line for democrats. caller: good morning.

i have a two-part question. we have border patrol agent at the border. where is the mexican government's border patrol? shouldn't they be securing their side of the border? how come they are not securing their side of the border between central america and mexico? if the mexican government would secure their side of the border between the u.s. and mexico and the border between central america and mexico, we would not have all of these immigrants come over. government be. giving them money to beef up the border patrol? guest: as far as mexicans on the northern border, the border to the u.s., they don't care who is leaving. if they are more interested in who's coming in. they could be making a better effort at their southern border. how do we help the mexican government do that? we offer them money to beef up their troops? then you have the folks in the

united states saying why are we giving money to mexico when we need it here in the united states? there are a lot of considerations. between mexico and central american countries is much shorter than the border between mexico and the u.s. and would be easier to secure. we will have to rely on mexicans to do that. they are a sovereign nation and they won't want our troops or people down there. i imagined it would not have any problem taking her money. host: 15 minutes left. here to answer your questions and take your comments. ken is in george on our line for republicans. caller: good morning. thank you. you have really explained the situation very well. i believe that this is a manufactured crisis by the fuh

rer and it's an attempt to smear the republicans again about our immigration. it makes the news headlines from ira scandals. shouldn't the border states be able to express their sovereignty? i know it would cost the state of texas a lot of money. should pay for planes to take these children and send them right back to their countries from which they came. and the port the -- deport the fuhrer as well. included central america repatriationted and reunite the children with whoever they were with in central america. these children were with some adult there. they were not street orphans. there was somebody taking care

of them before they came up. somebody back there will continue to take care of them if we reunite them. host: what about his believe that it's a manufactured crisis? guest: i don't think the obama administration is beyond using anything to deflect attention from the various scandals. i'm not sure this was intentionally dredged up at this time. it is a result of the policies and the idea that being expelled by the obama administration of mass amnesty and the failure to enforce our existing laws with not supporting children. wars andes, the drug general misconception in central america make it sound like if you get to the united states, you will be able to stay. that is what's happening.

you come into the country and you are processed and you are released with a promise to appear and sometimes you are released to parents or relatives present int lawfully the united states and the chances of them appearing are relatively low. if you get these notices to appear and you don't appear, you really do forfeit any right to .ove forward with legal status it's important that they do show up. i don't think a lot of them will. host: caller from florida on our line for independents. caller: good morning. about -- ask you before i get there, this is manufactured. it's not manufactured in the sense of the last color. they do know the loopholes. obama is not stupid. gutierrez inis

illinois -- i listen to a lot of talk radio and even rush limbaugh gets it. obamas this secret that does not want to get out. he does not want to fix this problem. he has already orchestrated this reunification. i see them every single day here in florida. for the past two years, the sheriff's department has orchestrated along with the guatemala consulate in my county, passports to be sent directly to the people in this country illegally. you're supposed to have a passport when you come to the country, not when you have been living here legally. -- illegally. guest: as we have continued to secure the border, there has to be circular unlawful immigration. intoily member would come

the united states, work 6-9 months and go back to mexico for a while and then come back. it has gotten so much more difficult to cross the border. family member not lawfully present in the u.s. saves up some money and pays the coyote to bring their wife, children across. causes of our the problem now. host: you talked about the immigration debate and i was playing out in your district. 200 miles from the border. split almost 50-50 between hispanic population and white population. how was the debate playing out there? guest: very much like it is in the rest of the country. our problem is, the american people have lost faith in the government. once we are able to secure the border, we will be able to move forward.

you hear consistently from hispanics and anglos alike, i went through or my parents went through or my grandparents went through the legal immigration process. why should a certain group of people who tried to shortcut the system actually be allowed to jump in front of the line? asks,lauren on twitter why haven't you impeached this president? a subject that has come up quite a bit in the past week. guest: assuming we could get the vote to impeach the president, he is not going to get convicted in the senate. most people don't realize that the impeachment process starts and then there is a trial in the senate and he will be removed from office unless he is convicted in the senate. won't take up commonsense job bills. the chances they would actually impeach the president are

between slim to none. unless there is enough public theage at the things president has done that there is no choice politically for to not vote to impeach. lena is up next from texas on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. i keep hearing people saying, why don't they defend the borders. make the borders safe so that they can't come through. what country has borders so refined with personnel that people don't come through the borders? if there is a country out there in the world that has this problem, why don't you follow that format? guest: israel has done a good

job of securing their borders. they are a much smaller country than we are. we are a geographically diverse southern border that goes from metropolitan areas to national parks. wilderness to the deserts. we have a big border that is very difficult to defend. and we have the technology. we are starting to see the rollout of arrow stat surveillance qu equipment. as we roll out technology -- there are roadblocks we have within the government for doing it. valley, it isnde controlled by the federal government and the fish and wildlife folks won't let the border patrol put a dirt road in so they could patrol the area and go pick up people that they see on the aerial surveillance.

they have wildlife concerns on some property there. the border isough going to be necessary and you run up against the fish and wildlife service. host: linda, good morning. republican line. caller: my question is, who is supporting the money for the sses that are picking these people up and transporting them? as far back asit to haveof this year this done? that this the radio

was all land and in the works companies to join to transport these people. who was paying the bills for these buses to be running? guest: you are. you and all the american taxpayers are paying for it. the folks in the health and human services and the border patrol have seen a consistent rise in the number of unaccompanied children crossing the border. they are working with the resources they have to deal with them. the children have to be processed and they have to be housed somewhere until we can find an old -- an adult to reunite them with. we have to change the law so they are treated the same as mexicans and can be reunited with whoever sent them from central america. that they the law is

are able to stay for a complete hearing, which is years down the road. we process them and the border patrol does the initial they turned them over to health and human services to take a couple of weeks to find whoever they decided to release them to hear in the united states whether it's a family member who is here lawfully or not present. in some cases, they are turning them over to a friend that the child identifies through a skype conversation. wet is going to happen when are turning these children over to the wrong people or the wrong sort of people? -- the teenage girls are telling stories about how they are having to deal with being raped during the transport up here. control getting birth

or contraceptives that they wouldn't otherwise use for fear of being raped on the trip. it's incredibly dangerous. my concern is, as more children are passing through these cartel controlled areas, how many of them will be siphoned off and not just delivered as promised but held as human slaves? me theygrandmother tell paid $5,000 for her and two children to cross and they got from central america to the border, they wanted another $5,000 to take them the next step of the way. you are getting folks who come up and more money is being , worse yet,them or women and girls are raped or boys and girls move into the trafficking area and are becoming modern-day slaves. host: a couple minutes left. carol is in new jersey on our

line for independents. caller: good morning. i have a few things to say. i have become incredibly frustrated at the media. both of these political parties that seem to be laying it very dangerous game with the american people. -- playing a very dangerous game with the american people. .f there is a website on january 29, 2014, they published this. biz opsan ad on their website seeking escorts for unaccompanied, illegal alien children. they are seeking 65,000 .pplicants

25% of which of local ground transport. 25% ice charters. is commercial air. escort services include, but are not limited to, assisting with --nsferring physical custody host: i'm to give the congressman a chance to respond. guest: there are two facilities has in my hometown. i first found out about this problem several months ago when i was tipped off by airline employees. who are we flying all over the country every day? they saw thehs -- numbers rising at hhs.

that is why they ran this ad. they are transporting these kids at taxpayer expense from the border up to these two-week holding facilities come identify the parents and then we are flying them are busing them to wherever their relative or friend in the united states will take care of them. we appreciate you stopping by this morning. up next, we talk campaign 2014 and focus on political polling and a slew of new television ads released this week in battleground states. we want to hear from viewers. which raises you are watching in 2014. a news update from c-span radio. jobless numbers in this our show peer people saw and implement benefits last week. the labor department says weekly applications dropped by 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 300-4000.

the latest sign the job market is steadily improving. senior sources are telling fox news that the may delay meeting -- the leadership must first sign off on the plan tn. homeland security secretary jeh johnson testifies today for the president's emergency supplemental request for nearly far billion dollars -- $4 billion to deal with the unaccompanied children. comesheduled appearance just one day after the president discussed the matter with rick perry. you can watch live coverage of the hearing on c-span3. the gavel comes down at 2:30 pm eastern time. 40 years ago, the watergate

scandal led to the only resignation of an american president. throughout this month, american history tv revisits 1974 and the final weeks of the nixon administration. this weekend, here the supreme court oral argument as the watergate special prosecutor contests the president's claim of executive privilege over his oval office recordings. atthe president may be right how he reads the constitution. he may also be wrong. if he is wrong, who is there to tell him so? , theere is no one president is free to pursue his course of erroneous interpretations. our then becomes of constitutional form of government? >> watergate, 40 years later. on american history tv on

c-span3. "washington journal" continues. , we: in our last 45 minutes are focusing on campaign 2014. we want to hear from you of which raises you are watching in this election year. we are focusing on polling. here is a story from today's new york times with the headline "many polling problems in midyear election." the subject of a bit of criticism, especially after that eric cantor loss earlier this year in virginia after polling showed him up with a quite big lead heading into that race. we are talking about campaign 2014. we are asking for your calls during this section of the show. republicans can call (202) 585-3881. democrats, (202) 585-3880. independents, (202) 585-3882.

we want to focus specifically on the senate race in arkansas. to do that, we are joined by the associated press capital correspondent. thanks for joining us this morning. caller: thanks for having me. host: a few new campaign ads released in this race between tom cotton and mark pryor. talking about his religion and bring his religion into this contest. we will come back to you to explain what's going on with this ad. cotton made a negative prmment about priors -- ry yor's faith. >> no one has all the answers. only god does. approved thisnd i

message because this is who i am and what i believe. background onthe the religion issue being injected into this race? caller: the background on this or, this is an ad that pry began running this week in response to an interview that cotton gave to northwest arkansas tv stations last week where he was asked about the supreme court ruling on hobby lobby and contraceptives. hemade the comment where said that president obama and senator pryor are people who believe that faith is something that only happens at 11:00 on sunday mornings. that really struck a nerve with pryor. he has run with his faith being front and center as an issue. one ad was him talking about the bible and holding up the bible and talking about how it's his northstar. cotton has said that it was not

faith.us on prior's it was more directed at the health care law. this ad is definitely a way to keep those comments front and center. ryor said he thought this was a personal attack on his faith. that this is the only way to keep this front and center and try to portray cotton as someone to extreme. it someone unfairly attacking someone's faith. host: the senate race front and center. race ofsted as a tossup the cycle. a slew of new ads released along with this ad we just played from pryor. here is one from tom cotton. i'm tom cotton. i approved this message.

washe tornado unprecedented. we are working hard to recover. it is quite what you have been told, tom cotton stood with us every step of the way. tom voted for disaster relief and for funding fema. shame on anyone who uses our strategy -- tragedy for their own political gain. it's just wrong. start focusing on the real issues. the associated press, give us some background on this one. caller: another issue that has been front and center in this campaign. ryor and democrats have been going after cotton for his votes against disaster relief. relief for the northeastern states hit by sandy. he has been targeted by ads about this. cory booker came down to

campaign for mark pryor and criticize cotton over those votes. it has gotten a lot of attention here because arkansas was hit by some of its most deadly tornadoes in april, killing 16 people. that has given the democrats a chance to focus on that issue. going very directly added and featuring a faulkner county sheriff defending cotton and pointing out votes he has made for fema. another wrinkle in this state this week, he has been criticized by a property owner and mayflower. claimed that he was misled by pryor's campaign about video he was shot on the property. he was under the impression it would be a video to draw attention to relief efforts, not

a political attack ad. they said that they were up front with the property owner, but agreed to edit the online videos. in this -- latest it's interesting, in terms of .he six-figure ad buy that host: thanks so much for joining us this morning to talk us through some of the latest ads. we are taking our viewer calls in this last half-hour of the washington journal. what races are you watching? what political polling do you trust? n tennessee. good morning. host: i'm watching the house race. he has been here to help us. we have republicans here who don't want obamacare.

while old people and children are waiting in emergency room's. from this.die people are dying. they are not reporting it. he has backed that and the food stamps for the elderly who really needed and children whose mothers and fathers are not making enough money. also, unemployment. the republicans and some sittings are up there on their behind while we are paying for their health care. we pay the money. they don't want to give the minimum wage. send those people back at the border. host: talking about the house race. steve cohen in the memphis area. we are asking what races you're watching and/or thoughts on political polling. debra in tennessee on our line

for republicans. caller: good morning. i am four and concerned with the tennessee race for senate. lamarr has been in too long. he lies about his conservatism. nearly all of his folks are democrat leaning. look at his record. 60% obama leaning. he invests in these companies supported by obama. he has lied and says he does not. he is pro-common core and pro-obamacare. which they say is helping a tennessee, but it's not.

host: debra in tennessee talking about the tennessee primary coming up that will be august 7. a closely watched primary on that date. 5, a slew ofaugust primaries in kansas, michigan, missouri and washington. and in hawaii. that primary taking place august 9. those are the early primaries coming up next month. the tennessee one, august 7. let's go to carl in oklahoma on our line for immigrants. -- our line for democrats. caller: i am watching the texas race. the governor's race. host: tell us your thoughts on that race. he's being a tea bagger and not getting anything done. he is not doing anything about the zoning, the fire zoning.

there are big explosions in there. you guys are putting me on the spot here. host: we just want to hear your thoughts on the race and how you think it's going for your candidate. caller: i haven't seen polling on wendy davis at all. i would like to see that. she should be president in four years or something. host: carl in oklahoma watching the texas race. we are talking campaign 2014. what races are you watching? also talking about polling in this segment of the washington journal. this coming from a new york times story. with four months to go, perhaps the only thing clear about the fight for the senate is that it will pose a challenge to public polling. there is always the possibility the polls could miss the outcome in close contests.

this year is particularly challenging heard the rapid growth of partisan polls has contaminated the polling averages and states where surveying public opinion is already difficult. any of these partisan polls employed dubious waiting and sampling practices. accommodation company shall make it even harder for polls to nail the results this year. that story in the new york times. let's go to kevin and i our line for democrats -- in iowa on our line for democrats. i am watching the senate race in iowa. i have not seen the polls or anything on how close it is. they have been funding commercials and stuff. i don't think she will get anything done in washington.

senator. state she hardly ever showed up for any elections in the state office. going to show up for anything in washington if she can show up for any local stuff in the state? are showing the clear average of polling where they look at all the polling on this race. they have bruce braley up by just .8%. it is early. not all the commercials have come out. during the primary about impeachment. that might come out and hurt

her, too. race.ht be a close with obama's approval ratings going down, he will have a tough race in iowa. that race rated by the real clear politics race rating. on the realup race clear politics page. as a tossup rated this cycle, the race in kentucky for mitch mcconnell's seat. sam is a political reporter with lexington herald. helping us this morning. thanks for joining us. caller: happy to be here. thanks. host: there has been a slew of new ads released this week. let's start with allison's ad criticizing mitch mcconnell over the issue of providing

medicare for seniors. he has a question for senator mcconnell. >> i am a retired coal miner. i want to know how you voted to raise my medicare costs to $6,000. how my supposed before that -- supposed to afford that? >> i don't think he's going to answer that. i approved this message. host: your piece on this story in kentucky. ad of ther first cycle. why focus on this issue? caller: polling has shown in the past that this is an issue that motivates democrats and seniors. the 2012 replay of presidential campaign. neither side has been very

honest about what -- the issue is paul ryan's 111 budget. mcconnell voted for a procedural vote in favor of that budget. it would not pertain to mr. disney. claimrst attack ad defense over some of the inaccuracies in the story. where he is from does not exist. it's not actually account. he is from cumberland county. host: but he is a real kentucky resident? caller: yes. we are talking about the new ads that have been released and that -- in that kentucky senate race.

another ad from april mcconnell group criticizing rhymes for hiding her policy positions. newse bowling green daily says she waffles on the issues. fromrom voters -- hides voters. she is nearly impossible to pin down. refused to sayy this week whether she voted for obama care. >> declined to expand on her general message. >> what is she hiding? explain the kentucky opportunity coalition. caller: they are a 501(c)(3). they are not technically a super pac, but they are doing super pac duties. they are april mcconnell super pac. they have loaded the airwaves.

mcconnelle a pro super pac. we saw the primary night on may 20 that a lot of those coal producing counties have been saying thatth ads allison would be a rubber stamp for obama. i think the super pac's have been the most influential when a new ad fromsaw pac senate majority hitting mcconnell for a remark he made and beatty bill. he said it's not my job. he said he did not understand the question. it's one of those soundbites that comes back to haunt you. we will keep a close eye on that kentucky race.

the poll has macconnell up by 1.5 points in that race. thanks for bringing us up-to-date. we are asking our viewers what races you are watching in the 2014 cycle. gene from the bronx, new york on our line for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. i am watching the texas race. host: the governor's race down there? caller: yes. to the middleose , iss grade as a republican think some of us republicans are .hinking with the same mindset

host: you can turn off your tv if you want to just go ahead. we go to muriel in new haven, connecticut on our line for democrats. i'm more or less trying to keep up with the whole mess. it is a mess. , all of them,ress including the democrats -- they go on continual recess. as i'm watching the congress, who's up for reelection and so forth, how to pickat they are able up a paycheck for work not done? , someehner, the speaker time ago brought up the fact that an immigration bill would not be brought to the floor of the house. bills thate other

have not been brought up to have work done. we have a dysfunctional congress. it does not matter who is up for election. re have to get people in the that do a days work for a days pay. another question i would ask about the entire congress is, how do the taxpayers get back their money for paying them for work not done? i know that sounds very harsh, but it's a fact. i'm dealing with facts. they are receiving a salary for work not done. pennsylvania on our line for independents. caller: i feel that polls are notoriously inaccurate.

almost useless. the only accurate polls i've ever seen are exit polls, which accomplish nothing. us?: are you still with why don't you trust the polling? we will get more into polling with our next guest. we would love to hear your thoughts on pulling this morning. dorothy is in baltimore on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to say one thing about polling and then talk about the kentucky race. polling is not good. -- they only polled 1000 people. getare not going to really a poll with that many people. host: you don't trust the

science of finding sampling that reflects the larger electorate? caller: if you think about it, more people are starting to vote. more young people are starting to vote. minorities are starting to vote. they might be getting the pole, but they are not polling all the voters. it was the new voters. you want to make a comment about kentucky as well? caller: i do. grimeshat allison marshall. i don't want to be too partisan on this. -- commercial. if the republicans get in, they will kill social security and medicare. i believe that. they don't like it and it will get rid of it and i'm sure of

that. we don't ask our politicians anything that is useful. we listen to them fighting backwards and forwards about who what's fair. we don't ask specifics. they don't give any. they don't do anything. we should not be paying congress o. host: dorothy in baltimore, maryland. one of the issues she brought up was her concern with polling. for more on the issue of polling and the sides of polling and how they are put together, we bring in doug usher via skype. he is a political and corporate pollster with purple strategies. good morning. polls took a bit of criticism this primary after that eric cantor loss. in the wake of polling that showed him up quite high in the

primary race he was in. how does the general population trust the information they see in polls? caller: trust and polling is going down just like trust and other institutions. the cantor race isn't example where the public has high expectations for poll results and media have high expectations for poll results and it gets under what our sincerest problems that polls you are dealing with a hard-to-reach or hard-to-find audience like primary voters. what is the information viewers should look for it they are trying to figure out an accurate poll versus an inaccurate poll? caller: it's a great question. those things can change over time. first, you should look at who is sponsoring the pole. in the case of the cantor race, it was put out by the cantor campaign. it is not to say that they thought they would lose and put out a false poll. when they're released by

campaigns, they tend to show a rosier scenario. is, the size of the sample and the track record of the pollster. when comes to several polling, it is buyer beware. the track records have been very good in general. you'll always find high-level, high-profile outliers. host: explain the sample size and some of the other terms we hear. margin of error and that sort of thing. caller: there are two things to think about. the first is sample size. sample sizes the number of are contacted within a population. is, of the magic of polling you can get a pretty good idea of what a whole population small by just grabbing a sample of the people.

the more you get, the better it gets. 400-500out people, the margin of error goes down. that is the percentage of what the error from your result to be. 95 times out of 100, that number will be within a four point range of that 52%. the true number is likely a 52, but is likely within the 42-56. host: explain what the purple pole is and who purple strategies is. caller: purple strategies is a bipartisan public affairs and corporate communications strategic firm.

a bunch of democrats and a bunch of republicans came together about six years ago and said we can give our best thinking to clients from post sides of the aisle when you face challenges. to of those challenges are or corporate in nature. we bring that to a wide range of clients. neither side of the aisle has a monopoly on thinking. we do a fair amount of brand work. a few years ago, we saw a lot of quality. of mixed we decided to put our hat in the ring and bring a bipartisan eye to the public polling. here, we really enjoyed doing polls and want to show everybody what we've got. second was to help advance what we are doing here at purple strategies.

we have done polling in state races, but we did most of our work in 2012 focused on the purple states. the states that are not blue or red. also on the national electorate. we have been doing it -- we will be picking up more as we head into 2016. host: purple strategies.com. how much does it cost to run a runningyou are for a senate or house race? how much is released publicly versus polling that is cap with in the campaign itself -- kept within the campaign itself? caller: what is the purpose of campaigns doing polling? of folksers and a lot out there who are consumers of polling really look at the horse race. was up and who is down.

the real purpose of polling is not just to measure that. that is important, but it's about giving strategic direction. we can tell a client or a candidate, you are at 46% today. is, that isstion nice, but what do we do about that? how do we get to our end goal? that is true of candidates and companies selling products. they want to know how you get there from here. a small portion of the pole is about figuring out where the race is and what the opinion on a specific issue is. at the broad portion of the pole is to understand how to get the client or the candidate or the company to where they need to be. that is about messaging and targeting. it's about tying your messaging to underlying elites.

in the case of a campaign, it's really about not just telling voters or consumers where you want them to be or where you want them to vote, but more about helping them ask the right questions. the questions that have the -- you mightare you think obama was trying to get people to ask the question, who will bring change the country? research helps to understand how to frame the question and get to voters so that they are thinking about the issues. host: how much does a campaign spend on polling per cycle? is it an average percent of a campaign budget? caller: i've been doing this since the late 1990's. early on, we said to campaigns, you should be thinking about spending 5-10% of your overall

budget on polling. with the idea that, below that amount, you are not doing your spending as efficiently as possible. it'set about that amount, digging into her resources and you don't want to do that either. , weudgets have skyrocketed don't want $1 billion to be spending $100 million on polling. it is too much. or a standard size house senate race, we would expect a campaign spans 5-10% of polling. does not just include the polling itself, but targeting, now is the, efforts to help guide every part of the campaign strategy. -- targeting, now is. -- harding, analysis. analysis.ng,

in some respects, it has gotten much more expensive. you want to reach people by phone and speak directly to them, that has gotten a lot more expensive with the advent of and people moving to cell phones. that has become a lot more pricey. there are alternatives, including some of the automated anding which we use online options that are more cost-effective. the real issue is, how can you get the most accurate sample and do it in a cost-effective way? sometimes, there is no choice but to go back to a, nation of land lines and cell phones. that is really important in small political jobber figured we found going online and more national work gives very good results at a slightly more cost-effective way. host: the corporate pollster at purple strategies. you can check out their work at purple strategies.com.

caller: thank you very much. host: we've got about 10 minutes left. happy to take your comments about polling or what races were watching in this 2014 cycle. let's go to cannes in columbus, ohio on our line for independents. caller: good morning. i am watching all the races because i'm concerned about the overall good of the country. i have never been a member of any political party, but i've always been a thinking man and a seeker of truth. someone who really studies the issues. it's been a hobby of mine since i took civics in seventh grade. my question is to the american people. how long are they going to leave desk constantly believe the lies and demonization that they pour out?

ony can't win arguments logic or policy, so they have to demonize the other side. this is straight out of the .andbook for radical-ists let's understand where the message is coming from. anything for power. deception, any demonization as long as we get power. host: asher is in pennsylvania on our line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. i am interested in the pennsylvania governor's race. i'm wondering whether or not it -- he is far behind in some of the polls that have been released. it wondering whether or not

indicationuld be an as to how people are theatisfied with the way oil companies have been ing their fracking x oration. exploration. host: it is listed as likely democratic. meaning it is likely that the governor there will not be reelected. the race rating according to real clear politics. paul is in illinois on our line for independents. good morning. caller: good morning. i was calling about the polling. mr. usher hits it on the head. your polls can be blocked by the groups that are stating anything

they want. a certain result, i can give it to you if you have the money because they all go by demographics and they go look at areas that are black or white or mixed. you can pick up whatever results you want. if you are a democrat any one good democrat polling, ok, i know those areas. what do you look for to find a poll you trust? caller: i don't have a lot of faith in any of them. rasmussen is probably the one i have looked at most. i would rather listen to the individual candidate and watch their motions. you can look at their eyes and movement. you can tell more from that than you can from a poll. host: romney is and alabama.

on our line for democrats. knowr: i would like to why we always have to listen to people saying this one over here voted for this. this, but vote for this fellow over here voted for this. everybodywe just show and we will know who to vote for? it's time to get rid of liars and put anybody in jail when they break the law. everybody needs to pay the same price for what they are doing. that is rich or in the government gets a free ride for everything and americans are tired of paying for this.

host: ronnie and alabama. sarah is in brooklyn, new york on our line for democrats. good morning. .aller: good morning i'm watching the race for the unemployment people who are suffering in this country. it is sad to say that i have a is-year-old grandson -- this -- he hass country nothing to look forward to. the republican party does not care about anything but themselves. the senate is a disgrace. the house is a disgrace. they need to stop focusing on obama and trying to impeach him be work with him so we can secure and my grandson can survive to be a grown man and

have something in his life that he works and earns four. we are suffering. they have taken away my lifeline and they don't care. host: david is in tennessee on our line for independents. good morning. caller: i just want to comment in theh my distrust and the polls and why. called and polled and asked if i was support this bill. there is no way for them to know that.

since that time, i've always distrusted the polling system. host: it is the push polling you are concerned about? caller: if that is what you call it. the question was structured to get a certain result. that is not the information that will be turned out to the public . host: what about the horserace polling? caller: you never know what questions will be asked in the polls. the questions asked dictate the results. host: the information given to them before they picked their candidate? if a question is worded, it is looking for a specific result. in this case, it was about a budget. how the question is structured.

host: david in winchester, tennessee. going to be our last caller this morning on "the washington journal." , that senate appropriations committee hearing on funding for unaccompanied immigrant children. that is our chauffeur today. we will see you back here tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. eastern. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> here on c-span we are live