>> as congress reps at business and makes a way for it august ray, we are pleased to have senator david vitor of louisiana. she is a senior republican on the environment works committee. he is chair of the caucus.

that's an right at the center and many of the big issues. thank you for being with us. let me introduce our two reporters. press national environment reporter. susan is that the washington examiner. to start with your caucus. front and center issue for americans right now. what is on the minds is is it appropriate for congress to be taking a break? before the election is what i harry reid isvote allowing is a pure spending bill, spending more money on the illegals to house the in this country and to distribute them around the country rather than focus on enforcement and making changes to the laws that are necessary to streamline enforcements.

i think the house will act in a more balanced way doing both. if harry reid would allow them. >> there is a big question about how to handle these migrants. unaccompanied children, 60,000, some feel like we should keep them here as refugees. even some conservatives are talking about that as a compassionate move. democrats are behind that as well. what do you think should happen? should they be given court hearings or should they be quickly deported if they are even from central american countries? >> i agree with those who say this is a crisis on many levels including humanitarian. these are minors. the biggest phone ability they have is that they are being transported in the hands of criminal gangs, literally peer that is not an overstatement.

druglords, coyotes. that hisway you stop wake deportation, quick, streamlined action. to get there we may need some more money. we do need some changes to the 2008 law. this is the only thing that is going to stay this low. that is the most humanitarian policy. ofting these in the hands criminal elements when they are abused as a very serious situation. >> the house is going to vote on a measure calling on them for deferred actions. do you support that?

>> i do. it is pretty clear this has a lot to do with the current flow. if you look at the numbers and this started very soon after the 2012 executive order. clearly started right after that. is that a coincidence? this is part of the problem. a necessary part of the solution. .> it has been a take week reportcans just issued a

looking into the environmental movement. how is this different from what happens on the other side? there is conservative funding for opposite means. how you differentiate between the two. >> and very excited this was done on the minority side of the environment. there are reports about the billionaires club. financed andl fundingted system of the policy object does. this is different from a lot of other things you see on the left in right. is a very complicated, multilayer system. complicated with multiple layers.

the only reasonable conclusion is to defeat any hope of transparency. it is obvious what is going on. there is not a lot but transparency. complete there is a lack of transparency. the other is the dollar numbers. the dollar numbers are truly monument. they are much larger than you much othere -- categories. >> there is things that you are opposed. thoseis another report with out that shows the power plant actually benefit states

play louisiana. how do you balance that she forces in your own state that ?ould be benefit >> i am sure some companies and big industrials would benefit here and what i'm concerned about are the folks who can least afford very significant increases in electricity bills. those on fixed incomes. those are the folks that are a big hurt when you have cost increase in energy. some big companies, some big investors will benefit. the very core is going to be on the front line in terms of significantly increasing

electricity. >> turning to your decision to run for governor. you have a solid tenure in the senate. a are poised for state majority would give -- which would give more power. why run for governor now -- governor now? lot about this before we made our decision. we decided that i could have a start toimpact from finish and that chief executive position. we are at an exciting point. a lots of opportunity for our great economic road. fully capitalize on that and take advantage. we need to take some important area. as governor i can have a much

bigger impact. negative ino way any sense. i really think republicans are going to take over the senate. >> could you talk a little bit yout your view and wawhere are? what would you do as governor? >> it started up including louisiana. i strongly support the common core standard. people who really read them. this may not be a whole lot. people do not actually look at them. aggressive atng the state level or implementation. number one, planning and implementation so nobody is

caught off guard. there is no preparation in the classroom. reading lists. we can do that. some have not put in the necessary effort to do that and be fully on top of that. i would absolutely do that. >> you have paired up with the late senator on a bill to reform this. in april there was a lot of controversy about this. where does this stand now. they stand on that effort? >> 10 minutes ago i was in a member's meeting with her he other members about that very issue.

frank lautenberg has passed a couple of months after we struck the historic deal. theudall has stepped up on side. he has been a great partner. with sir.d a meeting we're trying to get to the goal. thisnk there's absolutely for the congress. there's still bipartisan legislation to reform the regulation of chemicals including toxic to michael's. everybody involved in that industry and consumer groups there is a significant updating that needs to happen. >> is boxer on board with

advancing the bill? >> we just presented her a new redline. i continue to be optimistic that we have a very bipartisan effort. barbour is an outlier. i am very optimistic. >> are halfway through the program. can you talk about how this will affect your state? a lot of republican governors have decided to do that. where do you stand on the issue? >> what we need to focus on is fundamentally reforming medicaid. we talk about medicaid for the poor. it is a broken system. people with no coverage at all

have this. we need to reform it. can reform does, the fundamental challenge is significant reform. we are not joining official state resources away from other priorities. coststh in health-care has largely been driven by the federal government. it has drained this into health care. afford for that trend to continue. i will not allow any discussion of changes to further this. the house voted yesterday to begin a lawsuit against the

delay. they could be successful. it focuses on the substance first. at the president obama is picking and choosing what parts of the law to enforce them what parts of the law to ignore. i believe that is beyond his constitutional authority. i think that is right. we passed the law. congress passed the law. choosenot then pick and what he is going to enforce and what he is not going to enforce. >> going back to the global epaing issue, recently for andse came to the hills

basically call for action on climate change. i met with them primers -- prior to their appearance. this is not seem to happen. what do you think is going on? republicans with environmental credentials? they are proposing these two standards. i do not think this should be so positive. was sometimes the extreme left wing of the party. i do not think that is the mainstream view. i think it is real skepticism ofn you compare huge costs this proposal to our economy and specifically to the most

vulnerable. huge costs that are going to impact the spirit of china and india and others cannot change their clearly stated policy there would be zero benefits. that is the main concern among republicans, particularly when we are struggling with an rd mediocre area. >> has you get countries like china and india who are big it matures to change their policy if the u.s. does nothing? it is not tied to any negotiation with them. i am not sure how you'd do it. i do not think that is a death half. >> in my reporting i was looking at a sea level rise around virginia. uph said where do they stand

to the sea level rise? not the worst. it is the worst on the east coast. as the senator from louisiana, that is a place experiencing global warming. how do try to explain this to your constituents? they were in the coastal issues at all. by far the biggest issue we face erosion which is fundamentally about two things. that sentiment out into the gulf where it actually creates a dead zone rather than rebuilding the coast. secondly, the energy issue channeled the coast.

whichilled the vegetation was the glue that held that together. plan whichry coastal puts it in a part of developing this with many other folks. plan.on the path those are the biggest that >> turning now to a state issue that will certainly come up if you are elected governor. likes in louisiana we have huge industrial projects coming online. have rate job opportunities. our challenge is to train people to meet the opportunities. if you have the right holding

certificates, you can walk into your first job ever and be earning 60,000 plus a year. that is a great salary in louisiana. and for years you can be $100,000. our biggest challenge is workforce development and training. i'm going to be focused to get people with those opportunities, not a minimum wage job flipping hamburgers. >> you're likely to be asked him. >> elwyn tv to beer over to another issue. -- i want to beer over to another issue. you and several other senators

have talked about the investigation of fracturing going forward. the justice covers this. they put out a report saying the epa has to do a better job of regulating all of the ways, water generated by hydraulic factoring. >> it was focused on something completely beyond their jurisdiction. completely fiction. you can read their mandate and read what they want to study. the to do not match up. meaning, look, we have to make sure that they are dealt

>.h properly for >> one poll is showing some serious dissent ruvell. theink he was rated one of most unpopular governors in the country. job is your view of his performance? bei am preparing to overrated. working with a great team to move the state forward, not focused on what robbie has done or not done. clearly thatery this is going to be my last political job, elected or

appointed. i'm going to be focused on moving the state forward for the benefit of all louisianians. >> i'm going to have to go back to global warming. topic du jour in theington, not through month over the year. >> there is some criticism. washington. not happy with where the president is going. the question becomes what is your proposal? what is your alternative? does this not need to be addressed? think the entire premise on which the president is at doing

in terms of the types of work cast is completely overstated. i do not support that draconian action that is going to have a huge impact on the economy. this is very suspect in terms of the numbers. none of these has come true. impact ofhave zero china, india and other countries do not genetically change their policy. >> what is the plan? republican being focused? >> they're focused on other things like any the economy back on track. if we have real job growth we are much better equipped to deal with the plethora of challenges.

>> final question. this is when people are talking about. that is veterans affairs issues. >> i agree with the. that is being talked about everywhere. >> on your homepage you invite them to share the stories. town, doss leaves this you feel like there have been steps taken to right what is wrong? >> i supported this change. i wish them all the best. they are getting some clinics done that are way overdue in louisiana. adequatelye not dealt with within the system. they have other opportunities. big reform is to cut cumbersome overly area and let the new secretary

to actually be able to fire people. do we need to keep focused on that? likes this has been a wide-ranging conversation. what is congress leaving and done? >> it is on the environment. i was a little bit surprised about the meeting he mentions on the top of the reform at that he and martin burke had penned. is undone. there was some real bipartisan movement. you don't get that very often. that was really the big one.

flip side are there any accomplishments? it has been a great run. you saw some bills that would easily pass things on energy efficiency making things more efficient like appliances, getting tripped up with things they do not like from republicans. or it was trying to get a vote on the floor about the plans on power plants. the partisan divide on some of these issues has tripped up what historically would be a no-brainer piece of legislation. >> this is what many of the members will be doing. assess the political state of

affairs. >> is not just environmental issues. there is a bit of a voter backlash. i think there is a lot of healing and the congress right about 2014.all you also have republicans who are angry about amendment process. things aren't getting done that both sides like because of the partisan gridlock. this is remarkable to me. the second thing that is a good thing is that they were able to get done some things they knew they could not leave home without doing. that includes the veteran reform

bill. they managed to work over the week end. removing that i had. this is going to motivate them in the future. if they feel the public doesn't want to tolerate the gridlock, they will see it. feel thatrepublicans they can leave town without giving the president more money. they are willing to do it rather than giving the president a politics istheir ruling the day on capitol hill. they're keeping a close eye.

the question is what they're doing. >> when money is running low you'll hear all kind of complaints that they cannot furniture any further. no money is needed at all. the president has money. conversely, we know there is a backlog of emigrants waiting for hearings. this has doubled over the past deck eight. i think both sides acknowledge that this cannot be done quickly unless they put in more resources. this is the worst atmosphere in years. you focus on a bipartisan area. what is your assessment between the parties? environment, it is the

worst i have seen. and this very interesting race where republicans want to force a vote on issues. these are complicated topics. they do not really follow party lines sometimes. they know if they bring an amendment to the senate floor they're going to not these off from states that are affected by these rules. that is the real rub. the is a war between what harry reid wants to put on the floor and what republicans see on the floor. as a result, you're going to get the basic bill.