philips joins us. he is the ceo of a campaign technology firm. you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter.

details a lot of miss management and at the phoenix v.a. we saw cases where folks had serious are diseases. still had to wait months h nine weeks. six months to get any sort of follow up apoints scheduled. i got a class to talk to a deputy second earlier this week. he said it is still bad news report and still an embarrassment for the department. >> how extensive was the i.g. investigation? >> this was a pretty in

depth report. they spent months combing through files, not working, they said working with the department of justice and the fbi on possible fraud and case that's could result in criminal cases down the line. but they found widespread problems and investigationings of other facilities turned up the same issues of mismanagement, problems with how scheduling occurs. and really some systemic cultural problems that the va has been struggling to address since the spring. >> what did they find out about suicide and prevention related to the care they get at v.a. facilities? >> small we heard a lot from veteran organizations over the years. story is a lot of different medical issues when veterans

can get in and when they can be seen by someone, get the care they need, the care is good but the problem is getting in there. zoo we saw some reports in this i.g. review of folks who had had suicidal i'dation, some serious mental health issues but again, were put off for weeks or months for follow ups that could have been key in addressing their issues and helping stabilize condition. >> host: so you mentioned cultural issues. something brought up repeatedly when people talked about what happened at these facilities. how does the i.g., what do they recommend to address culture at the v.a.? >> guest: they have 24 recommendations. they either agree with them or they're working on them.

in terms. cultural issues, it will start with v.a. taking a step back, looking at this report and going more in depth, seeing which employees made mistakes, where the mistakes, were they ma list shoes or protecting bonuses? we heard from second mcdonald and others officials that they will hold folks accountable. so far, we've only seen a handful of firings. s.e.c. secretary mcdonald said yesterday 30 personnel actions against various employees since the end of may but that will be what lawmakers and outside groups want to see next, who ends up losing job, who ends up facing severe punishment as a result of these mistakes. >> ahead of this report, president obama in north coast announces steps he's taken to address care and other aspects of v.a. care,

veterans care. what did he say? >> guest: it was a wide ranging speech. he unveiled about 20 new executive orders. on a variety of topics. you know, expanding some new mental health programs, pilot programs to deal with suicide prevention. some programs to deal with transition issues for the four veterans that are looking for jobs or simply trying to deal with student loan, mortgage loan, things of that sort. a real grab bag of issues. reaction from veterans groups from, lawmakers has been mixed. most folks think these are nice steps but nothing revolutionary or that will change the landscape. but the president said you know, these are important steps and it's important to keep moving forward, to keep finding ways to fix the

problems facing the v.a. and veterans. the end of the speech was a long bit of talking about american involvement, not just that the government can't solve all these problems. it will also take community involvement. bringing the idea of team work together, something the president has said in the past but in light of the scandals facing the v.a. and the concerns, new emphasis on all of us, all the country needing to come together and rallying around veterans. >> host: what are the biggest issues for veterans? >> guest: now the big issue is trust in the v.a. groups have been shaken by this. they see the c.a. as a critical tool moving ahead. there is always talk about whether the system is outdated. whether or not private health care could fill the void.

veteran groups certainly don't want to see that. they love the v.a. they want the v.a. to be a strong resource for them but the scandals have scared them. they're worried the veterans won't have the faith in the system to get their disability benefits, deal with the red tape to get education benefits and to go seek medical help if they need i there is a lot of medical issues that v. appears is a leader in. ptsd, prosthetic, suicide a push for them. these are all things the veteran groups want to see v.a. improve in, want to see them still be a leader leader enbut right now, that involves fixing the image of the v.a. and convincing veterans they'll be treated the right way. >> host: we'll be talking to our viewers about this, steps by the administration and what else needs to be

done in line for veterans as well. phone number on your screen. start dialing in now. >> unemployment among post 9/11 veterans 9points 2% a bill that would help is stuck in the senate. what is the situation with joblessness and veterans? >> guest: especially the post-9/11 have been veterans, the bureau of labor statistics admits it's a little tougher to get a handle on. what is known that it is a tough job marked out there for returning vets. president did address this a little bit with some of the executive orders. made this appoint in recent years. wanting to find jobs for truck drivers or medics returning. make it easier for them to get certifications they need to transition to the job market. the overall veterans unemployment number has been

better than the national for last couple of years but as you know, unemployment is an issue in every sector. especially for the younger guys, the guys just returning from afghanistan who had multiple tours in iraq. they feel that more can be done not only to reward their service but use the skills they bring back with them, take advantage of the leadership and the reliability and also the service specific skills that they bring home. >> okay. leo shane, thank you sir. >> new, let's turn to all of you, george, a veteran and independent in georgia. george, you're on the air. >> caller: good morning. how are you doing? i'm at the v.a. in the decatur, georgia. i had some issues where by i go to mental health and i've been diagnosed with post

traumatic stress disorder. i was approached by captain robinson with the v.a. police department and back last year, he threat inned that if he see me at the v.a., him and another policeman would have me arrested. you know, i've been having nightmares and i haven't actually been going back there in which i receive medicare part a and b now because i'm a social security disability beneficiary which i had 37 years work history and 131 quarters with the social security administration. as a mere lad, i went into the military in 1979 and got out in 1980 and got shot up with various chemicals and gases because of my m.o.s. and now i see a cardiologist, pulmonary, doctor, ent, dermatology, poe die try. >> george, does the v.a. pay

for all of that? inches i've been cited at 80% but i received a letter directly from the director threatening me that my claim was erroneous. in 1979 and 1980, there was a medical valuation and i got cited with multiple diagnosis of some of the things i just mentioned like hypertensive heart disease and he held my claim up for the last 3 1/2 years. they oh me 35 years retroactive. i filed with the american legion three months after i got out under title 38. those entitlement are due me. >> host: all right. george. diane next. democratic caller, what do you make of the step to improve the v.a. health care system? >> caller: they need to because my brother died in

2005 from the disease he had from agent orange. i watched my brother suffer and at times they had him waiting for appointments and they would call my brother back to let him know but the first thing they should do to improve this, this is just not happening. this happened when bush was in there. you know, all of a sudden we had a person to come out and let us know what is going on with the system. we want thome go over and fight for this country but when they come back, they throw our veterans aside. the veterans are homeless. we got people around here -- i'm going to hurry up. -- we have people walking around talking to themselves. you can't help the fellow man that laid their life on the line for you? it has been happening all the time and thank god in heaven we have people out there to put it out there.

thank you. >> host: all right. diane. take a look at what the administration is proposing. new recruiting campaign to fill shortages of doctors an nurses at v.a. hopses. in role people receiving care for mental health conditions. study for if people show signs of being vulnerable to suicide or post traumatic stress disorder. a study involving 1800 veterans at 29 hospitals. $80 million for diseases including post traumatic stress disorder and partnerships in five cities to further reduce homeless veterans with services like job training and agreements with lenders, banks, for active duty troops to reduce mortgage i want rates and their monthly payments. that is some of what the president announced his administration is doing to help veterans in this

country. patrick, a republican, what do you think from florida? >> caller: well, this is kind of a typical in depth reporting c-span has. you didn't happen to mention that military times has nothing to do with the military. it's a self-apointed people inside dc. most of the va benefits go to nonservice related injury, prostate cancer, lung cancer, diabetes, you didn't happen to mention when i did my time, part of the benefit of doing time in the military, that you got medical care so you can go in -- when i was in, i walked out when i was 22 and i had benefits right then so three years down the road, if i had a gall bladder, i can go right to the v.a. and have them pay for it. you know? all these deaths in arizona,

were those service related injuries from iraq, iran? not iran, but afghanistan? do you even know that? >> host: patrick, you're welcome to go and look at the ins gps report. can also find it on the we site. the report issued yesterday. after president obama announced several steps before the american legion national convention in north carolina, we're getting your thoughts on that this morning. james is a veteran in georgia, independent call irwhat do you thing? >> guest: i think the veteran could help with democrats because i'm sitting here with no teeth at all. i have six teeth and no dental health care. i think they need a dental care program. >> host: they don't have one, james, that is right?

>> guest: yes, that is correct. >> host: all right. rick, also a independent veteran. in ohio. >> caller: i think obama is going to give $100 million for a couple of different -- the walmart heirs sit on $250 billion. apple computer sitting on $175 billion in cash. when you manipulate the price of gas from $1.25 up to $4, that takes about $250 to $300 billion out of the system, with a b. warren buffett is probably sitting on $100 billion. so first of all, you know, this is similar to trading workers. you can judge society on how you treat your workers and your soldiers and if you see how society treats its

workers, it's similar to the soldiers. and i want to went this. this whole thing was brought up in arizona. and it was political. and i'm sure that the va has many, many, faults but whatever faults they have, there's probably ten areas where they're excellent. but that this is political, all political and a backfire on the republicans and i'm not waving the flag for the democrats, but literally, this is political. again, there's a couple of trillion dollars sitting -- you know, ten corporations and ten families sitting on a couple trillion dollars. this is typical. you're going to give $100 million to the soldiers. >> host: what about the bill that president obama signed into law earlier this month. here's the headline. obama signs veterans bill into law and says president

obama signed a bill to overhaul the department of veteran affairs in a rare display of bipartisan in the current congressional gridlock. the signing which took place at fort bell everywhere in virginia capped off negotiations. says the bill was passed with bipartisan majoritying that doesn't happen often in congress. the first step toward fixing the problems at the v.a. and highlighted the work still to be done. including eliminating the back long and helping more veterans get jobs. also urged the senate to confirm pending nominees so, $16 billion, rick. >> caller: $16 billion, that's going to fix the problem that was start when bush went into afghanistan and iraq illegally, but another point -- um -- you literally have five states in this country that are

responsible for all of these wars and that's the state of texas, the state of georgia, it's the state of virginia. and it's connecticut and maryland. and right there, i gave you 90% of all the military base, all the military contractors in this country. so, you know, if you want the people to pay for these veterans, let's go to the states that are responsible for the wars. the states that have all the military contractors and the military bases. >> host: all right. rick. the bill that president obama signed into law authorizes new v.a. clinic, funding for health care providers and allows veterans that faced lengthy waits to see doctors outside the system and makes it easier for the v.a. secretary to fire or demote

officials. joanne, greensburg, pennsylvania, democratic caller. go ahead. >> caller: good morning. i appreciate president obama taking the lead here. republicans have repeatedly used obstruction track tics which i find trees news personally and recommended reading is the new new deal by michael greenwald and also in the house of representatives. it's just ridiculous in detail. the republican opposition to the stimulus, all things obama to veterans care. they spent more money on benghazi investigation that's were bogus and ridiculous and more than they did on the veterans. john mccain is on the sunday show so frequently. the scandal on the veterans care started in arizona. he hasn't been looking for the camera in dc, cho have checked on the veterans that were not receiving care in arizona. >> host: all right. joanne. here is a response from jeff miller, republican of

florida, chair of the v.a. committee in the house to what the president said yesterday. the white house claims that va is improving when it comes to accountability don't add up. especially when no one has been fired as a result of the v.a. scandal. goes on to say the department is still sitting on 113 outstanding requests from the house committee on veteran affairs and v.a. whistleblowers that tried to eggs pose problems are still enduring retaliation. there's a response from the top republic on the house v.a. committee. robert, you're next. democratic caller. hi, robert. >> caller: good morning. how are you doing? i think jesus put it simply. he said what you do to the least of my brother, you do on to me. the probably with the veterans is almost that old divide and conquer. if they would be concerned about the least of america that don't have insurance or

have poor health care, then they would be taken care of. until we learn to do that, you know, we're all going to suffer because they go from one bad thing to the next. and when it comes to health care, i worked 40 years to make sure that everyone had an opportunity to have health insurance. we now have it. so what they do is make sure we see to it that all these people that have health insures can get good health care. >> host: all right. robert. we're going to keep taking your thoughts. executive actions announced yesterday, 20 of them to improve care for veterans in this country. some dealing with the actual care, suicide prevention. others dealing with job training to help homelessness swell reducing mortgage rates for active duty soldiers to reduce monthly payments. we'll get your shots on that first other headlines. front page. "washington business journal" this morning. israel and hamas greed to

new cease-fire. open ended. ends 7 weeks of conflict in more than 2200 people killed. holding for now. more talks are planned in cairo next month. and then on the domestic side, in the "new york times" front page this morning, on climate change, davenport has this story. obama pursuing climate accord in lieu of a treaty. own administration working to forge a sweeping climate change agreement to force nations to cut fuel emissions without ratification from congress. in preparation for this agreement to be signed at meeting in 2015 in paris, meeting with diplomats to broker a deal to commit some of the world's largest economies to enact laws to reduce carbon pollution. but under the constitution, a president may enter into a legally bind abouting treaty only if it is approved by

2/3 majority of the senate to side step, they are devicing what they call a politically binding deal that would name and shame countries into cutting emegses. likely to face strong objections from republicans on capitol hill and poor countries around the world but negotiators say it may be the only realistic path on climate change. this story is the lead banner on drudge's web site as well as the huffing ton post this morning and next to that in the "new york times" this is story above the fold. u.s. mobilizing allies to widen the middle east strikes. the ups has be you gun to mobilize behind action in syria and moving toward intersection pangs air strikes. probe about broadening his campaign against want militants in iraq and syria and nearing a decision to authorize air strikes and air drops of food and water around the northern iraqi

town. homes to members of the minority, town. 12,000 under siege for more than two months by these militants so trying to rally u.s. middle east aleyes around this fight. by the way, this is another headline in the paper this morning about the situation with the islamic state. here's the headline. american convert to islam is killed fighting in syria. u.s. officials say a american convert to islam that recently traveled to syria has been killed in the fighting. circumstances remain unclear. he was killed as rival militant factions fought but officials could not say if he was fighting for the islamic state or another group. that is douglas mccain on your screen. says foreign fighters are a major concern for u.s. and european nations that fear they may return home battle

hard depend and determined to launch terror strikes in the west. recruiting former fighters that have returned to the ups. so that from the "washington post" this morning on that also a warning from the often about those air strikes from egypt and the uae on libya. from the financial times. here's the quote. we believe outside interference exasperated current divisions. u.s., france, germany, italy and the uk in a statement by the state department says admiral john kirby, spokesperson confirmed they has conducted air strikes in libya but declined to give details. also said qatar was funding and arming libyan islamists. that in the papers this morning in the financial times. bobby gosh who has written

extensive has a piece on defense one web site why the bombing of tripoli is a game changer. he writes if you believe the obama administration had no idea that the uae and egypt were about to launch strikes in libya, i have a bridge you may want to buy. the uae has been a steady partner as well as avid acquirer of american military hardware. air force participated in enforce fly tone that led to the overthrow of moammar gadhafi. defies consider documenty that the emirates would go behind washington back to launch attack for threatening to undermine the success of this operation. that is bobby ghosh's writing. david, we're talking about the i.g. report and the

president's announcement yesterday that he's taking several steps to improve health care for veterans. what do you make of it? >> caller: i think it's outstanding. i'm 200% disabled vet. my feet are dying, my back was blown in half. i have other conditions. i have no problems with the v.a. medical system once you get in it. i don't know what everybody is talking about. i was up new mexico west virginia and they treated me like gold. i don't know if it's because i'm category 1, top, above even congressional medal of honor or missing in action guys. but what i do have problems with on the benefits side, there's two sides. there's the be fits side and the hospital side. be fits side you only get it if you got service connection. if you are a service connected injury, the v.a. picks up and you go into the system and you get taken care of. the other guys, they go in at real, real reduced level.

they have to pay for own medicine at a certain discount happened kind of stuff but those are the ones that go in and complain because they tell the inspectors, the guy that's do a lot of medical valuation, they go in and try to shuck and jive them. you can't do that. you have to have service connection and that's something they have to look at. a lot of the guys and i'm not picking on my fellow soldiers. i know when the economy is back, social security gets hit hard but my problem is social security. they frauded me since 1990 on and i've asked v.a. to help me. i asked american legion and disabled vets of american to help me. i'm what you call i'm a lifetime member of the disabled vets and the disabled legions and i we want in and said i need a lawyer. i was medevac'd out of

europe and couldn't work. thing about social security you have to be out of a job for a year or permanently disabled. they kept stone walling me up to 95. you only get the first five years when you get out and you have to keep going in. they never gave me the right to appeal. the v.a. did. i learned through the v.a. system. social security never gave me the chance to appeal. i saw two judges. last one said we oh u2 1 years back pay. we know -- see, i we want to school too and got three degrees. v.a. paid for. and i mean, i've been busy. i'm not lazy and it took me a little while because my feet are dying. one time i was in a power chair and on canes. >> host: david, what chances do you want to see? >> guest: ins superintendent important to help out with social

security. how can i be 200 percent for v answer and soaks security not disaimed. i've got bipolar, ptsd, feet are dying. back totally put back together and i went to this last meeting, it's an oversight committee in maryland, falls church. >> host: david, i'm going to leave it there. thank you for the call. i want to get some other voices in. more veterans waiting on the line. kenneth, a republican and a veteran. go ahead. >> caller: yes, ma'am. i'd like to comment a little bit about what the last guy just said. i have been a veteran since 1976. i was hurt during basic. my neck was busted. my back was busted. i was laid up in the hospital for 6-8 weeks. it was release from the hospital, sent to medical hold, ordered to sign paper work and sent home. i've been fighting for my medical and my come pep

sayings benefits for 38 years. to no avail. v.a. keeps putting it off and putting it office. i finally got a hearing coming up and even the v.a. doctors have service connected me. but the v.a. administration in montgomery, alabama keeps saying no, no, no. most of the doctors that i have seen with the v.a. health administration are great doctors. and they will fight for you and do whatever they can for you. i've got psb post trauma stress mutt plus i've got 16 aneurysms, neck busted, back busted, leg busted, congestive heart failure which they're trying to treat everything and it's all well documented that i'm service connected but i don't deserve anything because i wasn't in during a time of war?

i want to see them change that. >> host: okay. let's hear from the veterans affair secretary robert mcdonald that took over for eric shinseki. yesterday he was with the president at the american legion conference in north carolina. here's what he had to say about investigating people in the management of the v.a. health care system. >> since may 1, 2014, we have taken over 30, over 30 personnel actions and investigations are ongoing. two members of the senior executive service have resigned or retired. three members of the senior executive service have been placed on administrative leave pending the results of investigations. over two dozen, over two dozen health care professionals have been removed from their positions. and four more gs15s or below placed on

administrative leave. >> host: v.a. secretary yesterday before the american legion talking about what the v.a. is doing under his leadership to investigate those that have been at fault within the v.a. health care system. nicholas in virginia, democratic caller. active duty member. go ahead. you're on the air. >> caller: good morning. >> go ahead with your question or comment. >> caller: it's about the efficiency of the system. i am active duty and probably the biggest issue that i've seen. grime to separate here soon but the big itch issue that i've noticed without a question is lack of efficiency within the military itself. i'm not trying to obviously bash the military absolutely but the system is set up in so many different layers and levels within that unless you are 200 percent disabled and obviously the top of the list in the time frame for

what you're trying to deal with is quite arduous. there's an extend the process that goes with it. it isn't as simple as go to the v.a. web site and put it all into one place there are so many different you know, layers that you have to open and open the onion and go through every single one. it's pretty extensive. one of the biggest problems that goes with that is where you are before you separate. i'm lucky enough to be separating from a short custom manned where i can access the internet. i consider myself lucky even though will are difficult times with that but on the flip side, i have, you know, friends overseas or friends out on the ocean that are trying to separate at the same time because you know, thundershower contract is ending when they are still on a sea command and you

know, the problems there are just massive and it's largely because of a lack of efficiency within every one of the systems. you don't simply go to one step and 2, 3, 4. it's step one and then you branch from there to two other steps and then from there it's a huge check list that is almost you need a flow chart to follow the process. it's arduous. >> host: tom, also a veteran in kentucky. democratic caller. >> caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i want to bring forward the situation in camp la june, north carolina where the water was contaminated since back in at least as far as 1953. with over720 different chemicals including agent orange andrd in order to become pen saturday for an illness, you have to connect it to that water and many

situations, it takes 40 and 50 years for these illnesses to come forward from these chemicals and when i file for compensation, it's hard to connect it to that water which you must do and i think that they should make these diseases presumtive where you do not have to make that connection and in my situation, i have -- i'm dying from als and i have heart disease and symptoms of many of the other 15 illnesses that are covered down there, but they need to make these presuchtive where if you have these illnesses and you have served down there which i did on two occasions, where we can get compensated for this before we die. >> host: okay. all right, tom. valve in minneapolis, i want

caller. >> caller: good morning. i hope it is loosening. i had four brothers that were veterans and they had mental illness and two of them committed suicide. i mean official suicide and i have thought for a long time that mental illness was really lacking and they couldn't get it. my one brother was homeless. he was a homeless veteran. and it was hard for the family to stay connected with him. we found out that he died online. my sister was looking up things and genealogy web site and found out that he was diseased and i had to go

out to california to take care, you know of business and stuff and we didn't have any idea that he was in california but as i was going through his business stuff, what i realized was that he was getting medical care. he was being overmedicate. and i realize that during all of this time, the government, the v.a. knew where he was but the family never did. >> host: so the v.a. was providing the destruction? >> caller: they were providing the medical coverage to pay for the drugs and they were giving him really, they were overmedicating him. he would go and get these drugs and he would just overuse them and you know, he would go back again. he had some illness and so what we were thinking was he was probably overmedicating himself for the pain and then after that, he just, he

just -- >> host: no effort by the v.a. to reach out to you or your sisters in. >> caller: no, honey. none of that. there was none of that. the government, the v.a. were the only people to know where he was. >> host: okay. all right. >> in virginia, independent caller and veteran. go ahead. >> caller: i want to talk about the emergency room care. in live in staunton, virginia and have to drive over 95 miles to the emergency room in salem. >> host: we're listening. the legislation the government just signed was suppposed to address that issue that you were allowed to go to private care closer to you. >> caller: that is not happening. i just got my latest bill for the emergency room. apparently they didn't put the emergency room in the 40 mile thing. then also, everybody who is 100 percent total and permanent should also be

100% social security. i also have a 10 year lapse before there was such a thing as ptsd. wasn't recognized until the 1980s and i was screwed up from the moment i left vietnam. >> host: all right. duane. yesterday when president obama announced these new steps that he's taking, the administration taking to address veterans care, he made them in north carolina where senator kay hagan, the democrat there is up for relax. we read the story yesterday about how the senator had to make a decision whether or not she stood next to him. you can see there "the" they hugged as the president made way through the room and also from politico shows that the senator met snob obama at the airport. kay hagan hits and then embraces obama. she beat him up before he arrived in town and then showed up at the i want to

give him a kiss on the cheek, the kind of balance she's trying to strike in a state where he's pop la in some parts but dragging her down so much elsewhere. she's one of the democrats most vulnerable incumbents. the snot tweeting this out yesterday about v.a. say going the approval of leases for four additional medical spaces in jock son v.a. medical centers will allow more veterans to re-e receive the care they earned. senator kay hagan with that tweet yesterday as she meets with the president before he makes those anoints at the airport and then again at that event before the american legion convention in north coast. we're getting your thoughts on probst unveiling latest efforts tomorrow improve care for our nations veterans. we'll keep taking your thoughts here for a few more minutes but first, we want to show you the headlines this morning in the papers about burger king.

and it's merging with that canadian company, tim hortons, gets grilled from u.s.a. today money section saying with the new base in cannen, lump dollars into the growing public outcry over tax inversions that allow companies to lower tax bills through a merger with a foreign firm. by midday, several thousand comments flooded burger king facebook page. on twitter, #tim hortons was a trending topic. similar tweets number going in the hundreds. move on.org. gaped more than 13,000 signatures by tuesday. the corporation burger king is saying that tim hortons pace about the equivalent they pay in taxes. noted to say to reporters that the corporate tax rate paid by tim hortons in canada is in the mid 20s percentage wise and burger

king blended pays globally including u.s. is also in the mid 20s. here's a quote. when we looked at the combined company, we don't expect meaning full lower or higher tax rates than we had before. that is coming from the ceo of burger king. many of you know that warren buffett is part of the financing for this deal of burger king merging with tim hortons and putting headquarters in canada. that is in the papers this morning. also in the papers this morning, is this headline about mark prior and his re-election bid. he's also a vulnerable democrat out of arkansas. prior invoked ebow that n the spot labeled alarmist. i want to show you that ad and read a little bit from the "washington times." arkansas senator re-election campaign unveiled new advertisement warning that rival opposes funding to protect the country against

the ebola epidemic that killed hundreds of people in africa. the democratic incumbent ad that starts with a tv news clip goes on to say some have compared it to the infamous daisy commercial i am pleaing that barry gold water wanted nuclear war with the sowf yell union. take a look. [video clip] >> the ebola outbrick is worse. >> tom voted against. >> congressman voted to cut millions. he was the only arkansas congressman to vote this way. just like he was the only only with to vote against childrens hospital. instead, he voted toward tax cuts. rather than protecting our families. >> host: mark pryer latest ad in his race to win another term in arkansas. the republican challenging

him says the charge is bogus and sent out fund raising email saying that mr. pryer is accusing me of helping spread the ebola virus. seriously. i've seen some crazy over the top political ads from him but this is the most ridiculous one yet. from tom cotton, challenging mark pryer for that senate seat. zelda, democratic caller, what did you make of what the president announced yesterday? >> caller: speaking of the veterans, my husband retired in 2008. he also we want overseas the first time the 9/11 happened. when we went to the v.a. here in georgia, it was chaos. the appointment was like a year. so we had a choice. we goes to augusta and we get in with no problem.

and if you're that sick, also go to a private doctor. show your try care card. you're id card. and get in there with no problem. if there's a fee, then deal with it later on with your tricare. >> all right. we'll go to california. democrat and veteran there. >> caller: yes. i spent 26 years in the marine corps. the v.a. hired me. and one of my jobs was to go to the bases and give the veterans that are getting out their benefits. and they always talked to me or asked me about jobs. and i said go to the v.a. now, right now, we got doctors that are getting out. someone in the v.a. should be and i've tried to get ahot of the public affairs,

somebody should be going to or even in the local paper of the service connect of the service, like 29 palms, put an advertisement in there for the doctors or have somebody go down there and talk to them, hey, are you getting out? we have a job for you. >> host: okay. well, the president did announce he wanted to start a campaign to address the doctor and nurse shortage within the v.a. >> caller: yes, but that place there, they're getting out. they're getting out. and they're going to be looking for job want. >> host: okay. we will leave it there. a couple more headlines for you about primaries across the country. four states had them. this is a headline from the "new york times" about the congressional races. it says that in the second congressional district based in tucson, a retired air force colonel happenedly won it is problem nomination.

she lost to ron barber by less than 1% point. aid to gabrielle giffords, picked to run for her seat when forced to redine after wounded in mass shooting at political events in 2011. also in florida, from the "new york times," governor rick scott and chief opponent charlie crist happenedly defeated opponents and then from vermont, free press. cruising to a win in the gop nominee to face governor in november. and also one more for you. the oklahomaian russell wins the gop nod to face mcaffrey. quick primary results for you this morning. coming up next, if you think it cost a lot to raise a kid, you're right. the federal government estimates a child born in 2013 will cost a parent over

$245,000 by the time he or she turns 18. we'll we'll talk with danielle to explain. and later on, you'll meet the head of a firm that gathers information on voters and provides it to political campaigns. we'll talk with john phillips on the program a little bit later. we'll be right back.

>> "washington journal" continues. >> we're back with danielle. economic cover doesn't here to talk about this headline from her piece the $245,000 price tag for raising a american child. what goes into this number? >> this number is very specific and it's a little bit complicated but this is something the usda comes out with every year. they do a report on how much it costs to raise a kid for 18 years. this is a child that was born in 2013. how much it will cost raise that child in 2013 dollars up to age 18. this is a middle income two parents family. this includes everything from birth to 18, food, housing, the biggest component. child care, transportation, all of that, but it notably doesn't include a few things, prenatal care and the cost of check which as

we all know is another heavy price tag. >> they stop before you get to the price tag of college. we were showing our viewers 1960 versus 2013. housing makes up 30% of this $245,000 price tag. made up 31% in 1960. what is happening here that it is pretty much stayed the same? >> in part what you have is the shift in other prices. the price for everything, i mean, all put together has gone up since 1960. gone up around $50,000 adjusted for inflation. prices have gone up since then and we all know it. part of it, you look at how other parts of that pie have shifted. for example, child care is one really big thing. not every family goes out and pays for child care and education but some do and that cost has gone up nine fold since 1960, from 2% of the budget to 18%. when you have something

going up that much, it squeezes out other pieces of the pie. >> host: its that because typically in 1960, did not have both parentheses working. >> guest: that is one component of i more women in the work force and more homes where they have to find someone to take care of the kids but also really, the cost of child care itself has been vastly outstripping inflation for quite a while. child care costs are spiraling up. demand. this is something there is a lot of speculation on. some people say it's regulation that child occasion facilities have heidi hands on the number of staff per child and how different regulations for what the spas has to look like. that's one component. higher demand, all sorts of things. and it is that families are willing to pay for it of

course. >> host: then the added components that people in 2013 families, couples, both have to work to pay for the other things on this pie chart. >> right. absolutely and this is one of the things about child care. as long as that one parent income outstrips the cost of child care even by a bit that can mean that child care costs can go up while more parents working. >> 8% the cost of health care in 2013. health care was 4% back in 1960. what is going on here? >> guest: well the cost of health care has been outstripping inflation but the other thing is these charts don't include government spending on children. that would include medicaid. that means that might underestimate a bit the amount spent on a child. especiallye'll for lower income families. >> then food. we've heard from our callers, from other people,

the cost of food is going up. >> guest: right. yeah. depending on the food you buy. but i don't remember off the top of my head but the cost of food has held relatively steady over the courts of time if i remember correctly and what is interesting about that, actually is when you look at lower versus high income family, how much they spend on food, the variation isn't that big. it's in other components that families find variation and how much think spend on their kids. >> what are those? >> child care is a big one. other really big difference is the category called miscellaneous. that includes all sorted of ins dentals, the cell phone you buy your kids, the hair cuts. it includes any entertainment you buy for them. and wealthy families spend a lot more on miscellaneous than poorer families do. >> you're looking at this chard for 2013 and the price tag of racing a child born

in 2013. $245,000. this is for two parents. >> right. >> what about a single parents and the cost of raising a child? >> that's absolutely something to keep in mind. and the thing is single parents will end up spending a bit less than a two parent family and i worked out the averages over time and a single parent family if you look at the general median income will spend 1/3 of income versus 1/4 for a two parent family. one calculation but yes, a single parent family will find themselves a bit more strapped. >> host: obviously it's just one income. >> not the option of one person staying home to take care of the child so they have to pay for child care and expenses and because you have that lower income, you shell out a bigger portion of it. >> you still want to spend on your child's welfare of

course and make sure your child has everything you can give them. >> take a look at the chart. single parent. $164,000. this is a family expenditure on child from birth to age 18 by a singer parent and then a husband and wife household in 2013, looking at $176,000, a little over that. >> right. and that chart actually, i should pound out. that is the usda chart. also looks at families that take in, i believe it was less than something like $61,000 per year. interesting about that is also you have a lot more singer parent families taking in less than $61,000 so that throws it off a bit more. a lot more single parent families that are strapped for cash. >> we should mention again the u.s. department of agriculture did this report. why did they do it? >> they do it every year to. it's one of their reports they do every year. sort of they take consumer

survey data and they extrapolate what it costs to raise a child. because they have a land in a lot of these programs that help children. you know? school lunches. food stamps,. [please stand by]

guest: the usda calculated -- and again, this can vary a lot by family but a family with three or more kids can spend roughly 22% less per child, not all together than a family with two kids. we all know sort of what happens there, you do hand-me-downs for clothing and the kids share bedrooms and you go to costco and buy the food in bulk as opposed to smaller portions. so there's an amount of intuitiveness. host: you're in the same household. the average spending on one child is anywhere from $16,000 to $19,000 depending on that child's age but that doesn't mean it will cost $35,000 to have two or over $50,000 to have three for all sorts of reasons, as you said, the additional kid costs less.

above is an example for three hypothetical families, all of them two-parent and middle income, having more kids clearly costs more, the spending per kid falls from $16,000 to below $11,000. >> right. host: another one is where you raise your kids can be less expensive. explain. guest: right. the urban northeast is the most expensive by far, far and away it is most expensive and it's followed by the west and the midwest and the south comes out at the bottom in terms of regions but then you have rural areas that come out way at the bottom. part of that is cost of living. we all know new york city is a relatively expensive city and washington, d.c. is a relatively expensive city. you go to nebraska, houses cost a lot less in a rural area than they do in a big city. that's a big part of it is housing. but really just the cost of a lot of things are less in rural areas, you know, the cost of food and all sorts of things.

host: let's get to jim, our first phone caller in new york, independent caller. jim, what are your thoughts on this? caller: i'd like to say it appears to me the system that e run by, i guess it's capital istic, and low income families, get yourself a chastity belt because you can't afford to have a child and that's just the way it works these days because making a profit just seems to be more important than human life or human health. host: for you it's an issue of wages and the slow progression of wages? jim, are you there? caller: yeah. what about the wages? i'm sorry. host: you're saying wages for low-income people, the wages, it varies? caller: yes.

we live in a society where if you have enough self-esteem to believe that if you get up and go to work hard for someone that they should pay you at least enough to live on. host: all right, jim. guest: right. like i said, i will point out that this report doesn't include a lot of the things the government will spend on for a child. public education is a big one. and also, you know, medicaid and that sort of thing. but jim does make a great point and this is something i've written a fair amount about. one of the ways once again a low income family is hit hard is in the area of childcare. and i was talking to a woman just a couple of weeks ago who was looking for a job but couldn't take just any job. she had to look for a very particular job in order to be able to afford childcare so she could go work that job. and not only that, even to go out and look for a job she had

to find a babysitter. really, it's a one-two punch on childcare. host: what were her wages like? guest: she's currently unemployed but a lot of these jobs are part-time jobs and said listen, i'd love to work. i absolutely would love to get out there into the work force but i just -- i can't take a part-time job, i need a particular job in order to be able to support my child. host: todd, north carolina, david is watching us there. independent caller. hi, david? caller: yes. so i'm raising a child and looking at all this that i'm kind of obligated to be engaged with, such as the insurance rket, the tax markets, communicable infections market and trade and everything and he's going to be looking at a rough thing unless we get it all streamlined a little bit and get rid of all the layers and layers of extra bills we're getting because i got -- they

all outweigh what i make and i have to go to work with them and outweigh food and everything. host: what are you doing to get by month to month? caller: i'm working. host: everything on the credit card? caller: held ransom to technology patents and can't have free energy like it should be available. we should get off the fuel and i'm looking at his future. so let's get to work. host: all right, david. richard in massachusetts, independent caller, hi, richard. caller: hello, how are you today? host: good morning. caller: what i say is to raise a family, you have to live within your budget no matter what -- the trouble with people out there today is they buy everything. they can't wait. they've got to have cell phones. i see kids going to school in the sixth grade, fifth grade,

walking to school with cell phones. you got to be conservative and you've got to live by what your means. you don't look what your neighbor is doing, you do what you have to do in your household. and i don't believe that thing you have up on the screen now. that's my opinion. if you work and you can't afford a child, don't even have one. that's what i say. thank you very much for listening to me. host: all right. danielle kurtzleben? guest: this points to the question of living within your means. low-income -- there's a certain degree to which these numbers really do serve as a testament to the fact some families are living within a budget and a tight budget. low-income families spend a fair bit less than middle income families and other families have bigger budgets. high income families, they really outstrip middle and low-income families on raising

a child. host: you see the chart you put together on that that shows this dark blue is less than $61,000 that folks make. the lighter blues $ of 1 -- $61,000 to $106,000 and then in the red, you see they're spending on family expenditures on a child, are these all types of expenditures? guest: all sorts of things. everything i said, 0-18 but not including college. host: you have the age of the child here and look how people who make more spend more. guest: right. part of that -- there's always a caveat with these numbers and part of that is why is your family higher income, maybe two owners, if you have two earner -- easterners, maybe i you have to spend more. there is a loop but those numbers serve as a testament to high income families spending a lot more on their kid.

host: we go to joel in new york, independent caller. good morning. caller: good morning. it's only $1,000 a month to raise a kid. that's not too bad. i have two twin boys and, you know, it's costly but i second with that other caller, you have to live within your means. we cut our cable, we had the opportunity to buy a larger house and we bought a smaller house because that's what was in the budget, you know. we literally have -- our cable bill is $15 and i tell people that and they're shocked, you don't need it. if you work and you're busy, you don't have time to watch tv. but $1,000 to raise a kid, that's not bad. my kids don't seem to be doing without. they do their swimming lessons and we buy clothes at garage sales but we're not poor, you know. we're not on any benefits. we probably make above average. i think we bring in -- our household income is close to

$80,000 to $100,000 but you still have to live within your means and can go quick if you don't watch what you're doing. host: you said you don't have cable? caller: the very basic, it's $9 a month. host you watch c-span? caller: i listen to it on the radio. it's free, see. save money there. thanks, guys. host: should people be counting the cost of a house towards the expense of a child? you have a house. with or without a child. guest: the usda takes this into account and when you factor in additional children, they don't factor in the fact you might trade up houses, for example, to accommodate a new child. they use a lot of economic modeling to figure in the cost of a new bedroom. these numbers aren't realistic in that sense, like you can't go out and buy another bedroom

for your existing home, of course, usually but yet -- you're right, that in real practical life, the numbers don't quite work exactly the way you'd think they do. but speaking to his point about this not being that big of a price tag, that's an excellent point, to be honest. it's something worth thinking about. you think $245,000, you think my god, i don't have that kind of money. of course you don't because that's spread out over 18 years. and "the wall street journal" actually had a really good rebuttle to this point that this is a really expensive number and why i encourage anybody to read this, it's about how once again that point you made about housing but also this is spread out over a lot of time and you know, when you think about it on a per month basis it suddenly sounds way more manageable than $245,000. host: and look how it's broken down in brackets, 0-2 years old can cost you a little over $12,000, almost $13,000 per year, almost $13,000 per year from 6-8 years old and 15-17

years old, you're looking at almost $15,000 per year. those may be the most expensive years that you're looking at to raise a child. guest: right. absolutely right. it gets more expensive as the child grows. but i mean, the other thing is, it's easy to get in the cold, hard economics of this and really think about the costs. this is your child you're thinking about, who doesn't want to spend on your child, of course it costs a fair amount to raise a kid. host: kimberly next in pennsylvania. republican caller. caller: how are you this morning? host: we're good. caller: everyone i know making $725 in southwestern pennsylvania, they're not making that much money, $60,000 a year. guest: these figures are from the usda and where they get most of them on is the consumer expenditure survey which is something the department of labor, i believe, does. what they do is they take those numbers and extrapolate

estimates for low-income, middle income, high income families. host: for average families. guest: the word might better be "typical." it's a modding of how these things are done. host: let's talk about the factors that go into these numbers. you have the federal reserve, in jackson hole, wyoming, recently and the federal reserve chairwoman, janet yellen talking about wages and she doesn't see -- she cease the economy progressing but when it comes to wages, it's not progressing and she's worried about that. guest: right. absolutely. wages have suddenly become topic one, not only among -- at the fed but at central banks worldwide and is something you're really seeing and the wages and the question of inflation which of course go hand in hand. but you're right, in that speech, janet yellen really got into a lot of -- on the one hand, on the other hand arguments, really getting into the confusion of what's going on in the labor markets. and the fed has sort of

admitted the last user that it's much more complicated than just an unemployment rate. and one thing she said about wage is that, you know, wage growth has been pretty depressed and been bumping along at about 2%. and she was sort of getting at the question of why they aren't going faster and she put forward a few different arguments to why that might not be happening. host: why are they and what do the feds plan to do about it if anything? guest: sure, absolutely. one big one is something that economists call downward wage rigidity. and what that means is that during the recession, this is a theory but there's a theory that during the recession, employers wanted to lower wages and give people the opposite of a raise, a pay cut. but that they knew workers wouldn't accept that and they knew that workers would try to leave, etc., so employers didn't do that so they essentially were waiting to give people pay cuts and sort of the idea is what you're

seeing now is essentially a pay cut in the sense you're holding people's wages steady and you're sort of making up for everything that happened before during the recession. that's one idea. but it's one of a few. so i mean, if that is true, then it means we could be holding on a little longer for the labor market to tighten up before the cost of that labor can go up again. host: what about the companies reporting record profits while they're keeping the wages of their employees flat? guest: right, absolutely. part of that is the cost of labor. part of that is -- or rather, that you have this much -- the favorite word of the fed on this is slack. and one reason for that might be that you have all that slack in the labor market, an excess supply of labor and employers can pick and choose who they'd like and maybe not offer the kind of salaries that they used to. host: we'll hear from ashley next in pennsylvania, independent caller. thanks for hanging on the line. caller: yes, no problem. i'm 19, a single mom.

i don't get child support or anything like that. and by law, i don't have family, being my parents gave me up when i was young. i just would like to say the cost of raising a child is really -- it's hard for me and i just want to point out, there's different situations for everybody. i think the price that you guys have would be about right but for someone like me, it's nothing like that. like, i only bring home a little over $800 a month and i get paid weekly, so it's definitely hard, but that's because i have the determination to get out there my work for our income that generation now, people are having a hard time and there's a lot of single parents, i just think we weren't raised right or something. host: ashley, you bring in $800, what are your monthly bills?

caller: i have to live with my friend's mother. that's what i'm doing now. i just realized there's a lot of government programs out there that can help you out and i've been trying to get in contact with a lot of these programs and not getting an answer back. sounds like you have to keep on top of it and -- host: all right, ashley. we hear from james from illinois, republican caller. hi, james. caller: hi, how are you? host: good morning. caller: i'd like to make a comment in reference to the job market and those getting higher degrees, both bachelor's and master's degrees in today's market and their capability of being able to get a position or a job in their field that can support a family. it seems today, in today's market, it's much more difficult for those with higher degrees to be able to obtain employment within their field, and many families, whether hey're single or double income

people have to bring in money by obtaining possibly two or three part-time jobs today. i think this is an issue in our society today that we're dealing with because there's massive cutbacks and budgets in certain fields where these people thought they were going to be able to get positions within their specialized fields. and i don't know what we can discuss or do about this issue in the american market today. but it definitely is an issue. host: all right. guest: absolutely. he said a great point about the job market, this idea of education, of higher education maybe not being worth what it once was. there are -- one memorable chart from the pew research center and they've done some great work on this. and when you look at what you earn from getting a bachelor's degree, it used to go up

quickly and now has leveled off. the question is always, what is your alternative? and only having a high school diploma, the problem is that that's gone down. so your caller is absolutely right that a bachelor's degree and a master's, you know, even may not be what it -- worth what it once was and may not have the promise of employment it once did but in terms of wages, for example, it's far better than the alternative. and not only that, but the unemployment rate, the unemployment rate of course is elevated for everybody but for people with bachelor's degrees, it's down here and for people with less than that, it's down here. the question is those tradeoffs. host: we're talking about the cost of raising a child in 2013 and just in general, but usda put out a new report recently that showed a child born in 2013 from birth to age 18 is going to cost $245,000 for a two-parent family, so we're talking about that, all the issues that go into raising a child, health care, housing,

food, transportation, education, etc. we've got about 10 minutes left here. so to get your questions and comments, republicans, 202-585-3881. mocrats, 202-585-3880, and intents and all others, 202-585-3882. stella on twitter says today's income is about distribution and government has lowered the wages with state and local taxes everywhere you turn. does this calculation take into consideration taxes that you have to pay? guest: i don't believe it does, no. but once again, also, part -- if you're thinking about wages, wages are also going to drive what people spend on their kids. so i mean, once again, there's sort of a circular thing going on. it's suddenly all families, especially those lower income families were earning more then they would spend more on their kids.

so yes, there's a certain amount of circularity in these figures as well. host: al, portland organ, independent caller. hi, al. caller: how do you do? i had listened to you guys talking about the wage stagnation, and the reason that they are staying low is not because of a difference in the labor pool or the trending of workers, but there's a different mentality at the top of business. host: what do you mean, al? caller: now the head ares quiztive and simply want to filed up money. if you remember the depression, the economic problem we had. host: the recession? caller: yes, ma'am, they stopped spending money at all. host: all right. danielle kurrtzleben? guest: the mentality of how

much to pay your workers, this is actually something that employers -- it's a great debate among employers and comes up a lot of this minimum wage discussion on capitol hill which is do you want to spend more money on your workers -- it could hurt your bottom line but then again, you might have the knock-on effects of i'm not paying my workers that much, they're going to leave, i have to retrain someone new and then it costs me more. this is why i've gotten emails from companies like the gap is one memorable one that really likes to trumpet that hey, we're paying our workers more and upping our company's minimum wage, so to speak. but really, that is one way of helping a company's bottom line and really comes down to how the c.e.o. of a company or c.f.o. thinks about how do we keep our workers around and how do we really -- you know, once again, get the biggest return on investment for all our workers. host: dede frederickson on twitter wonders this, if

parents are making minimum wage, can they afford 3/4 of a million to raise a child if they can't afford who is paying? guest: once again, part of that is the government, i also will point out that these figures don't include outside spending. so you know, if your child has really generous grandparents or something like that, that also helps out. but, you know, also government support for school lunches is a big one. that also can really defray the cost of raising a child at least from a day-to-day basis. and that's not in these numbers. host: steve from phoenix, arizona, independent caller. welcome to the conversation. caller: thank you. how are you. thank you for c-span? host: good morning. caller: i often hear the argument put forward that if wages are based on a supply and demand, and i know that our birth rate for american citizens has dropped, like,

less than two per family and has been for a couple decades. and my question is, would it be more expensive or less expensive to raise a child if there weren't immigration that we have now? host: big question to try to answer. guest: to be honest, i'm not sure i'm qualified to answer that but that's something to think about, i suppose. i'll have to ask my demographer experts about that. host: we'll go to al next in pennsylvania, independent caller. caller: in line with what the last caller said, every year we admit a little over one million persons legally into the united states and maybe 400,000 or 500,000 come in here illegally. and of course they all are looking for johns. -- for jobs. there's eight million jobs in our country held by illegal immigrants and yet the restaurant owners and the food service people and the

construction guys are clamoring for an increase for the immigrants and then up in the high-tech region, they all want these people with degrees in the scientific and technological field, so that really lowers the wages for our own graduates in science and technology. host: al, can i ask you where did you get the eight million figure? eight million illegal immigrants? caller: it's very widely held. the center for immigration studies, for example, is a good place to look. but that's quite well known. some people will say 7.5 million so i made it eight million but at least 7.5. host: got your point. guest: the big point i want to get out from what he brought up was on this higher end of the spectrum when he's talking about immigrants coming into tech jobs, high skilled tech

jobs. this is something that's one of the most interesting and contentious debates in the economic and labor market community is about this stem shortage, so to speak. you have a lot of very smart people who say there's absolutely one we need to bring in people from other countries to do these jobs. yet some people say it's really not happening, you know. and it's arguable as to whether calling it stem is meaningful because it lumps together a lot of different professions. but regardless, i mean, he is getting at one really very important question and it's one that really hasn't been answered and that really is sort of a lot of companies are h1b visas to se get more workers in. host: good morning, alaina, independent caller. caller: the caller that called and talked about workers working three jobs. i'm a single mom and work three jobs, i have a full-time jobs and two part-time jobs and work seven days a week. what i've noticed about my

state, maryland, i'm always doing taxes. and just to make ends meet, i'm finding myself taking more exemptions but end up owing more money in the end when it's tax time. so i just wish that states would really take into consideration -- i mean, i don't know how that would work but i know i find myself owing state tax instead of federal tax and have more exemptions to have a little more in my check to take care of my kid. it's tough out there, you guys. i encourage everybody to just keep your heads up and stay afloat. bye. host: danielle kurtzleben? guest: i can't speak to maryland tax on its own but what i can say is ways to alleviate the burden on callers like her who clearly are plugging along to make ends meet is the earned income tax credits, expanding that has some bipartisan support. and that is a tax credit that

benefits particularly lower income families and i don't exactly now but sounds like it would benefit her. but this is one major idea that a lot of experts and politicians both think really could boost families and a lot of politicians see this who don't support the minimum wage often see this as a sort of way to alleviate poverty and also raise up families that really are struggling. host: that could answer that tax question and alleviate tax burdens on people like alaina. republican caller from north carolina. hi, jerry. caller: good morning. host: good morning. . caller: yes, she's talking about the cost of rearing children. and i'm just curious to know if she'd calculated any of the government assistance in that process in her figures? guest: so these figures, like i said, they include what

families spend but they don't include government spending. so they include what i spend on my kids, they don't include, for example, once again, medicaid and also the government -- you know, i'm giving my kids an education when i take them to a public school. and i should point out, by the way, these are not my calculations but the usda calculations. i can't claim credit for them. host: carol in south padres island, texas, independent caller. hi, carol? caller: hi there. listen, i was just going to say there was a long time ago a dictator in yugoslavia and they had gotten rid of and had industrializations in the 1980's and got together every week, management and labor, to see what could help the company. as far as i'm concerned, the government has stucco -- i don't mean -- the government has paid too many of the people's bills. the people and government now can't afford any of their bills and a lot of it is something about a dollar drip or people that could work with their employer and not take paid

vacation days, paid holidays, maybe do away with the benefits. when i worked at the hospital, we had a float girl that would come in and only take the day's salaries and had no benefits and got them from a private source so i don't know how in the world it's going to end but hoping it will turn out right for everybody, including the children. and that's about it. . guest: once again, she is going to get this question of wages. we were talking about janet yellen trying to boost people's wages. really, in a sense, boost inflation to a certain degree. fightd has been trying to deflation. now, it appears in the last few months, we are seeing wages pick up. some economists think this wage growth we have seen around 2%,

we are going to see it start to increase to 2.5% by the end of the year. that is great news. how long does the fed continue doing it stimulus -- it's stimulus? that is intended to boost consumer spending on. mortgage and lending in that sort of thing. fedquestion is when that dials that back -- when the fed dials that back. host: can congress do anything about the wage issue? does the fed want them to do something? of thethe fed -- one things you would always see when ben bernanke was at capitol hill, he would chide congress and edgingl issues into fiscal restraint. you can't dial it back too much. in terms of what congress can do about inflation, that is more

the fed's realm. there are those who argue that you should increase the minimum wage. that is the most obvious thing congress can do about wages. that is really about where their realm lies. guest: an individual -- host: an individual tweets in -- ricky from syracuse, new york. democratic color. caller. democratic caller: we talk about the wages change and everything. if you look at the history of the united states of america, we were thriving in the 1950's. 50% of unions and then we started cutting unions and the corporation started making more money and they started sending money overseas.

corporations are not people. they want to hold onto their cash. they don't get it. we should stop building in america. that is the problem. host: joe in annapolis. republican caller here and caller. caller: thank you for c-span. every topic comes down to someone having, it's about taxes. earned income credit suffers from massive fraud. and a lot of what people send -- to the irs is not audited send into the irs is not audited. $4 billion, a lot of money. a lady from baltimore is having trouble making ends meet -- i

don't even pay the highest tax rate than the government takes half of my money. the government is writing checks it can't cash because we are $.40 on the dollar borrowed. federal agencies like the department of agriculture -- it's an interesting point. i don't know if we needed to have government bureaucrats write a report about how much it to pay children. it begins with the department of education, which did not even and arefew years ago now telling governments what to feed their children. host: does the fda give an explanation? guest: i'm not sure exactly what their rationale is.

saying wecall them do this because of x, y and z. this is what government does to know how to better serve people. up with thisoming that is notber -- everything this report says. what it also gets at his those more nitty-gritty numbers. how much a low income versus high income family spends. this idea of the cost of childcare going up guard there are plenty of useful things. bureaucrats used them to try to better serve people. they serve more of a purpose than just making new stories.

host: al in grand rapids michigan. -- grand rapids, michigan. caller: i have a solution. we have too many programs that really don't help. device. them decent centivize. year.u making $15,000 a we are trying to get everybody close to $40,000 as we can. .ou would get $400 a week if you are making $35,000 here, 100 a weekget $ direct subsidy. you would get rid of food programs. a flat 15% income tax

and get rid of half of the foreign aid you've got, i guarantee you would have more money left over and you would incentivize people to work. if i understand what the caller is saying correctly, instead ofle money giving them these programs like colleague who a has written a fair amount on this idea of basic income. people automatically getting a certain amount of income. what it would do, incentivizing work. is not alone. the idea of incentivizing versus distance and devising work -- this incentivizing work.

i get back to this example of the single mom who needs childcare. be incentivized to work and not take unemployment, she needs a job that pays her well. employers need to incentivize people to go out and seek those jobs of they can raise their kids right. host: you mentioned the unemployment rate. the unemployment rate has gone down in this country. president obama saying recently that 200,000 jobs have been added every month over the last six months. what kind of jobs have been added to the market and what are they paying? guest: this is once again something janet yellen got at. a big thing among labor economists, the job polarization. you have a lot of high income, high skilled jobs and low

skilled jobs be graded. in the middle, those jobs are not coming back. created. at the upper end of the spectrum, a lot of health care jobs. health care has been a growth industry. , retail, foodnd service, that sort of thing. caveat.one not all jobs are created equal. would president obama says 200,000 jobs are created, that is true and great. it's not the same 200,000 jobs that were created in 1995 per month. you can go to vox.com to follow her reporting. you can follow danielle's reporting on twitter as well. thank you very much for your time. coming up next, our political

series continues today with a look at the information campaign's depend on. we talked to john aristotle phillips. later, we open up the phone lines and get your thoughts on public policy issues. first, a news update from c-span radio. in the aftermath of the police shooting in ferguson, missouri, some police departments in the country are reaching out to black communities as a way to build trust. by holding public meetings, fielding questions at letting people voice their anger. dallas police chief david brown says it's a preventative step. louisiana's republican governor is planning to file a lawsuit against resident -- against the president's administration. forcing states to adopt the common core education standard.

the department of education has used a $4 billion grant program and federal policy waivers to encourage states to adopt uniform education standards and testing. he says that violates the state's sovereignty clause in the constitution. he plans to file his suit in court today. he is considering a run for president in 2016. the civil war soldier is to be honored with nations highest military decoration 151 years after his death. president obama will give a medal of honor to alonzo h cushing from wisconsin. he commanded a force to the gettysburg and was killed by a confederate bullet to the head. confederate soldiers eventually retreated in that battle and the south never recorded -- never recovered from the defeat. the president will award the

medal in a ceremony at september on september 15. >> c-span presents debates on what makes america great. evolution and genetically modified foods. issues of the spotlight with in-depth looks at veterans health care, irs oversight to my student loan debt and campus sexual assault. warming,cluding global voting rights, fighting infectious disease and food safety. and our history tour showing sights and sounds from america's historic places. week intv schedule one advance on c-span.org and let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. us. us or e-mail join the conversation. like this on facebook, follow us on twitter. "washington journal" continues. host: today marks 69 days until

election 2014. all week on the washington journal, we are breaking down modern-day campaigning. today, taking a look at voter targeting. campaigns to congressional races will take a look at how candidates running for office obtain voter information and use it to turn out voters with the ceo of the firm.t campaign targeting might sound very odd to some people. what is it? guest: it has been around for a long time. even before the advent of computers. of have a certain number people that can express their democratic will on election day in the idea is to identify those were likely to support you and get them to the polls. those who are undecided, get them to the polls and leave

everybody else alone. it's looking for the people who are going to support you in getting them to the polls on election day. -- whyhy said important is it important and how do you get the message out? guest: it is important because you don't have unlimited resources. the most important of which is time. not necessarily money. you don't have enough time to convince everybody to your cause. it some people, you will never convince come anyway. it's important you don't waste time persuading those who will not support you or persuading those were already going to support you. the limited resources -- campaigns are like a business. a small business in many ways. you have uncertain cash flow and you need to know who your customers are. businesses that don't know who their customers are don't stay in business very long.

you get all the shoppers to the store on monday. early absentee voting changes things. all those factors come into account. host: what are campaigns doing? what information are they gathering to find the voters they want to turn out? guest: great question. the data itself, the registered voter data is really the seed corn for the election. it's a public record available to those engaged in the political campaign process. no matter your party affiliation or what your beliefs are. that is the base information. on top of that, you add information such as what your polling is showing, for instance or ways to contact people. if you meet voters on a campaign trail, you ask them for their e-mail address. that is an example of the type .f information

the campaign ends up with a rich voter roll. host: what information is in the public record? guest: the base information, the core information is the voters -- voter'sddress name, address and if there is a party affiliation. and then, some of the key information in addition to that is the vote history. companies like aristotle spent a lot of time and money getting if the person voted in the general election. we know if they actually cast a ballot. they cast theer ballot, they are able to assign a probability as to whether they are going to vote again. with little effort by the campaign, are they going to vote anyway or will you have to convince them to come to the

polls? that is the basic information that comes from every voter roll. host: that tells you they voted and there is a probability they might vote again. that doesn't tell you how they might vote against. guest: right. that is the mystery. the secret sauce is to find out how i can discern if this particular voter is going to vote for my candidate or against my candidate or sit this one out. if they look frugally, they are more likely to vote in the future. frequently.ote if i have polling data saying this income group or this particular issue are going to support my candidate, it's a good guess that this person is going to vote the way you want. it is also the voter contact. i'm inviting voters to come to the website and express their opinions. it is also the proactive things the campaign can do. drivingv commercials

voters to websites to either register their support, get a yard sign from the campaign or offer to drive other similarly minded voters to the polls. this is useful because there is thing about whether they will support the candidate or not. there is valuable information aristotle radians -- maintains as to whether the voter made a country should the campaign. -- a contribution to the campaign. you can travel with the candidate to campaign events so voters can say i support you and . want to help her a they're more likely to provide an e-mail address or other information and make a contribution. around for ae been

long time and websites have been around for 15 years. coming. revolution is these candidates are out there using mobile devices to be able to capture the enthusiasm of the voter on the spot. they are doing the county fair or the beauty queen event or the hog judging event. when the voter comes up, that is a great time to solicit support. host: they say, ok, i really like you. i want to give you money. they take their credit card out. technology today, you can swipe the card and gather what information. guest: that is exactly what happens. --ple familiar with square -- we participate in tests with square itself.

for certain things. for capturing a contribution. it was very limited in terms of the type of information you can capture. this is called an. .- this is called amp it allows the candidate or his or her assistant to capture the information from the swipe of a credit card or a drivers license or the type of id card. that will immediately tell the candidate the identity of the voter and whether or not this person is likely to make a -- aibution whether contribution and whether they are likely to vote. it is like square on steroids. it will suggest a contribution amount, for instance. if a motor came up and said, i like what you stand for, i want to support you.

whohis voter is somebody gives $1000 to campaigns traditionally, you don't want to ask them for $25. you want to ask for more. or vice versa. with this, you can immediately capture that. off the campaign trail, but between elections, elected officials and others have constituents coming up to them all the time saying, i did not get my social security check were a have a person with a -- a problem with the v.a. with the swipe of identification , the identity of the voter can immediately be entered into the congressional constituent casework greater. you can get the casework started to help voter. ofs a very effective way letting affected -- leading elected officials and direct

with constituents. -- interact with constituents. host: we are talking about voter targeting. we will take your questions and comments now. republicans, (202) 585-3881. democrats, (202) 585-3880. independents and all others, (202) 585-3882. you can go to facebook.com/c-span or send us an e-mail. this beingking about around for a long time. talking about new technology. it raises privacy issues. how do you protect this data? guest: privacy issues are pretty significant with respect to this type of idea. it is not medical information or other types of rapid information or like that, but the registered voter record is a public record.

it is for individual voters to get access to that core of information. the voter files are protected under state laws and considered a public record. they are allowed to be used for political purposes. commercial purposes, not so much so. we think this information should be restricted to the exercise of democratically or constitutionally protected speech. host: you have gathered all of this data from public records about voting, polling. perhaps somebody has given a donation. to onere you going down voter at a time to target them with a campaign ad? how does it work? guest: it is the campaign that gathers the information. they provide tools to companies to sift through that information

and make a determination as to whether or not this voter is interested in a particular issue, for instance. the voter has kids in the household. they're probably more interested in education. if the kids are gone, they're are thinking about retirement or health benefits, they are going to be less interested in education this is -- in education issues. that is not the issue that will get these people to the polls. we provide software tools that which voters know to concentrate on from this large database. host: they can zero it down to districts? how did they take the software -- the information from the software you provide and act on it? guest: they can zero it down to

specific districts or issues or households and pinpoint which voters to talk to about certain types of issues. if a voter has volunteered her e-mail address, they can bypass going to direct mail or the telephone and communicate via e-mail. the holy grail is to be able to get to one-to-one communication with the voter. tv is effective for persuasion. to really engage the voter one-to-one and get that voter to tell you what is really on their , what they have to hear from you, that is where the technology is going and where campaigns are going. not just in the united states, but around the world. emergingtive in democracies, for instance. harnessing these technologies to help elected officials and those who want to be elected officials. host: we will talk more about that. i want to get in key ship from maryland -- keisha from

maryland. .aller: i have a question that hasa website accumulated information of all the candidates so we can have a better idea of who we are voting for? in-depth information on the candidates. guest: good question. there are quite a few websites which are sponsored by the parties that are communicating what they believe is the position of the various candidates. once they're supporting in the once they are not. there are websites like democracy.com where you can go and get information about who the candidates are. if you google for voter information, you will find that. -- candidate information, you will find that. websitee maintains a called where i vote.com.

you can actually find information about campaigns and find out where your polling place is. host: when did you start doing this? guest: i was thinking about this as i was about to come on. 32 years ago, we started aristotle. my brother and i were out of college. we are not partisan. our goal was to enable candidates to be able to communicate with the same resources. to be able to compete and level the playing field in the contest between political speech, one point of view and another. we came on c-span on election night. my brother and i and some of the aristotle crew doing the election day broadcast with

brian lamb. it was fantastic. host: who has been your clients? guest: every occupant of the white house since ronald reagan. we have thousands of elected officials and party organizations and challengers. trade associations, advocacy groups. it really runs across the spectrum. 5000 people purchase the products and use them in their campaign. host: your offices are not too far from the capital. why are you located a few blocks from the nation's capital? guest: we have been there ever since we founded the company. we have expanded into some of the adjacent buildings and we have offices in san diego and atlanta. a data center in london, for instance.

capitallose to the because that's where our customers are. we are the only business in the world with congressman as walk-in traffic. sometimes they want to see what the latest innovation is for campaigns. many members of congress and their staff, politics is there life. -- politics is their life. host: when a client sits down in your office, what are you telling them? guest: usually, they are asking the questions. if want to know how they can get the e-mails from constituents. how to raise more money is a big factor. how to report the money actively and easily. campaigns are regulated business and reporting that information accurately is vital to the campaign. they have lots of different questions. many of them want to know what's next. electoral politics in the united states is very darwinian.

it is survival of the fittest and these elected officials are quite adept at figuring out how to survive and advance. part of that is knowing what the latest is and knowing what their competitors or others might be using against them and what they should be using for their cause. host: what are the different platforms they can use? which are the most important? which we have a website is where any political candidate can go. once they have been identified, they can purchase the registered broker data for the district -- voter data for their district. they can create a map to see where the constituents are. amp, which is this mobile device. it plugs into a standard tablet

or mobile phone. called something campaign contribution.com. it's an online service that anybody can put on their website that allows the campaign to take mastercard, visa, discover card or american express eared there is voter iq -- american express. there is voter iq. as much ase voter iq one would use for the get out the vote effort. we do a lot of work internationally as well. host: they had these options for getting this information. mail,hey get it, direct how do they use the voter targeting campaigns? guest: the flagship product for is called campaign manager. campaign manager is the core

platform that keeps all of this information. donors, volunteers, registered voters. party officials, vips. a 360 degree view of the registered voter and you have the ability to make sure that your messages are targeted and relevant to the voter. once they have their information , you load the information in and you were able to then select and sort the voters you want to reach and communicate to them in the most efficient way possible. clearwater, florida. republican caller. i went and voted yesterday in florida. it just occurred to me, i heard so much about voter id. i asked around with the voters walking out, what do you think

of this? we have to show our drivers license or whatever. how many states don't do this? explainlike this man to the whole thing about voter id and why people don't want it. we have been doing it for years and i never paid any attention to it. guest: i'm not an expert on voter id. i can't explain that to you. it's an issue people have very strong opinions of, but it's not something i know much about. host: is that information being gathered and collected? guest: i don't know the nature of the voter id law specifically. vote at thement you polling place, we are involved. when you get to the polling place, that is the state and county and local officials. host: we go to brentwood, tennessee. aller.ndent c

caller: i wonder if he thinks level the playing field. does it enhance the ability of the candidates with a lot of money to be reelected? guest: incumbents have a built-in advantage when it comes to running elections. except, when they don't. when they don't is when their anonent is able to mount effective campaign targeting those voters. on balance, campaigns that don't make use of the latest technology or make efficient use of their resources, time and money, is going to be at a disadvantage. are like a small business. a small businesses that don't use computers these days to keep andk of their customers

send out information about a ase, they don't do as well companies who have managed to know who their customers. on balance, the type of technology we offer and the support, 24/7 telephone for customers or potential customers, advising campaigns on how they can get the most use out of this, campaigns that use technology are going to have a distinct advantage in raising money and reporting the money accurately. host: how do you predict voter behavior? how accurate is your method? guest: it depends on the situation. sometimes the voters are changing their minds right up to election day. many latebreaking voters don't make up their minds until 72 hours before the election. as some make up their minds long before the election. part of this is try to sift through those who -- the lady

who called earlier who had already voted. if you can identify those web already voted and remove them that youpool of people are talking about going into election day, you are able to devote those resources somewhere else. -- those who have already voted. you use polling and your own intuition and the attractions you have with the voters. if somebody is saying they are supporting you and they are making a contribution to the campaign, if you can leverage that, you can leverage that support to have them help you convince their friends and associates. you are going to be using effective media. host: we go to henry in illinois. independent caller. caller: there was a woman who

made comments about why maybe somebody would be upset over voter id laws. how many bubbles are in a bar of soap? the poll taxes and literacy the 1960's toin keep immigrants and african-americans from voting was so pervasive and enough areas that many people, when they hear the idea of having another barrier to vote, it connotations or reflects back to a time in our country when there was so much discrimination in terms of suffrage. how many bubbles in a bar of soap? that was asked of african-americans in the south. who can answer that question?

the: let's talk about demographics. race, dolook at certain race put them in the category of not likely to vote certain race put them in the category of not likely to vote? guest: we don't write off anybody based on ethnic background or age. if you move it to just the question of demographic, age, some campaigns might write off the youth vote because young people are less likely to vote the people who are older. those that do are vulnerable to a challenger or an independent ,roup that will motivate communicate with and connect with younger voters to go to the poll. what happens often when there is an upset is the incumbent got

comfortable and did not expect the nature or well-organized challenge of the type we've been talking about and have often written off key voting blocs because they have miscalculated whether or not a certain group will conduct a polls. polls. to the if you miscalculate that, which is another reason why the technology is so important, you lose the election. host: nicholas from florida. independent caller. caller: i would like to know if there is a law that would stop them from knowing if the voter is in poverty. host: that information is not public, right? guest: nobody knows who you voted for.

there are competing interests between wanting to keep the public.ion private or on bothe arguments sides. the law states that if you are running a political campaign or engaged in political speech outside of the campaign, you are entitled to access the same information that an incumbent has access to. efforts to restrict access to the information are usually efforts by those who have access to the information. large, that information about who is registered to vote is a public record. how you vote, nobody knows. host: eric cantor lost his primary bid for reelection. one analysis piece in the papers reported that his district had

been redrawn to include more republicans. what the congressman did not take into account is that those would be the republicans that would vote against him in the primary. they liked the idea of his opponent. see, this way to person is more tea party affiliated than what you might say is mainstream republican. guest: there is probably more than one explanation for what happened in the cantor race. probably much of it has to do with the capabilities of the team that won the election as opposed to the deficiencies of the campaign strategy on the part of the incumbent. i suspect it is a combination of those things. voters and sometimes change their mind.

the most artfully drawn worktricting can sometimes to the disadvantage of the people drawing the lines to their own advantage. there's a lot of movement of voters. in states like nevada, if you are not taking into account voters from california who may have been registered as california republican and moved to nevada and are not yet registered, if you're not reaching out to those words before the election, you are missing it. if you're running the campaign should bemocrats, you talking to people who have moved into the state. talking to those people as soon as they hit the state and before they register to vote. host: travis in vermont. independent caller.

caller: good morning. i have a quick question with regards to how your company helps determine the way a particular voter is going to sway. i was wondering if you or companies similar to yours purchase information from internet data brokers. who mine thees internet for personal information about people and sell it off to other companies. guest: no, we don't. it is really the campaign -- we provide the tools to the campaign. then the campaign has their own strategy. which voters to campaign'sd upon the own strategy as to who they're going to target and not be focusing on. once they have determined who is likely to vote, which the technology is very good at

, then it has to do with polling. our company provides information to pollsters when they take a sample. pollsterse major utilize aristotle data in some form or fashion in order to make sure that when they pick up and call the voters to ask a random sample, generated from a registered voter roll, they are talking to somebody who is registered to vote. very important for them to know if the person on the other end of the phone line expressing their opinion on this is actually registered to vote and voted in the last election. sometimes a pollster will ask. even when the pollster knows the answer to that question. the polling is really key. that is something many campaigns rely upon. host: you collect 500 data

points on people? that sounds like a lot. core: it starts with the pieces of information. then there is other information. if person has made a contribution, if they made a contribution to a nonprofit group. someone has given to an animal who hasroup or somebody given way religiously affiliated organization. people who make those types of donations are better prospects for the campaign to address -- to approach. if that is aligned with the campaign issue. this is elated to second amendment issues. -- related to second amendment issues. it goes across the board. and on record has 500 data points on it. -- not every record has 500 data points on it.

we do maintain a list of all the people -- we collect the information as to who has made a contribution to any candidate or political cause going back almost a decade in certain areas. you're able to see people who are making a contribution in the past. my oversight is on the and other problems online. i'm concerned that you are saying you are using public data. i am too well aware of the data mining that is going on. a lot of the data that is being referred to as public data is being mined by international companies. many of whom are being investigated by the ftc. there was recently the situation of cell phones -- i had the

personal experience of traveling to a place where i wanted my phone unlocked. he asked me questions that knew.y wil to then addressed the situation of where the information is coming from. 123peohese sites like ple.com that entities like you are saying is public information. it is not public information. been information that has aggregated and is now being used. with them not familiar companies you mentioned. the registered voter record itself is a public record. access to it is constitutionally protected. the other types of information which you mentioned in terms of data brokerage and the like, i

don't know about them. i know aristotle provides a service that was evaluated by the federal trade commission in the area of copper. the child online privacy protection act. ,his is called a safe harbor which aristotle has been designated as. companies thatt wish to collect information from children obtain the explicit parental consent from the parent. this is an area of the law that is evolving but is very important and we have a solution for companies or government agencies that want to get that parental consent. host: how do your international clients compare to your american clients? guest: that is very interesting. that some of these

international clients are running less sophisticated campaigns. in countries such as tunisia or afghanistan or elsewhere where campaigns are gearing up, in many places, they use mobile phones effectively. they exceeded the standard here in the united states. each country differs, of course. the circumstances in those countries differ. a country like tunisia coming out of the arab spring, being able to get your tv commercials on the air is very difficult. we were working with a secular candidate there and the muslim brotherhood was on the other side. it is very difficult to

communicate. using mobile phones or e-mail, those methods of communicating with voters in helping voters organize in helping the party organized to get rid of whoever is in power for increased their support among the population, we have been involved in campaigns on five continents. the first election, we were brought into the philippines. we learned as much from these to runtional engagements a modern, western-style campaign. host: do you think it has helped to turn out voters in these countries? guest: sure. device was first in anment it with a

election for the mayor of london where he wanted a solution to be able to harness these people who came up to him when he was wi saying iown the street want to support you and he had no way to write down information. aristotle phillips, ceo of aristotle. thank you for your time. coming up next, we're going to open up the phone lines. you can call in on campaign 2014 and foreign affairs as well. is 9:21 a.m. eastern time. digital campaigning from politico's playbook. , a leader inory online advertising and integrated data management for political candidates, is announcing the general availability of twitter and targeted engagement. it is the first self-service

targeting product built exclusively for politics. clients can use the site for campaigns of all sizes with no minimum buy. turning to international news, the guardian reports that nato plans to deploy its forces and new bases in eastern europe for the first time. this in response to the ukraine crisis and an attempt to deter vladimir putin from causing trouble in the former soviet baltic republics. summit wouldion's overcome divisions within the alliance and agreed to new deployments on russia's borders. the french, italians and spanish are opposed while americans and british are supportive of the bases. german star still on the fence -- germans are still on the fence. the new york times reports that the obama administration is working on an international climate change agreement to

compel nations to cut their fossil fuel emissions. preparation for this agreement to be signed at a united nations summit next year, the negotiators are meeting with leaders from different countries. under the constitution of , a president may enter a legally binding treaty if it's approved by two thirds of the senate. to sidestep that requirement, president obama's climate negotiators are devising what they call a politically binding would name and shame countries into cutting their emissions. the deal is likely to face star and objections from republicans on capitol hill and poor countries around the world. -- to face strong objections. >> this month, c-span presents

debates on what makes america great. evolution and genetically modified foods. issues spotlight with in-depth looks at veterans health care, irs oversight, student loan debt and campus sexual assault. new perspectives on global warming, voting rights, fighting infectious disease and food safety. find our tv schedule one week in advance on c-span.org. let us know what you think about the programs you're watching. us. us or e-mail conversation. unlike us on facebook, follow us on twitter. -- like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are on open phones for the remainder of the program. the story on the front page of ae new york times about

climate change deal that the president is trying to broker with other countries. or on the issue of syria and the president considering airstrikes in that country. the front page of usa today, u.s. spy planes are flying over syria. the white house saying it is not .orking with bashir assad the front page of the new york times has this headline. the u.s. is mobilizing its allies to widen these possible strikes.

then in the new york times this morning. what's next for syria. the washington post, u.s. relies on bases in the persian gulf.

president obama, when he was speaking before the american legion's national convention in north carolina yesterday, talked about the strategy in iraq and syria. [video clip] is not to send in large scale military deployments that overstretch our military and leave occupied countries, feeding extremism. our military action in iraq has to be part of a broader strategy to protect our people and support our partners to take the fight to isis. we are strengthening our partners. more military assistance to kurdish forces in iraq. we're urging iraqis to forge inclusive government.

it will merely be the antidote to terrorists. we're urging countries in the to support iraqis as they take the fight to these barbaric terrorists. president obama in north carolina before the american legion audience where he announced next steps on veterans issues. outline his thinking on what is happening in iraq. charlie in new york. republican caller. caller: thank you. just a general comment on the president. into the white house on the backs of stupid people and the media that has completely abandoned all standards of journalistic integrity. given his current approval who are stillhose

supporting them -- historians america, how was in hating racist elected president of the united states? they will look at the 2008 election. host: why do you make those claims about the president? caller: you don't know? host: it is your opinion, charlie. tell us why. caller: why would he give money and weapons to terrorists and block missile shipments to --ael if he wasn't anti-semi an anti-semite? why would he release thousands of illegal immigrant t criminals if he didn't hit us? host: harold in california. caller: i was going to comment on something else, but i was

listening to the previous color. .- previous caller there are people like that out there and they scare me and i feel like of them is going to get me. the reason i am calling is this -- a couple of weeks ago, maybe a week, you had two experts on on the field of education. i am a retired teacher. to getrying very hard through. is very difficult, as you know, and i do appreciate your taking the call. them one simple question. have you ever taught? have you ever worked in the classroom? i don't mean for one day as a guest speaker, i need to grind it out, day after day, week after week, year after year. i taught for 44 years and it seems to me that everyone is an expert on education. why? because everyone who has been in

-- everyone has been in school. i just wish that some of these people who think that they have every possible answer would just simply say that i taught for this many years. four years in south florida. a friend of mine, we were having lunch and swapping war stories one day and i said to him -- do you think anyone would be interesting -- interested in reading this? he said absolutely not. i'm not trying to get a plug-in, i know better than that. we did get the book published. it is in public -- it is in paperback. >> go ahead. classroom classics. it is in paperback, less than $10. although we did was relate some of the experiences that we had and express some opinions about what is going on education.

i just wanted to get this out of my system. we appreciate it, harold. good morning, wayne. caller: haven't talked to you in a while. talking about this climate change mess, we aren't going to get a treaty in this country, thank god, it is nothing but a farce. isare forced by obama who destroying america, throwing the borders open. there is the possible fuel problem and everything else, but this is unreal. host: all right. wayne is referring to the front page of "the new york times," obama pursuing a climate accord in lieu of a treaty, because that would require approval by the senate. "that is not realistically going to happen, the president

negotiating some sort of politically binding deal with these other countries to try to name and shame them into lowering emissions. out that is the front page of "the new york times yuriko richard, -- new york times here, -- new york times." i think that the obama presidency is 100 times worse than what we are willing to admit. c-span,like to see "washington journal," do a program on -- i keep reading these reports about troops being brought into the country and trained here for urban warfare, stationed at aces close to federal lands, that is where they are training. c-span could get enough people to really verify or deny like thisooks to me

could possibly be a serious threat against the people. host: ok. we are in open phones for the next 30 minutes. you can start piling in. -- dialing in. host: public policy issues, you can talk about what is happening syria, asirstrikes in well as domestic issues, what the president announced yesterday on veterans affairs and improving care for the nation veterans. the front page of open up to washington times" this morning -- "the washington times," this morning.

citizen,that american here's a picture of him. mike, kentucky, democratic caller, go ahead. mike? we are in open phones. it thatwhat law was george bush past where we get these people coming over here, these children? water something or other. president obama has deported more people than anyone else. back home i have spoken to people in kentucky.

they tell you the ports are wide open? at least barack obama did not speak spanish when he was running for office. thank you. brian, michigan, thank you. caller: i don't understand the on viewers that called in both the democrat and republican line. i'm getting tired of hearing that. this president has accomplished more in his last six years than most into terms. reason he hasn't got many more done is the republicans refused to move. the first days in office before that, they want to stop it and they are doing a real good job of it. although these people are doing is dragging their feet. jodi, democratic caller,

minnesota. the teacher the call-in is right on. i worked there for 27 years and am retired. i give anyone the opportunity to go and put on snow pants on 14 toddlers. not just for one day, as he said. it is very hard work. underappreciated in this society. and i also think the legislators should have to volunteer in a comfort zone that they are not comfortable with. that might give them the opportunity to see what the world really is. host: you mean teaching? or just volunteering. part of their comfort zone. i also think legislators need to

get their tail and back to congress to help out the president. all right, robert is next. caller: the irs get on -- irs scandal going on right now is the worst in to happen then want -- since watergate. it is 10 times worse. the reason is the conservatives and the tea parties are having to vote against the federal government. having to vote against the union's. having a vote against the obama supporters and union organizers. hard for the conservatives to control the federal government and all of their spending. they are overextending on this spending because we can't control it. we are having to vote against all the federal workers that .ant all of this stay in place so, we have to vote against everyone else that does not think again -- think on the conservative line.

jim, hello, independent line. i am an honorably discharged member of the military. we hold standards to the geneva convention. none of these terrorists honor any of that. i think we need to do something about it erie it when they kill an american that is held hostage, we should go to guantanamo bay to these guys who have been convicted and executed and send a live stream to these countries. we have supported syria, iran, iraqi, afghanistan. we have supported these terrorist groups over the years to fight these regimes. we have armed them. we have funded them. they just turn around and do it. i say cut the foreign aid to these countries and if we go into a country and fight and

save that country it should be claimed as a territory of the united states. then we don't have to worry about that country anymore. host: all right, jim. the washington times," front page, "arizona vets didn't died due to waitlist." detailing what happened at health care facilities, including the one in arizona.

host: president obama yesterday put out several executive orders , about 20 of them. here are a few.

host: the v.a. secretary, bob mcdonald, was also with the president yesterday in north carolina. here is what he had to say about investigations into the management of people at these facilities. [video clip] have takeny 1 we over 30 investigative actions. two members of the senior executive service have resigned or retired. three members of the senior executive service have been placed on administrative leave pending the results of investigations. over two dozen health care professionals have been removed from their positions.

for more gs 15's or below have been placed on administrative leave. host: the v.a. secretary, robert mcdonald, who took a -- took over after the waitlist and the investigated suicide at these facilities. this is from "the washington times." host: angela, hyattsville, go ahead. caller: i am calling on independent line, but i am what

you would describe as conservative. when the republican party started being conservative i voted for them, but now they spend on wars with money we don't have, so i am an independent now. this just reminds me of what my dad did in paris. stations, on radio this president, it is true, he has done quite a lot that is significant. stick with that. a lot for the terrorists not coming here. i am comfortable with them killing themselves over there, i'm sorry. i'd rather have them do that and bring the fight here. the dow jones is fantastic. the s&p is great. we should avoid hatred and deal with fact. until the republican party goes

not to its values and interfering in other countries, i would not. good morning, giles. independent caller. go ahead, sir. caller: hello, good morning. i just want to make a statement of fact. number one, there are people in the congress who swore an oath to try to stop everything that the president did. number two, polls have been americath 45% of voting being racist. three, over 30,000 death threats have been made towards the president, more than any other president in the history of the united dates. people are calling and saying how bad the president is, they

are just using their reasons for hiding the truth. they do not like this man because he is black and they hate the idea of the good job he is doing. all right. lenny, prescott, arizona. caller: good morning. everyone is kind of taking my thunder. in the 1980's i worked for the number two tv network news, k abc in los angeles. when rupert murdoch started little stations in los angeles, he absolutely ruined them all. excellent quality news reporting, he started telling the reporters what used to use. it is not news. the second thing, to get philosophical, christ would never be invited to the republican national convention because his lap form is the opposite of what republicans .ant, to make the rich richer

my concluding statement is this -- obama is doing a fine job. let's go back in time. 9/11 happened on the republicans watch. defensernational people. and then the patriot act, where george w. bush literally wiped himself with the constitution. crashing the world economy on ,is watch, legalizing torture abu ghraib, guantanamo bay, our president did not do any of those things. just remember, fox news, they are not journalist, they are fascists. ok, wesley, sacramento, are you there? caller: yes. the previous callers on the democratic and independent lines stole my thunder. when it comes to president obama, he has done an excellent job.

seen this country go. and i have been retired for 35 years. i see nothing but hatred coming from the republican party. soean, i have never seen much hatred since the 1940's and 1950's as far as it are mediating in this country. host: let's hear from a republican. harry, new jersey. know, it's not a new idea, i think. we have to make sure that these places, syria and iraq, our friendly. good people taking the place we are heading. another point that i think i want to come across is all the people that you may find links

or any otherisis terrorist organization should be stripped right away or postmortem of their citizenship. tonya, independent color, good morning. thank you for taking my call. i listened to the program yesterday. isis isaying that pretty well-funded. buted by foreign nations, he did not mean for nations. i would like him to come back and name them. it is not syria, iran, or saudi arabia. it probably is qatar and there may be others. can he explain why they are funding isis? you might be interested in

the piece from "the new york times." inside of that they talk a little bit about which countries have been known to be funding these terrorists. look it up there, i will try to find it there. maryland, independent color, hello, go ahead. -- caller: the callers have change the subject from what i want to think about. i am 87, a world war ii veteran. i enlisted on my 17th birthday. but the thing that people overlook so seriously is we have and great hope for the u.n. the u.n. has become virtually helpless in the light of all of the activity that we see in the middle east.

if they are going to be helpless, they should also be less.ess -- fund that is all i have to say. all right, nicole, baltimore, good morning. caller: good morning. my husband and i are both on ssi, we are both disabled. we got married in july. i went back to social security. when i reported that we got married, we are receiving less than what we had before. about $400 out of our check each month. the price of living in baltimore is so high where i live at. where werely making it live at and everything. we can't not go out and work and everything because social

security will basically cut our social security and everything and cut our benefits. in a jam on like what to do and kind of upset with the government because they put us between a rock and a hard place. host: all right, nicole. the previous caller was asking about which countries are known to be funding some of the isis terrorists. this is from "the new york times."

host: it goes on to talk about the other intricacies of getting the middle east allies to join up with the united states. you can go read more from "the new york times." it is their front page story this morning. john, brooklyn, new york. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to make a comment about our president, barack obama. i believe he is an efficient president. the nickname that they give him as a scaffold president, that is a good description. after being in office for six years, i think he is thought-provoking and thinks things through. that is the reason for some of the things that have happened. the stock market has almost doubled. we have had that are border security. he is trying to take on the challenges of the world in a detailed and thought-provoking manner. thingsa president that

through in difficult situations around the world the. the last point i want to make real quick is about energy. world ofhat the mankind has to progress with energy use going through renewable energy, we have 6 billion people on the planet and a lot more to come, mankind has to advance its thinking about the future use of energy. thank you so much for taking my call. "the below the fold of ,"sh -- the washington post "top drug official is michael, and he's an alcoholic."

host: you have this this morning, the executive pick to run healthcare.gov, kevin kahneman -- at the pictureok there, he is now taking over management of healthcare.gov. joseph, providence, rhode island. caller: i want to talk about iraq, iran, syria. countries gote together and came to america and took over america, i would be the happiest person in the

world, the happiest man in the world. washington, d c you have them on the ground. i know where most of them are at. -- i couldw them show everybody everything about washington. miami, florida. how fair theto see black community is? you will -- ask them about their agenda on gay civil rights. thrown atile things people were by the black churches along the routes. we are in open phones for a few more minutes. we can keep taking your phone calls this morning. the front page of "the wall street journal," "israel, hamas, agreed to new cease-fire. cairo truce talks are planned for next months, ending seven

weeks of conflict and 2200 people killed." so, taking your phone calls for a few more minutes. warnings on libya incursions, this is the headline this morning --

a column here on the defense one website saying that there is no way that the united states did not know about these , given the strong allies that egypt and the uae have been. go ahead. this is just tony calling, calling on the line, i just had to call in. different people from across the i currently voted for barack obama and now i think about it, he has totally lied to the american people. and blackgle father american. from what i have seen, he is no

different from bush. the region, the wars the go on, it just seems like it expands government. i am not a tea party affiliate or anything like that, but it is just totally separate issues going on around amnesty and the border, how can we take care of ourselves if we are letting more people in? host: missouri, democratic caller, go ahead. if they want to go back to 1999, we had a budget by clinton. he did not pay for medicare part d. he did not pay for the veterans to come home. host: we are running out of time.

don, illinois, independent caller. good morning. the point i want to make is i believe that obama is his father's son. what he did, he was in international communist organizer. the kids lived with his old man until he was 16 years old. >> we are out of time. want to bring you now to the national press club where to federal immigration judges will be talking about the inflow of unaccompanied children into the of mistand the effect of the courts to deal with these cases. live coverage on c-span.