georgia. we look at the impact public policy issues have on higher education. ray cross,s president of the university of wisconsin system. host: good morning, everyone. here are your morning headlines. he was opened in new phase in the fight against isis. usa today reporting bombing near baghdad yesterday. thefirst strike is part of expanded efforts to help the iraqis. same time, president obama will head to cap a, florida wednesday to assess the mission against isis. john kerry met with his counterparts from 26 countries. a broad coalition to fight the militant group.

we begin there this morning with your thoughts on whether this international coalition is needed. democrats, (202) 585-3880. republicans, (202) 585-3881. all others, (202) 585-3882. send us a tweet or go to facebook. you can also e-mail us. we will get your thoughts in just a second. the front page of usa today has the headline. part of this wider assault on the islamic state. the front page of usa today. front page of the wall street journal this morning with this headline. washington efforts against the islamic state complicated by a feud.-shiite

what are your thoughts on an international coalition? isn't needed -- is it needed? kathleen, you're up first. caller: what time does this segment repeat? host: it depends. maybe in the evening. depends on the house and the senate. caller: let me say this. why wouldn't the coalition be needed? isis is a worldwide threat. why should we sit over here and give of our young men and our young women when the people over

nearest want to sit back and let us do all the work? people talk about president obama strategy. you can go back -- from george washington to george h bush, all those presidents together -- how many terrorists did they get? , everybody hea said he was going to get, from benghazi to the guy in -- you sitting in jail. when people want to talk about this president might you think about what i said. -- this man has only been in office six years. david in iowa. independent caller. caller: i don't think you need a

coalition. what business do we have going over there? this is between the sunnis and the shiites. why do we need to be there in the first place? let them figure it out. let the saudi's get involved. it of our own?s host: you want the u.s. to be talking to iran about this? --ler: what business of it is it of ours? we've been keeping aircraft carriers in the persian gulf and arabian sea to secure the possibility of oil. , as long as that's not being affected, what business do we have going over there and giving involved -- getting

involved? david in iowa. independent caller. get your thoughts on this international coalition. is it needed to fight isis? take a look at what cnn put together on their website about what countries doing what. is going, for example, to deploy to the united arab emirates of to a royal craft.lian air also sending over the c seven a wedge tail airborne. aircraft.nd transport and aid for the humanitarian crisis in iraq. that is australia's role. take a look at great britain. no combat troops. it's going to help arm the kurdish forces, support the iraqi government and humanitarian aid as well.

you coordinate with united states to battle isis. france, who's going to be sending reconnaissance flights over iraq. 18,000 rounds of ammunition. its air force is going to be part of the operations in iraq. humanitarian aid as well coming from france. this is on cnn's website. those are some of the countries in their efforts. what they plan to do in this coalition to fight isis. frank in memphis, tennessee. democratic all. caller: morning. why are we trying to go over there and fight anyway? they don't mean nothing to me. you know what i'm saying? why are we trying to go over there and fight anyway? , they are still going to be fighting each other.

host: do you believe that isis poses a threat to the nine states? -- united states? caller: they don't mean anything to me and my community. all in it was about my job. all i know about is my job. they did nothing to me. there have been lots of hearings on capitol hill about the spread of isis. , security on the house side -- homeland security on the house side. you also have hearings this week. secretary kerry will be on capitol hill. you have the senate arms

services committee hearing from chuck hagel and the chairman of the joint chiefs. at have coverage of that 9:30 a.m. on c-span3. there are other hearings happening up on capitol hill. this issue of whether or not isis poses a threat to the peeredis a question mark some in the republican party have been saying that they do pose a threat. others are not so sure. you have this from the new york times this morning. u.s. pushes back against warnings that isis plans to enter from mexico.

this story linked on the front page of drudge report. andy in vernon, new york. independent caller. do you think this international coalition is needed? caller: i think it's absolutely unnecessary and more war propaganda. you have to look at who is behind the violence. isis has gotten a large amount

of support from saudi arabia. bob graham is calling for a new investigation into 9/11 because of freedom of information requests funding a huge hasection that saudi arabia had to 9/11. seems like a big excuse being drummed up right now to syria.de iraq and host: saudi arabia part of this coalition. their leaders meeting in paris yesterday with the other leaders of 26 countries. map.a look at this these are the countries that are part of this broad coalition to help united states fight against isis. back to the wall street journal. front-page story about the meeting in paris.

the article goes on to say iraq's new leaders reprimanded the u.s. and its european allies for not inviting iran to attend the paris conference.

the american diplomat ruled out any military cooperation with iran and iraq and syria. that out of the meeting in paris yesterday with these 26 countries to form a broad coalition. paul in pennsylvania. republican caller. as i sit back and listen, i hear echoes of vietnam all over again. we went into vietnam and we had tremendous airpower there, but we were not allowed to utilize it. with the coalition getting bigger, it's complicating it.

if the airpower can bring them to their knees -- we have a tool they have not had or heard before. if we put the b-52 into play and go across that desert on a daily basis and bomb, they are going thatt the idea real quick they don't want to continue to pursue the avenue that they are. if we don't but the right , weraft and right weaponry are not going to gain anything. host: do you think you could do this without combat troops? caller: we can totally defeat them? no. but we can bring them to the point where the iraqi military should be able carry on from

there. it is going to have to be it, desert we call conducted.recte i was in the aircraft maintenance business. i've built many bombs dropped in vietnam. i know what the b-52 can do. i listened to it day in and day out. it is a tremendous deterrent. it will bring you to your sense is real quick. host: do you think we need a coalition then? caller: we need the right mix of coalition. it is control standpoint, almost impossible to control that number of airplanes of

different nations and languages. -- we need money more than aircraft. expensivevery business, flying airplanes. countryd to break the into squares and flight paths. when they raise their ugly heads, we nail them. what let me show you germany is planning to do. they have banned activities that support isis, including flying the isis flag in their country. military assistance to kurdish forces. another lens -- in the curbing flow of foreign fighters coming into country and proposing amending

law to revoke citizenship for those who work with terrorists. no direct military intervention coming from canada. what do you think? caller: let's face it. we can call it what we want to, but we are going to have to have boots on the ground in some manner. to pinpoint where these individuals are hiding. they have to hide somewhere and they have to put their equipment somewhere. where somebody can find it. they have to have ammunition somewhere. those are the things we have to do. we have to break their back. we are going to keep taking your thoughts this morning on this international coalition. is it needed to fight isis? back to your calls just a

minute. joining us on the phone is the appropriations reporter with cq roll call. the house in the senate are working on what they call a continuing resolution to keep the government funded. what is in this continuing resolution? at its most basic level, the stopgap is trying to keep the government and all the federal agencies december 11. it would reauthorize the export import bank through next summer. it would also extend a moratorium on taxing the internet and new money for finding the ebola virus. host: what about this question of aid to the syrian rebels? to arm them and train them? is that money included and is

the authorization included in the continuing resolution? caller: there is no new money included in the continuing resolution to arm syrian rebels. lawmakers in do -- the house are going to debate this authorization as an amendment to the continuing resolution on the floor this week. it would provide a short-term authorization through mid-december for the u.s. to train and equip syrian rebels to fight against the islamic state. it does not commit u.s. combat forces. it would put several checks in place requiring the pentagon to report to congress regularly on the progress of the mission. the white house to give congress notification before any missions begin. house appropriators believe there is no current funding for the pentagon to move money around in the short-term. host: how was the boat shaping

up in the house? -- how is the vote shaping up in the house? caller: at this point, it looks like it will get quick passage. things turn on a dime really quickly up here on the hill. you never know what can pop up. at this point, it is poised for a quick passage. host: how long will there be on the syrian aid? will they set aside a chunk of time for that debate? caller: we will see more debate than usual on this syrian amendment. sometimes they can only be debated for 10 minutes on the house poor. this particular provision will get six hours on the floor. we will see a debate on tuesday and final passage on wednesday. host: how is it likely to shake out over on the senate side? caller: senate leaders have been

pretty cautious to say too much. they're waiting to see what the house sends over. at this point, it looks like it is poised for easy passage over there. it seems like a pretty clear pass at this point. host: what happens after mid-december? .aller: the question mark this will depend on the results of the november elections. appropriators are pushing for a big wrap up in december like we saw earlier this year. a trillion dollars to fund the federal government through the rest of fiscal 15. ted cruz and others have been for republicans to pass something until march and then rework it.

they think they will have more control over the process. that is very much an open question for december. host: thank you for your time this morning. to your thoughts. john in oklahoma. independent caller. what do you make of this international coalition? caller: let me ask you a question. when we first elected obama, didn't we elect them on the point that he was going to get us out of war? we were trying to get out of war. host: why do you bring it up? the same thing he is doing is the same thing bush did. the very same point. the military complex -- more wars. we will not see all the things going on because they're not broadcasted on tv. it's big money for america.

we're going to make a whole lot of money -- at the expense of our kids. when the next president comes in and he will continue the war? all the time we've had difficult -- host: do you plan to watch this debate on the floor of the house? debate the previous between jim mcgovern -- they are already over there bombing and doing their thing. i just watched that one. host: that was the house rules committee. they decided what is going to be on a pieced allowed of legislation and how it will

be debated on the floor and for how long. that was the first debate over this continuing resolution. adding aid to syria in its authorization for training and arming these syrian rebels. go to our website if you missed it. plans to helprkey the coalition. cut the flow of money to isis. deny entry to extremists or those departing from syria. the u.s. wants turkey to stop oil exports from ice is held areas. areas. held jordan provides intelligence but no combat troops. saudi arabia will train the syrian rebels on their soil. $500 million into humanitarian aid agencies in iraq. the u.s. would like these arab countries to have anti-isis

messages on arab television and to have more clerics in the againstpeaking out the message of isis. the washington post has this headline this morning. also in the papers this morning, a lot about turkey's role in all this. we talk about that coming up with doug collins, a member of congress who has legislation to address how isis is getting its funding. florida. democratic caller. go ahead. caller: hello? host: you were on the air. go ahead. iraq should be able to fight their own war. we've been there for 10 years. i'm a vietnam veteran and it only took nine months.

i was shipped off to vietnam. we have been there for 10 years training their guys and they don't know how to -- how long does it take to train an army? we send a guy to the air force academy and they are flying a plane in less than 10 years. i'm retired from the va hospital. i have seen too many of our young men coming back screwed up. host: independent caller from connecticut. caller: good morning. that was an interesting comment weaponsking their own capabilities over there instead --other countries supplying we don't know if we can trust them. we have already had such a long war between iraq -- a long

between iraq and afghanistan. it's taking a told a mystically in our country -- a toll domestically in our country. f we are going to get into this fight with these terrorists, a lot of other nations need to get on board with this. host: that's our conversation this morning. john kerry meeting with his counterparts to try to get this coalition to come together and agree on the terms of how they will help fight islamic state. jones tweeted this out -- you have this from a republican

from michigan saying -- also from the house rules committee, democrat from new --k

twitter, republican from illinois -- tim from kansas. independent caller. when you listk the contributions, it's obvious that they are not going to have a lot of direct military intervention. they are requesting other countries to stop funding isis. they are not going to have a lot of satan who is funding isis. one of the more interesting things is where they are requesting that other nations use media to stop reporting the information, whether it be propaganda or glamorizing isis. when come in this country --

when, in this country, you've fox and msnbc who want to escalate this war and pushed this war. these people are defense contractors. our media does not tell their viewers that these people are going to profit from all the bloodletting going on over there. if we want other countries to change their media to present it in some other like, it's only fair that our media lets their viewers know what motivates these people to his week the way -- to speak the way they do. host: front page of the washington post has this story.

good for our website for coverage of that. the joint senate health ammittee is going to have hearing on the ebola outbreak at .:30 pm eastern time the wall street journal reporting on this story with the headline -- it looks at the countries that promised aid to fight ebola but did not put them up forthright while the epidemic widened. larry in hastings, oklahoma. independent caller. caller: good morning. host: what do you think about this international coalition? caller: first of all, what

president obama gave a speech the other day, he made it clear that he intended for the syrian army to be the boots on the ground, if you will. viewers did not understand the relationship between the free syrian army and isis. , a singlenths ago unit fighting against assad to free syria. then, the commanders of isis decided they had enough territory in syria. we will focus our attention on iraq now. we're going to take some oil fields. they overtook banks.

the iraq army dropped weapons and uniforms and ran. they now have american weaponry. betweenhe relationship those two groups. , they are notarmy going to fight isis. they are going to use their arms to continue the battle against assad. just like they have always done. turkey iswe need from not so much for them to stop the block market oil -- black market oil. we need permission to use their airstrips. they said no to that. the reason they said no to that is because so many of those now.rist are in turkey you probably also know

that turkey is hesitant because isis has captured many of their diplomats and has threatened violence against them. caller: the are going to be killed no matter what. anyone foolish enough to think that isis is going to turn these people lose, they are not. .hey simply are not h the reason nations like saudi arabia and the uae are not going there is a-- centuries-old divide between sunnis and shiites. if they help us to fight isis, it benefits syria and iraq. host: we are going to continue this conversation. up next with peter welch of the vermont. later, we are going to talk to .oug collins

we continue the conversation with both of those members. take a look at the front page of the richmond times dispatch. congress clearing a path for the u.s. to help syrian rebels. debate before the house rules committee last night. funding bill that will give the president the authority to aid in training these syrian rebels. [video clip] that, aterstanding is least some parts of the administration have decided the 2001 and 2002 powers of the asmander-in-chief justifications for taking military action. i'm very sympathetic with the position you laid out. it's important for congress to

exercise its constitutional response militates. as i mentioned, as far as this expedited cr, that's with this amendment is about. -- constitutional responsibilities. >> i want to associate myself .ith what you had to say i have raised this issue. i do believe we should have a straight up vote on authorization. with all due respect to the president, either party will claim that they have the authority to do whatever it decides it wants to do. ofs is an issue constitutional propriety and legislative balance of power. read the authorizations of 2001 and 2002 about a

different enemy and a different time. a lot of members not in this using it as a vehicle. you will have a lot of people on our side of the aisle that took the amendment you offered very seriously. that was the appropriate thing to use. that overwhelming bipartisan support. i look forward to working with my friend. i sympathize a lot with my friend from texas. they are trying to respond to the commander-in-chief request in a time of crisis. they have tried to do it in the most limited circumscribed way they can possibly can so they can lead these issues to discuss. i am with my friend from massachusetts. i would rather do that sooner than later. comese sure that it before us.

perhaps that we look at this 2001 and 2002 -- they ought to be repealed. we should be moving in a much more decisive manner. >> members in your leadership would like it to be repealed. this is the only opportunity we have. if we had a firm commitment from the speaker that, when we come back, we will have a vote. i have no long how -- i have no idea how long we will be back. that requires 15 days of being in session. >> for the purpose of information, the speaker told us that when he met with the president and the leadership, he advised the president and the collective leadership of congress that he thought the best thing to do was a new authorization.

he thought that was best for the country and the president. i don't think this is something our speaker was interested in doing. there are leaders on both sides. to debate it. >> "washington journal" continues. host: peter welch is back at our table this morning. the chief deputy whip for the democrats on the house side. that's begin with this vote that's going to be taking place tomorrow as part of the continuing resolution to fund the government. authorizing the president to arm and train the syrian rebels. will you vote yes? i don't know yet. this is a serious escalation of american engagement. there has been a lot of support for how the president has

handled this situation so far. he used air power very effectively when isis was going to slaughter the azitis. -- wercumstances there have the kurdish government on the ground. on bombing when they were moving towards baghdad and instead focused on the heart of the problem, the sectarian maliki.ip of the whole problem with the liki put his was ma cronies in leadership positions. that is why the baghdad army folded when they got attacked initially. he has held off on getting in the middle of the syrian civil war. there are 1500 different groups that are fighting their.

-- fighting there. how do you train people and retain their loyalty? what's happened now is that the collective revulsion that we have in congress and that the american people have at the sight of these rules and ghastly beheadings is putting a lot of pressure on us to act. isis is terrible. whethertion for us is we are going to be able to micromanage with i've hundred million dollars -- $500 million in a way that will be effective. what does that do to the underlying conflict going on for centuries? we're getting continuous briefings. a lot of us who want to make the right decision here are going to be listening carefully. aid: don't hide the syrian

voice. you would get a clean up and down vote on this amendment to aid the syrian rebels. they may not have to do that vote. guest: it's outrageous. the american people have a right to know where we stand. this is a major escalation. if we are not training 5-6000 people -- they are not going to get in the fields four months. -- for months. what is this going to do with respect to assad? does that make us stronger if we fight isis? everyone of us in congress should be required to say yes or no. a second issue here that is very important. how are we going to pay for this? we are in sequester right now.

the economy is not doing well for everyday people. the 1% or own stocks and bonds, you're doing a ok. folks getting a salary have not had a raise in 10 years. we have not passed a long-term highway bill. host: explain why it's off the books? guest: overseas contingency funds. for.ars were never paid there has been nobody making the ffgument that if we do stu $500 million, we still have to pay for it. books right off the now. that's another important question that has not been addressed. host: the washington post editorial this morning.

short on firepower. question that is rightly asked by us now. the biggest challenge in the whole region and that sunni belt -- isxtends from mosul to governance. enial of access to inclusion in the politics of population. the question that has to be asked now is, will we deal with that with an american-led free syrian army? host: would you be a yes vote if it comes to it?

an authorization for this expanded military campaign into syria? guest: i have not decided that yet. i have been very supportive of how the president has been acting. he acted with force in a situation where it's effective. he put real pressure on the baghdad government to get rid of maliki. i have real reservations and skepticism about the wisdom of us getting in the middle of the syrian civil war. turn for understandable reasons. i have to make my decision after i've had all the briefings. host: do you think the president has a majority of democrats in the house? guest: it looks like he has a majority in the house. speaker boehner is being a cooperative. we are going to get an up or down vote.

he has taken it seriously. the commander-in-chief is asking for the house to take action and he is putting us on the floor. that suggests to me he will get a majority there. --re is a lot on our side the idea that isis can run rampant. one question that has not still been answered is, as a threat to the country, what is the threat of isis? whether issue for us going to war are putting america's money at stake is, what is the direct threat to the dei states -- the united states? host: theresa in illinois. democratic caller. caller: thank you for c-span. i have a question for our representative.

my question is on the funding. i'm wondering -- i thought there is some sort of fund in the pentagon or the military bank. what is that all about? i do believe there should be a yes or no vote in the house, absolutely. saying a yes or no vote on this broader question of what the president is doing? campaign the military campaign and his.. should there be a yes or no vote on that now? -- expanding the military campaign in syria. i want to know what my representatives and senators come where they stand. there is a provision in the budget called the overseas contingency fund. that is the fun that's used to

fund these operations abroad. -- fund that's used to fund these operations abroad. overwill increase debt by $20 million -- and that by over $20 million. we are in sequester now. set it uping to favorably for them where they can get a bias toward the military side of spending. i have big problems with that. this new money does not have a revenue source. the rule that we are following right now in congress is coming few are going to spend more money, you have to take it from somewhere else. we are pretending that will does not apply. one of the big challenges is, if something is really important to the united states to do, we have to pay for it. that applies whether it's fixing potholes on our roads and

bridges, coming up with eight so we can make housing more affordable or defending america from a threat. are not talking about how we are going to pay for this is irresponsible. host: president obama's plan to train and equip syrian rebels in appeared against isis headed for quick passage this week. -- these are two separate questions. the debate over arming and will be syrian rebels six hours. that begins today with a final vote on the overall package on wednesday. on twitter -- guest: no, we don't. specific numbers have not been provided to us. it will be quite expensive.

-- if theyk is also divided this vote, are we going andelp the free syrian army then later we may have an authorization to use military force. the heart of the question will be decided tomorrow when we make this vote. once you make that, you are crossing the rubicon. we decided tomorrow if we are going to get into this. we're going to be taking sides in a couple kids civil war. that is us being engaged for a multiyear effort with a questionable outcome. host: you think tomorrow's vote is a test vote on this overall question? guest: it is more than a test vote. it's a commitment. we are supporting baghdad. baghdadist challenge in is for there to be a

nonsectarian government. fundamentally, the way we are going to succeed and crush isis is by having the sunnis be empowered. and deny any safe haven to isis. this is what happened when general petraeus had the sunni awakening. this was part of the surge. you have to get the sunnis who live there in the area were isis has support to have a stake in their own future. once he succeeded in doing that, the al qaeda affiliates in the region were crushed. there.as a huge success the baghdad government unraveled everything general petraeus did. it was a political outreach and inclusion that was important.

host: donna in georgia. republican caller. guest: thank you. -- caller: thank you. my question is whether or not service members are going to be eligible to receive benefits if their killed in action. -- if they are killed in action. guest: they certainly should be and they have been. the answer to that is yes if i have anything to say about it. we are not talking about american boots on the ground, but we are talking about american pilots. we already have advisers were there -- who are there in harms way. and the american killed as a result of this action, absolutely that service members family should beginning full benefits. host: mike from baltimore. independent caller. he knows what he is

talking about. we need someone like him to be at the helm of the effort. isis will disappear, probably. sunnisagreement with the -- maliki imprisoned over 50,000 sunnis. some of them tortured. that is egregious and at the center. that is what the movement from rose towards baghdad. we should isolate them economically and politically. guest: i do agree. there is another point here. this civil war extending from

-- thehrough iraq regional layers are the ones who are immediately affected. uae, saudi arabia stepping up? the have about 1000 planes between them. overaudi military is 200,000 men. it's a fair question for the united states congress to ask if the united states is quick to participate and play a helpful role, what about the regional players? the things they have done that have made this problem worse -- a lot of the money that went to the radical islamic groups, including some elements of isis, came out of saudi arabia and qatar.

a lot of the financing is ause oil isec coming out of the ice is controlled areas and is being sold in the black market in turkey. areas. controlled there is a lot that those countries should be required to do before america steps up and takes the lead in what is it problem in the sunni-shiite divide. host: this 26 countries gathering together to form this broad coalition with arab countries divided saying that they are hesitant because they view any action led by the -- they ares worried about their sunni populations. guest: this free syrian army will be financed, trained, equipped by the united states.

that came questions up when i listened to our best military commanders is, what is the quality of this army going to be? one said that the quality of an army is as good as the country it serves. we are fortunate. we have an army that will defend this country at all costs. , whenee syrian army crunch time comes, who are they loyal to? they don't even have a country recruiting them. they are recruited by the united states. i think there is some questions there. host: roger in north carolina. independent caller. whyer: i would like to know -- we have been over there for

10 years. there is nobody over there in that region we can trust. -- who can you trust over there to give money to that they won't turn against us? guest: he has a good point. we spend billions of dollars training iraqi security forces. billions and billions of dollars. and they folded in the first conflict in northern iraq. there has been rampant corruption there. maliki took colonels and generals out of the army who were competent and committed and replaced them with cronies. the scholar has a good point. host: why not going to the --ted nations for coalition

go into the united nations for a coalition? guest: i don't know the answer to that. secretary kerry is clearly making an effort to get this broader coalition. europe is concerned and united , ifes is concerned individuals from europe and the united states go over there and get trained and come back. that is a real threat. host: are you willing to amend the visa waiver program would address that concern? -- to address that concern? threat.hat is a the immediate threat of conflagration in the divide going on in that region for centuries is something that lyrically has to be resolved.

-- that politically has to be resolved. what are they actually putting in? they have armies and air forces. are they putting some skin in the game? host: wilson in miami. independent caller. caller: i have one question and one comment. that a lot ofad people are knowing the fact that arming the rebels is arming isis. what would be a solution to everybody being so concerned about this? we feel like our money is going to the wrong place. how do we fix this? guest: you have raised a question that was a concern that the president had when he held off on arming the free syrian army. how do we guarantee those weapons don't end up in the hands of isis?

that didn't happen in other radical groups. that did happen in iraq. seeing these images of u.s. heavy equipment being enemies. by our so that is a big challenge. and the cia and the military folks are going to do their best. but once things get handed over to other individuals, if they battle, if they get scared and run away, if they then that s, equipment that we provide could end up being used against us. chicago heights, illinois. independent caller. you're on the air with peter welch. ahead.o caller: good morning, i'm an independent. will be why don't we country. out of the because the people just want to

kill them all at this point. the money you're going to spend war that the people did not ask for, wouldn't it be this spent here in country where people are homeless and people that are hungry? i don't understand why do have to go fight wars when people in this country are hungry and homeless. host: congress ann? guest: two things, nation of ding at home makes a lot sense to me. i'm amazed that congress a month ago when we passed the bill, we put it on life support. we didn't include a long-term funding program for roads and bridges. we gave it a tiny little amount of money to keep it going for months.even confident countries don't do that. little nd issue is a more complicated. america does have a role to play in leadership. middle east is a vital

region. t is an important source of about 20% of them that comes to the west. playing a ld be constructive role there along with our allies, including the -- the arab states. the question to me is not if role.a has a we do. we should exercise our leadership. but we have to ask practical best to do out mow it. the iraq war was not a good decision. good way for america to exercise its leadership. we now have this incredibly situation where there's a collective revulsion against isis. make sense in response to that for us to be getting in to the -- wading to war.syrian that's the question. host: on the line for republicans, connie, north carolina, go ahead, connie my point is if the

united states is going to move in with all of the weapons and for f them are left behind the iraqi people, both weapons the up in the hands of wrong people. why this military corrected the our troops were on ground with many billions of dollars that we spent in the me try, i want seemed to ike this would already have this under control. guest: we don't have it under control. heartason we don't is the of this problem is the lack of governance and the rampant exists in syria and baghdad. if you have a political system where one large group in the excluded, constantly here baghdad puts its crushing boot on sunni aspirations, then it's a breeding ground for discontent. when you have economic problems

youth unemployment. they make no effort to disclose it. they have violence in that country. repression, not political inclusion, it's going to go on and on. a pretty good question. host: steve in lar g, o, republican caller. welcome to the conversation. you?r: hi, how are host: good morning. he's r: a follow up, if hungry, most americans should go live in vermont. rom what i understand, that's the highest state in the union, i mean, for welfare recipients and everything else. solution to his problem. and as far as the war with isis, in the oval man office who has never been in a backed into a corner and left -- doesn't know come out to protect

himself to win a fight, you're never going to win a war with him. and -- we'll leave it at that point. congressman? guest: two things. the second has lowest unemployment rate in the country. work.nters like to vermonters like to work, you want to work, come to vermont. love to have you, fall foal jaj going to be great. second, the president has gotten and he's getting us out of afghanistan. we spent trillions there. -- i think the news is to war in n to go iraq that george bush made didn't make any sense. osama bin laden in hed his 9/11 plot afghanistan, not in iraq. why do we go there? a lot of people are asking that we're still dealing with the aftermath. host: lewis in pennsylvania, democratic caller. to you. caller: how are you doing? host: good morning. caller: i agree with the speaker. since we're hat

over there helping these people people, isil or these feel as though the people we're fighting should put more into us. fight than they should be fighting along -- we're long with us while doing this fighting for their freedom. guest: that's common sense. i a agree with you. keep in mind we should put skin in the game. they're funding the other side. a lot of the money that went to the rad cam islamic groups, some isil elements came out of the contributions saudi ver and from arabia. and as i mentioned earlier, turkey is providing a market for black market oil and has open pretty much an border to allow fighters to move to syria. it's like where it began. and unless there's a willingness of those countries

to do the -- confident they'll in crunch thyme. host: mike green on twitter isis disband would if they share in the running of the government? i think isis has to be crushed. they're barbaric. the leaders if would stop -- the people who do the things they've done won't stop until they're stopped. but what they would do is not have a receptive space, geographic space in which to work. you know, that's i think the real issue. in thee's a lot of sunni want to raise their family, live their life, religion.their but if they're crushed by malaki, they're receptive to malaki.gainst i think isis would be crushed. space.ave no operating host: janet next in west ca-- republican b

caller. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: we're worried over borders are just wide open. we have all of these people in.ng where are we going to get the money to support all them? congressman? guest: the border issue, in fact, i think the -- i think -- are you talking about -- you may be talking about those children who are coming up from central america. ost: also this issue of whether or not isis could cross over from mexico. there's a question mark on that. takes that k times" up today. in the front page of the lead banner on the judge report is posing that question as well. some of the republican parties happen, at could homeland security officials saying, not likely. guest: right. obviously there's a concern about americans. there's -- and i don't know how the cia or the homeland security folks have gone over there. the folks in europe going over there, getting trained, coming back to europe or to the united states.

that obviously is an enormous concern for us. that has to be dealt with by security and good border security. and i know that is a the homeland for security folks. so, yes, it's an issue and have to that we constantly be vigilant about. have to have we whether or not we decide to arming or million retraining a so-called syrian army. always have to be vigilant at the border about coming in. ai agree on that respect. caller: how are you? or comment to the congressman? caller: a comment and question too. i heard people talk about not trusting the syrian army and moderates. my comment is there's really no rebels fights e

against assad. the same ame from who wants amists and little bit of it left. they can get control, have more resources. host: going to stop you there the congressman take up that point. you're ou decide who helping? guest: that's the right question. you've got the free syrian army. a lot of those people in it come from rural places. they're impoverished, they're money.ed as much by the they go to whoever they think is the strongest. the loyalties are a variable in shifting. with who they work for today may for t the person they work tomorrow. so on this legislation, the defense department and the cia to be ers are going doing, quote vetting. to vet,k how hard it is you or me, somebody who lives in

syria. we have no connection with it their don't understand culture. and we're going to be asking our military folks to be doing that. it's a very hard job. the other thing is the reality f the situation over there is once you get to the field, the commanders make opportunistic decisions. and with 1500 different lements, groups, that are shift g assad, you may your loyalties constantly. this is a big practical on our e imposed military. it cannot be done. op-ed by a peace negotiator, to crush isis, make a deal with assad. most effective forces on the ground today and for the foreseeable future are nonmoderate. this is not primarily because the west left down the but because the conflict now sweeping through it s grounded with elements that have lit toll do with struggle

between moderation and extremism. to make a deal with assad? >> not advocating a deal with assad. he makes a good point. of the reasons that assad has support within syria is ecause he's seen as the protector against genocide of the christian in the communities. 25% of syria. assad's been brutal. of his own 200,000 people. he's dropping barrel bombs on them. using chlorine gas on them. a bad, bad person. -- the fear is that if the f he's toppled, they have a reasonable fear that they would be slaughtered. war so's what makes this difficult. also e point of that is true. the strongest armies in the ight are two adversaries of ours, the iranian army and the syrian army. ost: in pennsylvania, william in pennsylvania, democratic

caller. caller: yes. about -- i have three sons, i will not let you take a one. tell you that right now. you need to be worried about the terrorists that we have over here. nothing is said about that. tell me why we choose not to talk about that. guest: well, i can't tell you that. one thing that tends to happen. videos of the two horrific killings. the american people are good people. envision how they would feel as parents if that were son. and there's a desire to try to the ability of a group that horrible, horrible create this intense also by the president and by the american people on what should we do right now? you're talking like a good dad.

you want to make sure your kids are safe and have a future. you're right, there are problems here at home. what tends to happen is you get foreign situation like this, that means all other real issues face get pushed to the side. host: independent caller. hi.ler: $500 t thought that the million that the president asked for could come from the d.o.d. budget. assured that be that money won't be lost to isil. host: congressman? guest: no assurances. this is a hail mary pass. i mentioned earlier, collective repulsiveness in isis. a vicious organization that should be exterminated. question is, is it -- is the by the united it states spending $500 million? host: we heard earlier the stop does not g bill

include money for training an syrian rebels that lawmakers want the money to come from the pentagon budget around. it not new money that will be allocated. guest: remains to be seen. we're the tug-of-war having in congress. and what's happening here is we're separating the money uestion from the authorization question. if the congress votes to then ize this activity, there's going to -- the money will be include in the defense act.rization but the real decision, no member congress should be anything but clear eyed about this. the real decision that's going to commit us and our funds is going to be made tomorrow. host: that debate begins today floor. house so tune in to c-span for our live gavel-to-gavel coverage of congressmannd as the said, the vote will be on wednesday. ouglas in fayetteville, georgia. republican caller. hi, douglas? >> hi. thank you for taking my call.

we have a t is that 140,000 kurd fighters and fighters.raqi they can't take on 30,000 isis fighters? let's pose that question to the congressman. what do you think? guest: it's great point. saudi arabia has over 200,000 fighters. etween saudi arabia and qatar and the uae, united arab emirat 1,000 s, they have over planes. this is their neighborhood and their fight. you make a good point. the reason that the baghdad army folded is because of the leadership ofsive malaki. replaced solid iraqi army, he basically with cronies who idn't know their way around a barracks.

so the destruction of the -- of capacity of that maliki.s a result of you had a shiite-led army in territory and they didn't care. host: an independent caller, hi, you're on the air. hi, good morning, thank you for taking my call. my comment is this. served during the first persian gulf war. when we went there, we came byoss weapons that were made the u.s. that were being used -- nst us from a private from a prior war between iraq the ran where we funded iraqis. gulf war, he persian we were fighting the iraqis. militarywere using our equipment, our -- against us. as, you know,

equipment that they had gotten rom the iranian, you know, confiscated from them as well. a i think we need to take step back. to take a step back and evaluate what, you we really arm the -- the syrian rebels? end up where will that later? host: okay. uest: president obama had the same question and it held him back from arming the free -- arming the rebels and it was after the beheadings that he had to change the policy. that's where we're add today. say the y, i want to first persian gulf war, think about the lesson, the good from that.can learn president george h.w. bush really did create an coalition.nal general powell went in with overwhelming force but a limited

bjective to remove saddam from kuwait. in baghdad, there was a lot of pressure on the the president to over baghdad. general powell and general schwarzkopf and the president that we would try to rebuild the nation building. they held back on that. criticism at the time. ith hindsight looked like the limited objective. was a precise limited objective the way to go. host: part of a no label solution in washington. trying to find bipartisan solutions. what's on the agenda. you talking about about? callerthings, an earlier asked why we aren't doing more at home. that's the right question. medicare and medicaid

solvent for 75 years, to get a sustainable ng budget. the challenges are practical. policies we can follow. it's political, unwillingness two parties to find a common ground. the focus is to try to get big ess to focus back on things. else in to make us strong. thing from and democrats whoare the people we represent. they say, why don't you all get work er in congress and with no labels want to find that common ground. e're not going to agree on everything. we disagree on a lot. but we can make progress if we the affirmative and what we can do for a better ountry host: go to the website, nolabels.org and the national strategic agenda.

congressman peter wealth, thank you for your time. >> thank you. ratifiede's parliament greement to deepen political ties with the european union. last year sparked ukraine's which resulted in the ousting of the president, the crimea by russia and a war with the russian-backed separatists that killed more than 2600 people. meanwhile, russia's currency has dropped to an all-time low u.s. dollar. as it continues to suffer from the fallout of economic sanctions. union lastd european week impose add new round of sanctions

sanctions for the access to cease-fire ite the that was brokered by russia and the european security group. over 2.7% in just two days. democratic senatorial committee said it 50 million. million to spend on ads against republican candidates. republican he senatorial committee spent million.13 that group has close to $20 million ready to spend. some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> 2015 student cam competition minutete a three to five

documentary showing "the three you" showing how the branchs of the federal government has affected you or your community. 200 cash prizes for students and teachers totalling $100,000. of rules and how to get started, go to studentcam.org. "washington journal" continues. host: our conversation u.s. strategy e against isis with representative doug collins. affairs he foreign committee. congressman, you're going vote like, afterle looks six hours of debate on the floor on whether or not to train and syrian rebel forces. is that a yes vote for you time, at this point in it will be. the issue we have here is it's a limited authorization. taking it to the department of efense to do the training and working with the intelligence community and working with the elements in that area. point in m at this time is we have gotten to it and

other folks alluded to, there response a ground rep to this. air strikes will not do it all. we got to empower those in the to realize they can fight for themselves. many of them and even armies and such, we talked about the size of the iraqi army and the in theseave not fallen kinds of environments and we have to provide basis of support find those that can help in that. see how it goes in the next 24 hours. we have to be a part of the solution in this area. host: congress manuel which aid if you vote yes to this stop gap, you are committing the united states to the expanded military action. this point ink at time there's a commitment from america already. what we're doing there, the the dent is using authorities that are there under agreements we had and those kinds of issues, we're having air strikes. strikes this morning outside of baghdad. there are other issues that are

there. is not necessarily are we commit in the region, the answer is yes. the sad part is we pulled out of few years ago and had to come back to it. the last status of forces supposed to t was be signed through the administration and malaki was 5,000 troops. f you look at it, 5,000 survivor and support roles in baghdad. this goes to show you that good policy matters on term. concerning.very host: would you vet to put boots back on the ground in iraq syria if the department and the pentagon says they deem it necessary in order destroy isis

guest: at this point, we're not there yet. will applaud this. many of us will asked sk -- as and ne who served in iraq seeing the problems that were there, i think what we were on ng for from many of us capitol hill, mr. president, you're the commander in chief, give us an argument. concerned that we got some generalizations. strategy. get a i understand no specifics. but a little more than what we're looking for. there's concern about the long term. putting in controls, reporting of ongress, those kinds things. yes, there's a concern for all of us in not being involved in a conflict that has no exit strategy. but if you look at what's being moment, i t this think it's sort of stretching a little bit to say this is a new for war, a new entanglement. a lot of authorizations that the president is and can be acting

under. host: you're referring to the 2001,000. guest: yes. host: that allowed the country to go to afghanistan and iraq. right. and there's the -- from the basic understanding the president has the responsibility assets aened our protecting our interests overseas in a short term short term way, nd before that, exercising protecting our consulate and irbil. we're getting ourselves in a the ion to say what is threat? what is the response? how are we going to respond. one of the things we're talking here is it's not just a concern -- this is a concern i have. bal threat reeg that we're dealing with with a that go fight ls and kill everybody. the issue is how does it spread throughout the world? passports, estern other countries. we have entry-exit problems here. the entry-exit for us militarily at the entry-exit looking how are we coming in to the united states?

host: i want to delve into that be it more. i know you have legislation on it. but first, to phone calls. to representative doug collins, a republican at georgia. u.s. air plain in the force awards and served in iraq 2008. you're up first fot the congressman, go ahead. be naive.s, let's not this is not like we're dealing anything like we ever dealt with. with people -- three people already already hreatened to behead another british person. this is being done by supposedly british man. now let's not be naive. e're dealing with a very serious problem here. totally for going in whatever it takes to go to anywhere.aq, yemen,

this is a problem for the whole world. congressman? guest: i think no one up hooer is being naive. especially myself who witnessed that was fought in iraq, we pulled out, now back into. what we have to be careful of this is the problem i expressed before, is the beheadings are terrible. shows the type of people we're dealing with. no regard to life, no regard to we hold here in or western or eastern values. the concern is i see these going on is not a reason to run into a region with -- without plan, a strategy. like a firefighter running in to be i woulding to save a child they know the child is there. they end up losing the child and themselves. have a strategy, have this debate. a good thing nor the country to go through. he next six hours is it's not showing the apathy.

it's showing the need for a process. host: are there going to be any the option eeping open for boots on the ground or say no boots age on the ground point in time this, is an operation to allow the training which is what the president asked for. that's being ion constrained at this point. there's nothing that would say a the future that a debate, healthy debate would be had on a new authorization of force for areas where we may need to be involved in or may not be involved in. served, others served. we're going through 14 years of continuous state of that weariness of what's going on in the world that we don't understand. there is a part of us if we can

borders, if we can fix everything here, nothing else will affect us. this is not s that sfrply a regional threat. this is a threat that has metastasized if you will in this region that threatens us all. have to e concern we have. if it's isolationists to do othing, that's the negative part for me. host: testifying before the foreign affairs committee. what will you ask him? question is what is the commitment level of the right es we are engaging now. one thing to have an endorsement list out there. oh, yes, we'reay, behind you. like i've got your back, but way back. find out if the countries are simply giving the verbal we think we have. participate ually in the air strikes and boots on the ground? -- i cuse has been used heard it on calls this morning,

we talked a about this. a s is a very much of religion sectarian issue. you have a sunni-shia problem in region. they don't want to get involved, other countries don't want to the nvolved because of religious aspect going on here. the question, however, is going to america is involve -- protect itself, being involved in this conflict and themselves, help then they do have to truly help themselves. i don't want to put together a have the mes and not involvement behind them. host: that hearing thursday. o to c-span.org for the coverage for that. on the way up to capitol hill today, the defense secretary, hagel, will be testifying along with the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general dempsey. we'll have live coverage of that. that is taking place in about an morning.-span 3 this 9:30 a.m. eastern time before the senate armed services committee. you're in there if

interested. timothy in drieden, virginia, caller.d hi, timothy? the air with congressman doug collins. go ahead. keep wondering, we talk, talk -- we're supervising the world. drop some airborne rangers. it's evil. there, it will it be at our doorstep. host: you know what, i'm having a hard time understanding you. connection is not that great. did you understand it? guest: i caught part of it. is get to t he said something, just drop some go.gers in and very proud of their training. the secondary phase of their raining takes place in camp merel. the fighters covering a large rieshths now, 30,000 fighters that are spread out. his is not a traditional war scenario. they're going literally village

by village and vpg control where can use a small number of organizationn that to control littleville lammings and larger towns. so the assets are deployed in a larger area so that they're not isolated around.

brooklyn, new york. allana, republican caller. caller: hi, representative collins. morning, allana. caller: good morning. a question. would anybody lose face if they since he knows all about what happen in the first 10 years in iraq? guest: i don't think anybody is losing face. enjoying hiseaus is time and he is advising. you hear him give interviews and other things. insight and value is great. but also remembering that many and e current generals other staff that are in the army benefitted from his training taught in the army schools now and the strategies in this implemented time are still being mrimented. o he does have a legacy militarily that is being used

along with others who are fought and led the campaigns through and iraq.n host: defense one has a piece on their website written by to ral john allen tapped oversee the coalition in the fight against isis. piece for defense one, destroy the islamic state now. you're interested in reading that and john allen in his thinking on this. dinville, wood washington, the independent caller. caller: so glad to hear you. number of things that i would like to discuss. ut i don't how to discuss it all except that i think that we need to step back and look at -- d and syria and look at he did have religious tolerance in syria and then president to recognize it and ambassador against syria to support the rebels against syria assad. i don't know how you can support

someone and not bring protests rebels.ort the the rebels always fall into the hands of the jihadists and we're a heck of a mistake by getting in the way and upporting the rebels against assad. i don't know how you can come up with any other conclusion. we look add what the assad did. lebanon was torn up with civil war between the protestants and there.istians over he syrians did restore order over there. have religious tolerance in lebanon with the christians and the muslims. going in and causing trouble in remember mon. -- lebanon. host: okay. guest: the wild card is assad. we tend to forget that his role leading and the syrian -- in his controlled area and in the weapons and the does have.s that he the problem that we're having here, this is festering up from syria that the people themselves were uprising

against. that that point in time it was internal issue. assad was using all means to stay in power. that's what dictators do. that's what he's continuing to do. assadk simply to say that should gain our support simply because he does some good things is not the best idea here. concern, however, is that hen we're using through the vetting of the moderates and other syrian fighters to go perspective ofhe what assad is going do. there's concern that assad will the vacuum left there in certain areas when the itz and the ate is removed rebels are fighting in different places. dynamic that ace is not talked about a lot, but e might have to because he's significant in that area that might put us in the direct line for him. he president made a statement for him to stay out of this. it's his country. see what he does to that point. it's a grave mistake if he chose

to interview in some way. 's thes of legislation on the isis question -- congress is taking a hard look at visa waivers as foreigners join jihadists. waiver program and what do you uh propose here? is 39 visa waiver program countries in which you can come your regular passpo passport, come and not have to have a visa to enter the country. it's an understanding in our countries to make it easier come visit, trade, things.pes of these are allies and other places we have had great with.ons this is a barrier so if you want to go to london, you buy your passport, u show your you don't have to go through the long process of getting a visa to stay. the problem we have now is, this is what this piece of 5434 does does, hr this, we need to suspend this

for now. we need to suspend it. from d to have a report the gao outlining and certified that says this is what the this isis at this point how we can correct it. one of the things that play to bigger theme of border security on other issues is not who comes a in and out borders. most people here illegally came and expired.a 50% of those here illegally came legally. they're not for some reason hitting a terror list or atchlist, prime minister cameron has said we don't nope who's coming in and out. e have had the issues with the americans going to fight with the islamic state. suspend the nt to program? yeah.: rich: is there suspect support?

hope so.e we're going to suspend this program to make sure we along with the allies have the ability in place, trols whether it be background checks program, we' the open to either one. with wae tonight make sure who's coming in and out of our country can protect ourselves as best we can. have a problem we don't right now. it comes out of the free society. ost: "the washington times" reporting this morning that the issue is bound to come up wednesday when the homeland johnson secretary jay testifies to the house homeland security committee. 123450 graphic hat is this that shows more than half of the u.s. visa n the program striking fears

they could have easy access to the united states. lawmakers have called for the countries to be suspended or for the vers program to be ended all together. you. >>er calling for a temporary suspension. guest: calling for 180 days, risks, look at the mitigation factors. looking at what is the impact to trade.m and we're saying this is just a -- it's not just an american response. prime minister and britain, they have the same issues. one is front and center and need beheadings. this affect many over time have entered through the visa waiver program. way to do better this? is there a background check possibility? a better way to do a visa to sure that we're controlling our borders, knowing who's coming in and out to the best of ability. this is a common sense look at

what we're doing. and especial lip if you look at borders and the entry and exit problem we have on the southern borders. issue dealing with flying to dulles, d.c., atlanta. we'll just use wes person europe on one of the visa waiver countries can come in, walk through customs, that ayer done 10, 15 minutes of coming through, getting all off of the plane. is the program we need to look at especially in light of the fact a lot of them are fighters and may be d the area.throughout ost: sharry, a democratic caller. good morning. concern, the wars of continuing on? when we have a candidate, running for was president. 1 is money in all these

countries. does any of the money they're hiding support the wars that we have?and continue to guest: one of a thing here -- understandably from your -- from you're getting an area where corporations and our tax and why moneys and companies do what they do. are issues we need to come back to. we have to tie as the caller mr. d to allude to, to tie romney to some plot that funded our enemies, i'm just -- that's probably a cheap shot and i'm going to go there with that. but the issue we have to have is these are real countries that we allies with that is another piece of legislation we introduced trying to tackle this fronts, that is how isis

is funded. they're the most well funded they're selling oil. the people that they're taking over. so this is a funding mechanism. we're saying ues is in a country -- we're calling isis e cutting off of the funding is if a country knows that someone in the country or country ization in the is buying, selling, facilitating isis or laundering money, whatever it may be, they have to secretary of state has that to us, to the congress. then they have 30 days to fix or the president has to -- the authority and should cut off military aid and country. to the there's been discussion. i'll have a friend, another the talking about financial institutions. we have to have a multiple front here, the individual financial institutions. but there needs to be a government response as well. >> how much do we give to turkey? seems to be the problem. "the wall street journal" says

omplex network smuggles militants' oil. forth ming back and through turkey. guest: estimated as much as $2 million a day. happening.at's host: in the black oil? guest: in the black oil market. counting the other funding they're getting. the issues that we're getting, regions, the friends who have stepped forward, have been our friends, they have to responsibility for what's going on. turkey is concerned about the iplomats being held, other issues here, but we have to look at the bigger picture. are we going to allow a overthrowing many other parts of that world? we have to put in a position, do work.ions the government is internally policing their own instead of blind eye. i said this for three months now, you have to take a look at ow they're being fund and gaining the resources.

if they're able to continue resources, itm and doesn't matter, they buy all of the black market weapons and supplies they need. host: security forces have 1.4 miles of pipe used for smuggling fuel and equipment at the turkish-syrian border. in a tough position. isis is holding diplomats and they will do he violence against them. goes back to the understanding of the world. i have a stark view of this world. the diplomats are important, valuable, their life is. he question is how does turkey work with getting those back? do they work in a situation of trying to defeat a group that is hostage?hese people or are they turning a blind eye to at least beginning to in some areas trying to stop the flow of money that is going to the very

ones that hold them? classic caseis the of hostage diplomacy. you weigh the odds and ricks of getting the working back alive and with the families and not taking that lightly. this is a cruel world. this group go on tv and behead people simply to make a point. at this point in time, we've got to look at the bigger picture and take into account the real situations with people. host: reporting this is what turkey pledged to do so far to isis.gainst cut the flow of money to isis, to extreme i wases or those departing from syria. turkey to . wanting stop the oil exports from isis-held areas. has wall street journal" this picture we showed all of loading up gglers diesel-filled jerry cans and the river em across and into the turkish border.

me , in missouri -- help with the name of your town? durado. cape host: thank you. caller: i have a couple of thins. this concerns me. i'm a vietnam vet like the caller earlier today. to be going in to all of these countries that have never done a thing to us, iraq attack us, afghanistan didn't attack us. libya certainly didn't attack us. this is a globalist agenda. this obalists in government, the globalists who backed this government, the saudi armies, israel, arabia, all want an agenda change and regime change in these countries. we seem to be the voice of i he said het ron paul didn't want to -- we're going to do. you 're going to syria, know that oh bah in -- obama is attack syrian army.

american aircraft is going to be shot down by one of the missiles were given to them by this government, by the cia that came benghazi. guest: welcome home as a vet, you saw firsthand of what we're dealing here. gain, we can spend several hours talking about the differences. i think the issue that we have in syria right now and the issue the quote he made from senator paul was actually a year-old quote that was strikes in syria from last year and who were we attacking? think the issue at this point is we're trying to deal with the president's agenda at this point. again, we're still looking at it. i withhold if the possibility the of saying what is agenda to put the syrian troops end the ighting to fromential threat all over the united states group that has

no boundaries and wants to wreak world.on the this is an ageneral at a that affects all. itcan ignore it, we can hope goes away. that's the thing if you go back, congress manuel which alluded to it earlier, al qaeda started the country in which there was chaos, they were able to do what they wanted to do. train how they wanted to train. me.use but they eventually started planning out what they wanted to do, 9/11. we can never look back and 9/11, what happened on not a vision to stop us from doing anything else. limited response, protect our protect the vitality. i'm not a believer in going to every country as well. the meone serves in military, i see what's going on. we're time crunchled, tiger, weary. we have the best military in the world, in the country. the world looks to us. we ask a question -- i want to make sure that what allies is g from our

actual support, health, writing a check. writing a check or giving money is important. but for this region, it's time and soulst their blood into it as well. we've got to make sure it happens. limited partnership in tlaning teach them how to fish. this is the first step in that have an area we're not always looking over our shoulder and get out of and getting back issues. does it do time today? guest: hello, tom.

thank you for taking my question. guest: good morning, tom. caller: for the benefit of our i promise to be concise give a little bit of to my question. ther arab nations called the baas party. saddam's partyty belonged to. nd in fact in saddam hussein's dictatorship, you were not allowed to hold political office or be seen as a teacher or a postman without being a member party.bahas when the invasion of iraq took place place, we also completely party.ed the that wreaked havoc on the infrastructure of iraq. host: going to stop you there jump ve the congressman

in. see -- this nk i is -- it's fair time to talk about mistakes. learn from past mistakes. there's been sufficient the years on the purge we cleaned out and not having the central services in iraq that caused us the people normalcy of life. that's a true issue. i think my hope is that the president and the administration learned from this. i know there are many of us who have served there the and are in have saidurrently who we've got -- we've been having 18 months.this for again, the breakdown occurred when you had the malaki government not break down the in its own ts country which are in the iraqi army dealing with the kurdish up and you developed a situation in which they were not

wanting to fight for their own country. change in he government in iraq is a positive first step. on their own. we'll see if there will be cooperation. california, good morning. guest: good morning. comments.ouple of one comment is, you know, the rebels, assad is taking over. and they have tons of chemical weapons there. he -- you know -- the terrorists love to get some of type of chemical weapons. he other comment would be why we don't send any special forces advisers and stuff on the raqi side go in on the iraqi side and help the -- help the

the mountains the there, whatever their names are. host: congressman? guest: what randy said was right. advisors.e the special operators are assessing what's going on in iraq. camssing the assessing the capabilities there, and working with the only the rnment not air strike targets and beginning to push back. bottom line is, i can't emphasize this enough. whatever the response is and how we support this region and how so in a way that gives vital air support, air cover, and lso be advising training has got to be coupled with their own involvement, putting their own fighters to work. the kurds, the iraqis, other i'm glad the uae is calling on air strikes. calling on turkey to continue the flow off. understand the interest with

the diplomats. this is a bigger picture we're looking at. issues, ok at these they're not willing to take this p, we have a bigger problem worldwide that the worldwide community is going to be drawn into, which is a very -- a concern, even a bigger than the topic we're discussing now. the air with on congressman doug collins, republican of georgia. morning.good host: good morning. caller: congressman, the country strife, it's an underclad war. we fight the war from what i posture.defensive by that i mean we don't pursue either y until we capture him or kill them. the same thing in vietnam. now.t hasn't worked also, quickly, with regard to tooold volunteer army, it's heavy a burden being shouldered by too few. host: okay? guest: well, i think -- i'm

agreeing with you. and that's why i think there a policy of saying what are we going to do. what are we not going to do. that's what many in the congress are looking for. to have the strategy, how are we to help to take the fight to the group that's taking the fight to that region of the rest world. i'm in agreement, you don't stop until the fighting is done. hat's why you look at the status of forces agreement left on the table and we walked away. us 's a concern for many of knowing that there's no support, o training, no help for thor iraqis. it should be a lesson for us. because it's politically correct is not an option. care of the take strategic interests and the world's strategic interests our neighbors and in cooperation with our allies. have to be an offensive battle. they don't have to do anything. fight on the ground. back in the ntry way that most iraqis in

particular wanted to be, a stable society. their children, they participate in life as everyone else does. but we do have to be offensive in that nature. host: john, the last here in virginia, republican caller. john? caller: i want to make sure that we know the position. we're going after isis. saudi arabia ter that beheads people and islam. good allies. but we can't work with assad. a quick comment. encapsulated your position. it will be a gas on how far you've fallen. host: let's have the congressman respond. guest: i think you're -- veryone is entitled to their own opinion. you certainly have one as far as it concerns my belief. entirely wrong. the issue.t's

i was not for going in. i'm not simply going in because beheading. i'm going in because this is a threat to a section of the world growing. not just in a section, but has go around the world. and simply say, again, as i said on this program earlier, doing a policy on head shots on a tv screen is not the way to go. when we look at this take ility, we've got to into account the world view. what's interesting too is i made group nt last night to a that i was leading over to jefferson -- i love to quote jefferson. take when ting to jefferson quotes and what time he was in the legislature, it's amazing how his tone changes from a diplomatic to an executive. diplomat and executor, his concerns were muted. as president, he bought the purchase. there's issues own when you want to quote jefferson and when you don't want to. call, but i ur succinctly stated here and i ppreciate your opinion, but that's not mine.

host: doug collins, thanks for the conversation this morning. coming up next, open up the phone lines. all in this public policy issue. isis or other issues in the news. ten c-span buses big ten tour continues. today we're going to be going to the university of wisconsin and talking to the system president there, ray cross. at theesday, make a stop university of illinois. and on thursday, the bus will be at indiana university. we get to that, the big ten tour after this news update. >> new jersey republican be rnor chris christie will the latest possible presidential contender to visit south gop's a, the home of the first presidential primary in the south. christie as chair of the government association. a pair of fundrais fundraisers for government nicky

haley. some other 2016 possible made ential candidates trips to south carolina. rick perry, rand paul, and texas senator ted cruz. and finally, the kansas supreme ever court hears arguments democrats ether the wants to drop out of the ballot anyway, a dispute that could on the ing effect republican hopes of capturing a majority. ted chandler threw the race into chaos earlier this month when he he wanted to be taken off of the ballot without giving an explanation. it sets all clear two-person rate between the three-term roberts, and t independent greg orrman. chad the announcement, taylor stopped campaigning. chris kovac, who strongly declared he berts didn't comply with the state

election law limiting when withdraw.can chad taylor petitioned the state supreme court to remove his name from the ballot. headlines on test c-span radio. host: we are back on open phones here for ant 20 minutes and getting your thoughts on threat of isis and the president's strategy to degrade militant group. the coalition that the president is trying to build yesterday in secretary of state john kerry was there meeting with his ounterparts from 26 countries trying to bring together this coalition. so what are your thoughts on this? front page this morning. the military leading the fight against ebola. troops going to west africa to lead the fight against that. he president is going to be at the centers of disease control

later today taking a tour. alking more about the ebola outbreak and the u.s. led effort against it at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. that, this afternoon, senate health committee will at 2:30 eastern time on c-span 3 if you're interest in that story. you're up first. jackson heights, new york, an independent caller. good morning to you. joseph, you're on the air. caller: oh, yeah. go ahead. thoughts this morning. caller: thank you for having me. yeah, my tv -- you're still talking. it's simple. i just wanted to say, you know, of our ur -- one policies for ten years is on the ay to training the soldiers in iraq, didn't work out at all, literally. wondering why don't we technically do -- why don't we finish the job ourselves and when it's stable?

it would be most successful. that's o defeat a group a bigger threat and train at the same time. that's my comment for mr. doug collins. you going to be watching the debate this afternoon? it's going to be six hours of on te on the house floor this question of whether or not to train and arm these -- this syrian rebel rate group. are you going to be watching that debate? caller: going to vote against doing it. i feel we should do something, more.now, just getting the job done, i feel, we go backwards. my theory. host: coverage of that debate n the house floor on c-span with live gavel-to-gavel coverage in the house. that bate is an amendment has been attached to a

continuing resolution, a bill, to fund ng the government through mid december. that's the vehicle in which this uestion of syrian aid has been attached to. the debate over syrian aid taking place at 3:00 p.m. time on the house floor. and the vote expected to take place on wednesday. the gop dership in aying that they believe this will likely pass. "the washington post" clearing obama's plan. for headed for quick passage on capitol hill this week. >> donald, good morning to you. caller: hello, good morning. host: you're on the air, donald. caller: yeah, i got something to say.

over there should go and send more military groups and everything over there and out and all everything. ecause the beheadings are outrageous and putting all of the security at work. far, i think s too you should nuke them off of the map this way like we did with in world war ii. host: mike, lancaster, republicans. caller: yes. having the thing is that permanent bases like we do in coo bah. and then in that sense, would -- in stopping a lot of this. it will be a cat and mouse game. continues to get people in, out.ng people and if you -- you know, you're then -- helps then areas

war zones clared just a -- a conflict always going be there. o if you have the basis continuing e this o of -- host: i understand your point. mike saying there needs to be in the area.es roger, georgia, republican caller. hi, roger. hello, what i believe is what we're trying right now is a wild fire in california. you go in and you try to fight this. there's a this -- religious battle that's been going on for years. it's hard to fight. a full to have coalition and no one can trust by the way we es

back play with the policies. door e coming in the back and coming in our borders at the same time. it's hard to fight something if know if you can trust the middle east. we go over there, fight in iraq. a no win situation. host: "the washington post" story this morning says about the meeting in paris yesterday the end of kerry's week-long tour of iraq, saudi arabia, egypt, and turkey --

host: pack to "the washington post." the front page of "the wall street journal" this morning says after the meeting in paris, arab countries are -- the arab divide snarls the coalition. of that e headline out meeting in farris. the arab countries saying that about this tant because they believe that this could aid thetion shiite-led governments of iraq,

iran, and syria. worried about sunni populations. that's at the front page of "the wall street journal." eric, independent caller. eric. caller: the reason why the united states continues to get overseas, they don't want to face this -- john mccain luther ainst martin king. these are real people. he voted against the holiday. these caucasian supreme so quick to defend these people's rights if they say. america, black people are being shot down. incarcerated. we're unemployment rates is 11.7%. illegals. the hispanic is not but 7.4%. when will the black people of america stand up and realize all of this stuff is taken away. for this.ng taxes we're really going through the door and we're come police it in own devastation. host: theodore, columbus

democratic caller. you?morning to caller: am i on? host: you're on. who just got man through talking, we got to always try to help other people they want to do for their rights. and then we'll turn right around people here in this country, the congress, find ally, we want to try ways and some southern states northern states to give us the right to vote. we fought for it for 200 years try to get -- and you acknowledge the ones that we're upposed to have here in this country. so thank you for letting me say it. host: okay. bend, indiana, independent caller. caller: yes, i'm christine. you calling to see if ould tell me which religious

factions are behind isis and hamas. the names and and i wasn't sure if that was what i found? host: and what did you find? ell, for hamas, all that came up on google is homosexuals. host: i don't think that's right, christine. move on to john in martins ferry, ohio. democratic caller. good morning to you. caller: i love c-span. last week h the lady saying she gets annoyed on occasion. on?t's going man welch te congress for telling us about my concern.

six years, to the tea party and republican party that we're broke. the national debt is the greatest threat to national security. of course, the debt was totally increased by the borrowing of money to fight the two ten-year ars that we had while giving the upper class a huge stats gu guy. remember dick cheney's great "deficits don't matter" republicans say we have rethink social security. we can't afford a better health care system. we can't extend our unemployment ben if i wants in every section. response is simply, "we're broke." take all right, we'll your calls here in open phones getting your thoughts on public issues. bob corker, the top republican on the foreign relations committee. the republican in tennessee

riting in today in "today" "today's" "usa today," vote for victory over, sishgs, lishgs. -- for for isil. top republican on the foreign relations committee there. out of russia, the news out of "the e, the headline in new york times," kiev is offering special status for the regions of that country. major concessions given to the russian separatist there is.

health care, "the wall street reporting the uninsured has falled by $3.8 million. he federal survey from the first quarter doesn't predict a late surge in signups. sunups t second wave of coming in october. lot of eyes on the federal reserve this week. the washington times saying from a piece --ted press, the speculation swirls over fed language on the rate hike. federal reserve issues a policy statement after it meet this is week, the financial high alert for two words, considerable time. he presence or absence of that phrase will trigger a rush to assess a likely timing of the fed's first increase of interest since it cut them to record lows in 2008. bedford, massachusetts, independent caller. thanks, tom. caller: good morning, thanks for call.g my we have to look at this in historical perspective. his war has been going on for 13 years.

look at what happened. we all got to watch this war television.he and during the course of the initial stages of the war in iraq. know, ced that, you rumsfeld throw away the playbook. developed by as cap weinberger, our great powell.n, general colin one of the greatest principles of going to war was securing the borders. they did not. rumsfeld threw away the playbook. this is the result. fraternity for isil right now is on the republican side. facts. because that's the in the exodus in syria, they had to 30,000 republican gods that sat there for almost a decade coordinating and planning now.we see host: we'll leave it there. brian, warren, michigan. democratic caller. brian, your thoughts this morning? caller: i would like to know how to pay for it? and now my son's generations, we know that they're

screwed, are we working on our grandchildren now? the debate, n to 3:00 p.m. eastern time here on c-span. here of the first step isis strategy. train and it is to equip the syrian rebels. this is the "usa today," overdue medals awarded for soldiers eep timeless valor. he president giving a gold medal of honor for gettysburg month.r last continuing on with the white ouse medal of honor service monday for a retiring soldier and another who die in battle 45 years ago. little bit from the ceremony. that's the fact.

. >> you served with valor, you and the service is with us for eternity. takes atter how long it no, matter how many years go by, we will continue to express our for your extraordinary service. may god watch over don slope and who sacrificed for the country. may god keep safe those who wear country's uniform and adkins, may mini god continue to bless the united states of america. ost: if you missed that, you're interested in watching more, go to our website, c-span.org. guardian," here in washington, the prime minister's scots and a to the

the last speech in scotland before they vote on the independence. he warns of a painful divorce. headline of the financial times section as well. cameron begs scots to avoid the painful divorce. that's in the papers this morning. and "the wall street journal" weighing in on this question. great scot or not. they say independence would mean a diminish scotland. vopaters will vote on that question tomorrow on their or not they get independence from great britain. kim in indiana, an independent caller. hi, kim. caller: hello. host: you're on the air. go ahead. yes, my question is the one that you answered a little bit ago. the isis and isil group, what are they claiming is their religion? k -- ica:

host: why is that important to you? it important to everyone? their 't withe know what mind seth is. host: okay, go ahead. look at everything out and try to figure people do the think they do, the government is so dysfunctional. have the best president in the united states that ever existed and the people won't give him any respect. host: all right. i'm going to leave it there. we're going be switching gears focus our ere and attention on higher education. e'll be talking with the university of wisconsin's system's president --

turn it on the things you see, the making of the hoover dam. delta.ssissippi what in the world did they do to ago?mississippi decades wonderful, a gift from heaven, the c-span. week, we continue our monthlong series of interviews with university of c-span is part bus's big ten college tour. this morning, the bus on the of the university of wisconsin in madison. joining us on the bus is ray of the he president

university of wisconsin's system. thank you for being here. et's begin with this distinction of being the president of the university wisconsin system. what does that mean? university, n the there are 13 four-year two-year ons and 13 s.eder institution extension is in all 72 counties. there are to that, 180,000 students throughout the employees.40,000 it's roughly the sixth largest in the united states with budget.llion sizable public higher education operation host: what does it mean that the president of the system? as opposed to a president of just let's say the university of

wisconsin madison? of one site? >> part of the theory behind the they're meant to coordinate, develop statewide impact the es that whole state and serve the institutions in terms of sharing and helping to more effectively and cost effectively issues that are more common to all of them. we represent each of these capitol.ons in the it.y partner with a collaborative effort on state or federal legislation. the $6 ou reference billion annual budget for the systems.y of wisconsin contracts, $1.5 billion. the economic impact.

what does that mean, the economic impact? uest: most economic analysis impact of what it does to the economy throughout the state. t has an impact of what we purchase and how -- who we hire and how that money stays in the economy. a direct more or less and indirect impact of those expenses on the economy in the region. we want to hear this morning. students, ine by parents, educators. wisconsin residents want to hear from you, the university of impact on yourhe state. 202-585-3883. 85-3880 for students. parents 202-585-3881. educators, 202-585-3882.

that's how we divided the lines this morning. ray cross at the university of wisconsin madison today. how the big is the university of wisconsin madison. guest: madison has 43,000 to 44,000 students. middle of ly in the sixth or seventh in ten.big the third largest recipient of research dollars in the united states. major research institution. ranked in the top five for i least as long as i can remember. it puts a tremendous emphasis on the rch and we've seen t in terms of

vitamin d addition to milk, all the work it's doing there and research, translatering the stem cells to the heart cells. research to the bioscience. institution in research, energy, areas like that, it's been very active in station activity. winners in ze chemistry, fitzices. a major institution. host: the university of wisconsin madison, tuition fees degree.rgraduate tuition and fees for in state, looking at a little over $10,000. $10,410. out of state, the price tag is $26,660. board costs come in at $8,600. who decides how costs?ition

guest: i didn't hear all of that, greta. who decides what tuition costs? decides the price tag? guest: the board of regions has he ability to establish tuition. that's negotiated with the legislator. a lot of that depends on the tate aid forthcoming from the state legislature as the niversity puts forward its budget and develops its budget, it does so in collaboration with rhee ard, the board of regents. determining ess of tuition is a balance of what the state will do for general and state aid e, and what we need in terms of tuition. the regent board. who sits on it? 18 members on the board. they're appointed. appointed by re

the governor, confirmed by the senate. but several of the members are positions as a result of their positions so apoint e two student deeps from the governor's office. but the superintendent is on top of it. representatives of the technical college board sits on the board. there are positions like that are part of the 18 member regents host: the board of regents, voted to increase tuition every year? guest: there's a tuition freeze. we're in the second year. two proposing in the next years we also freeze tuition. for two we can do it more years. that puts some strain on us. no question about that. affordability is an important issue given student debt and the things of those issues.

we've been working with legislators and in particular he governor's office to try to alance that off so the state thes up a larger portion of budget. that's our challenge. and the demand on the state's know, as you probably medicaid and other portions of the budget are growing rapidly, i hink, medicaid will go for 17% to 18% of the state's budget to over 30% in the next decade. legislators with less discretionary money of end portion her comes from. host: the wisconsin governor there, governor walker, wants freeze. his opponent, mary burke, the concurs. how many students are eligible for financial aid at the university of wisconsin? think at the madison

ampus, it's 61% or 62% currently get financial aid. obviously i believe we could do more in that area. trying. the madison initiative for alone has tes dramatically helped. in a few moments, i'm going to o over and meet the fund for wisconsin scholars, another major financial aid effort that's been tremendously helpful. madison and the whole uw system financial aid he fforts to offset the costs for students. about 20% of the students throughout the system receive financial aid. 1% of undergrad students are receiving some sort of financial aid. there's been a tuition freeze at the university of wisconsin systems. want to continue that, president cross. i'm wondering because afford issue, do you

think college is worth it? guest: of course. very study done in terms of economic analysis, collegegoers arn considerably more than the noncollege counterparts. the unemployment rate for walts is half of what it is for noncollege graduates. distinguishing characteristic economically. but i don't think it should be only on an economic scale. the value of a university that.ion goes beyond and it's important to understand what it means to have an educated citizenry. the fundamental -- i think the fundamental piece of what a higher education experience is all about.

earnings, economic impact on the important. state is it's important in the state of wisconsin where we have about 170,000 vacant job positions right now. it's important for the help develop high-impact talent to address needs, probably positions 0% of the require a bachelor's degree and state needs the mostly in stem but also in the arts l of the liberal fields that require good writing, good critical thinking greta. etc., host: to phone calls. pam in middleton, wisconsin. ahead. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my calls. good morning, president cross. your lling in regards to statement in your reference to a premier ity as

research institution. e're conducting archaic experiments on baby monkeys. i recently learned that petition by change.org started last week and over 200,000 people have appears i'm so it not alone. o i'm calling to see how you reconcile this and the testing researchers are calling unnecessary, cruel, and outdated with the image and progressive the school. >> thank you, pam. process one goes through on the university campus to ecure approval to do research of that type is very extensive. as i recall, there are four facultyt levels and the that review that come from all disciplines. and it's a very rigorous process. and the need through that

process that's handled here at what i son campus by onsider to be some very conscientious and diligent people. that process is under way. the research program is through that process. let the process guide us. -- d lip, i am aware second lip, i'm aware of the concerns, we're taking those seriously. we're sharing those with the board. we're re-evaluating this and about this.ned host: what -- is there federal is sight over how research conducted at universities like the university of wisconsin madison? does the federal government have a say in that? guest: oh, yes. any research involving federal funds, there are rigorous federal that the

a ernment requires and process and ofht course that's part of this. guest: how does it work? oft: it depends on the type research that's being undertaken. ost of that is that there are pieces of that depending on if ou're doing lab work or if animals are involved or human -- if there is human research involved. are protocols that are required by the federal government. they audit that. hey audit that on a regular basis. they establish the processes that help guide that. guest: thank you for c-span. college, a ing to a state college here in minnesota. collaborationof a like north dakota and south minnesota about the

collaboration of interstate fees hat would be considered for college different states that collaborate financially? that true or guest: yes, that is true. wisconsin has a reciprocity agreement with minnesota. from your son or daughter innesota would go to wisconsin at in state fees and in state tuition. nd vice versa, wisconsin minnesota uld attend students at the state level. we have that. the big bus tour started out at the university of minnesota last week. f you missed that, go to the

website, c-span.org. the tour continues. we're doing a monthlong series interviews with presidents from different big ten universities and today c-span's at the university of wisconsin madison. and your r questions comments about higher education, he university of wisconsin cross is here. 202-585-3881. 202-585-3882. wisconsin residents want to hear 202-585-3883. greg is in madison. ahead, greg. caller: thank you for taking my call, mr. cross. listening earlier about providing a portion of the and the university and madison as a resident and -- a graduate of uw, i'm with the maternal

deprivation studies. i didn't hear the studies started. i don't recall if they already started. think a previous caller was talking about that. it didn't pass the committee. it didn't go before the committee for full approval. what transpired? guest: my understanding it did at least at this point, i'm not sure it's started but i think it's gone through the entire process. host: ray cross, another issue, colleges, wisconsin being a rural state, you have a ackground in running royal colleges. what are the challenges in reaching the students in the areas of wisconsin?

florence county in wisconsin has 25,000 chool of students -- 25 students, 25,000? sky size and scale of the institutions limits their ability to do a lot of things to be e they would like able to do. the cally, a number of problem facing rural wisconsin chools are also facing urban institutions. they are approaching them separately. several.lenges are how we serve those folks is i think very important. we're attempting to do more, of options that is students aking high school credit

ourses concurrently with college courses to help them get started. they need to speak to the remedial needs of both rural and urban students. we badly need to make sure that students get into the that they pipeline, succeed and retain that educational pipeline, and that businesses hem to and opportunities, both for heir career and for life here in wisconsin. that's a challenge in the rural setting and in an urban setting. host: with the cost of in state uition at the university of wisconsin madison being over $10,000. room and board, you add on $8600. what about on-line education? wisconsin offers i think 5400 courses on-line. been pioneers in

hole area competency based education. which is an innovating new what ch that's based on you know and what you can do rather than how much time you a classroom. that kind of activity, i believe, has a great future. faces a number of challenges because in withst west, and i'm sure elsewhere, in wisconsin there are somewhere million 50,000 to 1 orking age adults with some college without a degree. if we can deal with that i ectively, i think 31,000, think if we can deal with that important , its's more working age

adults, not just 18-year-olds, this onomy that requires kind of an education host: do you see the future of be it on-line or other price ogy reducing the tag of tuition as well as room and board? guest: i'm not sure. some examples where it has. think it has tremendous potential. it also has -- it creates several concerns. ideally it would be a blend, a hybrid, if you will, between models and the on-line models. think they complement one another nicely. it takes the right kind of engage in the on-line learning and leverage it to the maximum ability. are just not suited for that kind of learning. of e focusing on that type

education on adult learners who return to a dorm campus. on a trying to serve them effectively. it's a different experience, same.not the what you gain in a residence is very powerful and important. to serve them with the thing they need in their lives. both them and the people throughout the state. host: of those students enrolled as freshmen, what on to graduate? guest: i'm trying to remember number. i would say we retain 60%. another in time is thing. think our -- at madison, our

six-year graduation rate is 80%, in the 7 to oh 0s, i recall. six-year s, a graduation rate. we're working very hard to increase that. believe the madison campus time has about a 4.5-year frame. that degree not only saves a student and family money, it place em to the work that r and it's something not only do affordable but make it grow in state of wisconsin. host: what percentage of students are taking more than to graduate? guest: more than four years -- throughout the system, it's 40% bly going to be around in that range. i don't remember the number, greta.

we are better than the national average. we're considerably better than the national average throughout the system. however, we don't think that's enough. we want to do better. it's interesting hat in my era, most students graduated between three and four and five years, at leals. of the students are dual majoring, study abroad. internships that delay that. so the learning experience that is much more ng enhanced and complete than it years ago in my case. >> chesapeake, virginia, arthur there.ching us hello, arthur. the r: i would like to ask professor about the stem cell research. for stem ing anything cells? turn that got to

television down when you're talking with the guests. president cross, he's asking about stem cell research. guest: not familiar with everything they're doing. ut am familiar with something they're doing called nondifferentiated stem cells are trying to take stem them to stem ert cells, specific cells, heart -- know of one project where they're working on creating retina cells from those stem cells. some of the broader projects that i'm aware of involving stem cells. next. suzy is an educator from springfield, mo move. hi, suzy. caller: two questions. sometimes universities have related to the advanced

senior faculty, having contact undergraduates. adjunct ring how many professors teach undergraduates second question is also understanding the umber of majors institutions impacts the costs. how many major in each discipline? popular ones ost and have you had to eliminate majors to cost? thanks. guest: i think if i understand her correctly, the question two parts.there's how many senior faculty teach the courses. to most milar institutions. that process is focused on do ng sure that students their alancing that with

ability to interact with prominent quality faculty. has to do with popular may juniors, etc. or six years, most in engineering y and and math. and including some areas, art. demand.ally the demand for those disciplines have gone up somewhere around 15%. the number of faculties serving remained about the same. so one of the challenges to increase the number of faculty critically important fields that the state students employers in some sense, in an indirect sense in the economy of the state. for us. challenge that's a be challenge for most ig ten students if not most

universities. so we're working very hard to do that. that's part of the budget in the coming bianum. ost: are corporations letting schools know what they need so the universities can produce not, why not? guest: can you say it again? host: are corporations letting know what e yours hey want, what they need, from workers? guest: yes, it's also important wisconsin that we reach out to them. too often, we're too passive in in not seeking the input on what they happen to need. in wisconsin, we have aggregate data for the state and we look macrosense. but there are regional differences throughout the seven terms ofn the state in

what employers need. and while that is -- i want's important to do that. agree with that. we're working on this. one of my initiatives to more connect the university to what the corporations in the state need. it's important to recognize just to serve those needs. we have a purpose in educating the complete adult, the complete person. that's part of the challenge. host: charlotte is watching us in chicago, a parent there. ahead, charlotte. caller: thank you so much for taking my call. host: good morning. a parent, i can tell you that it's been an burden to deal with debt.'s college we co-signed for a lot of his loan. unfortunately we're in a real estate investment company. years before hree the real estate market crashed. so we lost all of our money because of that. and my son was in college at the

time. nd so we -- he had some money initially to pay for his college. then we weren't able to once the real estate market crashed. he had to take out loans and we had to co-sign for the loans. reason, he wasn't able to get loans in his name. been paying for college since he started in 2005. its's been unbelievable. e reached out the senator durbin. and he and senator warren are very focused on the suffering -- suffering, but that's what it feels like, that families are going through trying to pay off these bills. nd one of the issues i have is the interest that's being charged on the college debt is 8%.t husband co-signed about $58,000. by the time he was out of interest rates are

oh crewing by the way on parent parents sign for those. we were overwhelmed by the real estate market situation we on that.ocusing son got out ofmy college, some of the loans -- more than this, there were about $66,000. host: charlotte, where did your son go to school? aller: well, he started -- he started off -- the first semester was at purdue. nd thank goodness after one semester there, he was almost that he wasn'tme happy there. i couldn't tell him how happy i as to hear that because of the cost of it. hat's about $20,000 for that semester. years to community college and then dupont university. host: i'm going to have ray jump in. a lot of issues there, president cross?

and heart goes out to you in terms of the market crash. there are two or three things -- that are circulating in the capitol that are important for financial aid that you, the situation that you're in. refinancing you mention the sites of the interest rates. working on folks are that. it's a challenge and something looking into.re think it's important that when the clock starts impacts that interest rate and your payments. situation, it would there beenelpful had

helpful with respect to your unemployment and the earnings in a you're making. inthink i9's important to know that the financial aid entirely ich is based on what you earned in the last year, not entirely, but heavily changes when it uickly, that should be calculated different lip. i understand that's a challenge. i think there are several folks working on that. so i appreciate your -- the channels you're facing and also want you to know that several working on that. host: go to sue next in there, hi, sue?t caller: how do you do? good morning. my question is are you going to the firmative action like university of michigan? i believe you're going to hurt your own kind in the long run people the asians and rom india are going to

skyrocket. caterpillar is already hiring in their engineering department because they're cheaper. and what is your stance on that? uest: having a diverse population on the campus, a allows us in t different ways of engaging and doing things. not diversity in terms of what one thinks of. it's a much broader thing than that. of the mottos here at the university of wisconsin which is ctually on plaques around the campus. it's the sifting and winnowing agriculture term of issues and to find the truth. that occurs most

effectively when you ear civilly discussions and interaction with people who are -- who different -- who are ifferent, who think differently, who explore things way to pursue the truth. that process is constantly being how we do that. academic prowess is the greatest students who are seeking to madison. and several other of our campuses. but we look at a broader things as well. what's the potential for leadership, how engaged are they in the community? how do they serve others? hose impact the admissions heavily. we do also look at diversity in terms of the broad category that i would call inclusivity.

madison, e in wisconsin, go ahead, anne hi, i was calling. host: i apologize to you. that we have to -- i have to house is cause the about to come in for morning session. and, of course, we have to stick mission here of covering it gavel-to-gavel. to you.gies ray cross at the university of wisconsin systems. i want to thank you this morning for your time. we really appreciate it. to the go now coverage -- live coverage of the house of representatives here on c-span.