assistant commissioner wagner will go into more detail. but i would like to highlight other key actions that we have taken to date and will continue to take. they have posted messages from the cdc at select airport locations that provide awareness on how the prevent the spread of infection. typical symptoms of ebola, and instructions to call the doctor if it traveler becomes ill. tsa engages with industry partners and a mystic and foreign air carriers to provide information, reinforcing the cdc's message on ebola and providing guidance. oha, through the national center, continues to monitor the outbreak and is producing tailored ebola products. the u.s. coast guard is monitoring vessels known to be

inbound from ebola affected countries, and is providing information to the captain of the port. we provide personnel with health advisories, including impacted regions symptoms of the virus, and mode of transmission. the department of homeland security has worked closely with its interagency partners to develop a layered approach to ebola response. dhs is always assessing the measures we have in place, and will continue additional actions moving forward if appropriate to protect the american people. i look forward to working with you to address any concerns or questions. >> mr. wagner. your recognized for five minutes. >> thank you for the opportunity to discuss the efforts of u.s.

customs and border protection. each day, we process more than one million people into the united states. 280,000 of them enter at international airports. cbp is responsible for securing the nation's borders while facilitating the flow of legitimate trade and travel that is so vital to our nation's economy. within this broad responsibility, our mission remains to prevent terrorist and terrorist weapons from entering the united states. we also play an important role in limiting the introduction, transmission and spread of , serious medical diseases from foreign countries. we have had this role for over 100 years, and is travel and threats change, cdp has changed as well. we have had modern protocols in place that guided response to a variety of signal to get health threats over his and years. cbp officers assess each traveler for overt signs of illness, in response to the recent ebola outbreak, cbp is working to ensure that frontline officers are provided the information, training, adequate men needed to identify and

respond to international travelers who may pose a threat to public health. all cbp officers provided guidance and training on addressing travelers with any potential illness, including communicable diseases. cbp officer training includes public health training, which teaches officers to identify through visual observation and questioning, the overt symptoms and characteristics of ill travelers. cbp also provides operational training and guidance on how to respond to travelers with potential illness, including referring individuals to cdc quarantine officers for secondary screening, as well as training on assisting cdc with isolation and protocols. we provide web-based training covering key elements of blood-borne pathogen exposure control plan, protections from exposure, use of personal protective equipment, and other

preventive measures and procedures to follow a potential exposure incident. we are committed to ensuring field personnel have the most accurate updated information regarding the ebola virus. cdpe this outbreak began, field personnel have provided guidance. with numerous and regular updates since then. we provided information on regions of importance, symptoms of virus, and modes of transmission. operational procedures and precautions for processing passengers showing signs of illness will continue to provide our officers -- >> is your mic on? can you lift your microphone up? >> absolutely. we will continue to provide information on ebola preparedness and response measures. we provide guidance to the field on baggage inspection from travelers from infected countries. proper handling of meat products and handling and disposal of

garbage from inbound international flights. information sharing is critical. cbp continues to engage with authorities on the state, national, and local level. since 2011, we stationed a liaison officer at the cbp national targeting center to provide expertise and facilitate information between the two of organizations. in response to the current outbreak, cbp identifies travelers whose travel originated in or transit through guinea, liberia, and sierra leone. starting october 1, cbp started providing a health alert notice to travelers entering the united states from these affected countries. this information notice provides the traveler information and instructions should he or she have a concern of possible infection. in addition to visually

screening all passengers, we will begin enhanced screening of travelers from the affected countries. in coordination with cdc, these targeted travelers will be asked to complete a questionnaire and have their temperature check. based on these and hands screening efforts, they will make an assessment. these efforts rollout and include 94% of travelers from the effected countries. we will continue to screen for overt signs of illness and all passengers, and will also provide ebola sheets on all in affected countries. cdc officers receive

training, we will separate traveler from the public, and contact local public health authorities to help with further medical assessment. cbp will continue to monitor the ebola outbreak, provide timely information and guidance to field personnel, and work closely with dhs and inter-agency partners to deter the spread of ebola in the united states. thank you for the opportunity to testify today. >> the chair recognizes himself for questions. like any threat overseas, we would rather illuminate that threat before it can get into the united states. this threat is no exception. i commend the efforts overseas and in africa to contain and control this. part of that effort are flights into western africa, with health care officials to help stop the spread of this viral disease. many of my constituents, and many americans, are asking the question -- why aren't we banning all flights from west

africa into united states? dr. merlin, i want to give you the chance to answer that question. >> mr. chairman, i appreciate the opportunity to speak to that. i know it is a concern of many people. the disease outbreak in liberia, guinea, and sierra leone, is now at a point where we may be able to stop it. if we focus our efforts and resources on stopping in. in order to stop it, we need uninhibited transit into and out of the country. we need to bring the resources it, as well as to keep the countries from collapsing great if we don't do that, the disease well grow exponentially.

is from 400,000 to 1.4 million cases by the end of the year. way to case, there is no keep that from spilling into neighboring countries and into the rest of the world. our opportunity is to get the disease at its source. and what we want is to not do things that give the appearance of protecting us, but actually put us at greater risked later on to allow the disease to grow there. >> we work closely with partners in cdc. we work through an interagency process with it. dhs is prepared to take any steps necessary. we want to make sure we defer to public health expertise in this issue to cdc. >> dr. merlin, you said this is not a significant health threat to the united states.

dr. brinsfield, he said the risk is very low. could you elaborate on that, and explain how this deadly, wicked virus is transmitted? >> thank you. as you say, this is a horrible virus. it causes horrible disease and people who are infected, it has a high mortality rate. but we know a lot about this virus. we know from 40 years experience how to stop outbreaks of this virus. the virus is acquired by people through direct contact from infected individuals who are symptomatic, they don't get the disease from contact with people who are asymptomatic. it is often contracted by people caring for an individual who is infectious and sick.

after acquisition is an incubation time where the person , who has acquired the virus is not him or herself symptomatic. it ranges eight to 11 days. it can be shorter, it can be longer. when the person develop symptoms, and only when the person develops symptoms, is a person capable of spreading the disease to other individuals. >> dr. brinsfield. >> i agree. this is a disease that preys on poor public health and infrastructure. we have excellent public health and infrastructure in this country. >> the news talked about this hearing. a number of people saw me and they wanted to know if it is safe? what do i have to have?

needless to say, it is on the minds of a lot of people in this country. important, to the extent that we can sing off the same page of music, as we push information out, the better off we are. can you provide this committee with how that process works from andblic health standpoint notification to state and local partners around the country? >> i will tell you how the for identification of cases. -- hat we do would like me >> that is fine. >> we have worked with our

partners to distribute information to health personnel, aso well as the hospitals and physicians on the signs and symptoms of ebola, the travel history that is therefore ebola, and how to detect ebola infections. we have provided checklist for facilities, guidance for facilities on how to do this. we have provided guidance on how facilities and physicians should handle an individual who they think has a lot, and how to place them in isolation immediately so they do not affect others. we have provided testing for ebola diagnostics around the country. we offer 24/7 consultative services to the cdc for people

who have questions about how to handle a suspected case. mi addressing your question? am i addressing your question? we have treated people from west africa who have lived. mr. duncan came and died. say,ublic is trying to what happened? provide a somehow level of confidence to the difference ise still part of the system. can you help me, if not other members of the committee, with a response for that? >> yes. ebola is a horrible disease, as

many people have said. the virus and facts many parts of the body. it interferes with the functions of many parts of the body. tract, thentestinal heart, the liver, the skin. diarrheavelop profound and profound nausea and vomiting. of untreatedcome ebola cases that has and mortality of 50% to 90%. we have limited experience with with ourebola developed medical system.

the outcomes depend on a number of factors. it has to do with pre-existing illness in the patient, how quickly after the onset of symptoms the patient receives therapy. i wish we had the assumption s downvery person who come dow with ebola would survive. that is not the case. >> thank you. mr. wagner, you talked about this enhanced screening that we will start implementing. i want to give you a scenario and i want you to help me with an answer. ticket to west a africa, to brussels, and then buys another ticket from brussels to the united states, enhanced in

targeting pick that person up? be a vulnerability depending on how the airline provided us with information. if it's multiple tickets, we may not. , we would use that officer who interviewed that person when they arrived in the united states predictably the passport to look for stamps. a series goes through of questions about the purpose of their travel. we may ask the person how long they were in brussels and how what they were doing there. shouldr questioning, we be able to determine where that traveler originated. we should also be able to determine what countries they traveled through. there are different ways we would find that out. >> thank you.

>> i thanked you for holding this hearing on such an important topic. mr. wagner, i would like to start with you. i want to talk about the legal authority and what you're able to do. if they are coming here, and they are from a suspected region , suspected country, and they do appear to be sick, and they don't want to be detained, what can you do and not do? >> if they are not a u.s. citizen or prominent resident, we can declare a person

inadmissible to the united states if they have certain communicable diseases. that, we do screening of all people for overt signs of illness. we can work with the cdc on some of their authorities to detain, corn, and isolate sick travelers. >>'s summit is appearing to be if someone is appearing to be sick, what can you do? how far can you take this? >> i am not a person at cdc who is familiar with all of the corn gene authorities. the cdc has authority to quarantine people who are suspected of having infectious diseases that are a risks to the public health. we can do that to any of our

quarantine stations. >> can you help me understand what the standard is? if you travel to those countries ? if you have the sniffles? what is the standard? get back tove to you on the exact details. it is certainly more than you say. reasonableve to be a suspicion that the person could cause harm and infect other individuals by entering the country. >> if they are a united states citizen, does that come into play? they need to be in isolation, we will exercise our legal authority. >> what determines a threat to the public health? >> that is an area that i do not know. you don't know, then how do the men and women who are supposed to be screening -- if you, don't know,

how are mr. wagner's people supposed to find out. >> i wish i knew. we have a division of people who focus on quarantine and migration. we areoncern is that starting to process, you have articulated the need, and if you how do we pull the right people out of line. when we you have that? >> mr. wagner works with the people at cdc who works with this. >> what is the answer to this question? cdc for thet the medical professionals to make that determination. >> what if that happens in salt lake city? >> we do that at all our locations now. you have a cdc representative

at every port of entry? if we encounter a traveler that has overt signs of illness, we will contact cdc and coordinate with them. >> you are going to hold as people until cdc shows up? >> we potentially could, depending on the nature of what it is. >> they are showing up, trying to walk through the airport, what you going to do? >> we would stop them in context cdc. , it willd of the day be medical professionals to make those determinations, not cdc. >> the encouragement here is that somehow we need the cdc to come up with good, teachable standards. that way they know what to look for and do. if we don't have that information, we will make this job impossible. i yield back.

devoted is a division to this. >> there is an entire division at cdc devoted to quarantine and migration. what i would do, if the question were asked of me, i would immediately get in touch with someone who knows the answer to this question. >> the chair now recognizes the gentlelady from taxes. taxes. texas. think my chairman and ranking member. i think the two members, several members, that are from this region. i think them for their engagement and participation.

i know that we will see some of our local officials on the second panel, i appreciate all andwork that the county first responders have done in the community. we need to express our appreciation to them. i think all of you for your presence here today. ago, i raised the red flag as i was able to be escorted by customs and border protection to look at the men and women who work there. unit -- weontainment were told on the day that i visited that the cdc team was here in dallas. i saw the equipment that was there. i went down to the subbasement to look at the amount of , the suits that are

.here to ensure tha i think it is important to know that this is stocked in many airports. i raised the red flag to ensure that there was this type of screening. i think there was an error made by not designating bush intercontinental airport as one of the sites to have this enhanced screening. i have made a request to the president, the secretary, and the centers were disease control, and i hope this will be responded to. again this is a red flag. this is not hysteria. it is based on the travel that comes into bush intercontinental airport. also, it is not west africa. we must be restrained in how we define it. it is a series of countries, guinea, sierra leone, and liberia.

we are interrelated. the president has done a remarkable job and i want to thank him for the 130 civilians, the epu units, and of course the 350 million and another 700 million, i believe, that i hope the congress and all of us will convince the congress to support. and i especially want to thank the men and women from the united states military that are now on their way. i took the time to speak to some of our medical professionals at baylor and the harris health system. i would like to stop for a moment and join my colleagues in expressing sympathy for mr. duncan's family. i pray for them as they mourn his passing.

want to relate to you where i think infrastructure and practical application may be two distinct things. we have the greatest health system in the world but are we practically prepared? that is why we're having this oversight hearing. if you have any indication of an ebola patient, without any condonation, you clear out a hospital. patients are not going to come. do we need to put contagion units together? hospitals are saying during the flu season, an average citizen is getting pushback on the ambulances to bring people with those kinds of symptoms. you have indicated it is quite different, but they are like, similar. do you think it is appropriate to have those kinds of units?

do you think they need to be separately placed? >> i understand the question, and no, i think that all facilities need to be able to care for people who present at facilities for care, and we can't rely on individuals to present to selected facilities -- all facilities need -- >> let me go onto the next question and then i have one for mr. wagner as my time comes up. this goes to the two medical personnel. i am told in a survived by nurses, across the country, 80% are saying hospitals have not communicated any policy regarding potential admission of patients infected by ebola. 85% say their hospitals have not provided education on ebola for the nurses. they say some hospitals have

insufficient supplies. your answer to how you're going to get all hospitals prepared -- and mr. wagner, your answer on airports that are not in the scheme of several airports -- what are your men and women doing, and where do they take these patients if they find they are infected? i thank you. you can answer about the survey by nurses who say they are not prepared. >> that is a concern. we will reach out to our state and local health departments and medical and hospital departments to see those things are addressed. nurses need to feel they practice in a safe environment and they can deal with patients who are potentially infectious, whether it is ebola or something as simple as influenza. they need to have versatile protective equipment and we will follow up on that.

>> where are these persons -- what are you doing in airports that are not in this five member -- >> we do need to keep to the five-minute rule. we have 16 members of congress. go ahead and answer. >> any location outside of the we will identify their travel as originating from those areas and provide them with information about the symptoms of ebola and where to go for help if they start to develop symptoms or where they can go for additional information. >> thank you, the chair recognizes mr. sanford. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for holding this hearing. thank you to the ranking members. what i am hearing back home is people are very concerned about the disconnect between what they see and what they hear. what they are hearing is it is not communicable. people are relatively safe. meanwhile they are seeing pictures of people coming out of buildings wearing spacesuits and what people are telling me that

is, i do not have a spacesuit. how am i safe? there is a real disconnect in terms of what they are seeing and what they are hearing. i would follow-up on the chairman's point. it was your words, dr. merlin, just a minute ago that the disease is "ferocious," "spreading exponentially," and the largest outbreak ever of ebola. i asked my staff to look at how we have treated these things in the past and one of the benchmarks they used as the spanish flu of 1918, which killed millions around the world. and the different protocols between new york city and pittsburgh, which were two of the bigger cities on the east coast. new york immediately implemented quarantine. pittsburgh waited a month, and as a result, very, very different results in terms of death in those respective

cities. new york faring quite well relative to pittsburgh. what people would say to me back home is, wait a minute. bad as thing is as you some folks suggest, why in the world are we going to let people fly from that part of the world -- and this is following from the chairman's question he is getting from his constituents as well -- to this part of the world? what you said a moment ago is we need uninhibited travel. but the last time i checked, the 101st airborne do not fly on delta. military air can get resources, people, professionals without having civilians go in and out. the second thing you said was, we want to prevent these countries from collapsing economically. i think that overstates the case. from a u.s. standpoint, certainly what happens in guinea or sierra leone is not going to dry up the american economy and from the opposite end, we have had a travel embargo with cuba

for 50 years now and it has not crippled the country. it seems to me what a lot of people back home are saying, why wouldn't you just -- if you are over there, we're are not going to issue you a travel visa coming over here until this is sorted out. going back to my colleague from utah's question a moment ago, there seems to be a real mismatch between cdc is saying, border patrol folks got it, and they're pointing to health-care professionals -- until that is sorted out, why wouldn't you say let's just wait on travel for right now? >> congressman, those are very good questions and they are understandable questions. i have to admit i wince every time i see the tv images with people in spacesuits, because it gives an impression about the infectivity of the virus.

it is not realistic. it is an overreaction. and i think it inflames people's fears about ebola and how ebola is spread. doctors without borders has taken care of ebola patients for years by using established personal protective equipment that does not include those sort of spacesuits that you see on television, without acquiring infection in their workers. so, a little of this -- some of it is unfortunately media driven. as to the difference between the influenza epidemic of 1918 and ebola, there are really major differences -- >> i understand, but i see we have gone to a yellow light. we have a couple seconds left.

why not, again, prohibition on civilian travel from this part of the world, that part of the world. if you are over there, don't come over here. why not? >> we feel that would cause the disease to grow in that area and spillover into other countries and then spillover more into the u.s. the real opportunity now is to put out that disease there. every travel restriction that has been placed on travel into that area has interfered with people trying to help not being able to get there. either travel restrictions or reduction in air travel -- it is not the u.s. military. people from europe, china, cuba trying to get there to help. it would make doing what we need to do a harder. that is why we ask for the american people's understanding of that. >> i hear you. i have questions on that, but my time has expired. >> mr. barber is recognized.

>> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you for this very important hearing today. people back home are concerned and i came here to ask questions on their behalf and get answers. before i do that, i want to extend my condolences to mr. duncan's family and to all of the people in the countries who are affected. i think the video we have seen on television of the suffering in africa just touches our heart. i know the united states is mobilizing to help. so i commend our men and women in uniform for taking this mission on. i know they will do an incredible job creating facilities to help care for the sick. and i want to commend you because you are really on the

front line when it comes to how to make sure that we control the people coming into this country and who might be bringing this disease to our country. i appreciate what the chairman said earlier about this not being a political issue and we have to make sure we avoid making it one. this is an american issue for the safety of the people we represent, and it is an american issue for what we always do so well, and that is help other countries who were not able to do what they need to do for themselves. and i do hope, mr. chairman, as we look at what is needed here today, that we as members of congress will return after the election fully committed to providing the funding that is necessary to provide the resources that are necessary for our -- for cdc and for our men and women trying to protect the nation and address this disease. i want to go to a question that has come up a couple times, commissioner wagner, how do we

control or manage travelers coming from countries that are most affected today? i understand the concerns about stopping flights, but let me suggest another possible measure to you and get your reaction. would it be helpful for you to require individuals who are not u.s. citizens or permanent residents traveling from the countries affected to require them to go through the local american consulate or embassy and their respective countries to get a visa, and perhaps we could implement screening at that location, before people embark to the united states? could you comment? >> they do have to have a visa. it does make a person inadmissible to the united states if you have a number of

communicable diseases. once they get that visa, if they that disease or illness, upon entering into the united states, as part of our immigration authorities, requiring an inspection process, we will be alert or a sign of illness in a person -- >> may i please interrupt? i appreciate that people have to of a visa. maybe this is a question for the state department. could we not implement at our embassies and consulates the same screening procedures like you are implementing, perhaps beyond what you're implementing, before they come into our country? it seems we would be in a better place to protect the citizens. >> i would to defer to the department of state. >> let me turn next to dr. merlin. i want to commend the cdc for taking on this incredible challenge.

i have a lot of confidence in what the cdc does for our country. i am cognizant that unfortunately the cdc has been impacted heavily by budget cuts in the last several years. as i said, we will take a look at what you need to make sure the job is done with the resources needed. dr. merlin, i have one question as time is running out -- is it not possible, and perhaps it is underway -- to develop a test? not examine the person in another way rather than having the disease become apparent? >> congressman barber, that is an excellent question and it comes up repeatedly. we have currently no diagnostic

test that will detect ebola before an individual -- develop symptoms. current testing may not detect ebola within the first three days of illness. if there is a patients suspected of having ebola and the first test is negative, we often recommend a second test at 72 hours. i think that is a good challenge, and it would be very helpful to have a test like that developed. developing tests to perform on a asymptomatic individuals is very difficult because you need to find a target that is present in enough -- you need to find something that is distinctive and present enough in the infected individual and the noninfected individual, and that is very hard to do.

>> i appreciate, mr. chairman, my time is up. let me close by saying i think we need to redouble our efforts in testing. i think it would be very useful in our efforts to controlling this disease. thank you. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida, mr. clawson. >> thank you for coming here today. i appreciate your service to our country. i know how hard you are working to keep us safe. thank you to the ranking member in the chair for doing this committee meeting, particularly here in dallas. good job. we have great first responders in our country. having lived a large parts of my life overseas, i just want to say it is not comparable to anything i have seen, and i want to congratulate you on that. and really say good job. i am worried now about our first responders going to africa. my first question to dr. merlin, we're going to have 3200 medical troops who are not experts in these mobile labs.

they will be doing testing and so forth. my first question to you is regarding that. are our good samaritans going to be ok here? are they going to be safe? that is the first thing that popped into my mind. i have so many veterans in my district. are our first responders going to be ok to go to africa? the second thing i wanted to ask -- how long until we do have a vaccine? what will it take to get there? if i understood this morning, you are saying that this is a highly infectious disease, is that right? fatal up to 90%? and not necessarily contagious like influenza. sounds still pretty deadly. so, how far out is a vaccine? and my question to mr. wagner. you talked about the enhanced efforts and you will get us more information on procedurally what that means.

how long until you are there? i remember after 9/11, it took us a long time. it took a while for tsa to really get up to speed. they are a lot better at what they do now then after the disaster. a similar analogy. how long until you are confident there are no holes in the security wall that is your force? if you will answer these questions for me, i really appreciate it. >> thank you some of congressman clawson. the safety of anyone who we deploy in an epidemic like this is of utmost concern. we are putting people in harms way by putting them someplace they might get infected. we are working with our partner organizations and dod to do the training and provide personal protective equipment, to keep

people from getting infected. our military forces are going to be not on a treatment mission. they will not be providing direct care. they will be doing logistical work. but still, it is a concern. we will do everything possible to prevent people who are trying to help from getting infected. >> i think the goal here is zero. >> i agree. i agree completely. and now i am forgetting your second question. >> vaccine. >> vaccine. i would prefer that the national institutes of health, which is responsible for overseeing the vaccine development, speak to the actual timetables for development. fortunately there are candidate

vaccines available that have shown efficacy in nonhuman primates. but before administering those vaccines to people, you need to be absolutely sure they do no harm to people when you administer them to people and those trials are going on now. you have to know the right goes to administer. you have to have the manufacturing capability. i know the agencies are working simultaneously to do the trials and ramp up manufacturing, but nih is better to testify on that and i am. trials and days of crisis, do those trials go to the top of the heap? because there is quite a backlog, as you know. >> they have gone to the top of the heap. i can assure you that. >> we have a host of diseases, measles, mers, sars, including

the symptoms of ebola. what we are kicking off saturday at jfk is extended procedures about taking people from 's temperatures and asking them very specific questions about contact with people who have ebola, and working closely with cdc to get that answer affirmative, and getting them into some professional medical care to address that. all the other locations will continue, too, and we have four other locations, i'm sorry, that will kick off saturday, at some point next week. that will cover about 94 percent of all travelers coming from those three regions. other regions will continue to identify travelers -- >> >> can i butt in real quick?

>> >> can i butt in real quick? that means you are doing face-to-face training in the airports with those officers, so we will have an updated procedure almost immediately? >> we have annual training with all of our officers. our basic academy trading trains on recognizing symptoms of illness. the protocols for handing that person off to the cdc for medical care. that is ongoing and continuous. we have done that for a number of years, going back to a lot of our pandemic planning with sars and mers and a lot of other contagious illnesses out there. >> thank you. >> the chair recognizes mr. o'rourke. >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr. merlin, i understand that there are experimental treatments for ebola and mr. duncan was diagnosed on september 30, but did not receive treatment until october 4. give me your thoughts on that and whether that may have contributed to his death. in other words the delay in his

receiving the treatment. >> yes. the people who understand best the decision-making process around whether and when to administer experimental therapies to the patient are really the care team providing care for the patient and the patient's family. we at cdc, our job is to make the public health officials and the team aware of what experimental therapies are available and how to go about acquiring them. sometimes we facilitate that. but we do not actually -- >> you do not have the authority to order specific treatments. that would be a question that are asked to the care team? >> exactly. >> let me move on. we have talked a lot about airports and what we're doing to screen their capacity training protocols.

from a public health perspective, and i'm going to ask mr. wagner from an operational perspective -- what are the threats at the other froms of entry, seaports, a public health perspective? >> we have had a number of cargo ships that have come -- they come in all the time with people who are sick on the ships. and often, you know, the coast guard is the first line of defense. they engage with the coast guard with otherually agencies to determine the best course of action. complicated because it is related to how long they longon the ship and how

the exposure was. often the person on the ship is gravely ill. it is a more difficult situation to deal with. >> what capacity do we have at these other ports to handle potentially infected travelers? .> it is a lot more challenging we don't have the advance notice of the traveler's itinerary or arrival. we would be alert for any over signs of illness. they are receiving at training? >> absolutely. all our officers get that. with cdc the context to get the rational the vice what to do with the traveler. measles, other communicable diseases that we see coming across the border. >> my last question is for dr.

merlin. , public health grants, $64 million that go to all states. what concerns or questions do you have about the accountability for how that money is spent in use, especially given some of the mistakes in dallas with the handling of mr. duncan's case? any youommendations if have going forward about additional accountability and potentially additional resources you feel is needed? >> that is a varied good question, congressman. ensure -- and steps have already been taken in this. the hospital preparedness grant programs are well coordinated. that healthnsure departments and facilities are

well prepared for potential infectious disease emergencies. we have a seamless system. prior to about two years ago, the grants were administered independently, and now they are better coordinated. we need to be sure that the guidance is reaching the people in the facility who will and counter the patient for the first time. that they are exercised. they are not simply protocols that are put away. they are things that people need to know how to do. i will submit for the record some questions that try to get the root of this, where that money is being spent? whether we have the appropriate accountability to make sure we have a training in place, especially with some of the mistakes that were made? . >> the chair recognizes mr. barton.

be recognized. i'm glad to be a junior member. you and mr. thompson are holding a good hearing. i'm glad to be a small part of it. mr. chairman, i want to feed off of varied first question that you ask. ed. i think this is a serious issue. it is obvious that people are affected by. people are concerned by. ,ere in the north texas region it is real. we have had in the bola case, an individual not from the area who traveled to the area. he contracted the disease and has died. it is not academic. first and foremost, this should be treated as a public health issue. it is not an international diplomacy issue. it is not a foreign policy issue. it is not a civil rights issue.

it is a public health issue. in the community that i live and in texas, about three years ago, a teacher contracted tuberculosis, was teaching his class, one of his students contracted the disease. when that became known, the texas department of public health, which will testify in the next panel, came into the school district, interviewed all the students in the class, 14 to quarantines some, monitored some. that was treated as a public health issue and dealt with. it was dealt with in such a way that there were no other cases contracted. it really does not appear to me that we are treating this primarily as a public health issue. , in direct response

to chairman mccall and why we don't stop flights from these countries in africa, your response was, because we need to send people and supplies over there to combat the disease. obviously, that is something that needs to be done, but is governor sanford pointed out, you don't have to have commercial flights this invites into the country. if we were really treating this as a public health issue, why would we not immediately stop these flights? and on a case-by-case basis, send equipment and people as necessary. and on a case-by-case basis, allow people to come out. why do we have to have commercial flights that under the best of screening procedures , you aretalk about almost guaranteed mathematically

to miss of people? with due respect, i don't accept that answer. stop flights simply because we need to give people in. do you have a response to that? i will -- i understand. our experience has been that when there are interruptions in publicvel, in feeds the health response. although there might be workarounds, like military transport, that is difficult. right now, time is of the essence. >> let me -- who makes that

decision? is that a presidential decision? homeland secretary of security decision? who makes that decision about banning lights? flights? >> i would like to point out that there are no direct flights from those areas. an issue of those people coming in through intermediate airports. >> there are no direct flights from those regions. these travelers are going to brussels, conneaut, morocco, and paris to get here. >> you could still ban it? if the gentleman you came from liberia through brussels -- he could have been stopped in brussels, or not even allowed a basic to go to brussels. at that point we defer to our

colleagues at state. table is,tion on the who makes the decision? it is the president, secretary of state, homeland security, who makes a decision? >> did to the interagency process -- >> so, it is the president. ? >> those are different authorities. >> my time has expired. or an governor of a state airport authority ban flights , or a particular region does that have to be done at the federal level? of the airports are claiming right airports.

it is a question more for the airlines and airport authorities on what business they choose to do or not do. >> so technically in airport can ban a flight from a passenger. >> that would defer to then and what business decisions they make. >> thank you, mr. chairman for your courtesy. recognizes the man from texas. am trying to understand what is the scientific explanation for the response that a travel ban would make things worse? >> thank you for asking that question. now that wesease understand the range of how many people are affected -- are infected. how many people will be

infected in a month if nothing is done and how many people will be infected by the end of the year if nothing is done. and we know the size and the scale of the international efforts. it is a remarkable international effort that is required to start it.-- to stop we have good projections on how much delay, how many deaths will because by delay. thate are very afraid things that are done to impede travel would delay the interventions that prevent the progression of the disease. if the disease progresses to the point where it cannot be stopped it is going to spillover into other countries and create greater stress for the u.s.. we feel that understandably the notion of stopping travelers now

might prevent a traveler from arriving in the u.s. so we know we can prevent an outbreak of that. the greater risk is by delaying the epidemic in guinea, sierra leone, and by. , you create a larger problem that is harder to control. liberia, you create a larger problem that is harder to control. what we want to do is stop it we know how to do it, we just need to get the resources to do it. we don't want to do things that would impede that. twot seems to me there are great risks, and that is the spread of the disease outside those three countries, and in following up on the point mr. wagner was making from the flight standpoint from people

who are traveling from those three countries anywhere else, what kind of international coordination are we seeing? i was wondering if you could give us an idea as to who was helping? what is the international community doing to stop the spread of the virus in the other adjacent countries? >> i can tell you from a public health perspective the cdc sees this as a high priority. individuals 140 deployed not only to sierra countriesneighboring where they are training and working with the ministry and training individuals so they know how to detect the disease in contactngage

traits and break the transmission of disease. we want to happen in those countries is when the disease -- when an amber of the disease lands in their country they will be above to quench the disease as quickly as possible. i don't know about the air travel issue. my colleagues may know about the coordination of air travel. to say the response well coordinated under the united nations. >> let me ask you this question, aside from the hemorrhaging the symptoms of the virus appear very similar to any severe flu. are there any other distinctions? >> in early clinical

presentation, no. only a minority of patients develop bleeding symptoms. that is late in the course of the disease. it is afirst three days flulike illness. there is nothing about the clinical presentation that would make you know it wasn't ebola. there is usually profound nausea and diarrhea. colleagues and i, when we hear stories about people presenting that point, it raises the flag. the travel history and exposure totory are very important include with the early symptoms to understand where someone might have ebola.

>> thank you. >> the general recognizes dr. burgess. >> we appreciate you spending time this week, it was very helpful. continue towill have discussions as this story evolves. we are appropriately respectful. i think we also ought to acknowledge the passing of patrick sawyer at the end of july. mr. sawyer was an individual who .orked in liberia after attending his sister in flew before he could board the plane back to minneapolis and could have been patient zero two months before we had the experience here.

i'm sure there will be expert reports on the case that occurred here in dallas. studying of what happened to patient zero on july 30? >> i am not aware of that. i will have to get back to you. apparently some travel history is given that perhaps provided a really important clue that was subsequently lost among all of the activities involved with treating individuals. from the cdc standpoint, are you concerned at all with the directives and mrs. you have been putting out for months?

somehow they weren't getting through to the frontline. really there was only one response, i am here for a fever and a stomach ache. i traveled here from africa. that door where the two men in blue suits will lock you into an isolation unit. that is the only response, is that not correct? >> i agree with you -- as in ane who has worked emergency room, you know that --ngs in retrospect >> from ac/dc perspective, if you put up these directives to the people at hospitals, on the cdct lines -- from a perspective, if you put up these directives to the people at hospitals on the frontlines, i am concerned the message can't

get to the frontlines. not to be accusatory, but the message did not get to the frontline. what are you going to do differently to make sure the message does get to the people on the frontline? >> i think what we need to do is work with regulatory organizations like the joint commission to be sure that compliance with compare this -- with preparedness is a higher .riority one facilities are accredited, it is something that is looked at critically and they look at whether the frontline staff is trained on these. , i would offer that business as usual may not get it. this is not an ordinary time we are dealing with. two airlines stopped going to monrovia in summer.

decidedply on their own they were going to stop service there. i know people have asked me -- the president suspended care operations through the faa into the airport in israel for a while the summer while there was some bombing going on. we know that exists. some of you may recognize this graph. this is a classic growth curve. and the a leg phase exponential phase. it appears they are in the logarithmic phase. hearing aanother couple of weeks ago. is where in this -- where on this line is the threat made you may recommend to the president we have got to do

something different. to stop this disease and not allow it to be important to our country. this is not like pandemic flu. you can only get ebola if you get it and bring it home. where is the point on this graph where the curve is? >> we are already at the point all stops neede to be pulled out in preventing disease inof the africa. the risk in this country would .ot be eliminated the crucial point is we will not until -- it is

reproducing so quickly that it become antably .ndemic the american president has taken a message out to the u.n. that this is the time -- that the time is right. >> with all due respect i disagree with you. we have to do everything .erfectly they do everything by the book

every time and we need to adopt that same attitude here. thank you. >> later today live coverage of the debate in the michigan governor's race. incumbent governor rick snyder faces democrat mark shower. that is at 6 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> here are a few of the comments we recently received from our viewers. >> the other night he was at the cdc. remember seeing that on the c-span station. you don't show then.

i don't know what the differences. ofc-span is a great source .olitical information we have representatives who get on tv and every time they say this is a christian nation. -- sh the host on c-span we all know that it did not work or out very well for minorities.

>> again c-span is ignoring getting the background to their speakers. they stipulated an attack on the koch brothers. saying it is a major component. i want more background and people giving their background. i don't care if they are republican, democrat, liberal, or conservative. >> continue to let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. at202--- call us at 202-626-3400.

like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> now a discussion on how much money has been raised and spent by congressional committees and major interest groups, this is about 45 minutes. continues. host: joining us to talk about money and campaign is shira center, the politics editor for "roll call"? >> thank you for having me. >> lots of money in this campaign? >> yes. lots. seems like unlimited sometimes. >> how does it compare to campaigns past? >> a bit of a tick down. the federal election commission came out with a study a few weeks back, wrote a story about it at roll call saying compared to other cycles, a little less in terms of committee fundraising but on the other hand, outside spending, those groups, like americans for prosperity, crawford, super p.a.c., senator p.a.c. >> that has become explosive as anticipated. >> the ones that are sponsored by those on depressed, outside

groups are the ones outside of congress. is that easy enough to say? >> yeah. that's basically it. right. >> as far as money is concerned, how do these groups do in general? hour their intakes going so far? >> actually, democrats on the whole tend to have more prolific fundraising than republicans. sometimes with these congressional committees and it is clear on the on house side. we consider the house to be in play this cycle. but you holds the majority there. the dccc, campaign arm of house democrats has been raking it in all cycle. they have a very, very productive online fundraising program and they have just been beating the nrcc, campaign committee for house republicans, over and over and over again. i say on the senate side, although the discrepancy is not as large, senate republicans tend to have raised more money than, excuse me, senate democrats than senate republicans although in the

month of september, the national public committee brought in $15 million a massive sum. >> there is a story on roll call. using akronics. >> alphabet soup. >> shift resources to 6 states the massive fundraising, they are now using those resources in the field and they are voting to mostly add although it's not clear but probably ad time in six more states. right? a total of i think about over $7 million there and they are sending it to six different states including most notably south dakota and georgia. >> why so? >> so south dakota is interesting because it became a race this week. >> that's retiring senator tim johnson'sseat, a democrat held seat, but democrats failed to recruit a top-tier senate and mike brown was considered a pretty good candidate.

so basically, that seat is many ways been in the bag for senate republicans but larry pressler is messing up, causing a bit of a spoiler in the race. he is a former senator, former republican senator but he veers to the left now. he is a quote, a friend obama if elected. so kind of shook up the entire field. senate democrats this past week went into south dakota and dropped a million dollars an ma that may impact the fundraising, reforms, super pack, went in and spent a million dollars and so senate republicans went in and spent a million dollars. georgia was another interesting case. i can talk about that. >> is a seat that republicans, chambliss is retiring. democrats are very proud of michelle nunn former dollar general ceo, a race that has

veered toward republicans and favored in the role call race ratings right now. poll numbers have come out of there dave perdue made an unfortunate comment as a lot of republicans have grumbled about outsourcing so that's become a little bit more of a race. percentage is, i think it's a stretch. georgia has a unique election system where we might not know the winner until january 6th. >> the committees, by the way, if you want to ask our guest questions about fuch raising process do so on one of the liensz make thoughts known on twitter and facebook as well. for the money that is taken in, where does the money come from on the congressional side from

members of congress outside? where does it come from? >> a combination of thing. right? from outside sources, donors, you know, many of whom are in the big american cities. right? new york, san francisco,bot, that can thing. from downtown. right? if you have business in congress and, you know, height not be a bad idea, you know, to make sure you are investing in the right places. >> k street? >> infamous k street down the road. so, yes. they come from there. also, the president for democrats and he does fundraisers, big names and now to goes to a lot of cities or goes to texas. he will do fundraising but it comes from members. an especially on the house side, this is a big deal because the parties are looking to ask members for their dues. a whole another systemic go in to. >> code word for contributions? >> yes, it is. yes. voluntary contribution, but, you

know, so i mean some members refuse to pay. they are like, you never helped me in my race. why are you saying i owe you 200 granted out of my campaign account every quarter, every cycle rather? but, you know, a lot of democrats especially and republicans especially. they either have to be very active for candidates or they need to transfer a whole lot from their campaign account. >> are there rules when it comes to congressional committees and how much money they can take in? >> there are individual contribution limits. right? differentiate from the super pacs. the other thing is work with candidates. they recruit candidates, train and talk to them, give them staffing support sometimes. so that's in what can makes them different from a super pack. there are fd c, all kind of campaign finance rules to go in to about this with firewalls. at some point in the cycle, drives us crazy as reporters.

where a firewall goes up. he specially these committees will transfer mourt million dollar or $50 million to what's called an independent expenditure unit and they will go and they will do the actual spending of the money and many times, this person is just across the street or sometimes it's on the first floor of the same building but there is a firewall now up between those two organizations as the cam, you know, the dccc or nrcc continues to communicate with the candidates. there is a limit to how much they can financially help the candidates. but they can spend a lot of money. >> united states an obvious question how does is this money get spent in. >> on television, you know, between 75 percent and 90% on television. i would say depending at what point in the cycle. and it's the time of year to be a local broadcast station. >> they make money off of this? >> yes. san francisco, sacramento, tucson, yes. all of these cities with hot races. it's a good time. >> we will show you some of the as as we go throughout the morning if you wouldn't mind to

set up the iowa race. we have asked to set up the irss. the iowa race in the senate? >> this is a true battleground state right now, very much a toss-up state. senator tom harkin is retiring. bruce braley is the democratic arm 19. joni ernst, the republican nominee. initially, democrats are thought to have the upper han the braley made some rhetorical missteps and ernst came out of the primary in a strong position and a 50/50 race. >> the ads from the various campaigns. we will have you look at them. if you are on the line, hold on. we will keep on taking calls. go ahead. >> we have the faith in joni. she is right one. >> i was just absolutely he can static to have her endorsement. those are the types of people that we need in our federal government. >> joni ernst would be another tea party voter.

she would privatize social security, cut taxes for millionaires and eliminate the national minimum wage. too extreme for iowa. the democratic naturetory campaign committee. >> bruce braley is running a dishonest campaign to hid his failed record. he voted for a tax increase making as little as $42,000 a year and voted to allow obama to grissom nesty to make them eligible for tact pair funded benefits. bruce braley's record, higher taxes for i am grants and he is too extreme for i with a. nrcc is responsible for advertising. >> saying both are too extreme? >> way too extreme. three and a half weeks out. it's about going to the middle right? this is something both parties use in their advertising tactics as they try to put each side as

thing. let's take the first call. terri at fairfield, california republican line for shira. go ahead >> caller: thank you for taking my call. earlier on, your guest on the issues, i tell you one of the things that really makes me angry is when liberals and democrats talk about their issues as if they are women's issues. there are a lot of women who are pro-life. they are pro-traditional family. and, you know, i think whenever democrats talk about women's issues, they are really talking about liberal issues.

>> guest: the caller has picked up on what has been a huge theme this cycle until terms of so-called women's issues, single women have become incredibly battleground for votes. we have seen it in colorado especially. we have seen it in a little bit to a lesser extents in virginia. single female voters in northern virginia and both parties are doing whatever they can to fight for this bloc. for democrats t means a lot of television ads i am sure your viewers have seen focusing on issues of choice or abortion. and for republicans, it's much more of an economic message usually. >> >> guest: are you on? >> yeah. i am on. >> go ahead. you are on. >> yeah. my comment is on immigration. host: okay. >> caller: yeah, i believe -- i

believe -- hello host: let's go to steven. brooklyn, new york, democrats line. hello. steven from new york. hello. one more line. next from chicago heights illinois, good morning. how are you guys this morning? >> good. >> i love chicago. >> yes. i am registered a democrat. i have been watching -- i have been watching the elections and on t.v. and i am concerned about the reason the women's democrats are concerned about women's issues, the republicans are trying to take droll like birth control control: it didn't appeal to every day people. they don't want to do anything about unemployment insurance,

anything. just a healthy, every day person. there are issues. trying to close abortion clinics, trying to close planned parenthood and women use these services just for, you know, pap smears, mammograms. you know, female reproductive system. or, you know, their health. >> that's why this election is important. we need to get out and vote because i mean i believe the republicans take the house and the senate, we are in really g bigtribble.

>> these campaign committees, more so this cycle than last cycle? >> yes. that were saw numbers huge two years ago. there has been an even greater focus on the congressional level. >> from orlando, florida, here is alan. hello. >> hello. i found out that harry reid has raised more money than the koch brothers or the other top four fundraising pacs or fundraising groups.

anybody else, and i thought that was disingenuous, since he has been hammering those koch brothers, private citizens, telling them how un-american they are, and how much money they have given away. guest: yes, so on capitol hill right now, democrats are better fundraisers. i would be curious where the caller got that comparison, because spending groups report their fundraising differently. cover this. essentially, billionaires, and then there is the environmentalist or the koch brothers on the right, and they can spend where there is no limit. report every once in a while to the irs, so we have an idea because we see how much money they are spending in

the ad markets, information which is publicly available, but we have no idea how much they are going to spend. it could be a massive sum. some brag about their fundraising, so it is easier to get those numbers. pacs?who are the super there is that house majority super pac, the house and not aack, -- pac super pac, but the koch brothers . on the republican side, as well. the congressional leadership fund is kind of the one a line with the house republican caucus. host: and what makes a super pac a super pac? with the supreme court ruling, with a super pac, you could donate an unlimited amount. it used to be that there were so you would have

members all over capitol hill, and they could raise money for their leadership pac's, or you could have a teamsters pac or a pac, and the creation of super pac's meant that you could take unlimited donations, essentially, to spend in a lot of these races. host: joining us to talk us through the various of fundraising mechanisms in 2014. thanks for holding on on the republican line. go ahead. yes, the number one in the nation. cycle --the campaign the democrats want to take it and give it to the poor.

and not to be taxed, and taking from the middle class. s, and they can accomplish that by using the irs to beat down on the middle class. host: economic issues, is that a theme that would arrive. middle class. low income class? >> a little bit. that was more of a bigger theme last cycle in 2012. economics are still huge. they're still without a doubt economic unrest in this country. we still people polling all the time. people are mad at wall street. they hate the idea of billion nair having a lot of money.

butillionaire having a lot of money. but -- we saw it a lot in west virginia, kentucky, states with respect there really is the blue collar mentality that i think democrats always try and make that argument to host: from michigan, anthony up next caller: i just want to make a point from the african american perspective who is not a republican or democrat because i see those parties as two wings of the same bird. right and left. the american eagle flies with both of them. but more to my point is the democratic party has -- you know, black people have always

been the pawns between democrats and the republicans. many started off as republicans in this country and then back room deals, democrats. we're still on the back end of policies, high unemployment rates, police brutality within our community. and we continue to allow ourselves to be a political pawn to support democrats. host: what would you like our guest to address? caller: more so just making a comment host: okay. guest: some democrats are also relying on the african american

vote. reporters keep running up to the office of public records waiting for the report to come in. the house files electronically and the reports are supposed to be in the night of the due date but it's still a huge issue with transparency. host: marco is from detroit, michigan, republican line. caller: good morning. the trouble we have -- i think

it's better to save money for those people who are in need. guest: i'm sorry to tell you that, that is not an issue that they have talked about on capitol hill eight all recently. paul ryan has sort of been a little out in front on the issue of poverty recently, done a nationwide tour trying to understand urban communities. so there's a few people that are talking about it in terms of actual legislation. i have not seen or heard anything about confronting those

things. host: so north carolina a big state set up and what's going on there guest: yeah. so first republicans need to pick up six seats to have control of the senate and for so long those six seats went to north carolina. it is problematic for him because the legislature in north carolina is fairly conservative and they've had to make some tough decisions that were litigated on the airways while

he was in his job. it's very difficult for him. so far it's the most expensive senate rate and it's because of those three urban markets. a year ago, the coke brothers were spending and it's become very expensive and so far the numbers aren't moving that

kay hagan said she did not miss any. >> last year, the koch brothers laid off 100 north carolina workers. last year, they started spending millions to elect the speaker to the senate, thom tillis. why? he willthey know support outsourcing north carolina jobs, letting jobs go overseas, another reason why we cannot trust thom tillis. analysis? first of all, i think i

saw a couple of roll call photographs. first of all, i will speak to the kay hagan add. thesee talking about committee hearings, and the attendance records, this is different. and they have become a huge campaign issue. but the worst kept secrets on capitol hill is that senators do not go there. dig a little bit deeper, but you can really only tell if the senators speaks up. the transcript in the hearing. that is the only way you can really tell if they are there, right? and terrible across-the-board on these things, right? so i think that is kind of interesting. tillisterms of the koch brothers have invested heavily in the state. they keep referring to thom

tillis," andeaker i think they called in that over and over again in the debates. of course, he is still the speaker, but it is kind of a nod to remind people that he is in charge of this. in the debate over and over again, it was always "prof. warren, prof. warren." host: here is columbus, ohio. go ahead. caller: i want to know how much money goes there? guest: the federal election commission website, they are probably the most direct way,

essentially almost the primary source website to look up how raising, ande they have a place where you can look at independent expenditures, as well. host: is it user friendly? what you are know looking for, you can get what you need. the trail generally lead outside of the state? yes, but it does depend on the district, and especially in the house races. there are districts known to be very, very wealthy districts, and they bring in huge sums, and there are just a lot of people in the district. this always comes to mind. there are candidates running in that area. they still bring in massive amounts of money.

not far from here, just across the river in northern virginia, the 10th district, another very wealthy district for the candidates, just bringing in so much money. not all created equal. you go up to new hampshire, and the candidates have a difficult, difficult time fundraising. many wealthy as communities, i think, as in other states, and especially in the south, you get the same thing. it is much more difficult if you are a member coming from a district with an average income in the 30's or something, versus the 60's or the 70's, so they do have to go outside of their district. and as we discussed, on k street. is frome next caller chicago. caller: i want to go back to the super pac situation.

harry reid, he pounds the koch brothers. it is wary. guest: not a fan. i have been to a website that i find quite. it is called opens he is. it is really easy to use, and when i look at the top contributors, they are ranked 49 th, and i thought it was funny, because i saw someone here that was number two, and then there was number one, which is act blue, which is by far the largest by $18 million, so i did a google on it, and it turns out it is a man who founded it, tom stier, and you mentioned him along with the koch brothers. group, it is, i have never heard of it.

$20 million so far. 10, you havetop the sei you, and you have bloomberg, the national education association, the democratic governors association, elliott management, the senate majority pac. caller, it sounds like you spent a lot of time looking at this stuff. caller: because it gets redundant for harry reid to say that the koch brothers are evil, evil, evil, when the top contributors are all democratic contributors. host: thanks, caller. we appreciated. right,the caller is about the increased dissipation. put so muchone has money in these races, but even the league of voters, something like 5 million. now they are spending five times

that this cycle. they have completely expanded their game and turns of the senate race landscape. increased participation. i think if you asked people years ago if they would be huge campaign finance players, they would be, what? it is really something. and taking a look at the president, this one is from the financial times. guest: that is accurate. the president is still the biggest fundraiser in the party. there is no question. people will shell out huge amounts of money. there are wealthy liberal circles. and then there was the stop at one of paltrow's house, the point of paltrow fundraiser, raising a lot of money there, but, yes, across the country, he is not that popular, and with the 50/50 districts, or close to

it, the candidates will say, thank you for the check, obama, but i do not want to be associated with you. oklahoma, democrats line, good morning. good morning. i am very concerned about the discussion of these and the way they get their money. there is a huge distinction people with the democratic party and the koch brothers. the difference between is that the koch brothers have an agenda. and they have done this. calling segregation in the schools, which they have done in certain places in north carolina. after they give their money, they want to be able to choose the teachers that are going to be able to teach in the

universities. they want to be able to choose the curriculum at the universities, so they have a social agenda. it is not just the tax purposes. wanting to actually change the moral fabric of this country. they are a product of the soviet union, and you know that. this is very serious. .eople are suffering in order to change the laws. host: thank you. yes, there is no question that the koch brothers are serious players in terms of a lot of these places. how much they have spent varies. it depends on the state, and i think they will continue to be big players. cycles, they have andted to demonize them,

sometimes you will see some of a branding.ored brothers, andch we love it." they care about their brand, and they have been rather serious philanthropist a cap the country. host: and what about the koch brothers in terms of shadow groups? it does not necessarily go through a super pac. and they can raise as much money. $1 million is nothing. $10 million is probably nothing to them. a kochconsider them

affiliated group. the ad.re is we will get your thoughts on it. [video clip] >> president obama's name is not on the ballot, and i am not going to owe president obama anything on election day. >> i am not on the ballot this month, but make no mistake that these policies are on the ballot. these policies are on the ballot. every single one. guest: yes, i cannot read be small thought there at the bottom of the ad. if you go to americans for prosperity's website, they probably have a 501(c)(3) that they are able to work around, which means they do not report to the sec.

they report to the irs, which means they can report less. print atread the small the bottom, but i am pretty sure that is an example of that. paul, good morning. caller: good morning. my question is who is entitled to the interest? oh, that is a really interesting question. i have not thought about that in a while. i think they usually have to report the interest when they file. quite frankly, the committees actually announce their fundraising before they file, so that is where we get the numbers. as reporters, obviously not a press release, but i think they would keep it. why wouldn't they? host: and now we go to ed.

ed is from greenbelt, maryland. caller: how are you doing, c-span? i am concerned. i have been around the world and speak three languages, and i wanted to get your take. c-span lets me make my point, 30 seconds to make my point. and we find their are a lot of broadcast media, and you travel down the east coast and in the andral part of america, then there is the clear channel broadcast. ,eople who can't afford that they blast misinformation. and what i think is dividing this country is this false people,ion, and good

for example, even the republican house, signaling in the house, listening to the system, and you , and the, for example democrats systems are very low powered, like three hundred 75 watts in washington, d.c. you are talking about the campaign aides on television. caller: yes. you can check the commission. host: thank you. i can say that there are few things that's frustrating. you will talk to voters, and they will say something back to of, and it will be verbatim what you have heard in a campaign ad over and over again, and that is a little frustrating, because you look at the issues over and over again, and you would hope some people would take a more critical look sometimes. the campaign ads on television,

but i would say 90% of the time, that does not happen. we are in a very partisan country, and at this time of ad,, probably by the 32nd so it is something. terms of the splintering of media, this is something we have seen. more people should listen to a reliable source. host: radio is a component then of the spending. radio is a component. you look at the urban markets, and we have seen a lot of advertisements in the african-american districts, the second district, for example, but then in the opposite end of that, the world districts, alaska, especially. there is a big senate race there. it is the best way to reach

voters. when you go to western kansas, huge form communities, people on tractors, they have a radio with them. before we let you go, tell us what you are looking forward to. what would you advise your viewers to focus on. after this week, i am looking at what will be a surprise. georgia is a surprise, and i am continuing to watch north carolina. but the committee has not purchased the last two weeks of advertising creates it is really expensive, as i saw earlier. you have those three markets. i am curious if they will go in. tillis will have some help in the last few weeks, but for me, that is a huge indication. it is not difficult for thom tillis.

a lot of things can happen, but , anduld probably be a sign that is why you decide not to invest. that, to me, would be a huge sign that republicans have given up hope in what is a competitive race. host: our guest is with roll call, and, by the way, there is the website, rollcall.com. thanks for your time. guest: thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> prizes totaling $100,000 with the c-span student cam petition, on the top of the three branches and you. and he is need to include c-span programming, show varying points of view, and must be cemented by january 20, 2015. tcam.org and get

started today. >> c-span's coverage of the 2014 campaign continues with the michigan governor race. incumbent governor rick snyder faces mark s my vote, the town hall. it is sponsored by wayne state university. the william h smith family leadership circle. >> make your pores heard on election day. -- make your voice heard on election day. >> we are on the campus of wayne state university with governor rick snyder and mark schauer