>> since 2010, there's been 50 million pounds worth of expenditure of investments in schools. only last week we had the announcement of the st. john's church of england primary school under father john stevenson. how can my right honorable friend assure me that the situation of massive investments in schools will continue because it's hugely benefiting my constituents and their children? >> we are spending 18 billion pounds on school buildings in this parliament, more than labor spent in their first two terms in office combined and i want us to see that continue. i think what we're seeing in our schools is not just this important building work but a massive change in culture and leadership as we see standard rise and we see school after school really transformed

through their results. i know that is happening in watford and elsewhere. what we must do is carry on with this program, carry on with our reforms and make sure we give more young people the chance for a good start in life. >> thank you, mr. speaker. today it was announced they hope to sell its loan product business. people are understandably concerned about this will the prime minister meet with myself and a cross party group of m.p.'s whose communities are affected by so the bright future for products that underpins so much of british manufacturing. >> i'm happy to meet with himself and other m.p.'s about this vital, important issue. i think what we've seen in the last four years is some good developments in the steel industry, not least with the reopening of red car, with what's happening to port tolbet.

but i want to see teal making. we're engaging both with charter steel and with the company that's looking to buy this and we look forward to those discussions and also he'll know that we took action in the budget to try and ease the burden on the energy intensive users. we have seen a recovery of manufacturing in this country, particularly through the car industry and also we -- obviously we want to see the steel industry as part of that. >> mr. duncan haynes. >> as the economy gets stronger, we on these benches will not forget the deficit. if the prime minister can afford his tax cuts will he commit to continue the protections of schools budgets we have achieved under this coalition. for tax cuts for high earners. >> as my honorable friends knows, the truth is we can only afford a school system, and a strong health system if we maintain a strong economy. we mustn't forget about the deficit as the leader of the opposition did. we're going to make sure we keep getting the deficit down.

but the truth is as we stand here today the british economy is going, more people are getting into work, we're making good proguess on all our economic plans but there's no complacency. because we face real challenges. the biggest threat to the british economy is sitting a few feet away from me. they would borrow more, they would tack more, they would spend more, they would take us back to the start. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the people of northern syria are desperately fighting off attacks from terrorists. what is the u.k. doing to try to make sure that is prevented. >> we are taking action over the skies in iraq but we fully support the action that america and other states are taking

including ashe states over the skifes syria which has had some effect in terms of the town of which she speaks. i think there is a case for britain doing more. i recognize that what we have is the effective training of the syrian opposition. a government ka a that can -- a government that can represent all of its people, armed services that can fight on behalf of all their people and britain play its role in making sure that happens. >> will the prime minister join me in thanking the 45 companies and organizations who attended my fourth jobs fair last week. would he also thank selby college for putting on the event and the staff at selby job center plus and welcome that

unemployment is down by more than half since the last election. >> i congratulate my honorable friend for holding these jobs fairs. i think it's an effective way of helping people looking for work to get those jobs. across the year we've seen a 46,000 reduction in unemployment so this does demonstrate is coming down across our country. that's delivery. >> order. >> you've been watching prime minister's questions from the british house of commons. question time airs live on c-span 2 every wednesday at 7:00 a.m. eastern. and again on sunday nights at 9:00 eastern and pacific on c-span. watch any time at c-span.org. you can find video of past prime minister's questions and other british public affairs programs. >> here are a few of the comments we have received from viewers.

>> i've been battling my local cable provider, cablevision in new jersey for over 18 months now to start offering c-span in high definition. >> i have never done anything like this before but i thoroughly enjoyed this program. i like the history channel where i live, in naples florida and i thought this was absolutely really magnificent. i just sat glued to my chair for the whole hour and i will continue to turn back to this program again. >> i just want to first start off by allowing c-span to know that i do not watch any other channel on my cable. besides this. and c-span one, two, and three, so i really want to show my

appreciation for this, for your services there and your ability to really keep it mixed up and really lively. >> and continue to let us know what you think about the programs you're watching. call us at 202-626-3400, email us at comments@c-span.org or send us a tweet at c-span #comments. join the c-span conversation. like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. >> coming up next, former surgeon general dr. richard carmona talks about the response to ebola and other health issues. then a debate for the candidates running in the california 21st district debate. and u.s.-russia relations. now a conversation with former u.s. surgeon general dr. richard carmona on the u.s. response to ebola and other health issues from today's "washington journal."

"washington journal" continues. host: this headline from the washington post: contagion of fear, scientists and citizens in the u.s. are still trying to come to grips with the deadly ebola virus and thet its tolls. in his weekly address yesterday, the president trying to ease the fears of american. here is a portion of what he had to say: >> this is a serious disease, but we can't get into hysteria or fear because that only makes it hard story get people the accurate information they need. we have to be guided by the science. we have to remember the basic facts. first, what we are seeing now is not an outbreak or an epidemic of ebola in america. we are a nation of more than 300 million people. to date, we have seen three cases of ebola diagnosed here the man who contracted the disease in liberia came here and sadly died. the two courageous nurses who

were infected while they were treating him. our thoughts and prayers are with them and we are doing everything we can to give them the best care possible. now, even one infection is too many. at the same time, we have to keep this in perspective. as our public health experts point out, every year, thousands of americans die from the flu. second, ebola is actually a difficult disease to catch. it's not transmitted through the air like the flu. you cannot get it from just ride okay a plane or a bus. the only way that a person can contract the disease is by coming in to direct contact with the bodily floousdz of somebody who is already showing symptoms. i have met and hugged some of the doctors and nurses who have treated ebola patients. i have met with an ebola patient who recovered right in the oval office and i am fine. third, we know how to fight this disease. we know the protocols.

>> the president from his weekly address and dr. richard carmona is an expert necessary area. he served as an expert during the bush administration. he is joining us from new york. he is a distinguished processor. thank you for being with u.s. >> good morning. happy to be with you. >> let me begin with the president's point and something we have seen from other individuals as well. some call it the media hype over ebola. do you want to address that issue? >> well, the communications around this issue are so important. if we look back historically at aids and saars and avian flu, we had the same type of response. they don't understand. they see one or two people that are iland they think it could happen to them. making sure we have very clear, health literate culturally competent messages that will inform but not inflame the public is very important. >> are the media responsible, or has there been irresponsibility

in covering this story? >> i think in most cases, the media is trying to do the best thing. i had a conversation with a galloning of media last weggle we had this discussion offline. you know, they all agreed that, you know, there is competition. they want to get their story out, and i urged them to, you know, exercise some restraint. think about how the average citizen is going to receive the headline and let's not overdo it and scare people. let's work to inform, again, but not inflame the public and add fuel to the fire of fear because people don't understand. and as i said, went through this many times before over the last few decades with emerging infections and it takes time and good messaging to calm the american public to good information so we can build resilience in society. >> you served from 2002 until 2006 during the bush administration as surgeon general. "business insider" is reporting

there is no surgeon general yet confirmed by the u.s. senate say that that exposes a clear and critical gap in america's public health system. can you address that issue? >> i would be happy to. having sat in that chair and walked in those shoes for the four years, it's an extraordinarily important position and one that the american public for over a century has come to understand and see as the doctor of the nation. i think a surgeon general who is appropriately vetted, who has the seniority, who has the knowledge, who has been tested under fire and has earned the right to hold the rank of add miller in the united states public health service and the call surgeon general should be in that position. that will person could be very helpful to coordinate the response and be able to communicate with the american public. >> klain is being called the ebola response coordinator. some are calling him the ebola

czar. what are his priorities? >> myself guess is and i can't speak for the president and his team because they are the ones that decided to bring ron in. he is a very seasoned political operator he knows the agencies, and i would guess that it is to be able to coordinate the conversation with the public, make sure that everybody is on message, work with all of the agencies to pull the information together in a timely fashion because that's really where his expertise is, not in the field of emergency management response or in emerging infections. >> dr. carmona time magazine reporting on this, the new ebola protocol. has anyone asked you about healthcare facilities and hospitals around the country? there was a reported case here in the washington, d.c. area of a potential ebola patient who was taken to one hospital in arlington, virg and later moved to air fact hospital because they didn't feel prepared. it later turned out she did not

have ebola but for these hospitals and healthcare facilities, what are the protocols and what's on theirs agenda? >> a little history to begin the answer to your question. back after 9-11, many were meeting at the direction of the president and congress to figure out the best way to protect the nation. not only emerging infolks but from hazards. in other words, if it was a terrorist event with a bacteria or a virus or if it was just something like an ebola or saars that came to our country we put in to place educational programs. we spent a lot of money equipping, training, and reaching out in to the community to hospitals, clinics, physicians, health providers so that they would learn how to be better first responders in an issue like this, and we made sure that hospitals had the information. in fact, the joint commission and hospital accreditation was involved with us in setting standards and being able to ensure compliance of their hospitals. over time, what we have seen

historically is after an incidents like this people ramp up. train, experience grows, we are ready. then there is a lull. it's not uncommon that a littlecosm placeancy comes in. people don't drill as: i am not sure where the equipment is. new waves of people may come in. they don't have and understanding and we start to see gaps in the system. so what we have to ensure now is that we are rigorous in the training and education of all of our free hospital providers, all of our nurses, all of our health professionals, and the infrastructure needs to contain the appropriate protocols to deal with all hazards including emerging infections such as ebola. >> the public health threat of ebola, our guest is dr. richard carmona. the fred line, front page of the "washington post" contagion of fear. we will get to your phone calls. pat joining us from key poverty, new jersey.

caller: not concerned about stopping ebola at its source. i understand the first victim in this country, his body was cremated before it was released to the family. i would like to know if we are looking -- if our public health officials are looking to go to africa to change burial practices because i understand their burial practices are a factor in the spread of ebola. do you know anything about that? thank you? >> thank you, pat, for make that point. >> guest: this is a very, very good question, pat. in fact, we recognize early on that one of the main ways that the people in africa were being infected was by these burial richards where the families gatherers around and touches a lot of the body fluids that could be infected. so the cdc and others have come together and over 50 bur ial teams in the area training locals and trying to race.

how to do culturally effective burial practices, but do it in such a way that we are not going to transmit the disease. >> that's a good question. it's such a big factor in africa. >> our next caller from rochester, network. carol line for independent. good morning caller: i wonder if the doctor can tell me if ebola is only transferred through bodily fluids, the airplane, how come cher checking six or seven, you know, seats away from her if she didn't throw up on them or something like that? thank you >> guest: the issue is complex on a plane. it's not just where you are sitting but if the patient goes to the bathroom and uses the bathroom and then other people go in, so there is a lot of communetations of permtations but disease detectives, public health officers, they think about these things. so to be safe, we want to make sure that everybody is informed on that plane, that everybody is being observed in their homes

mostly, but they are told that if you have a fever, if you are feeling il, then you need to report right away. so these are appropriate ways of trying to control any of the spread here but again, this is not a disease that's infected very easily. it's not like the common cold, but yet, inadvertently, you could exchange bodily fluids with somebody on a plane using the same sink and so on. >> this is from john dhan. this morning in the weekly standard, he points out six reasons to panic. his he is aavailable at weeklystandard.com and he said there may be reassurance except it might not be true. there are four strains of the ebola virus that have caused outbreaks in human population according to the nining journal of midsin. the current is a sister clad in a sister relationships with evo strains meaning the ebola is related but generally disting from previously known strains of

the virus. can you express that concern? >> sure. there are several strains of the ebola virus. and we expect over time that viruses do evolve because they are trying to survive in their their environment just like we try to survive in ours. they might be what might be termed their own immune system to try to protect them. so identifying the strains of the ebola virus are important because they have different characteristics as how they act and, in some cases, it may dictate a different. treatment. >> can you explain why a blood trans fusion by ebola survivors is key for those who are now battling illness? >> guest: i can't say it's key, but it's certainly among the allumentarian we call immuo therapy. dr. brantly has been known to donate blood. you develop anti-bodies. your body responds and ses this is a foreign substance in my blood. you start to make your own

chemicals, your anti-bodies to that antigen, the vitters. the thought is dr. brantlyts blood which has more antibodies, if we give it to them t might help them. >> that's thought behind them. we are not certain that it can help. it probably won't hurt anybody if done correctly bur we are early into this type of therapy again, because it's so new, yog anybody could make a declarative statement on it now. it's believed to be it can be helpful. to hem somebody who doesn't have those anti-bodies now. >> a long career in arizona, including the chair of the state's southern regional system, just of california medical schools. he is currently acprofessor at the university of arizona and a former u.s. surgeon general during the bush administration. lois is joining us from hampton, georgia. good morning. independent line. go ahead, lois

caller: good morning. i would like to thank you all for having dr. carmona on this morning. he has been very clear and concise with what's happening. myself, i am serving as an instructor, and you could not have plans this last week without the students. these were healthcare professional, healthcare students who want to go into the professional arena. with the media, they were livid. they did not understand i want to thank you for coming in. because i will take this back to my classes and let them hear what you have to say because you are the only one that has made sense. >> thank you for the comment. thank you. i want to thank her for her kind comments. my colleagues in the public health sphere, having walked in those shoes, this is a very,

very difficult situation with variables changing minute to minute all over the world. staying staying on top of the conversation is important. we have some of the smartest people at cdc and nih and leaders that i have had the privilege to work with. but sometimes the message isn't as clear as it should be. sometimes what you think, it's a message that's going to inform, actually inflames. sometimes we forget that these complicated things that are -- we are very comfortable with. the communication is extraordinarily important. we have to make sure that the communication is uniform, answers the questions and that can empower the public to start to feel some sense of comfort that they have an understanding and they know how to protect themselves, their family and their community. >> that's what it's all about. we are not quite there yet. >> did the north texas presbyterian hospital initially make mistakes? >> guest: i haven't studied that but it appears there were

gaps in a number of things from the i hope usually intake of the patient where teldz nurses picked up he was a foreign traveler from africa but the doctors did not. them once they saw him with a fever and not feeling well, sent him home. he comes back and now he's pretty much near critical condition. so when you look through there, there are gaps. then when you look at the infrastructure of the hospital and the preparedness, again, through the media and the nurses' association, and i trust my fellow nurses. i am a registered nurse, also, and i came to know over the years that, you know, they are the barometer of your healthcare system, especially within the hospital. they are there 7/24 next to our patients. it was very concerning to me to hear the concerns expressed by the nurses there about the lack of training, the lack of preparedness and not understanding protocol, being told to do ad lib things like put tape on equipment. >> certainly should have never been done. so there seems to be a string of challenges along the way from a

patient coming to the emergency room initially, the assessment and all the way through to the care which, as you see, has placed two wonderful nurses at risk and, you know, my heart goes out to them because, you know, they serve so selflessly every day around our country, around the world doing great things and we have to do everything we can to make sure we have the infrastructure in place to protect our healthcare workers. >> dr. carmon a is joining us from new york. cheryl is joining us from smith station, alabama. good morning. >> good morning. my concern is i have those who traveled from africa, whether it be on mission or whatever. they have going to be gone for 9 days they are going to come back for nine days and then their husbands are supposed to go and they won't be quarantined or nothing.

one of them is a schoolteacher, and some of the people in the town are upset because they are travel to go africa. one said god told them to go. so what are chances? i mean of them not being quarantined and them coming back as though they flew to florida. >> again, you are saying they show -- they are not showing any symptoms, any signs? correct? >> they haven't come back. >> dr. carmona? >> thank you. well, this is another one of those challenges that the american public comes did -- it tells me they are really not up to speed yet on how this is transmitted and the issues. i have been hearing these over the past week. africa is generally a saint continent for traveling as it relates to infectious disease. there is many places africa you can go and you don't have to worry. the real key is were you in the

affected areas in southwestern africa? did you come in contact with, to your knowledge, anybody who may have been infected? in those cases, we start a more in depth evaluation. if you fly down to cape town, if you are in johannes berg and fly out, in egypt, any place on the continent, really there is no risk to you unless you have been exposed in proximity to somebody who may have ebola. so again, i don't know where these teachers are going, but assuming they are in areas other than those affected, they should not have any problem. and if there is anything that comes up, then they should be referred to a public health professional to ask the appropriate questions and determine if they are at risk. >> dr. carmon a, this morning on cnn's state of the union, texas senator ted cruz again called for a travel ban. if you were in a position to recommend something to the president along those lines, what would you tell him? >> yes. that's a great question. having been in this position we

looked at this. my cdc conclusions, nih cleingz, we had a number of discussions about other emerging infections and when and if it would be appropriate to block travel from an area where there was an infection. and some of the problems that came up, of course, were we know if we shut down one or two airports, people can take a bus to another airport. we know most likely, we force people under ground and that was the concern that are we going to miss a lot of cases manned make more difficult for ourselves to curtail an epidemic like in western africa. but like i said early on when i was asked about this particular incident, i think each and every one of these incidents over the years are very unique, and i think we have to treat them as such and that we should put everything on the table, including considering those travel bans because of the wide geographic area and because of the need to try and keep people

from coming to the united states with that disease. and believe me, having been on both sides of the argument, i understand that what we are really trying to do because there is no perfect answer, we want to look at a risk/benefit analysis. if we prevent people from coming here, what are the unintended consequences? will we lose too many? will we drive people underground? will they try to come in through another country because they want to come to the united states no matter what? those are the issues that have to be discussed within the thought leaders, with the president, to make an informed decision. i think that's what's key. there is no right or wrong answer here it really is a true, in-depth, risk/benefit analysis and finding out where the united states should fall on this to make an informed decision. but make no mistake f i were still in office, i would be recommending strongly to the president and to congress that we should strongly consider this but let's have an informed discussion to ensure that we have looked at every single facet of this complicated issue. >> our next caller is from

palatine, illinois. steve, welcome to the conversation. caller: how are you doing this morning host: good morning. caller: my question of curiosity was about you may have touched on this just a little bit earlier about the hospital, making their gaffes initially and the nurse that had one of those dallas nurses that has gone public and she was talking about how the outfits that they were wearing were leaving the neck open and they actually showed pictures of that. i am assuming we believe what we saw or heard there. can't be for sure. but at the same time, the hospital say they are following dc guidelines, with an open neck like that. is that -- would that have been something the cdc considered acceptable under those circumstances host: we will get a response. thank you, steve.

>> guest: steve, thanks for the input. >> that's not the case. in fact, it's very clear in the guidelines that we promulgated over a decade ago and that pushed them out of the hospital's clinics, ems, everybody was that you need to be fully self contained depending upon the level of threat and that gaps are, in fact, something that we spend a lot of time on, a gap between a glove and a coverall a gap at the neck, a gap around the ears. without eye protection, you have gaps in your eyes. so you have to be completely covered because any of those body fluids could get on your skin, whether it's a glove that is not adherent to the actually coverall that you have on and later on, you forget and you bring your hand to your eyes to scratch your eye or you blow your knows. there is a host of ways that happens. that was a problem when i heard it, too, because the nurses allege that they were told to just put tape on that. toos a big no-no because you really have breached the integrity of the system we have created to protect you.

so that should never happen. again, i only know of this from media reports and what the nurses is he but of course, i have every reason to believe what the nurses said because they are there 7/24, and if they are feeling uncomfortable, if they are feeling that they haven't been trained enough, if they are feeling that the equipment isn't quite right, doesn't fit, those are things we have to look at immediately because when we put this program together years ago after 911, it was so that every hospital could be protected, every provider could be protected and that every point entry for any patient, tleefrt we could start treating them in isolation p whatever happened to be sequester them so that the infection doesn't spread. in fact, we have programs when there is large amounts of patients, we will even have them come to the hospital. we might set up tents in a parking lot so that the hospital doesn't become infected. a lot of these things have been thought out. apparently here, there seals to be some gaps. i know the joint commission on hospital accreditation has been a great partner in this to

ensure that hospitals adhere to the -- or are compliant with the rules and recommendations we made and, in fact, the jaco certification involves hospital preparedness, that they have an emergency plan, a communications plan and that they know how to deal with all hazards. this is something we have to go back and look at all of our organizations that provide compliance oversight and look at the hospitals to ensure that we are at a basic state of ness for any and all hazards. >> our guest is an expert in trauma and critical care. he served as a medical medic during the vietnam war. dr. carmona, what is the job, what's the next state for the surgeon general? >> guest: the surgeon's job is to protect, promote and advance the health and safety and security of the united states. it's a very important job. unfortunately, if you will remember back in '07, congress asked me to come and testify about the politization of the office and surgeon general koop

and thatcher came with me. we gave them a boatload of information about the intense politization, a bi-partisan remark, how each struggled to stay on message and give good advice to our senior leadership but the politics was often, i would call it, the playing of politics, which has its own morbidity and mortality and we see that on and on and on, probably since the '60s mostly it has become a very embattled position. right now, don't have a surgeon general because of politics. earlier somebody commented they thought it was the nra. i don't really believe it's the nra. the nra is one of many organizations that opine on any potential presidential nominee. in fact, they are entitled to in had a democracy but to blame it solely on them is not right. i think you need to look at the issue of core competency. there are many senators, republican and democrat who said they don't think the nominee is

qualified. he's very early in his career, he certainly is a very qualified, young doctor. i have spoken to stome of his professors who think very highly of him. but again, when you look at the nominee, and you see that he has no senior leadership experience, no public health formal education or experience, has not been tested in complicated public health issues at a local, state, national level, and just a couple of years out of training, that hardly rises to the level of a surgeon general. remember, the surge jon general is the chief officer if you will, chief doctor of the united states, but is also the commander of the united states public health service, which is one of the seven uniform services of the united states. so when you become surgeon general, you before a vice add miller, just like the other surgeon generals who are lieutenant generals or vice add millers. so you have to earn the right to be surgeon general and to be an add miller. if you come in without the training, education, and not meritoriously accepting the

position, then you have to sit at a table with other real add millers and general did in washington, your credibility is gone, you undermine the very essence of the office of the surgeon general which the public relies on for good information. so, i think we shouldn't make this an nra argument. it really is about core competence says. in fact, i communicated with this young doctor before i went public because it wasn't personal. it's about me and my obligation to protect the integrity of the office of the surgeon general. there are many senior qualified officers that merit, that have served for decades in uniform and merit consideration but because of politidepolitidesati because of the sense this is looking more like a patronage position now, this hurts public health, and at a time like now when we have the challenges we have, we want the best, most qualified public health professional before the american public. not a young doctor who is just started his career, who has never had any experience in these careers. >> really is incorrect, and it

is not what the american public deserves. the american public deserves a well-vetted, professional, senior health professional who has earned the right to be called the surgeon general, has earned the right to be a vice add miller and the public trust because of having gone through those rights of passage, to get that position. >> that doctor you are referring to is dr. mccarthy who is the president's nominee to be the u.s. surgeon general. his nomination continues to be held up in the u.s. senate blocked by republicans. we should point out dr. richard carmon a is a democrat having served in a republican administration. if you want to follow him on twitter, you can do so at dr. rich carmona. go to ken joining us from holton, indiana. good morning. >> good morning. i was wondering. i don't know who to make the suggestion to or whatever, but while we are not using like the

jails and the prisons that are not in use, you know, big complaints a couple of months ago about the jails not being used and have been built under multi-million dollar items. >> good for what, ken? caller: used for the ebola patients and what have you, to keep them away from the places like hospitals that already have a thousand or 2000 people in them. host: okay. we will get a response. dr. carmon a? >> guest: thanks for your comment. unfortunately, in our country, i don't know any jails that aren't being used or overused. correctional can you recall is one of the fastest growing industries in our country and that's a real sad fact. how far, the buildingses, themselves, really are not made to have people with infectious diseases because they don't have the appropriate air stem cells,

air exchanges and where we put people in isolation to prevent spread of infection. there is a host of factors other than just putting people in a building that would prevent us from picking a site like that where we would be able to hold people and care for them in a safe environment. >> that's why it hasn't even come up. again, i don't know of any spare jails. in fact, jails are being built pretty fast these days and i think it's, you know, an unfortunate, depressing facto in our society. host: lesiona is next from minter, ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. i have three questions for the doctor. >> guest: how about if we take one at a time, lisa? caller: okay. the first question is, as a mom, i can't even send my child to school unless they are fever-free for 24 hours. yet the bench mark for, you know, individuals coming in to the country is 100.4. now, i consider that a fever, and i would not send my child to

school to protect the other children. host: okay. stay on the line. we will get a response. dr. carmon a? >> guest: again, i don't know the school district that you are from, and a lot of these rules and reclations are promulgated locally by school districts, school boards. 100.4, as a threshold, is for screening right now is the number that has been chosen. but as you know, this is a degree of fluctuation in any given way depending upon a patient's hydration, activity, heat index outside and all of those things. so, it becomes extraordinarily complex. i think the most important issue there is, as a mom, if you see that your child is ill, they are coughing, they are sneezing, they have diarrhea and they have a low-grade temperature, it's probably best to keep them home just to keep them hydrated, number 1 but to prevent a spread of infection within the school because when you have 30 or 40 kids in the classroom as you know, these things spread like wild fire because kids exchange food and hugs and they play with each other and the toidz they are playing with, and really,

they become little vectors spreading these diseases, which usually are self-limited but it really does have a significant burden on society. so, i think the most important thing as an atut mom who sees that her child is ill, with or without temperature, keep them home and keep them away from others where the infection can spread. >> lisa, you had a full. go ahead, please? >> actually, i had two follow-ups. the second follow-up was, you know, as far as the travel ban -- and i understand that it becomes more difficult, people go underground but what i would like to say is now that individuals come from these countries -- and i do support a travel ban -- nobody knows the airports that are being screened. if they were trying to evade being screened, they could be trying to find a lot only nat routes. wouldn't it go to show the

public that, you know, to go ahead with a travel ban to allay some of our fears? people will find alternate routes. they know where we are doing screenings because it's been highly publicized. >> i am going to stop you there. we will get a response from our guests thank you. >> guest: the screenings at the large airports where most of the international flights come in from, especially from west africa. it really is thought after looking at the flow and the demographics that you are going to capture over 95% of people coming in from these areas that are affected. but again, your question drives to the other bigger question of, let's relook at this. just because a decade or more ago, we thought about it and thought it didn't work with different circumstances. we thought we needed to put it on the table and look at it for two reasons. one, the public has the sense it's going to make a big difference and we should think about what they are saying but, also, we shouldn't be driven by

that soul. we should look at the science. 12 strongly we shouldn't do it at this time, the public has a right to know clearly why we are not doing it, what the benefit of not doing it. host: the news from dr. anthon e fouchi appearing on sunday programs confirming that so far, no new cases of ebola, two nurses currently being treated and the ones who passed away earlier this month. all of the sunday programs, by the way, can be hold on c-span radio at noon eastern time, 9:00 o'clock for those of you on the west coast. we will go to zac in tucson, cars. dr. carmona's home state. good morning, zac. caller: good morning. to mention, it's not just in dr. carmona's home state but his city, in which from which dr.

carmona started. my question here about how well vetted a surgeon general must be. however, if i am not mistaken, were you not swat cop? a professional killer before -- first for the city of tucson and then for puma county host: we will get a response, dr. carmon a? >> guest: well, like many of my colleagues, i am proud of my service. i would not characterize it the way zac has characterized it but many served selfletsly on active duty which i did in the army special forces and i am proud of that and a combat veteran and a disabled veteran because of wounds in combat. and i served within the county sheriff's department as an officer and on the s.w.a.t. team as a team leader and as the lead in medical care for the s.w.a.t. team and the medical director

for the department. you know, every day people that i work with and law enforcement and military serve selflessly and put their lives on the line for american public. when buildings are burning, when things are happening in your community, it community, it's those first responders that run the safety. i respectfully disagree with the characterization of zac. i feel proud of my service to my nation and my community in all capacities being in uniform both for the military and the law enforcement. and i continue to feel very strongly we are fortunate as a nation to have so many people willing to serve their country and protect the rights of others to keep our communities safe. host: one saying dr. carmon a was approved by a 98 to nothing vote. is that correct? >> guest: yes, that's correct. i believe i was the first surgeon general to be confirmed unanimously is what i was told. host: lamar from baltimore, independent line, good morning to you. caller: good morning. here is my question: one, how

do you plan on the officials from disseminating this information about ebola and symptoms due to the fact that many speculate at person has ebola. i guess that's the question. >> thank you, lamar. >> okay. thank you. >> well, i know my colleagues and i both realized that very early on, i know dr. fouchi, one of my heroes and an extraordinary individual all recognize we are in flu. excuse me. there are a lot of people who are going to have fevers and colds and aches and pains, and what we wanted to make sure was that people didn't start thinki thinking, oh, my god, i caught ebola obviously. the real issue there is simple questions up front. have you been out of the country? have you been to africa? have you been near anybody that has ebola? and if the answers are no, you don't have ebola. period. you have the common cold. you have flu, which happens every time around this time of the year.

so we are trying to do the best we can to get that word out. i know in numerous press conferences i have had over the last couple of weeks, i do the best i can to get that information out to the public because i have had colleagues call me and say, my gosh, you know, i have a friend of mine who is from africa originally, and he has a fever and i have a fever. does that mean i have ebola? i said absolutely not. your friend has never been to africa. his family is from africa. there start to be myths that develop and they confuse the american public because quite frankly, it is scary. every citizen wants to know: how can i protect myself and my family? and my community. and we have to do a better job of putting out culturally competent information that the american public can act on and feel secure that they know how to protect themselves and their family. a in distinguishing the common cold and flu from ebola is very important but it can be done very easily with just a couple of questions. >> which goes back to the president's point in his weekly address saying that thousands

die every year from the flu. so far, only one death as a result of ebola. the president's comments over the weekend, your thoughts on that? >> well, the president is correct. i mean it's something that we all behalf over e-mail time a new germ involves whether it's saars or avian flu where you scratch your head and say we have 30 or 30,000 deaths a year from flu and yet we have trouble getting people to be immunized. we kind of accept the fact that this is okay. yet many of those deaths can be prevented with appropriate immune ideation and care, hand wat washing, good public health stuff and yet, i think the contrast is stark as the president pointed out. well, we have one death and we have a couple of patients versus 35, 30 or 35,000 a year. i think that we as a nation need to start foeshing using a little bit more on these recurring themes like the flu rather than the next evolving emerging

infection which we spend a whole lot of time on and thousands of people still die from other causes that potentially could be prevented. i think they are very good points and i hope if nothing else, ebola tends to raise the awareness of the american public that there is a lot they can do to stay healthier and, in fact, prevent the flu and if they get the flu to prevent serious complications including death. >> james has this tweet saying why aren't you running the va. i assume he is referring to the va medical facility. >> guest: you would have to ask the president that. the president selected his secretary and, you know all of us, all of us veterans, especially stable veterans stand behind the new secretary. we hope that he is going to make significant progress and fix the system because i am extremely concerned having a son who served two news iraq and myself being a combat veteran that we

send our most precious assets down range. we put them in harm's way to protect our nation, to carry out our nation's policies they come back. we have 7,000 that were killed. we have thousands more with complicated mental and physical injuries and they have trouble getting in to the very system that is obviostensibly there toe for them. suicide rates that exceed the combat death rate every day. this is a tragedy. we must do something because we owe it to every one of these young men and women that we put in harm's way to make sure that they are made whole when they come home and their families because their families suffer as well. i am hoping secretary mcdonald can get something done here because this is a tragedy and an embarrassment in the greatest nation in the world that we can't have the best care in a timely fashion for every single young man and woman who puts

their life on the line for this country. and that needs to change. host: let's go to rob in hermitage, pennsylvania joining us from new york. good morning, rob. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. thank you, dr. carmona for being there. i just wanted to mention i understand ebola kind of got started in africa as it has because we sort of let it slip. we kind of didn't put forth the effort we could have in the last few years. and i think if we could step back and realize that there are a enough problems in the -- a number of problems in the world that need to have attention before they get out of hand, for global warming for one and as i have been saying, there are a number of things we could do to help people be safe in the united states. we are focused on ebola but there are a number of things,

like automobile safety, stairs, ladders. there are a number of things that are rather hazardous to us. host: what about that point? >> guest: those are good points. you know, if you look at morbidity and mortality in the united states and you look at all that's preventable, there is a significant, significant list of things we can do to reduce the cost of healthcare while improving the quality of life. to the caller's question. we look globally, see malaria, aids, tuberculosis ravaging the earth and see in the caribbean chicken guna. and we see mosquitos live better in these warm, damp environments. there are al of these diseases that are connected with the environment and with arm warming as well as others that are just things that we can prevent when we look at just trauma. you know, being a trauma surgeon originally, myself, before i went into my second career in public health, three out of four parents i admitted every day were coming into the emergency

room or the trauma room. they didn't have to be there. they made bad decisions that day, drinking and driving, drugs, domestic violence, various crimes, and that creates a huge disease and economic burden for society at a time that we can't afford it. we are spending over 18% of our gross domestic product on what we call healthcare. it's actually really sick care. we spend about $0.75 of every dollar on chronic diseases, most of which are preventable. most of which are caused by the poor behaviors of americans who want to smoke, who become saidentary, who eat the wrong foods and all of that as up to some very costly sick care system that is continuing to cost us and the fact of the matter is, if we don't cur tale all of the disease burden that's upon us that we bring on, the legacy we leave our children is unsustainabl unsustainable. we are going to be up to closer to 22 and 25% of our gross national project which would push it up to five and a hal$5 $6 trillion a year. >> that's unsustainal and the bank is breaking now.

to the caller's question, there is a lot we can do and we must do in order to be able to sustain ourselves and the world for our children. >> lynn gold matcher saying it's been an awesome delivery of the facts sending thanks to you, dr. carmon a. we go to listening in nyack new york. good morning. caller: good morning. i am sort of a senior type, in my 70s, but i used to be an avid c-span watcher and the turn-off has been that in the last eight -- i don't think i have called in about eight years. the labeling of the phone lines as a political party, you know, sign, i believe contributes to the discord of this whole, you know, politicized delivery in general has that turned the people off so much. i wanted really to thank the surgeon general carmon a. dr. richard carmon a. we had delivery this morning

that's so inspiring. he has lifted the boat. he's kept it factual and my point and actually, my husband and i drove to washington this week, yes, to see the freer but i said, peter, i must go to c-span and i actually got to speak to someone in your office and said, police, can't we re-evaluate: why shouldn't the call-ins be simply factual. what geographical region are you calling from? >> legitimate. i love we have an international line this morning, but given that the subject is ebola, why couldn't there be a line on coming from the infected countries that are really suffering to further educate us? or is that too, you know, flip, you know, inflammatory. but c-span is the greatest gift to this country. i said how am i going to call in? what line can you use host: the independent line. i want to thank you for stopping

by. i'm sorry i didn't have a chance to say hello to you or others here but it was kind of you to do so and thanks for your comment and for watching. i am going to turn back to carmona. do you have a final question, lynn, or just that observation? lynn? caller: should have basic c-span on it. host: lynn, thank you. dr. carmon a about the politization of all of this? >> guest: well, i understand her concerns, and i think the playing of politics really has its own morbidity and mortality whether call-in lines contribute to that but from my standpoint as a surgeon general, all of united states, surgeon general koop, once we are in the position no matter which party gives us the opportunity to serve but we are not the surgeon general of the democratic or the republican party, but of the nation. we have to truth science, power. we inform on policy. we don't make policy but the

public should demand they have a strong surgeon general who, for instance, every year gives a state of the nation's health and a state of global health so that that should be able to start a conversation with congress as to what our priorities should be. and if they are not acting on what those priorities are based upon the best science, the public should be able to hold those people accountable. i think the surgeon general's position is an immensely important position if utilized appropriately with a surgeon general that merits the position of surgeon general. >> is earn the right and quite frankly one that has risen up through the united states public health service because there are many capable officers who have come up like the early, navy and air force have surgeon generals, they don't reach out into the civilian sector to find the best democratic or republican surgeon general. they promote from people who merit to be promoted to the next rank, vice add miller or lieutenant general and they serve with the combat ant

commanders on and give advice on health for our military and does it with the u.s. public health service. why have we departed? why have we almost made this look like a patronage position when this coveted position should be res earned for those people who merit and have earned the right to rides to this highest level of mueller authority, if you will in the nation and have been called a right to attain the rank of vice add millers. >> a few more weight to go talk to you, jerry from columbia city indiana. good morning. caller: good morning to you. i have got a couple of questions here. i understand that presbyterian hospital is a for-profit hospital. and my question is: is the ceo a medical -- have a medical degree host: can you answer that, dr. carmon a host: you know, i really don't know.

i don't know if it's a for-profit or nonprofit status. it's a hospital and system that's had a very good reputation providing quality care. i know personally physicians who have worked there and, you know, i would have no problem going there, myself for any kind of care that i needed. i spent a lot of time in texas as surgeon general and went through a lot of the hospitals, met the leadership in texas, worked with governor perry. they have a really good system. they should not be judged on a lapse in preparedness because we don't have all of the facts yet. >> should not reflect overall on a great organization. what we should do is stop the blame, go in there as the cdc has done with our leadership and send the public health officers in there to assess the problem and fix it because that's what's going to benefit the american public. >> that's what the american public expects. they are tired of all of this blame game and each party taking advantage against the other. they want the system fixed so that they can be -- they can rely on the community health

systems for their care and these type of issues, if not remedied and when they become political fodder just further insight and inflame an already hurt american public who is afraid and not sure of what's going on. let's just focus on the problem. ebola is neither democratic or republican. ebola is a challenge for all americans and we need an american solution. >> john, quick question from you from bellcan maryland. >> dr. mangala, good morning. regarding the american's bad choices and the food they eat, i think you just commented on that, not that long ago. considering that food is basically salt, sugar and fat, i don't know what you have done to change the food industry, but that's poisoning americans. host: a response. dr. carmona? >> guest: some foods certainly are more deliterios to your health than others.

the most important thing from the surgeon general's standpoint is to educate the american public so they will make healthy decisions if the public starts to demand -- i have world with a number of fast food companies and bench companies. if the public says i want less calories, i don't want that much sugar or that much fat, these companies who want to stay in busine business. the farmer's market over the country saying we don't want stuff that has shelf life for weeks. we want healthier foods. the trends i am seeing, i am happy with. i am not come place a event because i would like to get there because of the disease and economic burden we arer curing but i am encouraged i am seeing changes host: last question, an e-mail

from a viewer. is there a universe a.m. protocol for the identification and containment of ebola patients? >> guest: yes, but let me back up first. again, we have a term called "all hazards" right now, it's ebola. not too long ago, it was saars and avian flu. the approach is the same. it is called all hazards. and that's why it's all hazards because we can't predict today what is going to happen in six months or a year. so we build capacitands into our hospitals and providers with an all hazards platform so no matter what the germ is, we have to determine it's lethality. and say, we need personal protective gear. here is how we do it. there has been protocols flu place for some time.

in fact, if you go back or a decembering aid ago. when we were first worried about tear richls, ebola was one of the agents we studied t a select agent, an agent that somebody might try and use against us in a terrorist event. there were lots of discussions about ebola, but as we put all of these agents together, that could be used in a terrorist event and those that might be evolving, even the common flu, we said how do we approach these in a universal manner? we can't have a playbook for each and every one of them but nuance changes on that flat platform not new englandness of any pathogen. that's where we are today. we have to go back and look and make sure our hospitals and health systems and hospital providers remember that and continue to be adequately prepared and equipped. >> we will conclude on that point. ... >> a debate between the candidates of california's 20th

congressional district. and a discussion on u.s. russian relations. and carl levin talks about the u.s. afghan relations. [no audio] >> tomorrow, labor secretary thomas perez talks on c-span. >> now, a debate [no audio]

>> our campaign coverage continues with a week full of debates. on monday, the georgia governors debate. on c-span 2, the montana u.s. senate race. at 9:00 c-span, the south carolina governor' this debate between five candidates. debate --nor's governor's debate between five candidates. and then the iowa fourth district debate. campaign 2014, more than 100 debates for the control of congress. californiaebate in

race. the and convent is republican representative david valadao. the democratic challenger is amanda renteria. congressman david valadao served in the assembly representing the 30th district from 2010-2012. amanda renteria was the first latina chief of staff and worked for debbie 70. the political report at rollcall said the race leans republican. >> from your local election headquarters, a 21st congressional district debate between david valadao and amanda renteria. live with moderators jim scott, 17 news, and your local election headquarters. a 21st congressional district debate starts now.

>> and good evening and welcome to this live 21st congressional candidate's debate. being seen here on a kget-tv 17 and a bakersfield county area and on ksee-tv 24. we are also streaming live on the website cummings or central valley.com as well as golden empire. as we welcome congressman david valadao as well as his challenger, democrat amanda renteria. >> moderator: for reference sake let's take a look at the 21st congressional district. both candidates would like to represent in the 114 congress located in the southern half of california's central valley the 21st congressional district is comprised of kings county, western fresno county, southwestern leiria county and northwestern kern county. now, some brief background on the candidates if you will. republican congressman david valadao was born and raised in hamburg and his family immigrated from the islands of portugal to the united states in 1969.

mr. valadao attended local schools and graduated from high school in 1995 and later attended the college of sequoia. his father started a small dairy farm in the central valley in 1973 that has grown now into two dairies and 1,000 acres of farmland. mr.valadao has taken on leadership roles in the california milk advisory board and the western states dairy trade association. he was also elected as the regional leader, council chairman for the land o lakes inc. fortune 200 company. renteria as the democratic

challenger amanda renteria was born and raised in what might a small town of 15 miles west. she's a former high school teacher and first latino to serve as a chief of staff in the united states senate. she graduated high school as close as the valedictorian in 1992 and went to stanford where she earned a ba and an onyx and a ba in political science with honors. renteria also has a masters degree from harvard business school and served as the chief of staff for the michigan senator debbie stabenow from the 2008 to 2015. >> moderator: a coin toss to determine who will go for us tonight. amanda renteria one that claims off. she has elected to go first and will also speak for us during the closing statement. >> moderator: as for the opening statement of our going to be 90 seconds long. the closing each will have 60 seconds for that. each candidate will get 90 seconds to answer each question. the other candidates will then have 60 seconds for a rebuttal.

>> moderator: amanda renteria, you have the floor. renteria: thank you everyone for being here and the stations and everyone tuning in. it's wonderful to be with you tonight. i am coming as i said earlier i was born and raised in berkeley california, a little town in central valley. and i became the first woman from my high school to go to stanford university. i went on to harvard business school and i actually started a public service as a teacher right here in the county. most recently, i got the chance to be a part of making a difference by writing the farm bill as the chief of staff for senator where the chairwoman of the agriculture committee. but it is an honor to be here and the reason i'm running is because it's not about being the first in all these instances. it's making sure that i'm not the last and making sure every kid that grows up just like me can dream big and do whatever they choose to do in life. the truth is i've gone around knocking on doors and it's not quite as easy anymore. we have a lot of crisis and an education crisis, we have immigration issues and job issues into the reason i know i can make a difference is because i tried my best to get the experience needed to truly bring people together and solve these problems so i ask for your vote tonight to make sure that we can solve these issues and take the directions are thank you for

having me here. >> moderator: david valadao? valadao: thank you to both stations hosting. my name is david valadao and i've had the opportunity to represent this area, the us two years in congress. i've taken some pretty important steps to make sure that we solve the water crisis and we worked on 3964 which is being negotiated now to see if we can give someone the president's desk. i've been a leader on immigration reform and also on the family man. i've worked on making sure that my kids are very happy and very well taken care of and i do my best to be a good father and spend time at home with my kids. when you look at the opportunities we have in life we want to make sure that we do everything for our children and for our families to make sure we have the best opportunities. when my parents came to this country, they did this for us, my brothers, the next generation and i'm very proud of my background. the son of an immigrant, part of a business and ran a business and also someone that has employees that are like family

and i watch a lot of those kids go through and graduate college and go on to have successful careers of their own and i've had the opportunity to be a part of that through my life and now i actually have the chance to set policies that can make sure that happens for more. >> thank you very much. there is a considerable amount of national attention on this race which is pretty rare for the congressional race in the central valley. c-span is actually going to carry this tomorrow. that says something that this is one but this is one of the few contested races in california congressional districts the voters here two years ago elected republicans represent the 21st congressional district which democrats had a double-digit advantage in the voter registration here in this district and despite what the recent voter surveys say that showed that mr. valadao is ahead