apparent terrorist attack. the door slammed, and then the pentagon was hit. >> sunday night at 8:00 pacific on c-span's q&a. joins us nowmartin to discuss the progressive agenda in the 2014 congress. looking at the house and senate controlled by republicans i -- for at least the next few years, what expectations should progressives have about what can get done and should be moved in the 114 congress? cant: i am skeptical they get a lot done based on recent history, but i hope they will dress the needs of the american people. i think americans want to the government auctioning and moving to legislation that is helpful to them, the top of their agenda

should be addressing the economic concerns of working american families. the center for american progress recently put out a report where we tried to highlight the fact that for average working-class americans, their wages are stagnant and at the same time, over the last 10 years, their .ages have remained stagnant middle-class family, life, college, child., health care, retirement have all increased by 30%. has $5,000 family less to spend on basic necessities. there is a lot congress can do to address the squeeze americans are -- are feeling. i hope they will do that. so that the world can see american government is united in fighting against terrorism. there are a few things i love to see them tackle.

activities to fairly extreme . chuck schumer,: a democrat from new york last decisionhis party's and said they should focus more on middle-class issues. we will come back to get your thoughts. stimulus,assing the democrats should have continued to propose middle-class oriented programs. built on the partial success of the stimulus. put all of our focus on the wrong problem. health care reform.

the plight of uninsured americans and the hardships must buy unfair insurance practices certainly needed to be addressed. but it was not the change we were hired to make. americans were crying out to the end of recession, better wages, but not changes in health care. soon -- chuck schumer saying this. do you agree? no, i have respect for him but i do not agree with him. i think passing health care actrm, the affordable care addresses the needs of middle-class families, people who do not have certainty in terms of health care coverage and are in a very precarious situation from an economic standpoint. differencet was the between life and death, the health care coverage they were able to obtain under the aca.

i also think senator schumer is selling his arty short. there was additional action to help address the needs. one issue i worked on when i was in the administration was kyle -- college affordability. $1000 grant. enough, as we laid out in our report. middle-class families need more your the most important thing we can do was to help deal with stagnant wages. we see the economy is improving. we have over 50 months of job growth. the stock market has stabilized. we also see 95% of the income we have gleaned from recovery has gone to the top 1% of earners. we need to flip that. corporate profits, which were at

an all-time high, need to be equitably shared with workers. one way we can do that is to pass the minimum wage. that is something that has very broad support among the american people and i hope congress lacked on it. minimum wage is something our viewers brought up in our last segment. how would you recommend democrats try to move that issue in a republican-controlled congress and is there something president obama can do with executive action on this? he has taken action to ensure workers are paid a fair wage. i think what the president and other progressives need to do to make the case for it and to continually demand action is taken on it, to your point about retail sales, we did a report oft looks at the filings

retailers, and their own reports, they have reported that increased demand is one of the reasons they are not seeing as high profit margins as they would like to see. wage.ur workers a fair many people working in the retail industry cannot afford to buy the products they're helping to sell. if we could get everyone a fair be april -- able to help free demand and the overall economy to do better. made a reference to the possibility that increasing minimum wage might increase job availability. there is not evidence of that. there have been big losses. but there have been general economic growth that benefits the entire community. that is why we saw, as you mentioned earlier, five out of i've that put the minimum wage

ballot that passed overwhelmingly. .uest: carmel martin we are talking about the progressive agenda in the congress that will be seated in january. if you have questions or comments as we go through this segment of the washington journal, democrats can call -- republicans -- we were just talking about executive actions the president has taken. can we talk about immigration for a second? do you think the president's executive order on immigration goes far enough? no, i think we need legislative action. angress needs to pass comprehensive immigration bill. the senate was able to do that on a bike artists and basis. it has some of the strongest

revisions to ensure that we can secure our border. it also helps deal with the population that is been here. long and hard working immigrants in the country, gave them a path to citizenship. the president's measure is temporary. dealing with a broken system and is doing the best he can to move forward in that context. what he has done is lies. in terms ofitized deportations. he is prioritizing felons of her families. he is saying, i will put my resources against criminals, new andants into the country, with respect to the population that has been here in the past five years, criminal background resident, a permanent we will give them a pathway to come forward, come out of the stratus, register with the

government, go through a criminal background check, pay taxes, and it is estimated in .ust one year it is not only good for families, but good for the country. any action by congress. what is the strategy that you would recommend for moving forward to get some legislative action in the next two years? i think it is ridiculous that the president would have prevented them from doing their job by acting in a vacuum. to pass immigration reform bill. the president has made it very clear that he did that, if they did that, his executive action would be moot because their action would trump his.

that's a good bipartisan reform bill. the ball is in their court. they have everything they need to move forward. for them to blame the president for why they cannot act is just ridiculous. some stats for those who cover -- are covered under the immigration executive order. the deferred action program, 1.5 million covered under the deferred action for childhood arrivals program. million eligible for deportation who are protected by the order. we are taking your calls and questions as we look at the progressive agenda and the 114th congress. we start with mark in georgia on our line for independents. caller: we would like to see the infrastructure go go through. but mccarthy wants to hide that money in detroit.

give it all to the illegal immigrant -- immigrants for the future cities. bernie sanders, that is what he is saying. they going to say to people after they do that? think congress should pass infrastructure support that is good for the economy. host: is there agreement between democrats and republicans? think there is bipartisan support investing in infrastructure, whether that is riches, roads, ports, a big issue so we can compete globally .nd support our economic growth and also am hopeful

.upport our communities host: debbie, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. i guess i and jeans, would hear those. for the gridlock down there in congress now, if you have a majority, republican house and not see anything getting done between now and 2006. that still depends on who will be the president then. these folks don't care anything about the citizens of this country. it is not about republican or democrat for me. the people who put these folks theirice voted against own interests. these are corporate people they put in there. all they care about are the

corporations. they don't care about people being able to make a living wage in the country. sure -- it isake amazing. the corporations have made more president, ands is would you support -- this a president that felt the corporations. you name it. auto industry, all of it. respond? would you guest: i understand. wages are stagnant, the costs they are facing everyday are going up. it is right for debbie to expect our political leaders in washington tackle the very real problems. the best way to tackle that is

by dealing with an economy that works for everyone, not just a privileged few. we need to increase demand by raising wages. we should also expand your itc -- earned income tax credit benefits, which allow working people to ensure they are risk .vening a living wage we need to invest in our economy so we can create economic growth by investing in infrastructure, but also investing in our human capital, our people. that starts at the earliest of ages. i strongly support the president's raposo to expand proposal to expand preschool. we need to help working parents be able to afford childcare so they can go to work in support of families. these are a few things i hope our political leaders will fight for in the next two years. we have to keep trying.

we cannot give up. the majority have pivoted to the right in order to win the last election cycle. for them be a problem as their approach 2016. that and appreciate are fighting for average americans and not just the corporations of the wealthy. a comment on twitter -- dylan is up next on our line for republicans from south dakota. caller: i am a disabled veteran and i am sitting out here and i do not see any jobs for people who are workers now. all we're going to have these immigrants over here. i grew up with a mexican people and i love mexican people.

they are the tightest people in the world. it sure would help if we can do the pipeline and stuff and then maybe everybody could get a job. ever since president obama has been in, -- we did not have any for three years and i'm a disabled veteran. mean, i understand this lady here has got good ideas and stuff, but you know, in the last six years, we have not had anything really good happen here in you know what i'm saying? several issues were brought up there. if you want to start with the jobs issue and the concern about the immigration order taking away jobs? guest: these are immigrants who are long-time members of u.s.

economy who are working. by having them come out of the shadows and register, we can ensure they are paying taxes, which supports the economy overall. this executive action is estimated to result in $3 billion per year in increased tax revenue. that is a positive for the country. the people we're talking about, generally, are not competing with u.s. citizens for jobs. they are competing for jobs u.s. citizens do not contend for. i do appreciate the concern that we need to do more to increase jobs as well as wages. the things i mentioned are ways to get at that. if we did invest in the country's infrastructure, that also be one way, while improving the environment for economic activity. economic equity requires ports that are built, better roads

that repair our bridges. all of those. some estimates out there, 40 to 58,000 jobs would be created through the pipeline? has been good evidence there would not be a tremendous amount of jobs created by the pipeline, that they would be short-term jobs, and much smaller numbers than the ones you are quoting. out thathe jury is this would help the u.s. economy and would provide cheaper gas to other countries and not the united states. most of the guest will be exported and not remain in the united states. host: do you think the state department will sign off on it and that the president will give keystone xl a green light eventually? guest: i do not know what will happen there. host: we will keep watching.

john is calling from new york. on our line for independent. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would like to know how many illegal immigrants her organization has hired an does she have to go to work every day and compete against these low-wage workers? likeis one thing i would her to answer. guest: we are a progressive think tank, ac three organization. our mission is to generate alicy ideas to move progressive agenda that focuses on an economy that works for everyone and not just a privileged few, or a vision for , where americaty that wee and ensuring are doing everything we can to

ent a threat of climate change. hire -- wee do not do strongly support, in this context, allowing, again, these people who have family members who are citizens, permanent residents of the united days, they have been here for five years, we support a process that says we will not prioritize the able for deportation and instead, we will ask them to come out of the shadows to register and pay taxes. and instead use the limited resources we have for immigration control to focus on people who have committed crimes. i want to point out that under this president, we have at all-time highs in terms of deportations. all-time lows in terms of border crossings.

border is being enforced. but we do have people who have been here for a long time and do have strong roots in our society and we support the action the president has taken. in the debate over jobs and what just people may compete for, can you give us an example of jobs that americans do not compete for? some jobs that undocumented immigrants have, where they are just less desirable for american citizens, i would point to the lot of the landurant industry, farming, and generally speaking, those are the jobs the immigrants are stepping in to take, with not a lot of competition for american citizens. host: rosemary is on our line

for republicans. good morning. caller: doesn't it bother you that after president obama announced his executive order, that illegal aliens would not be eligible for benefits, that it will bet now they eligible for medicare and medicaid and some tax benefits? me he did not disclose that. in fact, he said it would not happen, even though it will. thank you for your response. my understanding is that people protected under this temporary order are not eligible for medicare and medicaid to be eligible for medicare and medicaid, it would require people even after that point to wait a certain time. john is up next on our line for independents.

south dakota? caller: hello. yes, for the people out there that are for the xl pipeline, i would like them to write something down to research for themselves. if you go on youtube, and you arctic death spiral, a short film, it is 12 minutes that will help you understand a little bit of what is going on. what is it about? it has to doller: with how we are repeating the permian mass extinction. example, we have over 400 parts per million in the atmosphere right now. the woman that is speaking there, i am sure she understands youthe stuff in this, and also go to green world rising, it can also help explain this.

there are movies in there that if wayne it. -- that explain it. host: do you want to talk about this debate? and what has happened in the congress? is something it they will tackle. i think it is a problem, as the caller mentioned. it is a looming threat, something we deserve to do for our children, to tackle the drastic impact of human created climate change. that is invest in alternative energy sources area the president tackled this, where he is asking for states to tackle carbon emissions. one of the things congress can .o is to extend tax incentives

energy sources. this is something we need to tackle in the short term in order to protect our children from devastating impact climate change. host: a lot of interest in the president's plan he announced, effective power plants existing. plan -- guest: they're threatening to do that. i hope they will not be successful. are mentioning will have incredible positive impacts for people across the reduce cases of asthma in children, to reduce the number of immature births, to generate economic activity as thateate fuel activity will stem from the activity. there are republicans who have threatened to act legislatively to stop the rulemaking and i hope they will not succeed.

i fully expect that democrats in congress will push back gets the effort -- against the effort and i assume the president will also veto any bill that stops the rulemaking from moving forward here it -- forward. host: george is on our independent line. caller: here is my concern. my wife is a waitress and everything. -- move on toll just dorothy. good morning. caller: good morning to both of you. i just want to say i know where you are coming from as far as trying to help. we would also help others as well. when the guyo say, called in and talked about cola, we know congress is the one who makes the budget in cuts them as well. we know cola was done because

congress did not included. you should address it. people are doing these things because we never correct them and let them know what is going on. we need to do a contrast. you know for a fact that theylicans, when they say want tax reform, which one are they going to do first? corporations or individuals? you know corporations. we know that minimum wage, many of them have said we do not even want a minimum wage. i don't know. you never talk about what they want to do.

stick around for our next segment of the washington journal today. the corporate ones, and what may be renewed toward the end of the year. are democrats doing enough to highlight the differences? guest: i think dorothea makes a good point and we need to be clear about the differences. the democrats need to make clear how they contrast what they are fighting for versus what republicans are fighting or. they did not do that effectively in the last election and i think that hurt them. to pointhe is right that out. also, on the point she is making about tax reform, i think she is making an excellent point. a deal floated last week would have delivered $200 billion in tax breaks to corporations, making them permanent, or not making permanent important tax incentives that help like theass families

tax credits i mentioned earlier, as well as american opportunity tax credit, which helps people afford to send children to college. she is dead on that we need to do tax reform, that delivers and makes our system or at the bow, delivers relief to middle-class families i was describing earlier and not give away to corporations. host: in terms of highlighting would you like to see the leadership and the house leadership. generally speaking, democrats need to work to make sure they're making their case people.merican

i see democrats fighting for middle-class families. they should make it clear that that they -- that is the priority to push back on efforts to help corporations. a democrat from new york conducted her exit interview with c-span on her way out of congress. people are very respond if

to other people are looking for. the leaders ould look to? guest: congress and castro example from san

our conference was not a conference per se but we a lot of incredible speak at ces coming to our conference. lot of k there is a talent there. hour we need leadership in congress. the line for is on democrats. caller: everybody keeps built that immigrants this country, no, africans build this country. after the civil war the country was not 100 years old. 85% of his wealth is draft from slave labour.

away to the ey corporations. would like all americans was the 14th amendment it for african americans to guarantee that our blood and our culture, our religion that our people for ever. a list of our children would have a place in the society. europeans can never assimilate that. the immigrants watch movies treated in we are a is country, there is problem with mentality, and not the same one particular immigrant but all of them.

this was the bedrock. host: a lot of these conversations are happening in the wake of what is happening in ferguson, is there anything you can recommend the congress of ld do in the wake ferguson to ease this tension or make better relationships between communities. are seeing the african-americans, they are not receiving the benefits from the society that they should. a more equitable education system. job creation should help that issue, i think that in terms of the week of ferguson we really need to take a hard look at our criminal

e system. impact measure uc has an on african americans. community policing -- when it to make sure that our police force is as a representative of the communities they serve. we need better training only fergusons of the future from happening again. it is obviously not an isolated incident. or 15 minutes 10 left, from longview, texas on line for republicans. caller: the morning, thank you for taking my call. and know it is not permanent, the next three years

but i heard that the people are in to do this to get going to be able and a driving y be able so they will to vote on 2016? guest: there will not be able to vote, this is just a temporary status. the president action does not confirm a right to vote or ent to social security, all it does is bring people out of the shadows and allow them to register, requires them pay taxes and they are able to go through criminal background check.

the president is managing saying that he will prioritise dangerous immigrants coming in through illegal border crossing. deportations are in the all-time high. there is members of the committee who have been working, and they are a legal resident, the president will give them a temporary status and ability to get a driving licence and the responsibility to pay taxes. host: arizona is next, poll is the line in democrats. we have touched

upon every thing against progressive ideas, we touch the minimum wage and immigration. spoke about how the people are on wealth. why are they not talking about 70,000 bridges were the dangerous, why are we not talking about those jobs be for of this 2000 may and 40 permanent jobs. that is all we can do as republicans are concerned, let's talk about middle-class jobs. guest: i totally agree. to build to do more have produced we help the middle

class. that is not just a product of the economy but a requirement. in the e make sure that short-term budget deficits have over the ramatically last years. invest in our country to build the economy from the middle out, which means to invest in jobs like infrastructure. job training programs and even preschool education so we can that in the next century our country will be leading the world. this is americanprogress.com. -- sean on the line for democrats-

caller: this executive order obama is doing is against the constitution. does your institution leaving the constitution? guest: i believe that the president's action is constitutional, similar actions have been taking by 11 other presidents including george w bush and ronald reagan. the president has limited enforce s in order to an immigration law, he has of e a smart choice in terms prioritising the dangers criminal for deportation to our borders are while granting temporary status to people who for been in the country

many years -- at least five years. members who amily citizens or permanent residents, they are required to go through criminal d checks. there will be paying taxes. i think what he has done is clearly within his legal authority and is consistent with the constitution. it has been done many other times. have some level of discretion to find resources. of the the issue executive order is also a story to push licans trying here is a headline. " gop, impeachment would martyr obama". anybody has been peached,

i do not want people think he is exonerated here. other republicans believe impeachment would play into the democrat hands. if you want to read more on in the washington times. rick is from nashville, tennessee. caller: i am concerned about the individuals. there are dishwasher making minimum wage or lower depending how the contract is. go back to retail and

i actually work for a union company. waiters are seven $7.57. got to tell you, part-time we let them off a week before and then went on to the next goes on and on. i believe mmigration in people, you do not leave any train better to than lives. at the same time, if we do not go by the rule of law in this and protect our borders, we will no longer be. the caller makes some

good points. wages are very low, not even $10 an hour. think congress should act with a new minimum wage and workers in that action. i think people who go to work full-time they deserve to be paid enough to be able to support their families. host: hello phyllis. caller: thank you very much. thank you for the conversation. first thing, immigration. i understand of the americans have dismissed historical events. this