i've never seen anything more frustrating than reid and how he ran the senate, and suffocated every piece of legislation out of the house. he wouldn't let anything get discussed. there should be no complaints about how the senate gets run. host: there is a tweet here. one viewer wants to >> i would respectfully suggest that republicans have not stepped forward in a meaningful way to try to define and/or find come from eyes. what we saw was when extreme measure after another came out of the house. senate republicans were not able to try to find compromise. what i suffer my time working with senator reid is starting from the very beginning was the house and senate republican leaders tried to undermine the

president on everything they tried to do starting with the economic stimulus bill and the obamacare and on and on. they never were willing to try to sit down and work any meaningful way with the senate democrats. guest: what harry reid did was stifle a lot of debate in the senate. a major amendment's were not offered. what that did was self-defeating for harry reid and the democrats because democrats were up for election last summer and were not able to distinguish themselves from read and obama and they had a tracker -- a track record of voting any 7% for obama. mitch mcconnell will open a process and give members of the body a chance to represent not only the philosophies but also their states and regions.

that will help promote democracy and hopefully get some stuff done. host: two quick actions -- two quick questions. how does he position himself now that he is the minority leader? how does his role change as a practical matter on the floor? guest: first of all, i talked to him twice over the last couple of weeks, he is fine. obviously, he has suffered some fairly debilitating injuries and i hope for the best for him. he is hoping to get back to the senate next week or later on this week rather. how does he position himself? he said it once and he will say it again -- he said he would always dance and fight but he

. he knows how to dance but he knows how to fight. mcconnell will have a handful of folks as well as that will want to get things done if they are wanting to put points on the scoreboard for the 2016 reelection. the question is whether they will be able to find common ground and compromise. if the house will just send over one bad bill after another on the party line vote, i guarantee you very little if anything is going anywhere anytime soon. host: patrick, thank you for waiting. caller: thanks for taking my call. just a quick suggestion for c-span. on the weekends, you should push up the time of your show and give the west coast and other people a chance to call in at 7:00 a.m. on the east coast it is tough.

secondly, the open up this foreigner line but you never seem to get a foreigner's thoughts from the most contentious issues like gay rights, abortions, and guns, but we think -- we can hear about what they think about our tax policy. once someone calls in from alabama and the state sends a buck to the fed and gets $1.50 back in the complaint about federal taxes -- amazing. host: thank you for the advice on the program. we hope you will keep watching. we have done now from jonesboro, arkansas. caller: i have two questions. the republicans said they will work with the president on taxes. in the first tax plan that he came out with, they went to the tv and started howling about it.

they are not going to work with the president at all on taxes. another thing with obamacare. they said the public should not have obamacare but we paid for their health care. why should we pay for their health care? shouldn't they be paying for their own health care? thank you. guest: i think one of the most interesting things that is happening in the house of representatives and the senate is the have been pushed into obamacare. david vetter has been leading that charge. our member in 1995 and 1996, republicans took over the congress for the first time in four years and one of their chief place was if they will pass laws, they will have to live within those laws. ever since that time, congress has been trying to find a way to exempt themselves from those things. obamacare is a perfect example. if you will pass this on to the rest of the country, you have to

also live with it. if the grand popular within the congress says they have to leave because they can't handle this -- obamacare is a work in progress. republicans will try to repeal it. it will not work. they have to make a decision then do they improve it or what are they do with it? that is a big conversation happening in the states. a lot of governors are try to figure out how to deal with medicaid expansion for example. health care is an issue that has been around a long time and obamacare has changed the stakes but it is still the same conversation. how do you get high-quality health care at low prices? i don't think obamacare is the end all there. guest: regarding taxes, you'll hear a lot about revenue neutral

. there are and will like the crux of the matter. they will demand deep cuts in domestic spending programs but with no increase in taxes. that will be rough. they will shy away from programs unless the ministers and provides cover area revenue neutral as a friend that -- something the public will hear a lot about. host: here's what the president said about areas of potential compromise. [video clip] >> rbc there are disagreements across the table but there are areas where we can agree in that were -- that is where we will focus. for a few examples, i have a state of the union next week. one of the things we're talking about a cyber security. with the sony attacks that took place, the twitter account that was hacked by islamist jihadists

sympathizers yesterday -- pay goes to show how much work we need to do both in the private and public sector to strengthen our cyber security. to make sure family bank accounts are safe in our structure essay. i talked to the speaker and mitch mcconnell about this. we agree that this is an area we can work hard together to get some legislation done and make sure we are much more effective at protecting the american people from these kind of cyber attacks. there will be opportunities for us to work together on trade. there'll be opportunities for us to work together on simple fine taxes and making sure everyone is paying their fair share. there will be opportunities for us to streamline government so it is more responsive. on each of these issues, i will be listening to everybody around

this table and i am hopeful in the spirit of cooperation for the americans first, we can be a position with an of this year will be much better than where we were at the start of the year. host: so quick, some our guests. i want to pick up on the taxes because you mentioned that earlier the segment. what is realistic in terms of tax policy this year? guest: corporate tax reform is a realistic and achievable result. republicans and democrats see the same problem and that is big corporations moving their corporate headquarters overseas or parking large portions of the profits overseas and not bringing them back because they don't want to pay the higher taxes. if you really want to spur economic growth and if you really want to get all these trillions of dollars that are part overseas and make corporations -- make sure corporations don't relocate elsewhere like ireland we need

to reform the tax code. this is one of the big challenges for this congress. the president himself has talked about this and republicans have talked about it. they have different ways of getting there but they both agree that this is a problem that needs to be solved. i do think it is much more -- much less realistic that you will have a tax reform that includes bashing the rich and all these things obama wants to do on giving all cards of goodies to everyone else. i think this one challenge can be met and overcome by keeping corporations housed here. guest: i hate to agree with john, but he is absolutely right when it comes to corporate taxes. except for one clarifier and that is the art of negotiation. corporate tax reform will have to be paired with something like infrastructure reform that the administration is demanding.

those two together have a chance of getting through congress. guest: on infrastructure, we have a crisis there. highway trust fund is running out in may. if they can pair that, they can solve a lot of problems in one fell swoop. host: what is go to brian in salt lake city utah. caller: the whole problem is progressives. when you have progressive democrats, progressive republicans, you have one party. it is just which one is going to function at socialism the fastest. it is a little bit ridiculous when $800 billion is unaccountable. they have no idea what happened to it. they want to raise taxes. obamacare, i guess that website is up to about $1 billion.

when you have them -- it is just not right. host: x for calling. -- thanks for calling. guest: i'm not sure there are many progressive republicans left anymore. i believe it at that. host: the mask about cuba -- let me ask you about cuba. this promises to be a rough time on the hill? the embargo, the embassy, and things like that? guest: republicans have -- the closer you are to cuba and the more families come from cuba the more passionately you will feel about this. marco rubio, ted cruz, both of cuban lineage -- there are

republicans who have long called for ending the trade embargo to cuba. a lot represent agricultural districts. the foreign-policy establishment , the anti-communist establishment obviously hates castro and hay any kind of communist dictatorship. that will be difficult. there are some republicans such as rand paul who has different opinions. we have been at this for five decades, this embargo. the castros are still alive. at some point in time, the question was will we change before they die or will we start changing after they die? looks like president obama want

to do it before they die but change is coming to cuba and it is about time. that place is a disaster. guest: the way i understand it is the politics of cuba are changing pretty graeme akeley. -- pretty dramatically. there is increasing number of democrats and republicans on capitol hill. for whatever reason, they are beginning to modify their position on cuba. there'll be attempts to lock the establishment of an embassy in cuba. there is a decent chance that could pass. change is coming is what i am trying to say. host: let us go to our democratic caller in minnesota. >> good morning. caller: mr. vulcan, could you please expect to me the

republicans'priority list. the first with a made in the house was to cut social security disability. if you could also ask wendy benefit of them doing that -- also explained the benefit of them doing that. guest: it was the rules change they made that prevents change at they co-mingling of money between social security and disability. guest: i think republicans have seen that's what they always wanted to do is get more of the money from social security going to actual recipients and weed out wastes fund abuse. a story last year showed the widespread abuse of the disability system where people

are ripping off the system. everyone can agree that people who need disability need disability but ripping off the taxpayer is costing other taxpayers billions and billions of dollars. if we want to keep social security around for everyone, we have to make sure the money is going to be rightful place. host: anything you want to add to can -- anything you want to add? guest: it prevents what are fairly routine transfers between the disability fund and the social security fund. what do i think? i think this is the worst attempt to try and create a controversy on social security. they will use to try and an act radical reforms of social security that include significant cuts and beneficiaries. it is an opening gambit to try to force a debate. they are showing the true cards that they want to cut social security. host: rick is going from jasper

georgia. an independent caller. good morning. guest: this would be to john. who would be the best one of the republican party's to talk to? i met the air force in georgia. i have five machines and we can't pick up anything like they are talking about on co2. it was 1.5 pounds more than air and settles to the ground. we can't pick it up on our machines. this is the biggest crock of crap that has been put on the american people. host: can you help us with that kick in that's can you help us with that? guest: i'm not a scientist. we have had the hottest year on record. republicans have to understand

there will be a discussion about what the future holds. i have a two-year-old and an eight-year-old. i want to make sure we have a clean environment. republicans have to be proenvironment and pro-jobs and i think we can do that. the more partners we have, especially with a free market capitalist economy, the cleaner the environment will be. that being said, some of our competitors -- we made a good job of messing up the environment ourselves and we have a socialist possibility to protect the environment. our competitors should also protect the environment including india and china. republicans can say they need the proper stewards of our natural resources, the better we will be. host: the politics and all of this. a headline simply reads "what does elizabeth warren want?" perpetual outsider may gain power in 2016 presidential race

without being in it. what you think of her impact and what will it be on the party? guest: unfortunately i never of overlap with her in the senate but i have an watching her for a while. i first saw her in 2004 when harry senator reid invited her to talk before a democratic caucus. taker at face value. she is not running for president. she believes the best ways for her is in the senate trying to affect change. we have seen this now -- we have seen her ability to change the debate a couple times over the last month or so. i think she and her staff are playing things right. they are focusing on just a handful of issues, picking and choosing their spots to raise concerns. i think she will continue to be an effective force in the united states. host: speaking of politics as

well, the weekly standard has this piece on dr. ben carson will be on our program tomorrow at 7:45. fred barnes writes -- a candidate neither they nor the political class regarding the serious contenders ahead of them and organizing a well-financed and unique campaign operation. guest: i go out to the country and talk to folks and the one person they bring up unsolicited is ben carson almost without fail.

he strikes a chord with a certain part of the republican base and he is very popular. his issue will be that he says a lot of things. he says a lot of things that are very controversial and if he doesn't get more campaign discipline, this'll be a short-lived campaign. you cannot get out and say whatever is on your mind and stir up the pot on things and say things that are really controversial and expect to do well in a presidential nominating contests. host: let me get henry on the line here from michigan, a democratic caller. caller: good morning gentlemen. i would like to first of all recommend a book, particularly for c-span's younger listeners. it is called "without sanctuary." it is photography in america by james aaron.

the reason i would like to recommend this book is because i believe it exhibits the conservative mindset of republicans and tea party members that we now have who have elected this republican congress. it says also that the reason why i believe republicans and tea party members have actually murdered hope and change in america. when obama was first elected president, all of those people in the diverse population out there. hope and change was so tangible and powerful and mitch mcconnell address that hope and change with let's make obama a one term president. guest: obviously i haven't read

the book. i will make sure to pick it up. i think we live in a big country and there are a lot of different opinions out there. public and party was a lot of what president obama was proposing in the first two years in the american people did not like to present was proposing especially obamacare. they capture the majority in the house and almost got there in the senate. i think the president bears some as possibility for that. republicans had their opposition and they bear some as possibility. we had an opportunity in the last two years to get some significant things done and it is irresponsible it he of all leaders to come together and get those things done. host: what you make of the relationship between the president and the democrats in congress right now? how does he position himself? guest: first of all, i am confident the relationship

between the president, despite noise to the contrary, i'm confident his relationship with reid is rock solid. here's the reality. if you look back historically, we are at a point in time where the interest of democrats on the hill and a president of their own party are going to begin to diverge. he is not up for reelection. house democrats will be up in two years. one third of the senate will be up in two years. of course, he will be working on his legacy, as he should. democrats will be looking ahead if only for their own reelection. there will be plenty of things they agree upon. there will be some things they will not be able to agree on. we will have to wait and see what happens. host: bob is calling from michigan now.

bob, you there? caller: yes i am. host: go ahead please. caller: as a tea party member, i am tired of being called a racist. i wish you people would stop it. to my question for mr. fehery, i heard republicans are planning to cut disability am i would like to know who is sponsoring that. guest: i find a pretty hard to believe. if they do anything on social security, i'm not sure they will do anything on social security but it would only be an effort to weed out wasteful spending. tea party members are disgusted when people rip off the social security system. there would want to help us find the people willfully using lawyers to get money they don't deserve. that being said, i find a hard

to believe that this congress and the last two years of the obama admin us or be able to find any kind of common way to deal with the intent of a crisis which is the real driver of debt in this country. congressional pay foreign aid congressional spending, none of that has anything to do with our debt. it is all driven by entitlement which includes social security and medicare, which are popular programs. if we don't come up with a way to get a hold of them, we will go bankrupt. i know that a lot of republicans are worried about the bankruptcy of the country. we have to do something about it. i find it very hard to believe anything will be done. host: you see anything on entitlements the session? guest: if you are asking me what my worst fear is, it would be some thing the lines of this administration working on their

legacy and those in democrats trying to cut a deal with republicans. this is something that has been going around within the caucus. they will not put anything in the budget when it comes to social security reform. that is the obama administration. i think there are some within the white house trying to define his legacy are trying to figure out if they can cut a deal on entitlement reform. no, i don't see going anywhere. host: there is a tweet about debt. let us hear from edward in liverpool, texas. go ahead please. caller: good morning. i was wondering -- i'm 53 years old now and i have never heard anybody ever try to get

nonprofits to pay taxes. i watched 2020, dateline, and shows on the internet with pastors making hundreds of millions a year and they live like kings. they don't pay any taxes. why can't the irs follow these people all year and see what do they pay for a can of beans and what are they pay for meat that they are giving to people? what are they have to make such large huge salaries every month? what are they get all the families involved making huge amounts of money and not actually doing anything? the people that work for them work for free. host: any thoughts from our guests? guest: i understand what he is coming from. there is a reason why we do have nonprofits. obvious he there are abuses. i would like to see a more vigorous irs going after this.

right now with funding cuts of the irs, they are having trouble with answering phones apparently as they move into taxis and. -- into tax season. host: i want to play piece of the john boehner retreat held in pennsylvania last week. have a question about policy divisions between the two chambers back to the mcconnell and boehner relationship. [video clip] >> the house will work its will. the senate will work its will. we will find some way to result the difference. that is what we call regular order. that is a legislative process. there are 535 of us on capitol hill. to try to get all of us to agree is not an easy job. the founders never envisioned it to be easy and it certainly isn't. each of the chambers has to do what they are capable of doing and we try to resolve the differences. host: what is capable?

guest: what i love about this group is john boehner, once again having to educate the american people about how our system works. that is that you have a house and senate and the have to come to some agreement. the recently founders of that is they did not too much -- they do not want to much government overreach. that is a constant effort. some people think republicans kind of sweep in and get their way. that is not the way it is. i wish it were but it is not. the american people do not want to give all the rains of power to one party. they did it for the first two years of the president obama's tenure. the major the republicans have the house of the senate for the next decade. the nonprofits. this is a real problem. chuck grassley, a senator from iowa was head of the finance

committee and spent a lot of time going after some of the abuse in the nonprofit sector. this is not just pastors although that is a real problem. it is also these bigger nonprofits that live the lives of the rich and famous but are trying to say they are helping the poor. there is a huge loophole in our tax system that needs to be looked at. host: moving on to joe in michigan. an independent collar. caller: good morning. website fellow michigan people are getting up early. the more they talk about the do-nothing congress, i am good with that. they said our liberties are at risk while congress is in session. i do know what either party controlling everything that i do not want either party controlling everything.

the last two years with obamacare and being lied to about what it was and what was going on -- i am happy with it. i think with the technology we have today, we could have represented our district is set of washington. they don't even live in our districts anymore. they don't even need to be here and we can knock on their door down the street. they will pay a little more attention to us that us having to take rights down to washington to pound on their door. host: thanks for your imput. let us hear from charles now. caller: i question whether you much that mcconnell was trying to educate the republicans. i think it is the exact opposite. to educate people, namely on the pipeline, if the average american knew that oil was not

going to have any effect or guarantee any effect on the price of gasoline in this country and also that the canadian company that owns the oil will refuse to agree to have any amounts of it sold to the united states. it could all be exported. you use these keywords that people by don when you say jobs and energy and dependence. that is a bunch of you know what because the jobs after this thing is done is going to be about 60. it is a canadian oil company that is using our land to ship oil for export. if the american people knew that, i think the popularity of this as you put it the most americans agreed to this pipeline, it will be a different story. host: thank you for sharing your

thoughts. guest: let me just say this, i am a liberal democrat but i cannot figure how keystone became the end all and be all of the environmental community. the oil is coming out of canada. the jobs on a full-time basis will be very few. the temporary jobs are not going to make that big of a dent nationally. i can tell you my thoughts on how we got there, but there is not enough time. i don't understand how we got to this. host: what you think the president is thinking? guest: i think he has gone back and forth about the impact on the environment on the jobs. last year, if you would have asked me this question, i would have told you he will support it. now he has made it clear he will veto it.

whether it is in part because of pressure from the environmental community or the idea that once he gets the veto out of the way they can try to negotiate a compromise on some energy related provisions. i think that is also a possibility. host: i wanted to get your take john on one little cutline our caption to a piece in the new york times today. says lower oil prices provides benefits. the typical family now will save $3000 this year if oil costs stay low. the meeting of the lower oil prices and gas prices, some people think this might be the time to raise gas tax. your thoughts? guest: if you care about infrastructure, you have to be honest about how you will pay for the infrastructure. a user fee makes a lot of sense.

if you will drive a lot and if this is a perfect time -- if you drive a lot in a public infrastructure, you are at great risk. we have to think about how we are being forthright with the american people. the gas tax is pretty controversial but less controversial when prices are lower. there are winners and losers in everything. when gas prices are low, it means you don't need to -- the gas prices are coming from the saudi's. they want to make sure the folks that are in north dakota and doing the fracking and all kinds of different parts of america great pennsylvania ohio that they don't have a long-term ability to keep doing their fracking.

a lot of these american energy producers will go out of business. obviously, we all benefit to some extent if there is low gas prices. the more we can get ourselves off the addiction to oil, the better off you will be with all of this involving the saudi's and the middle east. guest: we have record oil production, increased fracking drilling off the coast. i think the administer shins energy policy has been successful. host: a caller from sun city, arizona. good morning to you. guest: that last thing the biggest bunch of nonsense i ever heard. i got so tired of hearing people

call and talk about mitch mcconnell wanting to make obama a one term president. was he supposed to do? go out and campaign for him? our members the democrat shut make him a zero term president. a free independent audits showed he was winning by bigger margins each time one of the newspapers reached out for votes down there. the recent price of oil is so low is because the saudi's are try to break up the producers that are producing somewhat oil here. if you have to pay $50 to produce a barrel of oil and than you have to sell it, if the price of oil is $45, you will not really want to produce too many barrels of oil with a five dollar a barrel loss. get serious. figure for my call. i blew my chance for another month. guest: let me say that i agree with the coaller about the

saudi's. mitch mcconnell saying that, he did not get credit from the right wing. the right wing of the republican party try to get rid of him anyway. mitch mcconnell is a good leader. he has a tough job. he is bringing a diverse congress together. mitch mcconnell as the majority leader in the senate will be good for president obama's legacy. guest: i don't think so at all. whether it is the increased oversight investigations on so-called controversies like benghazi are fast and furious attempt to undermine policy by attaching all sorts of writersriders to the appropriations bills. if you are asking me how house and senate republicans have done

in the first few weeks, they i say not very well and it is indicative of the problems we will have for the next two years. host: let us hear from al in tampa, florida. caller: i'm a disabled vet. i've been waiting eight years 10 months, and three days for my claim. what i am concerned about is the waste in the v.a. system. jeff miller has been doing a fine job. he is sponsoring a bill right now to have a callback to get these bonuses. they have had years and years waiting for hospitals being built, the computer systems they spent millions of dollars on that aren't there and i have operations on my feet where they will cut off the toes but they won't give you therapy. i would like to find out what

the comments of the republican person there is on how good of a job jeff miller is doing. now that the senate can pass some of the v.a. bills something might get done. guest: i think jeff miller is an excellent chairman of the veterans affairs committee. first of all, think you for your service. when he to make sure we take care of our veterans -- we need to make sure we take care of our veterans. we need to care for them not just in the first eight months that they get back home, but a lifetime commitment to veterans because of what has happened in these wars. this is why it is important that we find waste and fraud in other parts of the government and make sure we can spend the necessary resources we can on our veterans who really have done a great service for our country and the to be taken care of.

people on disability are ripping off the system, they ought to feel ashamed of themselves because they are taking money away from people who have served the country. we need a wholesale reform of the veterans administration because it is broken and needs to be fixed. host: we are running short on time but i want to run one more clip from the president. he dominated the news conference on the issue of iran. . her that she -- he reissued his excellent nation. [video clip] >> congress needs to show patience. with respect to the veto, i said to my democratic caucus colleagues yesterday that i will veto a bill that comes to my desk. i will make this argument to the american people as to why i am doing some. -- why i am doing so.

i checked them to hold off for a few months to see if we have the possibility of solving a big problem without resorting to potential war. i think that is worth where things are going. i promise you i'll be taking my case to the amerco people on this. host: let us hear from jim manley on this issue. guest: he came out swinging on that issue, didn't he? i don't think it's any secret that a good job on bottling the legislation was made lester. -- was made last year. i think this would be a mistake and that we need to give you negotiations time to work its way through.

yes, i understand they would not going to affect until if negotiations fell apart. we are at a delicate time. i think the iranians would take this as a very unfriendly act if we were to go forward on this. guest: iran is not very popular in the congress. point being is that if the president does not have the complete trust of republicans in congress and what he is negotiating with the iranians which has to do a lot with nuclear capabilities, i think the president wants republicans to trust him on this but republicans don't. i think this might be one of his first vetoes. a lot of democrats will vote with the republicans on this

because iran is not popular anywhere in the united states. host: lewis in new jersey, thank you for waiting. caller: morning. just a few things. construction jobs are all temporary. i guess you will have to look at the iranian situation just like obamacare. good day. host: ray in washington democratic caller. caller: good morning. i had a comment to john that he is talking about entitlements. yes there is a problem in the country with entitlements, but most of that is from doctors overcharging medicare. they also are the problem and it is to be more oversight. i want to know why nobody ever

mentions the pentagon. the pentagon is way overbloated and it needs to be cut. if you cut the pentagon, we can fix some things. one more item -- we need to put the tax cut back to where it was before reagan. thank you very much. have a good day. guest:host: final thought on where things are headed in congress. guest: i think republicans will be able to deal with some of the low hanging. they will be able to pass the keystone pipeline and pass through appeals of the medical device tax. from there, things get a lot more difficult very quickly. there is a number of deadlines coming up including the debt limit increase around june or

july that i think will rear its ugly head and force a confrontation that may lead to severe problems facing the congress and damaging the economy. we will have to wait and see how things play out. host: for me ask about rep -- about mitt romney. he said he wants to run for president again. your thoughts? guest: it wasn't widely applauded outside of the small circle of mitt romney fans out there. life you is the more the merrier. if you want to run, go ahead and run it is a free country. we have a pretty expansive field. i think jeb bush has announced that he will run pretty much. we have mike pence and scott walker and perhaps john kasich. we have several senators

including ted cruz, marco rubio, rand paul and has numbers like peter king. you will have a fairly expensive list of people who will represent all. chris christie also of course. they will represent all wings. the problem with mitt romney is he lost against a fairly weak president who had an economy that was fairly weak. he lost cousin mistakes that he will made -- that he had made. if he would get the nomination again, it would be a miracle, to be honest with you. host: my guests with lots of issues on the table. here are some of the details laid out in some of the

publications the sunday morning. the "washington post" headline __ budget proposal to target the wealthy. all of this started coming out yesterday evening. in his state of the union speech on tuesday, the present will propose raising the capital gains and dividend tax rates to 20% for high earners, imposing a fee on the liabilities of about 100 big financial institutions. obama will also seek to boost private retirement savings by requiring employees without 401(k)s to make it easier for full and part_time workers to save an individual retirement accounts. this could assist as many as 30 million people.

a little bit more __ senior administration officials say the package would highlight the president's desire to help lower and middle class families. new tax critics would help those in need of childcare and households with two earners. we have a little bit more detail and reaction from capitol hill with a finance reporter for the hill. guest: thank you for having me. host: what has the reaction been so far from the hill? guest: i was thinking last night to some __ talking last night to some staffers, including mitch mcconnell.

they said, look this is partisan, it is not to be taken seriously. from the republican standpoint, it faces very little chance __ in fact, no chance __ in passing in the republican_controlled congress. that is because of the way in which the president wants to increase taxes __ something that the democrats have wanted to do for a long time __ raising taxes on the wealthy. it also has impacts on government programs __ you mentioned some of them. republicans told me that this is not the time to be spending government money. they would like us to see not

having any more government programs, free up capital. clearly, it is to get the ball rolling from a tax reform perspective. it could be the basis for democrat standpoint. now, republicans have to answer, and maybe they can meet in the middle. certainly getting the ball rolling on tax reform. host: some of the reaction within the piece that our guest wrote in the hill. so, kevin you talk about this as a starting point for debate. so, kevin you talk about this as a starting point for debate. we lift families up and grow the economy with a flatter tax code.luded to the republicans possibly coming up with their own plan. what can we look forward to over the next several months? guest: from a tax

you alluded to the republicans possibly coming up with their own plan. what can we look forward to over the next several months? guest: from a tax reform perspective, we can look forward to a couple of things. republicans have been pushing for universal tax reform. they would like to see a code that decreases __ or at least establishes a fixed rate from a foreign perspective. some of the tax rates, they say, are too complicated and driving businesses overseas. we have talked in the past about a process called corporate inversions, in which companies which their addresses overseas. from a broader perspective, i

think republicans want to push back against the notion that they are in favor of the wealthy, and keeping tax breaks for the wealthy. they will have to push back and say, we're trying to simplify this process. last week, we saw the house passed legislation that would tweak parts of the 2010 reform law. they say that this is hurting main streets small businesses. betty is weakening wall street regulations. you have this fight from democrats __ led by elizabeth warren. republicans will have to fight back on that narrative and say that they are not sticking up for wall street, and they're

trying to get the economy moving. many americans feel the recovery has not moved fast enough. host: of course, the state of the union address will probably drown out all other news this week. can you lay out the retreat __ what they are talking about. guest: keystone. the dodd frank issue. we just all republicans meeting in hershey, and laying out a game plan for the next few weeks in congress. you're right, president obama has a great opportunity this week with the state of the union address. to some extent, he will try to get ahead up on the

republican_controlled congress to get his message and policy plan on the next week with his speech on tuesday. texas country's woman beneath examines the state of civil rights today in the history of the civil rights marches in selma. monday night on the communicators, we begin a series looking at the newest developments in the cap analogy -- technology industry for 2015. we met up at the consumer

electronics show. the president and ceo of the consumer electronics association, the president of ford motor. >> solving problems of the world. not to sound like that, but what we're talking about is transportation problems. food production, hunger. there are a lot of ways of crops, how to build connections. health care. there are more solutions for health care. senses that tell you -- sensors that tell you about your health. safety. say taking a lot of problems over the last several years and

adding to them in the future. cuts are great opportunity is our new think three system. we are talking about our semiautonomous vehicles that we have on the road today that people can buy. we are talking about fully autonomous vehicles we are developing for the future. also at the company, innovation is really important. this is a show that encompasses that. >> is a very challenging task. it is about -- a lot of information together. this is an opportunity to learn about innovation happening in the marketplace. look at new televisions i think what is the new standard. what are we going to do for headphones and things like that. i look at satellite products and different video products. there are so many different items. i get to learn a number of different products that may come

into the market. they might evolve in the future. >> monday night at 8:00 eastern on the communicators on c-span two. tuesday night, president obama delays his state of the union address. let coverage begins at 8:00 eastern, including the gop response, delivered by jeremy -- joni ernst. on c-span two, watch the president's speech and congressional reaction in the u.s. capital. the state of the union, live on c-span c-span2, and c-span.org. tonight on c-span, q&a with a doctor about allergies and infectious diseases. then british prime minister david cameron takes questions. later, a joint news

conference at the white house. >> this week on "q&a," our guest is dr. anthony fauci, director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases. he addresses the challenges involved in running at institute, and how his staff work at new disease outbreaks. he also talks about his upbringing, family, how he got into medicine, and his relationship with different presidents at the time. >> dr. anthony fauci, director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases how many years? >>