c-span is touring historically black colleges and university kicks off at howard university in washington dc. our guest will be caller:♪ ♪ >> the senate will hold a confirmation hearing for president obama's choice to replace chuck hagel. the center will focus on the obama administration strategy for conflict zones in afghanistan, syria and ukraine. you can see that live here at 9:30 a.m. on c-span3. on the house, a bill passed for the complete overturn of the affordable care act. three republicans voted against the bill yesterday. we will discuss that in a

moment. in our first or a five minutes your thoughts on changes you would make to the affordable care act. have to are a recipient. -- perhaps you are a recipient. you can give your thoughts on changes you would recommend to the administration on changing it. here's how you can call us on different lines. if you are a medical professional or if you are uninsured. everyone else can call on202-748-8003. buchanan also continued the conversation on this on our face up page facebook.com/cspan. about the three republicans that voted with democrats that would have overturned the affordable care act, political right about them and says the three

dissenters detracted the real potential attention. all are likely to the contest is hard in 2016. they said while they did not support the affordable care act a could not support this without immediately meaning to replace it. -- and backs, part of the legislation passed yesterday and calls for several wants to work together with the definite replacement your business taking place in the house yesterday.

no indication from the senate on what they will do with it. in our first 45 minutes, talking about health care under the administration and your thoughts on how you might see changes to it we ask you for your thoughts, four lines this morning. perhaps you are a medical professional 8001. if you are uninsured 8002. everyone else can call on 8003. you are free to post under social media sites. house republicans taking a boat there. the administration responding. it was here at the president was questioned why the republicans were holding another vote.

here's some of that statement. [begin video] >> why is it that this would be at the top of the agenda? to make sure folks who do not have health care are not able to get it? it was maybe plausible to be opposed to the affordable care act before it was implemented. now it is implemented and it is working. people are being covered just as anticipated. the premiums on average are less than $100 when you take into account the tax credit. it is affordable for the people that it was designed to help. health care inflation is at its lowest rate in 50 years. the overall tab for the affordable care act is costing less than the original projections. in every respect this is working

not just as intended but better than intended. the notion that we would play politics with the livelihood of folks who are out there working hard every single day trying to make ends meet makes absolutely no sense. >> i will give you the lines one more time. if you are enrolled 8000. if you are a medical professional 8001. for the uninsured 8002. for everyone else 8003. let's start with patrick this morning in pennsylvania. winky for calling. -- thank you for calling. caller: when you look at any type of solicitations from democrats and republicans you instantaneously know the level of lies, deceit and myth the

relation whether it is the medical industry and the lobbyists, whether it is everything we are now dealing with and insisting it has nothing to do with health care that has to do with rocket ability from the health care industry -- profitability with the health-care industry. for every one dollar that there dad spend, the american people spend four or five dollars. me as an individual, i can create my own health care program if i have a crisis. if i put a significant amount of money in escrow for any type of fiscal crisis. i am not going to encounter the lunacy of what the american people are going to encounter particularly when you are talking about the aspects of operations long-term

conservative therapies. if i have back problems and on and on. host: mickey from georgia, would you change anything? caller: the door thing i would do is go to a single-payer. the insurer i have now is a lot better than what i had before. i could not have kept insurance. the last month of 2013 i had to drop it because of our insurance was $1260 a month with a $10,000 deduct double. now i have two stints put in my heart in december. i could not have even went to a heart specialist with the interest i had before. it was a nightmare it thinking

about $10,000 deductible. i was in a situation that once i dropped my insurance i would not have been able to get it again. no one had covered me. host: the entrance before was through an employer or yourself? caller: i was self-employed. it was a group plan with two members. me and my wife. it was $1250 a month. it was a $10,000 deduct double. host: as far -- caller: $18,000 out of pocket in 2013. host: did you receive subsidies for the entrance you got? caller: i do have subsidies.

we still spent $8,000 out-of-pocket in 2014 for our insurance. that was everything in my premiums and what i paid. host: we would hear from tony, manassas, virginia. the other lines if you are rolled and the aca medical pressure, or uninsured. thank you for holding on. caller: the statistics talked about for every dollar spent the germans been four dollars. that is sad. we need to challenge the system. this meant there out numbers. he said he is saving money. thousands of people have pre-existing conditions.

a lot of people are benefiting. the republicans is scare, try to undermine this president at every turn. every year they come up with the same thing to review. host: as far as the current system itself you would not make any changes? caller: you know, no. what obama said yesterday. you can be very critical. we have a system in this country where when the ball past we have to work with the law. -- law passed, we have to work with the law. [indiscernible] host: that is tony. let's hear from ronnie on the other line. caller: i am retired very.

when this healthcare takes into affect our deductibles were not very high in my wife was injured. i do not know the exact amount of it. it was very expensive. i would have preferred for our own sake that mr. obama would have left it alone. that siad,aid, why have republicans, i am an independent, spend so much of our money on all this repeal? i cannot understand it. we want to conserve money. he will not sign in any way a

repeal of this law. i would like to seea a specific line order of what they plan on replacing it with. host: that is part of the effort made yesterday. one was speaking every appeal of when a replacement. the new york times saying it directs for house committees to report legislation --

host: again, how would you make changes to the affordable care act? call the line which best represents you, on the screen. pennsylvania up next, medical professional. caller: i think the tort reform should be a priority. physicians right now are really being squeezed from both ends. also from the government but they require so many innings now. there is always a threat of reducing the decisions. it is very difficult for physicians to actually save money. i work with the very elderly.

sometimes they just want to be treated and be comfortable under hostile is care. cns makes it very difficult by changing and using a diagnosed that we can use under hospice care. so you know, it makes everything very difficult and expensive. i wish the government insurance companies would give us some leeway to practice better. host: let's hear from sam and merriment. he is insured. caller: my take on this situation as i think the horrible care act is fine the way it is. it does not need to be change. i went from paying $380 a month to paying $850 a month. i am ok with paying more knowing

that more people are being covered. and know there are some casualties like people do not get to keep the plan the light. y liked. the bigger pictures more people are being insured. even for physicians, i have a lot of friends that are just finishing up medical school. they do not have that many job openings and residencies. this is just going to expand the medical field. whenever you take a working business model and expand it and make it bigger, you will end up making more money. host: tennessee gary. caller: i keep listening to all this rhetoric from obama that it is so affordable. even the democrats have said that it was not what they intended to do. it was confusing. we are a couple for the first

time in 40 something years we had to get our own insurance. it is difficult. the price is costing us for retired people. if you want to live off the government heck yeah, it is affordable. it is not free. somebody has to pay for. host: how much are you paying now? caller: it is going to cost me $1600 more this year because of obama that it did before. i really don't have it. i could probably go on welfare with my salary. i'm not going to do it. i will do whatever i have to do. host: what caused you to lose the insurance you have? caller: at&t furnished our insurance all these years for over 40 years. since obama got this deal going they did away with the insurance. we have to get our own. host: 239 to 186 was the vote

in. three republicans who highlighted this -- youand that was on the house side. andrepublicans locking the efforts for funding saying this morning that the democrats blocked the department of homeland security funding will. it would cover the department through september. the gop's effort to stop the executive action on immigration including his decision to stop the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants. we're asking your thoughts on health care and what you would specifically change. different lines this morning. ohio is next on our "other" line. caller: good morning.

the first thing i would change is restructuring the bronze through the platinum plans. so that it is not like a pay structure and instant it is like a what kind of a play and you get. what is offered to you? the bronze is catastrophic and the platinum would be all the bells and whistle. maybe it would be more affordable than based on how you pay. that is the first thing i would change. i ain't offering catastrophic -- think offering catastrophic for people who are helping them want to retire someday and they are not ready for medicare they could actually afford a plan. that is the first thing i would change the rate would also probably get rid of subsidies. has to be affordable were all -- afforadble for all. that is probably the second

thing i would change. host: ""other" line from florida. caller: i wanted to say the administration said costs were down and it only wentu p 3%. i went from a platinum plan to radically a catastrophic plan because they raised me 40%. i called them up and asks of them. they said the cost went up. i said mr. obama said it only went up 3% so how come you jackson lee of 40%? that is the part i do not understand. -- you jjacked me up 40%? that is the part i do not understand. that is ridiculous. host: under the catastrophic plan, what is the cost to you? caller: 700 dollars a month plus a $6,000 deductible.

i am self-employed. i do not get nothing from anybody. i have to get out of my pocket. host: steve up next from florida. he is enrolled in the aca. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i am enrolled in the aca because i had to take early lead from work because of a back injury. in the process of waiting for social security disability it take three or four years before they even consider seeing you in court. i am on the aca plan and i have a $6,000 to debt to pull. last year --deductible. last year i was paying 245 and now it is 338 him appear that is ridiculous. what should happen is you should be able to get the medical care through medicare. i earned so much money i cannot

get medicaid. i am stuck in between. there should he improvements -- nebe improvements. host: if the cost goes up, what are your options? caller: pay for the being or pay a fine. it is unaffordable for me. host: your thoughts on what you would change in the affordable care act. this comes after a house vote yesterday passing legislation that if the president were to sign it would appeal the original plan and replace it with something else. if you want to give your thoughts this morning, if you are enrolled under the the affordable care act 202-748-8000 if you are a medical professional 202-748-8001.

it is today on the senate side that ashton carter will question signatures --go under questioning about what he would do under the department of defense. he adds in the story that republican members have made it clear that they intend to press him about the wisdom of the white house strategy for the conflict zone. -- jump over to the next column. he gives work context. they will question him on whether he would deploy special forces closer to ground conflict zones -- host: that hearing at 930 a.m.

this morning. you can watch it live on c-span3. it is appearing before the senate armed services committee. back to your calls. leroy from troy, montana. would you make any changes to the affordable care act? caller: i would find a way to put everyone on medicare. i do not know how you do that. if you do not ever want to pay a fine for this, you go to the payroll department. you pay enough exemptions where you do not ever get a tax refund here at the democrats want to help they say. the health care law is the third largest tax increase ever on them didle middle class. host: gina up next,

mississippi. medical professional. what kind of medical services do you offer? caller: i actually work in the billing collections part of the medical field. i know personally a lot of the problems that people are encountering with this new affordable care act. one of the issues is the height of that double -- deductibles -- high deductibles. people are not aware on how hard it is going to be to pay the high did that opals. -- deductibles. people are very upset. when we build them they do not have the money. it is transferring one bill and having their premiums to having

to fill -- pay high deductibles and they do not have the money. the doctors are getting stuck with all these high balances. another issue is i agree with the previous three callers when they are talking about the middle class. we need to be able to do fine, there is a certain level of the middle class i feel that get the runs of -- hbrunt of hits. it is people that make over $60,000 and under what hundred thousand dollars to $150,000. we never get breaks on anything. not a single ink. -- thing. it is very unfair. host: you can make your thoughts on twitter and facebook as

well. the highest money for prescription drugs are paid in the united states. these conversations not only continue on this grim and twitter and facebook as well. leah is insane, and a soda on our "other" line. caller: they should just make a dollar tax rate, no other healthcare raise. one dollar for each citizen doing tax time for health care. it'll pay for everybody's health care. it will lower the price of employment health care and lower the price of medical operations. every citizen will pay one dollar for their health care. all the poor people will get their health care paid for. there will be like a chilean

dollars for health care. you get it? host: michigian. caller: i think the biggest issue with the affordable care act is not that it went too far but that it did not go far enough. a single-payer system, can you hear me? host: go ahead. caller: a single-payer system is the only way to handle this. everybody pays for their medical care tax and everybody is covered at the basic level. if you want to live the platinum system you can pay extra. i want to make a comment. it sounds to me that most of the people who are complaining about their rates going up are those who live in states that do not. the exchanges -- create the

exchanges with their own local government screw them out of the system. that will be interesting. host: the supreme court was mentioned in a previous story. there is a story in "usa today." saying it is four words that will be the focus of the attention. tax credit are legal only in health insurance markets --

host: you can read the rest of the story. michigan, thank you for holding on. caller: i am, about the private insurance i have since obamacare took cold. my premiums of my reviews insurance went from-at $40 for just my wife and myself all the way up to 800 something dollars. i had a $5,000 deductible on both of us. i checked into a few insurance companies. i found one in texas for $100 more. now i have practically no deductible four office visits a year for both of us. there is private insurance out there. i do not mind paying for it i do not like paying for two other people besides myself and my

wife. host: georgia, go ahead. caller: yes. yes, my thing is that i think they should centralize the insurance companies. if they centralize our insurance companies where there is one insurance company for the whole country and everybody would be able to be taking care of. we have too many insurance companies. i was all the callers would really understand that. the president don't have the power to increase all these different fees. there are people behind obama with the power. it is people behind george bush making these calls. these are not all that are really concerned about every day

and american citizens. if we as citizens, black, white, brown, it doesn't matter. get off of these raise issues that they want to keep bogged down in going against each other. we all unite. we realize that everybody is concerned. host:the republican parent want great health care for their children. the democratic parent want great health care for their children. host: that is joseph from georgia. you heard from president obama about the efforts to take in the house yesterday. we will hear from a member of the energy and commerce committee. she is marsha blackburn. she is about their efforts. [begin video] it does not work. it has java up costs eared we know 70 of our democratic

colleagues have crossed the aisle and voted with us to repeal different provisions the cousin it does not work. it is not making insurance more affordable. one of my constituents family, her insurance was $57 a month before obamacare. after obamacare, $373 a month. another constituent jimmy is saying he cannot afford to offer the benefit now because of the way obamacare has driven up the cost of insurance. it is offer insurance or close his business. those are the choices. that is why we are here. it does not work. it is time to get this law the books. there are lots of ideas. for my colleagues to know, we have over 100 bills that have been filed that would repeal different provisions of this law. we are doing it because the

american people have said we are tired of this. it is damaging health care. [ebnd video clip] host: they're coming up to an alternative to the affordable care act. you can see everything we have done on our website at c-span.org. al from kansas, medical professional. caller: good morning. the lady that called and earlier about billing the max out-of-pocket is $6,600. it does not for the stomachache and flu. is for heart attacks, strokes, cancer. things that will cost $100,000 or more. in that case it is great. especially for rural hospitals.

the insurance companies has to pick up the rest of the bill. there is redistribution. it will hurt small businesses, individuals, contract risk those type of people who pay for their own health insurance. host: what do you do any medical fill? caller: i'm a licensed agent broker. host: what is life like for you under this new system? caller: fantastic. good for me. bad for everybody else. unless you have cancer. host: from scott's in new in new york. caller: i am a once a month caller. i appreciate your show. you ask a lot of questions. you are very fair. i do not have health insurance. i did my taxes this year. they're going to charge me 168 penalty. next are it will be a success $50 penalty. i was married to an rn for years

. i've never used health insurance. i believe in healing and mice. and our father god. i should not be forced to pay somebody for health insurance that i am not going to use and never have used before. my answer to this would be what we could do is week is are taking these were people who do not have money to go to college and let them go to college. when they get done with their school they can go and do time at a state and federal run hospital to pay off their college there and we could run hospitals and take care of this health insurance or it right now our whole country is running on medical health insurance. we are pushing drugs. half of them we do not even know what they are. host: can ask a question? caller: thank you. host: he left us again.

four lines due to choose from. for those who are uninsured, all others. medical professionals. we have heard from those enrolled in the affordable care act. i asked if you would make changes to the affordable care act. the numbers are on your screen. the letters s are familiar. -- s&p are familiar. here is story in usa today. they agreed for a $1.4 billion settlement saying they have trading mortgage-backed securities and other assets from 2004-2007. they also claimed readings of collateralized debt obligations. in reality, it was affected by significant conflicts of interest.

they can rate this favorably. a more than one occasion, the leadership ignored analyst who ignored the company had given top ratings. that was eric holder in a press conference yesterday. dean from florida is next. good morning. caller: how are you doing? one of the problems with the health care system in this country is the factor that as many people have argued, it is not anything to control costs. one of the few things we can do in order to control costs is to make health care nonprofit. all of the people who are opposed to obamacare or the affordable care act, what they can do is to just do some brief research and look at what other industrialized countries are

doing and how can other industrialized countries afford to insure all of their population? one of the things you will see that they do is they take the for-profit out of health care. this is why canada came on the same pill. the government prevents companies from making profits. for those who do not like obamacare, look at other countries and figure out what they are doing and do the same thing here. the only thing we can do is take the for profit incentive out of our health care system. host: john from florida. he is uninsured. go ahead. caller: good morning. how are you? a lot of people talk about the numbers of people who have enrolled in obamacare.

it is a movie number all the time. in america we work under a free market system. if people were not forced or penalize to be part of obamacare , what would the real numbers the if they had real options were we have a marketplace environment that people pick and choose as opposed to being worse into a system that they may not want to the end. >> all of the papers this morning take a look at the story that started yesterday of the islamic state. a jihadist releasing a video showing them to burn an air force pilot. early wednesday jordan executed superstars and reaction. the king of jordan meeting with president obama yesterday.

the president responding to these events. there is the meeting with the king of jordan. those are in the papers. the president meeting yesterday. jim from queens, new york. on our other line. good morning. oh i had. caller: good morning. i am enjoying your show. i have one or two, and i hope i can reach out to you. one of them is i do not think the government should be involved unless the government is uninsured. i do not think ordinary insurance companies should handle the insurance of the rest of the universe. the marketing universe. that could be done with sound underwriting principles as far as cost. people 38 would pay a little bit different than people 50 or 60. coinsurance would be a natural feature where everything will be covered. you would have a deductible related to last your's income. if i were making $10 million, which i am not, my deductible would be $100,000.

i cannot see bill gates wringing and insurance card down to the local drugstore for a drug. you have deductibles. you eliminate uninsureds and let provincial or metropolitan life handle and manage it. then they can fund the retirement plan or social security. you can transition right into that and keep the government the hell out of our business. thank you. host: dave up next from maine. good morning. he is enrolled in the aca. caller: i would like to see them repeal the medical tax and replace it with a military device attacks. those devices only kill us. host: why do you focus on the medical device attacks? what do you know about it? why do you focus on it? caller: they just released a

story yesterday about it defies that in that light rays that killed every bacteria on planet earth. it will help us eliminate these infections in these hospitals that are occurring. people are going in and coming out with infections they've ever had. medical devices are meant to improve the quality of life on this planet. military devices, what purpose do they serve? we spend a lot more on the military to make up for these shortfalls in the affordable care act. in some way be improving the quality of life that we will all enjoy in the long run. i just cannot understand why they targeted the medical community to tax us when it is really inhibiting growth in that industry and our ability to help each other. it makes no sense. host: a department official appearing before capitol hill

yesterday and talking about cuba issues and about clinical contention. michael gordon has a story saying -- louise radnofskycaller: i just want to agree with to callers ago about taking profit for the insurance companies. my dad remembers the time when there was not insurance. the insurance came along. a doctor visit that was three

dollars immediately jumped to six dollars. that to me is the crux of everything. the affordable care act, we are one of the highest and most expensive places to live in the country. we are doing worse than we first got married in her late 20's. anddo not think it is right that we are forced to purchase insurance. my husband lost his job. we cannot afford the insurance the company offers. it took the have to the paycheck. the affordable care act we would never meet the did that the boat even on the bronze plan. -- bethethe deductibles even on the bronze plan. everything goes toward food and utilities.

our pay goes down. i just do not know. we were on medicaid. we went over the threshold i thousand dollars. now we are not on medicaid anymore. we cannot afford any plans on the obamacare. i really do not know what we're going to do. it is very sad and very stressful. input a strange honor marriage -- it put a strain on our marriage. my husband is very depressed. if we have a couple of extra bucks, we would like to maybe paint our house which has a seen a paint job in 20 years. host: connecticut talking about her spirits is with insurance. if you go to the front page of usa today, it talks about the recent bombs in gas prices. oil is abo -- bumps in gas prices.

if you go to the washington post, it is the low price of oil that is causing new statements to look at keystone xl. this is according to the environmental protection agency. they sent a letter to the special envoy on the issue -- host: one more call on this topic. what you would do to change the affordable care act.

william, a medical professional, you are not. caller: i've been listening people complain about the aca all morning. what he will feel to realize is that insurance is governed by the law of large numbers. everyone can look that up at a later date to see how that works. what they need to do is stop loading against their own best interests. people are aspirational. they want to vote for things. if i get rich one day i do not want to pay for blah blah blah. you need to vote for how you are living today. if you are a couple making $60,000, she probably need to move to a place that is a little more affordable so they can get a reprieve. own a small business. either working on my life. i am 40 years old. i get medical insurance from my employer. when i was working for my

business, my cost were a little bit higher. that is what happens when you go to work for yourself. you have expenses that you have to pay for your people stop voting against your own best interests. republicans are not going to change the law to make it work or the majority of people in this country. host: what do you do? caller: i work for a genetic testing company. we find personalized therapies for cancer patients. a person that had it once and now they have it again. what i do is argue with insurance companies to get them to pay for the tests and therapies. host: william, the last call on this topic on what you would do to change the affordable care act. coming up, you will hear from two legislators. gene green talking about the house vote.

we will hear from him next. later on, robert wittman will be talking about the defense budget. if you go to our website you can see the white house budget your shaun donovan peered he went to defend the 2016 budget proposal. a lot of hearings will take place. here is a bit of his defense. [begin video] >> does your budget spend more or less than we agreed to with president obama and the budget control act of 2011? >> our budget overall reduces spending relative to current law. >> you work for the taxpayers. i am asking you on their behalf a simple question. does your a budget spend more money next year than the current law allows? >> overall our budget reduces

spending compared to current law. >> overall it's been $74 billion more next year than allowed by current law. isn't that true? >> what you are focused on is discretionary spending. i think there is broad agreement that sequestration is hurting our military readiness. the joint chiefs of staff agreed to that. it is hurting our ability to invest. >> you work for the american people. do you oppose spending more money next year on discretionary accounts than was agreed to in the budget control act yes or no? >> i believe i have answered that. >> no, you haven't. >> our budget fully pays for those increased investment on the discretionary side with

mandatory spending reductions and cutting wasteful spending in the tax code. >> one of the ways you fix a budget problem is when you agree to a spending limit you stick to it. i am going to ask you one more time. let's see if we can get this right. the american people need to know. do you propose to spend more next year than the budget control act would allow? >> we propose to lifted the sequestration cap which have been harmful to our military readiness, harmful to economic growth. we more than fully pay for those with reductions in spending on the mandatory side and reducing wasteful spending in the tax code. >> you intend to spend more than agreed to. will you say that? >> our budget proposes -- >> why what you say it? what allows you to continue in that way? [end video clip]

host: if you go to our website at suspend -- c-span. or, you can see that another hearings that will take us on the president's budget. joining us now is representative gene green a democrat from texas and a member of the health subcommittee. we know now because of this boat that took place yesterday that a portion of the efforts by republicans is to come up with some type of alternative to the affordable care act. what is the committee's role in this? guest: i would be glad to be part of axing what is wrong with the affordable care it has been five years now. my republican colleagues have talked about eliminating the affordable care act but they have not come up with a solution for it. that is the problem. what we did in 2009-2000 10 is not perfect.

there is not a perfect legislation that passes any legislative body. if they want to pick some the things that is wrong, i would be glad to be a part of that. yesterday we voted for the 56th time to repeal it. how often do had to be told no it is not going to happen? i would love to see what they would do to replace it. my goal has always been access to health care for my constituents. i do not represent a healthy area in houston. we have a high percentage of people who work and do not get insurance. now 20,000 on my constituents did the first roll out. they have insurance they do not have before. do you believe republicans come up with a viable alternative? caller: it is difficult. it is tough. we fought with each other over how to do it. you have to make some decisions. people want health care but how

to get there is the tough part. host: to the question, do you think they can come up with something that works? guest: i wish them luck. i would like to see what they come up with. host: you said you had issues with the aca. what would they be? guest: we had a house built. the strategic rate of growth for medicare. there's, we fixed that permanently. the senate did not do a. congress emerges. we are trying to fix how doctors treat medicare patients. that should have been done. the houston not include the medical device tax. we pay for it in different ways. -- the house did not include the medical device tax. we pay for it in different ways. i think it doesn't hinder the messick manufacturing. our european friends to not have to pay that tax. host: we had several callers

talking about cost. what has to be done to control cost? guest: in the big extra, the control of costs have gone down for the first time in their history. part of it is because the affordable care act. our system afford it. my constituents without insurance use the emergency room for their health care. it is probably the most expensive way you can ever get health care. what we're trying to do, and republicans talked about it too let's create a medical home whether it be a help center or a physician where they can create that medical homes and they did not have to wait until a diabetic episode to show up at the emergency room. i have sinus. i've had it since i was in my 20's hear it and do not need to go to emergency rooms. -- in my 20's.

i do not need to go to emergency room. host: constituency my cost keep going up to this and they will go up to that. how do you respond to that? guest: historically, he health care costs have grown dramatically. when i was in business i had to negotiate for my employees that i helped manage. this is back in the 70's and 80's. every year we would see 10 or send -- 10% or 15% increase for our employees. my job was to try to get a decent health care plan at the lowest cost. that happens every day. in the last few years, the growth of our health care costs have gone down. it is saving the federal budget a lot of money. host: he is the ranking member, representative gene green at texas. he is joining us to talk about issues of health care and other matters. if you have questions, here's how you can ask them. republicans are 202-748-8001.

democrats are 202-748-8000. independents are 202-748-8002. if you want to send a tweet you can do so at cspan@wj.org a question about measles. and a lot of discussions about measles. what do you think about the reports you're hearing? what is the best way for the government to respond if they should respond? guest: fascinations are the cheapest thing we can do for health care. i do not know why my children when they were growing up they got their vaccinations. you and i know even at our age there are things we can do. instead of getting shingles you can have a vaccination. that was not available a generation ago. they save lives and dollars.

in our district, it is not a wealthy area, for 20 years we have been doing vaccinations through our local community and school districts vaccinating children before they go to school. the measles is part of that. one year we had an outbreak of adult measles. we had to have extra serum for the families that came in not just the children. the measles vaccine that was issued a few years ago that is still around. you can go to the internet and say that it may cause autism but there is just no scientific basis for that. host: john boehner when asked about this issue said i do not know if we need another natural law but i do believe all children should be vaccinated. is that your belief? guest: that is my belief. the only thing nancy pelosi and john boehner agree on. they believe in measle vaccinations. in 2000 we said we conquered measles. would people not getting the

vaccination, we are seeing that happen. what happened in disney land literally across the country. host: let's go to calls. leon is from port royal pennsylvania. independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to ask you. tell me a little bit about your -- host: go ahead. caller: can you tell me in little bit about how you are covered personally? tell me how much your premiums are and how much your deductible is? also, how can we be 18 trillion in the red and we are going to be able to afford this affordable care act? guest: first of all, it the affordable care act was totally pay for in the congressional budget that we passed in 2010. people do not like how it was going to be paid for but it was paid for. it is not costing one time.

it is saving money from the national debt to personally i've always worked at a company that had insurance. i said earlier that i learned to print a newspaper. after i got out of college i help negotiate insurance premiums. my personal insurance right now is that up until the affordable care act members of congress were under the federal but there was an amendment in the bill in the senate that said members of congress needed to go exchange. i am part of the d.c. exchange and i'm from texas. mine are higher than it could ever be because i needed doctors on my insurance ran from texas not from d.c., because i go home every weekend and my health care is divided at home. the exchange compared the federal plan one i have $400 a month.

i'm in a unique situation. 67 years old. i'm not taking medicare because i am still working. i have to get doctors and hospitals in my home district, the houston area, and compare it to washington dc . . my staff does not fit any of the criteria. we pay much better than that. i do not get financial assistance. but it is about $400 a month for my wife and me. caller: good morning. i support you on your process for the affordable care act. i am not too sure if you saw the 60 minutes program is sundays ago.

[indiscernible] hospitals and university hospitals that claim to be nonprofitable. if you saw that program, you would know exactly what is wrong with health care in this country. i came from where there is no health care, but since i have been here, i have been following politics in the american way. but if you saw that program on 60 minutes sir, we all know what is wrong. it is not health care insurance but hospital charges. >> i agree. hospitals, whether in fact there studies show the best you can get is institutions attached to a school, so you will get hospitals to do that.

but we have lots of options. in houston, we have for-profit hospitals and nonprofit hospitals. we are trying to get some of the cost out of the health care for the taxpayer in the average person who pays the premiums like i do. >> texas set up a federal exchange? let's know. we have a lot of pride in texas. i wish we could create our own system in texas. we think we can do it better and i want to give it a chance. we also do not do medicaid. i know a lot of people who work in a make to much money to get medicaid but because of the supreme court decision, there is a gap. we have very poor people who want to cover their families to see how they could make a little more money so they can get the subsidies for low income. >> has her governor expressed any interest in setting up a website?

>> he did not want to expand medicaid and did not want to do a state exchange. if i were in texas and could get my insurance, i cannot get it in texas and still be under the plan i would be in a national plan. in d.c., i would be in the d.c. plan. >> here is susan, connecticut, republican line, go ahead. >> good morning. it is about vaccinations. we do not have needles in the united states. we eradicated a lot of -- measles immunity states. we eradicated a lot of diseases. when you think they are coming from? wouldn't it be the answer that people are coming in illegally without all these diseases? nobody is directing it to the people coming across the border who are not vaccinated.

why are we the ones being blamed for it? guest: i have a district that is overwhelmingly hispanic underserved for health care. like i said earlier, i have been doing vaccinations in the office before school starts 20 years now. some of the records i see from my constituents who are from mexico are much better than what we do in our own country. mexico and american countries have a much better immunization program than we do in our country. i do not know if it is coming from mexico but what happened in disneyland, i do not know how many people are noncitizens, but in california, a group of people think it is safer not to get your vaccinations. when i was a kid, we did not have the measles -- i had the

measles. it is one of our medical successes that we can take vaccinations. host: should there be exceptions for religious or philosophical reasons? guest: my child, if i do not vaccinate them, they could develop measles. and maybe the rest of the classroom not vaccinated or some of them are if you had one or two, that is not bad. when you see the numbers we are seeing increased and people say it is not healthy to vaccinate your child, no doctor would tell you that area if you have a religious conviction, that is one thing. just saying philosophically that makes no sense at all. host: if you go down to 2014 600 cases discovered.

is this a problem? yes we are seeing an uptick. we are a big country. the numbers are going. if we do not reiterate how important vaccinations are, not only for measles but the other vaccinations we have success now, we actually conquer some childhood diseases that devastate people in the early 60's. host: doug in springfield, missouri. democrats line. go ahead. caller: my question is this your first, a statement. i pay $1000 a month for a premium. i have been doing that for 30 years of my life it is now mandated that you have to buy insurance. i'm not surprised. why is it insurance companies mandated to cover you fully when you get sick.

why is the money for drugs companies? why do they not cover me when i get sick? i will hang up and listen. thanks. >> do have insurance through your employer, $1000 a month, i have not counted how much i had paid over the years every insurance policy, you can get a cheaper policy for higher deductibles you may have a $500 month plan. that is all is the law under insurance. most of the governments who have insurance, we have by vince. kind of like medicare.

caller: i am one of the people who got insurance to the affordable care act. two years ago, my wife had cancer. we got kicked out of three emergency rooms, approximately well over $180,000. at the end of 2013, 100 $80,000. we got kicked out of three emergency rooms. finally, in my life, i am independent contractor. i had the chance to get insurance. my premium was $360 per month. she finally got to see a doctor in february of last year. that those 235 thousand dollars. if people think $12,000 a year is too much for a seven-day stay

in the hospital, i just do not understand it. eventually because she had cancer, a very rare cancer, she could not be treated very she died last year. we did not get any care in 2012. i believe everybody has a right to life. if i do not have insurance, i do not have the right to life. isn't that in the constitution? let's know, the first of all, i am sorry for your loss. in our family, we have lost loved ones to cancer. my brother and my wife's had her brothers. our system in our country, as you compare it, and that is what caused the affordable care act to come into being, we pay the highest health care in the world.

a good example for an independent contractor, he cannot get private insurance. our small company, we had 13 employees and it was tough for us to find insurance companies who would give us a quote. he now has a chance to get it. i am concerned you were kicked out of the emergency room. federal law for decades has been that they have to treat you and stabilize you and then he will be transferred to a public hospital system or something else. but that has been the law for many years. you have to get emergency treatment and then you're transferred somewhere else maybe a public off the. >> las vegas republican line. >> hello, representative graham. it is so good to see and talk with you again. i want you to just keep fighting for the affordable care act because without people like yourself and a lot of the other

democrats, a lot of people would not be able to see a doctor. the cost of them going to the emergency room's and all would exceed more than what this is doing. one thing i do like about you is that you not only look out for the middle-class. you look out for your port people. you look out for the upper-class, whatever. and when you hear so many people talk about, well, he is -- president obama said i could keep my insurance. he did not lie. he did, matt. he did not throw them off of the insurance. the company did. the doctors threw them off of the insurance. so, you know, like i said, used to live in houston. branch to 83. you always come through to see us when you are in town. you always try to look after your constituents.

tell ms. green i said hello. both of you are looking as lovely as ever. ? father-in-law passed away from cancer. i spent a lot of time in the union halls in our district and i like going by and talking to them or they do a great job. thank you. ask richard is up next republican line. >> good morning, congressman. you earlier said if you will had turned down the cost of insurance. >> what it has done is it slows the growth of the cost. >> is a truly affordable health care does not kick in fully until 2016? >> well, there are things that go into effect over a time -- over years, you are right, but we have seen since the affordable care act hassan 2010 the slowing of the growth rate in medicare costs from the government and also the private

sector. we have seen cost go down. it makes reasonable sense. i was a his and his major in college but i'm not an economist. a lot of people have skin in the game with more people covered. if they do not have coverage and they get compensated care or are transferred to a public hospital system, somebody has to pay for that and we have a federal program that pays for uncompensated care area probably about $.50 on the dollar. if someone does not have insurance on it is lost in all of us. host: did you have a follow-up? caller: if i could. because you have an insurance card, doesn't mean you will not get service there and i live in a small town. if the doctors do not take my insurance card, i have to go to a rigorous city in canada, florida. just because you have an insurance card, does not mean you will get health care.

>> that is true. when you buy an insurance policy, you need to make sure who is on that, your doctors. we have some problems with people getting insurance cards where the hospitals are on it but doctors are not. we are trying to get health and human services to look at that. people have hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills they should not have even though that hospital was on their insurance land. classless hear from wallace albany, georgia, democrats line. >> -- caller: representative green, what i wanted to ask you is would you please explain the comment of president obama when he said you could keep your health care, and it was brought out before i could think about it. would you please explain to the people, what he meant because they are saying is lying that you can keep your insurance if

you would like to keep it. >> what the president said was correct. the company i work for, our insurance would have come right with whatever the affordable care act for wired us to do. in number of policies, high deductible policies, policies really hardly worth what you're paying for, that did not qualify to be called insurance policies under the affordable care act. new standards were set for insurance companies to institute policies that would actually pay benefits instead of just a piece of a verb. that is what happened. a lot of companies, individuals were not complying with the new law because now, they have to have a list of benefits and you cannot just say i can sell you a $25,000 deductible policy. how many people spend that kind of money? it is worthless and those policies do not qualify under the policies in the affordable care act.

>> the president's new budget takes specific looks at medicare and some of the proposals in the new york times story say that beneficiaries would have to pay more for coverage. that would introduce healthcare services, and proposing a surcharge on premiums for new beneficiaries who by generous insurance to supplement medicare care what you think about the proposals and what does it particular do -- particularly do ? >> most president's budget, they have things i like and do not like. i do not like with the president is doing with medicare and a few other things. i would like to see the next two years of college being paid just like in public schools. there are a lot of things in there that are good. i do not want to do that to our seniors. they already now pay a higher percentage of their budget for health care, even though they

have medicare. but they have to buy those policies. i think we do not want to punish them by paying for a higher, more benefits. they are willing to pay with their own money. i disagree with the president and i would not vote for and i would hope we would have a majority of congress not vote for that. >> give care under medicare as well? >> he may be is met to pay, the strategic rate of growth. in 1997, the controlled doctors reimbursement under medicare. congress had not have the will to do it over the years, so we keep messing with it. there are ways to pay for it without having to charge seniors. >> what things do you not like? >> typically, the budget, i talked about transportation care that is great. we need infrastructure improvements and he pays for it

by bringing back income from ceos companies. he actually cut $200 million out of the engineers budget, which bothers me. it is not just the port of houston. the port of baltimore, san francisco, l.a.. we already pay a maintenance tax that goes into the federal treasury and is only supposed to be's and for maintenance and expansion. while would the president cut it except we use it to compensate balance. we have to keep competitive with what is happening in the world. host: democrat from texas you're up next. go ahead. caller: good morning. i was puzzled by what you said when you said that you buy insurance over the exchange rather than at 67, you are eligible for medicare.

i am on medicare and it is better than any insurance policy i've ever had. i wonder if you do not tell us the whole story. of the federal government reimburse you for your expenditure whereas they might not reimburse you for your meta--- medicare? ? turned 65, because i was working, i was told i could take medicare but the state at that time, the federal employees benefits plan. i know there are some people, it is a choice you make when you're 60 i've. i'm still working and i do not think i need to be a part of medicare and i do not mind paying a higher premium. we may get, because of the exchange, i know my wife and i the premium was $400 a month. i have a unique situation. if i go to a doctor in d.c., it is probably the emergency room.

but all my doctors, and i will get my health care in texas, so i have to have a d.c. exchange policy that covers positions in euston and hospitals in houston. i am in a unique situation and that is why i'm paying a lot more. some people are paying more. and again, we can work those through. we do casework in health care and medicare work in our own district. classless hear from kerry in florida, republican line. you are on. good morning. caller: thanks for c-span. anyway, my one point is when you talk about obama line, the lie about you can keep your plan, not only did obama take away all the bad plans, he took away all the good plans. you can keep your plan, but he got rid of all the good plans. i sell insurance. i've heard horror stories. people have lost the plans they loved for years. this plan, this affordable care

act, it is a nightmare. do you understand? another fact is, me personally, i went online to ensure my 20-year-old water $390? the other thing that is really important questions you are an insurance agent, you ought to be able to know she had an option for her a lot of different ends. i do not know if that was a bronze land way higher-rated plan. a 20-year-old may not need a higher-rated plan, but as you get older, we need more coverage for insurance because the nature of our lives, as we get older we have to see doctors more. caller: if i have to pay $400 for my daughter but i have a $6,000 deductible, when will i ever use it, sir? guest: there have always been deductibles and you can pick those under the affordable care act just like when we were buying insurance before it. it has to be a deductible that is reasonable.

$6,000, you have co-pays. that is what insurance has always been about. the solution to this, every other industrialized country in the world, europe, canada, have government run insurance. we are using the private sector. you can buy the affordable care act through an insurance agent and our other competitors already -- all have national healthcare. we are trying to keep free enterprise in our health care. host: talking about repeals that will go forward, taking a look at the subsidies. this is the story from usa today. are you concerned about the case? guest: i am concerned about any time the supreme court wasn't something the president passed and congress signed. it is easy. the supreme court ruled earlier the states do not have to expand medicaid, even though they had medicaid earlier. that hurt state like texas that

texas did not expand it. i have literally thousands of the insurance who make a little too much money to get medicaid in texas area they have fallen in a gap that they do not get the subsidies unless they have a certain amount of income. what the supreme court case is is that states who did not create their own state plan, their constituents get subsidies. if you are in texas, you get a national plan and we would live our -- lose our subsidies. i do not get one, and i do not think that is right. the supreme court decision cause the problem and now we have a court case addressing saying your decision caused the problem paying subsidies, so now we want you to her the affordable care act even more. classes is a specific reading on whether or not the market base was established by the state. that is the concern over this. >> that is the problem. we voted yes 56 times to repeal

the affordable care act. there is a lot of dislike out there, but it passed, it is the law. the lady from florida, i would not say ronald reagan lied anymore than i would ever say president obama lied and we have a president of united ways and i give honor to him the matter what party they're from. host: republican line, jerry, hello. caller: good morning. question for mr. green there areas you have heard numerous reports of the outrageous charges put on people by the health industry. when are you going to do something about that? when are we going to validate that those are legitimate charges? it is ridiculous to spend three days in the haas will and come out owing $50,000. what can they do to you in three days for $50,000? >> happens is

if you go to the hospital without insurance, you pay whatever the cost is. there is nobody negotiating. every insurance company, just like medicare does. medicare has a certain pay scale for whatever illness we have when we go to a doctor or a half total. private insurance will pay higher than what medicare reimburses. try there, which is for our retired military, pays less than medicare and medicaid. those costs are controlled. every insurance company negotiates with a hospital or a group of hospitals and say, you do this, heart problems. this is what you will get reimbursed for. >> from iowa, here is pat. hide. klesko low. my concern with the vaccinations is the mercury the drug companies put in it to preserve

it, mercury is just plain poison. guest: i agree that mercury is poison. but i also know that the amount of mercury, and i think it was taken out years ago, so vaccinations today will not cause that there there is not a scientific, in the last 20 years, a scientific study that says vaccinations will cause you to have autism. everyone from the speaker of the house and nancy pelosi agree and vaccinations are the cheapest medical dollars somebody could send. in some cases, we do it free for our constituents once a year. why would we not? the internet is great, but a lot of things on the internet are not correct. host: new jersey, hello. caller: how are you this

morning? guest: are you thawing out in new jersey? caller: yes it is a little cool here, but it is ok. what i have to say is that this plan should be changed to equal affordable health care. that means everybody should get the same policy, the same health care and-based premiums on how much you make so that everybody gets the same health care, from the president all the way down. that is all i have to say. guest: i appreciate it. there were those considered called medicare for all. to expand medicare below the age of 65. we could not get the votes for that we had a democratic congress. we were able to pass the we had there nothing we ever passes perfect. i would like to go back in and

fix some of the problems and corrected. host: your states came up. it was during a rules committee hearing that he got into an argument with the texas governor. mr. hastings said, had governors worked in the administration -- and then, he is asking for an apology and hasting response, you can wait for hell to freeze over before any apology.

>> i've worked with congressman burgess on health care. obviously, we have some differences. i love texas, but i want texas to actually cover our own constituents and they could. we have a lot of texas pride. i want a texas plan to cover the people in texas? florida is probably a nice place to visit, though i do not know i would lock -- would want to live there. i know hastings and would serve with him since he got elected. he is a good guy and tempers were flaring in the rules committee, which is not unusual. they have a lot -- free speech and the rules committee. i am sure there will be, we've been doing it almost every week since we came back in. the joke was, insanity is doing the same thing every day is nothing to do the -- expecting a different outcome. we have done the same thing with

the outcomes there. it would be vetoed. we are covering out 10 million plus evil under the affordable care act who did not have insurance before. 20,000 in our own district. why would we eliminate that? i look forward with what my republican colleagues, with. host: thank you for your time. coming up, we will hear from the virginia republican, rob wittman. we'll ask him about a proposal and he will join us next did we later kickoff a new series about historically black colleges. all of that as we continue. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] ♪

>> this sunday on q&a, david brooks on writing an article for the times and the awards he gives that at the end of the year. the city awards. >> they are given for the best magazine essay of the year. they can be and journals, the new yorker, the atlantic, and the idea is they always come out around the christmas week between christmas and new year's are the idea is that is a good week to step back and not read innocent stuff, tweets newspaper articles, but to step back and read something deeper and longer and it is elevate those longer pieces. i do believe that magazines change history. in a republic, until his recent is -- destruction, really changed history. created a voice for modern liberalism.

conservatism barely existed. it gave it a voice. >> sunday night on c-span's q&a. >> the political landscape has changed with the 114th congress. there are 43 new republicans and 53 new democrats in the house or 12 new republicans and one new democrat in the senate. there are also 108 women in congress, including the first african american republican in the house and the first woman veteran in the senate. keep track of the members of congress using the congressional chronicle page, which has a lot of useful information, including voting results and statistics. washington journal continues. host: joining us, representative

rob wittman, a republican from virginia, the chair of the subcommittee on readiness. good morning eric to start off things, a lot of papers this morning about the slang of this pilot by isis. what you think of the situation and what the reaction from the united states should be? >> we had a meeting to visit the king. this is barbaric, brutal, except will by any means. we spoke about what we could do, along with muslim communities across the world, to make sure we defeat isis. it is pure and simple. he brought up a great point and said, this is a choice for the world, including the islamic world, because -- between good and evil. we must choose the side of good and defeat isis. as we have seen yesterday, not just with the pilot, but with the two japanese individuals here who were beheaded here it

is absolutely on acceptable in the world needs to stand against this. the united states cannot be the only nation working on this. we have to have other muslim nations. the king has been working very hard to bring together a coalition of those nations, as you know, with the transitional leadership in saudi arabia, waiting for that to bring together these muslim nations. i agree with him, he says this needs to have an muslim face, it has to be muslim nations that are taking the and -- the issue up. united states could be a part of that and i think united states could be the coordinator at were the leader of the effort but it cannot do it by itself. it imposes upon all of us a moral obligation to defeat isis and the barbaric treachery they permeate through all of their acts. >> did the king offer any specifics about what the united states can do? >> we talked in general about the things jordan will do. they will go in and fly missions into iraq 30 said they would fly as long as they have fuel and

ammunition. one of the roles of the united states is to be able to assist jordan. the refugees, they have taken them on in syria. the international community needs to help jordan because they are the one solid rock of stability in the region, taking on isis and the refugees in those areas. they need some help. the king is very strong and jordan is a proud nation. they certainly need help from the united states and other nations to combat isis. classic president's budget takes a look at the defense department . first of all, what you think of the figure and how that $585 billion would you find it? >> we must set aside this question. the president's budget reflects setting aside $35 billion of the sequester. it funds $51 billion in overseas contingency operation funds. i think it is going in the right direction.

there are differences i have in specifics, but i think congress has to set aside those of us are it relates to the defense spending. we still have to control deficit and the debt. we still have to abide by the cats in the budget control act. there are other areas to reduce spending. remember prior to 2011 thousand 11, the budget control act of 2011, the rate hundred billion dollars of cuts already put in place. the budget control act put another $500 billion in cuts, and by any measure unacceptable. i can tell you based on the readiness review we had yesterday, this nation's military readiness is not where it needs to be. we are lagging behind and our adversaries are working day and night to surpass us if we do not do what is necessary to fund the nation's military, we will not be in a position we want to be. that said, we must also put in

place efficiency. our areas in the pentagon where we can do a better job with the money we send there. we have, long way with a large number of cuts. the pentagon is still trying to absorb those cuts and put those efficiencies in place. we need to continue to do strict oversight to make sure the money is spent in the best way possible. even under the greatest level of efficiencies, we still fall well short of the readiness needed for our forces to meet the challenges around the world. >> what tops the list? >> the acquisition process absolutely needs to be fixed. the chairman and myself and others are taking the issue on to ensure there are better decisions they made. many times, the acquisition is short term in its prospectus. it is low-cost and technically accessible. the cheapest item, one that is minimally technically acceptable.

the lifecycle costs may be much higher. we need to build efficiencies and look at what the best value is, and how we make the best decisions. we have seen, unfortunately, a series of decisions where we wasted a lot of money, we ended up not having the sums we needed, or they do not work very we need to put more efficiency in that acquisition process there that is how i believe we can get to the root of getting to what they need, getting the best technology, getting in at the best price and the best value. >> those statements were made for the f 35 project. is that what you mean as far as what was not spent well? >> we need the fifth-generation aircraft. the process we went through to make decisions for the development of that was flawed. as you know, it is coming in late and over budget. both elements are unacceptable. we cannot repeat the decision may process for how we came about that. we need the aircraft, but we need to do a better job making

the decision to acquire that aircraft. >> we are seeing about $10 billion late aside. >> that is correct. but remember we are not purchasing as many as we had planned previously. just like with f-22, the cost per unit of the aircraft is based on a manufacturer of a certain number. as the number goes down, the cost of aircraft goes up and that exacerbates the problem we will correct and that creates efficiencies. i hope we get things back on track. f 35 is one of the areas we all have a concern about, the decision-making of that process and ultimately getting the aircraft to the air force, navy the marine corps, so we can get it on the flight line, in use and begin to retire some of the legacy aircraft that cost more. upgrades to make sure the navy has the aircraft they need. as to their costs. it is an unexpected cost. there are all secondary effects that come from poor

decision-making and delays of the f 35. >> our guest is the chair of the subcommittee on readiness. if you want to ask questions -- the line for republicans. for democrats, -- you can tweet us and send us an e-mail as well. a commission was put together by the defense department, taking a look at retirement issues, pension issues. they came out with a report calling for changes. briefly, can you highlight some of the proposals they made one do you think about those? is that a way to cut costs? >> there are elements where you can cut costs. we have to be careful how this affects recruitment and retention. we have an all volunteer force. that is very different and you have to look very careful at these proposals. things like making sure somebody

is in the military for less than 20 years actually has a retirement benefit they could take with them. i like that. some of the changes to try care could be problematic for folks. i think anything you do has to be put in place for those who come into the military at some time in the future. we have an obligation as a nation for those serving and those who have served, to stand by the benefits they have earned. any discussion that companies to ensure military members and veterans, that we will not change existing benefits. another area i think is of concern is what exactly do they mean by combining exchanges? we want efficiencies there, but those exchanges are no for our military families. some argue there are other opportunities for the military emirates to purchase. i will say the exchanges play a critical role for military families and we cannot forget that. i want to make sure, those things we take a look very

carefully at. making sure we stand by the nation's moral obligation to our veterans and currently serving active duty for the benefits they earned. >> chicago, illinois, democrats line. caller: hi, congressman. i have a couple of questions. please bear with me. the coalition currently that the president has put together, -- question coalition the president has put together -- guest: the coalition that the president put together, i want to see coalition members do more. several are doing all they can with what they have. right now, we only have one of those nations actually flying active military missions into iraq. that is problematic. i think we need to engage other countries around the world. again, i think this is a fundamental decision everybody

around the world has to make. are you on the side of good or the side of evil? we have to, with united states leading the way take on the evil forces there perpetrated by isis. it is not just isis. there are other terrorist groups out there. the most immediate issue is isis. we need to expand that coalition. providing support i think those need to be forces from other nations to displace isis. that has to be a muslim immigrant. it cannot be a sole united states effort.

the effort and needs to be other nations. not just by the united states, but by other partners. guest: u.s. forces are already on the ground right now in a mission. i think that need to continue but i want to make sure we have efforts not just in the air, but on the ground, that includes forces from other nations. i think you will eventually have to have that. first of all, i do not think in the long run it will be as effective as it would be if we had other nations, especially muslim nations. secondly the revolving door of u.s. forces coming in and out of the -- as we have on -- unrest, that is not a long-term sustainable strategy. i want to make sure nations were there to make sure those efforts

are effective. those other countries do not have the surveillance and reconnaissance efforts we have to bring forces together. the u.s. can play a critical role, but it cannot be the sole perpetrator of the effort to combat isis. >> here is jim from pittsburgh, new york. republican line. go ahead. >> good morning. i am wondering the view of the world, as the president of the united states releases the five prisoners there in exchange for the traitor. after what happened yesterday in jordan. what is your take on that? one quick thing, being from virginia, are you helping with your state with the commission of the state's program? i will hang up and listen to your response. thank you. >> that are is actually a bill before the general summit. members are debating that back and forth to determine what

virginia will do. as far as the five taliban detainees released, in every one of those situations, when i shared the oversight and investigations subcommittee for houston armed services, who looked very carefully at how many detainees were released from want, no return to the fight. by any member -- by any measure and an ordinarily high number there is we are to see one trying to reengage. i think these are all very high level, function areas within the taliban. they are going to want to get back to the battlefield. our effort is to look at their activities for about a year and i'm there now are that, they will return. we have to look carefully at the policy of detainees and where they are being released and the opportunities for them to return back to the battlefield. it is unconscionable if that

happens and may return and end up killing americans and that is totally preventable. that should drive the policy in looking for detainees that potentially could be released from guantanamo, already a large number. these are the most dangerous of detained. we need to question that very thoroughly. congress gives very specific directions saying, listen, we do not want law -- the high-level functioning terrorist because we know the threat and the risks that goes with releasing them especially with countries that do not have a good record of keeping up with detainees to ensure they do not engage in the terrorist activities. host: michigan, barry is up next. democrats line. guest: i have not heard in several years. has anybody ever found $19 billion lost in iraq, or are they just writing that off?

i am curious about that. it seems like nobody seems to worry about it anymore. guest: on the house armed services committee as well as the appropriations committee there is a lot of concern about dollars, both in iraq and afghanistan, that have disappeared. the pentagon has done investigations to try and track down that money. it is unfortunate they were not able to find that money. that to me is absolutely on acceptable. is one of the reasons i as well as other members in the house armed services to make sure that all are required to do an audit. believe it or not, they are still not at a point where they fully audit all their functions. it is difficult, but it has to happen. unless you have an auditing motion, he will continue to have a situation like this where it is hard to track the money back. that goes back to what i said earlier about making sure we have accountability within the pentagon. today, a former deputy secretary who is going through confirmation hearings in the senate spoke that we have an

obligation to spend money efficiently and with full trance and see. the only way you get old fast as he is to make sure we have that function. it has long been delayed and needs to happen much sooner than later, and we have to have that to make sure american taxpayers are assured that their money being effective and that they are getting what their money is paid for -- paying for. waste and acquisitions, or the administration elements within the pentagon. the way to ensure there is full transparency and maximum efficiency is to have the audit so we can know where the money goes and where it is being spent and the effectiveness of those programs where it can't, and confidence do you have in carter to become the next defense department secretary? >> i have had the opportunity to work with him and i think he is very effective and that he understands the service that is. he understands the pentagon and our men and women in uniform.

i think he comes to the job well-suited. he has the proper perspective understanding has an obligation not just to ensure we address is like this ester, but that we address issues of efficiency within the pentagon so we are fully assure the dollars being spent there are being used in the proper way. i think he is able to do that. he was there at the deputy secretary level. he put in place a number of programs to put that transparency in place. i think he has got the right perspective to become the next deputy. >> part of the hearing today will take late tonight, starting on the senate side. you can see that on c-span3. the party will really be asking him about the positions on iraq and afghanistan and syria. what do you want to hear on that front? plus i want to see if he agrees or disagrees with the current as of the national defense policy in the strategic vision of the nation and are we properly aligned to meet these threats? what is the current direction it

is my? do we need to redirect? how does he see the pentagon's input to the policy being made out of the white house? if he believes differently than the president or the national security team, and where he thinks a space to happen in the national pentagon. what i would like to hear is his desire to make sure he is the voice on behalf of what the nation needs to do and on behalf of our men and women in uniform and the -- on behalf of the service branches to ensure we are doing what is necessary. >> up next, here is rob on our independent line. go ahead. >> good morning. hello. could you add some more money or something in the defense budget to actually do more investigations of the va hospital's? because everyone i know, i am 67, is still very disappointed in them.

and maybe transfers some of the managers at the hospital heated buildings, you cannot end a third thing, republicans need to use environmental lawsuits to block obama's actions like on immigration. tie him up with environmental lawsuits, the way they have tied up a lot of republican initiatives. thanks. >> sure. the issue with the low is certainly at the forefront of everybody's mind here on capitol hill. the bill that passed to begin the debt begin a process fix the v.a. i think still requires more action. i just visited our hospital in virginia. there are a number of challenges there, beginning with the time it takes for a veteran to get an appointment just for my merry care. at that hospital, 36 days to get a primary care appointment.

that is absolutely unacceptable. we have to continue efforts to fix the v.a.. how do we best use the resources there? our effort previously directed a lot of resources there. i make sure the resources gets the right place and will be used efficiency. -- efficiently. we have a lot of work ahead of us to fix the v.a.. one of these proposals is to use military facilities on bases that are not currently utilized for veterans facilities. i think that is a great idea and we ought to look at opportunities where we could put that in place where it virginia, we are looking at two v.a. care centers that the state has worked with localities to donate land and put some dollars into accelerate the building of those facilities. it is critical as well to look at how do we utilize the entire medical community to me veterans needs? we ought to be looking at a faster path to get veterans to see specialists. right now, we allow that to happen in the veterans know that

passed but it is not happening the way it was intended. i think our va hospital's need to be focused on primary care and fast appointments for veterans. there is no reason why it should take 36 days to be seen by doctors. those are the things we need to work on immediately to get done. we can cross over from the house armed services committee to the veterans affairs committee and work together -- and work together. >> or public in line, florida. good morning. caller: i want to address the readiness aspects of the military. i was in the military before the korean war started. we thought that world war ii was the end of all wars and all of a sudden, here we got a war, and we were not ready and we did not have the right to amend, training, or whatever. the north koreans pushed us down into the peninsula and almost into the water. that is because we were not

prepared. i tell you this guy here, this chairman of that subcommittee, he does a good job and a need to put a lot of emphasis on it, because if we are not ready, we are going to get our butts kicked again. >> i could not agree more. the issue of readiness is right at the forefront. you bring up a great example. task force in korea. we went they're ill-prepared and ill trained. we thought as soon as u.s. forces went in there, they would up and run. they did the opposite. it wasn't on so the general came back and that we were able to retake that. lessons learned the hard way. today, our military readiness is lacking. we have a quarterly readiness review yesterday. by any measure, our readiness is lacking in a number of critical areas.

i think we must do everything we can to fill the readiness back up. readiness is a perishable commodity. also, modernizing our forces. if you do not do that on a constant basis, the readiness degrades. today, we are consuming readiness fastness and we are generating it era when that happens, the bottom line is when called upon, we will do less, we will do it less timely manner and we will suffer more casualties. i do not think american people are willing to settle that, so we have to do everything possible to bring our readiness levels back what -- back up to where they need to be. those debts are many, not just what we are seeing in the middle east with terrorist groups. it is also very active and aggressive china. same with north korea. we have seen the same with russia with putin and ukraine. in his ear we saw just yesterday more ukrainian soldiers killed in conflict there. we do not see peace breaking out

around the world. we see a more dangerous world. we send the wrong message if we have declining readiness here in meeting those threats around the world. i think job one for the house armed services committee and congress is to make sure we restore back to the necessary levels to combat those threats around the world. they are many and they continue to grow. if we are not ready, it creates greater risk, which means more casualties but it also sends a terrible message to our enemies who would look to exploit that weakness. host: approximately what level of readiness to we have currently? guest: just an overall level probably about 70% of where we need to be. we worked very hard but restoration of some dollars in the defense budget in the last congress to get that readiness back, remember the readiness pipeline is only so big. if you lose h amend this amount of it, you can only regain it so fast because there are only so many units you can move to training money -- only so much like time for pilots, only so many pieces of equipment that

you can bear -- repair, upgrade. the pipeline is really the restricted part now. the other thing is modernization precludes recapitalizing caretaking older women that is antiquated and replacing it with new equipment. industrial base, the intellectual capacity, the skills and trades to do that also, is right there on the edge. it is not like if we needed, we could turn the radio dial up. i use that analogy because that is what i think people believe. we turn the dial and can restore readiness arid it is not like it was in world war ii where we have a tremendous industrial base and the nation where we can convert to defense means here that industrial base is not there. the industrial base for the military today is an entity unto it. you cannot re-create it out -- elsewhere. if that degrades to the point where you cannot keep up with current demand, we will never be in a situation to restore readiness there is a concern about pipelines big enough to

absorb the men and women who need to be trained, upgrading that equipment, but also building new equipment. that is not just the skilled pass the, but the intellectual capacity to do that. >> you talk about savings. the liberal think tank, the cato institute, he says this. what if we reduce america passes permanent overseas presence and force other countries to defend themselves. >> well, we looked very carefully at that. i traveled to europe last year and looking at a structure. we went through the full days of structure review, looking at how to repair those areas back and engage partners like our nato nations to have capacity that we can use. as you see though, sometimes it sends the wrong message. we see what is happening with putin and the ukraine, so we need some presence there. some people say we do not need the conventional presence of air

tanks, but not in vladimir putin's mind. while we look at things in one perspective, our adversaries look at that in another perspective gary we have to look at the right mixture of these presents that if there. it also means we have to understand that nations are not as likely to have large u.s. military presence or large u.s. military footprint. that means in order to have presence there, we have to look at what other forces we have that project presents. and that is the navy and marine corps. you have to have shipped to be able to do that and we are lagging behind in the number of ships we have to build just to keep up with the number everybody agrees we need. we need to look at the total picture there, but you can't totally devoid yourself of presence overseas. especially in host nations that when you there and are our allies like our nato nations and our friends over in the asia-pacific. host: looking at the breakdown of this budget, strike fighters

many for tanks shipbuilding, or the troops that lie on ships. you should building become -- becoming a thing of the past? guest: no. should be a thing of the future. i believe the proposed nine ships to be built in the next round. if we are going to get to a 13 300 shipped maybe, i believe we need to ramp up the dollars and go shipbuilding. we will be building another amphibious craft, which is good. to virginia class submarines, three combat ships, two destroyers. those are all good projects. the problem is we follow so far behind in some of those areas that in order to catch up, we will have to devote more money to the should really budget. right now, it is a little less than $16 billion. i think it needs to be at least $18 billion. the research service says it should actually be more than that to effectively constitute a

meeting that will perform the mission that are report today. again, to project presents around the world, you have to have those ships. another thing that people forget, we have pushed our navy so hard in the last 13 years because of the deployment levels. it used to be that deployments at sea were six months. now they are nine months, sometimes extended to 10 11 or 12. there is only so much repair you can do it see can do at cma this repair in the shipyard. my worry is where are the sailors question mark that is tough on families of the sailors. if we are going to keep our navy in the position they are in, we need to look at how to do the proper maintenance and downtime and training time or sailors, as well as building new ships. if we do not repair our existing ships, they wear out quicker and we have to send them to the graveyard sooner, which cost us more because we have to build new ships sooner than what we planned. that increases costs. we have to look at the full spectrum. not just shipbuilding, but ship

repair. host: doug from virginia. caller: good morning. how are you today. host: just fine. how are you? caller: i am doing good. i am calling because you said we are losing our readiness with the military. is that correct? guest: that is correct. yes. caller: well, i suggest we go with the fox news plan. every person that wants to start a military, break out your checkbook, write a check to the pentagon and put in the memo stronger military. guest: well, i think we all here as serving in congress have a constitutional obligation to provide. it is a brilliantly orchestrated piece of the constitution that lays out there he, very plainly for what the congress needs to do. it is congress's obligation to make sure we do both the funds necessary to provide for this nation's military.

readiness is a critical part of that. we cannot let readiness to grade because the worst thing we can have is a situation where the united states is not prepared for any adversary that is out there. and lord for being that we ever lose in the conflict. that is not where we want to be. and the worst is suffering casualties. we all know there is risk associated with hostility, but i want to make sure we are doing everything to provide the best for our men and women who volunteer to serve and make sure they can fight to victory and come home safe. that i think is our obligation and we absolutely have to do that. host: we will hear from joanne next on the republican line from california. good morning. caller: good morning. congressman, i think congressional leadership is crucial at this point in our history. i can remember when bob dole invited valencia to speak to congress. we had a very weak team in the white house.

i think we need to arm the ukraine asap and get the weapons to israel and jordan. they have been asking for for a very long time. and galvanized and lead in the war on terror. you can only do so much with coalitions when the other person -- participants are not equipped to help out. you got your mandate in november. the american people when you to leave. please, if you've got to be ready and we have got to act now. guest: i agree. congress must leave. it's obligation is to encourage and i believe this nation's best national defense strategy is peace through strength. the reason we have a strong military is to make sure we provide for peace throughout the world. a strong u.s. military is a great deterrent. and we see if there is any ambivalence or perceived weakness i could say, we see what adversaries around the world will do. you are right. congress has an obligation to

lead and it has a constitutional response ability to provide for the nation's defense. and make sure we are able and ready tonight to fight any adversary that wishes to take the united states on. we must protect american interests around the world. i argue that the best place for us to work diplomatic he is from a position of military strength. it provides a convincing argument for diplomats to talk to countries to get them to do the things they need to do. if they do not believe the united states is going to act or we do not have the wherewithal to act in situations where they are not doing what they need to do, then it just emboldens them. peace through strength really is the best national defense policy. we need to have that strong military in order to be effective in having peace around the world, but also in our diplomatic efforts. host: this is bobby from new york on the democrat side. caller: hi. thank you, gentlemen for answering my question here. basically what i was asking,

when we knew that wars like the ones in afghanistan and iraq, and the choices we made after like iso-and like-minded groups, why do you think we should not have a greater physical presence in encountering these groups and not a physical presence, then what specific other presences it should we have? guest: i think we definitely do need a more prominent presence there. some of that is with our allies. we talk about physical presence i'm assuming you are talking about boots on the ground. as you know, the effort they're in iraq should have been sustained. we should have a presence there to make sure that the maliki government was doing the things they needed to do. unfortunately, poor decisions on his part and inflamed tensions with the sunnis and allowed for prices to come out of that --

allow for isis to come out of that. we see what happened in syria, going after his own people and allowing for the rise of isis there. efforts in those regions should have been to counteract maliki earlier on. drawing the line in the sand and saying, if you cross this we are going to take action, was not a good effort. also, not maintaining a presence in iraq to make sure we countered with maliki was doing which we knew was counter to u.s. interests, was also not a good thing. now, we are saddled with trying to fix the problem as it exists today. what i hope we learn is the lesson from those decisions and not doing the same in afghanistan. and i believe our presence in afghanistan and to date the train advise and assist mission is where we need to be to make sure we help afghanistan get on its feet. to ensure we help president gotti as they form a government there.

as they assured that the long-term government stability in that nation. in order to do that, they need a military that functions. we are training, advising, and assisting them in doing that. they still have a ways to go, so i think our presence will be critical to make sure that in the long-term, afghanistan is successful in governing and maintaining security within their country. host: we heard from the state of the union that the president was desiring the war authorization against isis. have we heard more from that? guest: i think there is a strong desire from the u.s. congress to provide authorization of u.s. military force. i think it needs to address islamic terrorism across the globe. if you look at just limiting it from iraq or syria we already see in other nations where the presence of these efforts there. i think we need to have a debate on what should this be and what we are going to do in the long-term. to have a strategy to defeat this form of terrorism. this is on the extremism. i want to make sure that congress addresses that. if this needs to be part of this

debate, i think the president needs to provide to congress with a strategy is to make sure that we can understand what the strategy is. and that happened as part of the debate for authorization of the use of military forces. this is a long-term issue that the united states in the world community will have to deal with. the sooner we have to debate about how we go after this, how we defeat all these forms of extremism, are the more successful we will be in the quicker we can get to resolution of that. now, it is not going to be a short or easy path. as you have heard everyone say from leaders in the middle east to the president, to the congress, this is a long-term conflict. it is going to take a while to turn it around because not only do you have to defeat extremism but you have to look at the root causes of these extremism and counter those things. it is going to have to be the use, i believe, of our armed forces, but also using diplomacy and other efforts in the world to make sure that we encourage

those good elements that are within these countries. the islamic religion life are -- by far does not in most instances advocate for this form of evil. we need to make sure that we are supporting those elements in the islamic community that stand for good and adamantly and aggressively going after the evil forces in the islamic world that are perpetrating this type of brutality and this type of barbarism. host: have you heard any indication of when the process will begin and we will seem -- see movement on authorization? guest: we do not have a specific timeframe. i know that congressional leaders are very anxious to get this to the floor. i would hope they would come in the coming weeks. if he comes to the poor, it is subject to debate on the house and senate. host: from texas, maddie were up next. caller: good morning. thank you for your public service. my question has to do with what

you were just talking about. the authorization for use of military force. is that different from a declaration of war in your opinion question mark and regardless, shouldn't that have been done before the bombs were ordered to be dropped? also, the only people that are fighting the islamic state on the ground right now are mainly the kurds. this -- i believe, correct me if i am wrong, they are categorized as a terrorist group because of their bite from independent turkey. do you think that should be something to reconsider now that they could be a great highlight as they are one of the only forces on the ground fighting? guest: i think the curtis forces are very effective in -- the kurdish forces are very effective. as far as the a umf that particular issue i think is critical for us to make sure that we get it right and that we look at how we are addressing those issues. not only in the short term of

the long-term. and looking at it across the board, i think that having a very, very specific strategy on what we need to do and how we need to do it needs to be part of the debate. and when you talk about the difference between a ums -- aumf and the declaration of war and aumf is a step below declaration of war. the president can direct the military to do that, but he is limited to a certain amount of time. about 180 days. at that point, congress is supposed to take action. there has not been a formal declaration of war since world war ii. we have been in a lot of conflict in the meantime, so there is always a tension between the executive branch and the legislative branch as to what the exact direction is within the war power. i think in this situation, everyone is in agreement that we must have a today, we must make a decision on what authorization use of military force is to give the president the legislative guide that he needs as

commander-in-chief to do the job . he can do things initially, but long-term, he needs that authorization and use of military force in order to do the job that he is elected to do. and that is to take the directives under our war powers act from the congress on where we go in the long-term. host: do you have a -- you have a background in public health, what are your thoughts on measles, vaccinations, and what you have heard the last couple of days. should it be a mandatory thing? what are your thoughts on these operate. is this a concern? guest: from a public health inspector, it is definitely a concern. oxidization help combat weasels. -- maximization's -- vaccines help combat the measles. you need to make sure that you have that community so you don't have the disease. immunizations are critical. i understand some people's concerns about trace elements

that were in these vaccines. some of the issues that have come up. i think if you look at the science today, you can clearly see that overwhelmingly the good of immunizations far outweigh the questions that come up. immunizations are in the public best interest. they help us maintain public health. i was a public health professional for 27 years prior to coming to congress. immunizations have some -- have shown historically that they have been effective. we wiped out small packs because of them. the only way we wiped them out is to make sure that we take up everybody getting a vaccination. we should have a debate if there are issues to make sure that we let science drive decision-making about vaccines, and if there are other issues, let's have those debates. and when they come up -- when those issues come up, i think the medical community, the research and development committee, have often a very good job of staying in the rat -- the risk associated and how

we address them. you will never get to a point where any vaccine has zero risk. we have to assume there is some risk. but the greater good is community to keep his disease from spreading and to keep the problems that come from those operate from being suffered by safari -- suffered by society. host: i think it is asked that what most states do is say they are mandatory and if you want to be exempted, you have to apply. in some instances, there are specific circumstances where the state allows exemption. but again, it allows the state to damage the number of people not vaccinated to get that critical level of immunization you have that herd immunity. i think it needs to stay at the state level. most states have the possibility. guest: most states are allowing that. again, you need to manage a number of people to make sure the overall public health is there. host: should some of those

things be considered? guest: i think most states have that in there as one of the considerations from getting -- from being exempt from getting exact vaccinations. host: do you agree with that? guest: i think the state should be able to use that as a reasonable purpose or reasonable decision-making element on whether or not they would or would not require immunization for that person. host: serves on military issues and a public health. thank you. you will get from the head of historically that colleges and universities. part of a new series we launch this month. joining us in a few minutes, dr. wayne frederick, the president of harvard university. we will have a discussion on his universities and black colleges and universities across united states went "washington journal" continues. ♪

>> keep track of the republican new congress. new congress, best access on c-span c-span two, c-span radio, and c-span.org. >> this sunday on q and a, david brooks colonist -- columnist for "new york times." the awards he gets out and ended the year, the city awards. >> they're given for the best magazine essays on the year. they can be in journals in the "new yorker," "the atlantic." they always cannot out between christmas and new year's. the idea is that that is a good

week to step back and not read little stuff tweets, newspaper articles. but to step back and read something deeper and longer. it is to celebrate those longer pieces. i do believe magazine change history. in the new republic, until that recent instruction, it was the most influential political magazine of the 20th century really did change history. it created a voice for modern liberalism. they gave it a voice. >> sunday night at eight eastern and pacific on c-span's cube and a. -- q & a. >> "washington journal" continues. eight historic black colleges and universities. the tour will coincide with black history month. our college will start off at howard university in washington dc. we will go to other universities

across the united states. we will end up at xavier university in louisiana. today, c-span is on the campus of howard university. joining us on that bus to talk about it and watch the series, dr. wayne frederick, the president of howard university. dr. frederick, thank you for joining us. guest: thank you for having me. host: to start off, could you give your sense of a little bit of the history of black colleges and universities, and what their role was when they were first established? guest: yes, the history goes well back into the 1800s. as these schools were formed a given opportunity in the country in a segregation of education system and receive an opportunity for higher education. it was founded in 1867. it was necessary as we had a

segregated system. over time, right now when you look at the other country, about 80% of the students would be considered black and universities. there are even a couple of historical black colleges and universities because of the history who actually have student populations that are more predominantly caucasian. they represented an opportunity for blacks at that time to get an education, and overtime has evolved into world-class institution such as ours. host: as far as the role they serve today, how would you describe that particularly as colleges as a competitive thing and a lot of colleges to compete with? guest: absolutely. we remain competitive. for several reasons. we represent about the percent of african-american students in

higher education. the account for 21% or 22% of all african-american graduates from higher education in the country today. when you look at that impact as a population, we certainly have a very strong impact in the core group of institutions. i do not think the issue is about relevance, i think the issue is about how excellent we can become. how we ensure that we are doing the best possible. i think you see that today. for example, we provide about 120 programs. when you look to all the landscape of historically, there are 100 and five. you really covered the entire paragon of education in terms of providing that are -- that opportunity. it is relevant today when you look at socioeconomic factors, in terms of the ability to afford college etc.

we still have a very significant role to play, despite the opening up of the opportunity elsewhere. it still represents one that is necessary in our landscape today. host: as far as you getting or recruiting students specifically for howard, what do you sell them on? what sets you apart from the rest? guest: you know, the first thing is the primary reason they're coming here is excellent education. we believe we will provide students with the best education in any areas we engage them in. the second thing we sell them on is our motto. the one thing is how you see education, you do not get a degree, you come here to get an education. you go out and serve the world around you and change the world around you. we feel very strongly about that. if you look at the history, you get our love, they have gone off

and then that with the legacies they have created. we are still building upon the current student body and they are very conscious one. the student body that is very concerned about society around them and making progress. i saw students on the fact that they will get an educational -- an excellent education at howard university. host: about 7000 or so undergraduate students and about 3000 or so graduate students. it is located here in washington dc. we are joined by the president dr. wayne frederick of howard university. this is part of a bus tour that will go to black colleges and universities. here's your chance not only to learn about these tops of colleges, but specifics of guest and their universities. we divided the lines differently, if you attended historically like college or university and give your perspective, 202-748-8000 is the

number you call. everyone else, call 202748 8001. dr. frederick, give us a snapshot of howard university. we talked about the specifics, but dylan the blanks and give us a sense of what the university is like. -- but still in the blanks and give us a sense of what the university is like. guest: absolutely. we are the only school in the country that has one of its own hospitals. a dental school, debility school, and medical school. i'm a professional graphic side, we have a formidable educational product that we are delivering. we have 10,300 students at the university today, as you said earlier. roughly 7000 in our undergrad population. when you look at the programs we deliver, we deliver about 120 different fields of study. we graduate more african-americans in the phd program than any other

institution in the country. we average about 100 year. over the past two to three years, we are continuing to do that. no school in the country has -- most of undergrads. we have done that over the past decade. we have been more prolific than any other school in the nation. so we have been very, very productive on that end as well. we have students from about 44 states and we also have some for many countries. we have a significant makes their of students in terms of cultural background and so on. we think again that provides a very great atmosphere in which one can get an education. we have a formidable faculty of about 1100 faculty members. a significant number of them are also international, but also experts in their field of study. we are recognized throughout the

country for producing students with a very, very high achievement in terms of academics. coming into howard university as well we have a competitive freshman class every year. we taken about first-time college students and we have a significant transfer program into the undergrad campus. our professional programs are very competitive to get into. we have our medical school and we received many applications. host: because you mentioned the medical school and hospital that was one of the concerns of howard, especially on the financial side. what was going on and what is the plan to fix it? guest: sure. the main issue is having a hospital in today's health care, is a very difficult circumstance. just because we look at the skills, economy, and ability to

purchase things at a cheaper price and deliver health care in an efficient matter with declining reimbursement, all of those things make it very difficult to be and have a small hospital. we have put together management service agreements with them. we recently signed a letter of intent with the district of columbia to expand our services and take over the operation of united medical center. looking at those two we have began to stabilize economics of the hospital so we can continue to need to serve the mission. to provide our kids and those otherwise would not have an opportunity in an underrepresented community, as well as providing medical education that is unique at howard university. again, time and time again we have been recognized to go into neighborhoods in this country where it they have underserved

populations. host: dr. frederick, part of the problem is that your credit rating has been down. if that is the case, what are you going to do to restore that? guest: we obviously have to continue to make sure that our operational efficiency is improving and make sure we are doing the right things financially to improve the system outlook. our endowment is strong and it is going. we have to increase our finance as we continue to that revenue stream. philanthropy will be a major part. we have a very aggressive plan that we are looking at how we can use the multiple real estate assets that we all to create revenue streams. we are exploring so that we can leverage recent activity that is unique to howard university that will make a difference in many people's lives and certainly

can provide a significant economic boost for the university. multiplying our revenue stream is important so that we are doing the things we need to do to provide the best education and the environment in a responsible manner. and simply improving and expanding our efforts philanthropic way. host: joining us, dr. wayne frederick, the president of howard university. a call from maryland lewis good morning. caller: hello. thank you for allowing me to express myself. i attended morgan state and i was the first -- one of the first black students who attended the university of maryland school. i was the only one in the class of 100 and i was the order black to finish there. in those days i think you for having existed.

-- i thank you you for having existed. one of the first hmos stations in the united states was established in maryland. it gave the poor patients access to private care. prior to that, they had sporadic care and clinic care. but that monumental health plan wasn't saw as a threat to many people in the baltimore area, so we no longer existed. our hospital liberty, has been torn down. i would think and hope that you do everything possible to protect the entity that you have there. it is a very kind -- valuable asset. to train people in all levels. if you look at television now, we have very few african-american physicians. please do everything you can to maintain howard university hospital. host: thank you. dr. frederick, go ahead.

guest: i appreciate your comments. the freedmen's hospital was founded five years before the university in 1862. it has been serving an underserved population and has been an incredible training ground for lots of prominent african-american physicians in the country. to the callers point, we recognize the entity in terms of what it provides, health care for those who otherwise would not be served, as well as to provide an education and so we can provide an education for those who would not have an opportunity. it is critical today. we have to do it in a responsible way, and we cannot simply do it because of the legacy of what has existed. we have to do it in a manner in which we can thrive between business and continue to provide postgraduate training, residency programs, etc.

it is certainly a sentiment that he expressed that resonates with me and my ministership. host: anthony in washington dc, you are next. caller: dr. frederick, good morning. i'm a former graduate of howard undergrad and the law school. i was born and raised in the howard university neighborhood columbia heights. a couple of questions very quickly. i wanted to know, as you mentioned, howard university's real estate assets. i wanted to know if there was a plan in liquidating or if you were looking to create a revenue stream based on the assets. in some ways, could they benefit current and former students in terms of developing homeownership or even property ownership. the second quick question i had in terms of pushing howard university in the 21st century

what type of direction or new programs have been initiated that really reflect jobs that are present today and not necessarily the jobs of the 20th century? host: anthony, thank you. dr. frederick, go ahead. guest: an excellent question anthony. you definitely some of the howard along. -- alum. we do not intend to liquidate. we believe there is an increasing market value in the areas that we own around the university. we simply intend to get into the types of deals that will create long-term revenue streams for the university. as far as ownership and faculty and student is a vacation, we are always looking for those opportunities very. that is the type of business we intend to stay in and intend to grow in. the second issue around

programming, you are absolutely right. we are constantly looking at all of our academic offerings. we offer 120 fields of study. we are looking to see what is relevant. what is contemporary, what needs to be could temporize what needs to be contemporary, and what needs to be brought on. private security we have been looking at and expanding. we think it is pertinent for this day and age. we also look at computer engineering as a certainly when we have to expand. google, facebook, and yahoo! in california back in october, we met with them. those are jobs that are expanding in terms of numbers in the coming future. we definitely think that those are areas that we must get our graduates into in order to ensure they can go of that

economic escalator using the education they get at howard university. it is an ongoing process. it is not a process that has a stopping point. it is one we have to be doing continuously. host: from virginia, lynn. go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i want to ask a quick weston doctor. -- the quick question, doctor. why don't more black colleges for economic purposes tried to recruit black athletes to come to black colleges incident taking all the college to a white predominant university? because athletics is a big moneymaking business and i think black college should be a lot more better served if that town and served would go to black universities. -- if that talent served would

go to black universities. guest: i was introduced to an espn. we had a good conversation about athletics. obviously he is an expert in this area. he sees a lot of college sports and has been covering historically black colleges and universities for decades. there are several things that provide differences here in terms of recruitment that we have to look at. given where we are with social media and the media in general the attraction for a lot of high-profile athletes is that they can make it to the professional level and they see college as a stepping stone. the reality is, very few of them would make it to the next level -- less than 1%. we have to compete on another platform, which is on the educational product. we have to convince these athletes that the primary reason for going to college is to get an education. we think we are very competitive

there and very aggressive about recruiting. i'm looking at our athletics program right now. we will put together a plan. we are recruiting a new athletic director. the plan is for us to really make a significant splash around athletics. i think it is a unifying force on campus and something to rally around. my experience at howard university and being the soccer team manager, we went to the division finals. i know it college athletics look like at a top level concerns of achievement. i know what it did to 19 88 when the entire campus rallied around us. we currently have to compete for those athletes. it is a difficult competition. you have kids that will be on tv every week, and that is what they will be attracted to. we are not quite the area, but we intend to be there. we intend to be a major player in athletics as well. host: maryland is up next.

good morning. caller: good morning. i'm a graduate of howard university, college of medicine. 1978, i am a pediatrician and i was born in that area of d.c. as well as at friedman hospital. i too feel like i have a superb education and was able to open up my pediatric practice. my grandchildren also attended howard university. they had other choices, but the nurturing, education, and just great fellow shipping that you see at howard university as i did is superb. i met my husband at howard university. i am making a call to make -- to thank dr. frederick for what he is doing and also for the wonderful years she has served as one of the leaders as -- leaders at howard university. guest: thank you very much.

she mentioned/a cohen who was secretary of the board. she has been doing that for a couple of decades. on the education side again, i think one of the things we recognize is that we have a strong legacy. one of the things i want to make sure more listeners get today is that howard university is a college of medicine. it is above the national average, despite the fact that we have taken students whose mcat score is one or two points below. -- below the national average. it is excellent. we have a very good students who may otherwise have a different type of preparation, but they have it and we are making sure they leave with every technical competence that they need. as well as going out to change the world around them. we feel very, very strong about

that and i hope my alum would be very proud when they do encounter a current howard university god, they are encountering -- university grad, they are encountering one of the best in the business. host: what the government does as far as paying out medicare, how does that affect you question mark --? guest: the affordable care act is not affected as negatively in any way. the district of columbia government under the stewardship of -- has been an excellent job in the district. there is a very high rate in the district. that is with the medicare program, so it is a battle and part of that battle is we have to figure out a way to be more cost efficient in terms of how we deliver care. the push is for more outpatient

care and not have patients hospitalized for long. the time. long -- long periods of time. and affordability to stay at home and recuperate and then return to the hospital in a short. of time. those are some of the programs we have to institute and make sure we get the right system. we have people at home to help provide care. all of the things that are unique in the way of serving. those are the things i think amber out the system. host: walter from baltimore maryland, you are next. thank you c-span and good morning, sir. it was founded by general howard for the mulatto slave during -- after the civil war. now, i am glad we have gotten past this paper bag and we are

into a realistic assessment of our society and how it has done a great job in providing professionals to the general american society. sir, there is a situation at howard right now. i never thought howard would become a part of the property of the chartered school movement. it was part of the lawsuit to increase expenditures on the chartered school that you have on your campus. guest: two things. let me just be clear. you mentioned are charter school. that is a charter middle school that is designated for math and science. it is an independent charter school. it participates in the childhood school program, in general. in 2005 will be started the school, we received students on

basically participating in the general to get students. those students who came to howard university middle school for math and science were really not performing at grade level. they performed at one or two good levels buffalo -- below. a lot of them are sophomores in college now. 95% of that entering class went to college. i think one of the things we must look at as we look at poverty, is to recognize that are higher education is one that must be served in a manner that must look back and we must get ourselves involved in. we do that to our school of education, but we are also doing that for those programs and those types of programs. we feel very strongly of having a middle school on our campus. that is a charter school and it is an important part of our participation. it must be part of what we do.

we also dissipate very strongly with the d.c. public school system. we love to do enrollment programs, as i mentioned with two high schools in the district. that would bring the high school students to us as juniors and give them an opportunity to get in and graduate from college. we are looking at the entire landscape of what our education looks like. i am looking for any collaboration that will help it for the young and underrepresented students. host: jennifer -- general oliver howard was mentioned. can you mention a little more details about this man? guest: general howard had a distinguished service for the u.s. army. after his service he along with a few other men, got together and decided there should be an educational institution to help

free slaves coming from the south and get an opportunity to be educated. they petitioned the federal government at that time and the defense bureau, and they got funds to start the school. the charter was signed on march 2, 19 -- 1867. the land was obtained to build the school on. in 1871, the first medical school faculty had to do a black african members on it long before any law was passed for integration. they got a degree of pharmacy from our school. that progressed throughout the decades and it expanding those opportunities and creating more educational institutions. booker t. washington and w e the boy -- duboisuois had a very

interesting view. that continues and we continue to participate in what i think is one of america's greatest educational institutions. host: jack from south carolina. you are next. guest:caller: [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, : i wanted my son to go to somewhere near our house. but he was not qualified and he had to go to a state school. you can go to any state school

so i wanted to ask a question. is anyone through the historical black colleges trying to work with the government to let children who want to go to historical black schools be qualified for funding that they are qualified for? guest: excellent question. the economic factor -- let me be very clear about that -- we are a private institution. 60% of the students attending howard university undergrad programs are eligible. that means they come from the lower socioeconomic part of the country. they have a family commission of zero. 25 is the maximum telegram grant award. what we have done it howard

university, we started a program where students in their sophomore to senior year who maintain a 2.5 gpa or greater and you are also on track in terms of their program to graduate on time, we cover their tuition. that is one down payment on trying to afford the opportunity for students who would not have it. the other thing that we are doing this year onto a ship the last semester for students who graduate on time or finish before, we pay 50% of the cash that they paid in the last semester to the student. in recent -- we have to create an opportunity where these students who may be in the lower socioeconomic circumstance have the opportunity. the last thing i would say about this, when you look at the performance on sat for african-american, the average is

about 981. for white americans who come from family incomes of less than 20,000, the averages 978. it was just a three-point difference. we have to recognize that we are trying to work with the system regardless of what the economics are not seem to be on a level system. we have to make sure we provide an opportunity for those who otherwise may not be able to afford it. and i get their test scores or ability to pay, but look at the holistic impression of what they are bringing to the table and what they can potentially go out and do. host: morehouse college is one that will be profiled this month. we will speak to morehouse college and others as well. today, don, you are up next. caller: good morning.

ila black young man and i have a debate with my friends all the time about the relevance of hp you in time today. they say that black kids are doing good and schools like the university of georgia and whatnot. my question to you dr. frederick, what do you say to people who argue that hbcus are no longer relevant in the 21st century. guest: although we account for the percent of the african-american population, we account for 22% of the african-american grants. the first thing i would say, in terms of relevance it is clear. they are examining the population of black students at many schools in the south including the university of georgia, the university of florida, etc.

the numbers are plummeting. the university of florida over the past four years, i believe 50% of the black population in terms of incoming class -- that is how much it has dropped. currently, the have just under 500 leading to the freshman class. in terms of where the opportunity is and where the parents -- the students will go to, they need every opportunity and type of institution to have the doors flung open for them. and hbcus have traditionally provided that opportunity. the last thing i was a, the quality of education you get at the historically black colleges and universities -- and i can speak specifically to my on the moderate at howard. it is an excellent product. if you alumni, we have them everywhere. you look at the mayor of atlanta

. you look at the attorney general in california. i can go on and on. felicia shot, jesse norman, we have excellence that we have produced and a lot more going to the top of their fields. i think we still have an opportunity to do that. jade washington at dooku was recently appointed as coming from ucla. another howard got. i'm convinced that the education we provide is excellent if you come to an hbcus like howard university. host: we are running short on time, but if you can give a snapshot of how you ended up as president at howard? guest: i came to howard university as a 16-year-old. i had an interest in pursuing medicine.

i had sickle cell and i wanted to become a position. i think what howard university does to you is it sees potential way beyond what you bring to the table and asked what you see yourself. i think that is the magic of howard university. i became associate dean here and taking a faculty position at uconn. i came back to howard university to practice my craft and to join the faculty. that ended me be the deputy provost and i was one day offer to be the interim president and never in my wildest dreams did i think our would become the 17th president of howard university. this is where i am and this is why the university like this and hbcus today are important. they can take a 16 euro point from a foreign country and taking all the way to the president of the university. host: go ahead. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: you are on the air.

go ahead. caller: dr. frederick, i would like to know when you will becoming up to the boston area. i located near oxford community college. -- oxford community college. we becoming here later on? there is a lot of snow, so i do not think you want to come in this area right away. guest: absolutely. my inauguration is on march 6. we will celebrate on march 7. subsequent to that, i will definitely be on my radar. my intent is to spend a few days there and meet as many alumn, so i look forward to seeing you. host: omaha, nebraska and you were next. caller: i really want to commend you on the great job you are doing. i want to tell you that this

came to me when i was listening to you and the host. the focus is power. focus is power. that is all i will say. have a great day and keep living life and that life love you as you love life. guest: thank you very much. i appreciate your sentiment and support. host: here is their role in stafford, virginia. overhead. caller: good morning. i have a question about the administrative process into howard. for example i filling out an application right now in the mba program for seminary. in the 20th century, we have to fill up a form and mail it in. i want to look into that and not only that. in 2009, the administrative service as a whole is completely out of whack. you need to look into it because i think the people you have up there feel like they are there not to serve the public and

every time you approach one of them is like they are being bothered or something. i would hope you look into that and stream that process out. host: thank you, darrell. go ahead dr. frederick. guest: we certainly emphasize customer service in my administration. i think we have made great strides. we have a program that we have launched throughout the university where we want people to realize that they have to collaborate and we have to be accountable and show respect for our customers. we have to a simplify excellence. and we have to ensure that everything we underscore is in the need to serve others. we are continuing to do that and i think we are moving that along significantly. i would expect the technology around the services we do have is that something that we are launching. we have a common application and

registration services online. what you just described in terms of graduate programs is one paper-based, but when we are moving online. -- one we are moving online. we have launched the online application for graduate programs about one year or two ago. there are a couple of outliers like the one you described that we have to bring in and we are in the process of doing that right now. i appreciate your feedback. host: we have about one minute left. what would you like to see done under your tenure at howard. ? guest: i would like to make sure we exemplify excellence and truth and service. i would like to serve my monitor in the way it served me. though molding that i received here as a student is still the molding i want to make sure is provided for the other students who will come. students are not here to get a degree simply, they are here to get an education. that means that what we do

inside the classroom will be just as important as what we do outside of the classroom. what we expose our students to and how we interact with society around us. what i would like to do in my tenure is to see that howard university continues to be recognized as one of not just america's, but one of the world's greatest educational institutions for the next 150 years. host: dr. wayne frederick, the president of howard university. the first of many stops we will make in february looking at historically black colleges and universities. dr. frederick, thank you for joining us on the first day. guest: thank you for having me. host: if you want more information, including today's segment, go to our website. morehouse, spelling, this -- spelling in college and for any and and university will be part of the tour. you'll go to the house of representatives. r pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communicatio