country that can be with a little bit of back and forth can be easily moved? rep. shuster: not only a novice, but very experienced members that don't understand the role of the federal government in the transportation system. i always put it back in historical context it's in the accusation -- constitution. this country before it's the waterway system, the ports the harbors at the federal level needs to be involved to make sure we're connected and peter always brings up this picture -- i can't remember -- fawn: the evolution one? rep. shuster: oklahoma-kansas agreed to build this interstate or the significant road. kansas built it and it stopped at the oklahoma border. oklahoma didn't have the funds to do it. that's the reason why we need a federal road to make sure you can go from coast to coast or northern border to southern border. some states just won't do what's needed to be done. fawn: do you get tired of

having to make that speech? rep. shuster: no, quite frankly, i enjoy, i love to quota dam smith to my colleagues, my side of the aisle, three things government should provided securities, preserve justice and erect infrastructure to promote commerce. it's adam smith saying, and not bill shuster. fawn: that makes you sound pretty cool in d.c., let's be clear. rep. shuster: one of my colleagues on my side of the aisle claim adam smith as i do is the founder of our economic system. that's what he said. he came here today, i'm sure he would say the same thing. fawn: so we are hitting the point at which we have questions coming. i have a few on my twitter feed, but i could use some more. if i'm not covering everything just tweet, #ask nj. i have to read it because i

don't know if i actually understand it. i think this is the energy department but i could be wrong, q.u.e., funding maritime infrastructure projects, has the committee considered this? rep. shuster: i'm not sure. fawn: this one i do understand. we're talking about the surface transportation bill, there has been some effort on the part of a democrat to bring in some sort of gas tax increase or index to inflation. that's continually been a no from the administration and from leadership with the g.o.p. is there something that can be done with a gas tax to try and help get you to a long-term bill or is it really off the table? rep. shuster: when you have the president and you have the leadership of both houses at different times, different

parties saying no, then very, very difficult. i'm for what's possible. i don't think at this point that's possible. i do believe that after we get done and the president signs the five-year bill, the stakeholders and members of congress that care about it have to really start figuring out and start to try to move the country in a way, how do we fund this, what's acceptable to the american people, what can pass in congress. i look and say to pennsylvania and it took them three years of this kind of grassroots statewide media campaign educating citizens, educating members. it took three years to do something, they fixed their funding levels. i think there are a lot of states that have done that. it takes time and effort to do that. >> we're at a point now where it's not possible to do a long-term fix. that has to be job one as soon as we get a long-term bill

signed. fawn: so let's fast forward, the reason why i think you're going to get a long-term bill is because you have no other choice. if there was an easy solution, you probably wouldn't. fast forward to the end of this fiscal year, calendar year, right after that, you need to start going, do you look at things like vehicle miles traveled basically the replacement for the gas tax and charging people for miles they spend on the highway? rep. shuster: i think that is something you have to look at. the technology part of it scares the heck out of a lot of people. i don't believe that's something either the american people want to have happen. how do you make it fair, for instance electric cars pay nothing to drive on the roads. those are things we have to have a discussion about. what is palatable to the american people, what is simple to the american people. what we collect at the pump, 1,100 organizations we have to

go to collect that. pennsylvania took it from the pump to the barrel of oil and that even reduces that universe of people collecting from that are smaller. they're very efficient. if you expand it to collect from every american, it's going to be 250, i don't know how many people drive cars, 400 million, it makes it very, very difficult. i appreciate your confidential, we're going to get something done. it reminds me of winston churchill said about america. americans always do the right thing after they exhausted every other option. we're at that point. fawn: did you think when you took this over, you would find yourself in deep conversation about tax reform? rep. shuster: not really. the chairman of the transportation committee, i knew that there was some, we had to dole with the mechanism, but, yeah, again it's been good. paul ryan is a smart guy.

i learned something from him every time i talk to him. fawn: i have a question from your former staff director who is now the chief of the port of pittsburgh or something. he wants to know about your recent road show in pennsylvania, for those of you who don't know, a bus trip that you took -- rep. shuster: two days basically. fawn: around talking to people, because he worked for you. rep. shuster: we had the secretary of transportations of south carolina and north carolina, oklahoma and texas and i think the most -- i believed it before, but hearing from them, they believed that the federal government has a role as a partner, should maintain that role as a partner and even when you talk to a state like texas, sometimes, people sometimes think texans think they're their own country

already. fawn: aren't they? i thought they were. rep. shuster: they have ports stuff coming in and out that it doesn't all go to texas or stay in texas. a former marine general, he was absolutely adamant as were all of those other -- coming from republican governs, conservative states, they absolutely said federal rule has to be maintained or they believe we won't have a national system that is worthy of this nation. fawn: i also understand it was pouring rain on at least one? rep. shuster: it wayned once but threatening every time we got off the bus. fawn: pictures must be amazing. the i believe this is a werda question. the water weigh users supported a tax increase, but how do we make sure that the funds are appropriated as authorized? i hope i got that right. rep. shuster: you got to talk to the appropriators on that.

they raised the user fee from 23 to 29 cents. in the water resources bill we changed some of the way the money is spent being authorized, being spent to not put so much of those funts, the inland waterway coast fund, toward the big project on the ohio river, homestead, that's a project. it's just sucking all of the money out of the system. we have changed the formal las, more general funds that go to that and some of those dollars will float to other places where there is tremendous need for investment. fawn: you don't have to do anything in the authorization bill. rep. shuster: we put that language in there and the appropriators have to adhere to it. the inner harbor trust fund, half of it wasn't going to anything. they put it in the so-called lock box because they can't

spend it nor anything else and offset the other spending. we put in the bill they're going to inch that up and i believe chairman rogers is doing just that. we hope to have a trust fund that 100% goes to our ports and harbors in this country. fawn: here is another question on the antique odometers we need new technology to actually move to, away from the gas tax is a better way of putting it? rep. shuster: it becomes a very difficult issue on privacy and things like that, even with new technology. those are discussions we have have to figure out what the american people are willing to do when it comes to doing that. fawn: what about a barrel tax? rep. shuster: that's what pennsylvania and virginia did, put a percentage on the barrel. fawn: it backs it up rather than bring the user down to

miles actually driven. it's the same concept. rep. shuster: similar concept. as i said, they have done it in pennsylvania $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion in the next four or five years. they filled their hope in transportation funding. that's what i learned from the four or five d.o.t. secretaries. we have done our share. the federal government has to step up. fawn: let's talk about how you are engaging with secretary fox who from what i understand has had very good conversations with you. has he asked for anything in particular in the surface bill. we all know that he wants something long term and robust. they propose $478 billion, aren't getting that. rep. shuster: didn't pay for it small detail. fawn: is there anything that you the two of you can do to make sure that when you get the green light, everybody is on

the same page? rep. shuster: nothing specifically you have asked me for, keep streamlining and doing the things that make it easier for me as secretary to push these things out. he has done a pretty good job of doing what he can do down at t.o.t. to streamline things. he is pushing on people to get things done. we have had a number of discussions and he is very interested in changing the system. fawn: you had mentioned at the beginning in your remarks at the beginning of our interview, there are parts of map 21 that you're looking at, see if it needs to be tweaked a little bit. anything in your conversations with fox that is helping them or hurting them in the current law that you might be able to just move a little bit in your text go round?

rep. shuster: nothing that i can point to directly. there are some areas i want to expand on. we tried in the last, in map 21 that if a state has a environmental review process that is equal to or greater than the federal government, it didn't have to go the federal government. senator boxer didn't want it. her state has the most stringent, strict, difficult review process to go in probably the world and, again, it doesn't make sense to me to make states go through the process twice. fawn: might ask again, see if senator boxer has changed her mind. she is still the ranking. rep. shuster: that's true. fawn: that is all, we have a zero in front of us. that's all the time that we have. i appreciate you taking time to talk to us. our audience does as well.

thank you very much. rep. shuster: thanks. >> on the next "washington journal," a look at the crime bill signed by president clinton and the impact it has on incarceration rates over the years. nicole austin-hillery joins us. charles simpleson formal defense secretary talks about the status of prisoners at guantanamo bay and what the future may hold for them in the coming months. meredith mcgee talks about finance as we head into the 2016 presidential election. "wall street journal" live every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on espn. -- c-span. >> in his weekly address president obama discusses education policy and expanding access to education through the

connect ad initiative. senator johnny isakson from georgia has the republican response. he talks about the benefits of trade legislation and the importance of t.p.a. or trade promotion authority. president obama: hi, everybody i'm talking to you from the d.c. public library where i met with a group of promising middle school students. we spent some time talking about their lives and how we all care about their success and how that starts with a good education. one thing i announced here is a new project by libraries and major publishers to provide more than $250 million in free e books for low income students. we also issued a challenge to mayor's, libraries, and school leaders to help every student get a library card so they can expand their horizons in a place like this. it's all part of our connect ed initiative to connect 99% of america's students to high

speed internet because no matter who you are, where you live, or how much money you got, you should be able to action the world's knowledge and information just like anyone else. in a global economy, we got to help insure that everyone of every age in every zip code, urban and rural has the chance to learn the skills that lead directly to a good job. that's also why i have put forward a plan to make two years of community college as free and universal for every american as high school is today. it's something i will talk in my commencement address in watertown, south dakota. it's a community college with a graduation rate that is nearly twice the national average. they're proving that a great education can be within everyone's reach. all of us have a responsibility to not only make sure our own children have pathways to success, but that all children do. a great education is the ticket to a better life like never before. making sure all of our kids

receive one is the surest way to show them that their lives matter and it's the smartest way to prove to them that in communities like this and in a country like ourselves we believe in opportunity for all. thanks, everybody and have a great weekend. >> hello, this is united states senator johnny isakson from the great state of georgia. in my state of georgia, 1.2 million jobs are directly related to international trade. in the last 10 years, georgia's exports to our trading partners grew by 69%. with negotiation on trade deals that are ongoing, we expect that to just continue. next year the panama canal is opening to the larger shifts of the 21st century. we are accommodating those larger ships bringing goods and services from the rest of the globe to america. this project will make the city of savannah, the state of georgia and the entire southeast a hub of exports and imports. we're losing all of those goods