the transpacific trade deal and effort to reauthorize the patriot act. later our guests will explain the new pole. ♪ ♪ host: good morning, everyone. happening on capitol hill, the house is expected to debate on the usa freedom act that would change provisions of the patriot act, ending the collection of american phone records. tune in here for the coverage of that debate. before we will begin with the headlines dominating the newspapers. senate democrats blocked the president on fast-track trade

authorities. they want to add protections for workers. the white house called it a snafu and said that it would happen against soon. democrats (202) 748-8000 republicans (202) 748-8001 independents (202) 748-8002. can also send us a tweet at http://twitter.com/cspanwj. phone lines are open. we want to tell you about the developing story out of philadelphia. at many of you are waking up to the news that an amtrak commuter train derailed last night in philadelphia on its way and washington, d.c. to new york around 9:30 p.m. eastern take a look at the front page of the philadelphia inquirer. five died and more than 50 are

hurt. the new york times putting this tweet out "at least five killed and dozens injured after amtrak train killing 243 people derailed." " investigators on the scene where an amtrak train when 80 three of, killing five people and injuring 140+." ntsb was on the team this morning to investigate with the fbi along with the federal railroad commission. senator tom carper was on the train, got off at wilmington. he said he was grateful to the home safe and sound. patrick murphy from pennsylvania tweeted this nature out. he was on the train.

you can see the train car turned upside down where he was at. he said he was on the train. i am ok. helping others. pray for those injured. this crash likely to bring up a debate that has happened many times in washington around the country, that is the amtrak budget, it's ailing infrastructure and subsidies from taxpayers. here is a piece this morning said derailment have been increasing in recent years. there were two and 2012, three in 2013. there have been nine already this year so far. we will have all of you weigh in on it during our last hour here. what the in with your take on

trade and the debate that happened in the senate yesterday. senate democrats voted against the president fast-track authority. they say they wanted other provisions but in the legislation before they would agree to go forward. it still will be voting against any sort of trade agreement. they wanted some assurances from republicans before they agreed to go ahead and begin a debate on this legislation. republicans came to the floor after that debate the the majority leader talking about the field vote. [video clip] >> i hope folks on the other side that are preventing this debate will seriously consider the implications of this. other countries are looking at as an wondering if we can deliver. it is close to being finalized.

here is the headline tracy. every single one with one exception prevented the mechanism for having trade considered prevented from even coming to the senate floor. that is not the kind of headline that we want to send around the world. that america cannot be depended on and cannot deliver in trade agreements. to our allies in the pacific who are apprehensive about the chinese and you thought this was not only were their commerce but good for their security, what kind of message does that send #? i moved to reconsider. hopefully it'll will be an opportunity for people to think this over feelings it will be able to come together on a

bipartisan basis to achieve an important punishment for the american people. [end video clip] caller: mitch mcconnell they are talking about the trade both that failed yesterday. they needed 60 votes. they needed a super majority and it yields 52-45. all but one democrat voting "no" on republican, jim. what do you think of this trade debate happening in washington? that. caller: it shows the democrats across the president are racist. host: i detected sarcasm. what are you saying? caller: they always accuse republicans as being racist. maybe it makes these democrats racist. it is interesting that they are

disagreeing with them on this case. it shows the difficulty of the democratic party made up of all these coalitions that come together and disagree with some of the other events. host: south carolina, republican line. we are getting your spirit keep diving in. senator ron wyden voted in the finance committee. he is the top democrat for trade authority. he is for this. he voted no yesterday. take a listen to what he had to say on the war. [video clip] >> together they would form a legislative package that throws out the 1990 playbook on trade. it is an opportunity to an act fresh, middle-class policies that will create high skilled/high wage jobs across our land. opportunity is lost in this

package gets whittled down to two.mr. president in particular dropping the assessment no. in my view it is legislative malpractice. the finance committee gave the senate a bipartisan trade enforcement bill that will protect american jobs which are propositions that i believe every member of his body supports. the enforcement legislation closes a shameful loophole that allows for products made with child labor to be sold in this country. this is 2015. there is absolutely no room for a loophole that allows a slavery in american trade policy.

[end video clip] host: yesterday democrat saying some of them will vote to go forward with the debate on trade authority which is a faster process for the congress to consider trade deals. it allows any yes or no vote. congress cannot amend any deal negotiated by the president with these countries. you cannot amend a trade deal otherwise you would not get anybody to negotiate a trade deal with you. you cannot have 535 people trying to change it appeared that was defeated yesterday as mayor ron wyden voted no because the democrats saying they wanted to see other provisions added to any language. ron wyden and others may vote yes if it goes back to the floor. democrats blocked obama and the trade do. the president sent an e-mail to a million long list of campaign supporters pleading with them to trust in rtrade.

said -- they even talk about democratic president for. she claims the exhibit to asia as one of the most important accomplishments. that is another headline. it talks about how she endorsed the pivot to asia back when she was secretary of state.

now she is very little on these trade deals. the on that. they say this morning hillary clinton is in ia. she has gone quiet about trade deals. they write this. they will look backward in the vain hope will they embrace change and competition. it is a campaign to win the future. bubba in dallas, texas. go ahead. democrat. caller: i have been against this trade deal and all the others. the united states of america comes out on the short end of the stick on everyone of them. the trade deficit goes up after

each one is signed. the sad part about it is if it is a republican or democratic president, they fall for the street deals. the worst offender of it all is the labor unions who have gone along with these trade deals and j have left this country by the millions. obs that the labor bosses got paid off by somebody, probably the big shot of wall street. host: labor unions now are rallying again the street promotion authorities and deals that are being negotiated. caller: well, but not in the past. if they are now, that is good. these are not in the past. we stood up for manufacturing jobs, somebody has got to be

done. host: what do you think about elizabeth warren and her fight of the trade deals and other economic issues? caller: i call her pocahontas. she is running up and down the television screen tried to figure out whether she should get in the freay against hillary. i hope not. hillary is a pain enough. and i'm a democrat. host: ron in california, republican. caller: good morning. nice to see you again. a couple of things to think about here. the farm group of the country namely all the farm states, if you notice who vote for what are all voting for this trade agreement. why is that? you have to ask yourself the question of the worst question

answered is they are getting rid of gmow corne, wheat, and rice. the only place they can sell it is to these asian groups i do not want to appear the asian groups are willing to take it if we will send them our jobs. our manufacturing jobs. anything else like that. there's something for free here. everything has to get paid one way or another. if you look at this, you have to say thank god they did the right thing orfor once. as far as elizabeth warren is concerned, she is on the right track. she is holding hillary's feet to the fire. she is also holding the fire to the republicans as well. it trade is a big deal. europeans are not going to take

our gmo stuff and neither is south america and central america. here you are. we have to look at this and say what is going to keep the maximum amount of jobs here in the united states? the maximum amount will be held in here by not doing the street deal. that is just where it is. host: on this back and forth between elizabeth warren and the president, here is politico headline. a democrat of ohio suggests gender played into obama-warren spat --

did barack obama just lose to elizabeth warren? that is their keys? a right that in washington is seen social evolution does not progress. it was often depicted as a spat between president barack obama and the lien of the alternative crowd. this was a sign that it was not

just with wine. -- with warren. one wanted to send me the vote. sandra in massachusetts independent. go ahead. caller: i was thinking on the lines of it we are going to take trade, if it improves our country and our world, we need to improve our highways. we need to improve our railroads. we need to take care of business at home. our home is falling apart. no one is looking to build it the way it should the. take care of the railroads that are falling apart. people are dying like flies. take care of the highways will be fall into potholes and no one gives a dam about people.

people get hurt. why are we not taking care of our bridges and home? let take care of america. host: sandra in massachusetts. tony in california, democrat. caller: i think we should for the trade deal. the reason is that some of the nations involved in the trade deal are malaysia, vietnam, and singapore. those three nations are being bulli and pushed around by the chinese. edmy ideas alicia silverstone alliance against china in back of the three nations i mentioned or else i think we might lose than to the chinese. host: pat democrat. caller: i am totally against this free-trade. i am a product of michigan.

we had 40 here. they have less than 500. it is all from vietnam. i am wondering how anybody will be able to afford the good working jobs abroad. host: on capitol hill here is the reaction on twitter. democrat locked the president on fast track authority. " this is an absolute embarrassment for the president. members of his own party are killing his own agenda." one of the democrats but one voting no on fast-track

free-trade can be good for the u.s. but only if it is done right. this wasn't right. kevin mccarthy on the house side saying "americans can count on the house to continue to work towards passage of free and open trade." some say the path to victory is even your work. tim saying "daily i hear from of hohians who have been hurt or had top ships overseas due to similar trade agreements>" it would need 25-30 democrats. whether or not they can get 25 to 30 democrats al gore is up in the air. in general in virginia beach republican. go ahead. caller: good morning. i looked at the clip from barbara boxer. she is starting to look at this thing and where the documents

are cap and was stopped at the door by a guard who made her surrender her smartphone and told her that she cannot take notes. she asked. the man said you can take notes for you have to surrender before you leave. she was flabbergasted as i would be. what is the secrecy on this? white can intersect the "edit? -- white can senators not get a look at it? host: they can go to a room where they have to surrender their cell phones. a house member can go in with a staffer. a staffer cannot go in without that member of congress. they can take notes that they cannot leave with them. the argument is that when you are negotiating these trade deals you cannot have the specifics of it leaking out because then the whole thing

would fall apart. what do you say to that? caller: that is probably true. it is a little too secretive for me. i wish they could find another way. the other thing senator boxer mentioned was some middle-class things like roads and bridges go with and find the money for that. they need the president and republicans if they really need this which is more for politics and trade. they should make a plan to do something like that. i think that is all i'm going to say. thank you in good morning. host: matthew independent, what you make of this thing? what is trade mean to washington state and the other states along the west coast? host: west coast is a

transpacific partnership. tom is behind a lot of the spirit he paid off the governor. governor bentley in california is also. he was a employee of goldman sachs in the 70's. he sold a lot of oil and coal or a trust fund bureau all of a sudden he wants to become his environmentalist. he is a liberal progressive. i am not buying it. he has ties to rockefeller. here he is the one primarily pushing this right after he met obama at a fund-raising form. obama did not want the keystone pipeline. hall of this is coming out of nowhere. i think it is to profit the 1%. tom is also pushing for driver's

licenses for illegal aliens. once they have the borders open it we can at the old from china, and work under minimum wage. it is a bad deal is in a crisis. host: carl in massachusetts, democrat, good morning. your take? caller: good morning. i wanted to say it emits go a man called up and said the unions were for this. when clinton was president, i was with the uaw. we petitioned against it. the unions went against the bill clinton. i wanted to make that point. he was 100% wrong about the unions being for this in the past. host: i wanted to share with you the lots of martin o'malley he was considered a bid for the residency, former governor of maryland. he this e-mail out yesterday.

i want you to hear from me -- this is the political memo in today's new york times. the clinton campaign may not be ultimately issue go away but it could be avoided until after the votes on . beatrice, ohio, independent. good morning to you. beatrice you are on the air. tell us your thoughts on the street debate in washington .

now we move on to vicki and minnesota, democrat. hi. caller: good morning. it seems like in the past all of the things we have heard on tv is all the jobs that have gone that have caused all this devastation and jobless. all we have to do is try to detroit in see the devastation. people who lost their jobs because of the automobile trade. foley homes that were lost. people have just bought home and were trying to make a better way ofs life. to get mortgages and people. all of a sudden the jobs were gone. also the environment. all of the restrictions we have on manufacturing. we don't know this, what all the

restrictions are on the factories overseas. that is part of my fear too. i am against it. host: we are going to keep getting more of your thoughts on this trade debate in washington yesterday. the democrat voting no on giving the president fast-track authority. others are continuing to oppose the president on the street deals and allowing him a faster process to get trade deals through congress. we will keep taking your thoughts for 15 more minutes. here is a defense reporter for politico to talk about action in the house. that is on the national security agency's metadata collection. the house will be voting on the provisions of the patriot act that are inspiring. what exactly is the house of voting on and win? guest: it

just scheduled on the usa freedom act. it is expected to pass. there will be some potential fights in the house as well as a big fight in the senate over this metadata collection from senators, especially rand paul. some of the patriot act he provisions are set to expire on june 1. this is when they are dealing with the tensions. it becomes a larger fight about nhs surveillance. host: what do these provisions do? it is being characterized that

it will and this mass surveillance that the nsa does. will it end it? is that true? guest: that is in the legal system as far as what the nsa can do. last week there was a ruling that found that the nsa's phone metadata is not permitted by the patriot act. legal experts are arguing that congress would have to get permission during this legislative process for htem to continue to do it. the bill specifically at this point is not include specific provisions or the election of that data. the there is likely to have that piece in the future. host: why is senator rand paul

think he will filibuster this in the senate es? guest: it is a chance for him to take the lead on an issue. he will be rallying against governments spying and overreach by the nsa. he is concerned. he does not support this overall act. he will be using this to make his points. host: thank you for your time. we appreciate it. you can watch that debate and vote here on c-span1 the house gavels in for the session later this morning. house republicans are set to revamp an abortion bill that

bans a procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy insisting that this was in january. the bill would impose a national ban on abortion to the point where some research says fetuses can feel pain. dave liverpool independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i was going to college when nasa was being discussed and some who were working for an engine plant in the area. there are looking at walmart and mcdonald's. this needs to stop. we need to stop being the dumping ground of the world.

we need to help our people. the only way i would go for it is, if they have a $1 trillion infrastructure bill to rebuild everything and get construction going. i got hurt in the recession working for an architecture firm. this has got to stop. we have to move on. we have to help our people. we have to rebuild our country. thank you very much. having to take home america. host: wisconsin, democrat. caller: i agree with the last person. remember ross perot? he said can you hear that suckin throughout ourg soud country and all the jobs getting sucked out? i remember that. i just turned 50. that was in my 20's. it is not going to be good.

it never will. the trade agreements are a way to suck all the jobs out of this country. host: how do you respond to people who say we are in a global economy so we have to read on into the street deals- - respond and do these trade deals? if we do not, china will step in. caller: i do not agree with that sentiment. it is a way to ship jobs overseas and driveway jive down just like scott walker is doing. he has a loop hole in the wisconsin budget worksheet is going to let -- and he is going to let illegals there. it is a big conspiracy by the koch brothers. that is what it is. host: mike in pennsylvania, independent.

what are your thoughts on this ? what are your thoughts on this trade debate? caller: i have two points. everybody knows that capitalism is based on consumers and people buying stuff. we are already china's number one group of consumers. this is nothing but finally the giant consumer is boycotting all this cheap stuff from places like vietnam in china where they do not pay anything. it is better to negotiate a treaty with the european union. people in europe generally have even higher wages than we do. it would make it better for us to compete and maybe the converse of this stuff would help to bring our wages up to

western standards. host: here is some reaction on twitter this morning. the president finally got one right. i didn't think he cared about the american economy. monte "trade not aid will lift the world out of poverty and contribute to peace and security are all." " clearly the democratic constituencies are calling washington, screaming in their phones to end this hideous tpp." caller: i think that history repeats it though. there's never been a good trade deal. after every trade deal we lost all sense of jobs. when china joined we lost a 3 million jobs. if our country does not address currency manipulation with china and japan, they put all the workers at risk of losing their

job because of currency in monetary value. countries like china that change their currency and put us at a huge disadvantage. it is horrible. the fact that they want to do this aggressively is verbal. --secretively is horrible. it used to be the 100 pound gorilla in the room. now it is a recount of monkey. -- is a 40-pound monkey. they make horrible trade deals. it has the nothing but put our workers at risk. it was supposed to open the market. always seem to do is put an exit sign on the job. host: 2015 news. conservatives are plotting the 2016 nomination. representatives plan to meet thursday at the ritz carlton hotel where they will air their

fears of having the nomination hijacked -- next to that story is this headline "jeff is top list of candidates iowans will not support." they all have their admirers here it in some cases they have even more detractors.

also this morning on jeff bush, their editorial board they say this about the candidate. he stands his ground on positions unpopular with most republicans. republicans unfortunately have earned a reputation for compromise. a man who shows a willingness to fight is a welcomes i. many of the republicans think another bush is not what this nation is looking for. if the republicans are foolish enough to have someone with the partis they will stay home as

they did twice with barack obama. we will go to jim good morning n to you. whatext. caller: my understanding is they have to offer this bill so they could debate it and come up with different amendments they did not like about it. if the democrats are not even willing to support deba onte a trade agreement, i do not understand what they are beef is. to me mitch mcconnell has taken the senate back to where it should have been under here he read and was not. that is bring the bill of on the floor for debate.

if you have some amendment you want to be can considered, that is not the issue. the issue is let them bring the bill of and if they it. -- and debate it. host: paradise, california. john is watching us there. independent. caller: i think in terms of the trade agreement with obama and our politicians today it is a no win situation. you lose either way. trade can be good. we do not know how to negotiate. we have to address such things as the currency manipulation and how they can flood our market with their products.

until people know what we are doing we will lose every battle whether it is diplomatic trade any whcih way shape, or form. we are a competent with obama at the home. host: after democrats voted against the agenda, the white house hastily convened a meeting between mr. obama and 10 senate democrats including letters ron wyden, pat murray, and tim kaine and mark warner. the discussion was constructed. lawmakers discussed the need to advance legislation to get the president the support he needs to complete negotiations on the transpacific partnership.

we will go to randy, missouri. democratic caller. caller: i think most people are missing what harry reid is doing. harry reid is a very crafty politician. if you listen to what he said last week, harry reid want the vote to take place before these deals expire. one is section 215 of the patriot act. he what that to take place. then the universal bank or whatever they call it. host: he want to see the infrastructure bill passed. caller: it is part of the banking issue. it expires next week. he wants confirmation that they will be voted on. what he is doing is he is using

the filibuster, especially as it relates to the currency deal, which chuck schumer had said it should he a separate vote. harry reid is just tying it up. when it is all said and done this is going to pass. my count is 14 democrat minimum who vote for tpa. harry reid is building a strategy right now. this is what it is about. that i assure you. mark my words, if that is what he is doing most people will dismiss it. host: all right. this is the daily journal out in mississippi, courtesy of the museum.

two candidates are advancing to a june 2 run off election. we will get a couple more phone calls in. nathan oklahoma, independent caller. your thoughts on trade. go ahead. caller: hello. host: good morning. caller: how are you doing? host: good. you're on the air. what are your thoughts on trade?\ caller: i think this tpp is promoting too much multinational corporations. i think when corporations go global such as mcdonald's, coca-cola, i think they can grab a lot more agendas in their grip to let's say set a different

standard of living for foreign countries. i think that should not be in the hands of corporations, especially on a global scale. when natural disasters happen such as hurricanes in haiti and tsunamis such as that, you canome in and give them aid. however, you set the standard too high for third world countries. it should be up to the people in andtheir local governments. they should not have to be forced into agreeing with the standards to help get their country back from the brik nk of destruction from these natural disasters. we should not be having our

input on such a global scale. host: i want to let you know that a new member of congress was added to the roster yesterday. republican dan donovan who easily won a special election last for a vacant that represents staten island. he is replacing michael grimm who stepped down. also happening in washington, the head of summit doubts the mid east policie he is taking part of the sixs. gulf nations hosted by the resident. only two will be representative i monitor. we will have coverage of that. go to www.c-span.org for more details. polly in ohio, republican. good morning. caller: i am not a republican.

i'm independent. host: ok. i am on the air. caller: i like to say that i am against it. i don't buy no more imports. host: ok. caller: i am here. host: you have to listen through your own and not your tv. just so you know for the next time you all into the show. that doesn't for the discussion right now on trade. we will talk with representative john duncan of tennessee. he sits on the transportation committee. we will get the reaction to that derailment and talk about a recent pc talked about in the american conservative title and why he thinks the republican party needs to move away. leader we will talk to congressman keith ellis

hereon. and frank language, obama tackled poverty groups. it is a roundtable discussion on poverty. here's a little bit of what the president had to say. host: those who argued against a safety net or against the government programs have used the rationale that character matters, family matters value matters for the russian opera disinvestment and public goods affected horse over 20-30. if the most important thing is character, then it is okay if we do not have band and music at

school. that is the argument you will here at school. itis is ok. worse. we're spending huge amounts in the district.what you hear is a logicc use as an excuse to under. that is why i think a lot to keep our resistant of that conversation. guarding against cynicism, to say is "we are going to argue hard for those public investments. we are going to argue hard for early education." if a young kid is hearing a lot of words, science tells us they will be more likely to succeed at school. they have trained indecently paid teachers in preschool then

they are going tot by the time they are in third grade they will be reading at grade level. it requires some money. we are going to argue hard for the subsidy. if we do those things, the value in the character those kids are learning in a loving environment where they can succeed in school and they can read at grade level and they are less likely to drop out at it turns out that when they are succeeding at school the are less likely to get pregnant as teenagers and less likely to engage in drugs and less likely to be involved in the criminal justice system. host: president obama talking about the roots of policy. go to www.c-span.org to watch the entire event. congressman john duncan republican of tennessee said on the board.

i want to begin the transportation issues. that is the developing story of the philadelphia. what is your reaction? guest: it is a very bad accident. we need to look into it as much as possible. the entire northeast quarter is very important to our entire economy. a lot of people, i have traveled that corridor many times myself. i am sorry it happened. you have to look at all the causes and do what we possible he can. i asked her to funding for a good rail system 0-- i have always supported a good real system. host: there is a debate about

the subsidy amtrak get in that it runs at a loss every year. what are your concerns with amtrak? guest: the number one concern of republicans, we want to make sure taxpayers are getting a big bang for their buck. we have put a lot into that. more efficient and cost-effective. i remember years ago when bob walker did a amendment to change it by one cent to show congress was not willing to cut anything. if there is a need for this service, somebody will take it over. free enterprise, you may have heard of it. anyway, we are supporting the funding for it and we are trying to wean as much as possible to

get taxpayers off the hook as much as we can and stop wasting a lot of money like on the food service that has been ridiculously expensive. host: here is a chart put together by an economic website. the source is amtrak showing an operating loss from 2009-2014. amtrak has run operating losses every year since it began operating in 1971. although the losses are declining, it is a strong result with an operating loss of only $227 million. guest: only in washington with that the considered good news that the only lost two to $27 million. -- $227 million. it shows improvement because we have on them so hard about it. guest: what does the money go for? the taxpayer subsidies? host: because god for

everything. their entire operation salaries pensions. i mentioned the food service. the last figure i heard was they lost $800 million over a 10 year period on just the food service part. you know, we are trying to make it better. host: what about the infrastructure? has enough money been spent on infrastructure? guest: most of the rail infrastructure has been improved by other railroads. the freight railroads are a complete success story. environmentally, economically, in every way. we just need to get amtrak to operate more like the regular railroads. host: does amtrak ride on the same rails? guest: yes. host: they are maintained by

private companies. there are four major private railroad companies? guest: there are really six. four that are the most famous i guess you would say. host: this possibly might not be an issue up infrastructure than. what we see with the story philadelphia. guest: it could be. i do not know yet. host: what about derailment? we were showing our viewers that amtrak is have a series of derailments and that the number has gone up in recent years. what are your concerns with what is going on there? guest: i do not know the answer to that. you know, maybe an increase in the number of trips that are being taken. i am not sure. i would have to check into that. host: what about the role that amtrak plays in this country versus other modes of transportation?

caller:guest: all of us wish amtrak would do better we could have a good real system all over this country. we just have not been able to effectively do that because of the tremendous success of the airlines. i tear the aviation subcommittee . i know more about that. i tihink that has been the major decline in the past rail systems. there are certain areas where passenger rail could be affected. guest: what is the resistance to change? where does it come from? guest: it comes from the tremendous cost that is involved. host: what are those costs? guest: the money is huge. they have been talking for years about a fast derail system in

florida -- a faster rail system in florida. they started to work on it in california. even the initial costs are extremely high. all the programs in washington the costs are low on the front in. we find out they explode after a program gets started. it'll go far beyond what the original cost estimates are. host: we are talking to john duncan, republican of tennessee, second district. moving on. he recently wrote a return to the peace party. what is the peace party? guest: traditionally the republican party had to make a

good claim to be in the piece party. the theme of the article i wrote his in my opinion we are long past the time where we need to stop trying to run the whole world and we need to start taking care of our own country and our own. i think the people in this country do not want forever wa rs. if we turn out to be seen by most people as they war party then it is a recipe for defeat. i said republicans have traditionally believed in pea through strength, not permanentce war. i think the policy of the republican party can't of this country has been hijacked in recent years by a group that originally referred to as

neoconservative s. they said this was a group that was magnificently misnamed. in reality, they were the most radical people in this town. that was the theme of my article. i mentioned in there my first paycheck was the bad boy of a grocery store. i have worked in almost every republican campaign federal state, local for the years. it saddens me to have my party become almost a permanent war party. one worn eisenhower warned against the industrial complex. i think even he would be shot at how far we have gone down that road. host: i want to show viewers a headline coming home and

interview potential 2016 contender jeff bush told fox he would have authorized the iraq you put against iraq invasion. senator rand paul told the reporter about his iraq position, but the real problem if you can't articulate what he would've done differently. guest: i was here for the first iraq war. and i voted for that work because i went -- war because i went to: power -- to colin powell and he convinced me that saddam hussein was almost like another hitler. host: that was under george h w. guest: right. then i saw his so-called elite troops surrendering. and every life in the threat had

been greatly exaggerated. and so when the second iraq war rolled around, i read everything i could get my hands on. looked at it very closely. it had tremendous support in my district. and it was a very, very difficult vote. if they put me in a small room with condoleezza rice and john mclaughlin then a headline in the washington post said a war with iraq -- said a war with iraq would cost as much as $200 billion. i asked about that and condoleezza rice said, oh, no, it wouldn't cost nearly that much. which had to be the greatest underestimate in the history of the country. secretary rumsfeld also give that kind of figure. what i asked in that meeting, i

said if you are going against every conservative tradition in the country of being against the massive foreign aid and the conservatives being the biggest critics of the u.n., you are going to war to force the u.n. resolution. i said, if you're going against all those conservative traditions, do you have any evidence of any imminent threat. and they didn't. i have been concerned about the way we have gone. you know, we've got a $19 trillion national debt. and i think -- we couldn't solve all the problems over there. if -- there are people and groups who make a lot of money off of these interventions. if you oppose that, they very

quickly used the slur of isolationism. i don't have an isolationist bone in my body. and i think we are to have trade and exchange it. i just think that we should be eager to go to war. i said in this article in the "american conservative" magazine, i had quotes that that , we should go to the war only to protect the liberty of the american people, and then only as a last resort. president reagan set forth for commissions on going to war. he said even if all four of those conditions are met, war should be a last resort. host: let's get to calls. mark is up first in chester, connecticut. a democrat. caller: hi, yes. i given thank you my call. i am still on tpp, if that is what we are talking about. host: well, we can ask the congressman. go ahead mark. caller: well, my point is -- you

know -- each of our states, in the past -- i don't know the exact numbers now, but we are larger than europe. each of our states has had in economy larger than the countries of europe. and we should be fairly well self-sufficient in being able to provide within our own states. that provides us with a surplus to trade amongst the states, and then beyond that, have enough to -- you know -- trade globally. if we keep building towards that type of goal. what astonishes me is that if you go back to mccarthyism, were you a communist? are you a communist? the no a communist echo -- do you know a communist? we are sending everything to them.

i just think that we are large enough and have a large enough economy to not have to count so to any of these agreements especially when we see the past results. host: all right, mark. congressman, what is your view on this debate over trade? guest: well, i have never voted to give any president fast-track authority. i don't think that congress should see -- cede that much power. while i believe very strongly in international trade, i think -- i am very skeptical about multinational trade agreements for this reason. i think for the united states, with only 4% of the world's population, we purchased 25% of the world's goods. that means every country in this world that's really wanted to this country. want to trade with this country.

so i think that what we should do is negotiate individual trade agreements with each country rather than multinational agreement because i think we have given up a lot of leverage that we could have used to benefit our workers. host: in maryland, a republican. caller: hi. ok, my question is about mitch mcconnell. he -- i don't know if he passed the bill, but he introduced a bill to give congress the final say on the iran nuclear negotiation. but mark said, hey, he didn't have to bring that fell off because the constitution gives the senate the authority to voted up or down. so by passing this though, he made it doubly hard because if the president does it, then they have to have a majority to overcome the veto and they probably won't get it.

what do you think about that? guest: well, i don't -- i think it is good for congress to be involved and express its opinion in the agreement, and nature of this -- the nature of this importance. so don't have any problem with that. and senator corker's bill passed in the senate 98-1, so i think that everybody feels the same way. i do hope that we can reach some sort of a peaceful agreement with iran. host: we will go today in hammond, indiana. in independent. caller: good morning, congressman. guest: good morning. caller: i used to be a republican. i am a right-wing conservative i guess you would call me. i don't understand this infrastructure stuff. how does the federal government have any authority to tell indiana what to do with their roads?

if the people of indiana decide that nothing but gravel roads, no bridges, you have to get on a little boat -- if that is what the people of indiana decide to do with their state, how is it that people in tennessee get to tell me that you have to send us your money and we will tell you how to build your roads? where do you get the constitutional authority to do that? another thing on the straight stuff. why don't we take and get what i would call a reciprocal trade? say we have to countries english and china. england says bring all your stuff in as long as it doesn't blow up in our faces. and then you have china. and they say, we are going to drop our currency 20% so that we can get a trade -- an advantage in trade. and that is fine. but when it hits the american shore, we are going to tech 20% on. if apple wants to build a plant out in china and they want to use slave labor, that is fine.

you can do it. you can sell the phones in china. but if you send the phones here, we are going to jack that labor rate up and we are going to bring the price of that iphone up to $1000 or whatever it would work up to. that is my opinion. host: we will let the congressman way in. guest: one thing, i think you'll be pleased to know that the republicans have been dissolving much of the authority over the spending on roads and other infrastructure projects to the states. the federal government has been providing most of the money, but we have been giving most of the authority to the states. there is an important federal role in transportation because people in california sometimes use the airports in texas and roads in ohio and stuff. and people in new york sometimes think the water in florida and vice versa. so all these are transportation, infrastructure type needs. as far as the -- what was the

second -- host: he was talking about trade deals. guest: oh, yes. well, i can tell you i agree with what he said. we haven't been nearly tough enough with the chinese, in my opinion. i don't think china would have ever stood for a trade deficit from the u.s. as we have had with the chinese. i think we should have been saying to the chinese, we want to buy things from you, but you need to find some things that you can buy from us to bring our trade deficits or into balance. that is one of the things we could have been doing and should have been doing. host: on twitter wyatt only -- why only with a gop president you spend crazy -- like crazy on what tax cuts, but when americans what infrastructure, money dries up? guest: my sympathies are very

much in line with hers. we have spent far too much on very unnecessary foreign wars. i don't think that has been fiscally conservative. i am a fiscal conservative. you know, i have a favorite quote from president kennedy in that you and 61 in the -- in 1961, he said, we must face the fact that united states is neither omnipotent -- we cannot impose our will on the other 94% of mankind. and therefore, there cannot be an american solution to every world problem. now, the only differences we are only 4% of the world's population. but george w. bush ran on a platform that said we need more -- a more humble for policy --

foreign policy, but then when he came in, he didn't act in that same way. i was very disappointed. 80% of the republicans in the house voted to get the bombings in bosnia and cozumel and what president -- and coastal -- ko sovo and what president clinton was doing. host: potter springs, georgia tom is watching us there on our line for republicans. you are on the air with congressman john duncan of tennessee. caller: yes, thank you for letting me talk. this idea that we are going to have high-speed trains all over the country that has been something that has been talked about for 20 years. it is not going to happen because let's say somebody takes the train from new york and they move along really good and get the d.c., but they want to take the train to florida or two here in atlanta or out west -- to two

here in atlanta or out west. the are going to go on to railroads like the csx. and the only let passenger trains poke along at 70 miles per hour. so, i think that needs to be a discussion that should be had that maybe there are more corridors or areas where we could have high-speed trains which would ask the help of the freight railroads. host: ok, tom. and peg on twitter says, we needed ten-year plan for infrastructure and a commitment to bring our highways, it railroad, and airports up to date. guest: that is what i have said, not only in this article, but in speeches all over the country that we need to start taking better care of our own country and meeting the needs that we have for our own people. we simply can't afford with a $19 trillion national debt to do

all the things all over the world. i have great sympathy for people who are going through problems in other countries, and i think we ought to help out to a limited set -- extent, but we simply, as president kennedy said, we simply cannot solve every world problem. and i do like the infrastructure work in this country because those are jobs that will be done here in the u.s. and not outsourced. as far as high-speed and real, most of the republicans -- you are not going to see any high-speed rail funding and a republican congress until it becomes much more cost-effective and attractive and can be done by the private sector. host: an independent caller. caller: good morning. the best thing to do about our high-speed rail is we spent $300,000 an hour on our national security. make jobs in rail part of a

national security and and what happened to the sec -- scc bylaws unfairness? host: are you following on what he was asking their? guest: no, i really wasn't. host: ok, we will move on. lori, a democrat. caller: good morning. duncan, i am putting myself agreeing with you on a lot of anger, and i am a liberal. but i do appreciate your not rush to war and all of that. going back to the infrastructure any high-speed rail, i am just astounded that when you first asked the question, you an answer to -- you are not able to answer so many things. so i would really like to hear a few remarks and why is it that they are running such a ridiculous law? and can't our government, you know, sort of make some sort of inroads on what is going on

there? we have enough information that we should be able to, you know, you guys should look into this and find out what is going on. you know let's get these things together. people's lives go around these things. i agree with that, it is great. but let's get some answers on this. we do need to be, you know, safe here. i think it is the biggest threat that some of the terrorist stuff. thank you for your service. guest: thank you very much. we are certainly going to look into it. i didn't come over here with all the facts and figures on the rail because i was asked to talk on another topic, but i will say that the main reason that amtrak has had so many losses is because government -- governor

randel many years ago testified in front of the house ways and means committee and said that government does not work because there is no incentive to save money. much of it is squandered. there is no incentive to work hard. many people did not. they are paid the same whether they work hard or whether they work easy. there is not the same pressures or incentives as in the private sector. that is what has caused the huge losses by amtrak. host: franklin square, new york. ed. a republican. caller: hi, thank you, c-span. thank you, representative. i have a mentor in my life. he is as conservative as could be. and when all that stuff happened with terrorism, he actually asked a question that still resonates with me. can you --

host: i apologize for that. we do not have a time delay. obviously, some people take advantage of it. apologies to you, congressman. apologies to our viewers. melvin. hi, melvin. caller: hi, how are you? i have a question for you. with the military training that is going to be coming up in texas and oklahoma and all that and they just had a the tenant colonel on there, can you name one example -- can you name me one example in the middle east where they have a subway station that has made street on it? host: why are you asking that question? caller: because i want to hear it from congressman duncan. i want to know what his opinion is. host: congressman? guest: i suppose you are

referring to the training that is about to be done i think primarily in texas under the name of i think helm or something like that. i have heard little bit about that. there is some concerns. i know the new governor of texas is that he is going to monitor that situation. i am a veteran myself. i don't have any problems about our military doing training in the u.s. to fight around the world. for instance, you know, they train people here in quantico for service in vietnam because of -- because the conditions were very similar. my concern -- i am very much supportive of the military, i just -- and i have no criticism of the job that our troops have

done, i have just said i don't think they should be put into permanent, forever wars all around the world. also, i have an objection because we have had our military -- about half of what our military has done in iraq and afghanistan has been pure foreign aid. we have been building schools, training local police, training agricultural farming and so forth, setting up a small business loan program, we have been running whole countries. i just openly that are cut the division gives us the power or authority -- i just don't believe that our constitution gives us the power or authority like that. host: yesterday, we did talk about the military exercise with a reporter. if you are interested in learning more about it, you can go to our website, [indistinct chatter] -- go to our website c-span.org.

congressman, what is your strategy or what is your thoughts on fighting isis? this threat we have seen in iraq and syria and other areas of the world. guest: once again, as general betray us fed, -- generalpetrae us -- general patreaus has said, these things get blown out of proportion because of our 24 hour news cycle and the need to sensationalize all kinds of things. and because so many people and companies to make so much money out of exaggerating these threats. now, isis, in my opinion, is an evil, monstrous group. and i think the way to handle isis -- whatever is the worst punishment you can think of that you can do to people, i would be in favor of doing to isis. but i also think that the way we should handle something like

that is to do like we did with osama bin laden. if we can find them, find out who these people are. send a small group in to take care of them. but in my opinion, the people of the middle east are going to have to be the ones to solve most of their problems in the middle east. we can't solve everything for them. and we need to be making sure that we are secure here in this country and within our own borders. host: philadelphia. mark on our line for democrats. caller: hello. congressman duncan, i applaud your sanity. you are a breath of fresh air in the republican party. my wife is a civilian dod employee. the sequester has already cost our family about 2000 grand, now it is going to rear its ugly head again next year. federal employees have to make

their contributions, but the things that stick in my call about the sequester it the way your party is trying to get around the sequester on defense spending would that overseas slush fund. and the last time the sequester happened, the big contractors -- boeing, general dynamics etc. they didn't sacrifice a buy in, yet workers like my wife and others like her were cost thousands of dollars. where is the fairness? thank you. guest: well, i agree with you and i have not supported that oco attempt. i have voted against that. in fact, i was disappointed in the budget that we put forth a few days ago because it only came into balance after 10 years, and only because of some budgetary gimmicks that i don't

think we should be trying. in fact, i don't think anybody is that under the budget that is there, that is exit will be in balance at the end of that 10 year period. host:sam, an independent caller. caller: congressman duncan, how are you doing? i wanted to ask you, if there was somewhere we could pack the trade deal with the infrastructure deal that would also help reduce the deficit so that not only would we be building infrastructure like trains and waterways and things we did in massachusetts with the big date with federal money, but we would also have other countries that want to do business in the united states or give us products that would have to also opals -- help us reduce our deficit. is there somewhere we can do that? guest: sure. i agree with you. and that is what is that a few minutes ago, we haven't come close to using the leverage that we have.

i don't know whether you heard me, but i said with 4% of the world's population, we have 25% of the world goods. that means every country wants to do business with us. and i want to do business with every country. i just do want to do business that destroys jobs in this country. over the last 40 or 50 years, we have sent millions of good jobs out of the country. now one of my biggest concerns is we have the best educated waiters and waitresses in the world. that is honorable employment, but you hate to think that people with advanced degrees that their best option -- and we have millions of even noncollege graduates are having to work at jobs below their skills and abilities because we sent so many good jobs to other countries. host: jerry in north carolina. a democrat. hi jerry. caller: good morning, greta. yeah.

representative duncan would be really called a strong progressive. it makes me feel good listening to you this morning because your comments make sense, but what i would really like to talk about is amtrak and the fact that amtrak -- in the past two years or has been talk of privatizing amtrak. and of course they want to cherry pick the ones to privatize. the whole problem with amtrak is there are so many unprofitable routes that run from the east coast to the west coast. and if they were going to privatize anything, they should let private business have the unprofitable routes now and keep amtrak in the northeast corridor, where they are profitable. and if private business is so good, let them turn a profit on

the unprofitable routes before thought is even given to giving them a chance to take over the profitable routes. again, i can't say enough that you have given me hope that there is some common sense republicans out there. i thank you very much. have a good day. host: congressman. guest: thank you for those kind words. i will tell you that the problem on the private sector taking over the unprofitable routes is there has not been any real interest in doing that at this point. but i am hopeful that at some point in the future some private companies will come in and be interested in doing that. and i think that could happen. host: barbara. bronx, new york. hi, barbara. caller: yes, i am one of those people who is also shocked that

there is a republican making sense on tv. if you were the face of the republican party, i would think of actually voting for republicans. but you are not. i wanted to know, what districts do you represent? and also, i know that this not your main idea, but i have not heard you say anything about immigration. and my question is about -- we still have very high legal immigration from countries from all over the world. probably from syria and iraq and god knows where else, so i would like to know and see if i can agree with you on what you think about the immigration system we still have now. guest: well, thank you very much. i represent the knoxville tennessee area. east tennessee. one of the most popular places to move to in the whole country. about half of the people i represent have moved from someplace else. people all over the country are moving from the high tax state

to the low tax states. but i also have the privilege of representing the only district in the country to have republican representation since the founding of the country because most of the people in east tennessee fell on the side of the union and the civil war. and one of my main goals has been want to not break that string to but as far as immigration, i can tell you that two or three months ago, i saw that 50% of the people in this world has to get by on four dollars or less a day. we are blessed beyond belief to live in our country. you can understand that there are 4 billion people that are hoping they are going to get one good meal today, and probably aren't. see can understand why somebody people want to come here, but we are forced to have some sort of legal, orderly system of or -- of immigration.

our entire infrastructure, our jails, sewers, roads hospitals schools, everything would just be overrun if we simply opened up orders. -- open our borders. some of the hardest workers here have come from other countries. i certainly admire that. host: congressman, let me ask you about this piece the "washington post" just posted. the house, in march, in a rare show of bipartisanship, past a reauthorization. it did not include a big funding boost, but there is one notable provision. the profitable northeast corridor could reinvest in its own battered infrastructure, rather than have to set that other routes around the country that don't make money. guest: in fact, i spoke on the floor of the house in favor of that bill and voted for that bill, so it was a $5 billion

bill to help our rail infrastructure and other needs in this country. and it does have that provision. it was a provision put in by congressman mica of florida, and it does set up, for the first time ever, a plan to let amtrak reinvest some of the money that they are making as one of the caller's said, the northeast corridor is profitable at this point because there's such a demand there for that. and this bill will help amtrak become stronger. and hopefully will help cut down on some of the losses that have been occurred over the years. host: they note that the senate has yet to pick it up, but the newspaper saying, don't be suppressed because of what happened in philadelphia that the senate does not -- that the senate would turn quickly to that reauthorization bill and take it up.

congressman, thank you very much for your time. i hope you come back. guest: i tell you, i watch her show just about every morning here at especially the call in part. you have a great program, and it is an honor for me to be here with you. host: thank you, sir. appreciate that. coming up next, we will talk with congressman keith ellison. he will talk about trade and efforts to rearrest the patriot act. and later on, we will talk about american's civic knowledge in this country. new polls conducted by purdue university. and also have you weigh in on this derailment that we have seen in philadelphia. get your thoughts on amtrak and what is happening there. we will be right back.

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veteran as to not produced many videos on the international space station. >> the only time i actually felt a shiver of your goal of my back though, was on the dark side of the earth, looking at the one side of australia, of easton australia in the darkness and watching a shooting star come in between me and the earth. at first, i had the standard reaction of wishing upon a star. but then i had the sobering realization that that was, in fact, just a huge, dumb rock going 20 miles a second that missed us and made it down to the atmosphere. if it hit us, it was a big enough one that you could see it. if it hit us, we would have been dead. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific. >> "washington journal"

continues. host: we want to welcome back democrat keith ellison. congressman, you were up on capitol hill yesterday with the rest of the progressive caucus along with the mayor of new york city talking about the progressive agenda. and, of course, trade. what do you make of what happened in the senate yesterday? senate democrats locking the president's trade agenda. guest: well, i think that it is really not about the president. it is about the people who have lived in our district who have been hurt by trade deals in the past. it has flat in their wages and have seen their jobs go offshore. if you take baltimore, the city that has been the scene of so much turmoil recently. they used to have 30,000 steelworkers there. now they are down to about three. he used to have a company there

that left, moved out. 600 jobs gone like that. there has been a bleed all across the country. and much of it, a substantial portion of it, has been because of trade deals. so, in my own state of minnesota, the brookings institute did a study a few years ago and said yes, nafta did create some jobs, but it cost us many more. so actually, we are just really at the point where we have to respond to the cries of our constituents. and that is about jobs, better wages. and the president quickly said the income inequality is the defining issue of our time. then why push this trade deal, which isn't going to help american workers? so, that is how we are looking at it. host: the president said nafta was 20 years ago. this is a chance to help chains -- change the provisions of

nafta by going ahead with trade deals. what evidence do you have that this won't be different deck of is that this is -- different? he says this is different than nafta. guest: -- well, so often, the best predictor of the future is what has already happened. we can't ignore that, although some people would like us to. but let's go back to the south korea free trade agreement. that is an agreement where people in the administration have walked in and said, oh, our exports are up. well, our imports are up much further. we are net losers on that, when it comes to jobs with the trade agreement they pushed just a few years ago. so my point is that i am not anti-trade. in fact, i believe trade is like gravity. are you going to have -- what

are the terms of trade? how is trade going to be conducted? and what will american workers get out of trade? that is the real question. i think we have been raising good issues. the senator said, what about currency manipulation? there must be something to address that if we are going to be able to support this. the president has consistently said, we are not great to do anything on currency manipulation. that is out of the president's mouth to my ear. if he wants to change his mind, that is ok. but he has already declared he is not going to do anything on that. this investor-state provisions, which would allow multinationals to sue local governments. we have already seen the nation of egypt sued because they raised the minimum wage. we have seen uruguay and australia sued because they tried to protect people from the

hazards of cigarette smoking. how long will it be before an american city tries to protect its citizens and get sued by some company? it is important to say that so much of this deal is not about trade. much of it is about investor protections. it really has much more to do with that kind of thing. so, you know, are you -- when the people that want this deal are willing to come forth and say here is how the market worker is going to benefit, and in addition to that, when they say here is the whole deal, look at it, scrutinize it, and if you like it, supported. that is a time when we can have a realistic conversation. at the listeners should know, you know, if a member of congress wants to see the transpacific partnership proposal, we cannot have staff

come in, we cannot take notes as we review the documents -- host: you can't take notes or you cannot leave within us? guest: thank you for that correction. we cannot leave without notes but what good are notes if we get me with them deco i can jot -- with them? i can jot down notes and then handed to the staff when i leave. and it is important to point out that all the experts in the room are from the administration. and i can't talk about it with my staff. i mean, i am a lawyer, but i didn't do trade law. so this is jargon laden language. host: so you have tried to read it? guest: yes. but you can only read a title by title. and you don't have time because we had to go to many meetings a day. we have to vote. we are busy, as you know. the thing is is that it is made difficult to get a very good,

firm grasp of what we do know. host: let's listen to what the president has to say. he sat down with yahoo! ended in interview recently. [video clip] president obama: number one they have said that these are secret deals. well, these are not secret deals. the negotiations are still ongoing, so we are not reviewing what our bottom -- revealing what our bottom lines are. and congress has had on file the basic framework for the transpacific partnership for months now. if and when we do reach an agreement, it will be posted for the whole world to see for 60 days. and that is before i even sign it. after i sent it, they congress will have months to debate this thing it so they will know what provisions are in there. host: congressman, you heard the president there saying you will have months to look at it. guest: well, we want to know what it is in their -- what is in there as it is being created.

there is also the trade promotion agreement. two different things. the trade promotion agreement is basically a request that we legislatively abdicate and delicate our authority, as members of congress, to the president on matters of trade. i don't like the idea of giving up my power that the constitution confers upon me to begin with. so that is problem number one. but there are many other problems. so the president is saying he is going to work the deal out, get all the agreements together with all the other countries. then he will show it to us? what if we want to change it after that? i am sure we will be told, well, we like to change it, but... trying to inform the public that somehow we have free access to this document. i would like the american people to know, that is not true.

we cannot have our staff in there. five members of his staff are in there. we cannot take her notes with us. and, again, we cannot discuss it outside. we know more from wikileaks then about this agreement. quite frankly, i have been disappointed that the president has been kind of insulting towards elizabeth one, -- 2 -- elizabeth warren -- acting like she has no legitimate point of view. look, i'm a great supporter of the president. i support the president on immigration, on a range of issues. dood frank -- dodd frank the affordable care act, i think he has been a phenomenal resident. host: he said, of senator warren, that she is just another politician on this. guest: that is not true. host: did you take that to an insult -- did you take that as

an insult to yourself? guest: let me put it like this i cannot operate in this business if i go around getting offended all the time. part of what it means to represent the public in this environment is to have thick skin. but i guess i would say that if i would try to persuade a friend, i wouldn't start out pointing out how deficient they were as a people to try to get them on my side. what i do is answer the question. and my main question is, how is this going to affect the average american worker? what is it going to do to their wages, the security of their jobs? and on top of that, why can't we know much more about this deal right now? since we are the ones who are supposed to vote on it. host: do you think jenin -- gender played a role in that the president referred to her by her first name, senator warren, not

calling her a senator? and senator brown saying he might not have done that if it was a male senator. guest: well, i'm going to is the out of that because i do believe the president is a person who is all about the quality of people along the lines of race, sex gender, and all those things. i also would say that if you want your friends to go for something, meet their concerns. as opposed to putting them down. host: we will go to canton, ohio. hi there, ralph. caller: yes. host: good morning, sir. you are on the air. caller: ok. i would like to ask a question. the natural resources of this country, whether it is onshore or offshore, belong to the people of the united date. -- united states. why can't the congress passed a bill, you know, getting at a little bit of money, it doesn't

have to be much, and put that into, say, social security or retirement or the health-care benefits to kind of make up the difference there? guest: well, i agree that we need to figure out a way to shore up public social insurance programs and investments. i think selling off america natural -- america's natural resources is not a proposal i would support. what i would support is a very small sales tax on stocks, bonds, and riveted that we see with -- and derivatives that we see with other countries. even republican and democrat support that. when wall street got itself into

a whole lot of trouble in 2007 and 2008, the american people stepped out and build them out. i think it is not too much to ask them to put money into a fund that would help take care of the investment needs of our country. i would prefer a bill that i have called the inclusive prosperity act. host: is the democratic leadership on the house side putting any pressure on the democrats to vote either for or against the president on trade? guest: no. i really want to get a lot of crap is -- a lot of credit to nancy pelosi. they have, thus far, been leading the charge and getting our questions answered. i don't know where each of them specifically stance. i think they have done a good job of cultivating ideas. in fact, leader pelosi has held several sessions on different parts of the agreement

investors date, currency, things like that. so that we can get as well informed as we can. host: we will go to i went next. randy, a democrat. caller: hi, how are you this morning? host: good morning. caller: keith, i have to say that i agree with you in general. and i am disturbed that the president -- and how he treated elizabeth warren as well. the point that i want to make is that our government was financed by terrorists and trade. since free-trade, we have created these huge deficits. and at this point, and the current budget created by the congress, we are going to start curtailing meals on wheels and

social programs to -- to promote free trade overseas. so, i think the social aspect of the hollowing out of america and our -- and our equity in our country as taxpayers, but the big thing that really disturbs me is that when you put it into context -- of -- of how the corporate versions of working now -- corporate versions are working now in america, like in burger king's case, has stores in almost every part of the world, but they are collecting taxes for a state that they have no allegiance to. and as i understand it, the

transpacific partnership has a clause in their that creates -- there that creates corporate corporations with nationstate status, and will give them preferential treatment in american courts over the taxpayers. host: ok, randy. congressman, can you answer that? guest: i think you are inferring -- are referring to the investors date resolutions. and i was we would be in court. we wouldn't be under the provisions that are there. they would be a three loyal tribunal -- lawyer tribunal, who would then decide on whether or not a multinational that has a problem with the local law, if they have a case in that situation. if they would be able to get into american courts, then we would have maybe some resemblance of justice. if we could have our judges, are juries, i would feel -- our

juries, i would feel more comfortable. but it is not that. again, as i mentioned before, these investors big provisions i think that half really caused a lot of damage -- these investors date provisions -- investors date -- investorstate provisions i think that have really caused a lot of damage. -- they start accommodating her behavior to avoid a loss in the future -- accommodating their behavior to avoid a loss in the future. what does that mean echo -- what does that mean? a country might not take steps to protect their people's health because they are afraid a multinational might sue them. so this really does change our concept of freedom and civil

redress in our courts. host: helen in west virginia. hi helen. caller: thank you very much. i am a republican. host: ok. caller: i don't understand these politicians or the president when they don't realize that the only thing we have to do is lower the corporate tax rate and these manufacturers would come back to this country. and also, the point with negotiating, i will tell you, there is one person that i know that could do that and that is donald trump. they might as his advice sometime because he deals with these people everyday and he says china is cleaning hour clock. and they just it back and laugh at us. host: congressman, what do you think? guest: well, i really appreciate helen's call. i will share with helen that the top 30 american corporations

don't pay any taxes. so if you lower their tax rate they are at zero. helen might think, how could that be? helen, let me tell you. the reality is that there is the stated corporate tax rate, and then there is the effective corporate tax rate. the regular tax rate that is on the books is one, and then a corporation can hire lawyers to find provisions of law that will allow them to escape or not pay taxes. when a look at all of the deductions and the exemptions, many of them end up not paying any at all. for example, bank of america didn't pay, boeing didn't pay. think about the companies that did pay, right? they must be thinking, what kind of fools are we? we don't have any loopholes or exemptions. i guarantee you, small businesses, they are the ones who end up paying. so it is really in unjust and

unfair system. i am not going to tear and that the company's that didn't pay -- into the company's -- into the companies that didn't pay because it is really congress' responsibility. if everybody pays, theater companies don't have to pay nearly as much. the bottom line is that we have a screwed up or protect system. i guess i don't share her confidence in mr. trump, but i respect her right to feel good about donald trump. host: we will go to randy in wisconsin. a republican. caller: i wasn't owing to call in today, but after i heard representative ellison here, and i'm right across the border from him, but the first words out of his mouth today was this is not about the president. it is about the president.

i have to give it to the democrats, especially when a are for free labor. not to bring it up to the floor on this labor law. now, i am also for -- republican -- for mitch mcconnell to say, bring it to the floor and let's talk about it, about free-trade. because we need free-trade. president obama went out there and said you have to pass it again, one of these tricks, to see what it is and -- what is in it. anything that this president says nowadays, nobody can believe him because he is not in our eyes, he is not for us in this country. i don't know but mr. ellison you have some good points. but you started out on the wrong foot today. it is about the president.

guest: randy, i would just say that it is great to be a neighbor of yours. but i think that it is not about the president and that some people think that we are questioning and in some cases even opposing the transpacific partnership because we don't like the president. that is my point. it has nothing to do with how we feel about him. i respect that you are republican. the truth is, i really like the president otherwise. you may not appreciate that, but i think the president has done things that i want him to do on immigration. i like the fact the president has increased the pay for workers of federal contracts. so, i cannot join the chorus who is opposing this trade you because they don't like obama. i actually do like obama. i think obama is a wonderful president, but i think that he

is just wrong on this. i am not saying he is not smart. i am simply saying he is looking at a set of facts i have not seen, or he is prioritizing some things that i would prioritize in another kind of way. i am not going to do to obama and do what he has done to elizabeth one. i am simply going to say what i value, which is better pay for workers, more jobs in our country, and greater sovereignty for our government. apparently things that he sees different way than i would. labor is solid wall on this. i don't know every labor union who is on the side of passing the trade promotion authority and the transpacific partnership. labor is it -- in agreement as to why this is bad. host: given everything that you just said, how do you feel about the former secretary of state hillary clinton, on trade?

the "washington post" says she is mia. do you agree? guest: i am willing to give hillary clinton a chance to sort things out. she is not the president, it is not her responsibility. i would be happy if she came out against it. i would be impressed. but just be fair to hillary clinton, she has raised questions about the investorstate resolutions. about basically undermining american sovereignty by multinationals. she is right to question that. i think i want to encourage her to look at it more. sometime between now and the time she becomes the president of united dates, she is going to have to be clear on where she stands on this issue of free trade versus fair trade, which is what i import. she is going to have to state her position. host: shouldn't she have to do that sooner rather than later

given that which he was secretary of state, she was advocating for this trade deal? guest: well, here is what i want to say about that. look, i would like to see her become the president. and i am willing to allow her to go through the process. i think i misspoke slightly. she can't wait until she becomes president to tell us your views on this, but sometime between now and when the debates begin she will have to become very clear on where she stands on the transpacific partnership, the atlantic agreement, the trade promotion authority. but i am not going to join the chorus of people were going to pound the table and say she must tell us her views immediately. at this point, she is not voting on it. members of congress are. and she is not the president. at this point, i would like to see come out with it. it would make me feel better about her presidency.

but i'm not going to be one of those who is going to try and jam her into a corner. host: and editorial -- mrs. clinton tells prospective voters that her winning the nomination. guest: look, it's a pepper them to have that view. the view i'm going to take is the person who would like to see a democratic president and i'm not going to join the people who want to push her in a corner and state all her views now. i would like to see them but the real issue for me is where does the president stand, where does congress stand, where do the people who are actually going to make decisions about this stand? again, the washington post editorial board has a point. if this trade authority passes it will be for six years and whoever is the next president is going to benefit from it, so we do have a right to know. i guess i am one of those who

just says it is not a top priority for me to know exactly what she thinks. i would like to know and i hope to no thing. if i can say one more thing. i think voters will be watching very carefully about where the next presidential candidate stands on how trade deals affect wages and immigration and a whole number of things that are important in this next campaign. host: we go to lancaster, california, glenn. thank you for waiting period -- waiting period caller: speaking of immigration, this trade deal is changing from nafta that is giving citizenship to immigrants through your three lawyer court people from other countries. you said and note to the constitution of the united states to protect the citizens.

you guys have not protected the citizens for 30 years over immigration. host: glenn, i'm going to jump in. where did you read that? where did you hear that? caller: i heard it on msnbc, fox news. i heard it on c-span when they are talking in the senate. host: ok, the congressman isn't shaken his head, so let's get a response. guest: thank you for the call. i don't believe that's an accurate statement. i think it would be news to me if -- out of all the criticisms i have had at the transpacific partnership and i have had many, i don't think that conferring citizenship has been a part of it. now, if somebody you knowfor, and let me know. i have done a lot of reading studied this extensively in this of be the first time i have heard anything like that. i do share your concerns. it is absolutely the fact that

under provisions similar to those in the transpacific partnership that they have sued local governments about health and safety laws. that is a fact that is documented, but this thing about conferring citizenship i think is not accurate. glenn, if you have proof for evidence, share and we will be happy to read it. host: adding a line republicans eddie in north carolina. caller: the reason for the call is if you don't have currency manipulation standards in the dale, it's a bad deal for the united states. as far as immigration the cbo's come out and spoil immigration and it would drive wages down or stagnant wages for the next 10 years. the other thing you mentioned with the comment to another caller about corporations not pay taxes that is because of all the green energy and different tax breaks the government gives

to corporations, so if you find it out and eliminated a lot of the deductions, you would be able to collect taxes from people. guest: thank you for your points. i will say this about immigration. if we have immigration reform i think that will raise ways is --, i think we will raise wages. they are already here. if anybody is going to hire someone who doesn't have authorization to be in this country, they are hiring because they can pay them less and don't have any rights. the fact of the matter is if you give them the status or you find a way for them to stay legally in the country where you have to pay them properly, a prevailing wage, then they are going to have to -- the other people's wages -- she will have a wage war and i believe that will stop the drip downward. that is why the labor unions support immigration reform because an undocumented worker is generally speaking and

exploited worker. if you can give them a status, they will be able to have their rights. the cbo has said immigration reform would increase the wealth of this nation and so i support it. also i think it would be just. the caller also mentioned green energy as a problem. we have this and food are brought. we have documented over $10 billion over the course of 10 years in fossil feel companies subsidies. -- fossil fuel company subsidies. it can prove for every one dollar that the green energy company gets that fuel industry gets six dollars. let me be perfectly clear -- i am talking about petroleum, natural gas, and oil. the caller's main point is if we got rid of all the deductions

we would have more revenue as a nation and it would be fairer. i think i actually do agree with him on that point, i just disagree with that minor point around green energy. host: we will go next to james in iowa. a democrat. hi, james. caller: yes, thank you for taking my call. i agree with you on many things but i have quick three point -- three quick points. you represent a lot of farmers in the state of minnesota and farmers export grain under these agreements and right now, grain prices are below the cost of production. they made found -- a bump in grain prices and this would have to -- this would happen under this type of agreement. number 2 -- under currency manipulation, if they put things in their life that, would that not impact the ability of our federal reserve to quantitatively ease, as they have been doing, to help our

economy? and number three, i have to say it comes back to testing this president with 65 million people who voted for him trust them. do you not trust him on this but yet due on the iran deal -- or the iran nuclear agreement? host: three things. guest: thank you. those are all good questions. i disagree about this trusting the president. i am not supporting the president's action on iran deal because i trust him. i actually think diplomacy is a good idea and a good way to avoid war. i think in my own sober account of the issue and come to the conclusion that the president is right. the same way i have come to my own conclusion that i -- on the trade promotion authority and the transpacific partnership that the president is not evaluating the issue the same way i would therefore, i don't

agree it is right. it's not about trusting the president but taking your own look at the issue and coming to your conclusion and i don't agree that this is the right thing entree. regarding currency, great question. that's with the administration argues. if we put in currency that we can't do quantitative easing. i would simply say this -- economist can tell you there is a vast difference between trying to stimulate your general economy and trying to lower the price of your goods. you can identify the different kind of actions and china is a major league currency manipulator. it's not about stimulus for them. it's about low price of the goods to make them more attractive. it can be done. every economist i talked to says it can be. the administration says it can't be. sandy levin says it can be and he is the ranking member. i agree it can be. with regard to farming, it is true that i am a very fierce advocate of farm country.

it is also just for accuracy sake that does not really matter, the to this i do care about farmers. i come from a family of farmers. i'm all about trying to help farmers. i do not agree that the transpacific partnership would give us the bump in grain prices that the caller recommends and here is why -- we already have free-trade agreements with six out of the 11 countries in the transpacific hardship. that's not the problem. he already have the terrorists in the united states and we already have deals with these other countries for the most part. i don't agree that that's what's going to happen. i guess i would say that i appreciate the caller's call. clearly thoughtful questions and he has studied the issue a little. he should e-mail me if he has some thoughts on why he thinks his position is correct because

i'm in a search to try and get this ring right -- things right so thank you for the call. host: we will go to kentucky. caller: yes, i would just like to call and thank the representative for the stand he is taking. i don't normally agree with probably some of his positions but i want to commend him and i wish you were on our side a lot more. guest: me too. caller: yes, and i would like to celebrate that more. there are more conservatives you could probably get support from because at this point, it is poison politics where big-money takes over. regardless of what many people say, there is a whole lot of good with mainstream republicans that don't like what's happening for our town square and it's in these trade policies, these big

corporations keep getting more and more control of our economy. host: ok, roger. i will go on to sharon. who is in minneapolis by the way. democratic color. hi, sharon. caller: good morning. good morning, keith ellison. so nice to see you this morning. i have met you several times. anyway, i want to tell you about what happened to me as a child. i grew up in michigan city indiana, and there was a friend of my mother's that would come over that worked for this steel mill. she had a beautiful car, she always helped my family out, and she just had money. as a child, i said, maybe i should work for the steel mills. before i left to come here i was 16 years old and i came here in 1966. the mcdonald's left comi -- left gary, indiana.

it turned into a tire shop. i have never seen anything like that before. what's going on? what happened is the steel mills closed and then people -- property just have -- poverty just happened like overnight. and then i came here and it was beautiful, clean nobody on the streets begging for money, you know? guest: yeah. caller: it was just a delightful time in my life when i was 16 years old. then you know, now, you see people begging for money on the corners even military people. i just wonder what is going on and i don't really understand why president obama, which i booted or twice, -- which i voted for twice, is a green and republicans are on his aside. host: congressman?

guest: let me just say it's ok to support president obama on a lot of things and not support him on this. look, do you agree with their spouse on everything? do you agree with your best friend on everything? no, you don't. it's all right to say, you know president obama, we are proud of you but on this thing we don't agree with you. i just want to say that gary indiana, perhaps is one of the biggest victims of off shoring american jobs and off shoring of the american steel industry. as i said before, i was talking to leo gerard, the president of the steelworkers, he told me that they had 30,000 steelworkers only a few decades ago in baltimore and now they are down to three. you talk to steelworkers and this is an industry that has been cut in half by foreign imports. this deal is not as good as -- this steel is not as good as american steel. it is better quality but they actually abuse people's humans rights to make them work and they don't let them have labor unions, they don't want them

have worker protection, so they can do it for less. my thought is -- free trade with free people, right? if you are abusing your population and making them work less and sell it to us, you are undercutting our people and abusing your own. let me just say to the first caller, let me tell you who is a great mainstream republican admire -- my dad. my father dr. leonard ellison of detroit, michigan. he has been voting democrat but my first memories of him is that he considered himself a republican. my dad is definitely the saver. one of those folks who doesn't trust the government. and at the end of the day, there are many things that mainstream republicans are concerned about the hollowing out of america's

mainstream and as folks who are democrats can agree on. i am all for that. i urge people to listen to this show. though get locked into a democrat republican thing. that's like a gang mentality. look at which policies work in which don't and coalesced around those that we agree on. it's always a pleasure being with you, greta. i love the show and i watch a lot. i really love the colors, too and i want to thank every single caller who called in and thank you for having me on. host: before you go, i do want to ask you about the vote in the house today on the patriot act. it deals with provisions that are expiring, provisions of the patriot act that are expiring. what will this legislation do and how do you plan to vote? guest: this is a bill coming up on bipartisan basis and we have been moving it forward. it's certainly much better than past iterations. there are some concerns that i have about that i think it could be better, so i am not sold on voting for it yet.

a good friend of mine, congressman from madison, has a bill that i think is much better . the question will be, will mark get a chance to put his bill in front of congress? i do want to commend them and congressmen for their hard work. they have worked on a bipartisan basis to do a lot of things and some of them take a closer look. i might see if i can find a better trade legal station then this deal but i do on of the work they have done. another thing, the transportation bill that is coming up at the end of the month. host: i will read between before you answer. only six legislative days until highway funds expire. 600 -- 660,000 jobs hang in balance while we wait on gop bill. guest: he's right. this is a major concern. if you are concerned about jobs, let congress know that we need a transportation bill. we got to have a transportation

bill. if you are a business person who makes high wage, you can't plan six-month at a time which is what we have been doing. if you are a worker, these workers go from job to job. they have to have some kind of reliability. here is the biggest issue -- the american society of civil engineers, the people who know about roads, bridges, and transit -- they say that our infrastructure is crumbling and so it's not like we don't need the work. we need the work. in my city seven years ago, a bridge fell into the mississippi river. we have got to have infrastructure investment, not just because it's good for the economy, not just as it's good for jobs, but because it's good for the safety. i really urge everyone to let the people who represent transportation -- that the people who represent you know how important the transportation bill is. host: can you hang for us a minute. let's try to get in luca. caller: good morning.

i have a bigger issue with people who in commerce. the money interest -- big money interest so jobs will move offshore not because the offshore people are better than americans, but because congress people they got american congress and legislature approvals to make money or move the jobs out to produce cheap and to sell expensive in america. explain how there are hundreds of billions outside of the united states and other big corporations who produce outside

and sell in america, so it's not about american advantage, it's for big corporation. host: all right, we got your point. go ahead. guest: i agree with luca. if you do well financially in america, you should do good by american. america might be 5% above the world population, but it is -- everybody wants to sell in america. if you sell in america, you ought to take the benefit you get from that and actually help americans have good work, too. if you do want to produce offshore, at least make sure those people who you are using to make goods you want to sell in america have the same rights as americans do, the same right to organize, the same health and safety regulations, and the same right to demand better pay. you take a country like vietnam -- it's illegal to form trade unions there. in colombia -- people are still

getting shot and killed for organizing unions in this country. this is a basic rate of expression, freedom of assembly and you deny people abroad their rights, use their lack of rights to make them make stuff cheap and then sell it in the world's biggest market and put americans out of work. it's wrong and we should not stand by why it happened. host: let's go back to trade, if we can. what happens next with this? some senate democrats republicans are going to bring it back up. this will pass. this trade authority will pass. guest: hasn't passed yet. let me just tell you when people make claims of inevitability that it will pass, we will see if it passes. if it does not change significantly better for american workers, then i'm going to make sure it does not pass. host: what tools do you have in your arsenal? guest: i can raise my voice, organize people, use my vote talk to my constituents.

look, i'm not against any trade deal, i went to be clear. there is a trade deal i would vote for. i want to vote for a trade deal but i'm not going to vote for a trade deal like luca describes which basically exploits workers overseas who have fewer rights than we do and then sells in the biggest market in the world to make extreme advantages of the producer without regard to how it this employs americans that contributes to the lack of rights for people in countries like vietnam. there is not the trade deal to be had -- the question -- there is a good trade deal to be had but the question is do they want to compromise? the people who rejected the transpacific bill yesterday were saying we had things in here we've got to her. will the obama administration work with them or not? i think that will determine whether or not the obama administration will get what they are looking for. guest: we appreciate your time.

congressman keith ellison. represents the fifth district of minnesota, thank you. guest: thank you, greta. great job. host: we will turn our attention to what happened in philadelphia last night. that amtrak train derailing on its way from washington, d.c. into new york. there are the phone lines on your screen. want to get your reaction. there is a fourth line for amtrak riders. 202-748-2 -- 8003. we will be right back. ♪ >> this weekend, the c-span's city tour as part of the comcast to learn about the history of literary life of fort lauderdale, florida. >> this is really cultural tourism. when they set up their villages along the way, along the trail sometimes only lien to use. -- only lean0-to's.

when they came to tourist attractions, they were getting food, a weekly allotment of food and they were also getting sometimes they choose or rental sewing machines where you would write and let the people use them when they lived in twist attractions. they also would get fabric sometimes because they lured the taurus people to provide them with fabric so they were making things for craft market. this is a little boys shirt from the 1920's. this was an experimental time for patchwork and you can see that on the bottom this is not a design that is down today. this is the next their mental design. the designs were bigger in the 1920's and sometimes they were not used any longer during that particular decade. >> the thing about the primitive tribal, there are all kinds of

things that have happened. it was a regular navigation training mission and they would take off from the base and they would go east out toward the bahamas, just an area where they would drop bombs and they would continue on another 70 miles or so and then they would make a turn north and go 100 something miles and make a turn back west toward fort lauderdale. they never came back. later at night when they were sure they were out of fuel, they sent out to his rescue planes of looking for them and one of those disappeared and that had 13 men on board. the next day, they started a search for hundreds and hundreds of planes and ships and never found anything. >> watch all of our events from fort lauderdale saturday at 5:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2 and on c-span3.

this sunday night at 8:00 eastern on "first lady's," we look into the personal lives of three first lady's. rachel jackson, emily donelson and angelica van buren. rachel jackson was called a bigamist and an adulterer during andrew jackson's 1828 presidential campaign and died of an apparent heart attack before he took office. his knees, emily donelson becomes the white house hostess but later dismissed as fallout from the scandal. and when direct martin van buren becomes president, his daughter-in-law angelica van buren is the white house hostess. rachel jackson, emily donelson and angelica van buren, sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span original series "first lady's, influence and image examining the public and private lives of the women who build the position of first lady and their influence on the presidency." from martha washington to michelle obama, sundays at 8:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span3.

as a complement to the series, c-span's new book is available -- "first ladyies." providing live the stories of these women, creating and eliminating an inspiring read. it's available as hardcover or e-book to your favorite bookstore or online bookseller. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are back. we will spend the next half hour talking about the derailment of that amtrak commuter train in philadelphia last night. once to get your thoughts on it on amtrak and on rail in this country. those are the lines on your screen. a fourth line for amtrak riders -- 202-748-8003. the philadelphia inquirer with their front page and the headline "five die as train derails, more than hundreds have been hurt."

we will get to your thoughts on that here in just a minute. first, we want to turn our attention to a new set of polls that have been conducted by undergraduate students at perdue university at the institute for civic -- and they did polls on civic competence and joining us in our c-span's videos this morning as carolyn curiel former ambassador to belize, veteran journalist and now the executive journalist of perdue civic communication and joined by haley sands, a political science major and senior at purdue university. i'll come to you both. carolyn curiel massetercarolyn curiel and -- ambassador carolyn curiel, when and why did they do the polls? guest: there was a very good reason. there is nothing better for a learning experience, x -- especially for what i teach politics media and policy at purdy university in transitional waves which means that the

knowledge is something the students seek out. this was a hands-on research that allows students to become certified human researchers at in a one research university, purdue. this kind of post the first time it has been attempted at a national level that i know of. it will fulfill a five-year vision to give this kind of experience to the students. host: how did you go about conducting the poll? guest: it was a long process getting there. we knew what we wanted to do. we knew we wanted against to do a measurement that would uniquely reflecting their perspective curated they are the faces of the future, the voices of the future, hopefully the leaders of the future. these particular students were hand-picked to be in the class and many of them are former students of mine who have proven that is, including haley who was sitting with me.

haley sands. the process itself became one of finding the correct way to do it. we knew we wanted it to be very scientifically based for everybody. i am the co-principal director along with len sparks another professor for the school of communication at "2016 and beyond: how republicans can elect a president in the new america. -- for the search of communication for purdue. we are very judicious with how the start. we were able to reach an agreement with our friends. once we produced the questions they added them to polls they were doing. students received not only the questions that they put in but also a lot of demographic questions that allow them to do analyses, slice and dice and realize what the snapshot of america showed on three -- in

three sections. knowledge, participation and confidence. including confidence and infrastructure, the kind of accident we had last night in philadelphia is one of the things that students wanted to measure. host: haley sands, let's talk about the civic knowledge. you found that americans get a d+. what did you make of that as a senior majoring in political science? what type of questions did you ask to test the knowledge of -- specific knowledge of americans? guest: we started with the naturalization test which every person who was to become a u.s. citizen have to take. we decided to adapt some of those questions to measure american knowledge. it was kind of history tested at the same time, we measured how much people know about the different branches of government. from that, we found that people get about a six out of 10 answer correct on that. about a d+. it sort of surprising to me but

i am causally surrounded by knowledgeable people at purdue university. as a get out into the real world, there is more diversity out there and needs to be a little bit more of an emphasis on pacific knowledge and on civic education. host: what did you learn from those that you polled about how they get their civic knowledge and how they contribute or feel about the responsibility as citizens in this country? guest: we also looked at participation as the ambassador said. we found that people dissipate in different ways in their communities. on the local level, we found that between hispanic and between white americans, we found that they participate most often in environmental initiatives whereas black americans participate most often in homelessness relief and mentoring programs. we found that they participate in different ways, but we also found that most americans believe that the voting numbers are too low still. about 80% of americans think

that more people should show up to the polls. there is some sort of idea out there that people need to be more engaged. we found that people, on average, they do want to be participatory and their government but it is sometimes hard for people to donate their time and money that they need to. host: what did you find out haley sands, about what americans -- what they don't know what they do know, about this country, what they appreciate about our society but also what do they fear? guest: that's a great question. we did confidence as well and i thought that was the most interesting because we were able to ask different questions on that one. we weren't tied down by anything. we asked, how confident americans feel in our government and we found that about half of americans do not believe that our government is prepared for a national disaster or terrorist attack. there does need to be some more

confidence there. perhaps some more action from the government as well. we also found that about four in 10 americans actually know what the kyoto protocol was which was interesting. overall, i think that as we go forward with these polls, we can tweak our answers and come up with better questions and be able to get a better response. host: carolyn curiel you do plan to keep going with these polls. undergraduates conducting the poll, americans are always skeptical of polls. why should they trust a poll done by undergraduates to the? -- done by undergraduate students? guest: why trust any poll, honestly. what i think it is trustworthy because of the rigor and research that went into and the additional factor of, wouldn't it be interesting to get a snapshot that is interesting for the students? we asked some questions that were outside the box. they were encouraged to think about things that would really

test knowledge, test participation. it's interesting that the largest, 60%, the largest portion of americans -- 16%, the largest portion of americans volunteering from the midwest. we are in the midwest of the game is an interesting picture of ourselves. if you have this trade bill right now, we found that americans fear immigration and outsourcing overseas. more than half of them. for jobs of the future, they feel they will be taken away from them. used students are all impacted by those questions that they ask. it may sound self-serving but it is actually the kind of perspective that perhaps only these students can do without a lot of stretching beyond their imagination. their imaginations are wonderful, they come without the echo chamber that pollutes a lot of but we look at with politics

concerned, and picking a fresh crop of students is a joy. i like to say that teaching is like groundhog day. i get the students to the point where, oh, my god they are magnificent and then they graduate. i will get a new crop of students. a couple of attorneys but mostly new students will populate the unit next year. -- a couple of returnees but mostly new students will populate the crop next to. host: we appreciate you talking about these polls. you can find more information if you go to picc.purdue.edu and with two next year's poll. guest: thank you. host: now we want to get your thoughts on the derailment in philadelphia. first up is yulia in new york. a democrat, go ahead. caller: this is delia ann smith long.

i was calling because i want to say that i'm not surprised that what happened in philadelphia with the trade -- the trail derailment. i say that in this manner. i have been talking to people and have been e-mailing different politicians organizations about something that has happened to americans and just so you know, i am a born again christian, i don't know if that matters to just to speed about my values. i have seen under the obama administration, and again, i and an african-american who did not vote for obama in either election. so, you know -- host:delia tell us how this ties to our conversation. caller: why i'm saying that is that under this presidency, i have seen things that have happened to americans,

particularly and as it relates to the derailment that happened last night, whatever is going on with the driver or what ever happened with that crash, there has been something that over the past eight years, for me, i believed it happened in 2009 -- americans have been experiencing and whether you can admit this or not, i'm going to admit it because i think americans were always open and we always -- the one good thing about america as we have the right to speak. something has been put on americans. some sort of synthetic worldly power that has been reading our thoughts -- host: ok, i think we got your point. we will go to the bronx. nm tech writer, what's your reaction? cash and amtrak rider, what's your reaction? caller: thank you particular

call. view. you look lovely today in your yellow. i agree with the previous caller that it was not a surprise. or that this happened. the infrastructure in this company -- in this country and company obviously is very bad. the younger voters have this apathetic sorted view of government and we actually have an inherited the country from the politicians who have been around before the internet. host: ok, we will go to roy and jacksonville, florida. democrat. caller: good morning. how are you? host: doing well, sir. what are your thoughts on the amtrak derailing? caller: the infrastructure of the rails and roads -- this is a clear example of the problem. in florida, we have the governor

and when the governor is not just sending money -- orlando to jackson and at the beginning of the real, [indiscernible] we will be getting funding to support -- host: i will leave it there. i will get back to more phone calls. we need to go to john, contributive for "the new york times." he is actually close to the area, close to where this derailment happened. jon hurdle, described for our viewers what is the scene like there? caller: i am a few blocks away from the site of the crash where the media has been -- where the emergency services are here.

but we have had this morning are a number of folks who were on the train and they have been describing their ordeal for very numerous reports here. one person i spoke with, former pennsylvania congressman, who described his experiences during the crash. mr. murphy was very emotional and fighting back tears as he recalled that he was sitting -- as he referred to it, about 9:00 last night, when all of a sudden the crash occurred. he was actually headed back from washington d.c., to trenton. he said that he was hoping to get there in time to kiss his

kids good night before they went to sleep. and even though he was injured but clearly very shaken up. -- he was not injured but clearly very shaken up. he said he was very grateful to escape. he did talk about lots of screaming, lots of blood in the car where he was. he said that he got out by breaking an emergency window and climbing out onto what became the roof -- the top of the turn. -- train. that car was lying on its side. host: go ahead. guest: well, i also had a chat with a lady called back david -- beth davids. she is 35 years old from brooklyn and she was saying that

she gave her account of the events and she obviously was shaken up and had some indications of injuries. she had a scratch on her face and a bruise beneath one of her eyes. she was talking about how this appeared to be a completely normal train ride and there was no indication of anything out of ordinary at all. and then all of a sudden, she said everything just went black. she was able to climb out of the train and she took -- she was transported to a local hospital. where she received treatment -- host: what are the officials

telling you about who is on the scene, what type of investigation is getting done? guest: we have not had a briefing yet from officials this morning. as you know, there were conference briefings last night by the philadelphia mayor and another that involved pennsylvania governor. we are waiting for an update on that situation from the mayor and other emergency officials. host: the mayor's office between out that the mayor will likely give a brief media update at around 11:00, could be earlier. they note that the national transportation safety board is on the scene. -- fbi is also responding. what are your other impressions of this derailment?

guest: my other impressions are there are of course hundreds of first responders, firefighters police emergency operations people in the neighborhood. many streets blocked off. as i said, many media waiting for the next official word on that -- any further casualties and the status of the investigation. it's also worth mentioning that the latest update that we had this morning actually came from the university hospital in north philadelphia where many of the crash victims were taken. and the chief medical officer there delivered the news that there was one of the patients who died at the hospital

bringing the death toll to six. that was about 7:00 this morning. there was still 25 people hospitalized and eight of whom were in critical condition. host: ok, and tell us what comes next? what do you know? you are waiting for officials to give you a media update, but what comes next? guest: well, our understanding is that the national transportation safety board, as you say, is on the scene and they will begin their investigation. of course, there are many questions about the adequacy of of the infrastructure and the track and i imagine there will be a focus on that.

that is the status for the. host: john hurdle with the new york times, we appreciate you joining us on the phone this morning. thank you very much. host: just a couple blocks away from that fatal crash. five people have died and over hundreds have been injured. the federal government is sending in response teams the national safety transportation board, fbi, transportation department, federal railway administration. we turn now to get your thoughts on the developing story. host: fan, memphis, tennessee, a democrat. go ahead. caller: i worked for the railroad for 35 years. i was a track inspector in the united states. they started hiring their sisters brothers daughters and buddies. they are inexperienced. thank you. host: david in niagara falls,

independent caller. hi, david. caller: hi, greta. good morning. thank you for c-span. you do wonderful work. over your right shoulder, that picture of the capital is being repaired because it has fallen down just like our oil trades crashing and burning, killing people. and the congressmen are so busy with the koch brothers that i don't get two damns -- they don't give two dams about the rest of us. . host: all right, david. being told that the death toll is now at six in this crash. outside of philadelphia, this amtrak commuter train that derailed last night around 9:30 p.m. eastern time.

out in toledo, washington. democratic collar. what are your thoughts? caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. we have a problem with infrastructure. we depend on the rail to get our goods to market, to get our goods to ports for export. in my own area, in recent weeks, we have had a young girl killed on a railroad track because of separation. we have had to collisions with costs, one with a light rail system in seattle, when just a couple miles from here where a car was hit and the driver killed. we know that we are doing very poorly, but we are so cheap. we don't want to pay taxes, we have investment in infrastructure from 100 years ago that is still being used. it should be upgraded. it should not -- it works it has

been proven, but so long as we don't want to pay taxes and everything is about doing it on the cheap. we are going to continue to have problems like this. i wish for a speedy recovery of those who have been injured and maimed by this. some of them probably for life. i wonder how their trauma is going to be. we've got to do more about caring about what our country does. host: owl, on the pay for the infrastructure, here is "the washington post" this morning. "the last time congress passed an amtrak goes after a fatal train crash." the report this -- they were at odds over and amtrak will and it is double the budget and the bush administration wanted to zero it out. a reauthorization bill had languished for years and funding was ecstatic.

-- static. the bill expired in 2013 and the house still need to pass anyone. amtrak treating this out -- we

are deeply saddened by the loss of lives on train 188 that derailed north of billy tuesday night. you can find updates on their website. that is amtrak's reaction on twitter. we go to al in toledo washington. what are your thoughts? caller: i would love to be able to hop on a train and be in los angeles in two or three hours. host: ok, john in michigan. independent caller, good morning. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say that there -- for about 75 years that i can recall we had the opportunity to do something about the tracks all over the country and would refuse to do it. for those who don't write it they don't seem to care, but for the many people in the nation that would like to have services of that nature, it is quite obvious the infrastructure

should have been dealt with years ago and it should be dealt with immediately. it's just something that should be done. thank you very much. host: take a look at these figures put together by amtrak. amtrak's annual operating loss from 2009 two 2014. they lost 227 million in 2014 and they have continued to operate at a loss every year since it began operating in 1971. let's hear from had in mobile alabama. democrat collar. -- from pat in mobile, alabama. democrat caller. caller: i fear that we put people in congress that does not care about the working people. they put our lives in jeopardy and they cut bills and things and looks like they care about the top 1% of the small man does not exist.

this is a shame. we put these people there. if they are not doing the job that they should be doing, then we need to get them out of there and get them out of these big corporations pockets. we are in a crisis now. our roads and infrastructure -- look how many bridges and that the collapse. we the people put them there. we, the people, need to get them out of there. host: on that point, "the hill" reporting at the beginning of may, "unions to the senate, get moving on amtrak funding. transportation department said that the senate should take up a $7.8 billion funding bill for amtrak that was passed earlier this year by the house -- joe in pencil --

host: joe in pennsylvania. caller: i used to ride the route from 30th street to pennsylvania to new york quite a few times a year. just looking at the wreckage this morning, my first reaction is that the engineer was probably going to fast into the curve. his next stop would at the time. i don't even know -- his next up would have been trenton. sometimes the express train stops there. if it was express, he could've been going to pass. there was a similar derailment last year or two years ago in spain at santiago the compostela. it was the same quarter -- sort of curve. the train derailed and they found out the spanish transportation safety board did an investigation and the issue was because the engineer was texting while driving. also, for those viewers who have

access to independent point of view video which is on pbs there was a very interesting program about one year ago. i forget the title of the program but on a similar derailment out of tokyo station in japan and the issue there was the timetable. this was during rush hour at 5:00. the trains at left at every 60 seconds and the driver was behind by 40 seconds. he tried to make up time. he went through a similar curve. all three curves were similar. the train flew out the tracks into an apartment building and they found out later that there was speed deficit and he tried to compensate because of the timetable. host: all right, right now we

don't know what happened in this derailment. as we say, the federal government dispatch response teams, investigators to try and figure out what exactly happened yesterday. yesterday evening in philadelphia. the couple treats from members of congress. timothy murphy tweaking out this -- keep amtrak passengers and family in thoughts today. #rail safety. a republican in new hampshire, my thoughts and prayers are with all the passengers crew, and first responders at the scene of amtrak derailment tonight. also another tweet from congressman, why do trains derail at such frequency? the answer has to do a lot with america's crumbly transportation infrastructure. roger in nebraska, independent color? caller: that is correct. host: you are on the air, sir. caller: thank you. the comment or two about this derailment. i am a 34 year retired freight

conductor and as they say, they don't know what caused it but it appears to me as the one in new york that speed might have had something to do with it although you don't know whether it's a broken axle or about switch or what. i think one of the problems which to me as a retired conductor, like i say, i worked strictly freight trains. most railroads are looking at going to one man crews. amtrak, of course in that part of the world, -- or part of the country, they do run with one man, even the freight railroads are looking at going to one man crews. i don't think -- that's very unsafe in my way of thinking. with two people up there, even if the driver does not go to

sleep, you have somebody else there to take up the slack or wake him up. they do have protected systems on amtrak or freight trains in which if the engineer does policy, you will have this apparatus start beeping and then a bright red light will start flashing, but that takes as many as 15 seconds for that to start slowing the train down or stop it so like i said, i think just the fact that amtrak is running with one man, especially in the northeast corridor with all the traffic and running freight trains and passenger trains on the same tracks which is just doesn't work. like i say i think people really need to take a look at it and maybe contact your congressman and don't let these railroads implement this one man operation because the passenger

trains but you have these freight trains out here with all this dangerous chemical and everything that they haul and going to one man just doesn't simply to railroad in my opinion. host: ok, roger. that is roger nebraska. nbc website with this story this morning -- another deadly train derailment happened at frankfurt junction 71 years ago. frankford junction -- frank ford junction. they have seen -- devastation before. host: yesterday's derailment saw six dead and 140 plus hurt after the train derailed in philadelphia.

sorry, we are going to have to end the conversation, but obviously, more to come on what happened in philadelphia last night. that doesn't for today's "washington journal." thank you for watching and we will be back in tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. we will bring you live coverage of the house.