at eight: 20, a look at climate change with ben kirkman. the university of miami's rosen dale school of marine and atmospheric science professor. host: good morning, it is thursday, november 19. president obama threatened to veto legislation aimed at freezing the syrian and iraqi refugee program. the threat comes as the white house prepared -- the house prepares to vote on that. we will talk more about the bill in the program today but we want to begin this morning by talking with refugees only in this country. butjust from syria and iraq if you have come here to the united states seeking political religious asylum from any

country, we want to know your story. if you live in the east or central part of the country, dial-in at 202-748-8000. gotten pacific at 202-748-8001. if you're outside, we want to hear your story as well. 202-748-8002. you can also join the conversation in twitter at http://twitter.com/cspanwj. or e-mail us at journal@c-span.org. we will begin this morning with refugees only. your experience trying to come to the united states or if you are outside the country, but has been your experience so far? if you are trying to get in or another country. we begin with molly o'toole's piece about the syrian and iraqi refugees trying to come. how fear slammed america's door on syrian refugees. the u.s. has 2011 resettled just under 1900 syrian

refugees. but the war in syria, nearly five years old, has displaced more than 12 million. five have left the country, flooding the region and flowing into europe. turkey has registered some 2 million refugees. germany said it will pick up 800,000 this year. the u.s. passed its global refugee intake at 70,000 per year. that is spurred by the growing crisis and horrific photos of its human toll. resident obama recently raised next year's cap to 85000 and 100,000 by 2017. we are expected to take in 10,000 syrian refugees next year but that is easier said than done, currently it takes 18 to 24 months to resettle a syrian refugee and the united states thanks to the lengthy clearance process imposed in the name of national security. this, in the say

piece, for syrian refugees fleeing the war and seeking a new life elsewhere, what comes first is registration with the united nations refugee agency. the u.s. high commissioner for refugees, all of the more than 20,000 applications by syrians for refuge in the united dates received in 2011 come from this commission. they conduct rounds of interviews, first establishing identity and taking biometric data and digging deeper into previous lives. u.n. workers determine whether refugees fall into one of about 45 categories of concern. from serving in particular government ministries or military units to being in specific locations at specific times, even missing family members. of what au an idea refugee from syria, iraq, or any other country has to go through before they are allowed to come to be noted dates. -- the united states, we want to hear your story. live in thecome and

consensual part of the country, .gain the numbers, 202-748-8000 mountain pacific, 202-748-8001. outside the united states, 202-748-8002. as we told you, the house is set to vote on legislation that would freeze the syrian and iraqi program. take a look at what speaker ryan had to say. people understand the plight of those fleeing the middle east, but they also want basic assurances for the safety of this country. we are a compassionate nation. we always have been, and we always will be. but we also must remember our first priority is to protect the american people. we can be compassionate and we can also be safe. that is what the bill that we are bringing up tomorrow is all about. for a new standard of

verification for refugees from syria and iraq. it would mean a pause in the program until we can be certain beyond any doubt that those coming here are not a threat. it is that simple. i don't think it is asking too much. i also want to point out that we will not have a religious test, only a security test. if the intelligence and law enforcement community cannot certify that a person presents no threat, they should not be allowed in. house onaker of the the floor talking about the legislation that lawmakers will vote on today. we are asking refugees only to call in and tell us about your experience ahead of this vote will happen today in the house. it's unclear what will happen in the senate but the president late yesterday issued a veto threat. in woodbridge virginia, tell us about your story. how did you come to the united states? leone: i am from sierra

and i came as a refugee 10 years ago. the process was very long, about a year and six months and it was vigorous -- rigorous. you have to go through a lot of stuff, the process is very long. people as refugees, no bedding, the process, it is long, i believe that the united states trying to go back all of your their trying to make sure you are the right person to come to this country. the refugee program is a good thing. host: let me ask you under what category or how did you apply for status? what did you say to officials? on and when the war was civil war came, i went to

neighboring country gu inea. and what it happened and they asked me to prove that i was from sierra leone and really am a refugee. a lot of the process is so long. host: did you have to stay there during this process? caller: yes, in refugee camps. the united nations high committee for refugee programs process, the good the camps, identify you. progress.gorous host: did you have family? caller: yes, i can with my daughters. host: how old were they? --ler: they were just seven three and five. host: what was the camp like?

caller: it was crowded, unhealthy. not something you want to describe. host: once you are granted the status in new guinea, what was a process like to get into the united states? would you go? -- where did you go? the statethink department provided the transportation for you, they must make sure that you have some leads in the united states, someone you know here. person will go to that and the government will be supporting you for some time while you integrate. get a job. have one year to be on your own, to get on your own putting, is that the time when they gave you?

caller: yes. host: what did you do to get a job? come, theyn you connect you with agencies to give jobs. it allows you to go through vocational training and there are jobs they will provide for you. people,hrough several these are jobs you do for the time being while you try to get your life together. host: what about income? did you make enough to make a living, are you making enough now? caller: yes. at that time no. you try to do the best that you can. , you have thist status, are you a citizen now of the united states? caller: yes. host: did that happen right

away, how long did that take? caller: about five years. host: did you speaking wish when you came here? caller: yes i do. host: but 10 years ago. caller: i came from an english-speaking country so yes. he came here 10 years ago from sierra leone, steve in chesapeake, virginia. good morning. caller: i just want to share my experience. host: we are listening. caller: hello? host: where did you come from? czechoslovakia. i came here in 1982. i was in a refugee camp in germany.

awaited for about a year and half. but ia job in germany didn't want to stay there so i came here in august of 82. it took about two months to find my first job and i got a green -- and in 1989 and became a citizen. i turn on the tv and refugees from syria and the middle east, i think of my own experience. why they -- der host: you came in 1983 and by 1989 you started your own business? 1987 actually. host: four years after arriving

you said your own business. do you consider america your home? yes, but i'm being pretty real, i pay taxes. important for a country to maintain control of its borders. , -- before iere came here i interviewed at the german consulate and united states consulate. they had a chance in germany to say yes you can, or no you cannot come.

and the other countries, canada -- australia, and including -- i hope this country continues his tradition of accepting refugees. to it has to be represented the people who want to be here. it should not be based on the conditions or i don't know what or whatit should be but it should be based on but that's what i want to say. host: we are talking to refugees only. janet and ohio, tell us your story. i came from vietnam. host: when did you come? i came in 1975.

when they tried to take over in saigon. host: what was the process like and how long did it take? we went to the embassy 1:00 in thethere at to the next day. the american people took us to a came to from there, we

the country -- some other country before we came here. host: because it was a war, it happened quickly. outer: yeah, we were run from saigon. they shoot and made us go to saigon so -- 1975, are you in a citizen of the united states now? to the yes, we came country in 1980/ we live here five years. that's janet from vietnam

in 1975, talking about her experience with coming to the united states. henry in evanston, illinois. you're on the air. good morning. refugees only this morning. tell us your story. henry? caller: yes i am on the phone. good morning. germany, i came from 19 -- from 1937, i am 101 years old. it took me more than four years to get the visa. and then irejected tried again. i tried again, finally, after four years, i got the visa and i came here in 1937.

difficult, with the law in effect at that time. i had to have somebody sign for someone inas only financial difficulties at the time so it took very long. host: that's why it took four years or you were rejected because you needed somebody to sign for you in the united states? enough,yes, strangely he wasn't financially difficult, , so it waslaw difficult.

so i came here and served in world war ii with overseas service. i served in the u.s. army. yearsere very difficult when i had to wait. it was not pleasant living in germany. host: what was it like living here? the consulate was hard to handle at that time. we are hearing from refugees only, giving your stories about what it was like to make your trip to the united states, to navigate the process of getting here. in light of what is happening in capitol hill today, where the house is going to be voting on

the legislation that would add some layers of vetting to the process of accepting refugees from syria and iraq and that would require the signoff of , the additional 10,000 president obama wants to bring to the united states and resettle in america. additional vetting process for them. the fbi, homeland security, national intelligence director, they all would have to sign off on each and every one of those refugees. a democrat of connecticut came to the floor yesterday in opposition. his what he had to say. >> mr. speaker, the houses scared. you hear it in the voices of my colleagues and because the american people are scared as they learn the capabilities of these evil psychopaths. mr. speaker, when we are scared, we do dumb things. we spend time forcing the cafeteria to rename french

fries, we invaded iraq because we are angry at what comes of the middle east. transatlantic liner the st. louis sale to germany with almost 1000 aboard, all jews seeking to flee arrest of it off. the ship went to cuba with the idea it would come to the u.s. but it was denied entry. refugees were reported to be communist and anarchists and we were scared of them. jewish refugees fleeing hitler. the ship was turned back nearly a quarter of the thousand souls, lost their lives in hitler's holocaust. it was not a good moment for the united states. it is a moral stain on our history. let's keep our history safe thus kedar'--fe -- qs let's keep our people safe. host: some democrats are

indicating they will be voting for this legislation when the vote takes place on the floor today. of course, we will have coverage of the floor proceedings here on c-span. the editorial boards are weighing in, new york times saying refugees are not the enemy. what thee more about united states has long since 9/11 and before about potential terrorists reached the shores. individuals more often already live here or they come via a legal means. unlike those, those seeking apply fromt must abroad. half of those seeking status are approved. so far, half of the refugees accepted in the u.s. have been children and another quarter over six years old. roughly half are female and many are multi generational families, often with the primary threat. they write this is a fighting time from europe -- frightening time in europe.

president obama is likely to veto it because it has little to do with fighting global terror. it is sad that this proposal has been described as a first chance for the speaker of the house, paul ryan, to cooperate with the senate. the wall street journal editorial says this, obama's refugee veto threat on the bill, they say the president asked democrats to shield him one more time. they write some gop presidential candidates have bee dogged the issue but to mitigate the worst of the refugee populism, rather than cut off funds for refugees, it would require the top official certified the refugees being admitted don't pose security risks. it includes no religious text. if mr. obama weren't so intent on trashing republicans as he'd realizecists,

this measure might serve as a way for republicans to mollify public opinion without shutting down all refugee entry. this president prefers to put ideological vanity above compromise. this book today, we are asking refugees only to call in. if you live in the east or central part of the country, 202-748-8000. mountain pacific, 202-748-8001. not only iraqi and syrian refugees, the heard from vietnam, germany, sierra leone. whatever country you come from, we want to hear your story. if you are outside the united states, you can dial in at 202-748-8002. in potomac maryland, good morning to you. caller: good morning, can you hear me? i called the screener, sorry if i call them a screener, i am -- i was like three or four years old, my parents were russian jews.

so, you know, i am an american citizen. by the that out the time they were big reagan fans. said, my parents are no longer with us, and also i had branches in my family that were in the holocaust. this isis threat is unspeakable. but for republicans and even whatently some democrats, you showed. look. do not use this as a scare tactic because we are still what it says on the statue of liberty.

give us your tired, your huddled, your poor. , we are a nation of immigrants and we don't let this affect us just like we didn't paint a broad brush on all muslims. i don't agree with barack obama, yes i consider myself democrat and i consider him up using a ron -- iran. when it comes to refugees that have nothing to do with the country, and these countries are because of the british empire. most of my ancestry comes from an area of europe and eastern europe and i guess west of the ural mountains, it was all based in empires and czars. my people were subject to the hollis got -- holocaust and progroms. to tie this in with what

happened in paris is trivializing what happened with the peer isis threat. are we nativists? duke, this sends chills to my spine. host: in fairfax, virginia. that morning to you. where are you from? caller: i am from northern iraq. host: when did you come here? caller: i have been to the united states in the mid-90's, my father came here through the united nations relocation program as a refugee. and my sisters and i came here shortly after. i was 11 when we came here and it was difficult for us to get resettled in a new country and , but back onnds him we had a lot of friends and families that we know. thousands that wanted to come here.

time, canada and the united states were the only countries taking refugees. it was such a privilege to come to this country to have a chance to work and live together and be safe. believe that during those days even though the process was difficult it took about three years. , but it was a reward. it doesn't have to be syrian, but if we turn our backs on the people, what does that show the world? i would have been devastated if america told us know in the 90's as an 11-year-old who was a life in the midst of the civil war between the iraqis, the kurds, and the people in the south. this broke out as a civil war that the united states directly had an impact in. result of our intervention and european intervention in syria. we need to be responsible and do one of two things.

either we somehow put some sort of military action there to end the conflict, or we need to get the innocent people out of there. host: why was your father allowed if you knew many families who wanted to make the and get that stata center him to the united states? why your father and why your family? caller: it was very difficult, you had to have someone young and energetic, somebody to get out of iraq. they want letting anybody leave. anybodythey weren't leaving. my dad had to go into turkey and we then, once we got to turkey, we were fine. go through the same route traveling by night across the borders. it wasn't easy. i look back at my mom in those days and she was 25, she was with three kids, the ages 11, 9,

and seven. it must've been difficult. i don't see myself as a 28-year-old being able to go to the same steps my parents did. host: do you know how much your parents had to pay to pay off guards and make the trip? caller: my father had to sell his mechanic shop. my mother was a college graduate. we had to sell everything we had. we sold everything and turkey only lived in a short time for six months while my father was still here, we lived in a one-bedroom apartment with no electricity and heating. it was terrible, we used to have electric blankets and the person may give us the place gave us car batteries for the blankets to work. it's funny, i work a mile away from where i live when i first came to this country. mainrktown drive on

street, us and to other families lived in a two-bedroom apartment before we were able to move out. my father after his experience started in this country washing dishes. that's how we put a living together and we had to make it happen. host: it took less than a year if your family to get on their feet and move out? caller: when you have no options you will take even less. when your circumstances are so limited, he will do whatever you had to do. host: what did your father and mother end up doing? caller: my father went on to be a district manager of pizza hut and the iraq war started and he joined and work as a translator. my mother worked in dentistry. she was able to find a career on the iraq war started as a human resource specialist

from one of the contractors. byer the war wound down father came back and he has a make ame job and comfortable living, so does my mom. she works two or three days a week but luckily, my sister is married and lives in texas. she works for the government. my second youngest lives in d.c. and is in dental school with one year to finish a program. i'm pretty well off, i just got married. the future we have, you cannot see this possible back home. an 11-year-olden any rock hitting this country for denying my visa, hating everybody around me because the people around me but it's a coming, my government wanted to kill me, and government i was going to reach out to kill me. or, this country took me and give me hope and opportunity. did me in education -- gave me an education.

now, i see the world in a different view. i see islam different than the other way people see it. long itn i ask you how took for you and your parents to learn english when you came here? caller: for us it was much quicker because we were in school. my mother knew from her studies any rock and i guess learned the british spelling. my sisters and i picked it up in less than the year or year and a half. esl.ed the kind of tailored your classes with other foreigners. in fairfax virginia, he came from a 11-year-old. it took three years overall for them to make it here. we are going to keep taking

these fun calls from across the country, also outside the united states. i want to show you some news related to the paris attacks by isis. the washington post this morning, yesterday the paris officials rated an apartment building. they get a tip that the mastermind behind the attacks was in this apartment. the washington post says the mastermind is dead however, networks in many papers are saying officials are waiting on a dna data to officially say he is dead. then there is this this morning, the french parliament is debating and probably close to voting on extending this -- state of emergency for three months. permitted under the measure include increased surveillance on the streets, the ability to place people under house arrest, conducting

sweeping raids by security forces such as the ones on wednesday. france has long criticized the u.s. for these types of processes since 9/11 but now many more are open to beefing up government powers. the fbi director here in the united states along with the manhattan district attorney are theing on congress to allow government to reading cryptic messages. they say it is crucial in light of what happened in paris. the question seemed settled last month after president obama decided to push legislation requiring ameren to -- american technology companies to roll back encryption schemes that make it almost impossible to read communications even if investigators have a court order. but the terrorist attacks may have changed the politics on encryption and a range of surveillance issues. with critics renewing their charge, the obama administration

is now using all tools available to stop terrorism, some saying the folks behind the attack in encryption, even video games. to be able to do this. on the strategy of fighting thatst isis, jeb bush says -- he takes obama to task saying his plan would end the obama administration's unofficial moratorium on combat the appointments, sending u.s. troops to iraq and syria to quote "totally destroy the islamic state". that is what he said he would do. laying clinton will be out her plan against syria today , she will be up in new york and we will have coverage of that talking about what she would do. she said she would not put boots on the ground, only as a last resort. 2:00 p.m., c-span3 will have

coverage of that national security speech in new york. in the papers this morning, ben carson lays out his plan for defeating the islamic state. in theson writing washington post, saying he would identify and cut off sources of income for the terrorists. that he would enhance security on the border and take additional steps to keep terrorists from infiltrating and using refugee status. and he says while we should not open u.s. borders to refugees, we should encourage the establishment of sanctuary sounds. -- sanctuary zones. the new york times says this. foreign-policy adviser from ben carson publicly distance himself from after the adviser criticized mr. carson's grasp of the middle east, provided information for the piece written in today's washington post. the campaign called the advisor

for help with the article which conceived to counter poor impressions mr. carson made on sunday. a formern tuesday that c.i.a. officer was not my advisor. in the new york times, mr. quoted as saying that mr. carson was on a noble to absorb a single iota of intelligence but the middle east and that mr. claridge had recommended weekly briefings so we can make him look smart. donald trump talked about the syrian situation his what he had to say. i said if i win and they come here, they're going back. isis.'t take a chance on it could be the great trojan horse, we cannot take a chance that some of these people coming in our isis. i will tell you and i've said it loud and clear. , and i hopereason

it will happen because it will make country great again, but if i win, they're going back. stones for building safe zones. but when i look at that migration going through europe and was happening to europe is unbelievable. you have to call up your friends that live there, they can tell you what's happening to europe is unbelievable. the best thing they can do is build safe zones. trump giving his take on the situation and what he would do if he became president. the financial times reporting that france has extended the state of emergency, they have gone ahead with that to three months. it allows them to beef up security in france as they continue to investigate who did

and conducted the attacks in paris on friday. and the ones that were planned and thwarted yesterday in paris will --. refugees only, we will keep getting calls. we have about five minutes left. up, tell us your story. caller: i am a hungarian refugee, i came to the u.s. thanks to the generosity of the 57rican people in january of after the russians put down the hungarian revolution in october -- november of 56. we were settled in philadelphia people throughus the american hungarian catholic league and individuals made it possible for my family to put that money on a house in the

chestnut hill area of philadelphia. work as awent to custom men's tailor and my mother worked in housekeeping. they raised a family, i went to a local college, graduated, got commission as a second lieutenant in the u.s. army and .erved in korea for two years after that i went to graduate phd, got work toward a a fulbright fellowship, went back to korea to study with fulbright. and then a few years later i was apply to the central intelligence agency and because of my language and areas of knowledge, they hired me as an analyst. i spent 25 years with the agency traveling all over and being

assigned a lot of different places all over the world. retired, i went to work for a defense contractor for another 11 years. that is our story, my parents took a tremendous gamble. they were in their mid-40's with a mily of five, the youngest being eight. then left with $14 in their pockets. again, because of the special act of kindness that made a possible for hungary and refugees to come to the u.s., courtesy of the u.s. air force who transported us on military transport planes, from munich, germany to mcguire air force base in new jersey. they kept us in a camp a very short time while we found sponsors who were able to find

us a job for my parents and a place to live. and the camp, called camp kilmer which is part of the military facility. it has been a very happy story. my brother has been quite successful in business and my insurancean executive. for aade it possible family that was literally destitute and left the country on the spur of the moment from when the opportunity arose when the russians attacked the point of the revolution. -- to put down the revolution. we have children who are equally successful and contributing to american society. it was the outreach of the u.s. congress that made that possible.

it extended the funds to cover our journey. individual american citizens who have been extremely forthcoming and helpful. but we were vetted very byefully in the refugee camp representatives of the u.s. embassy indiana that was a -- in vienna that was set up as a refugee cap to process people over about a month or so. that included the health examinations, throw health examinations. literacy tests and a background examination. host: what year was this? tookr: the processing place in december, 56 in early january, 57. we arrived in the u.s. around ,he seventh or eighth of 1957

january. host: refugees only this morning. good morning. caller: i just wanted to call in. i am in a pat, i came to the anded states with my mother my brother. up a long time, the process is exhausting. it's not cheap. doctors, pay our health checks, and go through probably three or four we areews to make sure not terrorists. took our fingerprints to see whomake sure

we are. when i came to the united states, it wasn't easy. most people think refugees come live a great life. no, we came to the united states and if you want to call it, the washington suburbs, projects. of five in anly apartment of two bedrooms. right now, everyone in our family is doing well. i have a masters degree from george washington university. we're doing well and we are contributing. you are next in. , minnesota. tell us where you came from. caller: i came from

czechoslovakia in 1969. border froms the czechoslovakia to hungary into yugoslavia. then i ran across the border to austria. speaking low german, i took a train all the way to vienna. then i reported to vienna authorities and they were not very happy that i made it. two or three weeks in solitary confinement. passport, i just had an id card. then i was transferred to refugee camp. said, itleman before me was 19 years old, had a complete physical, i went for a political

interview, once i passed that, the question was what do you think about taking up in vietnam? i said i had no problem. i spent about 45 months in refugee camp. austrian people were very welcoming, nice. you work hard but you are money, you didn't starve. then i got to the states for months later. i was already inducted into the u.s. army even though i got deferment because i was attending new york university. months later, serving two years int the u.s. army. that was a great time because i got to shoes the school, -- i got to choose the school, i was stationed and alaska, trained as an airport security safety.

then i received my g.i. bill, went back to school, finished mechanical engineering, and one thing i have to say no matter where i went and people were nice, i was talking about that when i worked in a machine shop in new york. my boss was german. me. were teaching when i said things in english and they were helping. you went to night school and so on and for -- so forth. in health care facilities most of my life with energy management. in minnesota.ted i am very proud of him. and i dabble in a lot of business in minnesota. i have to jump in because

we're running out of time and i want to thank everyone for calling in and sharing your stories. we will take a short break, only come back we'll talk to freshman senator gary peters from michigan. we will talk about homeland security and also he is on the transportation committee so we talk about the highway bill. we can also talk about economic issues. then later, our sunshine state tour live from the university of miami to talk about how our climate is changing. ♪ >> book tv, 48 hours of

nonfiction books and authors. our featured programs include the 32nd annual miami book fair. our live all they coverage starts saturday and sunday at 10:00 a.m. eastern. eastern,at 10:00 p.m. afterwards with historian neil ferguson on his book "kissinger". odditys something of an in the 1950's. i think it's what made his contribution something distinctive. he stood up from the pack of people that that you can solve the problems with analysis. >> the council on foreign relations, sunday night at eight, the former editor of the -- on-based and author of the book "the islamic state, the digital caliphate". there means of taking over much

of syria and iraq and the revelry with al qaeda. -- rivalry with al qaeda. between the supreme court of the united states, give their attention. >> coming on c-span's landmark cases, we will discuss brown versus the board of education. for topeka kansas third-grader linda brown, separate but equal meant a six watt block to the bus that would driver one-mile to the all-black school even of the all-white school was only a few blocks away. her father sued the school board and their case made it all the way to the supreme court. we will examine this and explore shall tensions of the times. personal stories of the individuals involved and the immediate and long-term impact of the decision. that's coming up on the next landmark cases monday night at .:00 eastern and for background on each case,

order your copy of the landmark cases book. ats available for 8:95 c-span.org/landmark cases. washington journal continues. freshman senator gary peters, democrat out of michigan sitting on the homeland security and governmental affairs committee and joint economic committee. thank you for being here. wonderful to be here. host: we will begin with your seat on homeland security because today there is a hearing where you will talk about the refugee situation. what questions and concerns do you have? guest: i think it's important that i fully understand as well as others understand the process that people go through in the vetting process, it is my understanding that folks who come here on refugee status go through the most intensive background screening of any process to come into our country.

that process builds on of the united nations screening before we even take a look at folks. there are some exceptions but it is usually the united nations that has to screen folks and determined they are legitimate refugees that are facing persecution or terror in their home country and are looking to leave, they have experienced torture and other situations. that screening is passed the united states and we suggest you look at the individuals as a possible refugee in your country and we take it a step further and that's where we are very intensive, interviews are conducted. i want to go through the process and the committee but the fbi is involved, the department of defense, homeland security, it's a process that takes 18 to 24 months and it is important for us to understand these are not folks showing up at our shores like with europe with millions of folks just coming across the shores into these countries. it is a completely different process here. host: we will cover today's

hearing before the senate homeland security committee on eastern.:00 p.m. senators asking the administration officials what goes into this process. what has been michigan's experience with getting refugees from the middle east? guest: we have a lot of refugees in michigan. a large middle eastern population, one of the largest outside of the middle east is in the greater detroit area as well as around the state. we have a large and active syrian population. many who i've worked with over the years or who have -- are successful people in our community who are terrified of the dangers in our area and have talked to me on a regular basis about that over the years. we also have a large refugee population from iraq, california has seen folks coming in. it is part of our community.

people come in and establish .usinesses hard-working individuals, it is really part of the economic community that we have in michigan. host: any arrests or concerns by law enforcement? guest: refugees filter incredible screening process is to get here. my experience with refugees is that when they get to the united states, they are so happy to be in a place where they can feel safe, this is the first time they've been able to feel safe in a long time. they also believe they have some sort of hope for the future but they don't get that in a refugee camp and have been there for a long time. there is a sense of hopelessness as to what will be in the future for you and your family. they are extremely grateful, extremely happy. but we also have a dynamic middle eastern community and

they embrace refugees and there's a support network as to make sure these individuals can get back on their feet and move forward and become patriotic. most of the refugees are very patriotic people because they feel so blessed to be in this country. journal'swall street editorial board says this legislation the house is considering that would have the fbi director and national intelligence director sign off on each refugee from syria and iraq. it is giving the american people confidence in the system by passing this type of legislation. it is not a religious test and they say the president should look at it because he is threatening to veto it. but this measure might serve as a way for republicans to mollify public opinion without shutting down all refugee entry. you agree or disagree? guest: i will take a look as it

comes to the senate. i would have to go through and read it but my initial reaction is that this is already a process that has the most scrutiny to come into the country. if you look at this, this is a reaction of what is happening. it is curious because at least the folks that are been identified so far are getting more information about those who are involved with those that are our french citizens. there are people who were born in the european union who engaged in these attacks, they didn't go through the refugee screening process like we have in the united states. there are other issues, the discussion of the visa waiver program so you allow people to come in from these countries. we have french citizens that engage in this activity. there hasn't been talked about the visa waiver program that comes in very easily into the united dates from most countries. why we are focusing on a refugee

program that has the most aggressive screening, the most comprehensive screaming -- screening, we are not clear is why that's the focuses when that has not been identified as a problem. host: another topic is the highway bill. this. hillview writes capitol hill was in a celebratory move as they moved to pass the first highway bill in a decade but it was tempered by awareness that is petrified best patchwork funding that is short of the mark. tell me what it's like as a freshman senator to see a long-term highway bill after many short-term patches making his way through. it's good to have a long-term bill. you cannot manage short-term extensions a few months for year at a time or the needs the certainty particularly when involved in big capital project which you have with highway projects.

if you are a contractor you have to by bulldozers or other types of equipment and know what the resources will be in the years ahead so you have to have a long-term funding plan. if the major funding is there even with the six-year bill. my preference would be to try to put more money on roads and infrastructure and bridges even if the shorter. it's not have that folks can make these kinds of plans. i'm very pleased in the bill. coming from michigan, and detroit, the auto industry is such an important part of my state and also the country. art of that bill, there is vehicle to enter infrastructure language. we will see a change in have vehicles operate. connected vehicles, vehicles talking to each other, safety features as a result with a lot of these autonomous type

vehicles, technologies that are coming on board that we can eliminate up to 80% of all crashes in this country. that's a big deal when you consider 30,000 people die on highways every year. part of the technology infrastre reconnection put sensors into the roads, so the language i have inserted is that it is up to the states and the contractors. ,ou can put the sensors in especially for folks and northern states that you can of sensors on bridges that will tell your automobile that there is ice on the bridge. it will have you intellectually slow down your car have and you know that there is exciting technology transforming the mobility in this country. having that in the infrastructure will be a key component. i am very pleased that will be part of the bill. what does that mean for car companies? guest: they are all doing that.

that is the type of technology we are seeing. an fact, a couple of weeks ago in michigan i was was one of our auto suppliers and we were driving down one of the roads in the detroit area. we put it on cruise control, and driver assist. the car drove itself to the road. it stopped at stop lights. follow the roads. it was communicating with other vehicles. it also demonstrated some exciting technology in the fact that this vehicle could talk to other vehicles on the road. at a demonstration where we were following the car, and the car was moving fairly quickly. all of a sudden it swerved out of the way. a very common accident that people have. they cannot stop quick enough. with vehicle to vehicle wasnology, the car was in talking to the car to cars ahead. so our car was already breaking from a nice safe controlled

distance. it is that kind of technology that companies are putting in now. the driver assist technology will be available in the next model year. it is very exciting stuff. the auto companies have fully embraced it. in order for it to be fully integrated, we need vehicle to infrastructure so that the roads are talking to the cars as well. host: let's get to the calls. we have tom up in michigan. caller: thank you for taking my call. thatld like to remind you every third call is going to be a republican call. why are the any republicans on the show today? that is a good question. you also lie to your teeth. one of the terrorists was syrian. he came with a fake passport. stop line. the si director disagrees with everything you say. thank you. i will answer his first

part about republicans on the show. take look at the show tomorrow. today's show has been cut a little bit short because of the house coming in at 9:30. so come with had to reschedule some things and fit the pieces of the puzzle together. take a look at the show in general. it will balance out over time. i think is very clear in the comment that most of the folks involved, we are waiting to see more from syria as well. there is one individual who did have a passport, although i knew the passport is forced, so we'll have to get more information about that. the important point is that whoever this individual may be, it is a completely different situation in europe. people are coming across the border. there are millions of folks. they are not being screened. anple are coming in in uninhibited way. it is completely different than the process that we have in the united states, which is an

extensive screening process that takes 24 months. this is after united nations screen as well. there has not been any indication whatsoever that there was an individual involved in this attack that would have got to that kind of screening. so, it does not make sense to focus something that we do not have any evidence on. host: darrell, in florida. democrat. caller: hello. aboutr, i want to ask you our way going to need passports to enter different states now? i did not know that governors could decide who can live in a state or who can enter a state. france is honoring their commitment. they had a tragedy. president is going to honor his commitment. the people are standing with him. i think that is so admirable.

i think that this is going to make us look absolutely horrible. that is my comment. thank you. guest: thank you for that comment. we are going to need passports to going to the states and governors have been speaking out and this is an issue that governors do not have a lot of control over. it deals with the immigration system and we have with people where they can locate. your point about people wondering about the united states, it is important. it is about the security of the united states. number one, we need to focus on that. we need to make sure that everybody can be as safe as possible. that is why the refugee program goes through extensive screenings to make sure these individuals are who they claim to be. values which is what the color is referring to. it speaks to our values as americans. we are smart people, we are

tough people, but we are very compassionate people. we understand that this country has been built by folks who have come in this country from all different countries. often times escape in a difficult situation. but, they come here to pursue the american dream and become patriots. that is who this country is, it is what we have always been. it values as americans and to turn away people who may be have been tortured or faced horrible conditions in a war-torn country, to turn them away i think is unacceptable. we have seen it in our history in the past. we saw before lord were too. many jewish children were turned away from europe. i think that we look back on that i wonder why we were not more welcoming to those individuals in the need. host: after fleeing syria and iraq these people end up in refugee camps and other countries.

you visited one. tell us about what you saw and why you went there. thet: i was on a trip to middle east as part of my work and home and security, to me it was with our military commanders on the ground as to how we deal with the threat. i spent time in baghdad, in a rack, we were on that trip and we had the opportunity to go to the largest refugee camp in jordan. not too far from the syrian border. that camp at the time i was there had 85,000 people in the camp. a vision ofly have a refugee camp as tents. it was not tense because it was not a temporary camp. a lot of people think it is a place go for six months until things settle down. that has not been the case. this conflict in syria has been going on for a very long time. they are permanent structures. they are like trailers. restructured housing.

folks receive very little money in term of food assistance. about $.50 perly day for individuals for food. you cannot get a lot of food for that. families get one propane bottle per month to cook from. of the veryuse carefully in order to get through a full month. i had the opportunity to talk to many refugees. the thing that really hit home for me the strongest was the helplessness that they have. some of them had been there for four years. they had no idea where they would end up. they knew it was not safe to go back into syria, but they did not have another path. i asked the refugees, i asked them, where do you want to go? we just of them said want to go home. all we want to do was go home. we do not have any desire to go to another country. that is what we all want.

you ask any american they just want to go home. you don't want to go somewhere new and learn new things, you just want to go home. that is what we have to stabilize the situation. we need to focus on that to make sure people have a place go back to. host: can you do that without boots on the ground? guest: you will need ground forces. i do not think it should be united states forces, but you will need that in order to stabilize it. what i heard from the generals that we met with was that the airstrikes have been effective. in fact, it is more difficult with isis, at least on the ground, it is more difficult for them to move around. if they want to take new territory, it makes it difficult, because there is a mass of people together. when that happens, we have very good intelligence. we are able to identify when that is occurring. we can make strikes that break that up very quickly. positive.een a

the general spoke of her positive about the effectiveness of airstrikes. there were considerable airstrikes being conducted. but, the problem with this is that you cannot move the plot with just airstrikes. you need boots on the ground to do that. hopefully, that is how the coalition in iraq, the iraqi army, we're all disappointed that when isis came into my job their weapons and ran. the generals i had spoke to, the leading people believe that they have mission capable units ready to fight your dental willingness to fight. they will go back in and start taking back the territory. obviously, syria is right complicated because we do not have a functioning government. you have to establish a functioning of effective government on the ground to suppress terrorist activity. host: the wall street journal this morning, we are following up on a story we told you yesterday, the french president

's plane back to back meetings in washington and moscow as france tries to make the coalition come together. the u.s. and its allies are seeking to a road the russia-a run partnership in order to get on board with defeating ice is in the area. we'll go to david in michigan. independent. hello. caller: hello. yes. comment you made a about how we have no problems in arabs, with the people, or islamic event. evidently, you have not talked to your people. had a constant fight since the inquiry has gotten bigger. they fight every day of the week. also, we have armed camps in arizona, pennsylvania and new york. peopleona the federal

commit crimes, they go back to the sanctuary, the federal government stops for them from doing anything. sanctuary city, is that is what you are proposing were you little the people in? where we put them? if you are referring to refugees, when they come in they go to various places around the country. the refugee resettlement authority helps them get settled. we do have a lot of folks from the middle east that do come to the detroit area. that is primarily because there is already a community. also, a large part of that is the fact that they come with their families. their family may already be there. they have aunts, uncles, parents. so, you have a support group. that is very important. many of these refugees have basically nothing but the shirt on their back. .nd, they have to start a life that is not an easy thing. i heard some callers before i

came on talked about coming to this country with nothing. now, they are very successful. they are proud americans. it is the same case that has happened throughout history. it is happening today. that has not gone away. the magic of the united states is being the place where you can come with nothing and make something of your life and contribute to society and be a patriotic american. that has occurred only over the last few hundred years. host: we go to doug, a republican. caller: good morning. i think it is great to have the opportunity to talk to an elected senator. i also think that this refugee: program was great. it helped me understand the importance of us responding in a compassionate way. that being said, you have already talked about this lengthy process that can take as long as two years.

toh the president wanting us increase the number of refugees to 10,000 per year, how will that impact the practical implications of how this process unfolds? do we hire more people? it is clear that we cannot shortchange the vetting. i would never advocate for that. that when imported you talk about the 10,000 gold that the president has. this year we will bring and 85,000 from all of the world. the refugee program is not exclusive to the middle east. it is all over the world. come here toe who seek safety for a variety of reasons. there is already a robust mechanism for background checks. we cannot shortchange it. as i mentioned, earlier in the interviews of the safety of citizens in this country is paramount. that has to be the main focus. we need to make sure that it is

still robust. there are also ways to make it more efficient. there are ways to do the interviews. there are individual interviews. there are ways we can reform the system. we can make sure we do things in a better and more robust way. host: susie's up next from fort washington. democrat. caller: i want to ask the senator is israel accepting those people since we give them so much? they came here and got trillions of dollars worth of money. are they taking in any refugees? host: to clarify. they were asking the money to go from $3 billion to $5 billion per year over the next 10 years. guest: as far as the refugee program in israel, i do not know what that is. host: lancaster, south carolina. independent. caller: thank you. thank you for my time.

host: i will ask you to choose one comment. as i said, the house is coming in early. caller: let me talk about immigration. we give up almost 6 million dollars worth of amnesty. why not understand politicians say they are doing the jobs americans won't do. who do those jobs are for they came? the manufacturers, the construction workers. now they get these high-end visas to get college students. yet people at m.i.t. they can't get a job. they're getting people from india and china. up comeca does not wake america as we know it is not going to exist. it will be rich and poor. host: i think we got your point. guest: i think the point is that we have to make sure we focus on the economic viability of the country. .here is no question about that

our focus should be to grow a strong american economy. it is the work i do with small businesses. that is the engine of growth. i'm a member of a small business committee. from day one i have always focused on the fact that it is those smaller on doors that are creating jobs and opportunity. it are these refugees who will become small business owners. they will create jobs. our focus has to be on making sure the united states stays economically's drawn. host: you have a background in economics. your reaction to the headline is one we keep seeing. now, the fed is giving way for a december rate hike. guest: in an industrial economy, it is getting stronger. we're seeing that happen. we seeing unemployment rates dropping. a very goodhad policy to get them moving. see interest rates

slowly coming up. the important thing is that it is done in a measured way. people is done in a way can anticipate. slowly but surely is probably the ideal way to do it. folks have been anticipating this for quite some time. we might see the first small hike in december. even if the cost is a little bit higher it is also an indication that the economy is becoming more robust. you do not think it will speed the market? guest: no. people will be looking at if signs and the economy are healthy enough so that we can unwind at some monetary policies that we have been using to get out of a recession. it is a double-edged sword. it is probably better for a robust economy. slow and measured, it'll would be a good way to unwind that. it shows that it is working and that we are in a good face for

the economy that will continue to create jobs. host: we'll go to bob and wisconsin. republican. caller: hello. it is obvious to me that the screening the senator is talking about, due to the fact there are terrorist within our country. the boston bombing. the two brothers lived here forever. as patriotic or flag-waving as you claim patriots are. there are good people ever. why can't we take the syrians and put them in detention camps in the desert and sort them out there? keep them away from the population. host: you want to respond to that? i mentionednk, and the camp i was in, i was in a refugee camp just a few weeks ago. so, people are in those camps now. that perhaps the color is referring to an idea of having saison since the area, i think that is something that i am open to.

we have to create a safe place for people to be in syria. there are not safe right now. as i mentioned, in the interviews that the syrian refugees i spoke to in the camps. they want to go home. they want to be in syria. they have to have a safe place to go. if you can create zones, not can scum of the zones are people can go and live and know that there is a degree of safety, and perhaps have in the united isions involved, that to me somewhat surprising that the united nations is not more involved on the ground given that this is very clearly a humanitarian crisis. need to be more actively on the ground. we will go to jr in las vegas. democrat. question or comment? caller: good morning. i want to say that america is not in a better situation. i'm a veteran, i'm honorably discharged. i live in america. the homelessness here is ridiculous.

so, the people who make these decisions have never had to deal with a soup kitchen or eat out of a dumpster. they need to put on hold with serbians coming here and take care of americans first. achy. that: there is no question we need to do a better job with our veterans. my father was a veteran from world war ii. navy reserve.e i take veterans issues very seriously. onfact, if i could pick up the colors comment. an issue i'm working on now that i find disturbing is that we have many veterans who served and actually may be suffering from the invisible wounds of war from ptsd. dramatic brain injury. because of some of their behaviors, as a result of the ptsd while they are in the military, they may have received a less than honorable discharge. are out of theey military, and when they get less than honorable discharge they cannot come in to the vac --

system and get treatment for injuries they sustained in the military. so, i have legislation that says if these individuals have a medical diagnosis, incredible diagnosis they will come back and go through process to be reviewed. if indeed they do have ptsd as they got what they are serving, they can have a change of their status back to an honorable discharge which allows them to get into the v.a. and get the treatment. it is supported by every major veterans group. the recent npr investigation found tens of thousands of individuals in that case where they were taken out of the military where they were taken out due to symptoms of ptsd. they are given an administrative discharge when they should have been offered treatment that they deserve. so, we need to stand up for our veterans. it is something i'll work hard on. host: thank you. our time has been a little bit shorter than usual. please come back.

guest: thank you. i will. we talked about ptsd. it is something we talk about in central florida where we talked to a health expert there. they are doing comprehensive new therapy for ptsd at that university. up next, we are going to continue our sunshine state tour. it is the last stop this week. we will be right back with that conversation. >> a signature feature of book tv is our coverage of book fairs and festivals. talks.nfiction author interviews come in fewer: sections. coming up, we will be live from the 32nd annual miami book fair. our coverage starts on saturday. authors include representative john lewis discussing his bookmarked. a live call in with wall street

journal call missed taking in and talks about her book the time of our lives. journalist judith miller joins us to discuss her book this story, airport's journey. and newsman ted koppel on his book lights out, the cyberattacks of a nation i'm prepared. on sunday, speak with the author's life. first tj roark takes her calls on his book thrown under the omnibus. , joy and readable take calls about her book fracture, barack obama, the sentence and the racial divide. join us live from miami on c-span twos book tv. be sure to call and tweet us a question. >> c-span has the backs access to congress. watch live coverage of the house on c-span and the senate on c-span two. watch as online or on your phone at c-span.org.

listen live anytime on our c-span radio app. get best axis from behind the scenes by following c-span and our capitol hill reporter greg kaplan on twitter. stay with c-span, c-span radio, and c-span.org for your best access to congress. washington journal continues. host: welcome back. is our fourth and final day of our sunshine state tour. has beenign 2016 bus visiting for 40 universities this week. interbank policy experts, each morning on the washington journal, today, where on the campus of the university of miami as rosen ville school of marine and atmospheric science. join us from the c-span bus our climate is changing his dr. ben carson, at the spirit science professor. professor, thank you very much for joining us. let's talk about the study of climate change at the university of miami. how do you go about studying

climate change echoed -- change? guest: we do a lot of things. we have the only state of the art interaction tanks that look at how the ocean and the atmosphere talk to each other in high wind zones. hasave a climate group that some of the best state-of-the-art climate modeling to try to understand how the system works and how it might change in response to increasing greenhouse gases. we have signs that look at how the ocean picks up carbon and how that leads to acidification of the ocean. look atentists at climate how climate change affects fisheries. we cover the entire gamut of climate change. the economics of it. the policies of it host: and the physical signs of climate change. how do you do it? how do you study it? host: it is different than what

the government is doing? when you say the government is doing climate change, what they are doing is funding us to do those things. in a sense, we are doing that government-sponsored research. so come with grants from the federal government to investigate specific questions about climate change. so, for example, how do changes in the gulf stream impacts south florida climate? how will this change in a changing climate. so, all that work is sponsored government research. so, when you say what research the government is doing, government does that through sponsoring activities here the university. host: how much money are you getting to conduct this research? what has your research shown yet to -- shown? guest: the exact dollar amount i

do not know. we have a very extensive research portfolio. it is somewhere in the marine school. they get about $50 million. for me to outline all the things we have shown would probably take 10 of your shows. demonstratedeally many important things for example, we're done a lot of research that shows since the 1950's the climate has warmed. that is unequivocal. we have done research to action separate how much of the warming we have seen since the 1950's is due to natural variability and how much is due to greenhouse gases. we have a slew of various studies we have done about climate research. both globally and remotely we have people who do arctic research. the huge portfolio i mentioned covers the system.

bus onhe c-span campaign its last stay of our sunshine state tour and today at the university of miami it was chartered in 1925. private university. aboutrollment is at 10,000 undergrads. about 5500 graduate students. undergraduate tuition and fees comes to a little over 45,000. the endowment is around 865 million for the university of miami. we're talking with dr. ben kirkman who is a marine and atmospheric science professor at the university of miami. here to take your questions about what they are doing their to study climate change. we have divided the lines. used in central part of the country dial in at 202-748-8000.

mountain pacific is to reduce them for thousand 81. we go to ralph and michigan. question or comment? caller: i was not sure he was a marine expert, but i wanted to ask him about the news that is october has been found by nowak and the japanese meteorologist association that october is the warmest october ever on record. will if the trend continues, is it almost certainly will 20 with 15 will be the warmest year on record. it will be one degree above average. .omething like that guest: that is correct. and ata from no what nasa showing at global temperatures

about .98 degrees celsius above normal. it is the warmest october on record. now, it is important to remember that part of the warmth we are seen comes from natural variability. we have el niño happening. that definitely contributes to some of the warmth. but, certainly some of it is due to global warming. the trend is very clear. one ofll turn out to be the warmest if not the warmest years on record. host: what does that mean going forward? known -- guest: it means that very clearly we're seeing a continuing trend since the 1950's that the climate system is continuing to war. that is unequivocal. there is no debate in the scientific community about that. we are at the point where we need to start making decisions about how we will adapt to the changes that are associated with that.

that adaptation problem becomes quite challenging. because you have to think about how the warming impacts local environments. how will it impact the sea level. how will we respond? every part of the world has a different set of issues they have to deal with. -- now we need to clayton take global warming to the next step and say how will respond to these challenges. has bothhat response opportunities and difficulties. but, we need to start making a move. otherwise it'll reach a point where actually dealing with the changes that come with global warming will be very expensive and very difficult. host: when would that be? when would it become too expensive? well that is a great question.

i am not in economics expert. when you thinkat about specific challenges, when i think about sea level rise in , when we try to retrofit the canal system with pumping stations where we can no longer open the floodgates and dump the water back into the sea , that process becomes much more expensive as a sea level rises. now, south florida is at that point where things are starting to get very expensive. if we nate if we wait another five years or 10 years the cost will go up dramatically. i'm not an expert, but i do see that the cost is steadily increasing. robin pittsburgh, go ahead. caller: yes, i was wondering if your climate models include the contribution of a volcanic activity to global warming. that is my question.

guest: excellent question. it does include volcanic events. those omissions in the tropics do live release a lot of particulates into the atmosphere. that does produce short-term cooling. you might see short-term cooling that may last one or two years, and maybe even reaches up to three years. we definitely include those things in our climate models. it is critical. it is very important because we need to separate out the natural events that could lead to cooling fossil fuel emissions. so, it is very important that we include those things. and we often do. host: juanita in cincinnati. good morning. caller: good morning. i had a collar and it -- comment and a question. is to c-span.t i've called many times before. i said i was a graduate in 1973. i have been taking a content

analysis of what you guys have been showing for the past few months. i've seen an absence of color. there are plenty of schools of color in florida. they are doing one good. maybe not as much as miami. has done ak c-span poor job of acknowledging the schools as well. my second question is, i am retired as a librarian. how have you downloaded this information to your high school students in the miami area. so they are able to understand what the issues in climate changes are. that is all. have a good day.

guest: that is a great question. i appreciate that. i personally have got involved in engagement activities on the weekends to educate teachers. these events often include high school students with basic climate change science. i also appreciate the push you are providing. i think as scientists, where probably not doing enough. we need to do more. there are things going on. we do what we can but we should do more. host: i hope you're listening. in february, february 4 through the 20th we did a tour of historically back black colleges and universities. you can go to our website c-span.org to find it there. phyllis, in lincoln, california. can morning. caller: good morning. yes, thank you for your work.

i am an activist. i have written a book about global warming. we talked to a lot of people. have electric i cars. people approaches and talk to us all the time. the thing that i find so fascinating is the terminology between global warming and climate change. , there is ae difference because global warming our planet is heating up. whenever i mentioned global upset andeople become don't want to hear that word. they think it is inflammatory. they think it's climate change. they planet goes through cycles. and i try to explain to them that yes our planet does go through cycles, but this is something very different. we are causing our planets to heat up because of the carbon we're putting in the air. i tried to explain how that works. noticed that scientists use

to always call a global warming, now they sometimes just use the terminology of climate change. i just wanted to have you talk about it. thank you. guest: i appreciate the comment. have also noticed the confusion about global warming birth climate change is often use to sort of divide communities in terms of how we talk about this. but, i think the transition between this notion of global warming and climate change came about when there was a certain amount of confusion. some people have a hard time appreciating that climate change or global warming is not a straight line. there will be times when it looks like the climate is warming faster than it has the past. there will be times when it looks like the climate is warming much slower than it has in the past. it is not a straight line. i think the transition from global warming to climate change strives to emphasize that there is a trend, but there is also natural variability imposed on

the trent. fact, there was an earlier question about volcanoes and volcanic omission that make it look what the climate is not warming as fast as it was. there could be a big el niño that makes the climate looked like it is warming faster than it has the past. there is natural variability impose on the trend. is the scientific community trying to make it clear that this is not a straight line. it is not always warming at this particular rate. createdcircles, it has more confusion than anything. but, i think the notion of clock talk about climate change is important. you said since the 1950's the climate has warmed. how much is natural? how much is due to greenhouse gases? so, our best assessments are about 70% over the warm and

we have seen since the 1950's is due to fossil fuel emissions. in 30% is natural. the certainty on this kinds of estimates is something like 95%. so, the way i look at it is that i know i'm contribute in to 70% of the warming we have seen since the 1950's. i am sure that is at the 95% confidence for the number. really the me, is state of the science. i want to emphasize that our confidence in those kinds of numbers is really high because we have multiple lines of evidence pointing to the same thing. we have many different data sets looking at how much the ocean is warm. we have different data sets looking at how the land surface has warmed. have a has been a retreat in glaciers. how the sea ice is melting. all of these things are pointing to the same thing at the climate

system has warmed since the 1950's. the bulk of that warming is due to human activity. when i see that evidence i think is very clear. the science is solid. part of our sunshine state tour. we're at the university of miami talking about climate change with dr. ben kurt and who is the professor there at the rosenfeld school of marine and atmospheric science. we go to sam next and fort lauderdale. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm right up the road. i know anecdotal and anecdotal evidence is not solid evidence. but i am retired. one of my morning activities is a ride my bicycle up the road. , when wek a few weeks had that superman, the blooming or whatever it was, right up by the inlet, the place was flooded.

it had aborhood around quarter of water. in fact, they had some roads blocked off. water, it is just flooded from the tide. oniously, something is going when something of that magnitude happens. we are in a state where the governor had a bit of state employees -- for bid the employees from using climate change. you as a scientist, when have people who refuse to listen to all of your evidence, because they do not like what you're saying. they deny things internet political as that of trying to figure out how to save the planet, they would just rather say that does not exist. how do you account for an accomplished and get around those kinds of problems.

that is a great question. thank you very much. basically, i see two parts. one part is talking about clear sky flooding. those clear sky flooding events become much more frequent. that is basically due to sea level rise. again, that is related to the global warming we are seeing. as you warm the oceans, they expand. we know that from a personal experience, also, as you melt ice sheets on land, those fresh ice sheets run into the ocean. that has been creating these were there is a very high tide. in september and october that creates flooding. the sea just comes out through the storm drain and floods the roads. what is interesting is that communities, people like you see this anecdotal evidence more frequent clear sky flooding events. that is how societies respond. but, it is related to this

chronic problem of long-term sea level rise. comment,d part of your the second part of your comment was about the difficulties that scientists have in a politically charged environment. as, what i would say is that a scientist, we try to figure out a way that if i want to work with people and local state governments, which i to figure out a way to communicate about the science of climate change without getting it people and political hot water. we want to prevent -- present the best available science. that becomes challenging when the political environment is hostile to science. we figure out a workaround and a delay's things and slows things down. it is very negative. we do the best we can in this kind of situation. that if our local governments and state governments accepted the science of climate change, and use of

the best available science to guide their policy, as a scientist i cannot have a gripe about what those decisions are come other than to go out and vote. a make climate change politically charged scientific subject does not make sense to me. i think we have a responsibility as policymakers to take the best available science and then make policy with it. host: will you follow the climate talks happening later this month in december get go what -- december? what confidence is there that they can come together? guest: that is a very important question. the parties meeting in paris that happens they are really looking at in the simplest terms, how much warming are we going to have to stabilize the system. our for two degrees celsius to

stabilize the system, is at 1.5 degrees is it one degree? targetsresholds, those have definitive impacts. and, there are communities like the caribbean island states that are arguing that the two degree target that seemed to be a most popular is too high. nations much of their will be overly challenged. they may even have to abandon ship. some say we need a threshold that is much more ambitious. something like one degree. really, what they are trying to do is find the threshold and think about what can happen with the world economy. it is a tough problem. optimistic that some agreements will come out of the us intalks that will get the good direction. we just need to get the conversation going.

we need to get everybody to realize the target is not so bad. there are targets we could capitalize on. we can be more aggressive with how things go forward. it is critical with the opportunity, but i'm optimistic we will do that. host: in the hilton newspaper reported that the gop is doubtful about paris climate talks. there were two congressional hearings yesterday. again, there is an acceptable goal, climate pack. that they alsoay had votes on tuesday in the senate to overturn president obama's carbon limits. the key piece to his reduction percent. guest: i am disappointed. from a policy perspective i with what thet --

administration is about. i'm not a policy expert. i'm a science expert. what i want to do is a scientist is make sure that the senate and the obama administration and the house and local government, everybody is using the best available science in order to decide their policy description. and, as an individual citizen i can talk about what they are doing. i think, what i would really like to hear in the senate is to them to engage in the best available science. i'm not convinced they have done that. i would love to have the opportunity to make sure that the various senators are in agreement about the best available science. and that they use the information in order to guide their policy prescription. that is what i think is a fair process. i may disagree with the prescriptions in the end, but i want to make sure we go through

process to deal with the best available science. host: we will hear from thomas next in ohio. good morning. thank you for c-span. i want people to hear that i have a son who lives in ohio. he heard big booms this past winter. they go to find out that they sent an icebreaker from canada because our icebreakers or not big enough to go to the middle of the lake and help a barge get out of the ice. the ice was 10 feet thick. that is global warming. note, there same was a group of scientists that want to antarctica and got stuck in the ice 100 miles from antarctica. how can you explain that? how are you funded? how are you being paid to research this? follow the money.

i appreciate the question about the ice. this is one of the things that is really important when we think about climate science. there is definitely going to be amounts of time where there might be more ice in the great be,s, or there might particularly in antarctica were the ice is very annual. it comes and goes every year. there is a lot of high variability in the actual amount of ice. so, we respect that. part ofabsolutely climate variability and change that we understand. the challenge is to try to separate those high-frequency of events from long-term trends. you have to take a long-term view of what is happening. thislike i cannot blame warm october entirely on climate change. i'd knowledge that part of it is

from el niño. that increased ice in the great lakes is necessary a signal that climate change has not happened. you have to look at multiple years and multiple lines of evidence. , i goms of my funding through peer-reviewed process. the scientific community of value it's the quality of my research. that is why the process works. wayne in louisiana. you're next. caller: last time i called i was a truck driver. let me tell you something. climate change is the biggest hoax that has ever been told to the people in this country. i've told it 1000 times. nobody seems to be listening. gas, there'son nothing to replace it. nothing to replace coal. all the scientists is nothing but a bunch of hypocrites. the science of paris is a hypocrites.

obama isn't baker. all dollars. yeller working on money it is a big scam. we know that. your cost and is jobs. you can attacks is to death. you're nothing but lies. i get tired of you people getting on target climate change. it is nothing but a big big lie. 4 host: wayne, hold on. you are accusing our guest of line. let's give him a chance to talk about the size. this is what he studies at the university of miami. go ahead. i have to confess, i have much thest in how climate warms. i wish there was in a sea level rise. i wish my community was not challenged by this problem. nose is ai follow my scientist. where the science goes. are notmy efforts

politically motivated. it is just an effort to understand the best available science. the multiple lines of evidence that indicate the climate system as a whole is warm since the 1950's. i would urge the caller to take a deep breath and come back and engage on the science and asked specific questions about specific results. we could come to a consensus that since the 1950's the climate system has worked. the question that is a legitimate area of debate is how much of that is due to human influence. i think multiple lines of evidence indicate that the bulk of the warming since the 1950's is due to human activity. again, i would urge the caller that they should engage on scientific questions. get educated on how the site is understood. and, if you chose to do so, i'm sure he would change his mind.

no economicve benefit, political benefit, it does not do me any good at the climate is changing. i would argue that it might actually be a bad thing for me. host: dr., if he and others want to learn more, can they go to the website? go ahead. guest: they could go to that website. but, i think the best resource for the best available science a scientific consensus across the community is dealing with the government on climate change. they write a 5000 page report every 5-7 years. the most recent report came out in 2013. there is a nice technical summary. and a summary for policymakers that lays out the science of climate change in a nice way. host: we go to gerald in texas. caller: good morning.

anybody ever hear talking about all of the jets flying across the sky today. what kind of control are they doing. and with construction sites. there seems to be nothing done out of a construction side. every time you go by a construction site on the road, they have big black smoke. i'm curious about all of that. i do not really believe in climate change, i do not think there is anything going to be done to change it. because, the united states alone cannot be doing this. the whole world has to participate. host: thank you. , i had a little difficulty understanding the first part of the comment. but, i think i can talk about the second part. that is, this notion that there has to be a unified agreement to

respond to climate change. i agree with the caller. i think that is an evolutionary process. i do not think that necessarily will happen right after this meeting in paris. i think it is a process that will evolve over time. what i would argue is that the united states being one of most industrialized and one the most educated and most technologically advanced can lead the world in responding to climate change. in a way that is an economic benefit for the country. it makes the country stronger. think that we to do start that conversation problems today. we need to think about how we are responding to climate change that will happen over the next generation. we did have an eye on the future to reduce emissions. , as we leadhe way technologies and strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change, i think we could leave the world in the evolutionary process.

to get everybody agreed today does not mean we need to stop acting. i think that we need to lead the way. you said earlier that 70% of climate warming is due to human greenhouse gas emissions. the united states and other countries take steps to reduce much70%, how far or how can they actually reducing? guest: what we are really thinking about in terms of the paris conference is a stabilization. go pastple, we do not the two degree barrier. we go to try to reach that one degree warming mark in a moment. but, i think that when we reach

two degrees, the climate becomes quite severe. there's the thought of stinking about -- thinking about how to stabilize the system in the future. .hat is a nationwide problem we have to address that today and start figuring out how to do that. i do think that is an evolutionary process. at the same time, for the next certainon, there is a amount of climate change that is built into the system. that we have already committed to. it will already happen. local communities like miami beach is going to have to adapt to those pressures. and, what is important is that we know that while the climate is changing that people can count on partnerships with local governments, state and federal government to try to figure out how to respond to those pressures of climate change to try to make miami beach a beautiful place. interaction,f really requires the acceptance

of basic science. there is good science on the policy. that process is to be better engage here in ford and elsewhere in the united states. again, this is the epicenter of climate change. we can lead the nation. we can lead in terms of developing strategies and get policies. and also policy and terms of how to respond to climate change. host: let's get to dennis in florida. you're on the air. caller: good morning. i'm curious to find out if you are aware of the current temperatures of the water in the equatorial pacific. and, i want to make a point that as you mentioned earlier, if you examine the ice, you'll be able to determine that the ice in the antarctic is the same size as the ozone hole in the moment. i think that you are very capable of answering some very scientific questions. cross bookring, is

inflation coming from gas coming out. [inaudible] guest: let me try to pick apart the question. first, let me talk about what is going on the tropics. we have a rapidly evolving el niño events. it is quite warm in the tropical pacific. that will shift the storm track over the u.s.. bring some'll even much-needed rainfall into california. so, certainly climate variability has winners and losers. south florida we are e. spented to have a normal winter. there are bad things that can happen that tend to have more problems with fires in australia and indonesia. there are always winners and losers. but there is a big el nino going on in the tropical pacific. there is also global warming we are starting to see in the tropical pacific. in terms of the ice extend