talk about the november elections and domestic and international issues. the conversation by phone, facebook or twitter. host: good morning and happy new year. it's friday january 1, 2016. "washington journal" is turning over three hours of program to our viewers to hear your top domestic and foreign policy concerns as we start the new year. on the domestic front as you look ahead to the year of 2016, what are the nation'sside the borders that you most want lawmakers and candidates on the campaign trail to address. is it the economy, border security, healthcare or criminal justice reform or some other topic. give us a call our phone lines are open.

democrats can call in at 202-748-8000. 202-748-800202-748-8001 indepen, 202-748-8002. you can catch up with us on social media on twitter, e-mail us. very happy new year to you. we begin today talking about top domestic policy priorities in 2016. here's some recent headlines organizations. large and small from around this country. immigration emerging as top in 2016 as the headline the leader outo of south dakota an interview senator john thune saying for 2016.s top issue over to the rocky mountain outlook, story there in the toal community, housing remain a top issue in 2016. finally the east oregonian, the

headline minimum wage tax spikes, top 2016 salem agenda. hear about your agenda in 2016. your stories and your thoughts ahead.year the top domestic issues is what we'll start with in that first of today'shalf "washington journal." the conversation already taking this on our facebook page morning. karen buchanan writes in on that page. domestic policy, i think tax reform to make it fair. talk aboutr leaders this for years. it never turns out to be fair. edward perkins writes, the top domestic priority for congress, our economyhould be and below that, domesticking the priority should be to reduce the current rate of debt growth. include further depreciation of the dollar value money.inuously printing we'll continue to look at your facebook comments and tweets. we want to you call in.

thoughts asear your with you twin this -- begin this 2016. 202-748-8000, republicans, 202-748-8001, independents, 202-748-8002. we'll begin this morning with danny from bluefield, west virginia. democrats. good morning, happy 2016. caller: good morning, happy new year to you too. concerns are are the free trade agreements. agreementsee trade did so much damage to our sounding -- it's astounding. willew ones for europe, absolutely destroy what's left of our manufacturing sector. will drive everyone's wages down. be small percentage of people and big corporations will benefit.

everybody else will suffer. will affect all of us and everybody needs to inform themselves about it. before february 2nd when they will vote on it. you doing in west virginia? caller: i work in the energy sector. i'm working with countries around the world and everybody concerned about the impact of these trade agreements. work were new that line of when nafta went through? you talk about previous trade agreements. how did that affect the energy sector? waser: at the time, i working actually in the board games industry. they voted out the the pointve party to where it was no longer a legal party. they voted out all but two the republican -- represents. that's how upset the canadian people were. to stop this. do whatever is necessary to stop it.

betrayed by our leaders on both parties. everybody please pay attention to it. host: that transpacific partnership is a debate we'll follow on the "washington journal" in 2016. appreciate the call this morning. waiting to james who's in orlando, florida. james, good morning. you're on the "washington journal." caller: thanks so much for c-span. just energy sustainability. bedrockwe got a good with the paris cop21. americans would realize how energy sustainability can be gdp. for the in orlando. there are a lot of people in my neighborhood that work for wind energy and they make beautiful incomes. design and and building wind energy. oil was of the past.

sustainability. we can make a lot of money out for this. years.eat new host: appreciate the call from orlando. is in virginia, line from republican. caller: i'm not on the line for republicans. line.at host: sorry, sandra is a democrat. go ahead. caller: i was surprised when you read the headlines from the various news agencies. mentioned that our country needs to get our police back on a community basis of the militarized basis that they gotten to. of the prosperity, rest of itl of the goes for not if we have people streets.in the host: sandra, do you think this

is an issue that is being talked enough on the campaign s?ail by the candidate caller: i think most of the talking that i've heard has been of glib. you know, all we've got to do something about it. solid proposals as canust what our communities do. we've already seen the trials some of these on major things that had the streets fighting in the last year and the year before. not enough, the police are being indicted for shooting down child in-old cleveland, shooting him down within two seconds. shoots down a 12-year-old child. there's no indictment. got to be something more than just simply bringing the police to trial who do wrong

things. we need to have their training the that they are headed in right direction in the first place. so they don't need to be brought to trial. host: can you talk about police relations in virginia? caller: waynsborough is tiny. here haveink anybody police.ts about the i have lived in several large cities, however, i've been well aware. back before there came to be a big thing made about it on the news, i've been well aware of why i call dirty cops. people who did things that were not called for. by the situation.

with it.away nobody would say anything about them. i had two uncles who were police dirty as could be. i think that's why i became so it as a young age. they took money off of people pulled over. beat them and just all kinds of things. it's inexcusable in a democracy. we need to be above that kind of thing. host: appreciate the call this morning from virginia. happy new year to you. police reform, trade and energy, three topics that are viewers brought up this morning. certainly legislation moving on all three of those fronts and others. headline from the fiscal times notes that congress is get even less done in 2016. martin madshack is the reporter on that reporter.

the washington correspondent for the fiscal time joining us this morning. you.morning to guest: good morning. host: you write that the white house and lawmakers already lowering to work to expectations about legislative accomplishments in 2016. why is that? guest: well, the principle reason is 2016 politics. is now a presidential election year. that's going to influence what done inside the beltway. one is, what actually comes before lawmakers, leaders like looking to jockeying and messaging and possibly help out their nominees in what issues they take up. radical impact on the congressional calendar. in for -- host: what are some of the key weislative issues that already see being pushed off 2016? guest: i think they want least to happen is

comprehensive tax reform. this is an issue that's been houseear and dear to speaker paul ryan's heart. the why he took chairmanship at the beginning of this congress. he's said, it's not going to in 2016. he doesn't trust president obama this issue. majority leader mitch mcconnell of kentucky has just said they have a fundamental terms of what they view tax reform as. iswants something that revenue neutral that bring new money to the money. where president obama said he wants to raise the rates on certain businesses and certain wealthy individuals. there's too big of a gap there. cici somethin see -- see sometn 2016 of overseas tax rate.

mentioned that the calendar working against new legislative accomplishments for those that don't understand the calendar, tell us how it works in an election year and nonelection year? guest: let's take house for example. only in for 110 days in 2016. to 255 days off. this year.n 133 days it's already a few weeks off there. the best example i can give in the 2016 calendar is different from other years is recess. for those that don't know, august recess is a tradition here in d.c. usually leave around the first week of august or last week of january and are gone day.gh labor they're gone for about five weeks. year, they're breaking july 15. the house anyway. they won't be back in septembe

september 6th. or seven weeks off there. after that, they only in for two weeks and they're off for seven weeks until after the elections. right there, you have couple of where they're not in vote on bills. out in districts and shaking hands. days theyhe weeks and are here, are there any areas of likely compromise in this election year? guest: i think the most likely legislation -- most likely issue we'll see legislation on is criminal reform. president obama speaker ryan, majority john cornyn of texas have been pushing for this. they hoped something would happen in 2015. omnibus and other things took priority.

bese three gentlemen will able to keep politics out of it to get something done. something that takes on minimum aspects ofand other criminal justice. we'll see something president obama will be pushing forward. he looks to cement his legacy. we let you go, you write in that story that we've been showing, that president are promising a nontraditional state of the union address this year. that mean? guest: lot of us are scratching heads about that. i'm thinking he'll take a victory lap. a last state of the union address. then he might say this is what i for in the next 12 months. big ideasto propose that i want to see action on leave.i sometimes last state of the union it's small ball.

i think this time the president really going to -- he's been talking sports analogy about the quarter of his presidency it.only half way through thy he's going to throw a long and and just keep going pushing congress to get his priorities done before he leaves in 2017. matishak is correspondent from the fiscal times. callstaking our viewers in this first hour and a half of the "washington journal" today. hearuestion is, we want to your top domestic policy upcoming year.e you can call in. morninglled in this from here in washington d.c. independents. good morning.

caller: thanks for having me. have a couple of top issues. for right now, i think going to be very important in the coming year. it's not much faith have anything moving. we do it.ope is ather issue, i think top issue, puerto rico crisis. not only do i think that we should help puerto rico restructure their debt. further and make 51st state. sense.s host: what is your interest in puerto rico come from? is out of the topic that congress talked about and not something that's on the front every newspaper in the 50 states?

guest: just like every other american. history. american i like a lot more than the average person. american history. beenw that puerto rico has commonwealth status for the last or so.rs citizens.merican it makes sense to make it the state. i don't understand why -- it would help them with their issues if they became a state. especially with the financial issues. social issues too. it would be a lot better. it.ink we should do i hope obama does it. helped out with normalizing relations with cuba. way there yet.he long ball asthe the guy was referring to

earlier. host: appreciate the call from d.c.in grace is waiting on the line for independents. you.morning to caller: thank you. year.new this is a very important thing me. emotional. there is an answer to cancer. we're not using it. radiation and chemotherapy that makes you sick fall out.our hair but there's a cure for cancer.

for cancer.evention to --evention is discovered that from a country no cancer at all. none. ever. doctors and scientists went over possiblyw this could be. how could anybody be completely free of cancer. so they observed these people they did, they had all trees.e fruit the pit andhrew out ate the seeds inside. what youwe look at want congress to focus on in medical region in the area-- research in of cancer? caller: yes, they gave it to --

we combined it with our other vitamins. it was all vitamins. the seedin b17 from vitamins.e other to --ave it [indiscernible]. in the cancer industry. the didn't want to lose money, the income on cancer. how anybody could over humanr job health. host: grace from sun city florida. domesticting your top policy priorities in 2016. diann is up next from michigan. independents. good morning. caller: good morning, john. new year. just to comment real quick on

the gentleman earlier regarding the tpp. there is little secret oil. that youfully request pickens on to tell us about the oil. nobody was written in this tpp agreement. it hasn't gone public. us. will not show it to he was on larry king when larry show.as still doing his larry king kept going after him on this question. pickens is an honorable man. he will answer the question. but the bottom line with that it's oils coming up and chinese. my other problem is what we're our children. how they speak, how they talk and everybody is talking common core. originally, the reason the

federal government started taking over education was because some of the states were properly.ng some children were being dismissed. into not going to go specifics. you can come up with an answer. tried to get a universal or somethingculum to go for so that every child would be on a good level of learning. i'm afraid common core is bad. but still, it goes back to the states. back toing to revert where some kids get a good education? a goodids are not having education. it's going to be up to the states. going to monitor that? someone has to monitor that in the states. are my two things, tpp, t. oil. pickens, that's it. host: all right.

thanks in michigan this morning. coming in. you can follow along the conversation. writes, my priority would be to increase voter rates.pation when that's done a lot of the problems work themselves out. the recentfter all flooding, our infrastructure could use some attention and build a smart grid alongside it for 2016. park storm write, top 2016 domestic concern equal protection under the law for all citizens. tag, black lives american. edward said jobs for americans is the top issue. good playing jobs. fred said that the top domestic policy should be constitutional the rule of law. neither party is committed to ideas.wo fundamental we'll keep looking for your tweets and comments and facebook posts. with the next hour to talk about the next domestic priorities in 2016. up next in whittier, california. line for republicans, good

morning. caller: good morning. down your tv. go ahead. to know abouted the medical marijuana laws and state. versus are they going to be talking about it in 2016? host: for you, that's a top issue. why is that a top issue for you jessica? top issue for a family that have a passed away from cancer. has helpedijuana them with the pain and things like that. host: thanks for getting up for us this morning from california early for us this morning. is up next in florida brooksville, florida. independents. what's your top domestic policy priority for 2016? listening tonow, all our callers and recognizing

of our country and the world. citizensave to say united. united tong citizens get the money out of politics. we could do that, all our be solvedems would because we would have people of and honesty in there. not money and power mongering spread the corruption across the whole world with their wars. got rid of citizens around themight go world and do some good with our ofey and our power instead theting wars and chaos in whole world and killing millions of people. i love my country.

i was always proud of my country. am no longer proud of this country. thank you. host: linda in brooksville, florida. united court citizens law certainly a topic that continues to create a lot of debate. there are other supreme court cases that will be causing a lot of headlines in 2016. here's a tribune news story about the supreme court's charged cases in 2016. the story noting as the nation presidential election year, the supreme court is set to decide half dozen initically charged cases 2016 on such topics as abortion, action,ive contraceptives and immigration. closely split, the cases likely to yield 5-4 and make it clear the next president's appointee could shift the lewisham to the -- law

the right or left. supreme court abortion and action, union fees listed. contraceptivess, and immigration on the immigration front. the fate of president obama's broadest effort to shield immigrants from deportation rests with the supreme court's justices. lawyers are appealing ruling by a judgment in texas which obama's latest immigration action from taking effect. many as 5 million immigrants lived in the country illegally for the last five and have a child who is a citizen. if the justices agree in the to hear the case of the united states v. texas it will be the major test of president's power to change immigration without seeking approval. thehe justices turn down appeal, obama's action will likely remain on hold until he leaves offices. it's one the many cases before

year.stices in the coming we want to hear your thoughts this morning. your top domestic policy priorities in 2016. is up next, rhode island, democrats. good morning. caller: hi. my topic will be more beneficial the country than regular tax that we have. to tax system was mostly take -- pay back world war ii. be more fair and honest tax will be a flat tax deduction being the poverty level for each individual. poverty level, the $26,000nt says you need or $30,000 to live. that should come off the top whatever you made. flat tax should be like 10% or 12% after that. i'm still wondering why ted cruz running for president since he was not born in this country.

hi -- he hasn canada, certificate.h why is he running for president? about ted cruz. ted cruz talked about his mother who is a u.s. citizen. qualificationss for running for president. we'll be looking at the debates, the presidential races, plenty of stories coming up even in today's papers about the presidential contest including on the front page of the washington post this morning. a story about another republican carson, three ben of ben carson's leading including campaign manager berry bennett quit on following internal power struggle. s.arp decline in the poll armstrong william, long time advisort and business told the post, that retired army

general robert, a campaign foreign policy advisor whom the candidate first met at church overer in year, will take as campaign chairman. plenty of stories in the papers that shake up in the carson campaign. of thery out about one top leading democratic presidential candidates, hillary clinton. from the home newspaper, happy new year. drops 5500 pages of clinton e-mails. the state department on thursday ofernoon released a batch 5500 hillary clinton's e-mails online and its second to last group of e-mails that the former toretary of state is set release. thursday's dump coming the afternoon of new year's eve. it's the seventh of eight court orders. her e-mails to be released publicly by january 29th. latest batch of e-mails. we'll talk about some of those

stories. we want to hear from you this morning our viewers about your in domestic policy priority 2016. of course i want to remind you about our coverage about the presidential campaign live on monday at 5:15 p.m. eastern. we'll take you to the first 2016 trip for hillary clinton in new hampshire. bill clinton will be there the candidate's behalf. we'll be covering that on c-span. hear it on c-span radio and of course catch it at c-span.org. back to the phones john is up next in sea bring, florida. republicans. good morning. you're on the "washington journal." caller: good morning. comment on c-span on immigration. there and shes on makes her train of thought by breaking in on conversation. then they fer forget what they'e

about. i wish she would quit that. months ago, had onegal aliens phone numbers there. the first two calls was from illegals that day. seems awful funny to me. host: i think you're the host had a separate line for illegal immigrants to hear from debates. the just one of the many ways we try topics.about these caller: this is our country. alien.illegal on this immigration, we want to enforce. trump will take care of it. of our jobs. i got two kids off work and they can't get jobs. themeople keep pushing

too. put on there is these people for all of these people. in here country, illegals, breaking our laws. i had one of the other day and i in and got cut off before i got to talk to you. you was on. says, well, anything over five years, they're not breaking the law. in thiswhere they stay country, the longer they have law. the they are destroying this country. on thereu put somebody that's on for the american people instead of all of the democrats. host: i promise if you go to look throughd program and we try to get voices on both sides of this issue. through, i promise you, we do have voices from both sides of that debate. the call this morning from florida. up next in north carolina. line for independents.

good morning. most important thing is campaign reform. out ofght to take money politics and have it done governments. the airwaves, they should give candidate,e to each the air waves and that's the think.portant thing i host: when you talk about the you're saying that each candidate should have a of time forunt campaign ads? ads.r: for campaign there should be free time for ads.ign give them 50 hours or whatever for campaign ads. that's it. anything more than that, they get. host: that's robert from north carolina. aboutr caller talking campaign finance reform. certainly a topic that we talked

year onout this "washington journal." likely to talk about with the 2016 election coming up. to take youre calls on your top domestic policy priority in 2016. you president from his end of the year press conference talking about the accomplishments that he saw that the white house had chiefed -- achieved in the past year p including the passage of a congress.h here's a little bit from the president's end of year news conference. >> rather china or countries setting the rules, we have shown is possible when america leads. dedicateddes of advocacy, marriage equality became a reality in all 50 states. i just want to point out, i said of the year,inning interesting stuff happens in the 4th quarter. we are only half way through. i do want to thank congress for ending the year on the high

note. to sign an education bill that is going to fix some of the we had with no child left behind. highses to invest more in quality early childhood education. we signed a transportation bill robust as i think we and, still allows states local governments to plan and putting get moving and people back to work and rebuilding roads and bridges. bank back to work supporting american exports. today they passed a bipartisan budget deal. i'm not wowed by everything in it. i'm sure that's true for everybody. is a budget that as i insisted, invests in our and our middle class. host: that was president obama at his end of the year news conference. looking back on 2015. we want viewers this morning on

"washington journal" to look for the next hour. we're talking about your top inestic policy priorities at 830 we'llthen switch it up and talk about top foreign policy in 2016. ramona up next in virginia. republicans, good morning. caller: good morning. year.new hey. pipelineand keystone is vetoed. up again because -- anyway. heroin is terrible. taking deaths and -- we got to do something about that, our youth.

opiod, prescribed is terrible. host: is this something you're seeing in virginia specifically? are.r: yes, we it other thing is -- i wrote am -- it'ssonally, i all marketing. i wish we can do something about marketing. know that higher people and 5 people.re they sale your mail if you contribute. i contribute a lot. i get marketing from all over the world. those are my issues. host: when you say you lot, are you talking about campaigns or to

causes? caller: all causes. marketing. get degrees in marketing, and people make money on marketing. i hate to mention one particular have.y i it's a military one. it 100% but then when howread the statistics on -- how much is to making onexecutives marketing, to send mail out on of these very worthy causes, of them. causes.hy marketing have to be

researched. host: ramona from virginia. appreciate the call. on the topic of the drug epidemic. story might point you to cnn politics had a story this past week, 2016 candidates on the front line of the new hampshire aboutpidemic, talking that key primary state. some of their comments there epidemic.drug if you want to read that story it's on cnn politics. patrick up next. pennsylvania, line for democrats. go ahead. toler: happy new year everyone. all offf of c-span and your listeners in this wonderful new year. it's going to be prosperous for everyone. initiative, it's going to be a national initiative, is to oftoration of the freedom information act.

essentially reagan gutted and turned into a hallow in awhich evolved situation in which the united aates of america has been in continual state of war manufactured. there's a huge component to this. aspects of of the it. that i'm now involved the reason why ronald reagan did that is because of the fact that world is being repeatedly by extra terrestrial life form. ups narrative is being held formeral heroes, the minister of defense of canada. this is why the united states governments are creating nonstop wars. people trying to keep

off kilter. a global community need to toure that when it comes aspects of transparency in government, this is why we are on a continual warpath. host: patrick in carnegie, pennsylvania. i point you to that came out recently on this topic. -- fbi now allows freedom of information act request to be made online. to read on that story. we'll go to nicole waiting in dallas, texas. issues i want two to headline for 2016. sexism and america. i feel like we have two presidential candidates that are women. they have held to so much of the the men.andard than these are two accomplishes

women. they are very smart. smartest people on the stage. but yet, they're treated as if less than or they are attacked more. i think we need to get the men out of politics. testosterone gets brewing and solved.gets my second thing is racism. lot.ca has changed a we are not a racist country. going back to the way that we were. i get so upset with the sides.ation on both it's not racism that's going ton, is power. the police force too much power. when you have power like that, are people under you that they can run over, do anything kind of way. people don't have money to .ire lawyers

these politicians have turned this into where it is racism. the case.t it's power. when you get certain people for a long period of time, to do certain things the way they will do, this is the of it. these are poor people mostly. i'm african-american, i've been stopped by whites, blacks some white men are nicest to me. some of the rudest men are the african-americans. i don't understand everybody is going with this race thing. thing.power the police are not bad. for the most part they are good people. get sucked into a culture to where they have to orlow the rules themselves they'll be ostracized. i think the american people need to realize these politicians it's

racism. it benefits them on both sides. to take a break, people in and treat kindly. listen to people and disagree wayessionally and in a good where it does not turn into this. we're given a choice. gives us a god choice. you either go down this roped and it will end up worse or you and youown this road can solve it. i feel like we're given a choice now, we can solve this can stay together in the united states and love each other. a path togo down where there will be racial riots in the streets and people will why didn'tnd say, they just do this and do that to better. situation let me tell you, i'm havean-american, i don't anything against barack obama. i wanted to vote for hillary clinton. all my african-american friends, me asody was talking to

if i was dumb, stupid and that i voted foromatically the black men. clinton -- hillary barack obama, i've been in this business for a long time. love youot going to and seas will not just part. him thatr her telling on the debate stage. everybody was so in love with the moment. we need to get ours together and we need to fix this and we need to stop it. the united states of america. us. letting people divide thank you. host: thanks for the call nicole dallas, texas. to your point about women in politics, i want to point out the lead editorial in the economist. -- daniel franklin wrote the lead editorial of the world in issue. he notes that in 2016, it can be words.up in three

men., women and people people flooding out of places.d other europe handling of the crises will remain adequate. front, little cheer and including slowing china, which be disappointing. will hold back global growth of result of profit. meanwhile, it will be the heart of many of the biggest decisions investors will be byching for their rate raise janet yellen. hillary clinton will be the candidate to beat in the race the white house. merkel will be at the european union. brazil's president faces a to resist impeachment. he will be hoping for some big providing a welcome

goes toion as rio summer olympics in 2016. bowl l, france host the euro 2016 football will --nt and inla t20 world win out the cup in march. future is just as it used to be. ripe for a feast of forecasting. lead into the world economist.the editor david franklin. taking your phone calls about 2016. domestic policy priority in 2016. ohio, good next from morning. caller: good morning. comment is, since obama president of the united states, the republican party said they will not do anything to work the president. this is where it got started.

now you got donald trump that to become president. he putting all of a our leaders country and across the globe. if he becomes president of the is the united how states going to have any type of accomplishment to get anything done? think what will happen is, an enemy ofll be the united states and we would be in more trouble than we ever have been. comment. host: james from ohio. showed you president obama outlining his accomplishments for the year. i want to show you the new in theof republicans house speaker paul ryan. looking back at his inaugral speech before the house of hisesentatives discussing vision for congress and leadership of congress. here's a bit from that speech. deeper for a

understanding. because when you're up here, you so clearly. wherever you come from, whatever you believe, we're all in the same boat. thought i'd be speaker. but early in my life, i wanted to serve this house. i thought this place was exhilarating because here, you can make a difference. if you had a good idea, if you make itard, you can happen. you could improve people's lives. me, the house of representatives represents what's best of america. opportunity to do good. let's be frank, the house is broken. solving problems. we're adding to them. interested in laying blame. scores.ot settling we are hyping the -- wiping the

clean. host: house speaker paul ryan inaugral speech. we're talking this morning on the "washington journal" about the year ahead. your top domestic policy in 2016 is our topic minutes. the next 40 charles is up next in jennings, louisiana. republicans, thanks for waiting. caller: good morning. staffnew year to you and there at c-span. job. excellent taxopic of concern is our code. antiquated,s is so it come out of the growing 20's 30's. it doesn't fit a modern day global, industrialized sector. ton you look at over 45

$50 trillion by businesses that do not want to bring the money back into united states because congress passed laws they can do it. they holler about corporate loopholes.ntages of you gave them the local holes to do it. like the little boy who and broke the window and put his hands behind his back. produces 85 tos 90% of the jobs in america. we doing that, and we have capitalaccess to because of the financial system, wouldn't it be great to take that corporate money that's setting offshore, bring it back into the united states and create partnerships with these smallbusinesses and these communities manufacturing and

get it done. making nothing wrong in money. we are a capitalist -- host: can i ask you. were't know if you listening at the beginning of our program where we were to martin matishak. he mentioned one the things most off.y to get put is comprehensive effort of tax reform. that can waitue another year after the politics of 2016? caller: no it cannot. we're already behind the power globally and domestically. host: what happens in another year without comprehensive tax think, charles? caller: we will have the same now.hing that we have but on a more progressive scale. when you look at trying to compete globally, we cannot tell

aina you'll have to have minimum wage -- we can but they will not do it. because they're a solvent nation. as long as there's one person to say, if i were to pay 50 cents for a pair of jeans than a dollar. someone say, i can get those fors into the united states a profit.nd make you will have that. we need to allow the moneys that is sittingshore that there in corporate says, i built takebusiness, so i can care of my family, myself and my future generation. bringing it back here 50% what i at already been pretaxed on already. someoneset up -- to that doesn't want to do

anything. upave $400 million i can set x, yz pool that will allow you to do this. you don't have to do anything. of to stop the silly madness and what is crippling the businessates on the scale. particularly small businesses in the communities that are dying. host: charles in jennings, louisiana. tax reform is an issue we'll continue to look at throughout the year here on the want. few more tweets over the course conversation. irish writes, in my top domestic issue for 2016 is the and climate change running out of time to stop catastrophic impacts. writes, increase minimum wage on the federal level, prison reform. hear about those other priorities of all our viewers this morning. for about the next 35 minutes,

is your time to call in for domestic policy priorities and we'll switch over to foreign policy priorities. phone lines are yours. dennis is up next, jacksonville, morning.good caller: domestic policies. me?ou hear host: yes, what's your question? caller: my question and my about domestic policy. that sound like to me, you about the home grown. concerns. host: correct. caller: yes. domestic policies. -- ilook here, we have to so, think about donald

trump. on that.ump, he big talking about domestic policies. host: okay. caller: man. to donald trump hey come on. home. home grown. was in desd trump moines last week and it was talking about his approach to economy. i want to play a bit of donald trump at that rally. make our economy incredible again. is in inoposal, which great detail in terms of policy. reviewsten tremendous from a lot of people. lot of great groups. are going to cut taxes

tremendously for the middle businesses.r middle class is being decimated. when that happens, you will see takes off.that we'll get rid of a lot of that debt. it.l get rid of $19 trillion going to $21 trillion now. if you go back eight or nine years, trillion wasn't a word that anybody knew. now it's like routine. are going to save your social security without cuts. back.bring the economy we're going to make ourselves rich again. me in newid to hampshire, recently, she said mr. trump, i'm voting for you. you.e but, it's very crude when you say you're going to make our country rich again. said, i know it's crude. it sounds bad. but many things i say are crude. sounds bad. but we can't make our country ourt again unless we make

country rich again. we can't let even i -- everybody off.usworld rupp host: donald trump has become the focus of the republican presidential primaries. some of the other candidates starting to aerateds going after donald trump. super pac ad that's supporting jeb bush talking chaosdonald trump as the candidate. >> he's a chaos candidate. chaos president. two months ago, donald trump was not our fight. we care? let asis and syria fight. said to hillary clinton great negotiator with iran. hillary would do a good job. >> he gets his foreign policy shows.nce from the

>> i watch the shows. i really see a lot of great -- when you watch your show and all of the other shows -- if that's know saturday morning or sunday morning, donald you will not be able to insult your way to the presidency. that's not going to happen. bei'm president, i will commander in chief. host: nathan gonzales, good morning to you. guest: happy new year. host: what are some of the key

storylines heading into 216 on the senate races in the house races? set the playing field and the landscape in both chambers. guest: as you mentioned, donald just captured so much attention that house and senate races have gone largely ignored. because thertunate legislative branch, one of the branches of our government in the margins in the house and senate will impact how the next president can implement his or her legislative agenda. control of the senate, what the margin looks like in the house is extremely important. in the senate, democrats need a to get to 50 seats if they hold the white house and the vice president will be the tiebreaker. to getts need five seats to 51 it would not matter who wins the white house control of the senate. i think democrats pepsi's but we're not sure -- it's not clear

if democrats will get enough in the house. democrats need 30 seats and when you think about 30 out of 435, does not seem like a lot but 30 out of only 40 or so that are competitive is an up for fight for democrats. when you take a step back, any handicapping about the house in the senate has to have a giant asterisk behind it because of the uncertainty in the republican presidential primary. it is not clear what kind of shadow that will cast. abouttalk specifically senator pat toomey in pennsylvania running career for reelection with donald trump of the top of the ticket or marco rubio at the top of the ticket, that looks very different. we got a little glimpse of this a couple of weeks ago in donald trump came out with his travel ban on muslims.

every republican candidate in the country was forced to respond. that's part of the election would look like next year if he is the nominee. we have a long way to go still. host: going into the primary season and 11 months before the general election, how are campaigns preparing for that for how to react to different candidates at the top of the ticket? can a candidate prepare for that? guest: it's difficult but what the republican -- the republicans are on the defense in the senate defending more competitive seats. this is the 2010 class. they are defending those seats in 2016. the republican senators are doing everything in their control to care.

-- to prepare. they are raising a ton of money and getting ground operations in place and are doing everything they can do to prepare for that scenario can the challenger or maybe the unfortunate thing for these republican senators is that they could run a perfect campaign and still lose reelection. if you are kelly ayotte in new hampshire, republicans dominate a candidate who is marching for president, that might turn up enough independent voters to the republican party overall that it's too difficult for a senator and a tough state to win reelection. the candidates are going what they can but that might not be enough under certain scenarios. you rate the different races depending on how they stand throughout the course of the campaign. rothenberg gonzales.com if you want to check out the races.

you talk about the senate being in play in the democrats are likely to pick up some seats. what are the seats most likely to flip in the senate chamber? guest: i think republican senator mark kirk of illinois is , a most vulnerable republican running for reelection in a democratic state. it's a presidential year. himself in house races in a tough district before but this is an entirely different animal. the last republican -- a race inan has not one a a presidential year. for a long time. in illinois. he is the most vulnerable and ron johnson of wisconsin is probably the second most vulnerable senator. then we get into a different tear and move into kelly ayotte of new hampshire were democratic governor is running.

that will be a top-tier fight against two of the titans of new hampshire politics. -- of illinois, rob portman and robey of illinois portman of ohio and marco rubio is leaving because he's running for president and harry reid's seat in nevada. i think those are two of the top seats as well. things have narrowed to about seven seats. gettings came up short a top-tier candidate against richard burr and republicans of not been able to find a top-tier candidate in colorado. for now, about seven seats and democrats need to win most of those in order to get to the majority. host: there is so much focus in the presidential race on fundraising. there are reports that hillary clinton has likely top $100 million in fundraising. be themyou expect to big money races on the

congressional level and how does that spending compared to the presidential contest? races, thehe house senate races have become mini presidential races. house races have become what senate races used to be. the top-tier races comments millions of dollars getting up to total spending of tens of billions of dollars when you combine the candidate, the committees, the outside groups, all of that together. think a race like mike colorado, a republican candidate running for reelection, that will be a top-tier race and democrats love their candidate who is a state senator. i think that will be one of the top tier fights. fight is subject to the winds of the presidential race and there will be money

spent there for the presidential race will have a big impact on them. host: can you talk about what role you expect president obama to play on the congressional campaign level, if any? that's one of the untold stories of this cycle. how this president performs in his final year in office is going to set the foundation for this election. if voters are dissatisfied with the job is doing and they don't like how the democratic president has performed over the last eight years, i think voters will be in the mood for a change in that will benefit republicans up and down the ballot. if things start to improve over 8-10 months and voters feel the economy is getting better and we are giving thenooting as a country, voters will be more likely to vote for the status quo. when we talk about the status

quo, that would benefit hillary clinton in the presidential race. it would make it somewhat for republican candidates on the ballot but it can also benefit a senator will be running for reelection. things are going in the right direction so give me another term will be the case there. ist: nathan gonzales publisher of the political report and you can follow him on twitter. we appreciate your time and happy to year. guest: happy new year, thank you very much. host: we return to the phones for this question. we're asking you about your top domestic policy priority in 2016. david is from plymouth, north carolina, on the line for republicans. caller: how are you doing? host: i'm good. on domestic policy, we

need to focus more on what's going on in america. society is that based on religious principles that we have the right of freedom and those freedoms are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. those are all natural freedoms. on the other side, government as thomas pinpointed, is a punitive process. government has the ability and authority to inflict pain or punishment or laws on the people. fartimes, government go so but it's thought of as being more punitive than what the people or society can handle. it takes away your happiness and your ability to pursue those things that make you happy. government is trying to overwhelm us with the power of the government, then people continually are

suppressed and unable to achieve their maximum potential. of anwhat is an example area where this is taking place on the ground? community, we had 38,000 people living in washington county. now we have 15,000 people in one plant. in this community. we are a tier one county so people are depressed. there are very few resources available. to get aen trying housing grant because i'm a veteran. i apply for it and did not get areo that means government putting the power of government honest but not giving us the benefits our tax money pays for that myself and other veterans went to war and suffered an injury for and now cannot get

the benefits for. it takes away your spiritual ability. you have no connection with the spirit itself or some people called the yen and yang. it takes the balance away. government becomes more punitive and society becomes more hostile. back in vietnam, it was called going postal. the unum that's came back to an america that was very discriminatory and did not allow people to have the rights they had been afforded in the military. the same thing with people coming from iraq and iran those places. those guys are coming back with a set of morals that have been ingrained into them and condition based on a philosophy that they have learned. in that philosophy, they will inflict that on our society. speaking of veterans issues, a front-page story from "the washington times" -

lansing, north carolina line for democrats, what is your top domestic policy priority for 2016? caller: if we could balance a budget from that bunch in , all that money that went out overseas. they could balance a budget in 30 days if they go ahead and do that. likeout a percentage working people have to pay in. just the little people that keeps this country going. it's not the millionaires have

all the money invested overseas. it's like dodge chrysler. they are owned by a foreign country and our money goes outside the united states. that's how stupid the people of this country is and they support these foreign countries and let our country go down. host: erie, pennsylvania, line for independents. you are on the "washington journal." i'm referring to what that man was talking about and what he has to look at is the misinformation that the republican party has made us -- made a science of. that's why i am no longer a republican. i have recently switched. policy, themestic number one priority has to be

campaign-finance reform. i think people don't realize the corruption that is inherent in having their politicians supported and blocked by moneyed interests. as far as c-span, one thing i have always argued with in relationship to c-span is that you do not question people's motivation when they come up positions.eous i'm not just talking about the people that call in. i'm talking about the guests on your show. you act like it's some kind of some on written law that you cannot question anybody's motivation. far too often,t the obvious motivator is greed. i would like to see you guys at least ask them what their

motivation is behind whatever issue they are promoting. host: i appreciate the advice. a few more tweets -- daytona, florida, good morning and happy new year. caller: happy new year to c-span and everyone out there. host: what is your top domestic priority policy? caller: i want to talk about how

corrupt our country is. from the top to the bottom. from the president right on down. just in this last two or three years, of all the things that all these people have done that's illegal or not right, nobody ever gets to have to take any blame for anything that they do. no matter what it is. host: how do we fix that? caller: i have no idea. you got justice for one side and justice for another and they do not work. the irs and all these other people in congress, even the president, all we get from up there are lies. one lie after another. host: is there a candidate that could bring accountability? caller: i doubt it.

i think it's already gone. i think it's too far gone. we have the most corrupt country in the world right now. you cannot believe anything anybody tells you. it's one lie right after the other. no matter what it is and nobody is ever held accountable for any of it. i am 77 years old and i have seen it go on and on and on but i have never seen it this bad before. host: how do you make it through? is or anything that gives you hope in this process? not one thing. i think our country has turned into a third world country and i don't think anybody is going to be able to fix it. the president up there now, his last year will not be any better than the other ones.

he told everybody before he got elected exactly what he was going to do. he was going to change america. well, he has done a dam good job of doing that. my thank you for listening to me. we've got about 10 minutes left to hear about your top domestic policy priorities in 2016. i want to put out that the of the major papers in this country decided to use their lead editorial to talk about the here on new year's day. "the washington post" -- the story in "the new york times" -- the editorial --

finally, there's "the washington times" -- they and their place by saying new to the president nor is media cohorts have proceeded -- have persuaded americans that they are safer. barry is up next, buffalo, wyoming, line for independents. good morning to you. yes, i am a registered independent candidate running for president simply because barack obama stole my blessings twice to flip both elections. he shook my hand the morning " inre he went on "oprah california.

he came with the capitol police and went to the local newspapers and said we are looking for barry johnson. there is also a photograph of the handshake that my very good friends have. my message to america is quite simply that god has used a plan through me and i am just a regular person, to bring peace in the world by showing that the muslim president, the most powerful man in the world, it used a christian to flip both elections. host: the president of the united states is a christian. he said he is a christian but that is barry johnson in buffalo, wyoming. niles, michigan, line for democrats is next. caller: hello? i have several comments on the domestic thing. ssi tax needs to be raised. it caps on at 90,000 but

everybody should pay over 90,008 at the minimum wage has to go up to $15 per hour. we are subsidizing large corporations that a low wages by spending taxpayer money on food stamps and other such programs for them. on immigration, we need all people who are in illegal that don't have a criminal record, we need to start investing in our southern members -- neighbors to stop the flow. simple, leave the rates the way they are in close the loopholes because no one will vote for higher taxes. on our infrastructure, the roads and bridges are falling apart. $.25 per to get a gallon tax. nobody will notice. onecents per month and send penny back to the states and we can fix roads. on the international thing, we need to put pressure on israel

and the palestinians to negotiate and fix that problem. we built a giant city out west in southern california and we can build something in the sinai. we can fix that. on isis, put a bounty on them. we are spending hundreds of millions of dollars and i think we can put a poison on the inside and they will start killing each other. host: there is a lot in your to do list. we will get to foreign policy in about seven minutes. calls fromrt taking our viewers on their top foreign policy priority in 2016. several folks are waiting to talk about their top to mystic rarities in this coming year. vicky is in florida, line for independents, good morning. caller: hi, how are you? you all have a happy new year. the lady before me from florida has no hope. there is hope coming from us

citizens to ensure that the politicians -- i know we are angry and mad and we are upset with washington. ande would just stand up let our voice be heard through donald trump, let it be. we can actually stand up, take our country back from the politicians and get somebody in there. if it's donald trump, ok. i like ted cruz. he is good. let's not give up hope on america. when it's our politicians who are supposed to be decided by the citizens. even though sometimes it comes down to the electoral vote, we can still overcome the electoral vote. that's all i want to say. terry is up next from kentucky, line for democrats. yes, i got hurt when i

was at work. it was back in 1990. lawyer and made a deal with the company and the lawyer got the money and i did not get nothing. i have been going to the doctor every month since 1990. surgeries.four back i have had a hip replacement and i had a leg taken out. host: we appreciate your story but we want to get to some of the folks talking about their top domestic policy priorities in 2016. mike is from alexandria, virginia, line for democrats.

outragedhank you, i am that the [indiscernible] is so high on this country we're spending so much on entertainment. star wars and hunger games -- there is a game out called assassins which is ages eight and up. it features a black suited guy who has a choice of store -- of sores and daggers and machine guns. host: is this something that lawmakers can do something about? is this more of a societal issue? if we are going to spend so much money in law enforcement and correctional things, when the entertainment industry --

apparently, when you took on the tv, any minute of the day, there is gun fighting. i get the idea that perhaps the nra has free reign to promote its message that guns are fun and it's ok to kill people. we can examine as a society with going on. we are miss educating. when we cannot teach people because in our schools you are limited in the scope. see hope for reversing this murder rate. again, there is a seen on tv like macgyver when there is a shoot out in a restaurant or wild gunfire left and right

, the texast day massacre took place in a restaurant. again, its imitations of what they see on tv. host: middletown, new york, line for independents. good morning. caller: hi, and happy new year to the world. i would like to say that i am wondering why regular society is getting long with everybody and then you have the powers that be is just brainwashing these guys to pull the trigger on everybody. i don't understand the reason why. it's the money thing that is going on. guys behindy that the trigger, please don't be brainwashed. i would love to have my kids

grow up and have smiles on their faces. i am 55 years old. i have watched ago from one transaction to the other and see that more and more, it's about give me give me give me and i don't understand the reason why these people are getting brainwashed to go out and kill. that's basically what's happening. they are brainwashed to kill. baton rouge, louisiana, line for independents, go ahead. caller: yes, my main priority is for law and order to come back to america. it seems like the inmates are running the asylum. likehese anarchist groups lack lives matter and so forth. we need to bring law and order back to the country. i don't care if it takes tanks

in the streets or what, we need law and order. we will try to get in henderson, nevada, go ahead. caller: this is floyd. i was just focusing on the president. they have to realize that eight in,s ago when he walked and wentor bin laden to saudi arabia. did the best job he could do, focusing on the obvious problems. a lot of things were cut back from republicans not signing stuff. want -- everybody should just pick the person -- best

person. that is my comment. is floyd from henderson, nevada. our last caller from the washington journal. up next, we will be taking your calls for the next hour and a half on your top foreign-policy priorities for 2016. you can start calling now. the numbers are on your screen. we would take your calls after a quick break. ♪ on q&a,sunday night michael ramirez on his career and satirical cartoon.

both of these figures are utilizing a false religion for political purpose. again, proves that once i am an equal opportunity defendant. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific. >> this holiday weekend, but tv brings you today's of nonfiction books and authors. 7:00 -- ranning at for new york city mayor in 1965. 11:00 p.m., wednesday discusses his book for the wedding of world war ii. >> one of the first questions i am usually ask, why did you choose these three will -- three men from the second world war? aey embodied, i believe

characteristic of courage, character, and judaism. 8:00 -- theght at rise of hitler and fdr. , thea discusses her book corporate capture of american life. >> that there is a reason i've chosen the chamber of commerce as a subject for my book. the single organization sums up the story of how we got here to this place. >> this holiday weekend, watch booktv on c-span2. >> here are some of the featured programs this new year's weekend. on c-span3, saturday evening at 6:00, author and historian jane -- james compares the

assassination of abraham lincoln and john f. kennedy, highlighting the similarities and differences between both tragedies. -- as00, the 1965 assistant labor secretary offered a report on the causes of black poverty in the united states. >> i believe what president johnson said in his harvard university speech. you cannot keep a man in chains and take the chains off of him. they have the best people at the beginning the opportunity to compete with effective results. i believe that we should make a special effort. 9:30, a visitt at to pershing park in washington dc to hear about a proposed design for a new world war i memorial for its -- upcoming oneworld one -- anniversary. for more, go to www.c-span.org.

>> "washington journal," continues. host: in our last hour and a half of the washington journal, on thegetting your talk top form priorities for 2016. democrats, call 202-748-8000, andblicans 202-748-8001 independence 202-748-8002. today," the world is on new year's eve alert. 6000 cops control new york city, brussels, paris snuff their fireworks. ofw york times," has a story systemic faults in the terrorist attacks. from the "houston

-- haunted by fears of terrorism. host: that is the front page of we wantston chronicle." to get your calls on the top foreign-policy priorities for 2016. first, i want to bring on paul stare with the council of foreign relations and serves as a director for the center of preventive action. he worked with a paper that is called the crisis managers cheat sheet. it is a preventive priorities survey. paul, thanks for joining us. explain what the preventive priorities survey is. guest: good morning to you and happy new year. all 1000 american

policy experts and we asked them to assess 30 potential crises or conflicts that could occur in the next 12 months. --asked them to access their assess the likelihood and national interest. on the basis of those results, we ranked them in terms of the urgency or priority as foreign policy goes to prevent for the minute -- administration. we do this every year, we've been doing it for eight years. it gives a snapshot for the principal concerns of most foreign-policy experts in the united states. host: you write these and different tiers of concern. how do you expect them to be used by crisis managers? blindsidedre often

by them. things come out of left field. we ask ourselves why didn't we see this coming? the problem is, we do not do a good job trying to anticipate new crises. this exercise is designed to synthesize foreign-policy makers to try to look ahead and over the horizon. not every potential crisis is equally important, try to focus do usion on those that do harm. host: let's get to the actual potential crises that the world could face in 2016. what made it into the top tier of concern? guest: currently in the middle ,ast with the latest headlines dominating most of the concern

for the foreign-policy experts. are the topngencies tier of those. those considered likely -- all our middle east related. belowf those in the tier are in the middle east. it is not what is going on, it is the spillover affect. syria is clearly the most dominant. it is the only one in the survey that was considered both highly likely to intensify in coming year, and also extremely high consequences to the u.s. national interest. host: you talked about a top concern for the instability of a eu country due to an influx of refugees. is that something that is new in the top tier of this year? guest: absolutely, yes. even of the survey was on the ,ay of the paris attacks

clearly people were already concerned about the self -- spillover effects. the migrant crisis over the summer, and i think a lot of experts worried about how this might cause some unrest where in terrorist incidents europe or elsewhere. that was certainly a new concern this year. host: other concerns that made it, the mass casual attack on the u.s. homeland. the highly disrupted cyber attack on u.s. critical structure. in north korea kospi nuclear or ballistic missiles. you can read more on the council of foreign relations website if you want to go through the preventive priorities survey. what made it into the second tier? guest: some of the usual ones. , aistan is always there potential for instability. a spillover from syria into

lebanon. ukraine is there. that was actually a much higher priority last year. clashes inotential the south china sea with china, that was an interesting development. in previous years, that had a much higher priority. this year, experts judged it to be a lower likelihood. down ine, it slipped terms of the tier ranking. i think that this reflected the dominance of attention and concern over the middle east which captured everybody's pushed thethen issues in asia to a lower ranking. host: before i let you go, let's talk about the third year -- third year contingency just as a

low priority. -- judged as a low priority. guest: this is always controversial because people believe those contingencies are hurting. they are mainly humanitarian issues. not all of them. an interesting one that came of this year, potential instability in saudi arabia. that was new this year. as always concern over india and pakistan. -- there is always concern over india and pakistan. people underestimated the likelihood of that happening. nigeria was interesting, in previous years, boko haram, the terrorist group got a lot of attention. tier three down to ite which was interesting. the intervention in syria. that was interesting.

you have the other countries like central africa and the republic, south sudan over instability in nyanmar. concern about myanmar. venezuela, oil prices. people are concerned that that might lead to internal instability. those are probably the highlights of the tier three concerns for next year. host: it is called the preventive priorities survey, sometimes called as the cheat sheets. you can check out their website at cfr.org. thanks for writing to the list with us mr. stare. guest: thank you and happy new year.

host: thank you. we are talking with our viewers with your top foreign-policy priorities. what are your concerns for the new year? don from maryland. caller: i think we need to start promoting peace and stop funding all of these illegal wars around the country. i think we are creating more enemies than what we need to have. we should be taking all of these billions and trillions of dollars that is going around the medicine andviding .nfrastructure instead of creating all of these wars and making these folks unhappy. host: is there a leader that is currently running for president

of the united states that you think would help solve that problem? i might have a tendency to go with mr. sanders. he seems like -- he is more of a domestic candidate, but i think once we get our country in order, i think we could start and stabilitye around the world. if you think about it, week -- we are creating all of these wars. these folks fling their countries, trying to go to different countries, that is causing a lot of chaos right there. we could just get these countries back to where they are

governable and where people can stay in their own country and still have peace. instead of having to going to different countries. that would create a lot of stability. is up next from philadelphia, pennsylvania on a line for democrats. caller: good morning. i think one of the most important thing is to get bernie sanders elected to take care of order. he is a sensible man who is a who could do something to gain some of this craziness going on around the world. i've been trying since early this morning to get in and i finally got in. veteran,rminally ill and not being treated right by the va. i think that is another

priority. i know that is not the subject of this, but it is important to take care of veterans. host: frank, thanks for continuing to try to get in. ralph is up next from alabama on a line for republicans. good morning. caller: yes sir. i think one of our big problems is, i will work force. when we gave all of our jobs ,way, during the last election -- a lot of people do not wasrstand that bill clinton a king of outsourcing. later down the road from sam walls, he did the free trade deal in china and mexico. walmart profited more from that than any other company for the united states. we need somebody that will have smart people to work deals out in other countries, like donald

trump says. we need somebody that can send somebody to deal with those people. they call it free trade, but yet we have problems because they do not give us free trade, but we give them free trade. they are allowed to unload their steel and our country. people say it makes things cheaper for us, it does, but if you do not have a job, i do not care how cheap they are. now, the chambers of commerce is putting all of these people with foreign visas, it obama is going to ok thousands of more people into executive orders. that is not just democrats. cruz is wanting to let a bunch of them in to silicon valley. we have college people they cannot find job. they make out like it is because we do not have the people. it is not because we don't have people, it's because the foreigners worked so much cheaper.

our leaders are supposed to take care of the people that elect them. host: that is ralph from valley, pennsylvania. some comments on twitter as well in this segment. richard writes, top foreign-policy priority of 2016, mark.question -- we need to pass a law that unless congress declares war, no american can leave our shores with a weapon. let someone else be the cop. top 2016 foreign-policy issues, syrian unrest. migration of increased attacks cyber in balance on u.s., effective national leadership. we want to hear your thoughts for the next hour and 10 minutes of our program. joe and is up next from florida on the line for republicans.

caller: good morning. as far as foreign policy, i feel that, first of all, we need to get donald trump in office. we need to get the politicians out. they have created all of our problems. obama is the worst president we have had. as far as i'm concerned, we need to vote for donald trump. he is the man who will get this country back in shape, he will find jobs for the unemployed, he will help the veterans, he would do everything he says because he is not a politician. politicians have destroyed this country. we need to take back our country. we need to vote for donald trump. he will do it. host: next from virginia on a yusef.r democrats, caller: good morning.

my top foreign-policy would be -- [indiscernible] my question is, what do we get in return? i have never had -- [indiscernible] is, women are close to becoming the president. they are trying to get the women in the united states -- , waiting's go to carl idaho this morning on the line for independents. caller: good morning.

over, i heardwas people say that the united states could have one in vietnam if they had turned to military use. if we turn the military loose in iraq and instead of making it a political war, i think the war with isis would be over in a year if we would just turn the military loose. host: what does that mean? boots on the ground and send 100,000 troops? caller: whatever it takes. if they turn the military loose and whatever they wanted to do and go after them, i think this war against isis would be over. somebody else mentioned earlier, if you put a contract out on the crisis, the leaders of they might be killed by some of their own men. that is all i have to say.

for: let's head to indiana brian is waiting on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. guy, andndependent i think that for the most part, ,f we had people in our country we would not want them here. kick them out to get them out of here. left there, they were not have anybody to fight. they could get rid of each other by just nailing each other with whatever they got. as far as isis goes, i think they just want control over the oil fields. that could -- they have to have a better

strategy about dealing with them. think that it is a civil war and the need to get rid of assad. the only reason they will be able to do that, is by getting them out of there. host: that was brian from indiana. speaking of isis and concerns about isis attacking the united states, c-span was joined by the director of the national counterterrorism center, gillis -- nicolas. he was our newsmakers guest this week. he described what the intelligence community has learned from paris, san bernardino, antiterrorism challenges facing europe. here is a little bit from that segment that will air tomorrow morning. [video clip] >> i guess it was a lesson learned, that we cannot learn from what direction the threats

that might come up next. >> if you like you can rely on your partners on your to put the visa waiver program and that they are one step away from united states. they have plots right under their nose from belgium and france. are they doing enough to combat this? >> our european partners are clearly confronting something in their society on a scale that is far different than anything we are saying in the united states. over time, i think they're going to have to make their own judgments about whether they have the right array of legal allority, resources, money, of the things necessary to carry out effective counterterrorism operations inside their own country. is a bity that there of positive news over the last few years as we have that with the conflict in syria and iraq. cooperationevel of

and engagement with our european partners. the sharing of information about individuals who may be traveling to the conflict zone in iraq and syria. the sharing of information about travelers any potential threats that our citizens and their citizens may pose to each of us. time, your question has it exactly right. a set of brought questions about whether the europeans as a group, or the individual countries, apostate well enough to deal with the kind of starts they are going to face. this is not something that is going away soon. you can expect our european partners engaged. host: see that entire interview sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on c-span.

you can also hear it on c-span radio and newsmakers is available online at www.c-span.org. for the next hour, we are taking your thoughts on your top foreign-policy priority for 2016. that is how we are ending our program on new year's day. martin is waiting on the line for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. host: thanks for waiting. go ahead. nation needsnk our to start considering what our forefathers went by, and that was the bible. you take care of business and put god back in front. all of these nations fighting in syria and iran, all of this will and to a head eventually against israel.

if we should fight anybody, it should be israel. as far as domestic policies that you were talking about earlier, -- host: we are sticking to form pilot -- form policy priorities. go to brent -- pam. caller: good morning to you. everybody, happy new year. i just had a couple of comments about anybody. the gentleman that said they should put a bounty on the leaders of isis, there is already a bounty. people do not know the facts. there are bounties for those people. when you are trillion dollars in debt, you do not have the money to put troops into another country. we have gone to other countries and load up their government. there will be even more radical people going into power.

at some point, we have to get a clue that this kind of idea to just go in there and blow a bunch of people up and put a federal government in place and has not worked out. the other thing is, if you want to have a politician not strong that goes around saying terrible things, he will be hated even more by these very people. it will play into their agenda. putting someone like trump into office is basically creating world war iii. that is what you want to do. if youend of the day, are that committed to going to end of the some crazy idea that you can install a stable government, you should be --ling to put your kid should beour -- willing to increase your taxes to pay for that.

if you are not prepared to do those things, all of this talk about how you want to go there and take care of isis, that is a that they are not willing to put yourself on the line to do that. right now, veterans coming back from iraq and afghanistan with a va system that is underfunded because of the republicans. they are not getting the service and treatment they are entitled to. your point is to bring more of those people go back and have the same system where people are committing suicide every day. that is outrageous. -- the are going to go to syria and iraq, these are people that have no credibility whatsoever, because they were not put their money on themselves, or their kids for that. a new year means a slate of new laws going into effect and states around the country. if you stories on that, this

from the "washington times." hawaii will raise its smoking age to 21 for electronic cigarettes and traditional cigarettes. host: the jacksonville, florida times. has a story about several been -- different laws going into effect. texas, the second-most populous state -- host: meanwhile, california has multiple new laws on gun control.

host: if you other topic the story goes on his minimum wage. some of the wage increases are coming onto -- fast food workers in new york state will receive the first pay bump -- host: that story is from the florida times union with several other topics from employment issues, to public health and voting issues with new laws going into effect today. out of powder springs, georgia on the line from independence, al. caller: you had a couple of

callers talking about the lies and deception going on in this country. people the biggest thing need to do, get informed, turn off their mainstream media, it is propaganda on the government. these people have been lying to us for years. this whole thing with isis is another lie. when general clark said that they had to up plans to go into five middle eastern and african countries back in 2003 before we ever went into iraq. when obama pulled us out of iraq , he destabilized egypt, syria, and libya for no reason at all. these people are lying to us. isis is the creation of the u.s. government. they are funding them.

they are training them. turkey is allowing these people to fill -- drill oil through turkey. host: when you say people need to get away from mainstream media, where do you go to get this information? caller: you can get it on the internet and listen to people robinson and a formal official under ronald reagan. these are investigative reporters. they are telling us what we need to know. host: go ahead allen. i think we lost them. we will continue to take your thoughts on the top foreign-policy priorities for 2016. al was just talking about the middle east. of course, the iran and the

nuclear deal continues to be a topic. congress braces for round two of the iranian fight. we are joined by that reporter of that, jordain carney. you are seeing congress a wide range of -- reviewm targeting the iran sanctions act. host: when are these expected to happen? soon will how congress gets back in session? guest: some are suggesting bacon go as -- suggesting they can go as early as january. iran and international officials

have suggested -- act: what would that specifically do? guest: it would extend for 10 years, the iran sanctions act, which was originally in 1996. it will expire at the end of 2015. it includes a broad range of sanctions. host: what is the obama administration saying about how in congress any possible vote on this, how will that impact the terms of the current deal that has already been negotiated? guest: the administration has been very careful. they suggested earlier this year , that they had other tools to section iran if they violate the deal in the future. obama's lead coordinator was

asked by senators last month, if we bring you this sanction, will iran view it as a violation of the deal. the administration suggested that it is unclear. propagateertainly those because of the dynamic surrounding the iran nuclear deal. host: another story this week dain, block obama from lifting iran sanctions. if they do get a vote on that, they need at least a handful of democratic votes to allow that legislation to move forward in the senate. who are the most likely democrats to join republicans in this effort to put the sanctions on iran? guest: that have a question not only -- you obviously have a for democrats that opposed the deal, senator cardin and senator

schumer, they could be likely candidates to support legislation on cracking down on iran. the iran sanctions act, that seems to be a legislation that already has bipartisan support. senator peers that supported the iran nuclear deal and also suggested that they would support extending that law. thinks it could get the 67 votes to override a veto. it will be an interesting battle to watch. host: how much are you expecting this debate to bleed over into the presidential debate primaries and eventually, the general election? guest: senator cruz and senator rubio are sponsors of the iran sanctions act. since rubio was on the foreign relations committee. i think it will be unavoidable that will cross over from the senate into the presidential ballot. especially since those two are

very outspoken. is a jordain carney andfer at the "the hill," we appreciate your time on the washington journal. guest: thanks for having me on. host: we have about 15 minutes left. we want to give your -- good morning, and happy new year, and god bless. my first thing is, we seem to be acting like we have never been here before. going back to what i know, world war ii, my mother was in a concentration camp. nine, and ended up in a unncentration camp -- a n

the end up in a concentration camp. we have people tell us that it was not a danger, but when the time came and we were attacked, this nation came together. people volunteered. no one was happier than my mother, and the people there when we showed up, but we showed up with a real coalition of people. not some fantasy. we need a person in this country who has been there, who remembers, and who understands what war really is. i also have a marine that has a silver and bronze star that has , and he isburnt going back. he volunteered. the first thing we need to do, is find someone that understands

history, the understand the ramifications, and someone that stops dividing us. politically,ided religiously, ethnically. i am wondering if maybe we need to start here at home, and remember history, not revisionist history. my government does not give me my freedom, my security, and my rights. they come from god. fellowsaid that, even my people that identify themselves as christians, do not understand how the government works. never judgeuld another person, but if we all start looking for leaders that have been there, that have the , and have people that

will come with them that have been there. -- united nations is foreign policy, i've not seen anything like it in my time. mel waiting on a line for democrats, good morning. caller: i think that most people that have been calling in are missing a very important point. this president, president obama, indeed has a good, long-term strategic policy. as far as all of the fear about understandsesident a counterinsurgency war. the military is adapting to that. fears aside some of the that many americans have, i understand what the president is really doing. units counterinsurgency

are at this point, not only containing, but devastating isis. you can listen to the politicians running for the presidency now, and you would get the impression that we are being overrun. that is nonsense. if congress supported the president, and we showed strength within, our coalition would be so much stronger in other countries. riles me up when the politicians who know nothing about the military, talk about sending our young men and women war thate to fight a is obsolete. host: recently, the president about his isis strategy and responded to critics of his strategy. here is a bit from that interview. [video clip] >> who is it that you are going

to bomb? where is it that you are going to bomb? when you talk about something like corporate bombing, what do you mean? we carry out precision strikes based on intelligence of where isil is, whether infrastructure is and their oil tankers. it's a suggestion is, that we kill tens or hundreds or thousands of innocent citizens and iraqis, that is not who we are and i will be a strategy that would have enormous backlash against the united states. it would be terrible for our national security. unfortunately, many of these critics can get away with suggesting that bombing more, or being less discriminate on how we approach that, would make a difference. let me put it this way, i trust my commanders, folks who have

fought long and hard in places like iraq or afghanistan. when they describe to me, hear are going to we gather intelligence and approach targeting, we have been at this for a long time. , places likeiraq where we havemen gone after terrorist targets, the key is to make sure we have sound intelligence. i make no apologies for us wanting to do this appropriately and in a way that is consistent with american values. host: one of the president's critics on his isis strategy and one of his previous presidential campaign, senator john mccain, republican of arizona. here is a little bit of john mccain on the floor of the senate talking about obama's

isis strategy. [video clip] on 2015 andok back realize we were present at the unraveling. at the beginning of this year, president obama was still committed to ultimately destroying isil. pose a threat in the middle east, including the united states. in 2015, that is exactly what happened in paris and san bernardino, and it will not be the last. i promise my colleagues under this administration, with the present policy and microstrategy, there will be other attacks on united states of america. i regret deeply having to say that, but i own my constituents and americans that i know and respect, to tell them the truth.

more than one year in the campaign against isil, it is impossible to assert that isil is losing and we are winning. stalemate is not success. we asked witnesses before the armed services committee and if isis is contained, it is not. isis is not contained, contrary bizarrely madet by the president of united states, literally hours before the attack on san bernardino. host: 45 minutes left on today's washington journal. we want to hear about your top foreign-policy priorities for 2016 as you look ahead for the new year and presidential debate. the legislative battles that congress -- john on the line for republicans, good morning. caller: happy new year to everybody in america and c-span.

recently my voters registration to republican, i have been a democrat all of my life. i am impressed i donald trump's foreign-policy. war with aver win a lawyer leading the charge. why do you think russia went in there and bond 3000 isis affiliated targets right away and took control of syria? because the united states refused to do it. couldw where he is, we drone him today, but he is hiding in a building with women and children and things of that nature. so we were not kill outback --d an intercontinental ballistic missile. this is about two or three weeks ago. , iran canit new york

hit the capital right now with a bomb right where you are sitting , you are vulnerable to a missile. is the next president going to nukeilling to preemptively a rogue nation like iran? e the head of crisis? would he be willing to queue -- kill a few women and children because isis is hiding among them to keep america safe? we will never have -- you see how a lawyer has run this country. he is more concerned about hurting people's feelings. he is more concerned about what our images in the world.

we need an image of strength. we need our enemies to fear us. host: john, on that issue of iran testing missiles, several stories on today's topics on those papers. host: several stories on that and expecting more stories on the days to come.

froms up next on the line independence. caller: good morning, and happy new year. one of your colors on the independent line mentioned that the government had drawn up war plans to invade five countries. he was off, it was seven countries. it was iran, iraq, afghanistan, syria, lebanon, libya and somalia. we have done a pretty good job with that. these --ar about what are i will values? if we do not agree with you, we will bomb you? that is not what i agree on. up next from these chicago on the line for democrats aired what is your top foreign-policy priority? caller: good morning and happy new year. i think we need to rethink our policy concerning israel, or

occupied palestinian. palestine was invaded by s, andced european jew since then palestine has been trying to get the country back. that has been the central cause of the crisis in the middle east . i feel that we need to consider the plight of palestinians and and our support for israel who are persecuting these people needlessly. was the -- amendment back in the 1950's that said any country that we are supplying cannot possess nuclear weapons. our congress has avoided that issue for decades. we know they have nuclear weapons. we send in our financial, military trade with them to

force them to allow the palestinians to return to their land and we can help them negotiate a peaceful agreement after that. right now, the israeli government has no intention of making peace with the palestinians. no two there will be state solution. which means they have no intention to have these. -- peace. i think we should stop supporting israel. host: alan for me chicago, illinois. a caller on the line from republicans. caller: happy new year to everyone. i have been a republican all of my life, and one time i stopped and listened and i want a republican to stop and listen to bernie sanders one time. he has found the reason for all

of our problems. he has said that there are good muslims and that muslims. this is their war. the good muslims should be the ones that are fighting the bad muslims, not the united states, not france, not england, not the rest of the world. , and a muslim problem bernie sanders has put his finger right on it. please republicans, stop and listen to bernie sanders. thank you very much. in fairfax,ian is virginia on the line for independents. what are your foreign-policy priorities for 2016? caller: good morning. i think one of the biggest issues we are having -- hearing, we have a lot of solutions, but i'm looking at the loopholes with the problems we are having. askve never heard someone why the middle east and -- hate us so much?

22 talk about the things we are doing in the middle east that is causing these rebels to attack us. we think we are going to have a commander in chief mike donald trump commanding our troops. today it is isis, tomorrow it will be and if -- different group. we will have more problems than solutions. host: it is new year's day, 2016. here are some more headlines and front pages from newspapers around this country. this is the monterey herald. violence, policies newsmakers is the lead story. the top stories in 2015 are below that. a festive new year, talking about the new year's celebrations in monterey. the front page of the bakersfield cap -- californian. the headline is happy new year, more than a million --

the front page of the "oakland celebration,lobal talking about the new year's celebration from around the world. we are talking about global concerns around the world for 2016. from new york, new york on the line for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a few priorities. first of all, one thing i think is very important, a we shuffling of a foreign-policy advisory staff in the white house. i think we need a new secretary of state, and international security advisory, a complete our foreign-policy because it is not working with isis. host: you have any ideas for the would want as secretary of state and security advisory? caller: i love colin powell, but

that when i work with a democratic president. i think he is marvelous, he is bipartisan. reshufflingto be a because the foreign-policy is not working because it is too bipartisan. we need everybody to get on the same page in deal with these issues. , athermore, on israel follow-up to the previous caller, i do not think that the administration's policy on israel is well-suited. there is much too much bad vibes between president obama and the prime minister. you have to stop the bickering between the two tremendous allies, united states and israel. i also do not believe that the -- nornian-israeli issue do we need to work on the previous callers as the previous

-- i think we need better direction on how we reset and read correct what is going on in the middle east, which is a deteriorating situation throughout the region. with russia coming into play, i'm very worried about the future development in the middle east. russia might want to expand to the middle east. it will not be a status quo situation. we need to have bipartisanship, leadership in the administration , we need to have the president working with congress, instead of this aimless shifting of policy which does nothing to be going anywhere. of course, we need to deal with isis. we need to wipe out isis, but in order to do that, you have to have strong administration, strong advisers in the ministrations, working with congress on a bipartisan based

is. , --: before you go what do you think about that strategy? caller: i am absolutely opposed to that do -- there is no negotiation with terrorists groups. it is clear with paris and san bernardino and all of the things occurred. paris will not negotiate. although want to do is destroy us. but that is the case, we have to have a very vigilant policy to eradicate them. in order to do that, we need a coalition, but we also need to be organized and unified. .e are not unified organized also, our allies in europe. we need to be able to have a noar policy, which is settling for negotiation or dealing with terrorists. there is no reason for that.

candid, havevery to say, excuse me, i do not care about the root causes dozen people are going into a christmas party in california, and killing innocent guest: there is no time to figure that out. right now, we have to be safe. that is the number one priority. host: that is marking new york, new york. mooresville, pennsylvania. about a half hour left. want to get to more of your top foreign priorities as much as possible. the morning. -- good morning. caller: i am thinking about how we should attack isis more and more. these people are neglecting to remember that there are brothers , sisters, mothers, fathers

inside of those boots that are death.o die a needless we need to get out of there. it is a civil war. we shouldn't be over there. vacuum wereated by a created from the bush that wasation, a war senseless. that is really i have to say. thank you very much. happy new year. host: a few you more headlines looking back on the year that was in 2015. this only "washington post. cohen yearstocks had their worst since 2008. 500 stocks index fell and mark the first year of losses since 2008. the tech heavy nasdaq composite and also in terms of

economic look back from last year, "new york times" from the business section, auto sales explode, but the detroit brand no longer dominates. along with that story, a few ,harts that show the recovery but changed auto industry. domestic sales could be the record of $17.4 million in 2000. detroit's market share has talked to less than half from two thirds. you can look at the back three, chrysler, ford, and general motors in 2014. this was their market share compared back to 2000. the story also noting the recent gains in employment have not been distributed to past patterns of the auto industry. the long time car producing states weighted down from their peaks, while some states south have seen modest gains in employment. -- just a feware

stories looking back on the economics of 2015. back to the phones. sheila is integral to, georgia, line for independents. good morning. you are on "washington journal." good morning. i hope this year is going to be a better year. ready want to see it get better, sheila? -- where do you want to see it get better, sheila? quit being mean to one another, you know? just quit being me to one another. -- netanyahu is a terrorist.

ayatollah is a terrorist. sold -- is isis -- you can't go over there and carpet bombed them. host: bill is up in reading, pennsylvania. good morning. caller: happy new year, john! hope you have a nice new year for the next year because this year was terrible. my whole thing is that isis is one thing. way youwo who, the only are going to settle that problem is if you give me 30 planes for six days, 24 hours a day, with my generals, not congress. i will finish the whole job. i just need 30 planes for six days.

we will bomb them up, finish them up. you don't give them a hot dog and a hamburger. you clean them out and save your life. that is the way you do it. that is the best way to do it. either you are a man are you are a mouse. period. have a nice new year. host: bill, do you think it matters if congress declares war on isis if there is a new authorization of military force that the president is requesting? honest, i remember 30 years from now, congress is going to be a bunch of s issies. they are not working together. they are playing games with people's lives. they have no respect for nobody except themselves. that is why you have to get rid -- all thism limits

lobbying and craziness we have. maybe we can start doing the right thing. look at what happened in greece. my cousin called me the other day. over therea yo-yo and destroying the whole country. we have to have someone to have the guts and say, this is the way it is, i will blow your head opted you don't -- head if you don't shape up. host: john, good morning. caller: good morning. happy new year to you brother. host: sing to you. the lady from florida and the gentleman from pennsylvania are so articulates. god bless those folks. the one thing i want to ask, rahybody that is rah, rah, with the guns, let them pony up their grandchild with the big

mouths. two, the world needs to develop a drug to combat islamist.hat i posed and ago, that to you, and those fight for it, the protected will never know it. you asked me if that meant i was more patriotic. i got a question for you. who writesk a fellow for his free them has more skin in the game? america -- god bless america. the show is about the colors and you and your thoughts. want to stay focused on you this morning. good morning.

i was calling to say, that i think this fighting for islam, mohammed, god, ok? the creator is not going to share his glory with islam. thank you. host: tim is up next in virginia. my for democrats. tim, as you look ahead, what is your top foreign-policy priorities? caller: thanks for taking my call, c-span. it is very informative. this is so simple. we hear a lot about donald trump we need to put our military on these borders and take care of our country. but the army, marines, national guard, and guard our country. there won't be anybody coming into this country. the only reason donald trump

wants to be friends with clinton is make more millions of dollars tin is to make more millions of dollars. thank you for taking my call. host: that is 10 in abington, virginia. border security and issue on the campaign trail. having talked about it. ted cruz released a new ad about border security. borders is aur matter of national security. that is why i fought so hard to defeat president obama and the amnesty plan. it would have given obama the authority to admit syrian refugees, including isis terrorists. that is just wrong. when it comes to radicalism, we need to rediscover reagan's

strategy. we went out, they lose. i'm ted cruz, and i approve this message. host: a recent ted cruz campaign ad, border security certainly an issue that is a hot topic in the election. for about the next 20 minutes, want to hear what your top foreign-policy priorities will be in the coming year as you look ahead on this generally first, 2016. sharon is in oregon, line for republicans. good morning. toler: yes, i would like thank you again c-span. i watch you each morning. to letngs that you do people come forward with their comments is excellent. we do need to always be factual. a caller just said netanyahu is a terrorist. probably one of our best allies is israel and netanyahu is not a

terrorist. he is a good person. totally with the military. we need to keep our borders secure. foremost, -- first and foremost necessity of the president of the united states is to keep america secure and to protect the citizens of this country, and thank you for taking my call, c-span. continue the good work. host: thanks, sharon. del is up next. lcaller: happy new year, everybody. i am a former history teacher. i found that obama has done half of the executive order since hoover. i hope he takes executive action as far as he can. he should do it by executive

order. they are violating the constitution of the united states. thank you very much. host: we're talking about foreign-policy priorities for about the next 15 minutes or so. taking your calls. the numbers again, democrats, republicans, 202-748-8001, independents 202-748-8002. here is someone from the other end of the spectrum and congress in terms of the amount of power and security. this is freshman congressman rob from iowa. of the cedarrview valley carrier talking about his first year in congress.

he summed his first year in congress. why got back in august, he told the paper, i said, you know, if this were a company, i would have quit back in august because it is so top-down run. his laundry list within a year includes tax reform, welfare reform, corporate taxes, and an alternative for the health care law, and securing the borders. he said congress should try. be bold and have some political courage. that is congressman rob bloom. let's go to cori in las vegas, nevada, life are independent independents. caller: make a good year happen.

the lady from oregon and the other person who is also from the same set talking about israel. israel is a terrorist occupation of palestine. i have from palestine, jerusalem. product of british zionists and russians. the russians are the ones that wanted israel to be created in palestine. and then -- host: corey, let's focus on you and u.s. policy in what you want united states -- you have to recognize, israel is our enemy and not our friend. people can't understand that. they murdered a lot of people. host: we will move onto to lupin highland park, illinois. by for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. i think the colors are

forgetting -- colors are forgetting one thing. weapon is thet computer. this is what people are forgetting. this is not just a war on the middle east, this is a war all over the world. it is beyond me to figure out messagesmbat all these and the media that they are sending all over the world. peoplecomment, is when lambaste israel. think of israel as following in the footsteps of america as far as what america's -- america did to the american indians. it is very common for countries to take it vantage of others and there are no quick, easy solutions. the people who want to destroy israel, or not give money to

israel, they should line up and give their homes back to the american indians because american indians lifted this country for 30,000 years before white maintain. that is my comment. host: frank is up next in illinois. life for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. i think one of the problems needed to be addressed in 2016 is the current price of oil. dropped from $120 a barrel to the low 30's. russia is rattling their sabers because the rubrics have dropped against the united states dollar. this is all of the world. our oil companies are getting destroyed in this country. i suggest people start looking at what is happening up and down -- when you look at the stock market, some of the major companies, marathon oil, its destroyed. the totalxxon --

outside world knows what's happening. russia is being squeezed and over theshowing all place, getting nasty, and it is all because of the value of the rubric and the squeeze that is been put on their economy. as we head into the first weekend of 2016, note our c-span city tour travels to open, california, and we will be explained the history and literary scene of that city this be get on book tv and american history tv. here is the mayor of oakland talking about the city's economy in the tech industry today. open has always been the city of the universe. it is really the hub of the san francisco bay area. we write across the bridge from san francisco and really, we make up a triangle of san francisco, oakland, and san

jose, the three major cities of the bay area. we are attracting businesses. we have a very long economic space here. one, because, we are the center of the transit hub here in oakland. the are so well served as a regional part system as well as all of the freeways. we are also a talent magnets. millennials love living in the city and open is one of the most vibrant, exciting, creative, innovative city anyone can come to. companies are realizing that they have to follow the talent. i believe part of "future is around techquity. it is the idea that the tech center and tech boom can be a driving force for equity. we want to make sure that in oakland, this new prosperity up ratherelps us lift than push out our a long-term residents, vulnerable residents,

and that special opened those and soul. cial ethos and soul. and for our youth to prepare to be the beneficiaries of these types of businesses. can watch our c-span cities toward an open, california all this we can on american history tv of c-span3, book tv, and c-span2. 10 minutes left in today's program on this first day of 2016. we are in the hour show by asking about your top foreign-policy priorities for the new year. ted in brandon, florida, life for democrats. thank you for waiting, ted. caller: think you for taking my call. i appreciate it. --hink the foreign thing

this country and the world is dragging the middle east to a lot of people are fighting that. that is the reason why were small -- we are amounting foreign affairs. people are trying to get all the businesses and corporations of these countries, and a lot of people are fighting it. eventually, in another 50 years, this whole world will be a capitalist society, as well as other markets. host: cliff is up next. flint, michigan. you are up next. caller: good morning, thanks for c-span. a top priority is the united states building a real coalition of saudi troops, jordanian troops, egyptian troops, turkish troops to destroy isis on the ground and then for u.s. troops to participate and lead the

effort. we should leave as soon as they are destroyed every muslim troops there so they can create stability in the region that has not known any. american troops would only exacerbate the situation, but i believe if we lead the effort of a real ground force of troops and leave soon as it's over, and let them figure out what to do in syria and the other middle eastern countries where there is trouble, i believe we will be successful. host: cliff, when you say us leading the effort, does that include u.s. troops on the ground, or are we just -- caller: no, we should have an american general, just like we andwith general sports golf have other subordinate generals from these other countries.

we should be in the lead fighting because that would only help them create recruitment efforts. worldp generals in the know how to fight if they have the ground forces. needs to be muslim troops in countries like saudi arabia, , and iturkey, jordan know they can defeat isis. i am a former u.s. infantryman. they can sort out the rest because they are thatms and it is muslims rack -- iraq is is a muslim country. host: cliff, where did you serve

in the military? caller: i was in the first second division in korea. total about three years as an infantryman and then i went on to do bigger and better things in the united states military for 11 years. host: cliff, when you were deployed overseas, did you find that american troops were welcomed where you were? caller: yes the work. when i served in korea as a infantrymann, i served alongside my korean counterparts, and they were very welcoming to us. in fact, when there would be trouble on the militarized zone, we knew that the south korean army was there and they supported us 100%, and they were actually glad to have us there in case a real war broke out.

, but inorder scrimmages case of a real war, i know that the south korean army is one of the toughest, most highly trained militaries there is, and i would fight within any day. host: as you look ahead to 2016, any concern about that border between north and south korea and that becoming a shooting war, or are you saying that if it did come to that, that south korea would do just fine? caller: i believe the south korean army along with a reinforcement from united states , particularly with our air force, with us having the latest , we would be able to easily handle a ground war with north korea. but with nuclear weapons are introduced, you are talking a different ballgame altogether. quickly, for all the people that are -- there was a gentleman that said we should nuke this

and nuke that. what he has to understand is that radiation is not stagnant. if you drop it, the atmosphere will move it and it could be here. you don't want to do that. you want to avoid nuclear confrontational war at all cost. host: cliff, we want to point out that the possibility of a crisis in north korea caused by the nuclear ballistic missiles listed in that preventive priorities survey that we talked about at the beginning of the segment that preventative priority segment done by the council of foreign relations, the north korea apostle crisis listed in the top-tier of concerns among the survey of foreign-policy experts was conducted by the council of foreign relations. if you want to check out the preventative priority list it is at cfr.org. paul, radcliffe kentucky. line for republicans.

caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. thank you previous caller. i am retired military as well. -- i served with korea, so i know what he is talking about. my concern over the policies influence that is placed on the representatives from the oil industry. i know you had a previous caller expressing sympathy for the oil companies. likely, i think the oil companies have caused a lot of our problems overseas. we create some of this animosity for americans based on some of the industry that we project to the civilian counterparts.

these multinational corporations, quite honestly, i think many of our problems in the middle east an from the oil industry itself. i don't think many people argue that oil may be a factor with iraq and some of the things going on right now. it seems to me that every time the oil prices go down, is our putting pressure on us to get involved over there. what we have is a mess with isis and we have to go in and destroy them at all costs. that therep in mind is an influence there for us to stay involved, and like our what -- once it is solved. , we don't need to stay over there. for thousands of years, those people have fought and fought and i don't think he will be capable of doing those kinds of things. host: if you markets over the

course of the conversation. jodi says education is the only way to rid the world of the ignorant wars over whose ideology is better than whose. says i am surprised there is no mention of trade in this segment. that is the main priority for america according to thomas lewis. benjamin is up next, mclean, virginia. my for democrats. go ahead. withr: how we deal terrorism and particularly in the context of the palestinian -israeli conflict here to a few calls ago, a gentleman spoke about ignoring root causes and simply going after the terrorists. that is tragically shortsighted. of course we need to get to the terrorists. colorssome of your other have suggested. you also need to deal with the problems in a broader way. looking at how to eliminate the conditions that lead people to

commit acts of terrorism. situation into the the palestinian-israeli conflict. as long as israel continues its brutal occupation of several million palestinians, israel will not have security. onlyccupation hurts not the palestinians, but it also hurts the u.s., as well as israel. one of the things that has to be is if we don'tse adjust our policy on that conflict, we will continue to suffer for it. -- a solution to the conflict can be achieved with an internationalization of the efforts to deal with it, such as what was done in the negotiations with iran. we have a major world powers, all the permanent members of

security council, plus germany, united. until you can achieve something like that on middle east policy, the palestinians, israeli conflict will just continue to fester. host: that is benjamin. we have run out of time. our first program of the new year. we appreciate your calls today. if you have a great friday at a great 2016. friday you have a great and a great 2016. > ♪ tonight,pan