man republican congress feranthold of texas. and also he'll talk about the deporting over 11 million illegal immigrants. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. . sit ncicap.org] travels to ama capitol hill tonight to give his final state of the union ddress, some of the expected themes on what the administration is doing to combat the islamic state, the he will offer an optimistic contrast to the darker version of america being offered by republican presidents. says her speech won't speak directly to the resident and what she views as challenges the u.s. is facing and possible solutions. syrian refugeehe

be in the audience thanks to the invite of a democratic house member, at least one republican says he will sit next to a speech.t in tonight's tonight's coverage of state of the union starts at 8:00 on c-span. also ite you to watch and in the next 45 minutes, we want to get your thoughts on tonight's speech, what you expect to hear, what you want to hear, and also what you think the speech will say about the president's legacy. contact us.you can 2 202-748-8000, for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans and 202-748-8002 for independents. f you want to host on our social media outlets on twitter, facebook, or send us an e-mail on this topic at journal@c-span.org. one of the things emerging from tonight's speech is the audience size. washington times highlighting the last few years of the speeches by the president saying

his last address by the congress million rew 31.7 viewers, the lowest viewership since president clinton's final address in 2000 and has fallen 2009 when he drew 52.4 million television viewers and the political reporting adding that the white house has employed several means of social media strategy in order to get more audience saying they are west-wing inspired q&a session with more than 150 administration officials, providing a spech on genius, behind the scenes moments on instagram and snapchat, and ingrid nilsen , oozie. the president took to that site this week offering a preview of what to expect during tonight's speech and here it is. president obama: i want us to

be able to walk out this door and say we couldn't think of anything else that we didn't try to do, that we didn't shy away from a challenge because it was ard, that we weren't timid or got tired or somehow were thinking about the next thing, because there is no next thing. this is it. nd never in our lives again will we have a chance to do as much of it as we can right now and i want to make sure we maximize it. host: you can find that on snapchat, a preview of the state of the union speech. our coverage begins at 8:00. we want to get your thoughts on well.speech as the numbers one more time. 202-748-8000, for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans, 202-748-8002.nts, by the way, bill cling king off of twitter offers this, for

c-span "washington journal" unkies like us, you know who you are, he adds tonight is super ball night. rip-off of t's a "super bowl night." if you want to give comments, the phone lines are on your screen. we'll begin with eric in maryland. independent line. good morning. what do you think about tonight's speech as well as not only for the speech but obama's legacy. caller: yes. thank you very much. junkie and i pan ant to say thank you for all that you have done. i remember seven or eight years i was really, really into obama and i really thought he was a different kind of politician. i've seen him over the years change and i used to be a democrat and now i'm an independent, and i've been so s sappointed by the promise that he made and he didn't keep.

one thing about obama, he speaks well.well, very, very i don't just like speeches anymore. i think actions speak louder than words. about guantanamo, he says he close it, he opens. syria, he drew the red line, and he never enforced it. about immigration, he said that e cannot change the law by himself and needed legislative action. a detriment to obama legacy. hear from virginia in north carolina, independent line. hi, there. caller: hi, how are you doing. host: fine, thank you. go ahead. virginia, caller: were we talking about immigration? host: no, tonight's state of the union speech. what do you want to hear and what do you expect from it? the r: like i was telling

ady, i don't know much about political stuff, but some things, i feel like people eally need to respect each i think that, you know, democrats, ain't got a whole lot of things, they got here, they should try to share the wealth with the other people, that's forcing it. ,nd i feel like the whole world same place.g in the host: gotcha. florida, marcus, democratic line. hi, there. caller: this is marcus. host: go ahead. caller: let me tell you something. president obama is the greatest president that ever lived. that hasonly president

ever, ever been without a country. in this he has done this by himself, brought the economy back, trying together.ople he spent nights with republicans. they did nothing but beat him down and he still moved forward, and this country is in better osition than it was when bush left. host: with all that in mind, what do you want to hear from the president tonight? theer: i just want to hear president say that he want to the way ything going that it is, and he wants to pass the torch on to hillary clinton. host: again, the political story, i mentioned some of the social media things that he'll discuss. also, he says that the president justify owledge and concerns and impact of the global economy on middle class united here in the states as well as threats from isil. ultimately, josh says the resident has never been more confident in americans' ability to overcome those challenges and just as importantly capitalize on the opportunities that exist. we'll also push congress to move

bipartisan deal on justice reform and radify the trans-pacific partnership. irwin is on the line talking union.the state of the good morning. caller: good morning. i'd like to say that the literally in these last seven or so years, go up but took other party, a straight party line, just like the old-style communist. it's very difficult to feel that people have one point of view on most of the issues. pretty good done a job. i think tonight say lay out some improvement of medicare, of balmcare. -- because as to hile i generally go along with bernie sanders single payer, i don't see that in the future. medicare in be obamacare.

he has to lay out something. talk about it. they'll keep attacking him. foreign affairs, i think business, i he iran now many people are against it has 78 theless, iran million people. it's a country in the middle difficult to just bully our way around them. we can't. iranians,alt with the nd the way reagan wins the and in by a landslide, paris in 1980, they were able to hostages released. but i think also, i have to say think, what r they donald trump -- already, the british, let's make believe he president, the british will not allow them to enter britain. the mexicans will not allow him

to have anything to do with mexico. he will cause a major thing. when barack obama was around, he was called the wonder boy. the s loved throughout world. it's a man now on top of the republican party, donald trump, to g to make it difficult deal with countries throughout the world. host: that's irwin in florida. next, rudy in alexandria, virginia. republican line. rudy, you're up. go ahead. caller: my complaint with is the first a incident and he and then he had a eeting with republicans, and they said, you have to sit in the back of the bus. so that's it. okay.

bye. host: as far as state of the union, though, do you plan to watch tonight? caller: not really, if i can have my netflix, i'm not going to watch it. host: lancaster, south carolina. this is ken, independent line. hi, there. caller: yes. am i on? host: you're on. go ahead. caller: yes, the legacy, i history,e first time in it's more rich people and poor people in the middle class. hello? host: yeah, you're on. go ahead. caller: the first time in more rich ere's people than poor people in the class, and paying a living wage, more people on food ever. than obamacare is not going to last because it's getting too xpensive, and then you've got the deductibles so high, so from libya, look at that country.

and incident, his legacy, what's he hang his hat on? i mean, i don't see what the big deal is about his legacy. thank you. host: again, if you're just we're talking about tonight's state of the union and what you'd want to hear from the president's speech. think the speech might add to as far as the president's legacy is concerned. on ou want to get thoughts that, 202-748-8000 for 202-748-8001 for republicans, and for 202-748-8002. ou can post on social media at cspanwj. the white house and the house speaker has released the list of people who will be sitting for box for the y's white house and with the speaker in the audience as well. also, there's stories about other people will be in attendance tonight. davis. those will be tim you may remember her from back in kentucky. that was e clerk briefly jailed last year for

refusing to hand out marriage couples. to guy she is slated to attend tonight's state of the union. she will attend tuesday night after the research council arranged for her to be in the house along with attorney matt staver and the rowan county clerk will be in the audience. he supreme court case legalizing gay marriage across the country will be a guest of president obama at the hill this morning. emocratic lawmaker seth lohan, you probably heard that the first lady will be in the syrian invited a o has syrian refugee to attend as his akaloff, a nine-year-old syrian refugee arms and both his siblings in his camp where his family was living two years ago. become the t, he'll face of the syrian refugee crisis at the state of the union where there is much must trust of refugees after the recent terror attacks. to be in the d

washington d.c. and sit in the gallery of the house of representatives in the u.s. capitol hill as guest of sallem congressman seth moulon. naddia alawa, the president and nonprofit aid group has been invited by the a te of the union to act as translator. retired coal miner, fourth generation coal miner, oward abshire of pike county will be a guest. he lost his job at fortress esource ares after the mine shut down there, and temporarily employed in eastern kentucky to repair mining equipment. inator mcconnell said, quote, m honored he accepted my invitation to the to attend the president of the state of the union address. of epresents the life style many in kentucky. that will be senator mcconnell's at the state of the union.

gary from the republican line. go ahead. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. first, i'd like to say something about that lady from tennessee -- i wonder if she in the part in the bible where it says to render caesar's.ar's what is i'm not eisenhower republican. that means the plague killed my party's common sense. nt i'd like to see preside obama say something about this ransportation infrastructure that we have, and i'd like to see him say we're going to do something. it's common sense, nd that seems to be using satellite computers to design our infrastructure, because what we have is not working, i mean, people are just spinning their wheels. we are going nowhere.

cnn did a story about -- this in the day of t the -- what do they call, shovel-ready projects. and it was in nebraska. railroad overpass, and here was a restaurant on one corner. never more than four or five but they ng to go by, spent $15 million, built this it left overpass, and in the back t water. and a week later, after they had hed it, the restaurant to lay off eight of its employees. the week after that, it had to close. that shows poor prioritizing. you know, the corporation that built that thing, they got paid. and walked ir money off. host: okay. that's gary in virginia. let's hear from michael in north

carolina on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. you this morning. host: i'm well, thanks. what are you expecting from speech? caller: something i would like to hear him say, something about the trucking industry. we have all these universities and all these search study do all hat go out and this stuff to research what truckers do and what they don't do, but yet i always ask people, if somebody asked you a question that you knew if you told the truth, would you be fired from your job, you're not going to get the right are answer, and with what the problem is the trucking industry. you have all these people asking us questions, and we're going to tell you what you want to hear, and then we end up getting hurt in the long run, because we tell you what you want to hear to eep our jobs, and i think he needs to try to do something with the trucking industry to try to get us some better pay and not be away from home all he goes and talks

about stuff which is not relevant. the trucking industry, america can't do anything without the trucking industry, and something eeds to be done to help us out and i don't think it's going to happen. host: michael in north carolina, we have a couple of esponses off twitter this morning. irish eye saying not remotely interested in the state of the union. it's the equivalent of a homecoming pep rally. won't change my life one iota. do.ter things to mrs. harington says, i will be atching closely, he has accomplished more advancements in social issues since lbj. @cspanwjpost on twitter and on facebook and twitter as well. up next, jacob from the democratic line. caller: hi, how are you? thanks. 'm well, caller: as far as the state of the union goes, my opinion is hat it's going to be sort of a summation of what president obama has accomplished, which is considerable and i'm happy to but what i really

want to hear in this is what he's going to do, especially unveiling his action on gun laws. i really think that he's going last year ng in this of presidency for a lot more really hoping tonight he sort of gives us at least a glimpse, if not like a he has in f what store, but i think really, we the to be focusing on future. people think that his presidency is over, but this is really the presidents, when there's no re-election, no repercussions, that they get to out.ull so i'm excited to see what he does with that. host: so an empty chair in the represent s box to those who lost their lives to the gun violence, and you said the president should make that a priority? caller: not necessarily gun violence a priority. dedicated an entire speech to that. just anything he has in the pcoming year in store, which i'm assuming gun violence is going to be a part of. to not saying dedicate this

the entire speech of gun violence. i'm just saying this needs to be tot of it, and i'd also like see what he has in store, what e's planning, and the other actions he might be planning to take as president that he necessarily wouldn't be including congress in, or that he might be working with congress on. ost: the future goals of the president was a topic that came up during a conversation that took place on this program presidential the historian douglas brinkly and was asked about that, especially in light of president obama's legacy because of his speech tonight. here's a little bit of the thoughts from mr. brinkley. guest: the position that barack bama is in right now, you say what can i talk about that we have accomplished over the last to n years, what do i want do this last year and what do i want to start speaking to the rest of my life. what's my legacy? i say that because his presidential library is going to be in chicago and obviously, news because the of the gun violence there, and i state of the

union is a big moments that are gun to be dedicated to control issues, stopping gun violence in america, and that's past the stateue of the union into his post-presidency. tonight's state of the union and your thoughts on it, particularly when it comes to president obama's legacy. you can call us on the phones or post on social media. our coverage starts at 8:00 on c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org. you will see the president's speech. you will get to call on it. you will also see the republican response from south carolina governor nikki hailey. again, that will be just after and following. that have live coverage on too, and you can get to respond to that as well. follow on c-span, listen on c-span radio and c-span.org. hello. epublican line, caller: hello, i would like to see the president speak about

policy that directly benefits the working class and a lot of the republicans are focused mostly on the corporations of rich people, like governor hristie, who actually state -- i hate the republicans doing that, you know, where they're giving tax breaks to corporations, you know, with the hope that out of the goodness of heir heart, they might provide more jobs and stop outsourcing to other nations. well, the tax program where they et tax programs for every job they create, he said republicans seems to be against that, and trying to say that they're a party for economic responsibility. well, the corporation's already aid, we're not responsible for providing anything but profit for our big stockholders. that's irresponsibility. because if you're running this, nd you're not responsible for your customers and your employees, you're not responsible for nothing but the stockholders, you're robber that's bad economic

policy. have are them do something for the tax break instead of just iving them a blank check and saying, you know, okay, well, if here's a tax bs, break and maybe you get a lot of jobs. that's like paying a private contractor to pay your house, giving them a check and saying, could u get around it, you fix my house? well, he'd take the check and never money and maybe get around to it. that's what the republicans have one with all the tax breaks that republican politicians have awarded them. host: that's brian in woodbridge, virginia. pugh research center has done an topics that will probably be part of the speech. takes a look at 2009 through the current day of how the united states is looking specifically in terms of the economy, jobs and terrorism, themes that are expected tonight. when it comes to unemployment research to pugh center, back in 2009, that was december now at 5% in

2015 saying that overall, unemployment is down. the research center also looks t the percentage of the population that was actually working, noting it was 60% orking in 2009, that number ipping down to 59.5% here in december of 2015. research center also taking a look at the topic of terrorism, articularly the president's handling of terrorism. t starts in 2009 with 50% of those responding saying they approved of the president's handling. that is now at 37% as of last year, and then for those who disapprove of it, it started at 57% december of 2015. there are other information available at the pew research center. you can find their survey online. this is greg, braddock pennsylvania, independent line. morning. good host: good morning. caller: i think the president has done a great job.

the push-back he received from the other side has been enormous. some of the things that he's proposed has not even been read. they refuse to bring bills to the floor because of their control of the house. he has had a tremendous job to hole get us out of the that the previous administration g.w. bush, and i think considering the obstacles a his way, that he's done terrific job, and he's really done a lot for the people of this country, whether other that or nt to realize not. host: so as far as tonight is concerned, do you think the president will highlight those? caller: i hope that he does. i hope that he highlights all of past ccesses over the seven years. host: coryn lives in st. joseph's, michigan. democrat's line, hi. caller: hi. hear the ld like to

president talk about is i'd like o hear him talk about how divisive things have gotten here in the country. just like mes, walking in a grocery store doing things, you know, my everyday chores and things like that, just so many microaggressions rom people, just flat-out racist comments and stuff, and it wasn't like that three or ive years ago, and i really think that these things need to be discussed with the upcoming campaign, you know, the actual election coming up, because those fires are starting o -- they're spewing, and they're brewing, and there are people want things to be that way, but we need to have somebody who's in a osition of authority to say hey, you know what, country, calm it down, you know, it's not okay, you know, to see these of gs, because it's all out

control in my opinion. hear him so like to talk about what he would like to see or envision for people of my age. i'm 35, and i'm having a really ard time with, you know, finding a good job, and i'm educated, and it's just hard out age, so thatople my would be nice. but overall, i think he has a good legacy. there are things he's done i'm not particularly fond of, but i also think that it's been really hard for him when he's working with the whole group of people with him want to work and they want him to fail. host: so coryn, what would you say the top thing in his legacy, what are one of those things that you're not happy about with him as far as things he's done? caller: i would say that his healthcare, the hca was raising. i've benefitted from it a lot. it's been wonderful for me, and as far as some of the things i'm i don't think that,

indiscriminately bombing people is good. probably should have been a ittle bit better about that, because it just creates more terrorists, but that's the conversation you have nuances re's a lot of for that, you can't just have ere on c-span when other callers are calling in. host: will you be watching tonight? caller: yes, i will be. host: new jersey, harry, good morning on the independent line. you are on the air. go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. i just wanted to bring out some questions. i was wondering who were the christians that were beheaded, and i'd like to know if there was anybody that could tell me if there's been any sting operations for all these illegals that's been coming in here for year after year, like 11 million of them. information on this that that was ever done, who's aking care of them, who's

harboring them. i just wonder now if the president represents everybody. we've got to look at how everybody is standing in this united states. together.to stand it's not one group and another group. miss going to always somebody. i'd like to see just one dedicated chair for the american, united states american. that's all i'm interested in. we've got to stand together, work together, be together, and love one another. that's all i'm asking for. don't think it's so hard to get, if we would only look at how these principles were given to us when this nation was first started. they struggled, but they stuck d, and they together. can we at least stick together and be united and be an american instead of a syrian or a refugee? then take rican, and care of the other things after that. thank you. ost: joanne is next from kingsville, maryland, republican line. caller: hi, pedro. on today d you're

because you're one of my favorite ones and i feel you ive people a chance to talk too. i'm going to watch tonight as long as i can. when i you the truth, did not vote for president but i had u know, great hope when he was elected oh, you know, i thought good, these people have been oppressed for so long, i think help, and n really i've been so disappointed, last e i feel like the guy, our country is so divided, you know, it's like we're pitting rich against poor, black against white, and even policemen are afraid. and i think that there were problems in the police force and they need to be gotten out, but i think that, you know, the way to do it is not to have being attacked. nd you know, president obama

had a white mother and a black father, and so he should be able to represent everybody, you know, maybe he should be our bi-racial president. but i feel like on almost every worse.ce that things are i mean, we have more people on you know, iand now, feel like we should welcome like , and i would really to see immigration settled. came in, he hen he didn't know how to be a leader when people are against you, you've got to bring them to always felt d i like he talked about republicans, and you know, i was afraid of him, because i felt like, you know, he was about to something, some of the ways he talked. but you know, i think he will put everything in a positive has to.ecause he

host: okay. that's joanne from maryland on talking lican line about tonight's state of the union. in the lead-up to the state of the union, the house speaker paul ryan was asked about what from the ike to hear president's thoughts as well as late last week when he made these comments. show them to you anyway. here's a portion of what he thought when he was asked by eporters what he was hoping to hear by the state of the union. >> i would tell him, i want to back.i take it all i want to actually lower tax rates, clear out crony capitalism and restore the constitution to an attractive place in american life. that's what i want him to say. say hing tells me he won't that. host: that took place late last week. an.org. find it at c-sp a couple of international stories, coming from iran, saying that the country has

filled the core of its nuclear reactor, filled it on monday, for the sanctions being lifted. we will see the end of the sanctions against iran. when sanctions end, i will explain to the people how great an accomplishment this is. the lifting of sanctions will access to about 100 billion of its own assets frozen banks.ign the united states has prepared sanctions y for the to take effect. that story is in the washington post this morning. new violence happening out of turkey this morning. strisava saying that over the past six months, oung kurdish militants have taken over the neighborhoods of three cities of southeastern e that prompting violenc has killed 230 security militants 229 million and civilians. according to estimates by the crisis group, since

mid-december, the crisis have deteriorated dramatically, and the turkish militants have launched a defense against militants. moderates support the militants, there's little prospect of a political dialogue and street fighting has filled the vacuum. from minnesota, here is al. good morning on our independent line. you are next. caller: hi. thank you for taking my call. i appreciate it. see, what i really want is for apologize for lying to us americans. e lied to americans about the obama plan actually going to save us money when, in fact, now 45% more than when plan, and the s deductibles are 6,000-$9,000, 500% more than what they were prior to him and his plan. i want him to apologize for what appened in benghazi when they

blamed the attack on our embassy killing our ambassador and two marines, and he blamed that on a movie that was done by a ovie producer in the u.s., and he allowed that to go over the airways when he knew in advance that it had absolutely nothing to do with that but, in fact, it ad to do with hillary clinton not listening to the ambassadors ambassadors -- i want him to apologize for the unemployment than hich is much higher when he got into office because they're no longer calculating the people that are not able to qualify for unemployment benefits. that's something that people don't want to talk about. he's changed rules on how they calculate who is considered

unemployed. so under the obama's plan of lying, he tells the people that the unemployment rate was lower when, in fact, it's high because we're not counting all the millions and millions of people that don't qualify for benefits anymore. i want him to apologize for the obama's irs that illegally attacked christians and conservative groups. apologize for the attorney general's office with not holder in it for properly prosecuting these irs not properly for investigating all the other criminal acts. minnesota 's al in giving us his thoughts on what he wants to hear from the president's speech tonight. let's hear from josh on the republican line. caller: i'm josh. university a student, both studying philosophy and political science. me and my classmate were actually just having this conversation a couple of minutes

ago, actually, about what we've seen throughout president obama's tenure. let me first let you understand hat we have studied and understand that tort in the presidency, we've seen what we like to call presidents going rogue, where basically, presidents, they just an ently -- i heard a gentlem say there's no back burner, there's no re-election, so they just presidents, do anything. i if there's one thing that think is going to happen tonight at the state of the union is going to resident is -- other ther three two branches of government what it means to be the president of the united states. one going to do it through thing, executive orders. i know my last year, that the issues of trying to get nto congress, it's a problem,

so executive orders, here we come. so if there's one thing i think will happen tonight. he's going to, like i said, open and go rogue. it comes from both sides, whether it's democrat or republican. they're just trends. host: that's josh in pennsylvania. a couple of stories this morning haley, the governor of south carolina. she'll be the one giving the speech to president tonight. some reporting she will not directly respond to the president's speech but she will give her concerns for america and how it's best to respond. also saying it's from the washington examiner, she will deliver her address from the governor's mansion in columbia. she declined to tell reporters about what she was planning to say. the governor and her team were crafting the message as of monday. lumcanceledemson ark plans to attend the ncaa football championship between lemson and the university of alabama to prepare. also, the state newspaper in

south carolina highlighting the fact that nikki haley is the first south carolinian to give the state of the union response since it started in 1966. again, the republican response is part of the coverage of the state of the union. overall, we start at 8:00. you'll hear the president speech, you'll hear the republican response. it can also comment on online, also by the phone lines. watch it on c-span, listen on find out more nd at c-span.org. humble, r from ben in texas. democrat's line. you're next, hi. caller: hi. this morning? host: fine, thank you. caller: thank you for taking my call. my comment is that i think the president and his family has represented the united states very, very well. what i'm looking for is omething on improving and coming up with more income. people of the

united states of america. we have been left out on a lot of things we have rebuilt and united states of america and the most important is improvement on the income. he could give some decent wages, and i think that we would have a lot to work with. host: so you would call for the resident say to increase the minimum wage or there are other things you're thinking? host: i think the minimum wages needs to be increased. i think the people that have these monthly incomes and social their income should be raised, because we have a lot of getting $7-800 a month to live off of. thing, i ore important think the president needs to each out and look at these rural areas, the rural towns, my specifically. they don't even have a jail. of r poverty level is out the roof. and looking at people's wages, living.ey to

.ost: clarkston, michigan this is russ on the independent line. caller: the only way i'd be watching the state of the union speech tonight is that if the president would be apologizing to the citizens of this country. one.egacy, i don't see except for the corruption been the last seven years through his policies. we have no foreign policy. we have the irs schedule. we have the obama. that's another scandal. i just cannot watch him no more. i'll be drinking a beer and as soon as the last part of the speech is done, see.h i won't i wish he would apologize to the people of this country. e has divided this country up to where i'm 60 years old, i've ever seen the country divided my life., ever in

i'll be so happy. mississippi, democrats line, joe, good morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing this morning? host: fine, thank you. caller: yes, i was listening to wished leman saying he he would apologize. when we look at our president hear him, i and we believe that he has done a great work as a president with what he with.o work when he went in, the republicans said on the very night he was going to that they was make him a one-time president and with unemployment and everything going on the way it was, they have done their job well. and if anybody needs to pologize, we need to apologize for having a president that we call anything, we expect our leaders help them. we pray for god to bless this congress. this president was voted in twice. the congress never helped him do anything up there. so if anybody's going to apologize, we need to apologize

to these companies taking their jobs out of here and asking raise minimum wage, they want to raise minimum wage. i just pray for our president and i pray for america. thank you this morning. host: allen from washington d.c., independent line. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. we're talking about apologies here. loan ue is the student issue. when he took office, we owed about 400 billion in student loans. about we're approaching 1.5 trillion dollars on student loans. he house and the senate, they promised one of the first things they would do was return protection kruptcy to private student loans. they failed to do that. tepping back a minute, what caused this problem is the republicans in the house. mike ensy in the

senate, these guys removed standard bankruptcy protections which are guaranteed in the constitution, article 1, section 8, head of the power to declare war, form an army and navy, ankruptcy is extremely important. the republicans took it away. obama and the democrats have i want o return it, so an apology pretty much from everybody in capitol hill at this point. host: let's hear from lisa, louisville, kentucky, democrat's line. ou are the last call this morning on the president's state of the union. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call, pedro. i watch c-span regularly and thank you for the show. -- i hope he o do talks about worker protection and not so much union worker protection, just regular worker protection. one quick story. my husband works for a company that recently, they fired a manager that's been there for 12 years. to take less money for a job that she's been doing, and doing very well. instead of hiring somebody, they get my husband to step in

and do it. now, he's just a regular employee, and he makes more than him um wage, but they want to do both jobs. hey want him to do her job and his job and then the supervisor of the company sits back on the watches. and this is not right. this is abuse of power, and no mad in thisrats are country. he really needs to address this. thank you. host: one more bit of news before we go. the front page of the washington imes takes a look at the supreme court case yesterday dealing with lobbying and unions. reports from steven diamond this isning saying that the court poised to vent the political power of labor after conservative justices cast out monday on public sector union's ability to collect fees, even disagree with ho the union's political demands. t stake are millions of labor dollars and, quote, agents of ees that unions collect from teachers, police and other public employees to pay for obbying to raise their pay to

give them more secure jobs and other similar benefits. fees even collect from nonmembers, disagree with the government shelling out more money on public employees. don't forget, again, tonight's coverage of the state of the union begins at 8:00. or go to to you watch our web site for more information. again, you'll see not only the president's speech but the republican response. a lot of platforms you can view that on tonight as well. coming up, our guest this morning we'll talk about the president's speech plus other themes. our first guest, senator blake farenthold from texas. and henry cuellar talking about the deportation policy. all of that as "washington journal" continues after this.

>> as president obama prepared for his state of the union address, he released this video twitter. president obama: i'm working on my state of the union address. it's my last one, and as i'm thinking about the road that we've traveled together these past seven years. that's what makes america great, our capacity to change for the better. together as come one american family and pull ourselves closer to the america we believe in. it's hard to see sometimes in moments in ay washington but it is who we are, and it is what i want to focus state of the union address. >> and c-span's coverage starts tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern betty nate historian cohen and real clear politics ongressional reporter james arkin, looking at the history of president's annual message and what to expect in this year's address and at 9:00, a live coverage of the president's speech followed by a republican

response by governor nikki haley, plus your tweets and e-mails, as well as those from congress on c-span, c-span reasonable and ordinary cares and c-span.org, and we'll e-air our state of the union coverage and the republican esponse starting at 11:00 p.m. eastern. from members of congress in statuary hall with their reaction to the president's address. to an takes you on the road the white house and into the classroom. this year, our student cam documentary contest asks tudents to tell us what issues they want to hear from the presidential candidates. ollow c-span's road to the white house coverage and get all the details about our student c-span.org.at >> "washington journal" continues.

host: our guest, blake texas.hold of good morning to you. guest: good morning. host: what's the most important nt can say to ide you? farenthold: i think -- this is going to be a different state of the union and i want to hear what he envisions his legacy as being because i think i'll have a very different view of that, but i to say.hear what he has host: give an example how? guest: i think he'll say some happen, hings that will like obamacare. i think that will be his biggest legacy, and he sees that as a win. and i don't see it as a win when i go home and hear from folks from my insurance, my small business is going up $10,000 a month and i can't afford to prices. i think it's been a struggle for a lot of folks, and he doesn't see it that way. host: one of the things coming up on the papers this morning is

that he's going to paint a picture of america as more optimistic than, say, those on the republican presidential it.didates are viewing what do you think about that idea? guest: if you were to ask me what the state of the union is, my answer might be, needs improvement. i think we've lost our stature internationally. countriesk back, what do we have a better relationship now with than we did when barack obama came in? cuba. i think that would be fair. and iran. but you look at the deteriorating relationship with ome of our long-time historic allies like israel, and i don't hink that's really a great place to be. host: as far as improving those relations? i think and i think -- it's good that we've improved the relations with cuba and iran. i'm not sure how it's going to turn out. but the fact that we've lost ground with some of our more troubling to s is me. host: and one of the things he's expected to talk about, sm and larly terrori particularly this idea of what's

being done as far as the fight are st isis and isil concerned. host: and, again, i don't think we're winning that battle. and more ing more actual terrorist acts here in he homeland, and we went for quite a while without any, but in the past couple of years, you've seen the boston marathon bombing. you've seen san bernardino. quite a en, you know, few. and i'm sympathetic to the terrorism.h we've got to get it right 100% of the time and the terrorists nly have to get it right once to get a big headline. i think we're losing some ground there. i think they're able to bring the battle to us rather than our them in the battle to the countries that are harboring them in the areas where they're trained. host: representative blake farenthold, our guest, republican from texas joining us to talk about the themes, including the state of the union. if you want to ask him questions, 202-748-8000, for

democrats, 202-748-8001 for republicans, and 202-748-8002 for independents. refugee willsyrian be in the first lady's box tonight. what's the message do you think the president is trying to send with that invite? host: i think there's nothing to worry about with syrian efugees and i'm going to say the vast majority of folks who syria as refugees from are probably fine folks. it's the few that aren't that about, and the concern that passed the house is basically veto majority, was because we don't have the ability to vet new refugees, to vet them ta against, it's time for a pause in that refugee program. add to that the fiscal some of the that numbers i've seen, you can take care of as many as 12 refugees in the middle east for the cost of bringing one to the united states. help lk about wanting to people. wouldn't you rather help 12 people than just one?

host: so when it comes to the process, you'll hear the administration probably say that the average person, at least a refugee coming in, 18-24 months of etting from a variety different sources, you're not comfortable with that process? guest: i don't think the sources are there. we have no relationship with the assad regime, so we're not etting any data from their police department. our intelligence is stretched to y, in the certainl middle east. o you can spend months vetting somebody against -- but i think if there's no base data in that atabase you're vetting them against, you don't know what you're getting. host: so you would support a pause? guest: absolutely. host: how long would that stay in lace if they put it motion? guest: i think until we get our hands on some data. whether or not the president would be able to develop a better relationship with the existing regime there. good idea that's a or bad idea, we can spend as

uch time as you want debating, but the fact of the matter is, i don't think we have enough data decision intelligent there. add to that, again, as i said the fact that for the price of bringing one to the united states, you can help 12 in a closer area. host: now, because the fact you brought up the idea of a new or bad is it a good idea idea to support the placement of a new regime? go t: that's really -- you over into syria, and there's so many different factions there, bad difficult to tell the guys from the even worse guys. and you look at the history of our involvement in the middle east under the obama presidency, we've seen several regime cases, the in many countries aren't better off than they were beforehand. certainly, libya is almost completely a failed state now. obviously, khadaffi not a good

people are libyan obviously worse off as a result quaddaffi falling. we go in, we do the same thing some regime ee change and before a new government is built, we throw hands up and go home. i think the big isis threat comes from the fact that we didn't leave enough in iraq to make sure that the iraqi government could police itself. at history.look we've still got troops in south korea helping them and their government. we still help germany. they probably don't need it in we've but the places fought wars and left a presence there helped new government out, more successful, then we turn tail and come back home. host: again, our guest with us, representative blake farenthold. lawan from all is

georgia, democrats line. you're on with our guest. go ahead, please. caller: hey, how y'all doing this morning. a chance to get it out. i couldn't ld, disagree with you more unless i was looking through your eyes. the gaul to with talk about this president and what he has accomplished and he hasn't accomplished, when you've done absolutely nothing, not one try to help him or your party. facts t's get some straight. when this man took over, you remember what he took over -- from? host: do. t: i caller: and what he had to try to accomplish to get the country was your party? guest: president obama had two complete control with the democrat house under nancy

pelosi and a democratic senate. frank, which makes it next to impossible to get a loan. has passed obamacare which run up the price of insurance and deductibles for a whole lot of people. caller: that's incorrect. my insurance have not went up cent.ed as a matter of fact, my to get i pay for my wife on blue cross and blue shield, office, my n in insurance haven't went up $5. caller, thank you. you can respond. guest: yeah, i think we just of what on the results he had, and we've passed hundreds of bills out of the until recently have all been stalled in the senate and even now, we're struggling to get 60 votes in the senate. i think it's unfair to say we've done nothing. we've been road blocked in the house by the senate and some of out tuff that we've gotten just recently, including the

parenthood,f planned and improving obamacare, basically getting rid of all the bad parts, both were just vetoed by the president. port richie, w florida, independent line, this is ann. hello, go ahead. morning, good representative blake farenthold committee. judiciary probably be the last call for the rest of the year but i'd questions.k you two on the irs investigation that lorreta lynch is holding the like you i would also to speak this morning about that and where it's going and secondly, hillary clinton and all of the e-mails and why lorreta lynch is holding the fbi that.on if she were to become president whateveras indicted or judiciary things that you and gommert could come up

with, what would be the consequences to the american people? maybe obama can speak about that tonight and threaten us with it. with the irs, 1, jason chasich, the chairman of the government oversight and reform committee, which also has introduced articles of kofkin, who is the head of the internal revenue. e-mails and a with it looked like they were destroyed and lack of is eration with congress definitely problematic. i think with the american eople, especially younger millenials, understand hillary clinton's e-mail and what i a pid idea it is to keep server at your house or accessible sily with, i believe, classified information and certainly sensitive information. computer be a consultant. i wouldn't try to keep a server in my house with anything secure on it. i've got a server with some

personal e-mails that i outsourced to a hosting company, best to keep that secure but the thought of utting some classified information on that is crazy. and the younger generations technology. whether hillary clinton does or doesn't, she ought to -- somebody ought to have host: what do you think about the current investigation going on? what do you think the end result will be? don't know. i am optimistic because it hasn't stopped yet. tost: it is still ongoing whether or not they are putting 100% of the resources into her that they could be putting into it and where it will eventually go, i am not sure. the investigation is ongoing. i have to tell you, i am not the biggest loretta lynch fan, but i like her a lot better than her predecessor. host: texas, republican line. guest: that is the district i represent.

host: thank you for correcting me. lisa. caller: hi. as one of your constituents, i kind of like to have your thoughts on any kind of changes to obamacare that can help people. my daughter and her husband signed up through the health care marketplace. she had insurance for six months. they came back after six months and said you need to prove your citizenship. she was born in texas. we provided her social security number, her birth certificate, it is not enough. guest: i don't see what more they could be asking for. the whole stated purpose of obamacare was to make it simpler for people to get insurance and to make it cheaper. as is evidenced by your case, it is simply not happened. there areve to do -- a couple pieces of obamacare

that actually work. the fact that you are able to stay on your parents health insurance until you are 26, that doesn't cost much. youngsters are bulletproof. you add to that pre-existing conditions, we have to find a solution to that. some sort of shared risk pool. you have to increase the availability to buy insurance across state lines. i have to tell you, i am a big --n -- fan of the in community health centers obamacare critic. they are health care clinic type operations where you can go to for low cost. if you can't pay the full fair, they will work with you on it. unlike going to the emergency room for care, you are able to have follow-ups. if you are a diabetic, rather than treating the acute said it was of diabetes, they had a social worker call you and say are you taking your insulin or whatever? these community health centers need to be grown and expanded.

whether we do that as part of the hospital system or private a which i think is a better idea or continue to supplement it with federal funding, there are parts of it that work. what is not working is the insurance marketplace where you see your premiums going up, small businesses premiums going up, your deductible going up, and your choice of doctors going down. medical decisions need to be made by doctors and patients, not by the federal government. host: what about the idea -- some colors say where is the overall republican response? if you want to reveal aspects of obamacare. guest: the republican committee has a detailed proposal on their website. you can google it, republican study to midi health plan. they go on retreat starting on wednesday. we go to baltimore and to spend the days talking about what we want to do over the next year, basically. it is an annual retreat.

i think the number one agenda item is we have to get before the american people our plan. we have to get in introduced. i think we need to get it passed by the house. i think we are going to work out the details and it is my hope and my believe that this is going to be one of our top priority items for this term. host: specifically, next week, this is something you will work on, at least, republicans overall. guest: as far as talking about what we are going to talk about, consistently, what our replacement for obamacare is, the vast majority of my colleagues agree. host: a lot of the efforts of paul ryan was to get more involvement from rank-and-file members in the crafting of legislation. do you see that happening with health care? guest: absolutely. it is going back to the committee level and down to the individual members. as part of the retreat, they are having a record number of open mic sessions with paul ryan and

the various committee chairs. everybody is going to be able to get their input out on setting the agenda. if there is something that is important to the folks watching that they want to make sure is on the agenda, this is a good week to call your congressman on the republican side. the democrats go on retreat in two weeks and do the same thing. host: our guest in a previous life was a radio commentator -- commentor and talkshow host. as well as a computer consultant. representative blake farenthold of texas joining us to talk about issues. ian from frederick, maryland, democrat line, go ahead. caller: good morning. i would like to wonder why we are listening to a republican from texas when it was a republican from texas who got us into the war in iraq and he says he wants to put a positive -- if i hear positive in one more time -- that is the cause but we should have used when we were talking about going to a war and iraq. we should have put that on then, not because of a refugee crisis

because of it. a republican from texas is the one who appointed the head of the irs, the system -- the suppose it scandal. he was a bush appointee. look it up. you guys want obama to apologize for it? guest: it doesn't matter who appointed him. the fact that he covered up the evidence is a real issue and why we need to get rid of him. regardless of what you think about whether or not it was a good idea to go into iraq or not, i think you agree with me that part of the problem now is we left too early. we pulled out before the government was fully functional. we did not negotiate a status of forces agreement. we could have stayed and help them keep the country safe. could have helped keep isis from taking root in iraq and syria. host: mark, chico, california, good morning, go ahead. caller: going back to iraq, president bush signed that status force agreement.

to doent obama tried something about it. iraq wanted us gone. i don't see where you can put that blame on obama that you are trying to do. i think it is foolish that we ever got involved in that war. we had to leave. they didn't want us there anymore. obama's ands one of pain promises to get out of iraq. through the diplomatic process, we could have made them understand the importance of us helping them. thinkrstand how leaders that they can do it all by themselves. they can't. leadership is marshaling a group of people, not always people that you agree with or are 100%

on the same page, to reach a common goal. that is what we are looking for. problem withof the obamacare. i am done with congress, we are going to go around congress -- that is not the way leaders work. go back to bill clinton who came and worked with congress and the republicans and democrats were actually able to come together and get the balance budget. you don't get that with somebody who says my way or the highway. this is something that i worry about in our next president. quite frankly, i worry about it in some of the republicans coming in -- coming in and being a redshirt obama. leadership is building a team within the international community, the governing body. and with the american people as a whole, if you are talking about a president. a leader isn't somebody who does it all by himself. a leader is someone who works with others for the common good. when it comes to the fight

against isis, one of the things the president has asked for from congress is a specific a umf. why has that not happened yet? guest: that is definitely something i could support. the president needs to come to congress with a plan. once we have a plan, we will give him the resources, i believe, to do that. republican or democrat, you understand that the number one job of the federal government is to keep the american people safe. no broader area of bipartisan -- pipe -- bipartisan support other than veterans making sure it that the military has the tools, equipment, and training they need to get the job done. if the president would come to congress with a plan, and we may not give him 100% of what he wants, but a win is getting 80% of what you want. we may have better ideas that he hasn't heard. we have some great veterans in

congress. mac thornberry in the house armed services committee, a great level of expertise. let's work together with the white house on that and not have , again, a my way or the highway president. again, i don't want to sound like i am throwing rocks at obama. i am worried about the republican nominee being the same type of person. i don't want somebody to come up and say, congress, you are fired. you want somebody willing to work. host: donald trump you are talking about. guest: it is not just donald trump area it could be any candidate. the question i am asking all of the candidates that i get to meet is would you support the reins act? a piece of legislation that says if an executive branch agency wants to publish a legislation that has over $100 million of economic impact, it has to come back to congress and be formally improved -- approved by congress before it takes effect. that brings power back to

congress. members of the house face election every two years. we are in touch with the voters much more than a president who only runs every four years and is cordoned off from the public by ropes and secret service agents. i go to the grocery store and talk to people about what is going on every weekend in texas. we don't want a big, huge federal government. we don't want an executive branch who things they can do it all by themselves. if that is what our founding fired -- founding fathers had wanted, they would have, with the constitution that gave us a king or a much stronger executive. host: how door your views square with the -- with senator cruz? he and i are friends. we met on the campaign trail. he has a very strong personality. he has said he is a supporter of the reins act. i have not had a chance to ask mr. trump the question. maybe somebody will ask him met

on the upcoming debate. host: have you endorsed anybody? guest: i have not endorsed anybody. i will tell you all of the front runners in the republican primary would make a great president. obviously, as a republican, they would do a lot better job than secretary clinton or senator sanders. host: edward, cedar rapids, iowa, republican line. caller: hello. earlier, you were bringing in syrian refugees and the president has already said he wants to bring in an additional 10,000 refugees in 2016. i really think that is a bad idea. guest: i am with you on that. caller: i am really concerned about the safety of americans. they are running around saying we have a bunch of factions

going on right now. what happens when you bring in ringleaders? guest: t i havewo concerns. , if you are a syrian terrorist wanting to get into the united states, posing as a refugee is the second easiest way. the first easiest way is to go to mexico and come across the southern border. here is what you have to consider. refugees, old folks, women and children, not military age men. you see a lot of military aged men coming in. as i said earlier, the problem with bringing in refugees from syria, there is no way to that -- vet them. we'll have a relationship with the syrian government so we don't have access to their police database. our intelligence community will be the first to admit their resources are stretched very thin in that region. i think the cia and various

other intelligence agencies have better things to do than research refugees. maryland, brian is next, independent line. go ahead. watching this president, he has killed an american citizen overseas, number one, without due process. he has destroyed the constitution, the second amendment. he has written laws allowing immigrants to come into this country, not enforcing the law. you sit at the judiciary committee and do not impeach this man. you sit there and worry about donald trump. this guy has broken more laws -- entered into a treaty with iran and never ran it through congress. on the judiciary committee, sit on your hands. that makes you complicit, sir. and the destruction of this -- let's take a look at the political realities of the situation.

if the house were to impeach the president, and i agree with the caller, the president very possibly, most likely has committed an offense that i believe is impeachable. the way it works is the house will vote to impeach. it will go to the senate and take a two thirds majority to remove him from office. there is no way we get a two thirds majority in the senate where the house to impeach the president. you look back historically, what happened with president clinton, he was impeached by the house, let go by the senate. now, we have redefined what sex is and told people it is ok to lie about sex. it sends an implicit message to the american people. from a purely lyrical standpoint , i am not one that lets politics typically control things, but there are those in the house who believe, like clinton, where he be to -- where he to be impeached and are removed from senate, his

popularity numbers would go up just like clinton based on sympathy or mistaken belief that the two thirds of the senate didn't vote to remove him from office, what he did was ok. things think some of the that obama did were ok. i don't want to send that message to the american people. that is why i am not counting my fists saying we need to impeach the president. host: is or anything the committee can do or congress overall can do can -- to counter the president executive actions on guns? you actually look at what the president did, it is not that much. he is basically directing the agencies to be more aggressive in enforcing the laws, alcohol, tobacco, firearms. to be more aggressive in determining, this person is a gun dealer. you are not a gun dealer if you inherited guns from your father and go to sell them.

you inherited a lot of them, the atf might want to classify you as a gun dealer because you are selling 100 weapons in a year if you inherited a gun collection. that is a little bit troubling. basically, what he is saying is executive agencies, use all of the data you can in the database that we run background -- background checks in so that we can disqualify more people, many who i would argue are not disqualify a. you worry about running this amount of data that comes in, you are going to pick up folks that shouldn't be banned. basically, the concern is it makes it harder for law-abiding citizens to purchase guns. in actuality, it was a lot of smoke and mirrors to talk about guns and not a whole lot of action. there wasn't really any particular change in the law. he is just directing agencies to be more aggressive in enforcing the laws.

i am all for enforcing the laws that we have on the books. you don't want to get aggressive past the point of common sense. florida, democrats line, audrey, hello. caller: good morning pedro and to your guest. republicanerate -- host: i'm going to put you on hold because it sounds like your connection is fading. i will put you on hold and see if you can get a better connection and we will come back to you. robert, manchester, maryland, republican line. caller: how are you doing today? is -- ion't understand watched the bom hearings, the benghazi hearings, the irs hearings, and every person that is subpoenaed always says we had to look into the paperwork. we don't have what you want. we don't have time to get it. do you realize that the american

people see congress as a joke? no one believes anything you can do? you have the power to make law, it -- yet you refuse to make the law that if someone is subpoenaed and they don't have what you need, you don't imprisoned that person until you get what you need. if i went to a judge, to a courtroom and didn't have everything ready, i would be in jail. why is it that congress feels they are not above the law but they can exclude themselves from the lot? guest: congress doesn't feel like they are above or excluding themselves. what i didn't know before i came to congress was that when congress issued a subpoena and folks don't abide by that subpoena or don't do what they are told, congress doesn't have a jail, we don't have a police force beyond the capitol hill police who are basically the security force for the capital. there is no jail we can put anyone in.

do whatebody doesn't congress says and they are found in contempt of congress like eric holder, we were further to the justice department. the justice department prosecutes them. the justice department is under the obama administration. if they choose not to prosecute it, it is very difficult -- we then have to go to court and see if we can get a court order to do that. that, potentially, takes years to do. what we need to do is change the law to give congress more power to unilaterally enforce their own subpoenas. to do that, we have to pass a law in the house, in the senate, and get president obama to sign it. i don't see obama signing it. hopefully, we get a president who will sign some laws that give the congressional oversight power a little bit more teeth. bringing up security at the house, roll call reporting this morning at the capitol visitor center over the house,

and now has a couple of full body scanners in place for security measures. are you familiar with this? what does this say about security at the house? we may see some temporary increases in security today for the state of the union. the secret service comes up and brings all sorts of other equipment up for the state of the union. this is the people's house. you don't want to put up so many barriers that folks coming to washington, d.c. can't see congress in session, can't go visit their member of congress across the street in the capital office building. you have to balance safety with access. you are seeing the technology improve to what the transportation security administration is doing with airports. relativelyntroduce nonintrusive or socially accepted levels of security, you are used to going through the

airport, it increases security without putting too much of a burden on folks coming to see democracy in action. host: let's try audrey in tampa again. caller: yes, pedro, i am here. saying that your guest was mentioning that obama had control of the house and senate for the first two years of his presidency. the fact is that they tried their best -- with all the he didn'tt went down, accomplish as much as he wanted to even know they had control of the house and the senate. republicans need to remember that historians write history, not republicans or democrats. historians do that. obama's legacy is going to go down in history as one of the greatest for what he has accomplished when he took over the country.

facing near depression status. where are we now? we are recovering jobs continuously, the private sector, as well. we have tried to increase minimum wage, the democrats have, and republicans refused to give or people a rage and -- a raise in their wages. what do you want him to do, walk on water? he is not jesus christ. he is a man. guest: i think you and i are going to disagree about how history will see president obama. i will say the unemployment numbers, especially in december, are looking a little bit better. i think some of that was a christmas surge. the number i think is important is labor participation rate. that is how many people are actually working. the unemployment number doesn't count folks who have given up on people looking for a job. that number is at a historic low. that is a real concern for me. i believe our founding fathers

-- they wrote in the declaration unalienablence, rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. pursuit is the key word there. i have always found in my life -- i am happier when i have something bigger than me that i am striving for. whether it is starting my own business and making that a success, running for congress, fighting for a better america. the lowest time in my life is when i sold my business and was semiretired, sitting on the couch not doing anything. that was a dark time in my life. i think having a job and getting out and striving for something -- it may not even be a job. it may be working with insurance -- with the church, whatever. having something in her life bigger than you that you are striving for. for most people, that is a job, making money to put kids through college, pay off the home or whatever. striving for something.

iat pursuit of happiness is think key to both happiness and personal success and the success of a nation as a whole. , our blake farenthold guest, republican from texas. john from ohio. you're next. caller: yes, congressman. i have a serious question. i think the congress and president need to address the the dollar in this country. it is quite serious that the fact that our dollar will now -- not to be the world currency anymore. i would like to hear a good expedition as to what will the end of the dollar happens to this country and what will happen to all of us? guest: i think the biggest threat to our currency right now is the national debt.

we owe so much money that, if we continue on this path, people will start getting shaky on the dollar as a whole. that being said, new technology in the oil and gas industry come a hydraulic fracking has really driven energy costs way down. they have really changed the world. sawre down -- i think i $1.63 on the pump in texas when i was home this weekend. these low gasoline prices -- you are seeing some reports saying we could be at one dollar a gallon in no time. this but a lot more money in the american people's pocket. texas economy the because we have a lot of oil and gas going on, but for america overall, these low energy costs are lowering the price of factories, delivering goods to people, and lowering the cost of

you getting to and from work and from the store. it is putting a lot of money in folks pockets. host: you mention that because both of the independent producers in coal and oil are experiencing bankruptcy is a falling stock. guest: it is going to be good for the american people and the free market will shake out. we have lifted the crude oil export ban where our producers can play in the world marketplace. i am confident that the free market system will make life better for a lot of people. whether we can give the president credit for that or the scientists who invented the hydraulic fracking technology, whether or not you are calling in on the republican line or democrat line, it will shape how you believe about that. harrisburg, pennsylvania, republican line, you're next. caller: good morning, how are you doing?

i think today we are witnessing what abraham lincoln warned us about during one of his speeches. he said the greatest threat to our nation is the career politician. we have these politicians that are there for a lifetime. they do nothing. we need to set term limits for the house, term limits in the senate. get the republic back to american people. everyone to do their term. guest: i would have no problems supporting term limits. don't forget -- you were the actual holder of term limits as a voter. you can vote anyone out of office at any time. that is the beauty of the system. nothing has to happen for that to take affect. host: can i ask about this effort in texas by your governor calling for a constitutional convention to take a look at a process that would make commitments to the constitution?

what is he calling for and what do you think about these efforts? tried to get a balanced budget amendment out of congress and we have not been able to do that. we live under a balanced budget amendment in texas. it is one of the reasons we have a meeting economy. there are things the career politicians may have a problem with. there are folks out. we think it is their job to bring home the bacon to their congressional district. i don't think anything is further from the truth. i think my job up here is to make america a better place for everybody. exercising the constitutional provision to allow states to call a constitutional convention, we may get much-needed reforms. i think it is worth it just for a balanced budget. host: you support the governor in this effort? guest: i think it is worthwhile. i would like to see the senate get to the numbers it needs to pass out a constitutional

amendment and send it to the states. it hasn't happened yet. host: here is anita for our guest. caller: good morning. you say so many misleading things. you try to take credit on balancing the budget. not one republican voted for the balanced budget. under obama, republicans have done nothing but waste time and money. yo spenceu millions of dollars -- you spent millions of dollars. i do not know what you have done for the american people. guest: i think we stopped press from doing more damage. it has been frustrating, feel

like we have done nothing but play defense. did talk about term limits. i want to get some stuff done under a republican president. we have a disagreement. i consider what i have done to be a success. host: here is janet. caller: hello? i am calling to follow-up with the last call. i am very intelligent. this gentleman, a republican. so in genuine and providing information to callers that call in. 501-c.f all, the irs you tell me that a nonprofit can get not paid a dime in taxes to

participating for in political activity. -- agenciesblican that were participating. it was also democratic -- host: we do need to take a look -- guest: we do need to take a look at the tax code. what she was alluding to was a concern about some of the political activities the nonprofits are involved in. planned parenthood has been in the news. basically fundamental to america that charities ought to be protected and you include

churches. some of these organizations are pushing the limit when you have a charity, ceo is making millions. charities involved in clinical operations. that isof tax reform, something that needs to be looked at. your church should not have to pay tax. donations to church the tax deductible. you start getting into planned parenthood and start to scratch your head. line.g this to the organizations will set up a 501-c. you have to figure out where you e, freedom of religion and speech, and not have folks taking advantage of the tax payers.

host: this is brian. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i do not know where you get this from.ake i do not know how whe sits on the telephone with this propaganda. the president we do have in office is the best thing that has happened to the presidency. all things considered, with congress voting him down on every opportunity they can. they never helped this president or assisted him. they need to be terminated. all of the things they've done have only hindered our progress in many ways.

him?y to impeach that is a horrible thing to say. he is being discriminated from every angle. fathersur founding envisioned a system with most of the power to the states. checkst up a system of and balances. you have to get something passed by the house, by the senate, and have it signed iv president. i think the system is frustrating. it is frustrating to me. i have a bicycle helmet in my headt so i can bang my against the wall and it doesn't hurt that much.

we have a bill of rights. the system is working as designed. congress is a check on the president and the president is putting pressure on the congress. the supreme court make sure we do it in a constitutional manner. i think we have the greatest country on the face of the earth. of it.oud to be a member working as designed. host: have you invited any guests tonight? guest: i have invited my daughter. i thought about inviting somebody from the nra or a texan. nothing beats family. host: representative blake

farenthold of texas, thank you for your time. we will talk with henry cuellar to discuss tonight's address and too i issues related immigration, this as "washington journal" continues. ♪ kids said, we have covered in alabama. ast of american kids are getting poor education. >> sunday night, she talks about

her latest film, about the partnership with booker t. washington and the african american communities in the south to build schools. kite puts together these houses. like don't we just use these kit houses. he said, i want the communities to build it. first six schools were built. rphed into 5000o schools. q&a.nday night on as president obama prepared for his state of the union address, he release this video on twitter.

obama: our capacity to change for the better. our ability to come together and pull ourselves closer to the america we believe in. it is hard to see sometimes, but it is who we are and what i want to focus on in this state of the union. >> c-span's coverage starts eastern,at8 :00 looking back at the history and tradition of the annual message and what to expect in this year's address. 9:00, live coverage of the speech followed by the republican response. plus your reaction by phone, tweets, and e-mail, as well as members of congress.

our coverager starting at 11:00 eastern, 8:00 p.m. pacific, and live on c-span2, we will hear from members of congress with their reaction to the president's address. >> "washington journal" continues. host: our next guest is representative henry cuellar from texas. good morning. as far as the state of the union , what do you want to hear from the president? guest: i think the president is going to a recap and maybe talk in general terms about the future. the traditional state of the union address is one the president goes to the specific proposal. it is the last year and his

relationship with congress has not been the best. able talk about the victories -- he will talk about the victories. host: what do you think about the empty chair and how he might address these themes? guest: i am from texas and i understand where the nra stands and i support the second amendment. i wish we could find some kind of balance. order.the executive talking about increase in the appropriation, mental health, adding more atf officers. heis a process, except when talks about defining selling arms. that might be the only legal

extension. it would go against the constitution. host: something you support, then? guest: i think that is something we can support. host: the larger issues of refugees, maybe immigration. how do you think the president has done as far as immigration? was anapril, 2009, there opportunity to do immigration reform. he told us, there was a super majority in the senate. there was a majority in the house. he was going to focus on health care. he didn't get to it. he asked the republican congress to get things done. the last time we had immigration reform it was reagan and a

democratic congress. host: that brings us to the current day. the administration is dealing with deportation. do you support with the administration is doing? guest: i support immigration reform. until we change the law, we have to enforce the laws on the books. here.ot they went through the process and had an opportunity to go before a judge or not appear. anre was a final order by immigration judge who said to deport them. finalnot follow a judge's

order. i think we need to have order at the border. host: one of the stories is hillary clinton. she says the attorneys for the younger ones. do you think that is the right way to go? guest: the federal law does not call for a right to have -- to fund an attorney. they can get an attorney. if the private sector or the nonprofits can provide that, that is one thing. i want to have more attorneys represent those kids. we have to do what the law requires. if they don't have the right to stay here, we have to enforce the law. i believe in immigration reform.

we have to adhere. host: who is affected by this deportation? walk us to the specifics. guest: they are going after adults. -- ihey have children understand. that's why we need to have immigration reform. there is some unfairness in the system. there are thousands of cubans coming into venezuela. 2015, about 45,000 cubans that came in. policy, theder the cuban adjustment act, all i have to do is get here. they can become a resident event fast paced citizenship. they can get federal benefits.

there is a sense of unfairness about treating people. host: henry cuellar is our guest. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. our first call is from tony. good morning and go ahead. caller: good morning. i like you. a someone asked me is pedro republican or democrat, i would never be able to tell. congressman, i am a democrat. great,status quo is so how can you explain donald trump and bernie sanders -- by the way, bernie sanders', initials b.w.

s. you know it is going to be a lovefest tonight. there was a song during the vietnam war about a river where a lieutenant was pushing his troops through a river. the line from that song is, "we muddyeck deep in the big pushhe big fool set to on." america, with trump an sanders, do not feel that way. guest: sorry to hear that. tell me about the question. host: he talked about how americans view the state of the union and related to teams like

donald trump is expressing on the campaign trail. he seem to think it is not as rosy as everybody thinks. guest: i think the president is going to paint a brighter future, knowing there are challenges we are facing. there are some candidates. down.st guy is falling it is a matter of perspective, how you see the world. i do understand there are challenges. unemployment rate has gone down. 50,000 jobsing 7 a month. it is all a matter of how we see the world. i think the american public wants to find a leader that will

be looking at how we make tomorrow better and hopefully some of the improvements we need to make. host: republican line from chico, california. been a lifelong republican. up until the last seven years. thate notice from day one president obama has been unlistened toand and altered in everything he is trying to do from day one. the republicans have said they would try to make him a one-term president. i am disappointed in the republican party. the republicans have done nothing but waste time trying to

overturn the affordable care act. they have gotten nothing done because they are a do nothing congress, and we have seen most progress fromss congress and any other time in history. anything that has gotten done has been by democrats and obama's executive orders. why has the republican party income such a racist, do-nothing party. they are disgusting. host: we will let our guest respond. guest: thank you for that question. my parents taught me we have to treat everybody with respect. i think the same thing applies

in congress. we might have a republican congress, a democratic president. we have to treat each other with respect. if we have disagreements, let's work out a consensus. they could not say the word "consensus," because they thought that was giving up principles. there are some things where people can work together and talk to each other. the moment they walked to the floor of the house and senate, they go to the party one way or another. american,ocrat and texan. and then a democrat. a time somebody puts party before their job, they are not really doing their job. if you vote republican or

democrat when you get up here, you can send anybody appear. it has become so partisan. hopefully that will change. host: gary, hi, there. caller: i wanted to say something about the recent incident that happened at the trump outing. when you have a group of people who are in a certain spirit or mood, whether it is a sporting group, tony kind of call it a mob mentality when people take on the sensibility of the people around them. you have a person who comes into an area wearing a shirt that is unfamiliar to them, with

different writing and foreign language and stand up and provoke the situation to get a rise out of people. fault asst as much at bringing about the feeling in have awd, because people tribal feeling if there is a protest or anything like that. if one person provokes them, in their ignorance, is just as bad for the media two pretrade this is all trump's feeling that way. guest: i have been in politics for a while and you know what you're talking about. they are doing that for a purpose, to get some kind of

reaction. you let folks have their own rally, whether you agree or disagree with what they are saying. the best way to make your views known is to make sure you vote. i know exactly what you are talking about, when you have a heckler in the crowd and they disrespect the speaker. it is one of the situations where they are doing that for a particular purpose. we know they are trying to get a reaction, and hopefully one that is covered by the media. host: there was a recent headline saying this policy causing some infighting on this issue. do you see that happening amongst people of your own party? guest: i think a lot of democrats do want it stopped.

ineel that i believe immigration reform. you go through the legal process. you might have an argument. they did not show up. i can understand that. decision andade a we have to follow the orders of the judge. it was not appealed. theave been to some of immigration meetings. one-time it was not a and first time. they have given the time to hire an attorney. within the democratic party, there are a lot of folks --

believing in immigration reform, we have to follow the law on the books. host: you have crossed swords on this issue before. talk about why you take the stance you do. guest: look, a lot of times people who live the furthest from the border have the strongest opinion. i lived on the border. i understand the constituents from the border. my area is mainly hispanic. my hometown is 96% hispanic. the most hispanic city percentagewise. we are families, immigrants. the people want to see order at the border. they do not want to see chaos.

people want to make sure they come in the legal way. my father became a legal resident. he found the legal way to do this. people want to see order. everybody talks about being bipartisan. what happened? democrats would say, what are you doing working with that republican? always said was that we are going to have more judges. i finally got on the appropriations bill we added 55 new immigration judges. central americans are going to be treated the way we treat canadians and mexicans. if they do not have a right to stay here, they can go back a lot faster by the way we treat

thteem. just trying to treat everybody the same way. we were trying to make this even but it became emotional. immigration is a very emotional topic. let's have some law and order. have folks from outside the border tell us they know the border better, i do not think that is best. host: our guest is henry cuellar . he sits on the housing committee any good amount of experience i was secretary of state and a u.s. customs broker. what was that? guest: focusing on international trade. host: carlos from texas. thank both of to

you from being there on tv and letting us ask all these questions. i am learning a lot from the questions. my name is carlos. i was born in texas but i was brought up in corpus christi. i have picked cotton all my life. my grandfather, father, everybody was born in texas, corpus christi. when someone asks, what part of mexico is your family? we do not have to be in mexico. we were born in texas. texas was mexico. i could not speak english, could not read, could not write. military.ted into the

i was in the army, the army reserve, the army national guard. we are letting all these other -- they wereere getting people from africa to work there. they are paying them, giving them an education. the people in the united states cannot get a job. host: carlos, thank you. guest: thank you for your service as a veteran. i appreciate everything.

my father and mother went to the same way -- my father was born in mexico. my mom was born in texas. they were migrant workers. they would go to the north to be migrant workers. i understand your background. reform, my father became a legal resident and a naturalized citizen. that process takes a long time. inefficiencies, talking about a sense of fairness -- some people come in and jump everybody. don't want to pick on cubans, but they do have a preferential treatment. they can come and come all they the coast guard has been pushing them back. now, they are going in in the thousands, flying to ecuador and

they go by land through columbia and costa rica and all the way up to mexico and a lot of them come through texas. 24,000 and 2014. almost 45,000 last year. were 8000 trying to make their way up there and the united states. their policy is very simple under the 1980 -- 1966, they touch land, they come to the border to a bridge and say here i am. they get their piece of paper and they can fly anywhere they want to. it was a 1980 law that basically federal them immediate benefits paid whether it's food stamps or housing, whethe atever the federal benefits, they get them immediately.

i'm working to eliminate that because it is not fair. we have to bring a sense of fairness when it comes to immigration reform and we need to do immigration reform in a bipartisan way. i washington, d.c. democrats line. jeremiah, high. -- our washington, d.c. democrats line. jeremiah, hi. caller: i grew up on the border in san diego, california. i'm a bit confused by your language. can pivot the conversation back to your point about president barack obama and his lack of work, the indication that he somehow failed latinos. passed the health care law and the congress killed immigration reform post midterm elections. we did not anticipate that we would lose both houses.

considering one other point -- california is now a state.y latino with individuals on our fence -- it is nowhere near what it was when i grew up. what i'm almost hearing from you, we need more border protection and more walls. show walls do not keep people out. do you want to include a path to citizenship? guest: thank you again. san diego does cross a lot of people. my hometown is the largest lan support in the country. we get 14,000 a day from mexico.

trade is very important. you put some words in my mouth. i never said -- i've spoken against the wall. i do not want to see a wall. i want to see more bridges. when i talk about law and order come i want to see sensible border security. no walls -- we don't need that. when we talk about national guard come on not talking about that. i live on the border, i understand the border and i know what works at the border itself. walls are not it. i never said that at all. is, april of 20 09, the hispanic caucus asked the president to make this a priority. when he ran in 2008, he said he would make it a priority. we asked him point-blank, will he make immigration reform right

away? he said he was too busy to do it at that time. we had a majority in the house and the senate. of democrats. we had an opportunity to do this. then when the republicans take over, we put blame on the republicans. it is the blame of both democrats and republicans for not passing immigration reform. i'm telling you the ways the facts are without adding any words to that. we need to have sensible immigration reform. a pathway to citizenship, yes, i can support that. but again, we have to do it in such a way that we don't jump the people who up and waiting for a long, long, long time. my father waited for a long time to become a naturalized citizen. i don't think it is fair to make those people -- why believe in amnesty? no way.

some sort of pathway to citizenship or even legalization is something i can support. host: george appeared independent line. david is next. caller: good morning, gentlemen. of civics to a bit this morning? i call on the independent line because all these people that run around going on a republican, i'm a democrat, they forget one thing. this is america. americans first. in the constitution, which are house representatives in the speaker himself yesterday said , says ino be following the first section that we deserve one representative for every 30,000 people. how did we wind up with this mess that we have today? as our elected representatives

in washington are not even able to just follow the very first part of our constitution. representatives that interface with fewer people. at a local level. wonderfule to your town of laredo, a beautiful town -- you think you can hide from the 30,000 people that you represent and do what some of these politicians do on capitol hill? guest: right now, we represent 710,000 people. 30,000.of representing we would have a huge amount of each member of congress would represent 30,000.

i understand what you are saying. the closer we are to the people, the better it is. every week, i don't stay up. washington. i go back to my district. -- i don't stay up here in washington. it is very important that we washingtonized where you think the issues we talk about are the issues we talk about. when i'm in my district, the issues we talk about are so different. talk about water and sewage and education. bridges,asic things, construction, that's what they want to talk about. in washington, we talk about it and say the topics like repealing the health care law 63 times -- do you think people are sing that back in the district? of course not. i understand when you are saying

and i agree that we should come here and people who are ready to roll up their sleeves to represent our districts, our states and our country, not represent a party. there are democrats and republicans that do represent their party first and that is unfortunate. host: a story in the texas tribune that talks about the federal budget that was passed. nearly $1 billion will go for funding the mexico -- two guest: i was highly involved in that effort to put in $750 million to help central american countries. along with a republican chairwoman from texas. let me tell you why we did this. onspend $18 billion a year border security. we play defense on the one yard line.

i understand that part i lived there. live there. we are trying to expand and play difference o defense on the 20 d line. the more we can do to work with the central american countries so less people come over here, the better it is. once they come over here, it will be a lot more expensive. last year, one thing we were shifted $80we million to help mexico secure the southern border. those $80 million to secure the border with what amal mexico, did you know it is a six-month period that mexico stop and deported 92,000 people? and aborted 70,000. mexico did a better job than we did. -- deported 70,000.

we have to work with our neighbors to secure our borders. host: how does the money get used? who gets oversight to make sure it does what it's supposed to? guest: that money goes to central america. the $750 million goes to central america. we don't go deposit money in anybody's bank. we work with the state department, there is an account ability process. accountability process. we provide equipment, license plate aders, whatever the equivalent might be. we hand it over to them under strict monitoring and accountability.

nobody gives them any money. anytime we talk about mexico and , i see therica difference because we give israel every year $3.1 billion. nobody talks about how we spend that money. the $5 five members of billion club -- israel gets $3.1 billion. egypt gets over $1 billion. pakistan gets over $1 billion. afghanistan gets over $1 billion. jordan gets over $1 billion. we provide assistance to mexico and central america and people are talking about, hey, how are we -- how do we know that they are not corrupt? of course we are concerned about taxpayers money. either we pay now or we pay much more later. let's hear from lawrence in illinois. republican line.

diaz.: buenos -- dias. i have two points to make. one for you and one for c-span. is, it is amment shame that you and the gentleman on before you from texas were not together. hope forgive me america because both of you guys speak logically, you understand the complex issues concerning things like immigration or the affordable care act. when you talk about immigration reform my like the fact that you don't use the word "cover hands "comprehensive." that means you change everything. you don't change multiple variables at the same time. listening to you speak gives me

hope for the country. your logical speak does not hurt you in any future elections in texas. maybe some democrats don't like the way you are speaking. i like the way you speak. i have a complaint about c-span. you guys do a great job and i understand that you have a lot of people with different opinions calling in. you allowed to much time for people to call in that just basically want to badmouth the other side. they have nothing new to contribute. many of the things they say are completely false. i know if you spend your time correcting people making false statements it would take up your there.agenda o i don't understand how so many people call in with the same comments over and over again, just bashing one group or the other.

because of the color of their skin or because of their political affiliation or what have you. you guys need to do something better with the screeners -- the few times i have called in, they ask you what your comment is. if people are calling in and their common is just to say all of this party and all of that , wey is a terrible thing are just wasting valuable airtime and we should not do that because c-span could be much better. host: thank you for calling. we take what we get as far as calls that come through. lawrence, whicmuchas gracias. he is a republican, i'm a democrat, but we work together. we worked on transportation issues together.

this is what we want. a people come in and put political party first when they come to washington, they can send anybody because all they have to do is ask one question. what is my party want me to do? the merck and public wants people to come here and be able to think, be independent and do what is in the best interest of the country. -- the american public. don't mind rolling up my sleeves and getting criticized by my own party. i will represent first my district, my party comes after that. host: from washington state, bill is next. democrats line. caller: good morning. i have something important the american people should know. what the corporate party, republicans will do if they win this next election. it will happen because mitch mcconnell is talking about

eliminating the filibuster after they filibustered 400 times while they were in. they want to privatize social security, medicare, public schools, health care, prisons, eliminate minimum wage unions -- minimum wage, unions. if the democrats don't have the filibuster. hopefully the american people , putget their act together a stop to this nonsense because this country would be in a terrible mess if we they had total control. i want your opinion about this. would you let me know if i'm right on? guest: thank you again. i don't serve in the senate, i serve in the house. the filibuster rule, that is something the senate has to

address. let me address that point this way. it doesn't matter who is in the majority today. tomorrow, it could be some of the else. , that change the rules will apply to the second person. some of the rules and some of is to makens we have sure that we don't have a simple majority overrunning everything. there is a reason why there were 60 votes to get a bill on the floor of the senate. we don't have to rush in right away and have everything pass on simple majority. i hope that whoever is the republican -- the pendulum does swing. they might be in charge right now. today is not forever. some of the issues you mentioned

, there are some issues that you mentioned that i don't agree with. privatize asian of social security, issues like that. privatization of social security. there are votes we take that are just a political message. health care repeal 63 times. political message. i voted for health care. i do understand that there are some changes to be made on health care. we've got to extremes. republicans want to repeal the whole thing. they don't have a replacement. on the other side, democrats don't want to change a single word. it is not a perfect bill. repeal and modify the things that don't work. that is the way you work consensus. host: there is a picture of

anthony and his dad. guest: they are my guests. the fifth-grader is a guest coming in, first time in washington, d.c. for him and his dad. they are from laredo. from the doctor henry cuellar of mentors goal. somebody i know. -- elementary school. somebody i know. i hope this kid gets a good education and after that, maybe he will take my place. host: henry cuellar from the appropriations committee thank you for your time. coming up, we will revisit the state of the union. c-span's coverage starts at 8:00 this evening. we want to talk to you about what you think of the state of the union. what you want to hear.

what it says about president obama's legacy. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. .ndependents, 202-748-8002 we had a chance to talk with president obama's former senior adviser for communication. he spoke of the commonwealth club in california. he was asked about how the white house changed its approach the state of the union. [video clip] wouldthought in 2015 we spend time thinking about how we can engage people more with the state of the union. we divided the viewers and designed content for each of them. the first group is your television watchers, people who watch it on tv. that is easy. you make sure they know it is on tv and you write a good speech

and have the president deliver it well. the second group will be people withill watch it on tv their phone or ipad or computer. the two screen experience. we have a set of content that would highlight moments of the speech, infographics that highlight parts of the speech from additional information, photos and short videos that would provide depth and new uance. the third group were people watching it entirely online. google, we try to drive people to the white house website. river of get that content. the last group, people who will never watch it on television, on demand or on their phone.

how can we engage those people? we did a couple of things. was we puttable one out the text of the state of the union in advance. people who were part of that speech. would see the as president obama prepared for his state of the union address, he released this video on twitter. >> i'm working on my state of the union address. it's my last one. i keep thinking about the road we traveled these last seven years. our capacity to change for the makes america great. our ability to come together as one american family and pull ourselves closer to the america we believe in. it is hard to see sometimes. it is who we are. it is what i want to focus on. >> c-span's coverage starts

tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern sith senate historian looking back at the history and tradition of the president's annual message and what to expect in this year's address. at 9:00, our live coverage of the president's speech followed by response from nikki haley. on c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org. we will re-air our state of the union coverage and the republican response starting at 11 p.m. eastern. , we wille on c-span2 hear from members of congress. their reaction to the president's address. "washington journal" continues. host: the state of the union and president obama's legacy. we want to hear your thoughts. 202-748-8000 for democrats.

202-748-8001 for republicans. .02-748-8002 for independents usa today talks about what happens after tonight. the road to various parts of the united states to talk about the teams that will be covered tonight. administration will continue with speeches in nebraska, louisiana and michigan over the next two weeks. that is an usa today this morning. theou go to the pages of advocate in baton rouge, what will take place in baton rouge.

the advocate adding the highlightnt will the state gains come including the drop in the unemployment and new aid for louisiana's early childhood education. a bit of what happens after tonight's speech. we want to hear from you about the speech and what it says about the president's legacy. ryan in washington. democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. there are a accomplishments by the president -- i hope he mentions that last year, we sold more cars in the united states -- the auto industry in the unite states sold more cars than in history last year. the dramatic increase in the economy, the housing

market has rebounded. , heilled osama bin laden got jihadi john. millions of people now have health insurance. is just incredible what this president has been able to accomplish without any help from the republican party. , can anybodysle by this accomplishment republican-controlled congress? all they have done is sit on their hands, take vacation after vacation and barely work at all. we could havele, so much more done if the republicans got up off their and participate. host: tony in little rock, arkansas. independent line. caller: good morning.

my biggest concern is the disease that has been ailing us from the very beginning of the great migration when we had a italians and other ethnic groups coming to the united states. they were giving and all of branch -- given an olive branch and designated in the census as white. without assimilation came this blacks.nd racism of accepted,o be assimilation was you had to think and feel the same way we do about black people. so, they did that. i see the same thing happening when you are going to get a job and they say you have to be

bilingual. my son is very intelligent. i have my masters degree. break, he this over was at a friends house, he and a couple of his friends were in the kitchen and it was a hispanic person's house. they said, you three black people, what are you doing here? hispanics are becoming more and more racist against blacks. assimilation, we want resources and jobs. racism in our country that is making us week. host: susan from waco, texas. independent line. caller: good morning. i will not watch tonight. the legacy he left. 1940's.rn in the late

i've never seen this country so divided. we need a leader. i just feel like the legacy he is leaving -- i've never seen so much of the country so divided. i marched in the civil rights movement come i protested the vietnam war, i am an independent. grandchildren. it is sad, very, very sad, the state of this country. i hope we can all come together and realize we do have to work together. if i can come i would like to make one more comment. at the donald trump rally currently has a pending lawsuit against the airlines she works for.

she was definitely a plant. we in america are a lot smarter than our congress and president gives us credit for. host: susan in waco, texas. the white house released a video that showed a bit of preparation going on for tonight's speech. and the president's thoughts on what he wants to a couple is. >> i want is to say we cannot think of anything else -- we did not shy away from a challenge because it was hard. tired or we are thinking about the next thing. there is no next thing. this is it. we have a chance to do as much of it as we do right now.

i want to make sure we maximize it. host: the wall street journal this morning says it was an e-mail to supporters last week where the white house chees chif of staff highlighted the president's accomplishments. the president's address expected to include overviews of u.s. efforts to combat islamic state. let's hear from randy in north dakota. the public mind. that's republican line. -- republican line. caller: the one highlight of his legacy is getting bin laden. i give him credit for that. economy is doing wonderful in new york and d.c.

the jobs being created are not jobs people can survive on. i hope republicans and independents go to the polls. trump as thenald nominee. host: charles in baton rouge, louisiana. democrats line. caller: hello. thank you for taking my call. we're very excited to welcome the president to baton rouge on thursday. i'm extremely proud of the president for his work on health care and for confronting the nra on gun violence. let me touch on health care again. if we don't do something about providers not accepting medicaid patients, we will end up with a segregated health system. we will have to combat that. one last point i want to make. we understand you are the party

of fear and fright. democrats and independents will not be scared into voting for four more years of war rhetoric and wasting $7 trillion like we did in afghanistan and iraq. host: the wall street journal has able or from the campaign trail. hillary clinton's campaign. making the wealthiest americans pay higher taxes. the front page of the washington times highlights the debate that

takes place in south carolina this weekend. fiorina and rand paul. the candidates will be ben carson, chris christie, jeb bush , john kasich. mr. paul is being relegated to the undercard with ms. fiorina. he told cnn he would not accept the invitation to participate. he does not view himself as a second-tier candidate. jarrod up next in lyndhurst, virginia. independent line. concernedm really with the things that are happening in this country. i worked for a defense contractor in the 1990's. i saw a decline in the services being provided to this country. contractors were not even based in america.

hopefully our country is going admit how bad things really are so we can try to fix them. it is sad, but true that we will have to. host: gregory from state college, pennsylvania. republican line. caller: thank you. i would like to commend the president for striking a or what we cante expect to hear tonight. ,specially after last year which was a watershed year. reconstruction dominated by zeal. morenot think of anything symbolic of a wall than what the republican congress is presenting after all this time.

i can see the emergence of a new america, which is more inclusive. colombia, puerto rico, cuba. these lines that artificial are nothing more than cannon fodder for the antagonists of this country. all this speech about bringing things together will come to fruition, we will start ignoring these lines and especially walls like our friend donald trump proposes to build. state of the union's coverage starts at 8:00 this evening. -- the state of the union tonight. c-span's coverage starts at 8:00 this evening. this is the wall street journal this morning.

rule changes being made to the affordable care act when it comes to signing up. that is in the wall street journal. if you go to the pages of the ,ashington post this morning the kentucky governor saying he is following through on a --paign pledge

two transition residence to the federal site for health coverage. to transition residents to the federal site for health coverage. back to calls. terry in alexandria, virginia. democrats line. caller: hello? host: you are on. caller: there's something i want to say. let me start off with this. i hope i'm still around in 10 years when a lot of people will be charged with being unpatriotic. republicans the

about any whining administration that is 10 to do good when all they can do is whine and have theories that are bogus. -- an administration that is trying to do good. this country would be much better off if they would do their jobs. host: we are talking about the state of the union. ernie from orange park, 40. republican line. -- from orange park, florida. republican line. caller: i haven't thought about the gun control law that he is

putting into executive order. as far as the mental health issue or portion of it, i'm wondering, you know that can open up a virtual pandora's box. people with minor depression or something like that might not be able to get a firearm if they choose to do so. host: we will continue on with your call. taking a look at the state of the union. may story york times talks about the presidential medal of freedom. it takes a look at a new report that takes a look at the presidential administration, how they treated the medal of freedom, how many did given out and whom they have given it to. joining us on the phone to talk about that process is kyle, a political science assistant professor. good morning. guest: thank you for having me on today.

host: can we start with what the purpose of the middle o medal of freedom is? guest: this was established by president kennedy in 1963. a national medal that would recognize a variety of civilian a accomplishments. they could recognize arts, civil rights work, humanitarian efforts, philanthropic efforts. a wide variety of different accomplishments. a president is that free will to choose whomever he would like to cast this honor to? guest: that is the case. the president can take recommendations from the public, members of congress. , it is an unchecked way for the president to exercise a symbolic form of unilateral exec the power. -- executive power. host: you and a team of re taking a look work on th

edal.e middle guest: we wanted to see if this unilateral exercise of executive power had any implications for public opinion. they would examine things like signing statements coming second of orders, pardons, commutations, things of that nature. no one had taken a look at medals of freedom. this is a way for the president to associate himself with a group of individuals in a very high profile and prominent manner. seeing,interested in does this increase the president's approval ratings after having a presidential medal ceremony. we did not see any evidence that it improves their approval rating put a disproportionate

number is -- what a disproportionate number is given towards the end of office. host: tell us how democrats and republicans have done as far as honors. these who were standouts on both sides? guest: we've seen a steady increase over time in the number of presidential medals that have been awarded. president obama has awarded more medals of freedom to date than any other president. he still has another year left in his term. before that, bill clinton and ronald reagan had awarded the most. is the tend to see president awarding more of these metals to folks in public service or even officeholders. there are some differences in

the achievements that republicans and democrats tend to value and recognize. presidents are disproportionately more likely to recognize individuals with military service. democrats tend to favor of folks who have contributed to the labor movement or civil rights movement. we do see some differences there. democrats are also more likely to award the presidential medal of freedom to racial and ethnic minorities compared to their republican counterparts. host: do these ceremonies involved any controversy? about who he gets this award to? guest: there's some minor controversy. something has cropped up more recently with the bill cosby scandal. mr. cosby recently been charged with criminal actions in pennsylvania.

calls to rescind the presidential medal of freedom that mr. cosby received from george w. bush. there's also been some polarizing medal of freedom recipients. this last presidential medal of freedom ceremony, barbra streisand received a medal from president obama. be a bit of a lightning rod for folks on the conservative side. president george w. bush awarded a medal to george tenet. concerns with intelligence failures. nothing too high profile over the 50 plus year history of the medal of freedom. host: we've talked about a lot of aspects of your part. if someone wanted to read it,

work and they go? -- where can they go? website undero my the research section, we have a link to a draft version of the paper. it will be available shortly in the new england journal of political science. withpaper was co-authored fletcher mcclellan, christopher and two of my former students who are now at georgetown university law center. talking about the research he and others have done on the presidential medal of freedom. thank you for your time. guest: have a great day. host: back to your calls, taking a look at the state of the union. karen from morgan. independent line. -- from oregon. caller: i'm formerly a republican. with theunhappy

direction of the country. i believe obama's legacy will be division of the country, both with race relations and the direction of the country. he refused to even compromise with republicans. i'm very unhappy with the republicans. they constantly cave. he focuses more on his legacy and his name for himself. we will hear about obamacare for years to come. smiley had an interview she did say it was a mistake to focus the a year of time on obamacaree

instead of jobs. how many houses were foreclosed decisionesult of his to focus on obamacare? host: call from north carolina. democrats line. i would like to bring up the point that during the elections last time and the time before, one of the key points that was pushed was campaign reform. soeen any and all. the super pacs are driving the country. all the problems with obamacare stem from the super pacs and so forth where the insurance companies were inserted into the middle of trying to provide driven publicly. the insurance companies had a

vested interest. we've not seen any type of legislation or anything directed at curbing or reducing the amount these big corporations can give. as a result, we are having an insuranceriven by companies and it's led to our country as a corporate aristocracy, whoever can pay the most money has the most representation. the american citizens, the working class and everybody else is being run roughshod over. the only candidate up their running a clean campaign is bernie sanders. he is not carried by the insurance companies, energy and so on. up.eed to stand that's why we've got such a parade of clowns right now running for office. host: the washington times has a

chart that looks at the length of the presidential speech. speechinton in 2000, his lasted one hour 28 minutes. it highlights the fact that the speeches last for about an hour. comparing it to republican presidents with george w. bush h's being under one hour. you can find that chart in the washington times this morning. janet in new york. republican line. caller: i'm offended by the different immigrants coming in and taking over our country. this is not islam. this is the united states of america. i will honor all our veterans who have fought for our rights.

in clayton, north carolina. independent line. caller: i won't watch it. he will give everything he's a 10 minuteld be speech. this man is the worst president in my lifetime. i think this man has ruined the country. i hope the republicans an independents get out and vote for someone. i'm so glad this is his last one. host: the hill reports that

among the attendees tonight will be the kentucky clerk who was recently jailed for refusing to hand out marriage licenses to gay couples. she will attend the state of the union. lucy from glenwood, iowa. republican line. hi.ler: i would like to comment on that gentleman you had up there from texas about immigration. when carter passed immigration foot, cubans, it was wet dry foot. flooding are just across our southern border and i guarantee you, some of them even said they are coming over even

they know the next president -- i'm all for supporting him. donald trump is giving people -- the illegal aliens here -- he has three drivers licenses in california, he can vote three times out there. he's getting welfare from iowa and colorado. three whole welfare checks for him and his tickets. his two kids. he's never filed taxes in his life. this garbage has to be cut out. i know that trump will shut this garbage down. host: public union fees the topic of a new supreme court yesterday. heard -- stephen --mond says

paul from from california. independent line. caller: my name is paul. i would like to comment on no matter what president goes up there, they can never do what they need to do because congress -- they have to go through. no matter what they need to do, they never get to do it. they get voted down, they get pushed and they cannot pass a bill. lady on immigration --

report him. mexico --n about [indiscernible] sheila in philadelphia, pennsylvania. democrats line. caller: i just woke up and i heard all the complaints. i'm so sick of it. democrats, black, white, mexican, islam -- we are all in this together. if you are low income, moderate income, we are all struggling. i've watched my kids struggling. ,y daughter was so wrapped up she made $250,000 a year and she became so entangled in how much

i earn, how pretty my houses -- my daughter died friday. that house, that car, none of that is going to get you where you got ago. -- where you've got to go. obama did plenty for the mortgage industry, let me tell you. the the industry started, economy was based on hamilton's principal and all you have to do is watch c-span and pbs to see what obama did. we have all kinds of mortgage things to say peoples mortgages. they refused to go because it was obama. people did not even know about the programs and he said it every time he spoke. philadelphia.rom

the washington post blog this morning, just posted this about nikki haley. the most important thing she can -- kelly from maryland. republican line. jump right in. caller: it is funny that you brought up -- that's what i wanted to talk about. not onlyte inability on the democratic side, but on the republican side as well.

to listen and negotiate and make concessions. it's people like paul ryan who are the more more reasonable voice in the room. host: it is time for the house of representatives to come in. have a good day. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] aker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., january 12, 2016. i hereby appoint the honorable doug lamalfa to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, paul d. ryan, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 5, 2016, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to five minutes,