>> coming up, your reaction to last night's state of the union address will stop >> that's why i stand here as confident as i ever been, that the state of our union is strong. againpresident obama once describing the state of our union as strong and good morning, everyone. we will spend today's washington journal getting your reaction to the president's final state of the union to the country last night. minutes 44 seconds, his shortest of his presidency. he spent 15 minutes on foreign policy, 12 on politics, eight on the economy and 3.5 on the climate. the audience applauded 70 times. on twitter about 1.8 million

tweets with the #sotu. what is your reaction? democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents 202-748-8002 202-748-8002,. to facebook and send an e-mail. we will get to those phone calls in just a minute. first, want to show you one moment from president obama's address last night when he talked about the fight against isis. it is getting a lot of reaction, especially from the candidates on the campaign trail. [video clip] president obama: as we focus on destroying isis come over the top claims that this is world war iii play into their hands. fighters on the back of pickup trucks, twisted souls plotting

in apartments and garages, they pose an enormous danger to civilians, they have to be stopped. but they do not threaten our national existence. [applause] president obama: that is the story isil wants to tell. that is the propaganda they used .o recruit we do not need to build them up to show them we are serious. awayre don't need to push vital allies in this by echoing the lies that isil is somehow representative of one of the world's largest religions. [applause] president obama: we need to call

them what they are. killers and fanatics. who have to be rooted out, hunted down and destroyed. [applause] president obama: that's exactly what we are doing. for more than a year in america has led a coalition of more than 60 countries to cut off their financing, disrupt their plots, stop the flow of terrorist fighters, stamp out to their vicious ideology. ,ith nearly 10,000 airstrikes we are taking out their leadership, their oil, their training camps, their weapons. we are training, arming and supporting forces who are steadily reclaiming territory in iraq and syria. if this congress is serious about winning this war and wants to send a message to our troops in the world come authorize the use of military force against is

il. take a vote. [applause] vote.ent obama: take a [applause] president obama: the american people should know that with or without congressional action, isil will learn the same lessons that terrorists before them. host: president obama addressed the fight against isis. john mcardle has more on the reaction to what the president had to say. host: the headline from usa today's politics section late last night. this obama before and after the state of the union. on twitter, they were going after the president during the state of the union address and that part of the speech you just played was one of those moments that several of the republican candidates were quick to react to. -- bush

dr. benjamin carson -- marco rubio's statement -- huckabee wrote on twitter -- senator ted cruz -- speech --mp after the of course, that debate in the comments from the republican president to candidates sure to continue tomorrow. debate business network taking place in north charleston tomorrow night at 9:00.

let's get to be were reaction to last night's state of the union. brett in d.c. independent. caller: good morning. i enjoyed president obama's rhetoric. it means different things to different people. i liked his reference to liberty being redefined. i'm not sure he meant the international. he can redefine that for me. i appreciate people who defined liberties. as far as the republican response come i like the fact that nikki haley thinks immigrants should respect our traditions. for me, the truth can be disarming. i'm not sure unconditional love can rule the day. disarming truth for me was

someone came up to me one time with a baseball bat and asked me, when is this raises some deleted? i said maybe sometimes people like to be with their own kind. at which time, my skull got fractured. at thed people who work to of the spear, you guys and stay angry at there. host: marie and worn, michigan. democrat. warren, michigan. democrat. caller: i thought he done very well. it's a shame that we have a congress that cannot work with the president for the last seven years. and have the nerve to collect a paycheck. and man has tried so hard to see that nobody can see what he is try to do and put our country back on track -- seven years lost. they could not come up with an

agreement on anything. host: take a look at the wall street journal. they put this headline. they write --

president obama talking about compromise last night. [video clip] president obama: democracy grinds to a halt without a willingness to come from as. -- compromise. or when basic facts are contested or when we listen only to those who agree with us. our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get all the attention. most of all, democracy breaks down when the average person feels their voice doesn't matter. that the system is rigged in favor of the rich or powerful or some special interest. too many americans feel that way right now. it's one of the few regrets of my presidency. that the rancor and suspicion

between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. doubt come a president with the gets of lincoln or roosevelt might have better bridge the divide. i will keep trying to be better as long as i hold this office. president obama talking about compromise with the new speaker of the houses sitting behind him during that last state of the union address. the wall street journal notes in their story this morning that the speaker clapped only once. the two men have yet to meet come although the paper has said that a formal meeting is in the works. judy in washington. independent. good morning to you. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. about the speech last night, if you can call it that, i'm so ashamed of saying that this man is our president. he has created so much chaos in this world. and will not own up to any of

it. he's the first one to point his fingers at the american people saying once again it is our fault. you honestly think love is going to change the world? are you kidding me? obama, you up to remember something. he's the first african-american president. he is black and he is white. --call that host: dan. republican. caller: the speech was more of an inauguration/political rally. explanationa lot of of the progress our country is made. it was more about potential. it did not have the flavor of here's the things we've done and how great things are. .t was highly apologetic full of a lot of regret. which goes against the way he

ended it, sing we are stronger than ever. i have to disagree with the speech. -- saying we are stronger than ever. host: what about his requests to congress? should republican work with him on those issues? caller: they should work with him on trade. there's a lot to be done there. the criminal justice reform is very difficult. the way he has refused to follow the laws that we have will make it difficult for him to get any relaxation in that area. the entire time eric holder was attorney general, he really burned that bridge. anchorage, alaska. jacob is an independent. what are your thoughts? aller: my thoughts echo constitutional law professor from the university chicago who taught obama. he said obama would always hurry

past on his way out of class. he was keeping his cards close to his chest because his political career was more important. that's what i saw in this state of the union address. even though he was a constitutional law professor, he doesn't understand the difference between mala prohibitive, victimless crimes -- that is an illegitimate category of law. that is the entire purpose of the bill of rights. host: frank in pennsylvania could democrat. -- frank in pennsylvania. democrat. caller: i thought it was just beautiful. but these people have to realize is this gentleman was not picked because of his race, he was picked because he's the best they had out there. he has proven it time and time again. if they would just work with

him, we would have a lot more things out of the way. they want to fight him for one particular reason. god bless as democrats who keep in his corner. these people, man -- he is coming along. he is pure at heart and he means well for all the country. my prayers go with him and the country. we are coming together as one. these republicans come i don't see what they do. they are a bunch of insane people. -- brian lam is a beautiful person. host: you said god bless democrats to stick together. take a look at this headline in the washington times.

democrats not fully embrace the president on trade or his illegals policies. deportation rates ahead of last night's date of the union address -- denouncing what the president has done on this issue. here is the hill newspaper this morning with this headline. the senate headed toward a fight over refugee cause. there is that refugee issue. it's also the central american one. this from reuters today. they are seeing another uptick in central americans coming from those countries into the united states despite efforts by the obama administration to discourage migration.

youth traveling without rebels and families migrating together without traveling relatives and families migrating together -- the letter that was sent by the democrats, reuters reports that in a statement, commitment gutierrez said 146 of the house democrats had signed this letter to the president asking him to halt these deportations. -- congressman gutierrez said. to vincent in toll suck

him oklahoma. republican. tulsa, oklahoma. republican. , in thei saw on pbs primary come i will vote for rubio. host: why is that? caller: i have three chances to vote. my mom and aunt will vote republican and my dad will say hillary. host: the gop response last night was given by governor nikki haley of south carolina. hasmoment in her response gotten a lot of reaction from the conservative wing of the republican party. [video clip] >> we need to be honest with each other and with ourselves. while democrats in washington bear much responsibility for the problems facing america today, they do not bear it alone.

there's more than enough blame to go around. we as republicans need to own that truth. we need to recognize our contributions to the erosion of the public trust in america's leadership. we need to accept that we played a role in how and why our government is broken. and then, we need to fix it. the foundation that has made america that last best hope on earth has not gone anywhere. it still exists. it is up to us to return to it. for me, that starts right where it always has. i'm the proud daughter of indian immigrants who reminded my brothers, my sister and me every day how blessed we were to live in this country. south, up in the rural my family did not look like a neighbors. we did not have much. there were times that were tough, but we had each other. and we had the opportunity to do anything, be anything come as

long as we were willing to work for it. my story is not much different from millions of other americans. immigrants have been coming to our shores for generations to live the dream that is america. they want it better for their children than for themselves. that remains the dream of all of us. in this country, we've seen time and again that that dream is achievable. host: nikki haley giving the response from the republican party last night to the president's last state of the union address. john mcardle with more reaction. host: the establishment wing of the republican party universal in its praise for nikki haley yesterday after her response. this from speaker paul ryan.

,itch mcconnell -- she means it because she has worked to deliver it. some conservatives questioning who nikki haley was directing her response to. ounshell wrote -- on red state -- more pointed criticism on twitter. ingraham -- she went on to say the country is lit up with the populace fever and the gop response by

digging in, not smart. there's an coulter who tweeted out last night -- the daughter of immigrants from india, widely considered to be a ialential vice president candidate. in the spotlight later this week. happeninglican debate tomorrow night on fox business network in charleston, south a.roline appear host: betty in gaithersburg maryland. democrat. i did find it inspirational in many ways. he made a lot of points he needed to hit. he did talk about terror and going after -- he said the number one priority is to

protect the american people from terrorists. didrepublicans and say he not talk about it and he did a couple of times. that is important to remember. inspirational. we have a chance, if the republicans would take it, to lower their rhetoric, the heat of the rhetoric and try to work with him. he should try to work with them to get a few more things done. i don't have a lot of hope, but i have some. host: republican in louisville, kentucky. richard. caller: when nikki haley spoke of both sides having a bit of blame for what's going on in ,his country, i took that as for example, the omnibus bill they justassed to where everybody got their pockets full in taking care of their special interests. i do think it was also a slap at donald trump. i believe mitch mcconnell now calling for a pause on the

syrian refugees, he has already funded it. all that'su how it's republicans love to throw the word conservative around. it is a handful of conservatives in the united states congress. host: outside of congress, do you consider donald trump a conservative? caller: he has not shown me how conservative he is yet. it is now absolute shame that mitch mcconnell will not go on the senate floor and talk about ted cruz and the fact that he is an american citizen. it is an absolute shame. mitch mcconnell is -- i can't believe it. host: the state of kentucky. calling from louisville. many of you hearing this story that broke overnight about 10 u.s. sailors being detained by iran.

usa today with their headline on that. the pentagon putting out the statement this morning saying safely sailors returned to u.s. custody today after the parting iran. no indications they were harmed during their brief detention. departing iran. the sailors were transferred ashore by u.s. navy aircraft while other sailors took charge of those boats. they continued on their way to originalthe boat's destination. the navy will investigate the circumstances. we will learn more about that the tehrank with bureau chief later this morning. anthony in trenton, new jersey.

democrat. caller: i'm just calling to tell you, it was a beautiful speech from obama last night. -- i hope they do get the election next year. then, they can destroy the country like they did when bush had it. win and then let them destroy this country, let them destroy it like they did last time. he's the best president we've ever had. partyf the conservative hate him because he is black and that is reality. host: michael in alabama. independent. i live in alabama. i'm white and i don't criticize the president. i think he's done a good job. republican,g more

but sean hannity and the fox news channel pulled conservatives who are so far right, they're willing to vote anybody into office. -- that's what's wrong with politics today. host: you think president obama has done some good things. give us some examples of where you think he has done some good things. like the last caller , he's black -- skin color doesn't have anything to do with it. i hardly see anybody from or anythinglain like that. he's tried to make peace in the middle east did with the iran deal.

they're are giving him a hard time for it. nothing works out perfectly. to keep hammering and hammering. republicans have to get off the going to war crap. that has to stop. host: john in montana. republican. caller: happy new year to you. on a lighter side, did you see the article in the planes today? rozlyn and jimmy carter dancing in the streets under the headline saying "carter no longer the worst president in the united states." that's what i thought of his speech. his last speech and all he wants to do is not reach across the aisle, not talk to the americans that are republicans or independents. he wants to carry on his socialistic views and hopefully have hillary or bernie sanders carry those on.

wish he would have talked to the whole united states, not just who he thinks his special interests are. he never once reached across the aisle. it is gloom and doom for one more year. host: what do you think about the economy and what happened when he came into office? credit for him any where the unemployment rate is right now? what is your reaction? he likes to tout where the economy is. caller: i've been a small business owner for over 20 years. it's absolutely terrible. the cost of people's wages are not going up. people have dropped out of the work force, which dropped the downloyment number artificially. the people on welfare is around us. he did inherit a bad thing and i'm not a bush fan at all.

-- the people on welfare is her rent is. -- the number of people on welfare is horrendous. spoke about the economy for a little over eight minutes last night. "president obama defends his record." [video clip] obama: i believe a thriving private sector is the lifeblood of our economy. the are outdated regulations that need to be changed. there is red tape that needs to be cut. [applause] president obama: but, after years now of record corporate

families won'tg get more opportunity for bigger paychecks just by letting big banks, big oil or hedge funds make their own rules and everybody else's expense. -- everybody else's expense. [applause] >> middle class families will we feel more secure because allowed a tax on collective bargaining to go unanswered. food stamp recipients did not cause the financial crisis. recklessness on wall street did. [applause] >> immigrants are not the principal reason wages have not gone up. those decisions are made in the boardrooms that often put

quarterly earnings over long-term returns. it is not the average family who watches tonight that a taxes with offshore accounts. withshould of boyd's taxes offshore accounts. in this new economy, workers and startups and small businesses need more of a voice. -- it is not the average family who watches tonight that avoids taxes with offshore accounts. business is doing right by their workers or their customers or the communities and the being good -- and opera good for their shareholders. -- end up being good for their shareholders. [applause] best turns out many of our

citizens are also our most creative. we as a country have to answer this question. how do we reignite that spirit of innovation to meet our biggest challenges? this morningback with all of you, getting your phone calls and your reaction to president obama's last state of the union address last night. he spoke for over 58 minutes, the shortest of his presidency. his last state of the union address before congress and america. there were over 70 applause lines in that speech. what did you make of what he had to say? the requests he made to congress and the plans he has for his last year in office. sherry in hampton, connecticut. independent. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am a true independent. i thought president obama's speech was very inspirational.

it was his last state of the union. republicans like to blame obama for a lot of different things. i'm better off than i was eight years ago. i remember where the economy was. gas is now two dollars a gallon. was four dollars a gallon at the beginning of his presidency. we like to see the negative things about what he's done. he has done some good things. we've had a couple of incidents with terrorism here in the country. i don't agree with his immigration policy. caller. lost that she mentioned the gas prices. take a look at usa today's money section. evaporators as a barrel yesterday. evaporates as oil falls below $30 a barrel yesterday.

ben, good morning to you. caller: the speeches sounded like all the other ones, just with more empty promises. my mom just passed away from cancer today. what was your opinion about the soldiers who were -- sailors in iran? host: what is yours? why do you bring it up? active i feel like it's measures -- they are letting us know that maybe they were caught, but maybe they were not caught. maybe they were there to do other things. i don't think you go for conspiracies. host: joining us on the phone is thomas, the tehran bureau chief for the new york times to learn more about this. what is the latest? that thee latest is sailors have been released. it seems the united states

acknowledged that these two hands,ere in iranian trespassed in iranian waters. it is unclear what the iranians are saying that the calls of the american ships entering the waters have been the result of faulty gps equipment. we are bound to learn more about this. into who took the soldiers -- who arrested them? was it the equivalent of the iranian navy? forces undertire the control of the universal guard corps navy.

they been in control of the three zones that split up the persian gulf area. they control iran sea borders. important fory energy. there are ongoing tensions between the united states and iran. the nice states as a foreign entity that has no place in the persian gulf. -- the united states as a foreign entity. the united states has a naval base and bob rain. bahrain. the tworal added that american ships, possibly one of , madeeing the uss truman suspicious moves come on professional moves -- on

professional moves. the sailors had been released within 24 hours. which is rather unique. unprofessional moves. host: how was this resolved? what we witnessed here is the effect of the nuclear deal that was signed in july. ever since the nuclear deal, the iranians and the united states have gotten to know each other. ,he embassies have been opened the nuclear talks did give john kerry the opportunity to inectly call his counterpart

both iranian and u.s. media have reported that these two gentlemen have been in frequent contact with each other. this is a stark difference from the past. things could easily escalate because of the lack of communication. host: the new york times this morning has this. he maynclear what power have to intervene. and middle eastern officials believe recent actions by the irani navy against american forces in the gulf may be intended to embarrass the hassan rouhani.on i do think -- i think the

speed in which the iranian officials have released the u.s. sailors is actually a victory for the foreign minister and the government. the pentagon says it will be investigating what happened -- what is iran saying? what will they do next? guest: i don't think iran will do much next. full participation of the implementation of the nuclear deal. it has taken a series of steps being verified by the atomic energy organization. to avoid allg tension, especially with united to havein order sanctions lifted.

this is something the iranian economy really needed. which is why they started the debate of nuclear talks in the first place. to have a major incident involving the u.s. navy in the persian gulf is to the benefit of the iranians at this moment in time. host: when will these and sanctions and start to be lifted? when will the iranian people start to see the impacts of those sanctions lifted? that thecan say sanctions are expected to be lifted within days, possibly friday. this is only the first step in a very long and complicated process in which these changes will be in place. .ome of them for years the have to be undone. iranians,ans for the

they will be able to make financial transfers with other countries again. which is a huge complication for business. they hope this will lead to improving their economy, more foreign investments, less unemployment. erdbrink,mas hear thank you, sir. guest: thank you. host: let's get back to calls and your reaction to president obama's last state of the union address. rick in tennessee. good morning to you. democrat. rick in tennessee? edward ine on to jersey city, new jersey, independent. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. i was excited to watch the state of the union last night. barack obama being our first black president, it was

historic. it was the last state of the union speech. i was satisfied with it. it was being reported that he might spend time on one subject he didan the other -- for things he wanted to talk about. terrorism and keeping america safe, that was strong. us not being the policeman of the world come in a sense. being humbled and not blaming isis and terrorism on islam. that was fair-minded and what i wanted to hear. and do nothing congress needs to step up and help president obama. he needs help with criminal justice reform. he needs help with climate change, energy policy. there is so much more to do.

when het take it well mentioned president roosevelt and lincoln. had he done something differently, things would be -- what else can you do, mr. president? how much more humble can you be? when he closed, he said the state of our union is strong, i really agree with it, i really enjoyed it. host: what do you make of him only referencing gun violence one time? he had an anti-chair in his empty chair in his booth to represent the victims

of gun violence. he's been talking a lot about it, something he wants to address and take action on. once.tioned it just i know. thought heying, i may take a little more time with that. i was satisfied. to me, it is congress's job to thegoing, even with authorization of use of force against isis. i was so satisfied. congress has a job to do. the speaker did not look particularly happy there. i just hope our do-nothing congress steps up because the president needs help. host: the president said at the end of his a speech, the state of our union is strong. that is normally said at the

beginning of the speech. president obama has said strong or growing stronger during all seven state of the union addresses. bill in tennessee. republican. caller: good morning. i just went back and did some thinking. -- this is the last step in the process. he wants to be the top dog. nothing is going to stand in his way. not even the american people. host: bill in tennessee. a republican. we go back to john mcardle with more on the state of union address and what is next after the speech. host: traditionally, the cabinet stands out across the country to amplify his message in different

town hall events, forums, speeches around the country. it's being called the state of the union cabinet in your .ommunity tour just a few of the many events happening here in the next couple of days, john kerry will be delivering remarks today at the national defense university here in washington, d.c. they will be focused on foreign-policy priorities. will airt speech which on c-span at 10:45, secretary kerry will visit the refugee resettlement center where he will meet with a group of refugees to hear from the center staff. other members, ash carter will go to campbell, kentucky to deliver remarks to soldiers from the 101st airborne division.

luna lynch is traveling to boston, massachusetts to talk about criminal justice reform. tom perez will be in philadelphia, housing and urban development secretary julian castro holding a town hall meeting with teachers and students and parents in nashville, tennessee. toohnson going to detroit host a roundtable with resettled refugees. designated survivor last night -- the cabinet member chamber. fro at the house will be in south orange, new jersey to discuss the administration's foreign-policy priorities. , anthony foxx will go to michigan to go to the detroit

auto show. m administrator gina mccarthy will be in toledo, ohio. , ohio.l be in columbus ohio and penny is going to denver, colorado. of the a short list events with the cabinet members are expected to travel to. host: john kerry will be at the national defense university. we are covering that at 10:45 this morning on c-span2. he is expected to make some news on the screening process for syrian refugees. the new york times has the obama administration is turning the u.n. -- to the united nations.

there is the debate happening in washington, whether these are illegal immigrants or refugees fleeing violence. democrats come hispanic caucus saying the president should not be deporting them and sending them back into violent countries. john kerry will be talking about that today. ulsa, in tolls are,

oklahoma. democrat. caller: i would just like to president obama's accomplishments in the last eight years. hasy president since fdr tried to pass health care and no one has been successful. not only is president obama the most powerful man in the world, but now the most powerful president in history. he did pass health care. the only reason president obama has made these exceed of actions is because every attempt he has to stretch out his hand across the aisle, the republicans have put it down because there are people in this who will not accept the fact that he has gotten as far as he has as our first black president.

they don't think he should have been there, they don't want him there. the republicans don't have their boy in office, they don't want to even extend an olive branch. with 5% unemployment, gas under two dollars, the auto industry making the greatest comeback in history. he's added 14 million jobs. i don't know why everybody is complaining about the economy. i'm retired military. i live on less than $1200 a month and i make it. they can. i will jump in at that point because you mentioned health care and the president has been saying that the so-called obamacare is a success. he mentioned it last night. [video clip] obama: i'm guessing we won't agree on health care anytime soon. [laughter] [applause]

but -- just aa: guess. there should be other ways. parties can work together to improve economic security. city hard-working american loses his job. -- say a hard-working american loses his job. shouldn't be making sure he just gets unemployment insurance. we should make sure the program encourages him to retrain for business is ready to hire. if the new job does not pay as much a mother should be a system of wage insurance in place so he can still pay his bills. , there should be a system of wage insurance. he should be able to take his savings within. -- with him and that's the way we make the new economy work for everybody. host: president obama talking about the affordable care act. we are getting your reaction to

what he had to say, his request to congress. rachel in texas. independent. caller: i really do believe obama, president obama has the people at heart. heard him i have speak from he talks about the american people. his they were talking about birth, where obama was born, cruz even said himself he was citizen.erican preside obama could have gotten a lot of if he hadn't lost two years proving where he was born at. host: let me show you this from today's washington post.

bridgeswritten by mary come a constitutional law professor at delaware law school. she says ted cruz is not a natural born citizen. the constitution provides that no person except a natural born citizen shall be eligible to be position of president. common law is clear -- z was bornn to say cru in canada, not natural born. his mother is an american and congress has provided a statute for the naturalization of citizens, children born abroad

to citizens. article two of the constitution expressly adopts legal status of the natural born citizen and requires a president possessed that status. lori in pennsylvania. a democrat. your reaction to the state of the union address. caller: thank you for taking my call. i listened before he actually started speaking. of -- i watched his and speech of three times. the first time, i did not catch everything. i major i tried to catch it all the second time.

the third time, i was trying to go to sleep, but i kept sitting up and listening. i think he did the best he could. congresse tried to get to cooperate with him. there was a lot of problems trying to get the republicans and the democrats to work together. , i speech he gave last night enjoyed it. i have a lot of respect for the men. -- the man. he did not get the respect he needed. i was very happy when people did stand up and give him his applause. i knew there were a lot who were ignoring him and would not give an inch. audience in the house

chamber applauded 70 times. miami, howard come independent. caller: good morning. i like the speech and i especially liked the closing portion of the speech. that was very moving. my problem is with all the pundits and the instant analysis and the ongoing analysis of everything obama has a compass or not. -- accomplished or not. there's never any discussion in which those a accomplishments or inabilities are put in a context that everything he tries to do ,s subject to organized constructed opposition by the republican party. there was a book written entitled "do not ask what he did ." the pick up th republicans devised a plan in which they were going to block

everything he attempted to do on his first night of office. not is good, but change is allowed because change would result in eliminating the kerry seterest role, eliminating the things that allow money to be transferred, redistributed to the wealthy from the money that people are putting into the government. without that context, it is not fair to assess what he has accomplished. the company hence of immigration bill from the senate, the house refused to consider it. -- the comprehensive immigration bill. host: you are touching on what the president said last night about the tenor in washington, one of the things he regrets, that he was not able to change it. he did take some of the blame for it. the wall street journal

editorial this morning says -- theyegacy project write this -- democrats have moved further left while republicans have moved further right. much of it is the product of how he has governed. he all but called paul ryan's budget un-american. he played the race card to win reelection. he does not argue with republicans, he demeans them. buffalo, a republican. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. wrong.re a lot of things he's only done one good thing

for the country and all the rest have been wrong. will go down as the worst president ever. himonly ones that fell for -- vote for him are the uneducated, the free loaders the ones that do not want to be deported. host: how do you know that? i cannot wait until he is out of office. talk to any veteran, he cut our benefits and our retirement. haley will not make it to presidency either. haley will not make reelection for governor. she did the south carolina people wrong when she took down the flag. host: ok, referring to nikki haley, governor of south carolina who gave the gop response to the state of the union. we mentioned the supreme court, we want to show you this headline this morning from "usa

today." top court deals a blow to florida sentencing. the supreme court struck down florida's system of nine judges and not juries decide whether convicted criminals deserve the death penalty. ruling is significant because florida has 400 prisoners on death row, second to california. unlike california, it conducts executions regularly. most prisoners are not likely to be affected because their appeals have run out or convictions were based on indisputable aggravating circumstances. thisis in "usa today" morning. we are spending today's "washington journal" getting your reaction to president obama's last state of the union, the seventh before congress. it lasted about 58 minutes, the shortest of his presidency. there were about 70 applause lines. 1.82 million tweets with the

hashtag #sotu. we are spending today's two hours of "washington journal" getting your reactions. phone numbers are on your screen. keep dialing in. we're going to get him more of your phone calls. john mcardle is at the news desk with more on last night's address. john: you mentioned the applause lines. political theater with members of both parties and the president's cabinet in the chamber and the audience packed with those invited by members of congress and their guests. goingashington post" through some applause lines you were talking about to find out what got a strongest applause in the chamber. the average length in seconds for applause when the president talked about military our national security issues was 13.6 seconds when the chamber uptedin applause.

health care, 12.5 seconds. government and partisanship applause were about 11 seconds seconds.gy, 9 "the washington post also showing that the length of the speech made up by the pause was 2%, that is down from the president highest in 2009 when 32.4% of the speech was made up by applause. this year, 10 of the applause lines lasting longer than 20 seconds or for military m entions. that is what was happening inside the chamber, here is what is happening outside. twitter government released their update on what the top

tweeted moments around the country were. the top tweeted moment was when the president said "i stand here confident that the state of our strong." the second-most tweeted about moment was when the president said "we have to reduce the influence of money in our politics." the third when the president said "i will keep working to shut down the prison at guantanamo." other statistics released last night, the top tweeted about topics by this watching the state of the union address, foreign affairs, energy and environment and the economy came in that 1, 2, 3. and the presidential candidates who are most talked about during the state of the union, donald trump number one, hillary clinton number two and bernie sanders number three as measured by twitter analytics. host: and "politico" has the r on their website,

the analysis of where president obama stretched truth, veered around inconvenient facts are just got it wrong. they start with our auto industry has had the best year ever, correct if measured by sales but interactive measured by jobs. auto sales reached the highest level ever but employment is about 930,000, the lowest level before the great recession. in fields from iowa to texas, wind power is cheaper than conventional power. they say this is mostly true, the cost of wind power has declined below that of electricity produced by fossil fuels. electricity produced by natural gas-fired plants is slightly less expensive. health care inflation has slowed, true but not for long. we have cut imports of oil by 60%, not exactly. gas under two dollars a gallon is not bad, gus has fallen under

two dollars a gallon through most of the country and below three dollars in california but it is a stretch to claim any credit for it in a presidential address. back to your thoughts on this john in the seat, democrat, what you think? caller: i the speech was the best he has gave in the last seven years. it was a really good speech. he looked like a professor last night talking to congress. to say this. the republicans have never looked smaller in that chamber last night. they would not clap at all for anything. you know what really tells you? it shows you what the republicans are on every single issue. every single issue they would not give this guy a pass. i really think it was a terrific speech. host: ok, john in d.c., democrat.

kevin is in indiana, a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing? host: doing well. caller: i thought the speech was, in contrast to the previous was unremarkable as presidential speeches at state of the unions have gone. the most salient point of the reflected onere he his one deepest regret and that was the political polarization has increased since the time he came into office. on the remarks made in "the wall street journal" noicle, this was not in small measure due to the fact that this president either lacks notpolitical skills or did wish to employ the political skills of his predecessors, most notably bill clinton. host: to do what? what do you mean by invoke political skills? caller: i don't think this man

reached out to members of his own party. was a stranger to the members of the congressional delegation from the democratic caucus, as he was dealing with the republican party. this is a president that showed a lack of skill or disregard to employ the skills of what it takes to reach out to his opponents. i agree with "the wall street journal" in saying this is a president not denigrated his republicans opponents, much as he will profess that he did not during his speech last night. host: ok. caller: i would say this, it is a sad reflection hearing the a watchingn that, the reaction of the republicans last night. this really is a reflection of how sad the state of political affairs and governing fares have become overall in washington. caller: that is kevin, indiana.nt in

the president spoke 458 minutes and 44 seconds, the shortest of his presidency. not nearly as long as bill clinton in 2000, that lasted one hour and 28 minutes and 49 seconds. "the washington times" putting together a chart of how long each democrat and republican resident has spoken during the state of the union addresses. clara in georgia, democrat. i thought this was the very best, it was the best speech since his presidency as far as i'm concerned. exception of the one in grant park. i think the president knocked the ball out of the park. america, we better wake up. we cannot go and fight in foreign countries if we cannot get along here in the united states of america.

we are turning on each other. i agree with the previous caller it was sad to see the republicans just sit there and not applaud. that has been the case during all of his state of the union addresses. it is really sad. a country expect the youth of our country to go and fight for this country again and again and again and again and not give anything back to our youth? i don't understand what the logic is, i really do not. host: ok. stacy in spotsylvania, virginia, independent. i would like to make a few comments. obama is probably the biggest divider of our country.

i'm 50 years old and i've never seen anything like it. i call him the puppet for satan, he's done everything to divide and conquer this country. for example, the morality of god, he's done that. the military, he has degraded that. what has he done to improve our country? the economy is not good, the country is in debt, he doubled the debt if not triple it. for another example, like i said, morality. he goes against god's will and what the bible says. if you are a good president and you've got commonsense, homosexuality and stuff like that is not right. it is not a natural thing. why a man is governing another man -- host: we heard you and you said that the president has not been successful. joining us on the phone is donna

hoffman, associate professor of political science at the university of northern iowa. that been tracking what president's request from congress at state of unions over the years and the success rate. how much does congress, what does the president, how much does the president request and how much actually gets done by congress? guest: we look at where presidents have requested action. persons doing a lot of things in the speeches but one of the things is recommend things to congress, which the constitution stipulates the president can do. presidents vary. bill clinton was known for long speeches, being a policy wonk and throwing in many requests, many small. jimmy carter had relatively few requests and tended to talk about big picture items in his speeches.

there is a basic blueprint of the speeches in which the presidents claim credit for things they have done, often that sets up a request for action in terms of the legislature. the we look at is only in year. many times, presidents do not get anything the following year but it may be a request they address and iter may be successful or not in future years but we only attract that year. get lessge, presidents than half of what they ask for in some form. many times president ask for things and they get some element of what they want. basically about 40% of their requests that presidents since lyndon johnson have asked for action on in congress, do they get some form of what they want. that will vary across presidents and within presidencies. as we saw last night with the happening in the current political environment very much and forms with the president talks about in the speech. has beencifically what

president obama's success rate on this front over his seven years of getting the speeches? guest: it varies quite a bit. he had a good year in 2010 and was able to get about 56% of his requests either fully or partially satisfied by congressional action. he was only able to get about 5%. there's a lot of variation that you see. that is dictated by how the president approaches the speech. sometimes it is dictated by the composition of congress and what is happening there, lots of internal dynamics. there's a lot of variability across presidents as well as within presidencies. in 2015, the year we just concluded, obama had a decent year for him. it was about 36% of his requests that he asked of congress in some form or acted on successfully by congress. what about last night?

how many requests did he make? how do you go about tallying that? guest: it is something that we look at the speech and we do content analysis of that. to look at where the president is asking congress for some kind of congressional action. we have not yet, i work on this with allison howard at dominican university of california, we have not yet tallied the requests, it takes time to do that. and then looking at success waits for the calendar year to go by. while the administration signaled they were giving an untraditional speech, it really was not in most ways. is a basic blueprint. while we don't have a number in terms of requests, he did have back of the envelope calculation of at least 15. he was asking for things, they range from ending the embargo in cuba, authorization of force in immigrationl,

reform. some things that perennially obama has talked about repeatedly in state of the union addresses. again, looking at his final year, he did kind of talk about big picture items in this particular speech but he still did the things presidents do in speeches, claiming credit and asking for legislative action. host: why do this tally in the first place? why do you think it is important to track? is this trying to track the success of the state of the address? it is largely about the state of the union address but it is also about the president in a new role in the modern presidency. the presidents have the chief role, this is not a role the founding fathers would have intended but because theodern television, president using rhetorical skills to talk to the public, there was concern that the president could become a demagogue.

public appeals in the 19th century were not something the presidents were supposed to be doing in terms of conventional wisdom. once we get radio and television, presidents start to rhetorical, the bully pulpit, if you will, potentially as an advantage. the question we began our research with his does the -- does this make the presidency more powerful? the state of the union is also denigrated as a laundry list that does not mean anything. it does mean something but we have to put it in perspective. it is not the case that if the president says congress, do x, congress is going to do that. that is proper in terms of the constitutional structure and we would not want that. one of the problems with the state of the union address and the way that modern campaigns go as well, there is the president in the house chamber with all the people around him and attention on him, for the in, the speeches

can raise expectations. this is a problem because presidents do not have the tools to fulfill all the things they ask for. they have to have congress to go along. when we have a presidential candidate on the campaign trail saying he liked me and i will do x, they never say if congress will go along with me. that is not the way we do campaigns but that is the reality. if the person becomes president and they are giving a speech, it leads into the notion that i am asking you to do this and at the year's end when that has not happened, the public will say there is the president, he did not get anything done. things inutting perspective about the presidency as well as this particular speech. host: npr wrote about the research you did and viewers can find it on npr's website. how much gets done from state of the union speeches?

donna hoffman, associate professor of political science at university of northern iowa, thank you. guest: you are very welcome. host: let's get back to your cause. more reaction to the president's last state of the union address last night. dawn in louisiana, a republican. what did you think? would like to see him talk more about the police officers and the people in the streets getting killed. turmoil.t us all in he keeps holding up protesters. missouri and all over, new ting and killing and he does not say anything about that. i don't know what the world is coming to but this guy, it is like a stone age and planning of the apes. he does not see nothing but color. there should not be color, it should be just people. to a democrat, paul in mississippi. caller: good morning.

i want to comment on the guy from kentucky before i get to my point. .'m a 39.5 year veteran he said benefits have been cut. i don't know what planet he is living on. things change in mississippi. i'm a vietnam veteran. i do not live far from alabama. the person that said president obama is the worst president we've ever had, he must be a ku klux klan member. and the lady from louisiana saying that black people getting killed in the streets -- that is murder. kentucky that refused to sign a marriage

license, she was in the audience last night. host: she was. caller: i would go along with that. i don't go along with same-sex marriage. women cannotwo produce a baby. i will leave it on that point, we are getting the reaction to the state of the union address. we are going to continue until the top of the hour when the house is expected to gavel in for their morning session. we will bring you therefore .avel to gavel coverage first, more on last night's state of the union with john mcardle. john: you mentioned the length of the address, 58 minutes and 40 seconds. his shortest state of the union address. back in 2009, his joint, his address to a joint session of congress on economic issues was 51 minutes and 37 seconds. thataddress longer than

2009 address that was not officially a state of the union address. the president began his speech yesterday by saying i am going to try to make it a little shorter. as "the washington post" noted today, it was still the 16th since 1966.ch it came in just between george w. bush's 2003 state of being of the unionate address and george w. bush's 2004 state of the union address. there are plenty of expectations that it will not be the most watched presidential state of the union address. , "why with the headline fewer people will watch obama's last state of the union address." union5, the state of the address drew the lowest viewership of any such event.

down from 52.4 million people that watched the 2009 joint session address. the second smallest state of the since nelson started collecting data, that is the 2015 address. expectations that this state of the union address address in 201 6 could be lower. plenty of c-span viewers watched the state of the union address and are having the conversation spanwj.ter @c bobby said, "he told the truth about the #sotu in a presidential way. name-calling republican candidates look childish." "struck the right notes between being humble before voters and ingratiating." he thinks we are

stupid or delusional." "in 2008, the reality of failed gop policies was obvious, now did it indicates success." one more, "he is no leader but he soars as a teleprinter reader." join in on the conversation on @cspanwj everyday on "washington journal." your reaction from what the president had to say. more from "the washington post," a different world from each president. u.s. presidents have mentioned countries of the world 1400 times in the state of the union finding that is the after a scan of the text of speeches since 1964 for the names of more than 200 countries. president obama's that focuses on the middle east as well as china. he mentioned cuba more than any president since john f. kennedy. hisge w mentioning iraq in

speech is more than he mentioned the united states. clara in florida, independent. you are up. my comment about the president's speech last night is regarding speaker ryan. when the president talked about a cure for cancer and he pointed the vice president, we know he lost his son to cancer. he did not even stand up and applause to that. i found that very odd. he did noton is that stand out because the far right caucus is watching. he did not want to applaud for anything obama said. but this is about a cure for cancer.it is about there should not be any benefit, not only to democrats or independents, everybody should

get benefits from finding a cure for cancer. that's all i have to say. speaker ryan should have a backbone to stand up to his caucus. if he thinks that the cure for cancer is great, it does not matter who the president is. that we should find a cure for cancer. host: "the wall street journal" writing that the two men were sizing each other up. in theime they were close of proximity. they have not had an official meeting but one is in the works. it did note that the speaker did clap at least once during the speech. we will go to paul in tennessee, republican. caller: hello, how are you? the only thing i want to say -- host: we are listening. say,r: what i want to i think it was good. i think he is trying to join both parties together.

republican -- i don't know how long i and going to be a republican. my father and mother were republicans here i am a veteran. speaker ryan showed the same page as the other speaker did, john boehner. he did not give him one applause or stand up one time. he is a piece of garbage. host: let's refrain from name calling. mary in south carolina. caller: hi, how are you? host: good morning. caller: in regards to the speech, i thought it was a very good speech. regardless of who you are, my mother always taught us growing up that you may disagree with a certain person but always show respect for the office that they hold. that from the

republicans. that is a bad thing. what are they teaching their children? that is the whole concept of this entire country. what i got out of the speech, he was very humble. i will let history take care of his accomplishments because it will go down in history. host: take a look at "politico ," this is how president obama has ruled. he has signed a little over 1000 bills, he has vetoed 5. 200 28 executive order signed, 216 presidential memorandas issued. 22,000 rules put in the place, 318 federal justices appointed, 2 supreme court justices and new

regulatory agencies at 2 created. thew entities created in executive office of the president. that is the staff reporting to the president. this is in "politico." many republican contenders have been critical of the president over his leadership here and abroad. here's what the president had to say on this issue of leadership. [video clip] leadershipbama: means a wise application of military power. and rallying the world behind causes that are right. it means seeing our foreign assistance as part of our national security, not something separate, not charity. when we lead nearly 200 nations to the most ambitious agreement in history to fight climate change, yes that helps vulnerable countries but it also protects our kids. when we help ukraine defend its democracy or colombia resolve a

decades long war, that strengthens the international order we depend on. when we help african countries feed their people and care for the sick, it's the right thing to do. and it prevents the next pandemic from reaching our shores. right now we're on track to end the scourge of hiv/aids. that's within our grasp. and we had the chance to accomplish the same thing with malaria. something i'll be pushing this congress to fund this year. [applause] that's american strength. that's american leadership. and that kind of leadership depends on the power of our example. that's why i will keep working to shut down the prison at guantanamo.

it is expensive, it is unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies. host: president obama bringing up guatemala bay. one of the promises he made when , hean for president in 2008 still making the effort to close down guantanamo bay. magazine,e "politico" if you are interested in president obama and how his staff, the people behind him, there is this piece, obama's obama. the president has cycled through more chiefs of staff than any predecessor since mcdonagh is the one who came to stay. they write about closing down a referencey, it's to a staff meeting president obama was leading, a cabinet secretary meeting he was leading. then defense

secretary chuck hagel and says i don't think you are moving fast enough. second term commander used to having his orders executed, not -- questioned. i was giving floor speeches calling for the closing of one time before you were even in the senate, mr. president, the former republican senator from nebraska shot back, according to two people familiar with details of the interaction. then he really pushed it, maybe you need a new defense secretary. obama who had already been growing dissatisfied with hagel said dennis, get together with chuck and fix this. an independent. getting thoughts on president obama's last state of the union address. thank you.

i thought it was a good speech. it was concise and to the point. it pretty much covered a lot of areas without losing us. , we have thety attention span of a gnat. it was concise and to the point. i like it. he covered some good points. he touted his strong points. it was brought out earlier that at his inauguration, the gop was having meetings planning on fighting his legislation and his .fforts every step of the way a lot of working-class people straight up disregard this fact.

they do not take that into account when they criticize his efforts. it gets kind of frustrating that they do not acknowledge that has guy and his presidency been straight up disrespected every step of the way. host: we've got your point. don in california, good morning. caller: good morning. this is don again. i am just, i've got to tell you a negro, he's not an african. people think obama is representing the black people and he is not. his people and the arabs are the ones who sold our people to the whites -- host: what is your point? caller: his speech was another

example of white supremacy. he is keeping your white people in power. that is all that matters. host: don'opinions, a democrat in california. this is ed. caller: thank you for taking my call and thank you to c-span. the president is going to be here in baton rouge tomorrow near my house, ok? for the first time, i want to say something about the speech he did very eloquently. he covered all the hot that and even sounding board issues that the people of america need to hear about corporatism, how they influence of money in politics, he covered everything in his last speech eloquently. heould like to say also that is going to be here in a staunchly republican state. he has never been here during his presidency. i believe.that,

i think he is coming here because our newly elected governor is finally accepting the "obamacare money" and he is trying to do something. his name is john vail edwards and he is our new republican governor. he's actually trying to do something for the health care issue, which is rare. picayune,"times your governor expanding medicaid. more than 300,000 in louisiana may be eligible. alice in michigan, democrat. asked -- you are next. caller: calling about obama's state of the union. he did an excellent job. it all started seven years ago into office, before

he even got in the building. they were making plans to discredit him of everything. i thought that that showed the whole world how lowdown the united states really are. country,body in this but it just showed how rotten and lowdown they have been and are going to continue to be. all you hear when you call "washington journal" is how they get up in the morning and take a hate pill. host: alice in michigan, republican. steve a republican in georgia. caller: the speech itself was phenomenal. the has spent a lot of time in hollywood. he knows how to talk to people. if you notice the people in the audience, he did not get any compliments from the military.

a lot of people were just laying there asleep shared thank you. host: before you go, what did you make of south carolina governor nikki haley's response for the republican party? caller: it made sense, it really did. host: know, nikki haley, the governor? she -- sense. she made she put it out there the way it is. as i am a disabled vietnam veteran, when i came back from vietnam, i was being spat upon. i believeue respect, obama is doing that to the american people right now. georgia,t is steve in a republican. let's listen to what they south carolina governor had to say in her response to the state of the union. here she is talking about the issue of terror. [video clip] ey: we are facing the most dangerous terrorist threat our nation has seen since september 11.

this president appears unwilling or unable to deal with it. willthe obama presidency end in america will have the chance to turn in a new direction. that is the direction i want to talk about tonight. i will say this. you have paid attention to what has been happening in washington. you are not naive. neither am i. i see what you see. and many of your frustrations are my frustrations. a frustration with a government that has grown day after day, year after year yet does not serve us any better. a frustration with the same endless conversations we hear over and over again. a frustration with promises made and never kept. ast: these have killing governor talking last night in her official response to the -- ident's state of the south carolina governor talking last night in her official response to the president's state of the union address. more with john mcardle.

broughtcouple callers up who was in the audience. members of congress get to invite a guest and have a seat in the chamber for that. there has been attention to kentucky county clerk kim davis, who was seen throughout the broadcast aired several shots of her. several other notable figures were in the audience and some less notable figures. mitch mcconnell, the senate the charity leader from kentucky looking to highlight the issue of coal and brought a fourth-generation kentucky coal miner to the state of the union. paul ryan had his speakers box in the house chamber and was allowed several guest. lorrainehem was sister mcguire, mother provincial of little sisters for the poor, challenging the contraception mandate in the affordable care act. speaks a selfie posted by at ryan with the mother provincial and members of her

order. other figures, nancy pelosi invited elizabeth dole, the founder of the foundation for military caregivers. harry reid had two guests in the audience. he noted that they were aaron ford, a unlv student, and tanya, two nevadans who represent what makes our country and the silver state exceptional. senator ford is a state , tonya illustrates the contributions muslims make to our country and has a very bright future ahead of her. he was not the only democrat to muslim americans and outreach to middle eastern refugees and the muslim community. jim mcgovern brought aseema sil va, a muslim community leader from massachusetts. other members were looking to

highlight other issues. you mentioned the president bringing up the issue of guns once in his speech. there were members of congress who sought to highlight the issue with their guests, steny hoyer brought the widow of a capitol police officer who was killed when a gunman entered the capital in 1998 and opened fire checkpoint.y another representative brought the legislative chair for the california brady campaign to prevent gun violence. just in a mosh from michigan brought football coach jim harbaugh. a democrat from tennessee brought the naval academy star quarterback keenan reynolds. freshman congresswoman norma torres brought the 9/11 dispatcher who directed traffic the san bernardino shootings. another representative brought a

12-year-old with cerebral palsy who had been lobbying nintendo to bring more characters with disability into games. thomas massie brought his d.c. staff assistant, he posted in a tweet that that was who he gave that they to enter drew the short straw for the last address. notables and not so notables. host: john mentioned some guest bringing muslim americans. the president did talk about the muslim community last night. [video clip] obama: when politicians insult muslims, whether abroad or our fellow citizens, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid is called names, that doesn't make us safer. that's not telling it like it is.

it's just wrong. it diminishes us in the eyes of the world. [applause] it makes it harder for us to achieve our goals. it betrays who we are as a country. [applause] we the people. our constitution begins with those three simple words. words we've come to recognize mean all the people, not just some. words that insist we rise and fall together.

that is how we might perfect our union. that brings me to the fourth and maybe most important thing i want to say tonight. the future we want, all of us want, opportunity and security for our families, a rising standard of living, a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids, all of that is within our reach. but it will only happen if we work together. it will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates. host: we've got about 10 or 15 minutes before the house gavels in for their morning legislative session. they are coming in early ahead of republicans leaving town for the gop retreat. we will bring you to the floor proceedings at the top of the hour. we are getting your calls on

last night's state of the union address. she a lot in rochester, independent. thank you for c-span, i hope i can say this plain and clear. just like the part you played with president obama, he gave an excellent speech last night. he's a smooth talker. i don't believe he believes what he is saying, the words that come out of his mouth. i do have to make a comment to people who call in about the republicans not standing or paul ryan not standing. if you look in the past, it does not matter what state of the union it is, if it is a democrat who is a president, the republicans do not stand, some do. if it is a republican president, the democrats don't stand. as far as paul ryan or the speaker of the house, that man should be neutral. i do not think he should be standing at any time during anything so he can be neutral to

anything that goes on in congress. that is my personal opinion. and people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. host: jerry in florida, republican. caller: good morning, c-span. i could echo what the previous said. except my reason may be a little different. i just do not believe anything he says. far sideen watching since the 1940's. i'm retired military and i'm kind of a state of the union nut. i watch them, that does not me i agree with them. i agree with nikki haley. have a great day, usa, bye. host: jerry says he agrees with nikki haley. let me show you another moment for her response to the state of the union last night. here she is talking about illegal immigration. [video clip] haley: at the same

time, that does not mean we flat-out open our borders. we cannot continue to allow immigrants to come here illegally. and in this age of terrorism, we must not let in refugees whose intentions cannot be determined. we must fix our broken immigration system, that means stopping illegal immigration and it means welcoming properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion. centuries.e have for i have no doubt that if we act with proper focus, we can protect our borders, our sovereignty and our citizens. all while remaining true to america's noblest legacies. host: from south carolina, the governor giving the response to the president's state of the union address. therepublicans responding, republican candidates responding

via twitter to what they heard. some candidates in the chamber and some of them not. ted cruz skipped last night's address. you probably saw marco rubio, bernie sanders and rand paul. if you are watching c-span, you them making their way across and down the center aisle. you probably saw it on c-span if you are watching our coverage. here's the front page of "the des moines register," leads but leads -- ses -- closes.ds but trump "the washington post," in iowa, clinton goes on the attack. bernie sanders gaining or leaving in early states. a newly aggressive hillary clinton emerged.

by the way, she released an ad yesterday ahead of the state of the union address saying she stands with the president on the issue of gun control. one issue where she has been attacking the senator from vermont. a paul by quinn about university found -- a poll released tuesday by .linic pack university a new york times-cbs poll shows 7inton's lead shrinking to point in their latest poll. that is in today's new york times. this headline as well from "the new york times," clinton loses ground to sanders as trump's lead holds.

thoughts, we go to jerry in alabama. caller: good morning. host: what did you think of the speech? caller: i thought the speech went over very well. the fact that we as americans have rose-colored glasses on when we look at politics. i believe it was, if it was any other president, his accomplishments would be lauded as a great success. but because the majority of the obama in the white house, the few handful of pundits have tried to destroy him from day one. we need to look at his accomplishments with open eyes. governor haley did a great job of trying to bring the republicans back together under a new hat, but time will see.

i support this country, i served in uniform for 28 years. some of the things i see out of washington are appalling. thank you. host: new york, maria is watching us, independent. caller: i thought the president's speech addressed that hasy the vitriol become an everyday part of our politics. i think people forget that in a isocracy, compromise essential and neither side can get everything they want. mentioned thater the other side was all uneducated and that is where the problem comes in. and i knowependent democrats, republicans and all walks of life and different education. we vilify the other side and then nothing happens. this president, i have to say, has been vilified more than any president i remember in my lifetime. his citizenship, his religious

beliefs, everything has been questioned about him. and as previous callers mentioned, the only thing the republicans wanted to accomplish was not giving him a second term in office. that is my thought and i thank you. in new york, independent. back to john mcardle for more. john: as you mentioned several times, the house set to come in a little early at 9:00, the house and senate trying to get their work done because republicans are heading to their policy retreat, the house and senate republicans are heading to baltimore tonight for their policy retreat, some news on that from politico, noting that king abdulla from jordan will spurn the invitation to address the retreat. the optics of meeting with republicans and not having a face to face with president

obama has proven to be too much. abdullah met with president hadn yesterday but obama scheduling conflicts, including the state of the union, that made a meeting and possible this week. that story is coming from "politico." one more lighthearted story from one of the other capitol hill newspapers from "the hill," ryan spokesperson busts obama aide for taking pictures on the house floor. busted white house press secretary josh earnest for taking a photo on the house floor and posting it to twitter. josh earnest noted the honor of being at th president's last state of the union address. n reminded earnest of the

rules against posting pictures of the floor of the house, it's a role that has been an effect. lawmakers have been known to flaunt that and it often goes unenforced. several lawmakers have been seen snapping photos during past state of the union address and it happened tuesday night. host: more of your phone calls before the house gavels in. texas, democrat. what did you make of the speech? caller: i am from texas. i believe mr. obama is the most persuasive, the best orator, the best president there has ever been. there will never be another one like him. as far as lawmakers taking pictures, of course they brought against the press secretary but not against any republicans or any others.

and for the veterans rights, the disabled veterans, mr. obama has done more than anybody else. host: ok. if you missed last night's speech, you can go to c-span.org to watch it there. speeche moment from the where the president talked about education and what he has done on that front. [video clip] president obama: real requires every american to get the education and training they need to land a good-paying job. the bipartisan reform of no child left behind was an important start, and together, we've increased early childhood education, lifted high school graduation rates to new highs, and boosted graduates in fields like engineering. in the coming years, we should build on that progress, by providing pre-k for all, and offering every student -- [applause]

president obama offering every : student the hands-on computer science and math classes that make them job-ready on day one, and we should recruit and support more great teachers for our kids. [applause] and we have to make college affordable for every american. [applause] no hardworking student should be stuck in the red. we've already reduced student loan payments to 10% of a borrower's income. now, we've actually got to cut the cost of college. [applause] providing two years of community

college at no cost for every responsible student is one of the best ways to do that, and i'm going to keep fighting to get that started this year. host: the 44th president in his seventh and final state of the union address address last night. he talked about education, taxes, the economy, cuba, fighting isis, diplomatic pushedns, the iran deal, for trade and asked congress to give him authorization to fight isis. if you missed it, go to our website, c-span.org. we will try to get in another caller. sandy in oregon. caller: i am calling because i thought the speech was awful. there has been nothing -- he has done nothing for our country and people calling in saying what a good speech have not been watching what is going on on tv. isis is running rampant through

the world. and he did not even touch on the 12 menhere they have our over there. host: i'm going to jump in. just to clarify, the 10 u.s. sailors have been released by iran, that was the news this morning. think we will try to get grace. can you make it quick? caller: just wanted to say that there are no words to express. tohink congress, the lord, get a president elected, he has been there twice. something needs to be done for him to be the third president. why? he has made a difference. out, he issue he brings has made a difference. .

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by chaplain, father conroy. cloy -- father conroy: let us pray. we give you thanks, merciful god, for giving us another day. as you make available to your people the grace and knowledge to meet the needs of the day, we pray that your spirit will be upon the members of this people's house, giving them the richness of your wisdom. bless the members of the majority party as they gather these next days. may they with those who

accompany them travel safely and meet in peace. bless also the minority party as they prepare for their own gathering. filled with s be hopeful anticipation. may the power of your truth and our faith in your providence, giving them all the confidence that they must have to do the work required for service to our nation. give all members the strength of purpose and clarity of mind to do those things that bring justice and mercy to people and maintain freedom and liberty for our land. may all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory, amen. the speaker: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. the pledge of allegiance will by the gentleman from

north carolina, -- the gentlewoman from north carolina, ms. foxx. ms. foxx: please join in the pledge to our wonderful flag and country. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. filled with the speaker: the chair will entertain up to five requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentlelady from north carolina seek recognition? s. foxx: i ask by permission to address the house for one minute, mr. speaker. the speaker: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. for the past seven years president obama has given us 47 ,625 words of meaningless rhetoric. last night's state of the union address was more of the same empty words. president obama has never adequately focused on what really matters in this country, keeping america safe and defending our cherished freedoms. instead, he wants to maintain the status quo and continues to promote topdown one-size-fits-all federal

dictates that stymie economic growth. it's clear he doesn't understand the solution that is will get our nation back on track. american people not washington bureaucrats. president obama promised hope and change, but he's failed -- his failed agenda has brought the wrong kind of change and many north carolinians are losing hope. fortunately, republicans are committed to restoring confidence in america and empowering her people to make their own decisions and pursue their own dreams. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. honda: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to celebrate korean american day. and to honor the two million korean americans across this country. january 13 is a day of celebration not just for the korean americans across this country. it is a celebration of america. 102 men, women,

and children traveled from the korean peninsula and landed in hawaii. they have enriched and strengthened or soibling and culture, politics, education, and arts. from serving in high level posts in our government to making strides in entrepreneurship and medicine. korean americans continue to leave an indelible address the house for one minute, mr. speaker. the speaker: the mark in our nation's history and make up. so to korean americans across this great nation, including those in my district, our nation honors and celebrates you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. coffman: mr. speaker, i of today to honor the life

united states army veteran ethan adelman of highlands ranch, colorado. ethan served for three years in army ted states infantry. his military service included a combat tour of duty in afghanistan. his personal awards include united states army commendation medal, the army achievement medal, and the army good conduct medal. like so many other veterans before him, ethan served his country with honor, dedication, and with courage. ethan left the united states at to enroll as a student metropolitan state university in den, colorado. last year -- denver, colorado. last year ethan tragically took his own life on veterans day, a carries so much emotion for those of us who have served this great nation

in uniform. ethan will always be remembered for his service to this country . he will forever be missed by his family, his friends, and by the soldiers who serve by his side in combat. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. higgins: mr. speaker, this afternoon three students from he hamelin park academy gave -- gabriela, tory, will participate in the fourth an annual science, technology, engineering math address hosted by the white house. after months of planning, fundraising, and research these three bright young women pattern -- partnered carries wi western new york stem hub to develop and fine-tune their experiment tuber growth in microgrambity which earned them the neighboring name spudlaunchers. through collaborative efforts p

with nasa, they'll test the ability of potatoes to grow in microgrambity toward the goal of learning how plants might grow on other planets. their experiment won the national competition held by the student space flight experiments program, and will be conducted abroad at the international space station this year. these three young women are role models to all of the bright young minds in our community. their success is a result of their curiousity and hard work. it's a testament to their families, the buffalo public school system, western new york, stem hub, and most importantly their teachers. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to congratulate my friend, vincent "zippy" duvall on his election yesterday as president of the american farm bureau

federation. zippy is a third generation farmer in green county, georgia, and has been a farm bureau member since 1977, and for the past nine years he has served as president of the georgia farm bureau while producing poultry, cattle, and hay on his family farm. i'm so proud to have him and his wife, constituents of the 10th district of georgia, he has done an extraordinary job serving as the voice of agriculture in georgia and i can think of no matter leader than zippy duvall to serve as the new president of the american farm bureau. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlelady from new york seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today in honor of korean american day, a day that commemorates the first korean immigrants to arrive in the united states on january

13, 1903. ms. meng: on that s.s. gaelic brought 56 men, 21 women, and 29 children across the pacific ocean from korea to america in search of a better future. on korean american day, our nation celebrates a commute who has made tremendous contributions to this contry. since 1903, the korean american population has grown to almost two million and have become intricately woven in the fabric of our country. korean americans have made contributions in all aspects of american life. they are our service members, our doctors, businessmen, teachers, and community leaders. they are our neighbors, and most importantly our friends. for centuries, korean immigrants and their desendants have helped build america's prosperity. their culture enriches our lives in so many ways as they uphold the important values of community, hard work, and family that make america strong. i am i'm proud to be a part of new york state which has the second largest korean american

population in the u.s. i'm honored to join my colleagues and friends in celebrating all that the korean americans have done for our great nation. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. lamalfa: thank you, mr. speaker. last night the president said that he's finally ready to work with us here in congress. today we'll send him a major blocking the e.p.a.'s water of the united states power grab proposal rejected by both houses of congress, two federal courts, the g.a.o., and many states. the e.p.a.'s plan would grant jurisdiction over 95% of my home state of california, allowing an unaccountable federal agency to insert itself into land use decisions across our state. mr. speaker, the president spoke glowingly of small business america last night. between waters of the united states, his rejection of health

options of plans for americans, forcing minimum wage proposals upon small businesses and their employees, small businesses don't have a chance. they don't have chance of surviving and thrive in this contry. if the president wants to work with congress in a constructive way, he can start today by rejecting the waters of the united states policy that's hurting small business, farms, and ranches, and help us build the water supply we need in california and western states. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. defazio: the lights and heat are on at the wildlife refuge, illegally occupied by ultraright wing anti-government extremists, but you got to wonder if the lights are on or anybody's home down there at the justice department. hello? i don't think there's anybody there. i believe that this illegal occupation, this destruction of

federal property, was directly emboldened by the fact that their father of the two leaders, cliven bundy, stood down the government two years ago when he held -- other ranchers pay their grazing fees, he refuses to do it, and he was grazing in areas that were prohibited and he stood down the government at the point of a gun and he still elillegally grazing and nobody, nobody at the justice department has seen fit to lift a finger against him. there is no ongoing prosecution. they haven't put a lean on -- lien on his cattle. he celebrated the anniversary of the takeover and said this doufpblet how his sons are replicating that in my state of oregon where we abide by the laws. yes, we disagree over a lot of policies, but we abide by the laws.

it's time for the justice department to take some action. wake up down there. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from louisiana, for what purpose does do you seek recognition? >> address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. boustany: thank you, mr. speaker. when building a strong team, you need a strong leader. knoll ruckert has been that strong leader. he's also been an ally and friend since the very first day i arrived in congress. whether it's been the whip team, republican study committee, or louisiana's first congressional district under her guidance, strong leadership, and relentless drive, she played a crucial roll in getting victories for both our country and louisiana. mr. scalise: i wouldn't be where i am today without him. i will forever be grateful for the dedication and unwavering commitment to our team scalise family. every day she made the extra effort to bring a little of louisiana to washington. we call it lenya. there is not a day she didn't wear the flure delee or some other great sim bomb of louisiana we love. you'll be which ised.

i wish you-all the best as you enter this new exciting chapter in your life back home in louisiana. thank you, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields bafpblgt for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. ellison: mr. speaker, i take the floor today to congratulate the fans of the seattle seahawks. you see, i talk with my good friend, congresswoman suzanne delbene, and i told her that the minnesota vikings were for sure going to beat the seahawks, and she said, well, if you really believe that, why don't you agree to come down to the house floor if they don't and i will come down to the house floor if they do. for three quarters i was right, mr. speaker. the vikings shut the seahawks out completely. but in the fourth quarter through luck, and this is the real skill of the seahawks, by the way, the center throws one

over the head of the quarterback, the quarterback runs 20 yards back, looks like he's just going to fall on it, picks it up, finds the open man, hits him, and then all the guy almost scores and on the next play they do. then after that the leading rusher in the nfl, a.p., all day, adrian peterson, drops a pass and fumbles it, they get the ball, kick a field goal, we are down 9-10. even still the vikings were about to win, mr. speaker. ut the lucky, lucky seahawks see our excellent field goal kicker miss one, all those he's been making them all year long. . so i'm here to congratulate the seahawks as the luckiest team in the nfl. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio, mr. gibbs, seek recognition? mr. gibbs: pursuant to house resolution 583, i call up the joint resolution s.j.

resolution 22, providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8, united states code of the rules submitted by the corps of engineers and the environmental protection agency relating to the definition of waters of the united states on the federal water pollution control act and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the joint resolution. the clerk: senate joint resolution 22, joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, united states code, of the rule submitted by the corps of engineers and the environmental protection agency relating to the definition of waters of the united states water he federal pollution control act. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 583, the joint resolution is considered as read. the gentleman from ohio, mr. gibbs, and the gentleman from oregon, mr. defazio, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio, mr. gibbs. mr. gibbs: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks

and include extraneous materials on s.j. resolution 22. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. gibbs: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. gibbs: the question for what is and is not waters of the united states has been the subject of debate for many decades. the reason this question is so important and contentious is because if water or land is federal, it is subject to regulation by the federal government. the clean water act was originally intended as a cooperative partnership between the states and the federal government with the states primarily responsible for the elimination and prevention of water pollution and oversight of waters within their borders. the successful partnership has given rise to monumental improvements in water quality throughout the nation since the clean water act's enactment in 1972 because not all waters need to be subject to federal jurisdiction. following the supreme court decision of swank and rapanos, determining the appropriate scope of jurisdiction on the clean water act, has been

confusing and unclear. both the regulated community and the supreme court called for a rulemaking that will provide the needed clarity. the e.p.a. and the army corps of engineers voluntarily undertook a rulemaking to respond for the need of clarity and that is when things went terribly wrong. if the agencys had taken the time to consult with the states and local governments and actually listened upfront to the issues that our states, counties, cities and townships are facing, the agencies would not have been -- not have to admit to congress in multiple hearings that their proposed rule created confusion and uncertainty, but they did not take this time for consultation. if the agencies had followed the proper rulemaking process, we wouldn't have a proposed rule that cuts the corners on the economic analysis, used incomplete data and took a urse rather look of the im-- cursuary look at the impacts.

if they had done things right, the substantial comments filed in the rule would not have been nearly 70% opposed to the rule. if the agencies had done the things right the first time, the transportation and infrastructure committee wouldn't have to respond to more than 30 states and almost 0 counties who requested the e.p.a. withdraw or -- withdraw and move a bill the house passed may, 2015, that was a bipartisan bill that would have sent this rule back to the agencies so they would go through the correct process. if the agencies had properly developed the rule in a joint fashion, the army corps of engineers would not have been cut out of the process and had send last-minute letters through the chain of command questioning the decisions that were being made in the final rule and pointing out multiple issues that would make the rule nearly impossible to implement and legally questionable. if the agencies had actually

set out to clarifying jurisdiction annot simply gifted themselves unlimited discretion to regulate whatever they wanted, they would not have needed to conspire to influence and skew the public comments during the open rulemaking process or to promote and justify an agenda that the majority of states opposed and they have sued to stop. recently, the government accounting office issued a legal opinion related to the investigation of the e.p.a. regarding waters of the united states rule that drastically increases the agency's authority at the expense of the states. the g.a.o.'s findings are plain and simple, the e.p.a. broke the law. by using social media tactics, the g.a.o. called covert propaganda and grassroots lobbying, the e.p.a. undermineded the integrity of the rulemaking process and violated the trust of the american people. the agency did not do things right. in fact, they did things very,

very wrong, and now we have a rule on the books that is reflective of a completely flawed process. the waters of the united states le today goes far beyond defining the clean waters act program. it vastly expands federal power. the clarity in this rule provided is simple. everything is federal. the rule misconstrues and manipulates the supreme court cases, effectively turning those cases that places jurisdiction to justification for agencies to expand their assertion of federal authority er all waters and what areas nationally. they chose to right many rules vaguely in order to give federal regulators substantial discretion to claim federal discretion over any water or wet area whatever they wanted -- whenever they wanted. that is to give the community

without clarity and certainty as to their regulatory status and leaves them exposed to lawsuits and massive government finds. in addition, since many of these jurisdictional decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis, they will give the federal regulators free rein to find jurisdiction. this rule in essence establishes a presumption that all waters are jurisdictional and shifts the burden to prove they are not to the property owners and others in the regulated community. this rule will set a very high bar for the regulated community to overcome. the administration even explicitly acknowledged they want maximum discretion in this -- in the statement of administration policy for h.r. 1732, stating that they opposed the bill because it would constrain the agency's regulatory discretion. the rule undermines the successful federal-state partnerships and by granting

sweeping jurisdiction for waters never intended for regulation under the clean water act. in justifying the need for this rule, the agencies claim that massive amounts of wetlands and stream miles are not being protected by the states and this rule is needed to protect them. yet the agencies continue to claim that no new waters would be covered by the rulemaking -- by this rulemaking, which raises the question how the rule can protect the supposedly unprotected waters without vastly expanding federal jurisdiction over them. the agencies are talking out of both sides of their mouth. the reality is states care about and are protective of their waters and wetlands and stream miles and they are not left being unprotected. more than 30 states have sued the federal government over this rule and who can blame them. the states and local governments and the regulated community all repeatedly expressed concern that the agencies have cut them out of the process and failed to consult with them during every step to develop this rule. the agencies engaged in a flawed process from the

beginning. ignoring their state and local partners, ignoring each other and gifted themselves virtually limitless authority over land in this country that could contain water. furthermore, they broke the law by illegally influencing both public comment period and lobbying against congressional efforts to get them to change their course. s.j. resolution 22 halts this appalling overreach by the executive branch. the stakes are simply too high not to act. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. defazio: i thank the gentleman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. defazio: we're ultimately here because of the failure by the united states congress to act. the last time congress revisited the clean water act was 1987. there's very few members here today who were elected at that

time. now, the reason we have the clean water act is i remember a time when i was young when the cuyahoga river caught fire because of industrial waste. a river in my state was an open sewer because it was a convenient way to dump your municipal human waste. it was a disaster for our country and we decided to deal with that problem under republican leadership. and we did quite successfully. but now we realize that it's a little more complicated from municipal the waste. read the c.i.a. documents or the planning by the pentagon. wars will be fought over waters. we can't sully this precious resource, and i think there's pretty substantial agreement on that. the question is, what, where and how do we protect the waters of the united states? this is incredibly confusing.

we have a split supreme court, contradictory decisions out of the supreme court, and we are now today living under bush-era guidance regarding the clean water act. and that, unfortunately, is described by people from the extremes of the debate, from the american farm bureau to the natural resources defense cocil as totally unworkable, inconsistent, incomprehensible, and it provides no certainty to farmers or to conservationists or to developers or anybody else and that's what we're living under, those rules today. here's a quote from the american farm bureau. a hodgepodge of ad hoc and jurisdictional theories which ultimately will result and is resulting in increased delays and costs to the public at large. though that's what we're living under because this new rule,

which we -- the house today is not in overturn, effect. what's in effect today are bush-era guidance, and if this legislation were to pass and become law, which it won't because the senate has already failed to muster a veto-proof majority over there on this issue, so this is all kind of for show, but were it to pass, the provisions of this resolution of disapproval are so broad that all of the work that went into constructing this new rule could not be replicated in any manner. essentially we would be stuck forever, unless we change the law and congress hasn't acted on the clean water act for 30 years, unless we change the law, we would be stuck forever for an ad hoc, inconsistent, hodgepodge of inconsistent theories which are resulting in increasing delays and cost to

the public at large. that would be the ultimate result were this to pass and become law. i have to admit the administration caused a good deal of the problem here today. the reuschel, as initially promulgated by the e.p.a., was, i would say, turgid at best, and it caused incredible confusion. it seemed to have jurisdictional theories, etc., etc. very much like the bush rule. there was an uproar from members of congress, farmers, developers, conservationists, everybody had concerns about their initial rule. so what did they do? they went out, they listened. they had a massive number of comments to which they meaningfully responded and they found a few areas where they did make major improvements. do i think it's a perfect rule? no. but the courts will decide where it is adequate or inadequate and then direct -- that would give direction to a future congress to actually act and do our job on the clean water act. that would be desirable.

so, you know, it does deal with roadside ditches. huge concerns about roadside ditches. good change. it does -- d has explicit exemption of municipal separate storm sewers from the clean water act. again, that was a confusing part of their first rule. permanently exempted groundwater water fill depressions. huge concern with gravel extraction activities in my state. and a litany of erosional features, artificial ponds and artificially irgaited areas were exempted from the clean water act. very explicitly and clearly benefiting farmers and developers. in fact, this was subject -- came up at our joint hearing on this issue. senator thune brought this and this was subjected to clean water act regulatory process. they wanted to turn this into a

warehouse facility to develop the land. it's very marginal at best as farmland. and administrator mccarthy -- rmed under her new and rule and guidance this would be accepted but under the bush rule it couldn't. they could develop it under the new rule which we seek today to overturn. so this new rule is an improvement. is it perfect? no. in fact, i think the courts might find it wanting in many ways which would have further action by congress. but to merely say we reject it, we want to live under the bush rule which everybody hates and doesn't work forever doesn't make a lot of sense and also acting here today when the senate has already made it clear that they don't have a veto-proof majority shows that we're wasting time. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is

recognized. . gibbs: for a little bit of clarity, house h.r. 7232 passed out of the house was to rescind this proposed rule and start over. that's the position of the american farm bureau. at this time, mr. speaker, i yield to the chairman of the transportation and infrastructure committee, mr. shuster, as much time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. shuster: mr. speaker, i rise today in strong support of s.j. resolution 22, the of ution of disapproval the waters of the united states. the ranking member pointed out that the bush rule creates tremendous uncertainty. he's correct. absolutely correct. we need to make sure we change it. but this rule that the president has put forward has 32 states that have filed lawsuits against it. 32 states have said, no, this doesn't work. for decades the federal regulators worked as partners with the states to significantly improve water quality across this country. those situations that the

ranking member talked about that happened 40 and 50 years ago aren't happening today. the states have worked very closely with the federal government to make sure that we have clean water, that we are protecting that precious resource we have. i will say right up front, because i know someone will call me out on t. the governor of pennsylvania did not file a lawsuit. he's a liberal democrat who has an extreme environmental agenda. he doesn't really care about the farmers of pennsylvania. nor does he care about the building industry in pennsylvania. this governor is wrong on this issue. again, 32 states have said no to this rule. the federal government shouldn't be regulating every drop of water. again, pennsylvania, like every other state, is supposed to bear primary responsibility for regulating the waters within its own borders. but that will change when the e.p.a. and the corps of engineers blatantly ignore pennsylvania and the other 49 states, the limits of the

federal jurisdictions. the gentleman knows full well across this country there are protests going on in the state of oregon. the federal government, again, has an overreach. keeps pushing out there. this rule will be the same thing. the federal government will push out and reach out and do things that weren't intended to be in the law. just about every wet area in the country is opened to federal regulation under this rule. jobs will be threatened. the rights of land owners and local governments will be trampled. that's the frustration out there in america today. the federal government keeps pushing, pushing, pushing, and doing things that really don't have a significant impact but -- on the environment or other areas of the economy, other areas of their jurisdiction. and they cause great harm to individuals out there. so that's why there's tremendous frustration in this country today. there are clear problems with this rule. again the administration basically concongressed this

proposal in a -- concocted this proposal in a vacuum. 32 states have filed suit against it. that's significant. that's almost 2/3 of the states, 3/4 of the states that have said no to this rule. that's a prime example, again, of why americans are sick and tired of this. every day i hear from farmers, home builders, small business, and others in my district. some have told me, some farmers have said, they won't be able to pass on their family farm because of the costs associated with this power grab. as i said i have no doubt that's what's going to happen. this will continue to expand if we don't stop it here today and send a strong message to the president to take this rule back as the ranking member, the subcommittee chairman said, start over. let's include the states in the development of this rule making. the e.p.a. and the corps need to listen to the states as the partners they have done for many years. just last night the president

of the united states stood in this house floor and talked about the need for eliminating rules that are on the books. how about let's not put rules on the books that are going to cause great harm and great damage to many sectors of the economy, to many american people. this is a time when the president can show us those words last night weren't hollow. they were meaningful. that he wanted to reach across the aisle. here's a chance. there were a number of senators on the other side of the aisle that voted for this. the last couple of times we passed wotus bills here in the house, we got bipartisan support. here's an opportunity for us to work together. again, last night we listened to the president. we heard him say some words, some words good. but again if they are not willing to listen to the congress on this issue, the first order of business, the very first order of business after he stood there last night and talked about it, as i said, the need to reduce rules as i said, how about let's not put a rule in place that's going to cause great harm to this country? the congressional review act

was put in place for this very purpose. this is an opportunity for us to all join and do exactly what the ranking member has asked for, certainty in the rule. reject president bush's rule making. let's put a rule in place the states can support and the american people can support. i urge all members to support s.j. resolution 22. with that i yield back. the eaker pro tempore: gentleman yields back. the gentleman from ohio reserves. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. defazio: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. the chairman and i have established a good record of working together. i'd love to get a commitment here to work together to go through a full re-authorization of the clean water act and clarify these many issues, what we wanted to project and what we want to be excluded from the jurisdiction. congress has the authority to do that. i think we should undertake that. it would be very difficult. to say that repealing this rule, which does have some clarifications of the bush that ould return us to the bush-era

regulations, had hock -- ad hoc theories, doesn't seem like a good result. unless we choose to act and clarify the law, that's what we are going to be stuck with. under this resolution, we cannot absent another specific tion by congress, they can't use any of the work that went nle to this rule or the data it can't be su sanctionly the same. we would have to further to begin a new rule making. there was unprecedented public comment. 207 days of public comment. one million comments received. 400 public meetings, and there was a special consultation process for the states and local officials. now, my state and the state of pennsylvania apparently were pretty satisfied with that. there are other states that weren't, but maybe they didn't go to the meetings. with that i yield three minutes

to the gentlelady from california, mrs. napolitano. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for three minutes. mrs. napolitano: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in opposition to s.j. solution 22, the congressional review act disapproval resolution on the e.p.a. corps of engineers' clean water rule making. i thank my ranking member, he peter defazio, for his strong advocacy and dedicated leadership in protecting the waters of the united states. congress has a long history in supporting the clean water act. back in 1972 congress overroad president nixon's veto of the clean water act demonstrating bipartisan support for the federal regulation of our nation's waters. the message was very clear. human health would no longer take back seat to big business. we need to protect our people. what about the people who drink the water and use it for everyday purposes? now, more than 40 years later we are set to vote to overturn

the clean water protection rule. a rule that for the first time in over a decade provides clarity for regulated parties, and protection for our nation's rivers and streams. what message congressional review are we sen today? clearly we are not telling the american people that. what water the american people have left is not worth protecting. mr. speaker, when developing the clean water protection rule, the administration went to unprecedented lengths to engage with stakeholders, including ranchers, farmers, municipalities, held over 400 stakeholder meetings on the rule, and reviewed close to a million public comments on the rule. i say public because public was also in -- partly commenting on this. it is evident that e.p.a. and the corps wholeheartedly considered these comments and concerns because many of the clean water rule reforms benefit industry, agriculture, and municipalities.

these reforms include limiting permits tore ditches, municipal storm water sewers, and codified exemptions for certain agriculture construction activities. and let us not forget that the farmers and developers alike called the clean water act's current, talking again about the current one, regulatory process, quote, ad hoc. inconsistent and costly. the rule we are attempting to overturn would keep the old bush administration-era confusing regulations in place and potentially prohibiting the president and his future successors from developing a clean water rule in the future. as we stand here today, i can't think of one good reason to pass this resolution. the same groups that asked for this rule actually benefited from the rule, but they are now asking us to do away with that rule. the only thing i can surmise is that those who oppose this rule would oppose any rule making that did not drastically limit the application of the clean

water act or put it another way, these groups are simply opposed to clean water act entirely. in california, 99.2% of the population gets the water from drinking water systems that rely on water bodies protected by this rule. with numbers like that on the line, intervening now is simply reckless. mr. speaker, i urge all my colleagues to join me in strong opposition to the resolution. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from oregon reserves. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. gibbs: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from nebraska, mr. smith. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. smith: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, mr. gibbs. certainly to the entire committee, chairman shuster and others, for your work on this issue. i rise today in strong support of this legislation. i certainly appreciate clean water. however, the e.p.a.'s waters of the u.s. rule, or wotus, is one of the largest abuses of executive power in modern history, imposes a significant

threat to america's economy. under the rule, the e.p.a. and the army corps of engineers will have the power to dictate land use decisions and farming practices of agriculture and business owners all across the country. to give you an idea of the scope of the overreach and illustrate why my colleagues from urban districts should be concerned about this rule, i ant to share with you an example of e.p.a. and the army corps' abuse in douglas county, nebraska, with a population of over 500,000 in my home state. the president also happens to be visiting this county today. in 2005, the county began the process of submitting the proper environmental permit applications needed to extend a section of road about one mile. the project was designated as having the lowest level example of e.p.a. of impact. ntal

however, construction is not slated to begin until at least 2019. why the delay? there is a small ditch which runs adjacent to the proposed project. within the ditch there is a small rut about six to eight inches wide, no more than an inch deep. it has no ordinary high water mark and there are no wetland plants growing in the ditch. however, the corps declared this ditch a water of the united states, costing the county thousands of dollars and numerous years. this was never the intent of congress when the clean water act was passed. the act clearly limits federal jurisdiction to navigable waters. the term navigable appears more than 80 times in the clean water act. there is no way one can tell me that an inch-deep ditch is a navigable water. congress has responsibility to guard against these bureaucratic power grabs by executive agencies. this is why i introduced the companion bill to this legislation immediately after the rule was finalized. my resolution gained more impac however, than 70 co-sponsors with supporters from both sides of the aisle. thanks to the expedited procedures established under the congressional review act, after we vote on this legislation, the bill will proceed immediately to the president's desk. my hope is the president will

listen to the american people, roll back this new rule. i thank the speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from ohio reserves. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. defazio: could i ask how much time remains on either side? the speaker pro tempore: the he minority has 19 1/2 minutes left. the majority has 16 minutes. mr. defazio: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. defazio: the gentleman just made an excellent point. unbelievably stupid and absurd that that ditch should have held up a needed project in an urban area, but that is because of the bush rule. the rule that today we are saying should be in place indefinitely or perhaps forever. that ditch is specifically exempt under the new proposed or newly adopted rule which has been suspended by litigation.

so if the gentleman wants to deal with the ditch problem, it's been dealt with. unfortunately the courts have put a stay on it. but now the gentleman wants to throw out the new rule which would exempt ditches like that and go back to the bush-era rule which is what caused that problem. mr. elie sew: i thank the gentleman for yielding. vote no on this resolution. it's a very bad idea. what is happening here for the folks listening is that the e.p.a. has come up with a rule that is going to strengthen protections for drinking water . r 117 million people and our republican colleagues have brought forth a resolution

to disapprove of the rule. leaving people vulnerable to the status quo. this comes out to about one in three americans across the country and perhaps one in five minnesotans in my home state. now, i'm critically concerned about all of america. i'm a u.s. congressman, which leads me to the situation in flint. the fact is is that by clarifying that waters are protected under the clean water act, the rule would reduce the amount of pollution entering major rivers and water ways. this would mean less corrosive water, which is part of what led to the water crisis being seen in flint, michigan, right now. win the highly corrosive flint river passes through the pipes it leaks lead into the pipes and goes into bathtubs and swimming pools. the water crisis in flint shows us failure to step up and protect our water supply puts

our lives in danger. 8,000 children are now facing poisoning because of this nasty situation. and flint residents were forced to pay for water that was poisoning them by an unelected emergency manager. a mother of flint resident, leean walter, started bathing her children with bottled water as she learned that her children were showing signs of lead poisoning that the lead levels in her tap water were seven times higher than the minimum safety standard. the entire city has been exposed to dangerous lead levels, including as many as 8,000 to 10,000 children. if this does not compel us to stand up and fight for clean water, i don't know what will. we absolutely need to say no to this resolution that would expos us to dirty -- expose us to dirty water. thank you very much. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from oregon reserves.

the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. gibbs: i just want to go back memory lean for just a second. my good friend from oregon, when we were debating h.r. 1732, the bill that says stop this rule and bring clarity, he said, it was a bipartisan supported bill. the gentleman said, well, we didn't need to pass 173 because whenever the rule comes out we have the congressional review act to review the problem. that's what we're doing today. i yield to mr. mcclintock from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. mcclintock: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, congress gave e.p.a. jurisdiction over navigable bodies of water large enough to support ship traffic. this e.p.a. rule takes control over virtually every body of water in the united states, including many agricultural and drainage ditches, ornamental lakes and small creeks and streams on private property. now, in 2010, mr. oberstar introduced a bill to grant them this power and the pelosi congress refused to pass it.

so the e.p.a. simply decided to seize that power anyway. this not only threatens to upend 150 years of state water and property rights laws, it also presents us with a grave challenge to our constitution. if it's allowed to stand, this rule means that congress' exclusive legislative powers have now passed unrestricted to the executive, including the power to repeal existing laws that guarantee states supremacy over their own waters and the power to amend laws to seize new executive authority in direct defiance of this congress. this rule must not stand. it cannot stand. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from ohio reserves. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. defazio: i would yield to the gentlelady from texas, eddie bernice johnson, three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for three minutes. ms. johnson: thank you very much, mr. chairman.

let me thank my ranking member and the chair of this committee for their diligence in running this committee and overseeing some of the most important legislation for our nation. the clean water act is the key federal law used to protect our nation's waters and ensures that millions of americans have access to clean water. the resolution of disapproval being considered today would block the implementation of important administrative eforms aimed at clarifying key components of the clean water act. these reforms include considerations on how we define tributaries through traditionally navigable waters and sets out clear exclusions to the definition of waters of the united states among other changes that will help streamline the regulatory

process. countless municipalities, businesses and industrial stakeholders have expressed concern around the confusing and outdated regulations established under the bush administration. in fact, more than a million public comments submitted to e.p.a. and the u.s. corps of engineers have contributed to the formulation of this final rule. the final rule would provide much-needed predictability and clarity for these groups, and that has got my attention. in my home state of texas, 43% of the residents get their drinking water from sources that rely on small streams protected by the most recent clean water act and rule. the rule also restores protections to more than 12,000 miles of streams that feed into texas drinking water sources. furthering the implementation of this rule will continue to

have a dramatic impact on my state of texas and other states around the country. i see a number of immediate problems with this resolution. for one, s.j.res. 22 would block any future administration from ever clarifying the regulatory confusion related to the clean water act unless congress authorizes a new rule. in my opinion, that does not bode well for our ability to protect such an essential resource as clean water for americans. thankfully, president obama has already expressed his intention to veto this resolution if it were to reach his desk. based on a vote on this resolution in the senate last year, congress lacks the support to override a veto. this resolution is simply another attempt by this congress to block this administration from carrying out its regulatory duties to

protect americans. i do not think there is a single member of this house who -- d disagree that across disagree that access to clean water is absolutely essential for our well-being and health. can i have 30 seconds? mr. defazio: i yield the gentlelady an additional minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for one additional minute. ms. johnson: thank you very much. here we are dedicating more time to consider legislation that would block our ability to protect important waterways and wetlands from pollution. mr. speaker -- mr. chairman, this resolution amounts to nothing more than a misguided direction. no one things that any american should be subjected to questionable quality of water, and for this reason i would urge my colleagues to vote no on this resolution and i yield

back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from oregon reserves. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. gibbs: mr. speaker, you know, i'm hearing a lot of comments made about the comment period. i just want to reiterate of the substantial comments made, 70% of them opposed the rule, and i think what's even more important that needs to be made clear leer, the government accountability office, the g.a.o., did an investigation and they said the e.p.a. broke the law because they used covert propaganda through social media to skew the comments and bias to their agenda. this creates a huge problem for me because this violates the integrity -- goes to the integrity of the comment period. the reason we have a comment period is for stakeholders -- in this case, states, farmers, developers and the whole array of different people -- have the ability to put comments in and it's up to the agency to make the best rule possible that will work for everybody and protect the environment. and the g.a.o. said they broke

the law so we need to make that clear the comment period was flawed and that's why we need to pass this bill and rescind it. i yield the gentleman from louisiana, mr. graves, for as much time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. graves: thank you, mr. speaker. and i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, we're here today because the supreme court in 2001 and again in 2006 determined that the e.p.a. and the corps of engineers' definition of waters of the united states was too broad and it directed them to narrow that rule, that definition to bring it into compliance within the four corners of the law. this poster here indicates the absurdity of what we're dealing with. clearly you wouldn't have folks out in a kayak in a field fishing. it's simply nonsensical and that's what we're facing today. the e.p.a. and corps of engineers didn't come back and

say we're going to reduce the footprint, we're going to reduce the area that's now subject to jurisdiction of the corps under waters of the u.s. they came up with a rule that actually expanded it. they came out with a rule that the cost of compliance didn't decrease, as you would expect based upon the rulings of the supreme court, the cost of compliance grew and there were many reports about discourse within the corps of engineers and the e.p.a. in regard to the approach that's being taken today. this is simply absurd to come in and attempt to regulate snow melt and drainage and things like that. mr. speaker, in my home state of louisiana, we drain about 42% of the contiguous land mass of north america. it's one of the largest watersheds in the world. you can't take a definition of waters of the u.s. and try to apply it to arizona and louisiana. waters of the u.s. is our state based upon this definition. much of the area of south louisiana would be subject to

this. so what does this mean? it means it's an infringement upon our private property rights, homes, businesses, land that we bought that we own. we can't have the federal government come in and grow jurisdiction beyond the scope of the law. i want to be clear. i'm not talking about paving all the wild lands and open lands that we have in the united states. we certainly want to protect the environment, want to protect our water quality, but the irony here is that this is the u.s. army corps of engineers and e.p.a. involved. in my home ste of louisiana, we have the greatest array of coastal wetlands loss in the united states, which i want to make note, mr. speaker, is the fault of the u.s. army corps of engineers. it's their fault the greatest loss of wetlands lost in the united states their fault. they're here standing up saying they want to protect the environment, be good stewards of the environment. this is absurd. this is not anti-environmental. this is simply complying with the law, and this rule clearly goes beyond the scope of the

law. you're not going to see scenarios like this because it's absurd and that's what we're facing today. what's going to happen is this rule is once going going to be thrown out by the supreme court. it's once again going to be thrown out. what americans are going to face between now and when this is thrown out is they're going to be facing additional scrutiny. they're going to be facing additional costs of compliance. they're going to face additional encroachment and infringement upon their private property rights. it's wrong. this isn't anti-environmental. this is within the four corners of the law. thank you very much. i strongly urge you to support this resolution. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from ohio reserves. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. defazio: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. defazio: i'd like to refer back to the chairman's trip down memory lean. if he recalls the -- memory lane. if he recalls the circumstance,

we had not seen the revised rule, initial rule that many of us rejected to and we haven't seen the revised rule and the majority wanted to stop the revised rule, again, sticking us with the bush-era guidance. i guess they're in love with which everybody from the farm bureau to natural resources defense council hate and say it doesn't work and the gentleman from louisiana just referenced that. in the interim, we will be under these really, you know, contradictory and unworkable rules of the bush era. congress should act to update the clean water act and then we can have a vigorous debate over what areas we want to cover and what areas we don't want to cover and perhaps get a little more clarity. today we're here because they have promulgated a rule. it does -- it's substantially different than the draft rule and they made clear that many of the things that were discussed in the interim that's going to regulate my bird bath, my pond on my farm, the puddles on my farm, the ditches on my

farm. t's all of those things are -- all of those things are addressed in the final rule which we want to override and they are exempt. you know, it does not change exemptions for agriculture. it doesn't regulate erosional features. i'm not going to read all the specific language but it's all right here. it doesn't -- you know, it is the ditch issue you heard earlier in the urban area, that's solved under this but it's still a problem under the bush-era rule which is still the law of the land because the new law was stayed by the courts and now we want to kill it so we don't want to fix the ditch issue, i guess, and live forever under the bush-era rule. it doesn't regulate land use. i mean, if it did the things that people on the other side were saying, i think you'd find 85%, 90% of the members of this house will be voting for this resolution of disapproval. the fact is it doesn't do those things and we have very specific references to m