these are priorities of the administration and all the more commerce in six weeks -- i accomplished in six weeks lasted year. the kind of doom and gloom along party lines is being advanced by a lot of republicans in congress and on the campaign trail. it makes some people peasant is our prospects for legislative accomplishments over the course of this year. over the last couple days, and talking about this a lot, this particular issue, it has become clear there are at least six things that this administration has made a priority that seem to be priorities shared by at least some republicans on capitol most cases a majority of republicans have identified these things as priorities. and we're are hopeful we can

work with republicans on them. the first is criminal justice reform, the one we talked about most. there appears to be significant bipartisan majorities in the house and senate for commonsense legislation that would reform the criminal justice system in a way that would make the system more fair and our communities were safe. is interested in trying to advance legislation that would commerce that goal. we also talked about the transpacific partnership. there isrepublicans, strong support for that agreement. there are a lot of republicans in washington who are not in congress, but often support congressional campaigns who are supportive of the transposition -- of the tpp agreement. the other thing i would point out the president talked about how he is going to put vice president biden in charge of redoubling our efforts and ramping up our investments in trying to cure cancer.

that got a lot of applause in the hall where the president was speaking tuesday night, and that is because we have seemed even some conservative republicans who do not have too many compliments for the president's agenda say they strongly support investment in medical research and development because of the economic benefits, but also because of the medical breakthroughs that could be realized that with a people's lives. the fourth thing, the president had direct praise for speaker ryan's commitment to try to find new ways to fight poverty. out oneident single policy idea that speaker arrived had put forward. this would be expanding the earned income tax credit to include those workers that do not have children. the president believes that sets and pretty good incentive, we even saw some comments earlier this week after the

speech from republicans on the house ways and means committee saying they thought this could be a promising idea and there might be an opportunity to work with the administration to advance its. that is something we would be interested in considering. is heroinifth thing addiction. we of the presidential candidates on the republican side talk about this issue. director of the -- make this a priority, and he has got his own personal story about fighting addiction and countering addiction and helping americans overcome addiction. we obviously welcome the opportunity to work with performance on it. the fifth thing, which some republicans report, and this may be not a majority of republican scum and that is on the

authorization to use military force against isil. this is something the president is enthusiastic about. ryan has been asking other republicans how to advance this legislation there are members of the senate feel strongly on both sides this is something congress should do, and we have demonstrated willingness to work with congress on this. in fact we did not just call on them to pass an aumf, we wrote one and send it to one so they would not have to do too much work. then we sent senior members of the national security team to testify about this legislation in an open hearing in congress. we are committed to this effort. things,e six important and if we can make progress on those six things in the context of an election year and even in the context of a democratic president and erdogan-dominated congress, i would be a pretty good thing. hopeful we is

can do that. sorry for the long answer. >> to follow up on the situation with iran and the sailors, does the white house see their actions as violation of the military code of conduct, specifically, that i will not surrender under my own free will, i will never surrender the members of my command? [indiscernible] this is part of the ongoing department of defense and instigation. that is why i am limited in what i can say about this because i speak on behalf of the commander in chief. there is a lot of sensitivity about the commander in chief even being seen as interfering in an ongoing department of defense review, particularly one that could have some criminal consequences. we are going to leave that to the department of justice, and there's not much i can say about that. >> is there any sense whether

they made this video statement under duress? mr. earnest: that is unclear. common sense says that is a possibility. this is something that the fence is taking a look as well. >> you put out a fact sheet this one talking about the momentum in the fight against isil. you talked about the progress you have made over the last year and a half. there have not been any major strategic victories. is it the white house's view that we are winning this war? can you put on your football hat? mr. earnest: let me say it this way. the president has been clear that there would be areas of progress and some times of setback. that is the nature of any sort of any military conflict, particularly one that is as unwieldy as this one. i think the best way to is your

question is over the last andral months united states our 65 coalition partners have enjoyed a lot of progress, and there are variety of ways to measure that, which is a couple of the best waste come to mind would be the successful completion of the operation was carried out by iraqi forces to forces.amadi from isil it was a pretty salient setback ramadi, andptured -- it a long-planned and took significant effort and a lot of planning to mount the kind of campaign that succeeded in driving isil out of ramadi. that was an important indication that the kind of strategy that we have long discuss from here could work. and that is united states and our coalition partners, working closely with iraqi forces to

offer training, advice, and assistance to those iraqi forces, to make sure that they have the necessary equipment, and then to back up their efforts on the ground with airstrike in the united states and our coalition partners -- that was the recipe that allowed them to drive isil out of ramadi. that was an encouraging the element. the other thing i would point to, and i do not think this was heeted on the fact s thet last couple of weeks in december the united states and the kind ofdertook strikes that allowed us to take 10isil leaders off the battlefield in that relatively of time, including a couple that had connections to the network they carried out the the innocentst civilians in paris. that is an indication others all the demonstrated by the united states and our coalition partners to hold isil

accountable for their efforts to target innocent civilians, it is also an indication that to develop intelligence and learn isil's leaders is yielding fruit. the more pressure we can apply to those readers them the more worried we can make about their personal safety, the harder it will be for them to plot and plan and carry out attacks against the west. that element of our strategy is levelunctioning at a high and yielding important results. but to say whether you are winning or losing, is that a reflection of their ability to launch these attacks in paris - [indiscernible] mr. earnest: i think it is reflection of the fact that these kinds of military conflicts often do not lend themselves to sports metaphors. that is not an accurate way or an act way to help people understand exactly what is happening. we are mindful of the ongoing

poses because of foreign fighters and their sophisticated use of social media. but what is undeniable is when you take a look at the battlefield inside of iraq and in syria, there is important progress being made by the united states and our coalition partners, including iraqi forces in iraq and some of the moderate syrian opposition forces taking the fight to isil underground in syria. mike? >> if you questions. -- a few question. does the white house have any opinion on the new york law that would report back door encryption access? re: concerned there is a risk -- are you concerned there is a risk that local governments could have access to information that government does not -- mr. earnest: i'm am not familiar with that law, but why don't my colleagues at the nse look into it. >> another not then bolts

the chairman of the house ways and means committee and the chairman of the finance committee in the senate yesterday said they were working on an effort to address international corporate tax law, whiching both inversions, the white house is certainly quite concerned about, and repatriation. is the white house going to engage on this? do you have any sense on these efforts on legislation that would -- [indiscernible] these specific international textile consequences? mr. earnest: i am not familiar with the specific reposes put , but the things you have identified are things we have identified as well. i'm confident we would be happy to engage in a discussion with republicans on capitol hill about making our tax code

fair,e, or simple -- more more simple, and when it comes to the corporate tax code, there is the potential that we could close loopholes that only benefit wealthy and well-kenexa corporation's -- well-connected corporations, and lower the rate for everybody. we want to do this in a fiscally possible way. we want to do this in a way that reflects our priorities of expanding economic opportunity for everybody in america, particularly middle-class families. and the president has talked about there are elements of the corporate tax code that is unfair. it is not middle-class families that are stashing their funds overseas. it is well-connected corporations that are taking advantage of those havens. it is not fair. >> [indiscernible] mr. earnest: the question is, can you do that anyway that is actually fair? the previous time this was done -- there are a number of studies

that taking a close look at this -- that the previous time this occurred, the revenue generated by that repatriation holiday was dedicated much more do things like corporate bonuses and padding the bottom line for the companies and not on creating jobs and things that would actually be good for the broader academy -- economy. we can take some -- we can find some optimism in the idea that both democrats and republicans agree that these kinds of loopholes in the corporate tax code are a problem, but does far, our proposed solutions have been quite different. i think that frankly reflects in the priorities that have been identified by the individual parties, but that

will not prevent us from having a conversation. >> lastly, i'm curious how you -- isy if we accept that following a terrorist strategy, that we have had no strategic victories in recent months. i realize short of taking over a capital, victory can be in the eye of the holder, but given the idea of a terrorist strategy, conventional military affect yourto potential sympathizers, how can you analyze that the attack in paris is not a strategic victory for a terrorist strategy or an tiny one, inif a the united states, is not a strategic victory with the kind of terrorist strategy they have been pursuing? mr. earnest: the fact sheet was related to military efforts to

counter isil. majorhas not had any victories since 2013. it is been reported suggesting the white house national security team is in the final stages of reviewing a proposal to close gitmo. true? mr. earnest: what i can confirm is the pentagon asked the instruction of the president and has been working on developing a plan for closing the prison at guantanamo bay. they have it working at that for some time. i do not have an updated timeframe on when that will be produced. >> is it something that the white house is reviewing now that they have sent over? mr. earnest: i do not know the answer to that question. this is something that the pentagon has been working on a

lot. they have had a lot of conversations with white house officials about the development of that plan. hasumably, the white house insight into the work they are doing and has had an opportunity to talk to them about that work. i do not know if they have e-mailed a draft version or anything. the thing i will tell you about that plan is first of all it is something that we are planning to present to congress. will he madeit we public, so you can look at it as well. not to geturage you into a sense of mystery about the plan. i think our strategy that we have been pursuing for quite some time familiar to those who have been watching this issue for years now. we have a strategy for working with partners around the world to transfer those individuals who can be transferred into situations where the threat that

they posed to the united states is sufficiently mitigated. we also have a strategy for putting some of these gitmo detainees through a legal either through a military commission or free courts, to bring them to justice. there is a certain other group of individuals who are not likely to be able to be transferred because they are so dangerous. but yet they are also probably the evidence-- collected against them does not necessarily lend them to the kind of military commission that has been successful in other areas. those individuals in resolving their case is the hardest part of all of this. and the case that we would make the members of congress is that continuing to hold those individuals at the prison at ise, mo -- at guantanamo bay not good for our national security interests because we know that terrorists use it as a recruiting tool. the second thing is inefficient use of taxpayer dollars. it costs about $4 million per

detainee per year to keep them at that prison. we could can find them in a different place in a way that would affect our national security for much less money, and that is what the president is focused on. >> it is fair to say that the plan you are looking at -- there is still a group of detainees whose fate will not be resolved by transfer or by prosecution? still this group, several dozen, that will be in this legal limbo for rats as long as 10, 12 years -- that clearly is not a good situation for the united states from a propaganda point of view or from a values point of view. what happens to them? do they go to one of these three federal prisons in the united states and language further? to figuret: we have

out a more effective way to confine them than we do right way that reflects our national security interests, but also our commitment to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. there's no denying that working through the challenges of their situation continues to be difficult. now?ere are now 25 mr. earnest: a couple dozen is the way i can describe it. we can get you a more precise number. >> [indiscernible] i do not have an update on timing. in july was asked about it and told you it would be relatively soon. it is now january and it has not been produced at this point. i'm not want to make anymore promises on the timing. once we have produced it to congress, we will give you a chance to look at it. one second. >> to be clear, is it fair to thethat the plan that

administration is looking at will still result with a couple detainees whose situations where be resolved some who will be in legal limbo years later? mr. earnest: what is true is the goal of this plan is not to resolve all of the status, the individual status of every single detainee. the goal is to put forward a strategy for closing the prison at guantanamo bay. in some cases that will be putting individuals to military commission proceedings in some cases, and in the vast majority of cases, it means transferring individuals to other countries who have appropriate security arrangements in place to take them on. group ofother individuals, it means finding a more effective way to detain them say they do not pose a threat to national security, so they do not serve as a recruiting tool for terrorists reservations, and do that t effect way.

>> yesterday 10 detainees arrived in -- five of them were of great interest. the word you used is they were transferred. are these individuals going from one prison cell in guantanamo to oman?r prison cell in mr. earnest:mr. earnest: the security arrangements in place for these individual detainees, yeminis.e were you in an that rehabilitation program also includes significant security limitations. that is to say -- >> [indiscernible] they can come and go as they please. mr. earnest: they are monitored

around the clock and their ability to travel is limited. i cannot speak to whether or not they are in a prison cell or not, i can tell you stuff like monitoring all their activities, keeping close to have some indications, letting their ability to travel, and also putting them through this rehabilitation program that has rehabilitatingof a radicalized individual is a way to get them out of the prison at guantanamo bay, but do it in a way that mitigates the risk of the threat that they posed to u.s. national security, and that is not just my assessment. that is not just the assessment of the president. the secretary of defense has to personally certify the appropriate security precautions have been taken. in this case, they had. >> is it true other detainees who have want to rehabilitation records have ended back on the -- theield, essentially

fight against the united states? mr. earnest: i do not know if that is true or not. we can check on that for you. what is true is the track record of detainees that have been transferred under the regime that we have put in place to other countries, that their recidivism rate is actually much lower, which is to say, many fewer as a percentage of those individuals that have been transferred, have rejoined the fight than those who were transferred under the system that was in place prior to the present taking office. >> the individuals not go back to yemen because of the civil war going on right now. the president once called yemen a model of success. does he stand by that statement? mr. earnest: that statement was s referenced to the

counterterrorism effort in yemen. the president was taking case that the united states had an effect of counterterrorism elation with the yemeni government that put significant pressure on extremists and rock rating in the country and had passed rate for trying to harm the united states and the west. i also point out that there have been occasions even since the onset of this strife inside of yemen where the united states has reserved our ability to carry out strike against extremists inside of yemen. again, yemen is a dangerous place with a lot of problems, but it is a place where we had then very effective in appliances that can pressure to leaders of terrorist organizations that are operating in yemen and occasionally taking off the battle field. >> the president has said the number one reason to close the prison is it is a recruiting

tool for terrorists. can you think of another example that the united states government bases its policy on what terrorists think? you're saying it is a recruiting tool for terrorists, right? you are worried about how terrorists view guantanamo, and that is the reason why you decided to close autonomous. mr. earnest: it is not just reading the minds of terrorists. we have evidence that extremists use images from what time of day to try to recruit people. >> in the last six month can you cite one video in which guantanamo has been mentioned? mr. earnest: i will refer you to the intel community that keeps tabs on these things, but i would not roll it out. just go back to your broader question, one of the reasons we spent a lot of time thinking about how to counter i sil's online activities is we

are concerned about the way they are able to inspire individuals to take up the cause of these extremists. it is important for us to do as much as we can to try to counter their efforts to influence the thoughts and emotions of vulnerable individuals around the world. that is the essence of this social media strategy we are trained to implement, both in terms of the conversations that senior officials had in silicon valley last week, but also part of the kinds of fusion centers we are setting up in places like the uae and malaysia to serve as regional operations to try to efforts in those regions as well. i point out it is not just me and the present who are concerned about the way that -- the president who are concerned about the way that terrorists use guantanamo as a recruiting tool. george w. bush, condoleezza

rice, bob gates, they agreed with this, too. they agree with this concern about the way that the son at guantanamo bay undermines our ability to fighters. >> and you believe if guantanamo were closed today that recruitment of individuals by isis, al qaeda, would be so much more difficult because guantanamo is no longer around? mr. earnest: they would have one less recruiting tool in the toolbox to inspire people to carry out acts of violence against in ameren -- violence against innocent americans. if you counter that against the fact that it costs $4 million per detainee per year, it is not of taxpayer dollars. even if her caucus were skeptical of the claim that recruitment value of the prison minimal,namo bay is

these guys who are strongly opposed to government spending would enthusiastically embraced an opportunity to save taxpayers some money. thatresident has engaged opportunity. the president would be the first one to tell you this has been part of basically every conversation he has had with the department of defense about the need to put this kind together, is to do so mindful of the it has ont taxpayers and the waiter money is spent. mark? >> is there a reason why put out the isil fact sheet today? mr. earnest: yes. is friday., it this is a document that we had planned to release in the context of the state of the union address and because there's so much interagency and international coordination involved in putting it together. the deadline slip, so we got it out today. >> i have in october question. mr. earnest: ok.

that the white house aware orrin hatch did not attend the speech so that he could be the designated survivor in the case of a catastrophe, even though jehguys said that secretary johnson was in that role? mr. earnest: we were aware of that. it is my understanding this is something congress has done more than once since 9/11. and that is a decision they make. >> >> he is president pro tem of the senate. he is ahead of jeh johnson in the line of succession for president. it would be a dual role there. house ready to

accept him in that role in the line of succession? earnest: i think the white house is hopeful this is an eventuality that won't occur. [laughter] i think senator hatch would even be in that category. [laughter] [indiscernible] earnest: these kinds of actions are always taken out of an abundance of caution. i don't have any information about whether or not senator hatch should have stayed home i went back to utah. we take all of the necessary onesngency steps, even the

that are taken solely out of an abundance of caution to ensure the united states government, even the event of the unthinkable is to persist. stepss why we took the with secretary johnson this year that we have in previous years. it is my understanding that even when democrats were in charge of the senate, this is something they periodically did as well. susan? >> i have a follow-up question. mr. earnest: ok. how long are they staying? how long is the --abilitation center i follow this pretty closely. we can certainly get you the paperwork that describes the circumstances of the transfer in more detail.

that is certainly something we have made public. i don't have the news release in front of me. it has been a couple days since i looked at it. i don't know off the top of my head whether there was a description of the amount of time that they would be in this rehabilitation program, but we can check on that for you. let me say one other thing. in certain cases they are diplomatic sensitivities with the other countries and terms of making public the circumstances of them taking on these individuals. as he would anticipate, there is complicated diplomacy that goes into these transfers. sometimes there is a little less transparency than there otherwise would the in deference to frankly, the sacrifice our partners aren't making in taking on these individuals. 's state of thet -- [indiscernible]

how has he been able to bridge the divide? his been working on the mental health bill for years, since the sandy hook shooting. he says he has tried repeatedly to engage with the white house. he tried contacting the president himself. he says he has not had his phone calls returned. this is something that he really wants to work with the white house on. he says he was blindsided by the mental health money that you will released last week and the new gun initiative. where you example worked together. why wasn't that work done by the white house with capitol hill? can you see that happening in the future with tim murphy and others?

the president has said that he did want to work with republicans. mr. earnest: i can't speak to all of the conversations between the white house and senator murphy's office. his office will get a phone call today. ingeneral, we are interested working with congress to expand mental health care to americans all across the country. varyingpoken with proportions of frustration and disappointment about this mental health care expansion. republicans have voted dozens of times to repeal the legislation that has done more to help the americans than any other decade -- that is the

affordable care act. millions of americans have been mental health care services as a result of medicaid expansion. and yet, republicans are dogged in their attempts to repeal that legislation. i think there is reason for us generally ofal republicans'interest in this particular area. i am skeptical of their sincerity. have an opportunity do it.e us wrong, let's i am confident that congressman murphy's office will get a call today. -- there is aer genuine interest on the part of the white house. we are certainly willing and ready to work with republicans to share the priority. thank you.

i will give you the last one. some said the u.s. sailors had miss navigated. is it the thinking that one or both of the boats miss navigated? the circumstances that led them to end up in iranian territorial waters is something still under investigation. the secretary of defense has access to more information about the ongoing investigation than i do. they may note of the secretary's comments as well, but i cannot speak with any firsthand knowledge. i don't know exactly what resulted in them being in iranian territorial waters. >> the area where they were is known for espionage by many different countries. can you assure us they were not engaged? again, for details

regarding what operation they were pursuing, i don't have any firsthand knowledge of what their operation was. ok? to the week ahead. the president and first lady will participate in a community service project. they will celebrate the life and legacy of martin luther king jr. there will be full coverage of that community service project. on tuesday, the president will welcome prime minister trumbull of australia to the white house. it will be the prime minister's first of two washington since taking office. he will have a bilateral meeting before taking lunch. they will discuss the u.s.-australian alliance. they will discuss our trade relationship with the successful negotiation. australia has made successful and contributions when it comes

campaign.nter-isil they have flown with american military pilots to take strikes against isil. we know australia has always made a substantial contribution to the training effort that is underway in iraq. deeplyare obviously appreciative of what the australians have done to further our coalition's efforts and i am confident that will be a part of the discussion between the leaders. on wednesday, the president will travel to detroit, michigan to experience firsthand the remarkable progress made by the city and the american auto industry. thee there, he will visit north american auto show to highlight the more than 640,000 new auto industry jobs that were created and the new record of auto sales in the united states in 2015.

information about his travel to michigan will be made available over the weekend or next week. he will deliver remarks here at the white house on thursday. the mayors will spend the evening at the white house interacting with senior white house officials and cabinet members to expand relationships with the federal government. i hope you all have a good weekend. >> are you briefing on monday? mr. earnest: i will not. hopefully i will be savoring the chiefs playoff victory! have a good weekend.

>> c-span's road to the white house coverage continues trump w with the donald portsmouth event. and on sunday, republican candidate ted cruz's bus tour continues through the granite state. he will meet with voters starting at 5:00 p.m. eastern in milford, new hampshire on c-span. >> earlier today, army officials held a briefing on the results of an investigation into the inadvertent chipping of live anthrax spores to a number of u.s. laboratories. officials say the public was never at risk and the army is taking steps to improve the process. this is 30 minutes. >> good afternoon, ladies and

gentlemen. i will be the moderator for the briefing on the results of an army regulation 15-6 the investigation into the inadvertent shipping of live anthrax spores to a number of laboratories in the united states and abroad. police that your name and affiliation when asking your question. i will allow one follow-up to each question and that assumes your first question was not a three or four parter. major general to his left, the deputy for acquisitions

management, office of the assistant secretary of the army. 15-6 investigating officer. and give his right is major general brian, the commanding general of the united dates army medical research. he will discuss components of the way ahead. now, the general will begin with opening remarks. >> 80's and gentlemen, good after -- ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. the army had a biosafety task force to look at toxins. from the anthrax incident, although that was the reason for this task force, the task force made a number of wide ranging and comprehensive recommendations that were approved by the secretary which will have a benefit to the entire program as we go forward. as general frost mentioned, we set up a biological task force. although use the army people at

the podium today, we had members of the navy and the air force on our panels. we began in august and we will finish this month and transitioned the remaining work to the army surgeon general represented here by general line. our recommendations include the establishment of a department of defense executive agent who will perform technical review, harmonization of procedures and integrate the inspections for this program and the secretary of the army delegated that responsibility of the executive agent to the army's surgeon general. we will establish a review panel consisting of prominent scientists from within and outside the department of defense and that will review and validate procedures for working with biological select agents and toxins. we will put in place a process to screen and validate all requests for biological products

from outside doj to see if they are valid and if we can substitute a less dangerous product for what has been requested. we will put in place a central process to track and monitor all requests and transfers. system.ludes a new i.t. be retained will at a local level in a central repository. we have and are in the process of developing new dod procedures for the inactivation and testing of bacillus and traces which when the underlying research is completed, and we expect that will take at least one year, will serve as our single dod and center for disease control validated procedure for this procedure.

we have transferred control of the biological laboratory at dugway proving ground from the army test and evaluation command to the research, development, and engineering command and eliminated their mission of producing biological agents for export across our customers. that production mission will no longer be conducted at dugway. it will be done at other laboratories within the dod. finally, we have put in place a biological inspection program in favor of a central program. livia's to this, we had eight separate inspection teams. hadrevious to this, we eight separate inspection teams. now, we will have won it to provide much less the variability in our standards and increased integration. this will improve the safety of importantcally

program for u.s. government workers and the american public. thank you very much. paul. name is polished rows i was the investigating officer for 15-6. no single event or single individual is responsible for the inadvertent shipment. find evidence that a combination of events, including , institutional issues, and personal accountability, when taken together, each contributed to this event. let me be perfectly clear. there was no evidence to suggest in any way shape or form that lab technicians for the american public were at any time at-risk.

i want to be very clear on that point. technicianswere lab or the american public put it risk. with respect to the gaps in science, we have a lot to do. we must investigate the irradiation process, which is the preferred method of an inactivating anthrax. we are lacking on information regarding spore counts. with respect to the process we are also needing to do additional research with respect to the way that we test whether or not our sport is active or is not active. , differentumerous protocols used by the different

labs over time that we must get together and conduct additional testing to determine whether or not we have the right process in our spores are truly inactivated based on the process. finally, we have to take time and investigate a series with respect to sport healing. -- two spore healing. there is believe out there that in order for a spore to grow, it must first heal. future, we intend to spend time to investigate spore healing. that is a process that allows teh spore at a certain temperature to heal. any other time or method that will allow the healing process to occur because a spore will not grow in less it heals.

more time and research is necessary in that particular area. , we have to take a look at how we investigate our facilities. at the current time, there are three different kinds of inspections. there are among them, army safety inspections. dugway was a producer of inactivated antigens. we have to take a look at specifically inspecting the process. in a production process we want repeatable results documented over time. we need to make sure the inspections live up to that. be notpections will announced so we can go into the lab working as it does on a daily basis. finally, we will respect individual accountability. we saw failures to take action.

we saw best practices by lab not being used. the intent is to ensure the secretary of the army and the leadership of the army has an opportunity to adjudicate that. any questions, ladies and gentlemen? that is my opening remarks. >> with that, we will have the first question. >> i had a question about the accountability. the report says several individuals including brigadier king, should be held accountable. what does this mean? of thes the on the scope 15-6 of us there and his investigation to decide what happens to these individuals. the 15-6 responsibility is to clearly point out who should be held responsible, who should be held accountable, and who should not be. is up to the army's chain of

command to invoke any type of retraining, counseling, or any other type of accountability for those particular individuals. let me be very clear. when we say held accountable, but does not mean remove and replace. if we have a situation where we have an individual who needs to be retrained, i will say he needs to be held accountable. we have a chain of command that will take a look at the actions and adjudicate. >> next question. >> is the army leadership looking at this now? what level is that? does that go to the chief? >> agosta the secretary of the army and than he has the opportunity to act or delegate. -- it goes to the secretary of the army and then he has the opportunity to act or delegate. >> can you say in confidence that nobody was ever in

danger? >> the personnel use the proper protective equipment at all times. from the individual technician perspective, they were not at risk. working in those particular environments, our personnel are equipped with equipment to deal with those environments. that is why i can be assured, and history has shown through the fact that none of our workers and it up sick as a result of this, that there was little chance or no chance that there was a risk to those lab technicians. >> it was not because they weren't exposed to anything, it was because they were prepared in case they would have been exposed in advance? >> that is correct. ourach one of our labs, personnel are always equipped for the particular biosafety level and they adhere to those policies to ensure there is as little risk as possible with respect to their health. >> and you are certain nobody was exposed outside of the labs

because of the way the samples were shipped? >> that is correct. we ship it as secure as we can with an inactive srtrain. second of all, it was shipped in a liquid file. so again, not aerosol. it is mostly in a aerosol venue. these are shipped in containers that had liquid. >> next question. >> can you say that basically -- the the last count samples went to 184 laps in all bs in all 50 states. is that the official count? >> we have a very high degree of confidence that we identified all of the recipients.

i don't know if there is ever the potential to achieve certainty because we have found in some cases that those who received shipments decided to separate a little but of that and send it to a third-party. we have tracked down all the primary recipients and done everything we believe possible to notify the entire community. we believe with a very high level of confidence that we have found all of the samples and they have been destroyed. >> if i could, dugway, you spoke about eliminating emission. is the idea to get that started up again? what happens to all of the personnel there? >> a good question. if i said eliminate the mission, i misspoke. what is being eliminated is their production mission. they are producing more than what they need for their own internal use. they will still be testing materials against these biological organisms, but they

will be doing that for their internal dugway use and not shipping organisms or materials anywhere else, other than for use at dugway. we need that capability. this is a capability our nation needs to keep testing these individuals. >> the capability the nation needs? at some point, it was shut down, right. so the intent is to start this up again? the purpose being what? >> they will only be working with materials for their own internal use. they will be making, storing biological organisms to test u.s. equipment. for example, a detector, which we believe detects against anthrax, a shift at dugway -- is shipped at dugway. you can only do so much with a surrogate. at some point, you have to test the equipment with the actual agents to make sure protects soldiers and service members.

>> [indiscernible] the anthrax issue in south korea . >> i did not look at that, ma'am. >> i did not look at that either . my focus was on dugway only. >> i see. >> but we have done is put a number of procedures in place for how we deal with customers outside of the dod, or even within the dod. we have totally revamp the process and procedures for which we will deal with customer requests to make sure we have a high degree of certainty that what they asked for is what they need and what they need is what they actually get. we are going to ensure those types of things take place. >> any other questions?

interested and was reading how it said the only way to guarantee a sample is to test 100% of it to make sure it is not viable. what other ideas, what other tests are you looking into using if this test is not accurate anymore? and how long was the army using this test? wayo, that is part of the ahead. that is something we are going to be looking at as we assume the responsibility for the executive agency over the agents and toxins. we have to look at the science. ersed upon the new capabilities and the newer technologies of how to test, if you irradiate something so much, it destroys the cell, the

proteins, the markers. if you try and test for that life agent, it is not there. le, youuse it too litt have agents that could potentially come up. we have to determine, what is the risk associated with certain levels of the radiation to the cell? can we replicate and use those specimens in testing for medical countermeasures for vaccinations and all the rest of that stuff? how do we do that and had we risk stratified and are there other, newer tools out there that perhaps, freezing, super phrasing, or using different than of radiation, other radiation? that is all part of the in-depth research we have been doing with the cdc to develop a national

standard for what is determined to be the inactivation of anthrax. we will not just be doing this with anthrax. anthrax is the focus, but the requirement on us is to do this with all of our select agents and toxins. anything we are shipping out we have to validate and determine is the mechanism we are using. actually inactivating it to a a surety that we can provide to the public that what we are shipping is safe and is not going to cause a challenge if it either gets into the wrong hands, is adverted only build, or the specimen is lost. that is a requirement, to ensure the safety and transparency of this process. >> are you working with the cdc on this research now? with themhave met twice and have been down there twice. next week, our scientists are

going to the cdc to lay the groundwork for what is going to have to do with anthrax. and then, as we stand >> this. you panel, the priority focus will be those select agents and toxins that we are going to be using to ship to other places that we have got the a surety that those that we are shipping our not activated. we will look next at the ones that were producing internal and then finally those non-biologics like agents and toxins to make sure that they are actually not biologics. >> to follow-up on the second part of my last question, how long has the army been using that testing when shipping and working with anthrax? we can see it at least as far back as 10 years. our delimiter was that each lab procedure was a little bit

different. all within the range which scientists believe was reasonable, but all a little bit different. did you find that any other agents, dangerous toxins, had been shipped inadvertently and a lot of states? did you find that this is happening with agents other than anthrax? evidence not found any for that to be the case. i will tell you that my investigation was nearly focused on dugway and this particular invent -- event. we were made aware of when hundred 94 labs received -- life. that did not come from the same lot. that came from lots that we went back in history. we went to the archives and to the freezers of everything that we had a dugway. while we were able to find was 33 separate lots. since 2004 that we thought had been inactivated.

we pulled all of those 33 lots. we tested them. when we tested them, 17 of those lots were able to grow. which shows, again, that the type of procedures that we were using were flawed in some way. now, let me be extremely clear. as he talked that just a few minutes ago, there was a very fine line of what it is that we were trying to do. what you are trying to accomplish is, a death to the dna within the sport. but you have to be able to save the antigens and proteins otherwise, that spore is worthless with respect to our ability to work with it. level three.rom a so that we can have accredited and registered as certified labs work with it at a much lower level. the problem is, if you radiated to much, you kill all of the antigens and all the proteins,

so the sport is worthless. at the same time, if you do not a radiated enough, you have live sports. we are talking billions of spores radiated at the same time. that gets into that strain that we were talking about and he gets into the sport cap. the purity issues that we were -- we need to go back and get the science done in order to better inform us of what we are doing. this question is for major general. is your focus strictly on the safety of dugway -- can you say that no scientist working with spores in foreign bases and all of the bases that have expected -- accepted spores and the u.s. work possibly in danger of a live spore? >> i can't say that based on my narrow focus. i think that the labs within the

department of defense and the labs that we work with throughout the commercial marketplace and everywhere else, they are registered and certified for a reason. they have shown credentials necessary in order to be able to work with this type of material. he could speak to a probably better than i, but there's a reason why these labs are accredited and certified. they have to follow the procedures associated with that accreditation and certification process. to say that we may or may not be working with agents that could be infectious, we absolutely are. work withtent is, to agents that are infectious at the right biosafety levels. whereas, if you're working with inactivated strains of spores, then it can be worked at a much lower level. i hope that answers your question. my question is about whether

you formed the government of the countries that receive the spores about the results and what kind of reaction did you hear from them? if you have not done that, do you plan to do that? >> with respect to this particular investigation we have just roll this out as you all know within the last 34 hours. so, the intent is to ensure that those that want this information obtained this information. that is why we have hung it on the department of defense website. it is out there for all to see. the intent is to ensure that we are completely transparent with our findings and that we show that we have done the due diligence. i had a 10 man team. we interviewed over 69 personnel throughout six month worth of time and there have been huge investments on behalf of the army. to make it clear, the reason the army does this is to make our army better. we see a problem, we do an

investigation in order to determine what happened and then we get better because of it. that is the reason why we do these. that is our intent, to ensure that what happened in this event does not happen again. any notification to not be made by the army. that is something we would differ to osd and they would work it through program channels. latest entitlement, thank you very much. you do have the media release on the table. it is available. questions,u have any come see the army. do not go to dugway. go to the army, this was an army level investigation. thank you very much for your time, ladies and gentlemen. >> on the next washington

journal, bloomberg news looks at the stock market, oil prices, and china slowing economy. they discuss labor unions in the united states. potential supreme court ruling could mean for their future. plus, your phone calls, facebook comments, and tweets. all in washington journal, live at 7:00 he eastern on c-span. smiley, 10 years ago, the covenant with black america. this is 10 years later. what are you trying to get at 10 years ago? guest: first of all, happy new year, good to see. 10 years ago, we are the middle of the bush administration. hit005 hurricane katrina and kanye west said george bush doesn't care about black people. whatever they think that he did or did not do, it was black people who lost most of their lives in new orleans.

in 2006 black people had basically had enough. we were sick and tired of being sick and tired. we put together an agenda that laid out the top 10 issues important to african-americans and what could be done through national plan of action to turn the tide against all the ills and ailments. from everything from health, health, criminal justice, the environment. to the digital divide. withop 10 issues african-americans and educations, the book comes out. it is number one on the new york times. your point,to tenures later, one has to ask the question based upon the agenda, what progress has black america made a decade later? the book is out now. it is the cover 10 years later. in the introduction, here's what you write. america has lost ground in every leading economic category. guest: you have to go are the data takes you.

you have to go are the facts take you. there are certain candidates and the conversation for another day. at least in my writing i wanted to focus on the fact of the data. with the data tells us is what you just said. black people have fallen behind in every major category. i went to indiana university, to ask them to give me the data that i need on these 10 issue areas. the book is not my opinion. these are facts and data. if you want the truth about the state of black america today, and some statements about the future, this text lays that out. you can imagine how when the data starts to come in, it hit everylly hard to realize major economic category, black people have lost ground over the last 10 years. host: let's start with health care. first chapter.

originally written by the surgeon general. to uninsured. number one. but the top, hispanics remain uninsured 20%, black population has dropped in the last 10 years from 19.5% to 11.8%. white people 7.6%. there is some improvement. guest: no doubt about the fact that obamacare has led to greater insurance coverage for african-americans. , think that in the long run the president has to get that through, it appears now that it will stand. supreme court challenges will be able to improve this. it was not universal health care. what he promised with something better than nothing. he hopes that we can improve on that. insurance rates for black people have improved. the problem is that most of the provisions have not kicked in yet. onepre-existing conditions

-- one conditions taken people will get better for that. black health is not measurably better. number one -- and number two obamacare did not do anything but health disparity. black women continue to die disproportionately from preventable diseases. we celebrate the passing of obamacare. i await the day the provisions kick in. i hope to see the positive impact. disparities, the has yetement involved to be addressed. host: is there a personal responsibility with health care? guest: yes. there is a level of that on every issue. i listened to your conversation with robert woodson. there is no doubt that before black people or any people can hold others accountable, you first must hold yourself responsible. host: "the covenant with black

america: ten years later come ane the goal of providing equal education to all of students and it has yet to be realized. guest: there are pockets of progress on some issues and there is evidence we are making a bit of progress. number one. number two, my issue is how we approach education over the last 10 years with this notion of racing through the top. program,he name of the race to the top and that always struck me funny. -- aght to be all right right. we put so much competition into it and there is so much money to i think of it, that every child should have access to it. speaking of rights, we have not guaranteed a child everywhere in the country any quote and

high-quality education. the matter what state you are born in, they have options to any quote and high-quality education. something is wrong will we have to wait for the ball to bounce your way and hope your number comes up. something's wrong when you hope they pull your name or you are on a waiting list. people love talking about school choices and there has been some progress, but i don't think it is about school choice but how we make all schools of choice education for african americans does not measure up, we have a problem. about criminal justice, economics, economic opportunity, environmental justice, divide issues, rule groups, and democracy and participation in our democracy. we will go through a couple more, but we have to get to your calls. rick and their fax, virginia,

republican line. -- in fairfax, virginia, republican line. caller: according to the budget office, it is on average effectively progressive. with theoogle that distribution of taxes, so actually, the tax increase we had in 2013 increased the overall effective progressivity of taxation. i think that was all a diversion from the spending side of the equation. year 5.9 trillion according to the bea. if the wasted just 15% of that, that would be close to one trillion a year, -- host: where are you going with this? caller: isn't it a diversion

from the real problem of spending and regulations? i don't know if you are familiar but the cost of government, it is 51% of average income, which includes manufacturing income. people cannot get jobs because -- basically, poor people cannot get jobs because government related costs are so high and there is no business formation. guest: i am not altogether sure of the point you attempted to make, but what i do know is that dr. king said once that budgets -- budgets are moral documents. so when you can say what you say, that you are a you are, and we know who you are, we see who you are when you put your budget on the table. the problem with our budget priorities is we have not prioritized the lives of those

who are suffering the most. we could have a great debate about government spending, what we ought to spend more and less on, but if budgets are moral it ought to say something about what matters to us. again, over the last 10 years, we have not put enough spending in the right places that is a debate we could have for hours. texas, you're on with tavis smiley. caller: hello. guest: how are you? caller: good. i agree with most of what you are saying, but i will add that the problem with like america is our family has -- with black america is our family structure has crumbled. have of them decide to child's aunt wedlock, i think 77% of all black children are being born out of wedlock and

they are living in poverty because there is no family structure. there is no more husband and wife. a black e-mail, most of the time, the black females family is deemed subsidized by the federal government. section eight housing has destroyed working-class black communities. homeownership and the revenue from homeownership would go to improve schools, but because our neighborhoods are crumbling, not because of the government, but because of our own behavior, there is no homeownership and tax revenue. host: we are going to get an answer, but what do you do in arlington, texas? electric am an technician at the manufacturing plant for 10 years. host: thank you. guest: let me say three things, you had a lot in the statements. with the factrt that i am not sure that we can state most women who are single mothers, most black single mothers are on government

assistance. i want to caution on that one i don't know if most are. number two, i would not go higher and argue with you about the breakdown of the traditional or nuclear site as we know it, but i would add that when you talk about the american society and how it has changed, we are becoming a single-parent society across the board. let me put it another way, the problem is that black folk do not get married, the point you cannot stayite folk married and that is like divorce numbers are so hard. that is essentially the problem, black vote to not get married, white folk cannot stay married. we have more divorce than any country in the world. i don't like that we have this conversation that life folk are the only ones leading the charge for us becoming a single-parent society. on the issue of housing and funding for schools, i hear you

loud and clear. i am starting to rethink it funding schools through taxation is the best way to do it because a lot of them do not have kids, and they have a problem paying these taxes themselves. they don't see how they are being benefited by their money going to schools. people are now starting to rise up against paying property taxes. i don't know that i know all the answers, but i understand that we think whether or not property taxes are the best way to fund education anymore. unequal justice, criminal justice reform, and there has been movement in this area. guest: there has been movement. i think there were good decisions made about how to go forward in processing drug crimes. it is always thought that a health crisis more than the criminal justice issue. office,e left the ag's he made good moves in terms of sentencing and what kind of

crimes and i celebrate that. you did not go after anybody on wall street, and nobody has paid the price for the pledging of the fall of our treasury. wall street is making more money than ever now and nobody has paid for the crime of what they did to bankrupt or try to bankrupt this country. some progress has been made on criminal justice. look at area i can these issues or them at the partisan -- whether my feet are partisan -- where there might be why partisan. they have support for reasonable limited justice, so i think there is a lot that can that itand i highlight

is the best thing i have read on many years. i think there is probably starting to be some shifting. the funny thing is sometimes, they do the right rings for the wrong reason, so the democrats areare talking about reform doing it because they care about justice and reforming the way we do this in the country. i am not saying republicans do not feel some of that, but my sense is most of the concern is that they figured out we cannot spend our way out of this and we cannot be the nation that leads the world in mass incarceration because we are spending so much doing that. for one group, it may be justice and the other, judiciary, but at the end of the day, i don't care how we get there but as long as we get there. think the do you president thinks of that issue? guest: even when i question

people's politics, i never want to question the motivation. i don't like their practices, strategies, i cannot say anything about motivation. ann, in louisville, tavis smiley is listening. caller: first of all, i wanted to say i think it was interesting that now he diminished the previous caller's points by diverting what the about black -- said families and started talking about the divorce rate among whites. i don't think that was a good answer, but what i wanted to what i see is the situation to where when two people start caring more about their own situation and their own destiny than allowing someone else to care about it? when you get to the point where you are waiting for someone else

or expecting someone else to help improve your situation, instead of you, the person, the individual, caring more about yourself, caring more about your children, eu having the lifewithal to improve your instead of waiting for someone ,o come along with the program teachers and school -- host: i think we got the point. guest: there are a lot of generalities there. i don't know exactly what to say, but i started the conversation this morning by saying, we first have to hold ourselves responsible before we hold other people accountable. we agree with their message if that is your point about accountability. to the other point about me diminish in the previous caller. if that was your impression, i apologize for that.

i do not want to diminish anyone. i tried to expand on his point and i started by saying, i agree with you about the breakdown of black families. i moved on. i wanted to expand on his point and say it is not just lack families broken down. it is the family at large in this country. our divorce rates are too high, and black folks do not seem to get married and white folks do not stay married but i wanted to expand and not diminish his point. host: a tweet, what is next after president obama's term is up? we go after his next potus for not following issues concerning the minority/ ? guest: certainly. i love and respect bill clinton and we have traveled around the world together. there were a number of issues during his presidency that i challenged him on.

does a good job of exposing the truth and my job is to try to get at the truth and raise issues that otherwise cannot be raised to get americans to re-examine their assumptions, expand their ideas. that is my work on pbs and public radio, to try to get people to look at our issues through a different prism. by trying to the different truth on the table. the truth that i do know, i try to put that out there. justicet like the department, his wealth for reform, and ire certainly did not like the way secretary albright sat on their hands and did not go into rwanda to stop the genocide, the worst mistake i think and he has said since that he believes it is the worst mistake.

sometimes, you have to fight with your friends and i did that with clinton. to president thing obama, who are like and i'm proud to see him as the first african-american president. me and thes to president, my philosophy is straightforward. i respect my president, i will protect my president, especially this one from white supremacist attacks, and i will correct them when i think he is wrong. i have done that in the past and i will do that in the future, particularly concerning african-americans on the agenda and when they are not on the agenda. host: something you write about in "the covenant with black america: ten years later," to me arise, walter scott, cedric -- scott, you, walter continue to write. guest: it will be challenging yearsstorians to write

from now. they try to juxtapose a lot about the president's time. the historians will have to wrestle with how in the era of the first black president, black boys and black men have been shot and killed in the streets and our cops are getting away with that. let me say, barack obama campaign, not once, but twice, the mayorthey support of chicago. they knew this tape existed and they sat on it for years. he ought not to be, he has disqualified himself from continuing to be the mayor of the city of chicago. he had to make the link and the connection to those who support him after this egregious act and something is wrong with our country went, not just black vote, but citizens across the board, are starting to trust law enforcement less and less. not to say law enforcement is a

bad thing. in black communities, we are demised so we want to be protected and served by police, that i do not support the incidence continue to happen with black man in their lives. -- with black men's lives. these cops continue to get off. we can talk about incident by incident, but how many incidents make a pattern? there is a pattern and historians have to deal with how in the air of the first black president, black folks are being shot and killed in the streets and they're getting away with it? how did the bottom fallout for black america? ,very major economic category the president will get great credit, and he deserves great credit for the things he did get done against the head went and amongst the republicans, but on this slice, his most loyal constituency, black people, lost ground. how are they going to explain

that in the future? host: eric is calling in on the republican line. -- i don't come why isn'tity, but anyone talk to hannity about being black? we will just take the first part of that question. guest: i go where i am invited if people are open to truth. because i show up somewhere is not me night route for the policy. sean hannity and i are friends, our careers as sickly at the same time. we both happen -- i was a radio host and the late at the time and he was a radio host in atlanta. the day o.j. simpson was supposed to turn himself in the police and the low-speed chase ensued, we were sitting together at cnn.et

because all the reporters were downtown and waiting for oj to show up, the studio was basically empty and we were just trying to fill in time and talk about what the chase would yield. most was short. sean and i were basically stuck in the studio as the only analyst they had. for almost six hours, we did commentary and just watched the chase because we happened to be there, the right place at the right time. i cannot speak for sean hannity, but when i got off the air, i had so many media calls because they saw me talking about it so i was invited to talk about the o.j. case. long story short, my career took off because of that and sean hannity ended up on fox. both of us have been blessed to do well. our policies are different, but we get along and we have known each other for 20 years. he even invited me on his show from time to time and when i

can, i go on and i debate the issues. if you believe in your point of not be afraid to defend your point of view and sometimes opening your own eyes by talking to people you disagree with. host: did you refer to donald trump as a racial arsonist? guest: i did. his name came up in conversation this week with george stephanopoulos, and the comment was that donald trump, to my mind, was an unrepentant, irrational, religious and racial arsonist. and then i went on to talk about so that there were two points that were made and the point that got got picked up was the point about donald trump and the remarks about donald trump coming after me with his tweet and it felt like being on nixon's enemies list, but the media was just so titillated by

that story went around the world in a matter of seconds after mr. trump tweeted that. after talking about this book and donald trump, but at the end of the day, my point is simply this -- donald trump is being covered by the media but not being challenged. he is being covered with not being condemned. when you see that xenophobia taking place, that racial and religious bigotry, it has to be challenged. and the country and media ought to be better than that, but we know what is happening. there is a sort of codependency. they are so codependent because of how much money they make. it is almost as if it is a quid pro quo that if you give us what we want, mr. trump, we will give you airtime and the coverage of newspapers and magazines. business,s in the

people loved this because it is not predictable, we have a cat fight on the left, who knew that we may have the republican with those 80 guys are running at one time, and we may have a republican nominee before democrat because bernie sanders is on a tear right now. we thought hillary was foregone conclusion and then donald trump came in. the media is loving this. nobody wants this to go away anytime soon. too much money is being made, but corporate media is complicit in this game that is being played, and nobody wants to challenge or check donald trump on his xenophobia, so he got around within hours about treating about me, but he is not treated yet, unless it happened in the studio, about this white supremacist group that has been running robo calls to support them, he has not denounced them yet, but you have time to treat about me but you cannot announce

the white supremacist group running robo calls to support you in iowa? again, it is sort of a codependency and i don't know what the facts tell us what the facts tell us he is rising in the polls and this might sound tonterintuitive, but listen me. sometimes, you have to look past the facts to get up the truth. you have to look past the facts to get out the truth. the facts tell us he is leading the polls, but the truth is that he is sleeping in the polls because he is appealing to the dark side, to the night side of america. if we are looking for the highest in the land and we let are get away for this, we on a slippery slope. if you talk about people because of their race, faith and nobody checks you on that and the media is excited -- donald trump is calling for sunday morning shows and they are so desperate to have him on and he calls in on never seen- we have -- i have never seen anything like that.

thishow up like i did morning but he calls in on the phone and they are so happy to talk to him, that they take them on the phone line on the sunday morning shows. i have never seen anything like it in my life. my only point here is that the media has got to stop playing this game with him and start to hold him accountable like the old everybody else accountable. host: "the covenant with black america: ten years later," tavis smiley is the author and barbara is on the phone from oklahoma on the democrat line. caller: good morning. smiley, you touched on different subjects, but i wanted to go back to the subject about black women and their approach to not getting health care. i'm in the women's business and have been so for 30 years with african-american clientele. one thing i will say is that black women do not forsake their

health. a very low quality health care when they do go in. more than enough african-american female clients who are diagnosed with cancer and went to six months of treatment to find out they never had cancer in the first place, so one of the problems i see with african-american females and i cannot speak on the black man because i do not deal with them -- host: two are for your call. guest: i cannot agree -- host: thank you for your call. guest: i cannot agree more with her. there is the key word, preventable diseases, so i celebrate obama care and i hope in the coming months, they will

benefit all of us. in the meantime, we are losing the lives of too many african-american women. i should add that one of the things that help industries have to deal with at some point. andhe most multiracial multiethnic america ever, we have to get serious about competency when it comes to help care. so long as color continues to expand and grow in the country amongst citizens and doctors and coverage do not keep up, we have to talk about for how these persons ought to be treated and that is another conversation for another time, but there is a myriad of issues were health care is concerned then he to be addressed. all is not well because the affordable care act is passed. host: you write in the this, does that say, let's try something different? blackwellsays that has evaporated and we have lost more black wealth over the last 10 years in the history of the

countries. the last 10 years has just wiped out lack wealth. -- black wealth. they put up a statistic of the most recent unemployment at 8.5 percent for black unemployment and my first thought, that is not the real number because we have the unemployed, the underemployed, and those who no longer looking for work. they .5 number is not real to begin with. number two, i said to the interviewer, let me break out said, let'se gang celebrate, but there is nothing to celebrate. at the end of the day, work needs to be done. not just for black folk, but for all of america and how we get to a living wage, not just the minimum wage. this point ont

the documentary and that will be out on pbs in the spring called "getting ahead," and it is drilling down into this notion of the minimum wage, in certain places, seattle, l a, new york, ny minimum wage is being raised and significantly. this movement is gaining steam, there is momentum, it might be a movement, but we need real the living wage in this country and that would benefit not just black folk but all of americans who saw this stat that we have lost ground. if thisinto it and see textured, layered, but the unemployment an issue blackwell, these issues are very real. host: hans is an massachusetts on the independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. mr. smiley, i want to ask a

couple of questions. rise as a public intellectual is impressive. that these comment are structural problems and a lot of the callers are trying to reduce it down to the individual. we want to be careful with that. 40% of americans are double the poverty rate. almost everyone of them is some sort of public assistant. inequality is rising sharply and instability and stagnation are climbing and it is a long-term problem. i would like to take us back to your mention of dr. king's moral budget and about how he pushed the idea of the freedom budget, which i think is crucially important.

ofs ties back into the issue race, the structural problems of the economic system. i think that is an important thing to get back to. one more comment and hope you will address this, once we get to a moral budget, we are not just talking about the racial issue. it becomes a black-and-white issue. the vast majority of people that are poor are white. that is not to say we do not have racial problems. i think your right on by pushing this look and it was important when it came out during the bush era and i have not read the most recent version. host: we are going to leave it there and get a response. guest: thank you. about structural inequality, you are right. these issues architecture and,

layered, long-term. entities,remind all certainly if i talk to african-american audiences, that i am clear that the issues existed prior to barack obama's residency. cash presidency. -- presidency. i don't know if we can redeem the time, but i recognize these issues were a conundrum for the nation before barack obama showed up, so we cannot blame him for these issues. they are structural and you are right. secondly, to the point about the moral document, you are right. about the, we talk budget being a moral document and you are talking about humanity, dignity, so it is not just a black thing. put another way, you make -- when you make black america americayou make all of

better. we cannot continue to render this suffering invisible of the community this large and significant as part of america and say nothing to the fact that so long as this community loses ground in these economic categories i cannot close the achievement gap, america is leading talent go to waste. we cannot regain our position in the world's leader in so many areas where we have lost that extension. we cannot regain that if you will let all this good talent in black and brown america go to waste. there is too much talent to tap into. we do not have a single soldier ,o waste in the fight to make as donald trump would say, to make america great again. been given a role to play, but we cannot do that if we push only some people to the margins. host: educational attainment in the u.s. in 2013, 21% of white students obtained a bachelor's degree, 13% of black students did the same, 12% of white

students with a phd or masters, 6% for black americans. african-americans bachelors were 19% overall with the white students having 33%. guest: for all of these students, education is getting more and more difficult. we are going to have to figure out a way. i know that bernie sanders is talking about it, hillary clinton, i don't know if the republicans are saying, but we have to have education become more affordable. number one. number two, there are 50 different ways of doing education and that is not there to young people who it you are born in mississippi, you do not have access to as good an education as you do in washington state. how is it your fault you are born in mississippi? 50 states, 50 different ways for america's schoolchildren. , this is incation

the new book, education is not the great equalizer that it used to be, so that stat you just looked at, if i would ask an american, and i have the same talent, the same resume, the same qualification you have, you would get the job. if you end that equally qualify, you still get the job. if you happen to be a black woman with the diversity issue, we will both lose out to the black woman because they can check out the black woman and diversity box. it is not a level playing field. people are not competing fairly for all kinds of opportunities because of the way that race factors in all of this and class factors in. at the end of the day, education is not the great equalizer it used to be. i know african-americans of phd's that are looking for work. economy is slowly starting

to turn, but what makes that turn, will black folks still be left behind? even though we have degrees and advanced degrees. is bernie sanders going to get the kind of black support that bill clinton got? that barack obama got? that hillary clinton gets? guest: he is fighting for it and i love it. i said it a while ago and i got in trouble and all hell broke said but i thought, and i that, that hillary clinton needs a challenger. this is not a coronation, it is an election. it certainly is not a coronation and i said hillary clinton needed a challenge. would one, because it make her address issues and push it to be progressive if she is challenged. number two, it will make her, i

hope, less hawkish on foreign policy. i have spent time with her over the years and hanging out, but on my mind in foreign policy, it is a bit hawkish, so i would hope a challenger would call into question some of her views. thirdly, i know that barack obama became a better candidate because hillary clinton pushed him. it hillary clinton has a real challenge and goes on to win the nomination, she is going to be a better candidate because bernie sanders pushed her if she is to be the nominee. for all those reasons, i wanted her to have a challenge and i do love bernie sanders and i did not know he would be coming this card. feel the bern and you can feel and see what he is doing. host: and cornel west. guest: yes, people respect dr.

west and i certainly do. not, what you have is the black vote being competed for. you want your vote to matter so much that people ask you for it, that they compete for it, that and they this issue look at these issues and they see were black america is and they lay out their own version of the marshall plan, if you will, to make black america better so you do not feel like you are being taken for granted. i love to see this fight. whoever is going to win is going to win, what i love to see that black people's issues matter and they get to put an agenda on the table. this sunday night, there is a isate on nbc and lester debating, but it is one of the only that will focus on black issues, so we will see how tough the questions are. i hope that they will all of the facts and truth about the state of like america. we will see what they get into with regard to their agenda to

make black america better. host: that is being sponsored by the black caucus institute. in texas, republican line. caller: thank you particular call. mr. smiley, in the vein of the discussion you were just having, when you encounter in almost every aspect of society voluntary organizations of cominguals who are together like the black caucus, dock student organizations, you believe or how can you reconcile that with the overall theme of a desire of diversity if itity among the races seems like organizations to those nature are at least passively or suggestively encouraging and us and them mentality? guest: because i do not agree

with your assessment that they are passively suggested. that is to say that black people can vote to support each other and at the same time, be happy and proud to be in this country. on my tv show on pbs the other night, we talked about this issue. what came up in the conversation was a chart that breaks down how a dollar turns over in the community. we call it the exact number, but in the asian immunity, one dollar turns over five weeks or six weeks, in the jewish community, 20 days, in the hispanic community -- it went on and on, but for how many days a dollar turns over in a particular community. in the white community, for multiple days. in the black community, this i do remember, in the black community, a dollar does not turn overher days --

four days, but six hours. it only turns over in the black community six hours. everybody else turns their money over for days. what we are saying is that you cannot expect black book to come up [indiscernible] we have to be responsible to ourselves before we can try to hold other people accountable, so this is not a separatist movement. i think donald trump called it that with immigrants cannot come in, but that is donald's agenda and not mine. agenda and not mine. what i'm suggesting is black people have to look out for themselves. we -- when we make black america better, we make all of america better. it is america's word in. factsare two significant and no one is trying to beat separatist. i believe a real patriot rebukes

his country when one country is wrong, but you rebuke the country and black folk are still the best patronage, not because but in spite of, we love the country. we tried to make sure that our dignity and humanity is respected and that is at the heart of the data. host: tweeted into you, your the flip on the crisis? -- flint water crisis? guest: tragic. they ought to get subjected to racial and environmental injustice, so when we look at the black population in the city of flint, it is significant, not exclusively black, but significant. for all the people who have enforced to drink the water and those have contracted illness and are sick, these things will continue and these hazards will

pop-up as long as we do not take these environmental issues seriously. on our program this week, we are having one of our guests or we had it last my, if you go to pbs.org, but last night, erin brockovich was one of our guest and talking about the issue. about porter ranch in l.a. with a hazard that, so we will keep seeing these things happen from time to time and so often in poor communities because that is where these issues exist. in harlem, one in three children in harlem has asthma, one in three. these environmental hazards are real and it is always black and wrongful, why we call it environmental racism, who are forced to live near these wastelands, these horrible pollution-producing facilities.

we all have to care about the environment, but there is a part of our country that gets subjected to these ailments worse and worse. int: last call is ed washington, d.c. caller: good morning. guest: good morning. scientist and phd [indiscernible] concerned and i will try to get them quickly. media andc -- a, this right wing hated media, something needs to be done about that. there was a lot of paint media against females and female bashing. -- hate media against females and female bashing. a lot of it is aimed at african-american women. people are people of

power. we have power to vote. i went to get to a point [indiscernible] i am reading several books right now, and it ain't is that our people have made a difference in this country and we can make a difference again. or the the thing is that thing about bernie sanders in the polls, i can support bernie sanders in a lot of ways, but i believe the best chance to get a democrat in the white house again is hillary clinton. super near the commander in chief quality. host: thank you. guest: i appreciate his comments. his second comment most especially. he is right about the fact that

black people do have power. i do not like seeing the black community economically exploited, socially manipulated, or politically disenfranchised. that troubles me the same way it does you, so there is a great deal the black america has contributed and will always contribute. -- warn us ofn how much time we have left to turn the tide. i do not know. optimism suggests there is a particular set of facts or circumstances or conditions you can see, feel or touch that gives you reason to believe it will get better, so i am not an optimist, but i am a prisoner of hope, and i believe you can always build a life on hope. these days, hope does need some help. i hope that this book will be the kind of help that will point us at the truth, giving us the data about the state of black america and what can be done to turn that around.

i love my people, i love all of humanity, but i have a particular love for african american people, and i do not like seeing black people forced to live beneath their privilege. this book is a small contribution to the effort to mike -- to try to make black america better. blackou make all of america better, you make all of america better connecting we can work on these issues. host: who is on the cover? guest: i don't know the name, but you do this when you put books together, i was very much involved with the cover, and i wanted a picture that would speak to the times that we live. the cover that came out 10 years ago had a different more hopeful cover with the face of a child. of hundreds and thousands of photos of african-americans and it was beautiful. we asked on black radio for

people to send the pictures of their loved ones and we took all of them and created the face of this dutiful little girl who created the hope of the future. at this moment, we did a cover that would speak to what the times are. there are a number of ways to do that. i love going to booksignings and asking the audience what they see when they see that picture. the most moving part of my interaction is talking, not just about the data and the truth in the text, but what they think about that picture and what they see. some people see a black man on his knees with his hands on the back of his head, assuming the position that police want to put you in, some people see a black man who was frustrated -- how did we get here, what is next? -- there is so many things to see, angst, anger, hopelessness. there is so much in that picture. you say you cannot judge -- basic cannot judge a book i is cover, well, you can judge the book on this cover because the

stuff in it is not some new and to jump about and shout about, but at the end of every one of these chapters, there is a list of things that every individual can do. what you can do, what government can do it public policy and prescriptions and suggestions. what the private sector can do, what the community can do. these are sections at the end of every single chapter of what can be done. and then there are short stories about what is happening on these issues that is good because people are making a difference. we cite examples of things that are being done that we ought to scale up in our country, so the book is not a book full of hopelessness. we put the data out there, tell the truth, and at the end of every chapter, retail have to tell howituation -- we to fix the situation to make black america and america better. written -- there is

an afterword written by dr. cornel west. thank you. it was one year ago that tavis programas on book tvs and you can go to book to be.org and type in >> tonight paul ryan talking about republican policy agenda for 2016. vice president biden talking about cancer research. and then rising tensions between iran and saudi arabia. >> congressional republicans finished a policy retreat in baltimore. at the close paul ryan held it press conference where he discussed the political agenda focusing on national security, economy and health care. this is 10 minutes.