pershing discusses campaign 2016 and the role of super delegates in the presidential primary. host: good morning. it's saturday, february 13, 2016. with the south carolina primaries and nevada caucuses looming, the six remaining republican candidates are set to debate once again tonight in greenville, south carolina, for the ninth g.o.p. presidential debate of the cycle. on the democratic side, presidential candidates have now shared the debate stage half a dozen times, and with that many chances for the candidates to take questions, we're asking our viewers this morning if you believe there are any topics that have been missed or not explored enough. if you were moderating the next presidential primary debate, what would your questions be for any or all of the 2016 candidates? that's our question for you.

give us a call this morning. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. and a special line this morning for nevada and south carolina voters. that number, 202-748-8003. you can also catch us with us on social media, twitter, on facebook. and a very good saturday morning to you. we begin this morning talking about the primary, the debates, want to know what questions you would ask if you were moderating the debates, what questions would you ask the candidates. a lot of discussion coming off the most recent debate, the democratic debate on thursday night about the questions that were asked there and what wasn't asked in that debate. from the conservative brightbart.com, a piece saying that the pbs moderators on

thursday's debate failed to ask hillary clinton any questions about the clinton foundation, despite news earlier in the day that the state department had sent it a subpoena for documents about its activities during her tenure in office there. the liberal-leaning mother jones, a story noting there are no questions in thursday's debate on climate change during that pbs-sponsored debate in milwaukee, wisconsin. that, despite the supreme court dealing a meaningful, though likely temporary blow to the centerpiece of president obama's climate policy on tuesday. and then from the huffington post, some concern about a lack of questions about reproductive rights and abortion. the lack of questions about reproductive healthcare in the primary's 60's debates, according to the huffington post, has spawned a twitter campaign, #askaboutabortion. it confuse the both anti-abortion and abortion rights advocates. they see as a crucial issue that the democratic candidates have an opportunity to address the story, noting that pbs

asked clinton, who got just 45% of women's votes in new hampshire's primary on tuesday. what are women missing about you, the moderators asked sanders whether he's worried he will be "the instrument of thwarting history" if he prevents clinton from becoming the nation's first female president. the fact that both candidates talked about their pro-choice records in their responses points to a desperate need to ask the candidates about abortion directly. that from the huffington post story that was published yesterday. that story offering up 10 questions that the moderators could have asked about the abortion issue. we're asking you what questions you would ask about any issues, whether you think they've been addressed not enough or not at all in any of the 15 debates that have happened so far this cycle. start with nick this morning from fairview, ten, line for independents. nick, good morning. caller: good morning, sir. good job. listen, abortion, political

correctness, and economic dope addiction, what i mean by economic dope addiction, everybody wants to get on the dole, whether it be through wealthy people or poor people, and it's just -- if it's not addressed, then it's just like any other dope that can kill us, and political correctness is a violation of the first amendment, and then also abortion is -- there's no doubt it's a living entity, and if it's a living entity, it's a human being, and we're committing a genocide that's equivalent to the nazis and these people that are really pushing it, and no better than the nazi party. host: what's the specific question you would ask? who would you address it to? caller: well, mainly to sanders and hillary, you would say, is the fetus a living entity or not? and then they may follow up --

you hear me? host: yep. caller: ok, and the followup would be that, if it is, and it's got to be a human being, if it's not, medical science is not telling people the facts. host: all right. that's nick's question from tennessee. stuart is up next, gaithersburg, maryland, line for democrats. stuart, what's your specific question and what candidate would you ask it of? caller: i'm a democrat, and ask it to sanders. one of the key things is that we have a very polarized government at this point, and republicans cannot allow even the simplest things. barack obama came in, he had the house with democrats. he was able to move things at that time. once they came through, especially the tea party came in, it threatened to shut down the government, as well as threatened the government to

default, which we also decreased in our ratings. you have a lot of problems. now, for anyone to bring on, say want a revolution, ok, that sounds very good. but revolution is saying i'm going to get the house and the senate on my side and i can do what i need to do. and i'm going to have enough votes. the point is, when it doesn't happen, and the house is the way it is now, how are you going to move things forward? how are you going to do that? how are you going to make things in the polarize the government? that's the question, because when it comes to the white house, the first thing, like anyone, hillary or anyone, they have to get -- they have to do the job on the first day, the very frs day they're going to have to work. no more having a reprieve of year, year and a half. you need someone to run on the first day. host: all right. stuart in gaithersburg, maryland. hendrick is up next, belfast, new york, line for republicans. what's your question? what would you ask the

candidates? caller: good morning, mr. mcardle. i am very happy to have you -- that you have this program, ecause as a former immigrant of 84 years age now, having lived in this country about 55 ars, i have watched the very -- sorry. i'm a little nervous. host: that's ok. not a problem. caller: we have voted ever since we became citizens in 1964. we voted in every one of them. the thing that has always bothered me is that people are "running" for the office. that is not the way the country was set up. if you remember that washington was actually dragged into it.

he didn't want it. so in other words, the people that are coming forward, it seems so very often they want the job. they're not necessarily interested in fixing the country. and that is what i would ask him, why do you want to run? thank you for this marvelous program. host: and before you go, whose answer are you most interested in getting an answer to that question from? caller: well, my initial interest was in ben carson. i looked at his life, coming similar ry, very background as many blacks, but he worked his way up, and he became a world-renowned surgeon , i mean, known all over the world. last night he said he's done 15,000 operations, and

presumably allowed 15,000 people to go away with a life. that they might not have had before. and so, when we look at ben carson, right now i got a letter from him basically asking to help him, but it ounded sort of flike a 10-year-old kid complaining about what was done to him. and that tells me that ben carson really isn't ready. as much as i admire the man. so i would ask the same question of mr. trump. you've got everything. why do you want the job? and what will you do for the country? the question that -- or the statement that hillary always makes is i'll be there for you. that's not what the country is all about. the government is there to make

sure that all of the people have what they need, roads, waterways, and all the infrastructure, etc., defense. if you look at the constitution , and i have a copy of the constitution in my hand, those are the prime responsibilities of the government, not tear of the people. the people are -- not the care of the people. the people are supposed to take care of the government. host: mentioning donald trump, donald trump out with a new ad airing in south carolina ahead of the primaries that are happening town there, the first in the south primaries. here's donald trump's latest ad. mr. trump: i'm donald trump, and i approve this message. jeff shaw was 17 years old and gunned down just out his home. his killer, an illegal immigrant gang member. his dad is supporting donald trump for president because he knows he will end illegal immigration. >> trump is the only one saying

you going to be dealt with, we're going to enforce that. we're going to enforce that. that's a beautiful thing. i believe donald trump wants to make us great again, and he loves america. host: we're talking with our viewers this morning about those debates. 15 debates after tonight will have happened in this 2016 cycle. what are the questions that you would like answered? what do you want asked in those debates? people weighing in on twitter as well. one says, to sanders, can middle-class incomes be restored without addressing job outer sourcing and importing by u.s. corporations? karen writes, for clinton and sanders, are you in favor of any restrictions on abortion? if so, what? and b.c. venice says the question would be, i'd ask the g.o.p. what they would replace the affordable care act with. when are you going to stop voter suppression? some of the questions coming in on our twitter feed. it's @cspanwj if you want to

follow along. tony from columbia, south carolina, line for democrats. tony, good morning from south carolina. are you starting to see some of the campaign ads down there? caller: oh, yes, plenty of campaign ads, and the media is overrubbing the town. -- overrunning the town. host: what's the one question you want answered? caller: well, you know, my issue is once again immigration, illegal immigration that is. i would like to pin each one of the republican candidates down on exactly what their plans are. i've heard what trump has to say. i'd really like to hear the rest of them plan to do about this. if i can tell you my own personal story, my father and i had a main street auto parts business in the small town in upstate south carolina, york, south carolina. we went to church. in the mid 1990's, wall street money came in, put big chain stores in and put us out of business. i had to go back to work doing the same thing i was doing before, selling auto parts for $9 an hour. all right, the last job i had at advance auto parts in lexington, south carolina,

all-new hires are required to be conversational in spanish. there's no reason why someone in the state of south carolina should be conversational in spanish in order to get a $9 an hour job. we outsource the good jobs, we bring in cheap labor to take the bad jobs, and we're losing our country. host: can i ask you, there's been a lot of discussion about the immigration issue, particularly in the republican debates, a lot of back and forth among the candidates already. what aren't you hearing that you want this question asked again? caller: well, you know, i really want to know, is there going to be an amnesty for the people that are already sneer i mean, lot of them are honest, hard-working people and they're living in countries that are definitely poor infrastructure, lower stands of living than the united states. but coming to the united states, i don't really think they're helping our society. they're not assimilating that well. there is a lot of crime and abuse that goes on. human trafficking, drug trafficking. there's a heroin epidemic in this country. most of that's coming up from

mexico. you know, it needs to be stopped, it really does. and, you know, i want to hear some definite, solid plans how the rest of the candidates, besides mr. trump. i voted democrat my entire life, but this year i'm going to vote for mr. trump in the primary. host: tone any south carolina, we're talking about the -- tony in south carolina. we're talking about the questions you would ask if you were a moderator. with 15 debates after tonight, there are some people in this country saying that there are too many debates at this point. mass live has an editorial up, the editorial headline, more debates are not merrier or better. the editorial noting that modern american political debating traces its roots to 1858 when abraham link sandon stephen douglas staged a series of seven senate forums throughout illinois n. those days, audiences had sketchy or no access to what had unfolded in previous debates, so every meeting had the feeling of opening night. that's obviously not the case today. a debate in one primary state is viewed by the nation and the world, and the current schedule of forums makes this an

ongoing, repetitive fact boils down to gotcha moments and who won -- who one-ups who rather than substance. reducing this would be opposed by major media, so many of which want their turn to air the candidates and to supply moderators and panelists. whether so much debates are numbing voters to their meaning and souring them on their choices and the entire process is a good question. to want hear from you this morning about the debate process about your questions that you would have. mike is up next. wilmington, north carolina, line for understand penalties. mike, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. let me just preface this with a statement. i don't understand why the taxpayers are signed. i've been in that conversation for a while, and everyone knows at they're left-wing

liberals, and they live in million dollar homes and sit up there and take tax money for funding that. i know part is funded by the taxpayers, but now what i would ask, i wish one of them asked bernie sanders when he was talking about a rigged economy, what about the rigged delegates? i know they're onto it now, but hillary ended up and with the super delegate rigged so that the candidates -- the democratic bosses, the ones that they want will end up being the candidate. host: good timing on that question, because later in today's show, from 9:15 till 10:00, we're going to focus our entire 45 minutes on that delegate and super delegate process. ben pershing is the national journal, managing editor there, is going to come in and break down the super delegate process, where it came from, and how it's working out this cycle. we'll be talking about that.

gut go ahead. didn't mean to jump in on you. caller: yeah, it's ridiculous. bernie sanders, i'm an independent, but i lean center ight, and i enjoyed his speech and agree with a lot of what he says, but the delegate system is rigged. they're not going to ask hillary anything about benghazi, nothing about emails, nothing about the clinic. there's a million things. i thank you for taking my call and allowing notice speak. i enjoy c-span. thank you for c-span. thoip your concerns about pbs, that's part of that breitbart story that we read earlier at the top of the show, the story noting that the co-moderator of the debate, judy woodruff, happens to be a donor to the clinton foundation and faced criticism from the pbs ombudsman in 2015 for giving to the clintons. the story noting that pbs has covered the potential conflict of interest for hillary clinton, who has been accused of using her position as secretary of state to direct

donations to the foundation. emails to that effect are suspected of objecting her private email server. if up to the read more on that, that story is in breitbart. back to the phones. freddy in south carolina, line for democrats. freddy, what's your concern? what do you want the candidates to answer? caller: i want the candidates to answer how they plan to pay for it. i watch the debates, and when hillary pulled better than -- pulled bernie sanders how he's going to pay for, it he's not telling the people how he plan to pay for it. and i think it's unfair to hillary that he can run out and say this and not show how he's going pay for it. and i want to hold their foot to the fire, making them how they going pay for it, just put up or shut up.

make bernie say how he plan to pay for it, saying exactly what hillary is saying. i never seen two candidates that's about 85% of the same thing. but hillary is saying how she'll pay for it and go at it, man, and do what we need to do. bernie, sake stuff, and until you make him show why you going to pay for it. host: that's freddy in south carolina this morning. we've got half an hour left in this segment to talk about this, taking your calls, lines for republicans. a special line for nevada and south carolina voters as a bit of a snowstorm moves in here on capitol hill here in washington, d.c., a bit of a whiteout behind us that you can usually see. the united states capitol out the window there, can barely make out the top of the dome in that picture. beverly is up next. village mills, texas, line for republicans. beverly, good morning. caller: good morning. how are you this morning? host: good. go ahead. caller: i'd like to ask bernie sanders, when he makes all

these illegals -- illegal citizens, and when they find out, even though i know some of them are receiving government benefits, how -- when they found out they can receive government benefits and live off welfare, how are we going to pay for that? the system is already broken. thank you. host: all right, and sheila is up next, portsmouth, virginia, line for democrats. good morning. you're on the "washington journal." caller: good morning. how you doing? host: good. sheila. go ahead. caller: ok, my sque to the people -- my question is to the people who running across the board. what is they going to do in a case where we have been trying , do things through obama asking people to help, assist in voting, but the republicans keep going up against them, not to pass through a lot of

things. and i feel that a lot of people address the ears that these two accommodate the people in the community that are poor, hard working people, that they cannot even buy medicine and they have to make a decision on eating. what can they do to find out about all these people that going through that that make a difference and accomplishing that they coming together on oth sides. and stop these things what they doing on the other side from the democrats to try to pass through things that is very much needed. my other question is, what is they going to do to bring jobs across the board to everywhere, to bring factories and things, instead of a lot of

fast food restaurants and whatnot, to put people to work and listen to the people that is suffering instead of trying to bring across think own agenda. that goes for anyone that is on their own agenda. i want to know what are you doing for people like myself and others that is paying into the system, but still not able to get insurance because a lack of income. you don't have a job and don't have income. and other spouse have become, but still you can't afford the insurance. i want to know about that. host: all right, that's sheila's question. on facebook, if up to the join in the conversation, a few of the posts already this morning, charles says, what would he ask 2016 candidates, i would ask them to resign if they don't follow through with their campaign promises, but most of all, i would ask them to stop lying. jonathan says, will they commit

to a moon shot program to invest in education and training every american who wants to work for the 21st century jobs that will be available now and have the ability to pay well and grow the economy. a couple of the posts from our facebook page, if you want to join in, as we continue to show you this bit of a snowstorm here on capitol hill this morning, this saturday, february 13. alan is up next, asheville, north carolina, line for you understand penalties. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for c-span. really enjoy it. the debates, they're really doing a disservice to the voter. they're pretty much for entertainment. they're baiting the candidates into, you know, what did you say, did you hear he said about you, and back and forth. they're missing the major topics that we need to be discussing. and one comment, i can't believe they didn't ask anything about hillary's situation with emails and everything.

that's just a disgrace. people don't even know about that as an issue. but first off -- host: why do you think they are trying to get the candidates to respond to each other's ads or most recent comments? you think it makes good tv? caller: yes, and i think like c-span, or the networks, why are they in charge of the debates? i mean, if you can talk fox, you can talk msnbc, all of them, they have an agenda, and the agenda is not, you know, they came in with a mission to detroit a candidate or whatever. you can see they don't want to get to the major topics. it's entertainment. c-span, why don't they do the debates on c-span, nonpartisan questions, have people that don't have an agenda ask the questions. i mean, you be just read this thing where -- i mean, they were going to have george stephanopoulos do them, and he's a clinton person.

it's blatant that these people have an agenda. host: you're the moderator. you've got the first question. who do you direct it to and what is it? caller: um, ok. my first question, if it's a democratic debate, would be hillary. you got all these issues. i mean, the f.b.i. is looking into you. i mean, you've got people that have given -- you've been given, why did you have a server -- explain why you had a server in your own private server, for what good reason did you jeopardize our security? i'd like to say and, we need to be talking about jobs, black unemployment is terrible. i mean, this lady sheila who called, she made a lot of sense to me. we're sitting here, and black unemployment is like the worst it's ever been. we have 93 million people capable of working that are out of work, and they aren't included in that jobs total so

if you take 93 million people out of the factor, the percentage comes down. but there's 39 million people that are capable of working that aren't able to find jobs. host: on that point, i want to point to the "wall street journal," there's a piece by a conservative commentator, juan williams, it's "the carolina pander for black voters" the headline on his piece this morning. he notes in that piece, clinton and sanders fight to own the obama legacy, though it hasn't improved most black lives. he ends his piece by writing, it's no accident that all of this racially charged political venom is oozing out ahead of the democratic contest in south carolina. for seven years, discussion of concrete steps to create more economic and educational opportunities for black americans was put on hold. the fierce urgency of now, to quote martin luther king, is leading the competition for the black vote because so many problems, from family breakdown to the dropout rate, have been unattended. the real question is whether the politicians will still pay

attention once the voting is done. juan williams talking about the democratic candidates, looking for support from black voters, especially in south carolina ahead that have primary coming up later this month. fort lauderdale, florida, line for democrats. good morning. caller: yes, my question will go to trump and rubio. and that question is, what do they mean when they make the statement, take back our country? and view the fact there's no outside energy that has taken ver our country, is this taking back the country from a black president? that would be my question. to rubio and trump. host: any questions for the democratic candidates if you were at one of those debates? caller: beg your pardon?

host: any questions for the democratic candidates if you were moderating one of those debates? caller: yes. is he ask sanders why giving this false illusion to these young people who are so impressionable that he is going to give them the united states of america. host: ok. that was a call from florida this morning, mentioning donald trutch. we played one of donald trump's campaign ads that's airing in south carolina. ted cruz, senator ted cruz of texas also out with an ad, targeting trump. here's a bit from that ad. >> i'm ted cruz, and i approve this message. >> this home was all this woman had left. but it stood in donald trump's way, and the limousine parking lot he wanted for his casino. to him, she was a nobody. so trump schemed with atlantic city government to force this woman from her home, using

eminent domain. >> you're bullying these people out -- >> i'm not. excuse me, this is a government case. this is not donnell truffer. >> yes, it's and you your cronies and government working together. >> public power, private gain. >> i offered her a lot of money out of this, a little thing called heart. >> heart? he doesn't have no heart. >> trump bank rolled politicians to steamroll the little guy, a pattern of sleaze stretching back decades. worse, trump still supports he will nint domain today. >> do you support taking private property for private use? >> i am for that, eminent domain is wonderful. yes, we have to use the power of eminent domain. >> trump uses power for personal gain. imagine the damage he could do as president. host: that's the issue coming up more in recent debates. ted cruz and other of donald trump's competitors certainly making that an issue in recent debates. we're going to be hearing about it more on the campaign trail i'm sure with campaign ads like

that. but we want to hear from you especially this morning about what questions you would ask. what are the issues that are important to you if you were moderating a debate? who would you direct your questions to? john from north miami beach, florida, line for republicans. caller: my question would be addressed to mr. trump to instead of going from country to country and asking for good trade deals, why don't you constant on the coming catastrophe in medicare now that the baby boomers including he is why don't you figure out what's going on? i will tell you what's going on. this is what the story is. europe pays about 10% of what we pay.

the reason is, they don't spend up any for research and development. trump concentrated his efforts on traveling and visiting these european and asian countries that we had two world wars. we bailed them out of world wars and now they are laughing at us all the way to the bank because we have troops over there. they don't have to have armies. they are paying miniscule amounts. they don't have the research and development. the united states people are paying and the united states government is paying for research and development for everything and now the drug companies like pfizer want to pack up and go over to europe and save even more money. why doesn't he figure out a way to negotiate a deal them that they start paying? we could have lend lease.

before the wars, before your time, we had the marshall plan. we poured so much money into europe, it's about time they fort paying their way medical care and especially pharmaceuticals. if we can get the price of pharmaceutical down, we're all set. andtrump, go to europe state are a few months and negotiate a deal and have them pay for their share of r&d. host: one of the candidates you will not see him a debate stage thejvand even on debates, the undercard debates, is jim gilmore, the former virginia governor. he exited the presidential race yesterday after failing to gain traction in the polls and qualified for just two of the eight debates held so thought it

is exit comes after he won just 133 votes in new hampshire's primary, fewer than my cut could did hehen mike huckabee came in dead last in the iowa caucus behind others. the exit of gender more is being noted in several papers today. robert is up next in charleston, south carolina, line for democrats. caller: good morning. i wouldn't ask any of the candidates a question. -- if youcomments listen carefully, the reason why things will always get worse or stay the same is because we don't want to change. a third of the country that is dissatisfied with the direction the government is taking america, it

has to be a total change. we have more than a third of the country dissatisfied with the way the government has taken us. we need a total change in the only person talking about real change is bernie sanders. aboutwant to jump on him free this and free that as far as school we will compete with other countries so we want our children to have the best education and not have to be worried about paying for it. this education will make america the greatest country on the planet. we don't see that far. stuck in our minds with how things should be. if youu talk futuristic, buy a car today, at thousand 16 car is not the same type of car they made in the early 1900s. things are evolving.

we can evolve houses, cars, airplanes, trucks, buses when it comes to evolving the human mind and how to look to the future, change of do a total what's going on in washington, d.c. that's what's stopping progress for the american people is the system that they have an washington, d.c. rose is waiting in harrisburg, pennsylvania, line for republicans. caller: good morning. say that i would like to ask hillary and bernie what has changed done for the minorities especially black people? hillary should take her pants suits and run somewhere else. she is not good for black america.

she is not good for the usa it thank you. host: more comments from he twitter -- host: theresa in illinois, line for independents. caller: a shout out to the man in south carolina. i am feeling the bern. my first question would be would you vote for tpp.

the second question would be what are you going to do about the gm of companies? will you force them to label their food so consumers know if they are purchasing? the third thing is the public school system. selling the with public school system to corporate america? and then the defense budget, what are you going to do about that? to auditforce them themselves or appoint an independent auditor for the defense department? a lot of money is being wasted and disappearing in the military with the military-industrial complex. if they have enough money to around, they got enough money to fix the schools and send these kids to school so they can get an education. thank you, have a good day the host: a lot of big issues you bring up there. are the debates too focused on gotcha type questions? we lost your but a question for others.

we're talking about this a few more minutes. we will talk about the presidents clean power plan and the zika response. also a segment about delegates haveuperdelegates exporting that system happening in our last 45 minutes today. mike is up next from south carolina, mike is an independent. i would ask the republican candidates, since we spend over $600 billion on the defense budget and have the strongest military, how much more or do they want to go at the defense budget? for the democratic candidates, i would ask them how much of a going to cut the defense budget since we already spend in excess of that amount. host: thank you for the call. andlayed a donald trump ad

a ted cruz at and john kasich them in second place in the new hampshire primary. it is one of his new ads. one hundred days, john kasich them make them count, cut taxes to create jobs, please regulations, and force a balanced budget plan and secure the border. john kasich of his gets it done and leaves no one behind no excuses, no surrender. >> had out tomorrow and buy a seat belt because there's going to be so much happening in the first hundred days it's going to make your head spin and we will move america forward. >> america, buckle up, john kasich. your calls on the questions you would ask the candidates. iowa city, iowa, line for democrats, good morning. caller: good morning, the question i would have for hillary clinton is i would want to know why she continues to speak against the word of god. we're supposed to be a christian nation.

we have so many diverse religions here. either way, we all believe in god and we believe in the word of god. he said he will provide and they keep saying where is the money coming from. it's about money, the root of all evil. what do you mean by speaking against the word of god? caller: she keeps asking bernie and he believes in god. ofan tell he knows the word god that she keeps asking him and others how is going to pay for this the same way everything else has been paid for is god provides. it's through him is why we have what we have. the cars were drive, the hands we live in -- money is just ate cap, it keeps moving

around from hand to hand in some of it is not even real, it's written down on paper. system has got people mental slavery. host: speaking of hillary clinton, one of surrogates coffee for comments that she made him a campaign trail this week. has adeleine albright column in "the new york times."

darlene from clark county nevada, line for independents, good morning. caller: good morning. happy valentines weekend to host: same to you. the candidate, what i would like to know because i live in nevada, we have a lot of public plans and have been having land feud problems. i would like to know what they would do possibly release some of the land. do you plan to participate in the caucuses? what conversations are you having with other independents in nevada. ? conversations are --

they are word about what's going to happen for president obama's last six months in office. they are stocking up on firearms as well as ammunition. every gun show that comes to town, they are buying lots of ammo because it's hard to come by. they truly believe someone is going to take over guns away . this is the west and we are different from the midwest and east coast, a lot different. you: as an independent, can participate in the caucuses? can you choose which one to participate in? caller: yes, sir, you can. host: do you plan to do that and if so, which one? caller: republican, sir. host: who will you support? caller: i love donald trump's ideas but i wish he would tone down the rhetoric of it. i think the vitriol is a little too high. think we have enough division in the united states that we don't need mr. trump inciting riots. and if youideas

cared what then carson, we would have common sense to go with his ideas. virginia,insville, line for republicans, go ahead. caller: i am diana. host: go ahead. i have followed c-span for three years and i share what you're doing but there are so many things that you cannot comment on. i am a widow of five years. the company that might husband for carried our health insurance. beat in medicare and the supplementary insurance, it supposed to be 80%. i have to go to rehab after hip operation. that that be a nightmare good they have taken my supplementary

, it was managing my medicare. of 2004up with a co-pay hundred dollars that they are going to collect medicare has denied them and they keep trying to bill me. to -- they changed my insurance answer should around to make a supplementary it my major care is ridiculous. , the co-payning now is just terrific. if you want to get off of you have to reenroll but they made the time shorter for me. now on to get back a major medicare. you have to go through a plan with the alphabet tt.

you pay more money but they are privatizing it. c-span should follow this. to navigate the process, is there a question you can ask the candidates that would help you? hillary clinton touched on that the other night. we are living on less money but the cost of living thing is ridiculous. go to the store or anything else and prices are horrible. we have fit into this for years. some of the younger people think we are getting it for nothing and we are not. yes, i would like her to go into this. bill. avoiding the trade that happened in the bill clinton administration. any product you get here has been assembled here but made somewhere else.

we've got to get those jobs here people were not given benefits for full-time jobs that we have lost. we talk about raising the minimum wage. they have to change that. we've got to have pulled on jobs here. -- full-time jobs here. york, --ly from new charlie from new york, line independence. my question for all the candidates on both sides of the aisle, everyone of them, is when they become president, they take an oath to preserve and defend the constitution. would they actually do that especially the 10th amendment. amendment,o the 10th the powers are not specific commitment to the constitution are granted to the states and local municipalities. local municipalities.

about 99% of the stuff they are promising would be unconstitutional. that was our last caller in this segment. up next, we will talk about this up in court move this to hold on the obama administration's signature climate change effort to amanda o'reilly will be here about that and later, alexander talkn will be here to about the national and international response to the zika virus crisis. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ [applause] cycle willection remind us how needed is citizens to be informed. >> this is a home for political junkies in a way to track the government as it happens. >> it's a great way for us to

stay informed. >> there are a lot of c-span fans on the help you >> there is so much more that c-span does to make sure that people outside the beltway know what's going on inside. this presidents' day weekend, booktv has days of nonfiction books and authors on c-span two in your subprograms to watch for. are alive from the ninth annual savannah brooke festival. his book is called the rise and fall of violent crime in america. begins paul inly the early 1980's -- begins to fall in the early 1980's and i

think that happens because the was them generation major player here in the rise of crime and they began to age out. >> on monday, the author talks book, rescuing social change from the cult of technology in which he argued that while technology sometimes solves so 20 cannot problems, it's not the main driver of progress. watch booktv all weekend, every weekend on c-span two, television for syria's readers. -- television for serious readers. host: amanda o'reilly is a climate policy rip her. on aupreme court of old major component of president obama's climate change efforts known as the clean power plan. remind us what this is and what it was trying to do. the clean power plan is

the epa program for reducing carbon dioxide emissions existing power plants. it requires states to develop or leadat will reduce to these reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. along was this effort and why did the supreme court step in? guest: states were facing a september deadline to demonstrate progress or submit plans. was.is where the program the epa was working with the states and stakeholder groups and utilities shape those individual state efforts. states, dozens of industry groups, utilities have challenge the rule in the federal court in the d.c. circuit. the d.c. circuit essentially freeze the program while that litigation plays out. the d.c. circuit denied the

request them supreme court this week granted that statement it host: was that expected? guest: it was pretty much completely unexpected. no sides in this debate were thinking the supreme court was going to stay this so is unprecedented for them to halt the regulation or to freeze the regulation for a lower court has ruled on its merits. there are many theories going on as to why the supreme court did this. they have not offered any explanation. up until i get means the supreme rule gets tohe them, the supreme court will eventually strike to roll down. the obama administration is still pretty confident they are on legal footing. five of nine justices agreed to freeze the effort to what was the argument that they agreed with?

think't know their exact about what was the argument over? guest: opponents are arguing that the little cause that may reparable harm at this point. host: is that a specific term? guest: yes, in order to get a stay of a rule, a court has to look whether this rule is causing harm right now. opponents were arguing that it was. no matter how the litigation plays out in the end, they were being injured irreparably at this moment. host: we are talking with amanda riley and if you want to call in with a question about this ruling by the supreme court, the , you can callan in.

republicans talked about the supreme court ruling and what the president has been trying to do the clean power plan. stepped forward for the republican weekly address this week and here is some of that. >> on tuesday, this in court block to the epa climate rule at the heart of the dozens were on call which has destroyed jobs across our country. the proposals coming out of the president's, in my home state of louisiana alone, we would suffer more than 16,000 job losses. families with the increases of more than 20% in their household electricity costs. this is president obama's vision. he said under his policy, electricity places would have to necessarily skyrocket. saidirst energy secretary we have to figure out how to boost the purpose of gasoline to the levels in europe where they pay up to seven dollars per

gallon. he vetoed the keystone pipeline. he launched an all-out assault on coal production and the president will try anything he can and even stretch the limits of his power to keep american made energy trapped in the ground. but we won't let that happen. host: here is the white house response from your story talking in the president knew about the supreme court decision at a fundraiser earlier . why do they feel so confident about their legal putting? guest: they think the clean air act is unquestionably good to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

few recent supreme affirmedings that have the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in this manner. this was a high-profile ruling back in 2007 when the supreme court said the epa could regulate greenhouse gases. is the move this week in conflict with that? guest: i don't know if it's necessarily in conflict. there is a question -- i think people generally agree that the theeme court has affirmed authority of epa to regulate carbon dioxide emissions but it's a question of the program they have put forward to do that and whether epa has gone beyond the scope its authority. host: let's get into congressional reaction but first, let's get to the phones, new york line for democrats, good morning. morning, thank you

for taking my call. it appears to me that in order for the supreme court have jumped in like they did, there had to be some lobbying for them to do that. entity thatthe only would have the power to lobby the supreme court would be big business. it only makes sense to me. i just believe that big business cannot have it both ways. they can't influence the supreme court to jump and like this and then run out of the country to other parts of the world to avoid paying a few million dollars in taxes. onmy hope in, it is totally periodic for people -- for big toiness ,coal, and oil influence all of this.

they want to run away from paying their fair share of taxes and the use our roads and bridges and parts to do their business. sudden, they want to cut and run and i believe it's totally unpatriotic, thank you. communityhe business and where they have stood in the clean power plan? guest: they happen be clear that they think this is going to raise electricity costs across the country. -- theyo think characterize the epa trying to regulate the entire energy system of this country. groupse the major trade forthe business community industries like the coal sector that are part of these lawsuits. they would like to see the clean power plan struck down. would be coal sector

most impacted by this plan, right? right, it definitely energy over a coal-fired electricity to renewables. those in favor say the shift is happening regardless even if the clean power plan is struck down. , because oforces incentives we provide for renewable energy sectors. 10 is an independent from pennsylvania, good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. we are alle to say for clean air and clean water but to think we can control the weather with all these regulations we have going on, i think that's ridiculous. grab andt is a power the system is trying to control everybody.

we have lost thousands and thousands of jobs because of these regulations. when you say a power grab, by who? is it the epa or the obama administration? caller: by the system. the system is the government. he less government. we don't need less regulations. we're all for clean air and clean water but now getting to climate change, to think we can control the weather, that's crazy. we need to gradually find renewable energy . i am all for that but to takeaway are: oil and our jobs and everything else, the morale of the people, it's ridiculous how much government has its hands in everything. on that point, the epa is being criticized on the clean power plan of overreach and the

flint, michigan water crisis, the epa has been criticized are not doing enough. what are the administrators of the day saying? have heard it mentioned as the goldilocks syndrome. on the one hand, he pays to much in the clean power plan. with that, michigan, they are doing not enough. epa never seems to be able to get this just right. on flint, they are being , it is being resized as failing in their job as overseer where they raised concerns about the water quality but critics say they did not act fast enough to state officials to make changes cannot. an exchangeis between rick allen from georgia and epa administrator gina mccarthy at a house agriculture committee hearing earlier this week.

about the disconnect that rick allen talks about beat the epa and what its proper role is came up. guest[video clip] an obvious disconnect in the american people and your agency. and your ability to carry out the laws that are established by the united states congress. is, whaty question have you learned from this hearing today what do you plan to do about it? thatthink i have learned we have significant, not just differences of opinion, but an understanding of what the agency is doing, our intent in doing that and that we have a lot of work to do to have the trust to talk to one another but also to listen to those concerns and effectively get them into our policies and regulations. ?> would you do this we are the people's house.

we were the people. what i would like to see as a plan by your agency to do what you say you are going to do. if you would lay out a strategy somehow that we are going to get on the same page and how we will do that to we have differences science. you have an up and job, we have issues and have put those issues ,efore you today at flint colorado with their mistakes that have been made. from my observation as a long-term member of the business part of the strategy needs to be privatization. in other words, you are doing things that are affecting the economy and affecting our farmers ability to operate their farms but then you let these other things slip through the cracks. i think you need to re- prioritize your systems i want to see that in your strategy. amanda riley, explain what

was going on there in the context of the article debate andnd the clean power role how has this court decision jumbled that debate? court before the supreme decision and even now it goes on -- republicans have been critical of the administration's climate agenda and have done much every thing they can overturn the clean power plan. what you saw this week was comments from key lawmakers that they were comfortable stepping back because the supreme court they feel did what they could when it comes to freezing the clean power plan. host: a comment from twitter -- mike from greenwood,

south carolina, line for republicans. caller: good morning, how are you all doing? host: you are on with amanda riley. caller: i was going to comment on the democratic debate the other night. i think it was a facebook question that hillary clinton got that you never hear mentioned about white people. she cares about the poor white and brought up the coal plants. an democrats are for that obama has been for that and all of them have. poorshe cares about the white people in west virginia who work at the colts fans. -- about the coal plants. there's a bernie sanders wants to pay for college tuition and he wants to take 90% of rich people's money pit used in the

college so they can get a better education and make more money and then they are going to take it from them one sense does that make? before we get to far away for the energy and clean power riley,sue, amanda follow-up what is happened to the full power plant industry in this country? guest: over the last few years, you have seen some major coal companies declare bankruptcy. a lot ofseen difficulties in major coal areas. the one hand, you have the administration begin place regulations but you also have things like natural gas and market forces that are driving that transition. host: explain market forces. guest: natural gas, essentially. host: let's go to the line for democrats, good morning. caller: good morning, one thing

i want to ask about is the republican party has always had the epa on their hit list. as long as you can remember. what happened in flint, michigan is the writing on the wall once you get a republican president with a republican-controlled congress, the epa will be dissolved no matter what. that's gone the things on their hit list. youst wanted to say that have a republican governor in michigan. you have a republican-controlled state legislature. you are seeing the writing on the wall. thank you. host: in the wake of flint, michigan, how many epa officials have stepped down from this? will moorehead's role? it is region five which covers michigan. region fiveead of resigned last month.

ginadministrator, mccarthy, said her resignation was more of a way to move the focus off of her and the focus more on solving the issue. that is the only epa official we have seen step down. see anyknow if we will other epa officials step down but we will see more hearings in congress. led want more republican hearings connecting oversight over the issue. host: between flint and the spell in the river in colorado last year, has the been calls for gina mccarthy to step down? i don't knowly, specifically if there have been. i'm sure there have been. i don't think she is going to step down before the end of the obama administration. how many administrators at the epa have the obama administration had? guest: gina mccarthy is the second.

i can't be 100% sure of the motives of the first stepping down but there is some frustration in her not being up the move as aggressively as she wanted. speculate onto what her motives were. amanda riley, climate policy reporter. if you want to check out for work, go to ee publishing on twitter. kentucky, line for independents, good morning. caller: good morning. i am to get an opportunity to speak on this. host: is ashland, kentucky call country? caller: yes, we are in the area where a lot of coal is mined. all the river docks that are employed county have shut down.

people are being laid off that worked for the csx railroad and it's affecting railroad jobs and it's affecting trucking jobs. it has devastated the economy in this part of the country. that is is also called being produced and the demand for coal is still high worldwide but call is being shipped to india and china and other places. it's being burned in china is producing one new powerplant vermont. all the coal being burned there goes into the air and circulates around the atmosphere and the effect we have achieved in the united states is we have unemployed a lot of people and yet we're still getting the worldwide pollution that obama and his people think they can control. the devastation and the effect on the economy in this area is

devastating yet we are achieving nothing at these world summits. allhink they can control this greenhouse effect and climate change. you've got people like al gore that are getting rich off this. there are a lot of billionaires that want to move in the direction of clean energy and want to devastate people's employment. they would double and triple electric windmills. the effect of that is a total economic stupidity that is putting this country. if you can put a man on the moon , certainly, we can produce cleanburning coal power plants that achieve what they are trying to achieve by devastating the economy. host: what do you do? callr: i work him a industry for 15 years and i am a

former teacher and educator and administrator. i see the results of the ideological situation of a president wants to fundamentally change america and what he is doing is causing devastation and theing an agenda that, in end, it will everybody's electric bill -- i just talked to my daughter last night and her current electric bill is $400. and theiro a neighbor bill is going to be $800 month. things the devastation of back from coral good money should be to the technology to from this coal cleanly and efficiently and let us keep utilizing coal and natural gas. a couple ofare issues like clean coal technology and the international agreement. in terms of the clean coal technology, i assume his

preferred to things like carbon capture and storage and utilization. there are projects going on in both of those areas right now. experts agreed that those technologies are still pretty expensive but we are making progress. the international agreement he mentioned, nations, more than 190 with the u.s. included and the u.s. has played a big leadership role that in december, they agreed to the first major international climate change deal. they agreed to limit warming to two degrees celsius. the claim power plan was a big part of the administration's dutch the international community to show that we would reduce emissions. thatt on one point republicans and others have criticized.

the powerthey feel plan will not do a lot to meet those greenhouse gas emissions. administrationhe and the epa saying as to whether they can meet these goals that they committed to back in december? you saw this week that they are trying to convince the international community that they will reassure them they will still be able to meet these goals they set out. would hit certain emission reductions by 2025. they say the clean power plan was not -- not have gone into effect and you would not have seen emissions reduction until 's anyway so this frees does not throw that into disarray. host: our last caller.

on her -- twitter move themn effort to are coal industry workers to clean energy sectors? puzzledhere are some that would accomplish that from the administration there is also efforts by republican lawmakers and those coal areas that would help out those coworkers that have lost their jobs. host: including senate majority benchmark, from kentucky. rome, georgia, line for republicans, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. make a few different points in a hope you will not cut me off.

my first point is that one of the first things i remember, i think it was senator obama said at the very beginning is that what of the things he wanted to towith that he wanted skyrocket people's energy bills. that will hurt are the low, low income people. hurt not only low income people of all colors. the second thing is i find very interesting about this -- while the climate change people, the leonardo dicaprio's and the barack obama's, and they jet

around in their private planes and they live in their billion-dollar 300,000 square-foot mansions and everything. they seem to live above the climate change, carbon and. why did they think to live above the climate change, carbon footprint? i guess their message is above that. host: do you want to jump in here? guest: that is a criticism of some of the activists you are about. -- you hear about. i want to come back to mitch mcconnell. he is from coal country. talk about what he is

trying to do as the leader of the senate and how he and president obama have interacted on this issue? guest: mitch mcconnell has been very critical, one of the most vocal critics of the obama administration climate agenda on capitol hill. he has led efforts to try to eliminate the clean power plan for this a rarely used law called the congressional review act. the administration vetoed that. if -- i can't say where it is on the agreement beat the mitch mcconnell and obama when it comes to climate change and the clean power plan. they are on the up his insides. host: in pennsylvania, our line for democrats, good morning. morning, i am in sachsen third, sylvania.

i tuned in late but i have not heard any nuclear power to thisd as a solution climate problem. there is nothing cleaner than a nuclear plant. i can't understand why we have not the hundred new to across the nation as a backup until we have as much development into the solar and wind power and water that can supply this country. cloudy, you don't have power, reliable power coming you solar you have no wind, have no power but the nukes solve both problems. it's a reliable supply of power. that's my comment. i don't understand why no one ever discusses it anymore. host: what about the nuclear debate? guest: many would agree that nuclear is an option for

addressing climate change. have been definitely pushing epa to embrace nuclear within the clean power plan with states looking for nuclear as a solution. definitely being discussed but maybe not as much as things like wind and solar. , someis some controversy climate advocates would say that we should go the way of wind and solar instead of nuclear. that remains a little bit controversial but it's something they talk about. host: who are the main nuclear supporters on capitol hill? guest: you have a group of republicans that are clean energy republicans who are and just eight advancing technology like lamar alexander. five or 10 minutes left,

we are taking your questions about the clean power plan and the supreme court move this week to block the epa's efforts to implement the clean power plan. gordon's, rhode island is next the line for independents. are we doing? thank you for taking my call. this up in court finally did their job. i think it was good in this will become another tax like health care became a tax on the american people. until you find a different way of making energy that will be cleaner than what we have, it's not going to happen. everything you buy in everything oil.ouch is made by

about 10 years ago in england, their windmills froze up. they could not move them. they had to use generators run by diesel fuel. and liberal mentality barack hussein obama, the most instructive president of the united states, don't people see what is going on? until you find a different solution that's going to equal what we have, it's not going to work. it will become a tax on you and me and everyone else that lives and works in this country. a factional i guess so you let me know, i would like to hear your comments because i would like to know what is better than oil it unless you can find a better solution i don't see it happening.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] host: did you want to jump in? guest: there is no question that fossil fuels of our energy max for the foreseeable future at least in some manner. we rely on a lot of products in the u.s. that are derived from fossil fuels. you cannot change that overnight. host: the caller brings up the president's effort. what did we learn from the prison's budget that was released this week that members of congress will not hold hearings on. what are the plans and therefore energy and taxes on energy product? guest: we probably will not hear anything about it on capitol hill . the budget was climate focused. the cover of it had mount denali on it as a way of highlighting that natural

resources focus. definitely representing the administrations deceptive that we should shift from fossil fuels renewables. they have a lot of programs with the budget that would have helped renewable energy innovation. the obama administration proposed double the next several years refunding for research and development in clean energy technology. fill waitingo to in maine, line for republicans. caller: good morning. i wonder how long it will take folks like the young lady sitting next to you probably just got out of college a few years ago from a middle-class family someplace in the midwest and knows nothing about all and knows nothing about electricity -- host: i will let amanda riley talk about credentials.

i have been are up for with e&e for 5.5 years and have a masters degree in environment a policy so i am from the midwest. i geithner -- a cover agriculture issues for the environment and other air pollution issues prior to this. host: if you want to check out her work, it's eenews.net janet is up next from texas, line for democrats. caller: thank you, i have a question i would like to present. to the white house or our president. years ofthis over the being a great wonderful country and we are and they make this pronouncement be regularly how great we do and we help other countries and all the money we issued to other countries there despair and homeless people and

medical needs and housing and food in whatever it is they need. we do all these wonderful things. billions of dollars sent in this direction which is great but we don't about what nobody wants to hear about, the millions of people we have in our own homeland are homeless. not by choice but because they don't want to work or what have you but there are millions that have been evicted from their homes. they lost their jobs and their living in their cars. we're not talking just individuals, these are families and homeless shelters. there is not enough and that these are near empty. we get up on the podium and i see president obama regularly and it's great and it's wonderful and we are a great country talk about these issues and how wonderful we are and we help those in need.

and yet we don't address our own need right here at home. those are her concerns. time for a couple of more calls as we talk about the clean power plan and the epa's actions on congressssues and what is done to respond to those actions. jill is an washington, d.c., line for democrats, good morning. caller: good morning, i just have a comment. -- it is theto me epitome of disrespect that one man would be responsible for americans problems. the: ok then we will go to city in englewood, new jersey, line for independents. caller: when the person called in from the sylvania regarding nuclear plants and why there aren't more, would he want one

in his backyard? host: talking about the nuclear debate. go, talk aboutou what is next for the clean power plan. this legal challenge has held it up and how long will it and will this eventually get through the supreme court? isst: one of the next steps in early june, the d.c. circuit fromhear oral arguments both the opponents of the rule and the administration attorneys. ruling on thea clean power plan and the d.c. circuit at some point. whatever they rule, it's expected that the rule -- the clean power plan will make its way to the supreme court. we will doubly not see anything from them until mid-next year. that means the program is effectively frozen until mid-next year.

on thursday, the administrators of the agency would move forward with trying to and place the program. they are not allowed to enforce it because the program is frozen but they said they will work with states who still want to go through their state planning efforts. i hand full of state save it would continue this process. many states have said they will put their pencils down and not to anything until the supreme court ruling. amanda riley, of pure your insight on this. thanks so much. up alexandra phelan will be here to talk about the national and international response to the zika virus crisis. later, in pershing of "national journal" will join us to talk about the superdelegate system.

weekend onhis cspan3, we take a look back 50 years to the 1956 the long hearings. they were the first televised congressional hearings on the vietnam war. here is a preview of what is airing tonight at 10:00 p.m. and tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. >> the vietnam hearings were some of the most extraordinary hearings held by congress. --y were in no investigation they were the investigation into a war still being fought. congress and particularly the senate wanted to know why we were in vietnam, what the administration's policies work, and they wanted to hear from opponents of the war. they gave equal status to critics of the war as they did two supporters of the war. it was a real debate. george kennan was one of america's most distinguished diplomats.

he wrote an article for the magazine "foreign affairs" and signed it mr. x. he was a diplomat and could make -- could not take sides in the issue. he suggested the united states needed to follow containment. the theory was the rationale for the united states to send troops to vietnam. here was the author of the contagion theory saying it does not apply here, this is a mistake. >> it is clear however justified our action may be in our own eyes, it has failed to win either enthusiasm and confidence, even among people normally friendly to us. our motives are widely misinterpreted, and the spectacle emphasized and reproduced in thousands of press photographs and stories that appear in the press of the world, the spectacle of americans inflicting grievous

injury on the lives of the poor and helpless people. and particularly, a people of a different race and color. no matter how wanted by military necessity or by the excesses of the adversary our operations may seem to us to be, or may genuinely be, this spectacle produces reactions among millions of people throughout the world profoundly detrimental to the image we would like them to hold up this country. i am not saying this is just or right. i am saying this is so, and that it is bound in the circumstances to be so. a victory purchased at the price of further damage would be a hollow one in terms of our world interests. announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: alexandra phelan is an adjective professor on health law at georgetown

university law center and joins us to discuss the zika fires crisis -- zika virus crisis. it is now in over 20 countries and is expected to perhaps affect millions by next year. where did it come from and why has its growth been so explosive in the americas? guest: zika is not a new virus. about zika since around 1947 when it was first identified in africa. these new outbreaks seem to have .ollowed a trail of outbreaks in french polynesia in 2014 is when we started to see an association between zika virus infection and severe illnesses. brazil thatyear in these clusters of microcephaly were identified. the reason for the explosion of cases is multifold. there may be some sort of strain

variation. the main reason is you have a population in brazil who have never been exposed to the zika virus previously. the mosquito which spreads zika has been present in brazil. this is the first time it is carrying the zika virus to a population that did not have immunity. adding a number of factors about the socioeconomic conditions, that means there are plenty of mosquitoes to spread the virus. you bring that together and you have this explosion of cases. host: you mentioned around since 1947. there have been outbreaks before. has the danger been underestimated? people just recently starting to hear about this crisis and explosive growth of it. guest: typically, seek infection is very mild. only one in five people will even show symptoms. rash,symptoms are fever,

things you can treat with acetaminophen essentially. this connection with clusters of microcephaly and neurological syndromes appeared in 2014 in french polynesia and then result. -- and then brazil. one of the questions is whether this previously had not been identified, if this is a strain the occasion, or a factor -- a strain mutation, or a different population. host: members of congress holding hearings about this, this week bringing in the c.d.c. director. he was before a house committee wednesday talking about the risks of zika and what bcdc is trying to do. -- and what the c.d.c. is trying to do. [video clip] >> we are literally discovering more about zika everyday.

we are working around the clock to find out as much as we can ask me as we can to inform the public and do everything we can risk toduce the dir pregnant women. diseases cannd new be scary when they affect the most vulnerable among us. right now, the most important thing for americans to know is this. b if you are pregnant, we recommend you not go to a place where zika is spreading. if you are pregnant and live in an area where zeke is spreading, do everything you can to protect yourself against mosquito bites. the mosquito that spreads this particular virus is very difficult to control. it is a very important point when we think about what we can do to respond to zika in the short-term and longer-term. c.d.c. is working 24/7 to get more information. we elevated our level of response on monday of this week to level one after activation of

our emergency operations center last month. we are committed to continuing to share information as quickly as possible with the public, health care providers, and policymakers so people can make the best decisions about health based on the most recent and accurate data. short-term and long-term response to zika is our topic of conversation with alexandra phelan a georgetown university law center. if you want to call with questions or comments, there is a line for republicans, democrats, and independents. the line for those outside the u.s. is open in this segment. offender phelan, we heard -- alexandra phelan, we heard the director talk about a level one response. guestwhat does that mean? guest: that means they are on the highest alert for conducting

surveillance in the united states to get information about potential cases and make an ofessment on the sorts public health response needed and the role of the c.d.c. in that? host: does the c.d.c. have maps on their website about where countries and territories have active zika virus transmission. you can see that map there, also states. the united talk about the difference between active transmissions and travel-associated transmissions and what we are seeing on the maps. guest: travel-associated transmissions are of primary concern to the united states. that is when a person has gone to an area where there is active transmission and then returned to the united states with zika virus infection.

those are the case is expected to be seen with people coming back to the united states having being infected elsewhere. active transmission is when the mosquito is transmitting it in an area. the south and central american countries, you have mosquitoes infected with this virus and transmitting it to people. whether that occurs in the united states is a separate issue. it is possible if a person returns with the zika virus infection to the united states as a travel case and are bitten by a mosquito, that there could be localized active transmission from that mosquito in the united states. host: we are talking about the zika virus. here is one page today in the "near times," two different stories on page three.

mosquito experts in the u.s. call for guerrilla war on zika is the headline below that on page three. we are seeing zika stories near every day in these papers. if you have questions, comments about zika, now would be a good time to call. alexandra phelan studies these issues at georgetown university's law center. bill, go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. phelan isforget dr. the same man that bundled ebola -- bungled ebola handling. i have little confidence in this gentleman. the illegal immigrants crossing the border undocumented coming from central american and latin american countries carry this virus. wouldn't it be a good idea to contain these people or quarantine them to make sure

they do not carry the zika virus or have some sort of immunity for this virus? host: thanks for the questions. first, comparisons to the ebola response. guest: from a domestic perspective in the united states, the c.d.c. was heavily criticized for the response. i think some criticism is probably unfair and wrapped up more in the fear and concern about ebola. that being said, i think there from thetant lessons ebola crisis for public health officials around the globe. one is making sure you communicate with the public clearly what you know, what you don't know, and when you are going to get back to them again. that was the strategy that started to be employed with ebola. it is clearly being used here by the cc with seek up -- with zika. it is difficult when there may

be a range of different factors and unknowns to communicate. why having clear communication with the public is important. host: is quarantine an effective strategy with zika? guest: no, because the transmission is not person to person. semenle transmission by has been documented. virus. mosquito-borne for obtaining a person the less quarantining a person is not an effective strategy. the most important strategy is to get rid of mosquito breeding sites, stagnant water, ensuring all these other measures such as proper screens, use of insect repellents, all these other strategies much more effective for zika. host: as you look at the more

than 20 countries where there are active transmissions now, which countries do you think are doing it right and which need help? guest: that is a tough call because a lot of the information is difficult to get on what is happening on the ground. brazil is the focus of the outbreak so it is worth having a look at what they are doing. brazil has struggled with a by the same carried mosquito for a long time now. mosquito eradication programs had been scaled back. a number of these countries have been dealing with massive economic disruptions, so public health is often one of the first things cut. now on having an impact the zika virus. governmentsant for -- it is quick for

governments to turn to a securitization or militarized response. unfortunately, brazil has taken the action. militaries fighting infectious diseases are not the right strategy. they create fear. they are not public health officials. unfortunately, brazil has been using that militarized strategy. there are a lot of lessons we could have learned from ebola but are not being utilized. host: alexandra phelan is a doctoral researcher with the o'neill institute for national global health. her doctoral research explored the legal issues of infectious diseases in the face of global health issues such as climate change and pandemic. here with us to answer questions for the next half hour or so. herman has been waiting on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call and for c-span. my first time.

i moved here recently from the caribbean. i lived in puerto rico for decades. the mosquito is a way of life. i had dengue. everybody had dengue. show in is starting to that area. i was wondering. the c.d.c. and many agencies have been dealing with these diseases for a long time. they are not coming up with solutions in terms of viruses. i was wondering if they would be more interested in focusing on the specific mosquito which is becoming a carrier for different ailments. it is probably going to continue as the years go on. host: are you saying moving right to eradication of that mosquito? caller: i am not sure about that

because living in the tropics, having water all over the place is a way of life. it just is, whether you're in a poor neighborhood or out in the countryside. it does not really matter. i've spoken with c.d.c. people who work in puerto rico. their main strategy in terms of the research is prevention. i also find prevention a limited strategy because mosquito netting is not something you will depend on because this kind of things happens -- thing happens day or night no matter where you are. the ski does get around -- mosquitoes get around. guest: he raised some important points. in particular, the fact this mosquito bites day and night. bite not like mosquitoes at sunset. these bite day and night. the impact that has on lifestyle means these mosquitoes are

prevalent, a daily part of life. i would highlight a couple points. the first is getting rid of reservoirs like stagnant water and water tanks do disproportionately affect those in low cco -- low socioeconomic environments. there is inequality in terms of who is being bitten and most exposed to the mosquito, including access to air-conditioning. there is a socioeconomic inequality that needs to be addressed. that fits in the prevention approach. when it comes to eradication of the mosquito, that is one of the strategies being looked at. the bill and melinda gates foundation along with a british company have been looking at genetically modified mosquitoes that would go into the wild and die within days.

they become part of the mosquito wipes itselfd it out, so to speak. mosquito eradication is certainly one of the strategies being looked at. host: in terms of what strategy makes most sense to invest in now, what about a vaccine? because the mosquito does spread many other different quite a bitere is of preliminary research into vaccines. one of the possibilities for a vaccine being produced by the national institutes of health in the united states is using that parliamentary research. they have this candidate vaccine they hope to do initial trials with 20 or 30 people over the summer and then moving to the next phase of trials early 2017. important,s really

particularly when you have this the ski to that may not be -- this mosquito that may take a long time to eradicate. that is going to take quite some time. neglected tropical diseases are the last ones often for research. host: natasha is up next for michigan on the line for independents. caller: good morning. country need to be reminded about climate change. they need to open their eyes and take a look at what is happening in alaska to the population of eskimos, the poor people. the people in brazil we just happen to have friends that visited there. the olympics are prime in their mind. shey have knocked down favella and things of that nature.

it seems there is always money for elaborate things but never anything to look after the poor. because after all, as the bible says, they are always with us. . was wondering in the midwest, we noticed temperatures have been warmer throughout the year. birdfeeders.le of of course, i have water in them. i was wondering if that is something we should address i use aoccasionally couple of drops of clorox. someone told me that kills the larva. i have not heard any different. i think we should be mindful of standing water no matter what. north,zika virus travels

i think people should pay attention and also to climate change. host: natasha, thanks for the call. how about climate change and zika? michigan is not an area where this mosquito lives. there is concern the mosquito can go further north. i am not sure about michigan in terms of it habitable range. any stagnant water can breed mosquitoes. may breed inoes stagnant water. i'm not sure about michigan in particular. dear broader comment climate change -- to your broader comment on climate change, that is an important one. they released a report looking

at health impacts of climate change. we've known about infectious disease and climate change correlation for about 30 years. this report consolidated research. it showed this mosquito in particular is at risk of having its habitable range move. in the northern hemisphere, that would be moving further north. that is not only with increased temperature but changes in rainfall patterns. it is not that it is going to broaden. it is going to shift. talking about natural immunity earlier, it looks like we will have mosquitoes in areas where we have not had eradication programs operating before or natural immunity in populations. climate change is a broader issue is vitally important to look at when it comes to infectious diseases. host: the caller brought up deal of the games is coming summer in brazil. here is a story from this past week.

u.s. athletes should consider skipping rio if they fear zika according to the united states olympic committee officials. they said athletes and staff concerned about health should consider not going to rio in 2017. the message was delivered in a conference call with sports federations in late january. federations were told no one should go to brazil if they don't feel comfortable going. that was next was a from writers -- that was an exclusive from reuters this past week. jack, go ahead. caller: thank you. we cannot from the yucatán peninsula a couple of weeks ago. i had a need to go to the emergency room. it had nothing to do with the zika virus. the question was asked if i have traveled outside the united

states in the last 30 days. they never asked me questions about that. , we neverhing we got saw mosquitoes, but we had rights from sand fleas. i wondered if that could be a carrier. if you get the fire and you are not pregnant and got sick, is it like the flu? what is the outcome for people who have possibly gotten the zika virus after traveling? guest: i will answer the second question first. in terms of non-pregnant healthy people who get the zika virus infection, only about one in five will even develop symptoms or feel sick. those symptoms are quite mild. rash, fever, things you would treat with over-the-counter acetaminophen for example.

there have been associations with more serious guillain-barre syndrome. it is normally rare but one of the reasons why the who has made a declaration out of worry the zika virus infection is associated with this increased risk of neurological disorders. in terms of surveillance and hospitals, one thing the cities he has tried to communicate to states and local public health departments is to ensure hospitals are putting up travel information to let people know. it is possible the reason there was no follow-up is the reason you were in hospital may not have triggered other reason for them to look at question in particular. if someone presents with fever thatash, typical symptoms,

may be what they will look into. this is why it is so important c.d.c. advice is taken on board. with federalism, there are different powers about who has responsibility for hospitals and local health. but the seed is the is the primitive -- but the c.d.c. is the preeminent body are responding. host: there was concern about other possible carriers including sand fleas. guest: at this stage, it is the a. aegypti mosquito. aware of and have not seen anything to suggest other insects like sand flies can carry the zika virus. host: thomas is next for maryland on the line for democrats. morning, thomas. happy valentine's day

the ladies. with the olympic committee be liable for lawsuits if athletes do catch the virus? speaking on terms of the law, lawsuits and stuff. there are crew ships going to the caribbean on a daily basis. you are saying we have all these warnings. if we have these warnings, wouldn't these carriers be liable because they are taking you into an area where there is a known health danger? just like when they had ebola, they said he will not go to these areas -- he will not go to these areas. i don't understand why they have not passed this alert. host: alexandra phelan. guest: on the liability of the olympic committee, the olympic committee said if individual competitors do not wish to go. i'm not a lawyer with transnational law around the

olympic committee, but my assessment is that there would be communities in place -- immunities in place for them provided they are communicating with athletes. in terms of cruise ships, the warnings have been two women traveling to those areas, pregnant women in particular or women who may get pregnant. it is a much narrower series of warnings. in healthy people and the majority who do get infection, it is not serious. host: can you talk about who is leading the response and what the role is of the c.d.c. versus the w.h.o.? guest: the w.h.o., world health organization, is the global united nations agency tasked with feeling of matters of global health, including public health emergencies like this. the w.h.o. will provide technical advice to countries

about what the zika virus involves, all the clavicle -- clinical side. with declaration of international concern, they provide temporary recommendations states should consider. that is an informative service. the c.d.c. has epidemiologists and technical capacity to go out in the united states, but also if they are invited by other countries. the c.d.c. and w.h.o. are collaborating on a study in brazil to look at causal association. they will conduct research, provide clerical expertise. c.d.c.united states, the is the normative body setting up

the standards and guidelines for public health agencies around the country that clinicians and hospitals should follow. we have about 15 minutes left with alexandra phelan. we have another thomas waiting in new jersey on the line for republicans. thank you for taking my call. i want to bring up some facts i've learned about secret -- zika. it has been around about 70 years. it has never cause disease. brazil has been using 12 times the amount of pesticides of any other country. roundup, which is known to cause neurological disorders and microcephaly. in america, there are 25,000 babies born every year with microcephaly. no evidence of zika virus in any of these babies. why doesn't anybody look at the environment and toxic effects of the pesticides or nutrition?

this is what starts disease. the germ has nothing to do with it. it has to do with a healthy environment. proper nutrition, clean water, and getting rid of toxic pesticides. nobody wants to bring this up. withve been here before sars, bird flu, swine flu, all these epidemics which are supposed to take over the world. it is completely false. host: alexandra phelan? guest: the difference between and other outbreaks is this is a very different style of disease. it is not causing illness in healthy people. zika is on a slightly different plane in terms of global alertness. go into your points about pesticides and other environmental matters like malnutrition, they are being looked into. there is research being conducted. the research is trying to work out the association between the

zika virus and these clusters of microcephaly and neurological disorders. they will consider a range of compounding factors. zika is the most dominant associated cause. the question is whether it may be a confounding factor with zika or dengue, or zika and malnutrition. those are parallels being looked into. there is still a clear association with the zika virus itself, or at least that is the c.d.c. and w.h.o.'s position. tim is next on the line for democrats. caller: good morning, america. my question is for republican candidates and all republicans. i would like to think if my pregnant wife or daughter was to get the zika virus, i would want

to know if their views on abortion would change if it hit their family. these babies are going to be born with mental defects or worse at huge expense to these families. i feel pro-choice should be answered by every american and for many different reasons. not just zika. there are many things. that is about all i have. the: alexandra phelan, caller brings up the question he would like to have asked, is that being asked in countries where there is current zika outbreaks? guest: this last week, the united nations high commissioner for human rights reiterated the importance of ensuring reflective health services. girls canountries, exercise control on when and where they get pregnant.

that involves reproductive rights with abortion, access to contraception, and maternal health care. unfortunately in south america and central america, the majority of these countries have .utright bans on abortion some countries may allow for fetal abnormalities. there is a really important rights-based issue here. it is important these women can girls can have access to reproductive health services. these are fundamental human rights. host: what is the option in a place like result for a woman who is pregnant and is diagnosed with the gun -- with zika? guest: unfortunately, brazil has strict abortion laws. access to reproductive health services is varying between those of high and low socioeconomic status throughout the country.

as arocedure last week judge would be assessing on a case-by-case basis. if a woman was pregnant and had infection, that would be whether she could have an abortion. there has been talk about a law the proposed in brazil that would allow for a temporary suspension of the criminalization laws. but in the longer term from a public health perspective, access to reproductive health services is vital and should not be subject to temporary solutions. host: patrick is next from iowa on the line for independents. caller: there is a similar state. in washington i don't know how to pronounce it . it is something like ame

na-cephaly. it is spelled similarly to microcephaly. do you know the difference and it may be the zika virus -- and if maybe the zika virus is related to the other disease in washington state? guest: i'm not exactly sure what is being referred to. encephalitis is a swelling in the brain and another neurological condition. ceph is related to neurological concerns. i'm not sure which particular virus the color is a front-end. host: the causes of encephalitis? guest: it can be mosquito borne. s of types ofge encephalitis. it is like swelling of the brain and can be fatal. is that active in the

united states? guest: encephalitis is a separate condition. what the color is referring to, i'm not exactly sure. host: springfield, virginia, republican, you are up. caller: i wanted to ask a two part question. i guess the first part of the question is, do we know much about the pattern we should be whether thereze is cross matching or cross effects. the second is a larger question of pandemic management and the fact it appears neither the w.h.o. or c.d.c. have agreed on the template for pandemic management. your comments? guest: in terms of your first

question, that is part of the study design of a number of studies in south and central america, looking at whether there is an association between more than one factor. that is using it the way logical that is using epidemiological study designs. in terms of pandemic management, ebola brought to light concerns about how global governance for help occurs. whether it be through the so a., other bodies, number of reviews were conducted post-ebola about how the w.h.o. has responded. implementation of those is forthcoming. it will be interesting to see. it is important to note there is an important international

countries that all are members of. it is a binding document that includes the obligations they have to maintain surveillance capacity and to detect and control infectious disease outbreaks that may become pandemics. it is good international law. it is a matter of making sure countries and the w.h.o. use it. response,o the ebola the zika response by the w.h.o. has been much better and faster using this law communicating to countries the nature of the international threat. host: recognizing the threat being the first part of the process. you are saying the recognition of zika spread has happened faster than the ebola outbreak. guest: absolutely. the convening of experts to make a decision, and then for the director general to issue a public health emergency of international concern declaration. host: a few minutes left with alexandra phelan of georgetown university law center.

tony is on the line for democrats from pennsylvania. caller: good morning. my question is this. have they begun testing women in brazil or south america they give birth to normal children, whether they have the zika disease virus or not? i would imagine every woman in south america must be bitten by mosquitoes numerous times per day. thinking about the number they said, 4000 children born in brazil, which has 200 million people, is that so out of line with any other country that has children born with this disease? i wait for your answer. guest: the w.h.o. thought it was out of the ordinary the number of cases were so beyond what was

expected for a population of brazil's size, particularly in the clustering. it is a very high number of cases in particular locations, clusters. that is an important factor that led to this. in terms of wind gusting, -- in terms of wide testing, it is expensive and takes time. there is no rapid test. my understanding is individuals who are tested are pregnant women suspected of having seek infection or individuals -- suspected of having zika infection or individuals showing symptoms. there are probably a number of infections going undocumented and untested. let's go to james in michigan on the line for independents. caller: good morning.

maligned ddt is a insecticide. it has a history of saving over half a billion people. ?s it time to bring it back ?ouldn't that solve the problem guest: ddt is controversial because of the broader ecological and health impacts. there are a number of other insecticides used. there are a number of other strategies. widespread use of ddt is probably not in the cards. other controls are the first line. you've got to balance a range of factors when making decisions like this. host: all of the strategies cost money to implement. the obama administration asking for $1.8 billion in new funding

to help fight zika. some of that money could come from ebola response. obama in 2014, the administration announced the global agenda, a global approach to addressing infectious disease outbreaks. funding came through some of the ebola response. it would likely be connected to the zika response. in terms of what is being funneled across, i would be surprised if it is not part of the broader approach to ensuring global health. host: $1.8 billion, is that a drop in the bucket? compare that to the response and many other countries can put toward this crisis. guest: i'm not sure about the figures of what other countries are doing. it is a significant amount of money for what has been neglected tropical disease. sherwood from florida on

the line for democrats. you're on with alexandra phelan. caller: my question is for the michigan area, especially folks in the trent area with the water pollution problem going on. with the people in that area be more at risk of attaining -- obtaining the zika virus due to the fact the water situation is at a high right now? guest: the mosquito that spreads zika, my understanding is it is not present in michigan. we also don't have cases of mosquito transmission in the united states yet. mosquito population even around gulf states do not appear to have the zika virus either. host: where is it expected to hit first as it moves up? guest: probably looking around texas, louisiana, mississippi,

maybe florida, around the gulf states is the most likely because that is where the mosquito is. it is also where there may be areas with stagnant water. generally, the united states has been good at mosquito eradication programs. pockets and clusters when a mosquito does bite and infect -- bite a person in those areas. c.d.c. believes it is unlikely to become a bigger issue in the united states. adjunctexandra phelan, professor at georgetown university law center. she writes about these issues. @alexandraphelan on twitter. will join usshing to talk about the superdelegate system that has some supporters of bernie sanders concerned

party officials will decide the democratic nominee. "newsmakers"est on talked about what bernie sanders and donald trump are saying about veterans issues on the campaign trail. [video clip] served on theders committee and was chairman before me. he proposed things that were pretty good. we were not as active a committee as we should have been. the arizona debacle took place during his watch. we did not respond at that time. there was a choice response later on that he was a part of. trump, iof donald don't know he has served in the military or used v.a. services. i think he is regurgitating a lot of what he reads in the press. i would never criticize the press when i'm doing an interview with them. i will tell you a lot of things reported happened a long time

before secretary michael ronald -- secretary mcdonald or i came along. the v.a. are just and concerns that took place in denver, atlanta, phoenix. one by one, we are correcting those things. when you see the accountability legislation in the spring, you will see a full response to all those things that have happened. it is easy to find fault. but when you have 314,000 employees serving 22.5 million people, there is always a mistake you can find. fut there are lots o people being helped as they should be because they served our country. host: a number of veterans died because of delays in service. what has your committee investigation shown? how many deaths have you been able to pinpoint due to service delays? guest: one death is too many.

it is not a number acceptable. i have never tried to find out how many. i know we had one in arizona. that is inexcusable. we will do everything we can to see to it that number is zero. announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: ben pershing is managing editor at "national journal." example that has some supporters of bernie sander concerned this week is that he beat hillary clinton by 20 but hein new hampshire, and hillary clinton could leave new hampshire with the same number of delegates because of superdelegates. what is a superdelegate? guest: it exists in the democratic party. they have something similar to the republican party but do not work quite the same way. are members of congress, party officials, the elites of the party. there are a little over 700 of

them out of over 4000 delegates. they can support whomever they want to support. they are not bound by what their states do or by the results of the primaries or caucuses. in new hampshire, bernie sanders can win new hampshire and still come out with fewer delegates than hillary clinton because these superdelegates are choosing to go the other way. host: the a.p. has a delegate tracker talking about delegates and superdelegates and where the candidates stand. bernie sanders currently with 44 , despite winning decisively in new hampshire. hillary clinton with 394 because of superdelegates. when do those superdelegates have to decide? they are not currently pledged to her know even though the a.p. is counting them as part of her supporters. guest: in theory, they could go to the convention and decide.

what news outlets are doing is basing this on public endorsement. when hillary clinton has been able to do is she has been able to rack up a lot of endorsements from members of congress and party elites. news outlets are considering them delegates. they could switch before the convention. that is what happened in 2008. host: how do you get picked to be a superdelegate? guest: it is primarily members of congress and party officials. former presidents, bill clinton, i think we can guess where he will go. it is a small number, in the hundreds of thousands of delegates around the country. host: bernie sanders supporters concerned about this. there have been petitions popping up with thousands of signatures. this one as of this morning, over 158 thousand signatures

saying bernie sanders was on a roll among actual voters. in a close race, superdelegates can snatch that victory away. only by pushing back against this possibility can we ensure the candidate we vote for becomes the nominee. how much are you hearing about the superdelegate system and this concern? as it cropped up since new hampshire? has there been concern before? guest: it is a perennial complaint. 2008 opened eyes. it was a foreshadowing of what is happening now. barack obama started doing surprisingly well early in the process. all of a sudden, people noticed hillary clinton still seemed to have more delegates. then as now, there were complaints the system was rigged, enabling party insiders to overrule the will of the people. you are hearing almost the same arguments from bernie sanders supporters now.

the bernie sanders campaign argument is the 1% are treating the 99% badly. what is going on with superdelegates fits his larger narrative about the insiders have it in for us, we need to beat them. host: if you have questions about the superdelegate system, we are speaking with ben pershing of "national journal." you can start calling now. i want to show our viewers the chairwoman of the d.n.c. who was asked this week about the concern. here is her response. [video clip] >> the unpledged delegates a separate category. the only thing available on the validated primary -- in a primary and caucus are those tied to the candidate they are placed to support and received a proportional number of delegates going into our convention.

unpledged delegates exist to make sure party leaders and elected officials don't have to be in a position where they are running against grassroots activists. we at the democratic party highlight inclusiveness and diversity of our convention. we want to give every opportunity to grassroots activists and committed democrats to be able to participate and be a delegate at the convention. we separate out and pledged delegates to make sure -- unpledged delegates to make sure there is not competition between them. host: i am not sure that would satisfy and anxious young voter. let's move on. pershing, kenyan interpret a little bit of what she said? the system makes sure party officials do not run against grassroots activists? guest: i think she is combining a number of different possibilities.

you will have superdelegates who can go wherever they want. i think she is trying to make the case they are not this wealthy group of people who represent a broad swath a few a broad the d.n.c. -- swath of who supports the d.n.c. they represent the base of the party. if they choose to sport berti slanders -- bernie sanders or hillary clinton, that is where they should go. place to this put in make sure they are good but soldiers for the party? do they have to will these --woo these? guest: it was put in place in 1982. the fear among democrats was they might elect unelectable nominees. they nominated george mcgovern

and he lost in 48 states. the idea was let's put a system in place to ensure the people don't go crazy and voters pick someone who has no chance to win. they wanted to put their thumb on the scales, and that is what they did. dane is on from north carolina on the line for republicans. go ahead. caller: i am 81 years old. i have been a democrat all my life. i have voted for very few democrats. in north carolina, you could not vote in any of the local elections. maybe one out of 50. six months ago, i switched back to republicans. that is not the problem. it is politicians and americans. until we eliminate every career

ever goan, we cannot back to being a government by the people for the people. host: what is your feeling on the political parties, the folks like debbie wasserman schultz, do you think they are worthwhile? caller: i think she is a total communist you want my opinion of her. i think we have a lot of those in our government. drew pearson is to say we have communists all in our government. today if you check, you would find over 90% of the real politicians don't even know what a regular person are. they are after one thing. every decision they make is career orientation. that helps their career. what can i do to help my career? they will even change parties if they can stay in washington and

make a living and suck us dry. host: can you talk about the republican system? do they have anything similar to the superdelegate process on the democrat side? guest: yes and no. big elected officials and party officials do get a vote for the republican party. in the republican system, they are bound to go away their states --to go the way their states go. if your state votes for donald crews -- for donald trump or ted cruz, you are bound to go in that direction. republicans are making light of that fact now to make democrats look bad. democratsey enter for -- audrey from florida on the line for democrats. caller: thank goodness for super democrats -- for superdelegates. that is the only way to ensure hillary clinton is

elected. i love bernie sanders. it is virtually impossible for him to achieve free college and this and that with a republican congress. that is not reality. hillary is the best candidate to put against the republicans. putting bernie sanders up there is a joke. the sameld you feel way about superdelegates if they were supporting a candidate you were not supporting? caller: to be honest with you, no. that is an honest answer. the people primarily go for what they hear. they don't think. they go for what they hear. host: can you jump in on what the bernie sanders camp has said about the superdelegates system? are they trying to woo these people away from hillary clinton? moveon haves like

agitated and begun collecting signatures. if it continues along this line and he does well in primaries while she racks up superdelegates, i think you will hear more complaints. host: superdelegates can change. they don't vote until the election. they are being polled on who they support. what happened in 2008 with barack obama and hillary clinton? was the movement among this group of superdelegates? guest: there was. early in the process, hillary clinton had a huge lead with superdelegates. people knew who barack obama was, but the odds he would be the nominee seemed slim. as he began to win primaries and caucuses, some superdelegates went to obama which irritated the clinton camp. some of it was about electability. they realized barack obama could win and it makes sense to support him.

host: on twitter, what is the point of voting anymore? talking about superdelegates. we are taking your calls about the system. also see your questions about campaign 2016 in general. this would be a good time for them because ben pershing is managing editor at "national journal." he has covered campaign issues for how long now? guest: nearly 20 years. host: he is with us for the next half hour or so. sean on the line for republicans, good morning. to me, it is toxic waste. you have people working really hard knocking on doors, getting the vote out. then here come the superdelegates and say, you know what, we don't care what you think. we are going to go in the opposite direction. we are going to go ahead and vote for someone who is riddled

with scandal and is obviously dishonest. if you want to disenfranchise keep thatey can superdelegates thing because it takes away the average persons choice to vote. why vote when a handful of goons will decide the whole thing? you have the rug ranked at -- rug and got from under them. -- the rug yanked out from under them. you have to keep the numbers here in perspective. the idea that superdelegates can throw away what voters want isn't quite right. there are more than 4700 delegates total for democrats. to get themething nomination.

even if clinton got every superdelegate, she would still have less than a third of the delegates she needed to be the nominee. how close does a have to be for the superdelegates to make a difference? hillary clinton could get 42% of the vote nationally and and got every superdelegate, she could win the nomination. you could say that is a perversion of democracy. the point is, she still has to get a significant number of votes. to gary, indiana. good morning. is a point -- giving people free will and choice. at least that is the way it is supposed to be. the main thing i want to put out their real quick.

we are a town located in the southeastern part of the state, north of cincinnati. we are a struggling community. i am a major supporter of bernie sanders. i think he is the answer, man, for all of this. the dilemma we all face. i am inanders, again, support of you. like you to come to our town and give us a good looking over and see how dismal everything is here. this is just a major example of the things you talk about as far as what is wrong with america. these come to our town. i want to meet you in person. martin o'malley should be bernie sanders's running mate. he is the ideal guy.

what bernie sanders doesn't know about foreign policy, martin o'malley [indiscernible] roy lehman writes on twitter -- you look at this arcane process issue if it doesn't make a difference maker for hillary clinton? they would argue that hillary clinton is not a representative of the democratic party. there is an impression among the grassroots at the nomination has been stolen, some people would fear that they would stay home and they would not go knock on doors for hillary clinton. host: rob is an independent. caller: thank you for c-span.

i love you, c-span. i love what you guys do. i am an independent. this is totally communism. the democratic party is a total communist party. how do you take delegates from the people that they say who they want for president and they say, no, we will tell you who you want. i would not vote for hillary clinton. she is awful. she is terrible. she is a liar. she needs to be indicted. she shouldn't be running for president. she should be indicted right now and face charges and be thrown in prison. people who vote for bernie sanders, if you allow this to happen to guys, then you need to know that you should never support any democratic candidate anymore -- any longer. for me, it is either bernier donald trump. and if bernie sanders does not win the democratic nomination, you can very well best believe that not only me and a lot of

people i know will be voting for donald trump or ted cruz. they are not voting for hillary clinton. people do not like hillary clinton. host: what is the recourse for bernie sanders supporters right now? petitionse of the online. is it anything happening in the dnc that can change this process the cycle? guest: i don't think there is anything that can happen to the process. the dnc cannot change the rules midstream. but they can put public pressure on superdelegates to waiver. it happened in 2008. if bernie sanders manages to win a bunch more primaries and caucuses, there will be pressure on superdelegates to follow their states. you are alone on an island if your state is going one way and you are the other way. if public pressure builds to much, you can see some of the superdelegates pilaf inure to standards -- to sanders. democrats, independents, you can call in now. want to go to a different topic. i want to see if there is an end -- an analogy to be made between

the pledged and the unpledged, big-money and small donor battle between hillary clinton and bernie sanders. bernie sanders has more individual donors, but that's because it is not as big of a check for bernie sanders. guest: the arguments are related. the party elites, these are the elected officials, the big people around the country are also either the donors themselves or they have close relationships with the big donors, often who come from wall street. sanders is getting small donations. he has also been getting more votes on the ground. so the arguments are related. for bernie sanders who is running against elites of all kind host:, it fits his narrative. host:where are we on the money of all kinds,w -- if it's his narrative. host: where are we on the money chase right now? is aheadrnie sanders

of where barack obama was in the 2008 race. barack obama had been seen as donor juggernaut. host: democrats, larry, good morning. larry, are you with us? go ahead, sir. caller: thanks for having me. are you there? host: yes, sir, just go ahead with your question. caller: since delegates and superdelegates, i just don't think they -- why does big government always holler that everybody's votes counts and then we vote in the delhi get to say where it goes? they say were every -- they say everybody's votes count. no they don't. that is why donald trump assaying the people that puts -- money and, that's get

that's who gets to pull the strings. i am a democrat. but my family and friends and i are going independent. we are going for donald trump. your concerns mirror that of kathy -- are we going to see more and more criticism of this or are we just seeing this now in light of that more than 20-point victory in new hampshire and how the numbers have fallen off since and? host: what was interesting about that collar and the second call to make this point -- there is some strange agreement between sanders supporters and trump supporters. on the surface you say that bernie sanders is a socialist and donald trump is a republican. but both are running against the elites of both their parties and of all kinds. aey are supporting them as way to thumb their nose at

elites saying, i am not going to take direction from you. trump supporters are saying that they think bernie sanders is being treated badly. host: arlington, virginia, is next. caller: i'm really more of an independent. more to thean conservative side, but i truly believe i am independent. from thehought was, left, we hear so much about how republicans are all about suppressing the vote. and i honestly believe that's not true. that's my honest belief. i'm sure there are little pockets here and there. basically, that's a false claim. example ofthis superdelegates and what happened in new hampshire clearly is, for

all practical purposes, suppressing the vote. that's my comment. guest: you are going to hear that argument more from republicans because it has been a talking point for democrats for years now. they want everyone to vote. vote,ant young people to minority's america movil people to vote. they want to make it easier to register, to cast your ballot. and it's republicans who are try to keep the vote down. so this is a good talking point for republicans. we minute, you want everyone to vote but the vote still matter because your superdelegates are making the decision. host: they will be debating against knife -- again tonight. five things to watch for in saturday's gop debate, what do you think of the key things to watch for? guest: there are a few things we need to know. there is silly battle at the top between trump and cruz. trump is leading the south carolina polls, but ted cruz has

done a lot of work in south carolina, particularly with the evangelical voters. and there continues to be this fascinating race for what people call the establishment wing. jeb bush, marco rubio, and john casey -- john kasich really battling ouit out. and it's a mess right now. the numbers haven't told us anything yet. each of them has yet to break in south carolina and put some distance between himself and the other two. host: who has the most to gain in the muscle is tonight? guest: jeb bush needs to show that he can fight a little bit more. he has been the one to bicker more with donald trump. and the mulch up has been able to ignore him. in new hampshire, i think jeb bush supporters gillick a has a little bit of moment to men he was to keep it going by showing he can be a fighter. the other person who has a lot to gain or lose as marco rubio. you remember what happened in the last debate. he was criticized heavily, accused of a robotic and repeating all of his answers.

i think that is probably in his head now. rubio has a challenge now. he has to go out there and seem relaxed, dispel the notion that he is a programmed robot. host: certainly, that storyline continues from the last debate. here's a page from "the wall street journal." back to the phones. caller: good morning. thank you, c-span, for giving me a voice. i am concerned about dual citizenships in our country. it's impossible to find out what government official has it. some, when i look at these candidates that we have, both republican and democrat -- it is impossible to find who has ifual citizenship or even

they have one which country they are with. stan --es your concern stem from ted cruz's dual citizenship with canada? caller: no, my call is mainly about whether the delegates and superdelegates are aware of dual citizenships and who has it. i'm not sure about how many candidates might have dual citizenship. obviously, ted cruz has had a lot of attention because he was born in canada to an american mother. there is a lot of debate whether he would qualify to be president. i think you will see more discussion about that fact. he was a citizen of canada, i believe he no longer is. i believe he renounced it. you'll hear more people saying

they want evidence of that and they want to know whether if he is really not a canadian citizen anymore. host: on twitter -- oceanside, california, good morning. caller: what hasn't been brought up fairly is that hillary in 2008 won the popular vote over barack obama. superdelegates. theer than cost obama election, she capitulated, which i think at that time was the right thing to do. for bernie sanders at this late state trying to change it is completely unfair to her. and nobody is pointing that out. so this superdelegate should

have been changed before the election. if hillary clinton does not get the nomination -- i'm a lifelong democrat -- i will write her name in. in fact, i would hope she would run as a third-party. host: can you take us back to 2008 and how this process played out at the end? guest: i don't think it's quite right to say that superdelegates decided at the end and it is a separate cork in the process. some states are proportional and they give some of the delegates to the first place finisher in the caucus and some to the second place. and some states are winner take all. what barack obama's campaign was particularly good at was figure out which states were which and which states to play artist. some states were close but obama took all the delegates. there were some states were clinton did quite well but obama was able to do quite well.

his campaign was very smart in knowing which stays to play hard in. it was all the delegates and they are awarded in all different kinds of ways. host: a question from twitter -- guest: i think it is very unlikely. "at terminology thing, brokered convention" suggests some guys with cigars in a back room making the decision. that is definitely not going to happen. the question is whether it will be an open convention or a contested convention. delegate -- one candidate goes and without enough votes to contest it. that's not likely. it's more likely on the republican side. there are some any candidates that especially dislike donald trump. at the start of the convention, he will not have enough to get the nomination. to check outwant

"national journal," nationaljournal.com. if you have the questions about the superdelegate process, now is the time to call in. robert, good morning. caller: what a privilege it is to be able to do this and comment. i think the dialogue and the communication i heard this morning is a great example of why we need voter reform. i think there are a lot of disenfranchised would be voters out there that do think my vote doesn't count. i think we need to go back to just a popular vote, as simplistic and elementary as that may sound. your vote should stand for something. for me, too, this also ties in with term limits. we've got these career politicians that are there for 10, 20 years or more.

i just get tired of -- i don't think this was how the founders of our country thought that 200 plus years down the road this is how it would be. i just think your vote should stand for something and superdelegates -- i just don't even think that policy or procedure should exist anymore. it lends to some apathy within the general population of voters. do havewhen you superdelegates obviously coming in and changing the whole structure of the vote process, people just get fed up. and i've heard that a lot this morning on the program. host: prospects for voter reform to the extent that the caller was talking about? guest: there are two different avenues. there is the nomination process worth the party says get rid of the delegate process.

but what he says also has to do with the general election. people have been complaining about the electoral college for decades. we are not really the voters deciding. everyone remembers al gore won the popular vote in 2000 and did not win the presidency. before then and since then, people complain that this isn't really democracy. it is a hybrid system that rewards the elites. there have been complaints for years. but there's no movement that i know of to get rid of the electoral college that is serious. host: joseph from florida. caller: i have been listening to your program, right? host: what's the question? delegates are calculated

a number of votes. person is allotted a number of votes. determinelegates [indiscernible] host: can you run through the numbers again on the number of delegates needed to secure the nomination? guest: the total number of delegates for democrats is over 4700 and it is 4762 to be exact. they need just over half. there are 712 superdelegates. superdelegates are about one of every seven of all delegates. are one of every three or four of the delegates you need to win. not a large-- it is number.

have aelegates still much more impact than superdelegates do. carolina primaries and the nevada caucuses -- that was the front page of the state newspaper with the banner headline. newspaper ad of south carolina. michigan, one for republicans, go ahead. caller: i think we do need to look at reforming the way that we use the superdelegates and the electoral college.

that everyo think person's vote counts. -- system should reflect that to systeme -- and our just system reflect that to be true. votes are dedicated to hillary clinton already. i'm registered republican voting for bernie. if hillary is the nominee because of the superdelegates, then i'm just going to write bernie's name in. and i urge every other bernie supported to do the same. a lot of people would rather vote for trump then hillary. just going to write bernie's name in rather than vote for trump. i think anybody on the republican side, it's like a cartoon. it's pretty ridiculous the positions.

the politicians that are in power right now at like the american people are stupid and they can make the best decisions for us. i don't think hillary clinton knows best. a lot of our country needs to be better are going to take drastic reform and change like bernie is talking about. i understand people are scared of change. you get into a routine that is comfortable and you don't want that to change. but the people at the very bottom are a lot more desperate. and we will do almost anything to make it. you shouldn't have to live like that. host: do you want to pick up on anything from the call? guest: he raise the fact that he is from michigan and the superdelegates have our new place to hillary even though yet.haven't voted this is a complaint that everybody is raining up already. be have hundreds of elected officials who have endorsed well before their state has spoken up.

earlier in the race, everybody saw hillary clinton is the quick favorite. but also this is what gives rise to activists and people in the democratic party feeling disenfranchised. why do even bother to vote if our elected officials have already decided and they will not listen to us. there are some people who would should haveemocrats the role that republicans do, that you have to vote the way your stay goes. host: have you heard anything from any superdelegates saying i could switch if my state, down the road during its primary or caucus, goes a certain way? is there any talk among the superdelegates you are seeing? guest: not in the cycle. that came up in 2008. samesides used the

argument against each other. at the time, barack obama said the system is unfair. how could hillary clinton have so many delegates? they should follow their state. clinton basically said, i look forward to having john kerry and ted kennedy switch their votes to me. of course, they didn't. both sides had this are given to use against each other. host: tony in springfield, illinois, go ahead. caller: i really appreciate the comments today. .eally echoed my feelings i believe we the people need to join up against this and republicans, independents and democrats. to theve it's insulting

blood of the veterans who share their blood for democracy. i think it's basically almost treasonous to the values of democracy. and the democrats, the superdelegates and all the other crap they have in the primaries, it's no more than the electorate than towards the general. democrats, there are certain ones want to get rid of the electoral system. the primaries no different. theelectors equal superdelegates. it's a rigged system. they should get rid of it. they know it's wrong. let people know it's wrong. and it needs to change. -- we need this political revolution to get ses ofheads out of the ar their washington. and realize that we the people,

as abraham lincoln said, are the leaders of the courts. not to overthrow the -- some ofn, but these people need to lose their jobs, get kicked out of office, perhaps jailed or find or whatever it is, an investigation to prosecute the disenfranchisement of the public and the popular vote of we the people. host: got your point. just a few people waiting. line for democrats, go ahead. caller: yes, good morning, gentlemen. comment,nted to make a basically a statement about the delegates in the superdelegates. we the people do have control over those delegates and superdelegates. because we can vote them in or out, which means we need to focus more on our local and

state elections. years, the national elections roll around and always talk about is who is running for president. who isocus more on actually running at our local and state levels, then we can control the superdelegates. host: i'll give you the last minute here on some of the solutions you heard from the last caller and how you think this issue of superdelegates will continue to play out. guest: that caller made a good point. superdelegates are a cannibal to the voters because they will be on the ballot themselves. -- superdelegates are accountable to the voters because they will be on the ballot themselves. if you don't support the states pay, we will vote you out and then i think you will see some change behavior. appreciate the conversation. come back and join us again. guest: thank you. host: tomorrow, we will be

joined by wendy stefan berg. democratick about primary voters, health care, and other issues. we will also be joined by grover norquist, president of americans for tax reform. we will talk about the president's 2016 -- 2017 budget release. and we will be talking to matthew were jansky -- matthew rojansky. that is all happening tomorrow beginning at 7:00 a.m. eastern, 4:00 a.m. pacific. until then, have a great saturday. ♪