in 45 minutes, we will talk to congressman david jolly about the stop act. also on the program, congresswoman jan czajkowski. we will talk about federal assistance to the elderly. >> foreign policy will always put the interest of the american people and american security above all else. it has to be first. that will be the foundation of every single decision that i will make. that was the front-runner for the republican nomination, donald trump, discussing his foreign-policy vision during a speech yesterday in d.c.. he criticized many of the foreign intervention decisions made by the presidents since the end of the world -- of the cold

war. it drew mixed reaction from leaders in washington. this morning, we want to hear what our viewers thought of the address. let us know about what you thought of the american first foreign-policy that he sought to lay out yesterday. republicans call in on (202) 748-8001, democrats, (202) 748-8000, independents, (202) 748-8002. you can catch up with us on social media. twitter, facebook. a good thursday morning to you. a few of the headlines following that foreign-policy speech yesterday. "trump to world -- america first ." that is the new york times this morning. for the front page of usa today,

"trump doctrine, don't speak softly." times sets the scene yesterday at the address speaking blocks away from the white house. ng ased a teleprompter telli reserved audience largely drawn from washington think tank establishments that his approach replaces randomness with purpose , ideology with strategy and chaos with peace. here's a little bit more from the address on his approach to the use of military force. notld trump: i will hesitate to deployed military force when there is no alternative. but if america fights, it must only fight to win. [applause] sendd trump: i will never

our finest into battle unless necessary, and i mean absolutely necessary, and we will only do so if we have a plan for victory with a capital v. [applause] donald trump: our goal is peace and prosperity not destruction. the best way to those goals is to make consistent and deliberate foreign policy. with president obama and secretary clinton, we have had the exact opposite. a reckless and aimless foreign policy. one that has blazed a path of destruction. reduction -- the the reaction yesterday. newt gingrich wrote on twitter, this was a serious

foreign-policy speech by donald trump. it is worth reading and thinking about. lindsey graham, former presidential candidate, wrote that the speech is pathetic in terms of understanding the role that america place in the world. that then to write foreign-policy speech is not conservative, it is isolationism surrounded by disconnected thought and demonstrates a lack of understanding to the threats we face. yesterday, donald trump speech is the most erotic evidence thus far that he fails the presidential test. john kasich has assembled a member of experts. and hillary clinton wrote that the foreign-policy isn't just offensive, it's dangerous. we want to hear about you and

what you think this morning. let us know what you thought of " policy.ica first stephen, you are first up. go ahead. caller: thank you for having me. i thought it was interesting to see donald work off a teleprompter and try to sound a little more presidential, is what you would call it? ng is obviously not as exciti that way but i do think his ideas are good. i hope he can implement those. host: which ones in particular? caller: his concept of being less and inventive in foreign affairs is good. i think his idea of working from strength rather than weakness. i think the various free-trade agreements have been disastrous

for this country. not because the concept is wrong but because of the way they are lamented. and how unintelligibly we enter into these agreements with these other countries who are doing a better job of negotiating. having someard to negotiators sit on the side of a america. i am a vietnam veteran and a former peace corps volunteer and have been around the world. i agree 100% that we have been out for naples with regards to negotiations. on that point, usa today talks about the vision for who he would have helped lead the foreign policy. in the analysis of the speech, it would leave most of the foreign forests a -- foreign-policy establishment scratching their heads.

but he has little use for the community of columnists, talkings and television heads who define the boundaries of america's role in the world. "that's why i look and have to look for talented experts with approaches and practical ideas rather than surrounded myself with those who have perfect resumes. " donald trump said that. "we have to look to new people because the old people don't know what they are doing." york,s up next in new good morning. caller: good morning. it seems that donald trump shares in common with the republican field a serious blindside about the relationship with america's best interest and climate change. even our own military leaders

have made it pretty clear that climate change is a force. it is a conflict multiplier. it increases the likeliness of people coming across borders because of resource failure. it increases the likelihood of people fighting over resources. it increases the risk to our navy and military forces around the world as the conditions of the ocean change. whenhe ability to wage war necessary, it becomes more difficult and expensive. and that is only one of the many reasons why she is not a professional he needs to be. he has to be able to balance the necessities of the world against the apparent interest of america first and realize that we can't serve our own interest at all face theare ready to

biggest problems facing everyone in the world. host: arthur is waiting in arkansas, morning. caller: how are you doing? those like to make a comment, if i may. -- this ideaple that old, white people vote for donald trump. i am an african american. he is the only one who has the guts to do what is necessary. radical islamic terrorists to keep them from destroying our country. i can take a few insults as long as we have somebody who is tough and will get the job done. people talk about his rashness but that is what we

need in the age we live in. we need somebody tough who will defend us and put america first and bring jobs back to the country. host: that term, america first, what does that mean to you? caller: looking after our people first. i don't say, don't have compassion. we just have to make sure we are safe with our jobs and our people. jobs won't mean anything to us if we are blown up. i'd rather do the right thing to protect our country. slow this down so that people can detect the wrong people and get them out of here. that is all. people say he is a racist but i have not seen any of that.

many people wanted him to and his david duke, ideas were not helpful to us. but what if that one vote would get him across? so [indiscernible] you are saying the david duke vote is what he should accept? caller: what i'm saying is that it might get him across the finish line. because it looks like everyone is against him. that means he is trying to do something good. host: we will stick to the

american foreign-policy speech yesterday. msnbc reporter noted thathe america first name was a name of a charles lindbergh isolationist group that opposed world war ii, going back to the history of the term, "america first." yournt to know about understanding of fat and what it means to you and your take away from donald trump's foreign-policy speech yesterday. nick is in tennessee, and independent. good morning. caller: let's get to the america first statement. i have a grandson and he is aspiring to be a marine lieutenant. and the thought of him getting captured and the butcher in benghazi. the commander-in-chief, and my grandson being captured makes me want to vomit. ok?

hundreds of people are going to die because of this mess. one way or another. that is america first, when you put our guys and ladies on the line. i am tired of the leftist -- think of a neighborhood. a childhood neighborhood. it is your family. america is your family. you put your neighbors first. drug dealers or lilo people. ad it is refreshing to hear possible commander-in-chief say that we are going to win. this compromise means capitulation. -- he talksherefore about general macarthur and that is what we need, if we are going

to have foreign-policy. my covelli had a saying. look at hillary clinton and obama, they put themselves around a climate change fanatic where the terrorists are the ones threatening us. if we continue this trend that the liberals push, america's will be under more for 30 years. ok? next inrl is up delaware, a democrat. good morning. caller: i listened to his foreign-policy speech. we have to have peace with people. you know? host: how do you achieve the peace? world: you have to have a

and people in your cabinet that know how to get along with other countries. we have to have peace to save lives. right now, they don't have no more ground troops. war is an ugly thing. the only thing to save us from the vietnam war was that it was the bomb that we dropped on them. and now the world is going to bonds and nuclear bombs. host: what happens when other otheries or groups with countries don't want to have peace with us? caller: we are a superpower. in technology, we are number one. and when you have to stretch your army thin, that is a sign of weakness.

that is a sign of weakness to me. we are one with technology. we can do everything we want. we have to represent our country to take care of people in our country. we can't have people threaten us or kill us. we shouldn't be in fear of anybody. host: sherry is in georgia, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. yes, we should have walls even jerusalem has four walls. and his name is biblical. the last trump. as faro by the bible and as getting along with other people, there are only two kinds. those who belong to god and

those who belong to the devil. they will never get along until god comes back. host: jonathan, oregon. you are on the washington journal. caller: good morning. i am dumbfounded by the guy. i think he is insane. and i think america is insane. he is scary. number one. person, [indiscernible] host: what do you specifically disagree with? caller: i wouldn't call anything that he said was foreign-policy. he doesn't have clout or

education, policy, whatever it is. we cannot use that kind of language on the washington journal. the economists column lexington took on the speech yesterday. here is how the lexington columnist described it. bears trump's description no resemblance to diplomacy. for an american president, world offense arrive in a rush and cannot be tackled one by one or i appointment. nor can geopolitical and commercial rivals be dismissed and forgotten. as all mr. trump's bravado, when he said that if america and

china do not find a mutually beneficial relationship, they can go therefore and ways. msnbcrker was speaking on and set the remarks were full of substance and he was very pleased with what he heard. if you look at the broadness of the vision, it was a major step forward. that was quoted by politico. they also quoted the written statement saying "i look forward to hearing more details but in a year where every frederick is defining the presidential race, my hope is that both parties will start to focus on the problems we face and on the solutions. " plenty of reaction by those here in washington. did you watch it? what did you make of it? tell us what you think of the term "america first." george, good morning. caller: i have a question. donald trump is going to start

world war iii. can you hear me? host: what is your question? going todonald trump is start world war iii. yeah. host: all right. independent, an odell. caller: i just want to throw into the conversation that i am iraqi freedom and anytime i see someone get on a stage and has no idea of personal sacrifice and talk about going to like it is a game won, it makes me feel like none of these people have any idea what they are asking of their military. i can't imagine somebody like that being in charge of all of these people and all of my brothers and sisters in arms.

it sounds terrible. host: talk to me about how the idea of view to -- idea of military members viewing their commander in chief? talk about your view of the president. is an important person to the military. that is the guy who is making decisions on where you're going and what you are doing when you get there. so, you know, a lot of people have various views on george bush during my time but he wasn't an experienced military guy myself -- his self. and yet we have a guy with zero experience talking about winning like it is a game. like we chess pieces on a board. and that does not strike any confidence in his ability to make a decision, militarily. it time for somebody with military experience to

become president with the threats that we face today? caller: i would much prefer that. but at the very least, someone with a real respect for the military and someone who understand the sacrifices of the people they are talking about. host: the wall street journal editorial board today called the speech a trump for foreign-policy. they note that he will become the gop nominee if voters don't trust him with nuclear weapons. we want to hear you would describe this. jamie is in indiana. the morning. caller: good morning, sir. i am proud to say that i switched my registration to republican specifically for this primary. i am thinking about when rush on't think it is

necessary to do that. ted cruz is doing everything he can to push him over the top. ries toas the way he t form a bond with kasich. host: you think that will only help donald trump? caller: now that he has carly help further will solidify people behind donald trump. i think the america first speech puts in perspective for those out there who are uninformed voters that this is exactly how much this man doesn't know and how much he will be in charge of the nuclear code. hopefully at some point, if america continues on this path, he will be surrounded by people who reach out and help him. for the benefit of our soldiers

and the american people. base their whole thought process on the by, -- on the bible, i don't understand. host: at the beginning, he referred to ted cruz's early vice presidential announcement yesterday, picking carly fiorina as the running mate. here is the front page of usa today. "ted throws a hail carly." here is a bit from that announcement yesterday. >> why make this announcement now? for one thing, if we have to win, number one, when the nomination but number two, when the general election, we must unite. [applause]

and carly fiorina as a vice presidential nominee is superbly skills and gifted at helping unite this party and bring us together. i am very proud and humbled and honored. to announce that i have accepted senator ted cruz's offer to be his vice president for the republican nominee. [applause] >> you know, ted cruz could not be more right in what he says. there is a lot at stake. and this is a fight. this is a fight for the party and future oath or -- future of our nation. ,here are some who would say

why fight? let it be over. but i have had tough fights all my life and they don't worry me a bit. what matters, is the fight worth having? this is a fight worth winning. with your help, we will win this fight. [applause] host: that announcement coming a 95 primaries and mid-atlantic primaries. the five primaries where donald trump picked up large amounts of and secured his path further to the presidential nomination. making a potential ted cruz upset slimmer. we will be getting back to that but another story we want to update you on this morning is the fate of the former speaker of the house, dennis hastert and

his sentence hearing yesterday. joining us by phone is a federal courts reporter for the chicago sun-times. good morning. guest: good morning. host: take us through the seat in the courtroom. he is receiving 15 months on banking charges and not the molestation charges. explain that to us? right. it was a dramatic hearing. he pleaded healthy last fall to breaking up his bank are also they would not raise red flags in an illegal way. but from the very beginning, we have had the sexual abuse accusations. they were clearly brought to the forefront a few weeks ago. that was in a court filing. he only faces sentencing on

this one banking charge but it became clear quickly that the sex abuse allegations were going to be central to his sentencing. he has been very ill and his attorney says he nearly died last fall. actually, a couple of days after he really guilty and he appeared in court in a wheelchair. he sat slumped in the chair, watched the proceedings and gave no obvious reactions. even as some very significant things were happening. not only is he facing is in time -- but the sister of a deceased victim spoke out against him in the courtroom. and also a man who had never before publicly revealed himself stepped in front of the judge and told his story in graphic detail about how he was sexually abused by dennis hastert.

one other aspect of this which is important is that yes, he pleaded guilty to the banking crimes and sexual abuse allegations, but he tried to cover it up. he was originally charged with lying to the fbi when they asked what he was doing with the bank withdrawals but now it comes out that he claims to be a victim of extortion. that was just about a year ago. he even hell does she even helped the fed record conversations and led them on a wild goose chase. reachedthe victim who $3.5 million in hush money deals. dennis hastert agreed to pay not to stay silent about what happened. and that agreement is what eventually began to unravel the

mess. that person has now sued dennis hastert. with the was annoyed sexual abuse allegations and his attempt to cover them up. a 15e judge handed down month sentence and he called dennis hastert a serial child molester. host: can he get back into court and fight the sentence? or is this set in stone? guest: he does have appeal rights. i think they are laid out in the plea agreement. they might be limited and i don't have that in front of you now that he does have the option to appeal. talk about how his former colleagues in illinois are reacting to the scandal and the sentence yesterday? guest: i think everyone is taken

aback and is shocked by this. and you know, speaking of colleagues. this victim who stepped forward and revealed himself for the first time is actually the brother of the former state house republican leader and a political protege of dennis hastert. so this just added to the shock and disbelief. he tried to file 60 letters of support with the judge. the judge said if he was going to consider them, they would have to be filed publicly. and many of the letters were withdrawn once they realized that they would have to be out there publicly supporting dennis hastert. so even by his lawyers description, he has become an outcast and is alone. his portrait has been taken down from the capital and they

described him as an old man in a wheelchair sitting by himself in his home and withdrawn from society. host: when will he start serving his sentence? guest: we don't know yet. they judge wants him to serve that time at a medical facility. but they need to figure out which one will be available. we will early date at another time. host: jon seidel is a federal courts reporter with the chicago sun. thank you for your time. guest: thank you. host: let's go back to this 'sestion about donald trump foreign policy plan. the major speech happened yesterday it washington, d.c. and we want to know your reaction. don is in pennsylvania, a democrat. caller: donald trump is another one of these guys that has the sons of the military age behind him like hell romney did the

same thing. like how romney did the same thing. he doesn't know how to be on an aircraft carrier like i was. so [indiscernible] and congressnt would rather pay contractors big money then pay the military men and women they are decent solitary -- decent salary. donald trump is a big talking with who wouldn't even know how to put a uniform on if it was given to him. thank you very much. host: let's go to rick in idaho. good morning. caller: good morning, america. i am going to open up your eyes. i was like everybody to write this down.

this is called an order code 98 -- 916. what it deals with his ford aid policy. this will support everything that donald trump has said. the meat and bones of the report are on page 31. it documents how america has been with foreign spending since 1946. the second half of the report identifies how much money we have spent. the grand total for the years that we produce a page it in spending is 66 years. the monetary amount is $1,000,000,000,738. beat therump has subject to death about foreign policy. we had to interpret $550 million per month to achieve this which means we are being shortchanged.

theou go to page 20 of report, it will open up america's eyes. host: we lost rick. andrew is in new york. an independent. caller: good morning. what it means to me is to make deals for this country. we are policing the world and it is time for somebody who has concern for us. host: as an independent, who are you supporting this election cycle? caller: donald trump. i have always voted democrat but i am tired of seeing the country being given away. i like the fact that he will make deals for this country. hello? host: i'm listening. caller: i'm sorry. so it is time to do it for this country. it will pass a lot of people off. but i think he is on the right track. we need to think of america first. host: on that point, here is the

criticism in the new york times editorial board. they say when one's experience is limited to real estate deals, everything looks like a lease negotiation. hearing him approach formulations, one imagines it as a group of foreign nations at a table with him while he demands policy changes in exchange for american protection, trade and friendship. and if he doesn't get what he wants, you must be willing to walk. is that how you view it in your mind? is that how donald trump sees the foreign diplomacy quandary? no. i think you will hire the right people. a lot of this is just campaigning. but what it comes down to is that he will hire the right people to make the right decisions. host: let's go to woodbridge,

virginia. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i listened to most of the foreign-policy speech yesterday and he still hasn't gotten into and each time on the intoign trail, he goes personal attacks. he doesn't have the self-control and charisma that a world leader and president of the united states should have. he keeps on being unpredictable. but that can be dangerous. the gentleman who said he was dangerous and could lead us to world war iii.

some caller say they are frustrated that america hasn't been put first. they feel like we are losing in foreign deals at negotiations, do you understand that? know, donald trump is a businessman and a realistic person. is what comes across to me that those deals are a lot easier than trying to run a country or do foreign-policy. says i will do things like building the wall and all of that. he doesn't have the experience background. he isn't a presidential candidate. i believe that there are some programs and policies that the

united states needs to back up because of the deficit. i just don't think he is the one to get us there. and for the past eight years, there have been ups and downs. so a lot of things didn't get done. for him to stand up and say, i'm going to do this from day one, he will not do this without help. if you tweets on this topic. going toites, we are bomb countries to make them love us and agree with our policy. sam writes, it doesn't matter what we think america first, it matters what he thinks. he will have his finger on the buttons. and -- says he wants to inspire fear everywhere and the citizens versus noncitizens talk implies

torture. we want to know what you are thinking this morning. marian has been waiting, good morning. caller: good morning. i was just wondering why the candidates never bring up the fact that hillary clinton has building up the military. she will not do away with obamacare. she has not been responsible. don't really support donald trump. he has some ideas that are far-fetched. but we don't seem to have anybody running who really knows

and understands the position we are in. i think it will take 10 years to recover from what obama has done. it seems like we need somebody who could go into the inner city and all the hispanics volunteered to join the military and get paid a private salary and if they fight overseas for two years and come back, they should be entitled to american citizenship. you are talking about undocumented folks that this would be offered to? undocumented, illegal immigrants? caller: right. if they go and serve for two years, especially overseas, they have a lot of stamina and the ability to learn and you would take a lot of them off the

street. it would give them a job and maybe you send them to military bases. i have worked with millions of them before. host: all right. now to louisiana, good morning. caller: good morning. i want to say that i heard donald speech and to me, he is not educated enough to know about the foreign policy. there are people trying to talk to him and give him some advice on this but we need a captain of the ship who knows how to run this from the beginning. and that comes with spending time in the house of representatives and going down the line. donald trump has an easy ticket because they do haven't got him for his tax. president obama was given much hell for trying to get his tax. he has a lot of problems.

what he says really scares me. i would be scared to put him in the front of the united states. donald trump is against women and immigrants. we have problem with this man. if he was intelligent enough to sit down and talk to foreign leaders and give good answers, i would vote for him but this is why, we are not in the business. host: news out of the white house yesterday where president obama will be next week. he is headed to flint, michigan at the response to an eight-year-old girl. he will travel their next week to speak with residents concerned about the high level of lead contamination in the water. he responded to her in a letter who acquired the neck name "little miss flint."

she wrote a letter last month when she was pairing to come to washington to watch rick snyder. the president said, i want to make sure people like you and your family are getting the help that you need and deserve. and he wanted her to be the first to know that he would be in the city on may 4. we are getting your reactions to donald trump's foreign-policy speech. joe is a republican, good morning. caller: hello? host: go ahead. caller: i am an honorably discharged veteran. and i watched all of the speech yesterday. i found it to be very clear and concise. i would like to remind people that freedom isn't free. and so we have to reinforce the military. wehave to take care that

take care. and then, people aren't going to be wanting to jump on us. host: what was your take away from the speech? when donald trump will commit american troops overseas? caller: well, my understanding is that once we have to be over there fighting, to defend our country and our values or support an ally who is absolutely supporting us back, we will just be over there fighting to be fighting. we won't see our men and women dying for nothing. host: how did you figure out where the line is? does donald trump figure out the line is that it is serious enough? the issue of isis, for example? caller: i believe he made it

clear. as soon as he becomes president, we will go ahead and take isis out. but he made it clear, he will not be like obama. marchat we are coming on 5 at 3:00 so they can be sitting there, ready. that is what he is talking about . being unpredictable doesn't mean that he is sitting there with his finger on the red button. it just means that there will be a time where we will have to go -- excuse me, i got confused. inish your thought. caller: we will go in there and it will not be announced.

because, how are you going to be a winner if they know where you are coming and when you are coming? they can prepare for that. that is what he is talking about. host: joe was the last color in this segment. coming up, we have republican congressman david jolly from --rida here to talk about so about how members of congress raise money. coming up, representative jan schakowsky. she will join us to talk about her call for the reauthorization of the older americans act. we will be right back. ♪

>> it is known as one of washington's most revered events. read together members of the press and hollywood stars. c-span prevents live coverage of the correspondents dinner. this saturday starting at 6:00 p.m. eastern. our live coverage includes red carpet arrivals, background on the dinner and awards presentation. of comedyore, host central, will headline and president obama will give the final speech is the commander-in-chief. join us to watch the 2016 white house correspondents dinner. live on c-span. our c-span campaign 2016 bus continues to honor winners of this year's student camera conversation.

-- were recognized by classmates and local elected officials for their honorable video, access to affordable higher education is the investment in the future. then, south dakota to visit winners. and the final stop for the week included a visit to helena middle school where the third prizewinners were honored for their video on water pollution. a special thanks to our cable partners for helping to coordinate the community visit. and every weekday this month, the sure to watch one of the top 21 winning entries before washington journal. >> washington journal continues. host: we have republican congressman david jolly joining us now. he has the ongoing effort of

conforming the way congressman raise the lots of money they need to get reelected. i want you to explain how that process works. what is happening today? guest: it is reelection season. we know about the amount of money in politics. i am focused in on the amount of time it takes to raise that money. so understand that if you have to raise $2 million, how much time does it take a member of congress to do that? they are often instructed to spend four or five hours a day raising money. and this is important. my effort to stop this is not to criticize or judge my comp -- my colleagues. they are good people working hard for their constituents but i do intend to judge the system. because how we got here has created a scandal. the fact that we have a

part-time congress. congress is required to spend more time raising money and doing their job. so introduced a bill caused -- called the stop act. it would prohibit lawmakers from personally soliciting contributions. it says, put down the phone and get back to work. host: how does the solicitation process work? ch dayng several hours ea when there on capitol hill raising money, where did they go and what to they ask for? guest: each member has a different way of doing it but it is fairly standard to go across the street. democrats have their party headquarters and republicans have their headquarters. it is illegal to make a fund-raising phone call from your congressional office so members have to leave the office as their outside the office and their official work to the campaign headquarters and make

phone calls. be people whomight donated in past but often it is cold calling, trying to solicit new donors from provided databases that say here is a couple in indiana who has given $50,000 to multiple candidates. if you call them, they might be able to give you 500 or $1000. so you begin to call through the list and the idea is to continue to try to raise as much money as you can. i call it a shakedown. it is. my colleague calls it a firm.rketing we have good people in congress on both sides of the aisle and i would like to pass the stop act to prohibit members from soliciting contributions and give my colleagues some breathing room to do the job that our voters expect us to be doing.

host: so who would do that job if this will not stop the amount of money needed in a campaign russian mark how to members and they can raise the amount of money they need to keep their jobs? guest: this leaves in place the current campaign-finance construct. i am willing to work on constitutional regulations. the currentin place system. you have a campaign manager. you have a staff responsible for raising money. but your first priority is to do your job. let the campaign staff raise the money. this would only apply to sitting members of congress. not challenges. challengers can spend time doing whatever they do but once you are elected, you do hold trust.

host: you have challengers in your effort to take over. one of your challengers has had critiques about this stop act. "this stop act is an election a bill forcing members to spend more time working and less money for their campaigns after actively benefiting from the not so secret world of d.c. dialing for dollars." that is what todd wilcox said about this. guest: i would say this. gimmicks are tools of weak leaders. 60 minutes doesn't do an expose a on a gimmick. the universal affirmation about that this is a

scandal of our time. so i don't pay much attention to what naysayers say. everyone is trying to one up the other. n to: let's pay attentio what our viewers have to say. albert, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for being on. i remember there was a big scandal back when they were making phone calls in the offices so they put the bank across the office of people can go in. that is exactly right. we ask why congress isn't getting anything done? that would make the case that

many days, congress isn't even there. if you're spending your mornings at a fund-raising breakfast and a fund-raising lunch and afternoon's making phone calls asking people for money, it's no wonder that we don't have comprehensive statute reform and we have issues with border security and immigration reform. we are not there. they move along but if you had , youtime raising money would get more things done. host: there are not a whole a lot of members of congress who have signed on. guest: we have seven, which is seven more than i thought we might get. [laughter] guest: i need the help of the american public. this is a hard topic to talk about with your colleagues. but members of congress continue to come up and say thank you. believe it or not, yesterday i

had another member call me down and give me a high five. it sounds silly but members want breathing room because they are frustrated by this. they are frustrated by the demands of raising money. you run on issues that you believe deeply in and you get up. and you can we run into the demand to spend your days raising money. host: i imagine those members have leadership permission. guest: this is a hard topic. host: have you had conversations with the chairman about this? guest: i have not. two years ago i introduced a resolution requiring congress to be in session 40 hours a week in d.c.. obviously, it's got put in the drawer. i believe so deeply about this. i need to take it to the

american people first and i need the help of the american people. if we can cultivate the constructive anger and have them ask leadership to move the stop act, i think we can get it done. i can't get the stop act passed as a member of congress. hopefully we will get to 30 cosponsors in the next few weeks but the american sponsor can get it sold by demanding a solution. host: brett, an independent. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. congressman, i want to commend you for your work on this issue. the more the american people hear about the reality of what is going on and why things aren't getting done, the more willing they will be to help you. what i understand, is with high

aren'tn the hallway, why there more of the congressman who realize there is a conflict of interest there, why aren't they more compassionate? the politicians who will serve the american public, why aren't you guys up in arms and saying, no. why isn't that being voted on as a priority? that is fundamental. thank you again. guest: the reality is because they are staring down their own election. i did a pledge to no longer directly solicit country should sue anyone. someone said it was politically i think it reflects exactly what the american people want, but members of congress get here and the reality of today's

campaign-finance system is, you need money to run your reelection campaign, so they are drawn into that focus and it is a problem. host: how much does the senate race in florida cost? guest: when you consider all the outside money, it would be between $50 million and $100 million. host: are you on track to raise that? guest: no, i am underfunded compared to my opponents, but i believe we will out earn the nomination. host: a crowded race on the republican side and the fact that you don't have to declare until june that you are running for that or running for reelection. there is some speculation that you might want to run for reelection in your house district. guest: the pressure is certainly there. i hear from members of my community, people across the state, that they appreciate what we are doing. i don't for see any scenario that would lead me back into the

--se race -- i don't or see forsee any scenario that would lead me back into the house race. we are a one county district. i love it dearly. we have been able to work with people from beach projects to infrastructure to veterans issues. i want to continue to do that in the united states senate and do it on behalf of millions of people. former republican governor, former independent, now democrat, running the seat you now occupy. guest: he is running for congress now and here is one complement i have for him. i debated alan grayson and it got to be about 110 degrees in that room by the end of the day and i realized the wisdom of charlie, bringing a fan to every

debate. host: we are talking to the florida republican u.s. senate candidate about the issue of campaign finance and his efforts to overhaul the system. taking of that debate, if our viewers want to check it out on c-span, go to www.c-span.org. springs,n, chester florida. caller: what can you tell us congressman that was indicted with 29 counts with campaign-finance irregularities in philadelphia. trial.oming up for host: a congressman that just lost his memory bellow -- primary battle. guest: he did. accountability at the ballot box is one thing, accountability before the law is a totally

separate matter and my colleague will have to answer for that. it does speak to something. there are many reforms we can look at ahead of comprehensive campaign-finance reform and one -- i think wesue should begin to look at and there is a bipartisan coalition on the hill right now. there is legislation right now that we can reform the process, perhaps event situations like we have seen in philadelphia. you can go to the congressman's website. randy is up next from iowa, democrat. caller: thank you for taking my call.

historically, i am not impugning your credibility on this. i will bother -- bother to read it and if for myself on it. -- and inform myself on it. andbrought up something that was that you support flood insurance and things like this. how do you stand on climate change? guest: i appreciate that question. i accept the science, but i asect the solutions and republicans, i think we should lead on this issue because i think conservative solutions are the way to do it. let's invest in incentives for clean energy and clean your. let's invest in research for new and alternative energy. let's grow a new industry, particularly in florida that focuses on alternatives. let's reject the regulations of the president that ultimately

cannot be met and only drive cost and crippled job growth. there is a large distributor in the tampa bay area, on of the largest warehouses in the state that just went to an all solar roof. i went and asked them for information on how they reached the decision to do this. they said the return on investment finally came within a five year window and it made economic sense. that is a result of incentives as opposed to mandates. 10 years ago, if there had been a mandate that they had to go a all solar roof, they would've had to lay people off to afford that roof and in many cases, technology cannot keep up with the mandates. i accept the science, i will fight for conservative solutions. host: you have a great newspaper down in tampa, here is one of the headlines. congressman jolly says he is sick and tired of gop positions on climate change. guest: i am sick and tired of

not fighting for conservative solutions. anddo we fall into the trap i believe this is political, we fall into the trap democrats have set for us to argue oversight. scientist, i am not qualified to debate whether or not the climate is changing. we know it is changing, it has been for thousands of years. has man had an impact on it? of course. every time we burn a fuel, it has an effect. i don't need to argue the science and we are wasting time. solutionse about the because i think the president is wrong and i think conservative solutions are the right cap for the economy and the environment. guest: arlington heights, john, independent. caller: good morning and thank you for picking me up. ago, when i lived in wisconsin, there was a congressman, maybe a senator by

the name of bill proxmire and he used to -- he used to run his campaign on less than a couple hundred dollars a year. it sounds weird, but are there any members that are walking around their state or walking , ratherheir district than spending millions of dollars? are there people that actually talk or congressman that actually talk to their people in the course of the campaign? guest: thank you for that. i think most members certainly do that and this is where i say you have members on both sides of the aisle -- you have good members on both sides of the aisle who are trying to stay in touch with town halls, trying to be as accessible as possible. the one thing i will tell you i learned. i am a first-time candidate and

the first time i ran anything. i ended up in what turned out at the time to be the most expensive congressional race in history. host: the special election. guest: $14 million spent in a little over 10 weeks, so it was overwhelming. to your point, at the beginning of the race, i was convinced we would win this person-to-person, that i would not need the money. it is one county, why home. -- my home. i learned throughout that campaign, the number one driver of elections is television. that drives the cost. you can see the needle move based on the negative ads and positive as. -- ads. tv drives numbers in campaign and their wires the high finance. the senator left office in 1989, a very different time for campaigning.

fort charlotte, democrat. caller: good morning. i would respect for all of them to not call for donations, that is set to hear and what i would like to say is over 200 republicans that are signed up with grover norquist. does that have anything to do with sending people to do telemarketing for their donations? guest: i don't think so, i think it is driven by the demand for money for reelection. that pushes people to have to spend time raising money instead of doing their job. it is not about a pledge or commitment, it is about your own reelection. i will tell you, you mentioned members making phone calls. i have partnered with my colleague virginia foxx from north carolina to add members of congress to the do not call

registry. if you sign up for the do not call registry, it takes telemarketers from calling you, but members from congress are exempt from that. i think if you sign up for the do not call registry, that should include members of congress. a vacuum, iell you should not be allowed to ask you for 50 bucks. pledgeaxpayer protection , i pledged by canada's not to raise taxes during their time in office. norquist has been a guest on this show. you can check out his appearances on www.c-span.org. jim in texas, republican. caller: good morning. i fully agree with the need for the public to understand what is election ofthis

congressman and other political -- if your if it would help our contact and get with presidentialical -- could make that suggestion to him. host: have you talked to presidential candidates? guest: i missed social media by about a generation and i would love to know and i think the american people would love to know, where is donald trump on the stop back?

where is ted cruz or hillary clinton or bernie sanders or john kasich? i need the help of colleagues and presidential candidates. i need the help of every american on this issue. it is why we created those -- the website. host: when it comes to stop act, what is the mechanism? he said the ftc already has trouble enforcing right now. guest: it would fall into the fec and orson provisions of the code. any current federal election violation, this would be included. when you look at the enforcement procedures, it is usually warnings and finds but in the case of repeated violations, it can be referred for criminal prosecution. it leads me to jump the next time a member of congress asked you for money, call the police. host: back in florida, william, a democrat.

caller: good morning. i would like to talk about some more important issues, about all the pollution that you are doing to the rivers and lakes down here, about all the pollution that the orange groves are doing, doing what they say -- they put so many chemicals on those trees, those trees don't t or go blind. guest: those are two very important issues. i believe you are referring to the crisis that is developing around the everglades. there are multiple pieces of legislation out there. the governor is also in the legislature referring to it. one thing we have to do is secure the dyke and improve it. we also have to begin to clean the water or does south, but we

have to clear away for it to go south. strategy multi-decade to address some of the issues we are facing with the everglades. it is a disaster in many communities. the good news for florida, it is a bipartisan issue at the federal level. the other thing, you may remember the state ballot initiatives that require a certain amount of money to go to environmental protection and the everglades and state legislature reached an accommodation on that. personally, i would hope it would be a bit more, but i never served in tallahassee, so it is not my place to make those decisions. this is a real issue for florida and it is important to the senate commissioner. everybody thinks of oranges when it think of florida. our citrus industry is in dire need right now. crisis when it comes to citrus green.

there is an opportunity in the next five to 10 years to reset the citrus industry. we will have to make some very significant decisions in the next five years about what we do with the citrus industry. host: a lot of potential future constituents calling you. tom in palm city, florida, public and -- republican. caller: good morning and thank you for your bill. when i watched you earlier this week talking about it, it came to mind that maybe that is why my congressman has not gotten back with me on the cuban adjustment act, since we have good relations with cuba, and i heard that there are thousands of humans coming across the mexican border to get in on the dole. we need to repeal the cuban adjustment act and i call his office at least once a week and on -- you can get

repeal the cuban adjustment act? how does my rivers and of deal, patrick murphy who is running for senate. now i know why he can't even talk to his aid and have them come back and talk to me because he is busy raising money because he's running for the senate. host: running for the same position you are. guest: it is and this is the heart of the stop act. we know about the amount of money in politics. there are multiple -- multiple senate candidates in florida. the stop act is about keeping people from spending money instead of doing that -- raising money instead of doing their job. if you had a job and you were not doing the job you are hired to do, you would be fired. this is cheating taxpayers. it might be that we end up losing an election because we are outspent. i am willing to take that risk. if i'm here for six months or six years.

stop act is something we can do right now to change how congress works. the american people are frustrated. if your issues are border -- you areaxes, is frustrated because you see a congress that is not doing any. when you pull the curtain back, they are not even there and you should be angry. host: tony, a republican, go-ahead. caller: i was saying you guys ought to be working it ready our work week like everybody else. guest: that's right. caller: your bill is very encouraging. i wanted to call and support you. people will send you money if you are doing a good job. you have to produce for the people. i think you are making the effort. guest: thank you. i appreciate it. someone asked if this was political and i said no, it is good public policy, and good

public policy makes for good politics. legislature, members of our state legislature prohibit it from directly soliciting -- judges on the ballot are prohibited from directly soliciting contributions in 25 states. i want to apply those laws we have in order and other states to congress. there is precedent for it. host: let's talk about another one of your pieces of legislation. what is the veterans suicide prevention act. guest: we all know the tragedy of the numbers. some say up to 22 veterans choose to take your life every day -- take their life every day. the v.a. is doing very good things to try to address it. most of the mental health services coming through the ba our traditional health services. i have worked with colleagues on opening up more alternative or complementary therapies.

there is one issue that has the concern of a number of veteran service organizations, and that is the amount of prescription drugs, the opioids, that veterans are sometimes prescribed. as they move from facility to facility and are prescribed more and different drugs, -- i had a vietnam vet come in the office with a backpack the other day and he walked up to my desk and turned it over and there were about 60 pill bottles that fell under my desk. he said this is everything i have been prescribed in the past two years. with the veteran suicide bill does is it asks the v.a. to study and report back to congress on the prescriptions that have been given to veterans that later decide to take their own life. is there a problem with the way the drugs are being prescribed by different facilities? is there a correlation? scientist,doctor or so i do not know the answer and i am not prejudging it, but it is a concern that the amount of

opioid prescriptions for veterans later decided take their own lives might be out of balance with what we see. host: how would you respond to some of the concern that this might keep certain drugs that are helping some people out of their hands, that it might restrict their access? guest: this does not restrict or prejudge, it asks for a report. host: would it start us down the road? guest: it should not. the information would lead to either reforms or improvements or lead to no action because it is determined that there is no correlation. if we had a v.a. report about wait times and the next five years ago, we might have prevented negligence by the v.a. that led to the deaths of veterans, so this is trying to get in front of it. host: gail is independent in rhode island. caller: good morning and thank you for everything that you do for us in keeping us informed. i would like to congratulate

congressman jolly on his courage to stand up and make things count in the congress. i would like to see past accomplishments instead of fundraising be the basis on place in theny congress or the senate, and also maybe a limited time of being in either one, because i know my senators have been in congress and senate since i was a young girl, so i think there should be a limitation. guest: we get this conversation a lot and i appreciate that question. people talk about term limits and asked if i am in favor of them. one way we can accomplish term limits is by creating more electorally competitive districts. for two years, i've represented

a district as a republican that obama won, twice. it is one of the fairest districts in the country, but geographically, it is not one of the fair ones. if we have more 50-50 districts across the country, you will have people that must respond every day to the needs of the community before the needs of fundraising and their party, and they will be held accountable you -- accountable were quickly if they fail to represent their entire community. congress arets in super majority districts of one party or the other and they are never competitive you are essentially assured reelection for as long as you wish to be there. guest: what is the best process to break up gerrymandering? -- state legislators are allowed to draw lines of political affiliation. in the state of florida, there was a fair district amendment movement that led to redistricting.

fairness is defined by that amendment by geographic that does away with the lobby squiggly lines we often see in that is a very sympathetic argument, but i would point out in -- in florida, as a result of their districts, three or four of the more consensus minded republicans and democrats have been drawn out and they will be replaced by super partisan, super majority districts. my colleague in the panhandle and i try to tackle issues like offshore oil drilling and another --. and a number of other florida first issues. as a result of their districts, the districts that we represent are now super majority district for the other party. host: let's go to florida, a line for democrats. joseph is waiting. caller: good morning. this is the first time i am hearing you speak and i have to say i am very impressed.

i normally don't vote republican, but if you ran for governor or senator, i would think about it. guest: i appreciate it. caller: i like the issues you are addressing. regarding the reform of the congressional funding and etc., a congressmanwhen takes office, he or she spends 60% of their time trying to raise money. what do you think of this idea that they have in brazil, that a candidate can demonstrate that they have a certain amount of public support, they get free media time? after all, most people don't know the public do in fact own the media, we give permission to these companies to run it, so it makes sense and that would take a lot of money out of this whole situation.

the would you say about toothless texting while driving law that was passed in florida? guest: i think the texting while driving law is important, careless driving is already on the books, the fact is, let's start enforcing it. it is certainly careless if a driver is looking down at their own that of paying attention to the road. if we are not there, we need to improve it. there is an organization called issue one and it is a number of former members, republicans and democrats wrestling with proposals from public financing to tax incentives and issues like the stop act and television. one of the things -- i had an opportunity to meet with a british member of. the british model allows contributions but the way they take the high finance out is they prohibit television commercials.

you can mail, call, have town halls and she can. they prevent television commercials. i throw this out there notionally. we will not see a america where political ads are not on tv but what if the fec began to regulate or fcc regulated commercials and a different way. we currently pay $450 million as taxpayers for public television. what if you provided candidate hours or eligible that eligible candidates meet a threshold and you get that 60 days out? you could get true information about candidates reliably from a public television source and get the commercials off? it is a dream. host: patrick in north carolina, publicans. -- republicans. caller: i would suggest that two congressman that i know of that are doing walking campaigns are david jolly and david pratt,

both congressman that i read a lot about on conservative report.org. i have seen some of your work with the veterans administration and veterans health and i really appreciate that. part of the problem that bets are having -- that's our cap -- vets are having is the money being raised is just advocating the same broken system with administrators getting more bonuses. hey talk about the opt out choice and also -- can you talk about the opt out choice and veterans are acutely aware of foreign policy. maybe comment little about the difference between or what is going on within the republican party, foreign policy was and how imminent domain affects both of those issues, thank you.

guest: thank you. you are right, david pratt shows that money does not win every election. v.a., i have introduced legislation called the veterans freedom act and it would do this. everybodyoncept that can read. if you served and qualify for v.a. benefits, then you choose where you want to receive health care. if you want to stay in that the va, thenhe the a -- you have earned it. you do not need their permission, there is no wait list for arming or mileage. what it would do, the last provision of my legislation were wires a report five years out of the attrition rate of how many veterans chose to go outside, because then we could isolate specific facilities that are under serving our veterans and begin to adjust reforms.

it would also create greater competitions between the private sector and the va, and if they cannot continue to perform, then the veterans would be going outside. we have great people working at va facilities all across the country. we have people who have committed their careers to serving veterans. if a veteran wants to go somewhere else, let's empower them. on foreign policy, some simple concepts. i traveled throughout the middle east and have the opportunity in egypt, saudi, turkey, israel, to meet with heads of state and democratic dissidents and go to the syrian border and refugee camps. everybody from the heads of state to the refugees are begging for american leadership. president's foreign policy -- i disagree most strongly with his foreign-policy. it has left a vacuum in the middle east where a strongman

like vladimir putin can come in and coordinated with a test coordinate -- coordinate with a country like iran. we can decide domestically what we want our leadership to look like. there is a vacuum right now of american leadership overseas and i think that is why donald trump's speech yesterday resonated for some, because he promised to take a different approach, though it lacks detail. host: i want to get your thoughts on this article that came out to where the beginning of your senate campaign. scientology may soon have an ally in the u.s. senate is how the story begins. given the large footprint that the church has an your district, jollies ties with scientologists may pay dividends, but now he is running to represent the entire state of order, his connections with the church may prove to be a liability. guest: my opponents like to make this an issue. this should not be an issue. i am elected to represent

700,000 people and i am committed to doing that regardless of your walk of life, your choice of faith. my job is to give voice to everybody. convictions, iran on certain convictions and bring them to congress. i tried to blend those convictions with a very diverse priorities and convictions of our community. if i get that balance right, then the community will reelect me in the state. i don't worry about cheap shots opponents or headlines that are used to run a political commercial. i have a job to represent 700,000 people in that take that seriously. -- and i take that seriously. i would say anybody who will not to a single a -- floridian is not capable of running for the house or the senate. caller: i have a couple of quick

questions. a couple of paragraphs ago, you said that money does not always by elections. can you give me a percentage or is that something you do not know? my second question is this, are we a bunch of lemons with commercials on tv can just tell us to vote for mr. x? can you explain to me how it works? a bumper sticker does not do anything for me. unfortunately, my comment about money does not always when elections, i think clearly in the majority of cases it can, but we have seen situations where it did not win an election. i think we are also seeing it, this year. you can look at a number of , particularly on the republican side who outraised some of their opponents, but

still had to drop out. commercials, the issue is how much information is out there and where do you get that information and i'm glad to hear that you reject a lot of the messaging that comes out of tv commercials. unfortunately, that is the number one way that most voters consume information, through commercials they hear on tv or the radio and is not necessarily on long policy speeches. is a terrible reflection of the system, but has proven time and time again the impact of negative commercials. it, it should be heartbreaking and hopefully we are beginning to reject it. a lot of the negative commercials -- negative commercials in the republican presidential campaign rejected out of hand and that is a good thing. host: jerry for democrats, go ahead. caller: go ahead -- good

morning. i was wondering with your proposed legislation, when would it be enacted if passed? guest: a lot of movement by some to pass a constitutional i am sot and while pathetic to that, that is a 20 year effort that would take our eye off the ball. we can move the stop act right now. the insider trading, scandal five of years ago -- scandal of five years ago, it had legislation on the president's desk in a couple of. calder representatives and senators,. demanded change. we could move this bill tomorrow -- call your representatives and senators, demand change, we could move this bill tomorrow. we could pass this bill as quickly as the american people can demand a majority of congress to do it. host: harassment david jolly, republican from florida and a

u.s. senate candidate, thank you for your time. guest: thank you. host: democratic congress woman of illinois will join us. she cochairs the senior task force and will join us to talk about the real authorization of the older americans act. -- reauthorization of the older americans act. ♪ >> independent media is the oxygen of democracy. it is essential, holding those in power accountable. we are not there to serve some kind of corporate agenda. when we cover war and peace, we are not brought to you by the weapons manufacturer. >> journalist amy goodman hosts an executive for -- host and executive reduce her of democracy now talks about the

book she has co-authored. it looks back at some of the stories in people the show has covered. >> the idea of democracy now 20 years ago, it is really not changed. bringing up the voice of the people at the grassroots around the world and they very much represent the majority of people. i think people who are concerned deeply about war and peace, about a growing inequality in this country. about climate change. i think they are not a fringe minority, not even a silent majority, but the silenced majority, silenced by the corporate media. >> madam secretary, we proudly

delegates to the next president of the united states. >> washington journal continues. host: democratic congresswoman jan czajkowski joins us now, cochair of the democratic caucus seniors task force and joins us to talk about the recent reauthorization of the older americans act. this is legislation that dates back to the johnson administration.

remind us what it is. guest: a lot of people are familiar with medicare and social security, but the older americans act deals with a lot of those wraparound services, meals on wheels, a lot of people are familiar with that, funding for senior centers, transportation and mrs., elder abuse, medicare, fraud and about 30% of american families are doing caregiving either for a person with disabilities or rent older person in their family, so these services are important, not only for older people or disabled people, but for their families, connecting them to services, serving as -- for nursing home services. there are other things that affect the life and health and social life of people with disabilities and the elderly. host: all of this falling under

the act which had expired a couple of years ago, -- recently reauthorized. were there changes? guest: a few improvements made, more emphasis on elder abuse. it is a serious problem in all so now, more funding, more attention is being given to the problem, identifying people, helping law enforcement identify the symptoms and helping families understand what elder abuse looks like and being able to have the tools to combat it. meals,n terms of the more connection to homegrown foods and vegetables, so that is good for local economies. host: we have a special line in this segment for those 65 and older.

we want to hear your stories and experience with some of these programs. that number is (202) 748-8003. otherwise, lines as normal, republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. we authorization is different than reappropriation. is this legislation going to get funded? guest: i don't know what the is, but wer amount will not see a cut in the it was sond because late, we are already moving into the 2017 reauthorization. we want to make sure these programs keep on going. i have had experience of delivering some home delivered meals. i did that on our last break.

seeing the anticipation with which these elderly people, sometimes living alone, are really waiting for them, appreciating it and enjoying that short moment of contact, conversation, support that they get from volunteers that delivered these meals. it is even more precious than you might think it is. host: this is one of the arguments for the authorization, the importance of programs like this, it is not just money that goes out but people that do these visits often become the first line of trying to catch a problem with a senior who may not have visitors very often, before they come in the medicare or medicaid system. guest: that's right and i've also been to places where we have in-home caregivers and watch that relationship develop

between the person who might otherwise be isolated, lonely and at risk. are like thes canary in the coal mine, who identify problems. host: these programs continued despite the act that the older americans act had expired the previous. what was the funding level? guest: it was continuing the funding that was there, but it was really important to get the reauthorization, the final stamp to make sure that these programs are not going to disappear. jan czajkowski older cochair of the americans task force. we start with virgil from nevada, democrat. caller: good morning.

thank you for c-span, it is the greatest thing in the world. i don't know how they got him play, that it is a great thing. host: you can check out our whole history at www.c-span.org. go ahead. problem -- itis a is really going to affect seniors, and that is the real id act. if you have to renew your driver's license, you will have -- say womenent get married couple of times and they changes -- change their names, they have to go back and get certified documents tracing those changes. rick snyder in michigan charges $115 for the documents. with her to, i went

the dmv in las vegas. they sent us that twice -- sent us back twice to get more documentation for that drivers license. host: the question is whether there is something being done on the federal level for these documents? caller: something should be done. this is going to affect 70 million women in this country. host: let's let the congresswoman jump in. guest: just to renew a drivers license which you already have, so you have been documented as eligible to have a drivers license, and yet you are saying you have to go back and prove -- i think real id has something to do with the immigration as well, improving your status. -- i'm not exactly sure

of the details, what i am concerned the burdens particularly on older americans who have to go digging and paying for expensive documentation, which may really not be necessary. i imagine you have been driving for quite a while and that having to spend a lot of money and aggravation to come up with these documents may seem unreasonable. host: the real id program stemming from some of the 9/11 commission's past back in 2005. independent in ohio, good morning. caller: good morning. i am a registered democrat, but i plan on changing my party affiliation after the democratic party primary because of the way the democrats have been running their party. i really appreciate the care for

older americans, but they are a voting bloc that the democrats really rely on. -- i need tow why understand why young children and younger people aren't being included in these task forces? why don't we have a task force on young americans or children? i think that you are seeing that right now, the upheaval that's going on in the democratic party, where you have division between older democrats angry democrats, and i think what is going to happen with the democratic party is the same thing that will happen with the republican party, you are going mass exodus of people leaving because you guys are only -- you are not even getting back to where you were in fdr times, you need to start thinking about the poor and the middle class. host: can i ask how old you are?

caller: 47 years old. i'm looking at social was security -- social security and retirement, but it has been a problem with the democratic party for a very long time. host: guest: let's host: -- let's let the congresswoman jump in. guest: we actually do have a task force and a caucus on children, so there certainly is that focus. most people think of themselves as part of a family, and of course the democratic party has been focusing, certainly not just on the elderly which by the way, for many election cycles, senior citizens have voted more , andlican than democratic that does not mean we are not going to continue to fight for the services that affect the elderly.

you said correctly that you are in the middle, so many caregivers, many people who are responsible for their aging parents are finding the kind of burdens that we hope we can relieve for them. when we do that, we may free up some money for the kids that are facing huge college debt, or may not be able to get to go to college because of the money. all of these things are on the agenda. generational warfare is a big mistake because people within families don't think of themselves that way, they think of themselves as a unit were you have to care for the kids, the grandkids, as well as the grandparents in that family and we want to make sure that we have wraparound services that affect all of those members of the family. host: what do you make of her prediction of a schism in the democratic party, even among members of congress, younger

members versus members who have been around or a long time and the leadership of the democratic party is not seeing a whole lot of turnover. guest: we have to look at what are the issues that are being focused on and what is the agenda of the party. nancy pelosi is our democratic leader and has been one of the most inclusive people, making sure that we are bringing along and providing opportunities for peoplenger members, but are much more diverse and inclusive and are attracted to the democratic party for that. they are over the issue of going after people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity or religion. these are people who i think are attracted to and enrich the democratic party, because of their inclusiveness and they are

done with all the old prejudices. host: about a half hour left. we are talking about the older americans act and your work on the seniors task -- task force of the democratic caucus. george is over 65 in newcastle, of houma, republican -- oklahoma, public and. -- republican. caller: i have a financial problem and i am an older american. we bought $25,000 worth of gm bonds. it was paying a little over $150 a month. we got along fine until they saved gm and they cut the value of the stock down to $2000 and cut us out of the $150 a month altogether. we are trying to get by on a reduced social security check

and i don't know how to get our $25,000 back. itt: it certainly -- guest: certainly is a difficult time for a lot of older americans, after the recession and the loss of some of the benefits that came from your investments, it really has been tough. i would suggest that there may be some things in the community that are available, that could help you. i would check out with my local senior center or the areas -- urea agency on aging. i don't know that there is anything that can revive the kind of income that you had, we certainly want to make sure that we can improve and increase and enhance benefits, social security benefits which i know very well are barely able to help people make ends meet, but we are fighting to expand social security and make sure that

those benefits are -- can actually be increased. i have a bill on medicare that andd include hearing aids others of my colleagues have bills that would include dental care, eye care, under medicare, which would certainly help because i know myself that hearing aids can be thousands of dollars. we are looking at ways that we can improve the general income and expenses of seniors and i'm hoping that we will be able to do that, soon, thank you. host: west virginia, democrats, good morning. middleton in west virginia, democrats, are you there? caller: i'm here. i want to ask jan, two things

and i want you to let me state it and -- i have been trying to get these things fixed by people in congress and you are a part of it, so you are sitting there saying all kinds of stuff, but let me tell you what the first issue was and that was over two years ago. conditions that are allowed in the medicare supplement insurance program where they can deny you coverage if you have been diagnosed with several things and have had rings done to you in the hospital. if you want to change from one supplement to another, they can deny you because of that, that is one of them that i want you is,iscuss and the next one this is a serious problem that happened with the marketplace. this has to do with my wife. july ofed 65 years old 2015. at the first of july, you

automatically -- all seniors automatically go on medicare. you can guess what the marketplace and the insurance company did that she had through the marketplace, we canceled the insurance through the insurance company a month before and stop the automatic payments so they would not get paid by her amount she had to pay, but the marketplace has their subsidy that they have to pay also. they blame us for not calling them and telling them that she doesn't want the insurance, so the marketplace went ahead and paid another month to the insurance company, the insurance company took the money, kept it, the marketplace penalized us, so i had to pay them live hundred so thek to the irs

insurance company keeps their money under fraud and the marketplace got their $568 back out of my income tax. this is a problem you all need to ask, nobody wants to address this and i am so upset. yours we get calls like in our district office all the time. thate one staff person over the past several years has been able to solve so many problems for our constituents. she has returned about $4.5 million to our. that humans you need to call your member of congress who can solve this problem -- to our constituents. you need to call your member of congress who can solve this problem. for the issues in this program, i am not happy and i will check out about how the

supplemental insurance company has not obeyed the note -- no pre-existing condition exclusion. i will go right back to my office and have that checked out. the supplemental insurance companies are private, but still, we are supposed to protect medicare people and all others from being excluded because of pre-existing conditions. i promise you, but i will look into it and i hear the anger in your voice and i want to tell you, people call my office after trying to solve these problems on their own, and they are frustrated like you are and that is why i am hoping, and you should insist that your member of congress and their staff in that office solve this problem for you, because it really can be done. is waiting in

clarksburg, west virginia, independent. caller: how are you, this morning? guest: i'm fine, thank you. i hope you are doing well. what it wanted to talk to you about was, people come into your life because sometimes you are by yourself and advantage is taken of you and they can literally be your total demise because maybe you are anding on social security maybe a little bit of subsidized income that you have not only family, but i hate to say this, in people at the office come -- you find out that they were there because of money and you go to senior centers and you have company, but the advantage that is taken, are there -- i

know a lady who lost everything she had on this specific issue. i don't know if there is a department that handles fraud or whatever you call that, but i am curious about this and i know it has happened to a number of people and am curious to find out and will take to answer off the air and you have a good day. guest: this is a story about elder abuse that you just told me. the kind of exploitation that happens. i have seen it among the very poorest seniors who have had their social security checks, the modest check they get, taken away from them by someone of the opposite sex who has exploded them. this is a -- exploited them. this is a crime that can be reported to law enforcement. you can find someone who can help you do that or help this

person do that. the senior center ought to be able to help get them to the law -- proper law enforcement people. this is a crime, and it should be resolved through the legal system. people who exploit seniors should be arrested for that. so i should be returned, want everyone to understand. this is not just something that happens because someone has been neglectful or gullible. have mentale who health issues or the memory is going bad, they are so vulnerable. mickey rooney, someone so famous and wealthy, was a victim of elder abuse and exploitation. report it to the law of force -- law enforcement officials.

ont: one of your other roles the capital -- on capitol hill is serving on the energy and commerce committee. it is an investigative panel that you have said has not been objective or fact-based. i want to play a bit from this. [video clip] >> questions of profit and legality matter because we are talking about people. it matters whether or not abortion clinics are lining their pockets through the dismemberment and distribution of children while receiving tax dollars. it matters because we are talking about the tiny limbs of little babies that have dignity. they are broken, yet still precious children of actual mothers and fathers. tot: what was your response

the sender or did you have a chance to respond? guest: absolutely. senator jeanne shaheen also testified. is the use at hand of fetal tissue for scientific research. first, let me say, that all of our vaccines have been based on the use of fetal tissue. disease, heart research being done by the use of fetal tissue that is not being sold anywhere for a profit . because that is the law. it has been the law for decades. it is not being sold, as suggested by this testimony. it is given this aspect that somehow planned parenthood -- fromwhole debate generated

false, doctored tapes that were released last september that suggested that planned parenthood was making a profit by selling baby body parts. i repeat that alarming phrase because it has been used over and over again to suggest that something was wrong. three house panels, one senate committee, 12 states looked into this and found that there was nothing done that was illegal. host: what do you expect will be the end result of all this? guest: the end result and we are seeing more and more -- this is a witchhunt and not an investigation. this is an effort to not only discredit the importance of fetal tissue research, particularly for zika virus right now, where fetuses are

affected by the mosquitoes that -- we willika virus find that this has been a waste of taxpayer dollars, that there there there, that there has been no misconduct, and that this tissue that is used, donated after a woman agrees and the wants to pregnancy, donated for betterment of human health in -- it used to be a bipartisan issue of great support that has been railroaded by these highly doctored, thatulated, edited tapes has led to this ridiculous, fruitless investigation. host: we can talk about that

panel, we can talk about the older americans. congressman jan schakowsky. brenda, good morning. a republican in oklahoma. caller: good morning. sitting on the phone, i have quite a few questions. host: give us one or two. caller: ok. debtska is $47 million in because of the obamacare. my mother is 84. she has secondary insurance. cost centertion over $200. my sister karen is 63. she just had back surgery and a doctor from canada operated on her and told her to her face that with this new insurance, if something goes wrong with her back, they would rather put you in a have around -- hoveround

then do surgery again. she also said the medication canada has is not nearly as good as nebraska. i have leukemia. work god my husband's ensures me. i'm allergic to two of the medications and i have over and000 worth of medication i want to donate it and nobody will let me donate it. hearings, ing your went republican because the democrats don't ask questions, they just lecture. , you are the abortion misrepresenting that completely and that is the biggest reason you are going to lose this year. guest: let me start with something we agree on, brenda. that is the high cost of prescription drugs.

actually, the very same drugs in canada are a good deal less because candida does control the cost of prescription drugs. big pharma, the pharmaceutical lobbying, the pharmaceutical industry, has really gone out of control. even drugs that have been on the market for decades, we have seen dramatic increases in the cost of drugs. one drug going up 5000% overnight. i'm part of another working group within congress that is trying to get a handle on these high drug prices, to bring down the cost of prescription drugs, which i believe is a rip off of the american people. nowhere around the world are jugs is expensive around the world as in the united states. that, we have been

lowering the cost of prescription drugs for kids because they had to pay out-of-pocket. it is called the doughnut hole. .e have been shrinking it check the record in terms of misrepresenting this issue on the scientific research that is done with fetal tissue, the that has been suggested and the use of inflammatory language like they be body parts. language used by someone who went to colorado springs, killed three people in a planned parenthood clinic, others, and when asked about what he did, he said, no more baby body parts.

these are not sold for profit. it is all about scientific research. it is all fully legal. it had been supported by democrats and republicans and it is just a others, and shame thad of witchhunt, that is basically from antiabortion extremists, is being carried on at all. host: doug has been waiting on our line for those over 65. caller: good morning. good morning, congressman. congresswoman, excuse me. guest: no problem. thanks. caller: you were talking about older people having trouble with their insurance and all that stuff and you are working with a to get hearing aids on medicare and other things. iffirst question would be, we keep adding and adding, who pays for it? that just increases my tax burden. claiming the gentleman

that the health care that gets goods andcause of conditions, it is true that when you go on medicare the first time, you get your supplemental, there is very little to do. however, in light of united health care saying they are going to pull out of all of about six states, i think that maybe you followed your leader miss pelosi's statement when they passed the health care reform act of 2010 and that you did not read it. unitedu change from health care to blue cross blue shield after you have been in the program, yes, they can make certainmore for ailments that you may have, be it hypertension, type two diabetes. , instead of lecturing like you just did the past call, you should read it a little bit more. yes, they are going through the

roof and you can try to close the doughnut hole, but the obamacare or the health care reform act of 2010 was passed by youin a closed session and may to do with the pharmaceutical companies to get it through. therefore, you cannot negotiate with them and that is what you need to reform. thank you. negotiatinging of with the pharma: -- pharmaceutical companies, you know that the veterans administration is able to negotiate on behalf of all veterans with the pharmaceutical companies to keep drug prices lower. historically, the v.a. has had much lower prices. most democrats agree that we should be able to negotiate with the drug companies for lower prices, particularly for medicare and it was under the

that the medicare part d, the drug program, was passed. languagelicans allowed to be put into that legislation that prohibited the negotiation with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices. you are talking about who is going to pay if we add these things? the richest country in the world at the richest moment in history. if we cannot make sure that our servicesricans have like being able to have glasses, being able to hear, lack of hearing aids has isolated so many people. come on.

we can afford that! 400 americans in this country that have as much wealth as 150 million others. we don't have to add to your taxes. we can do things to make sure that health care is available and affordable for all of our americans and, particularly, older americans. let's head to your home state of illinois. robert is waiting, and independent. caller: good morning. i'm talking about older americans, 65. her social security check -- our social security check did not get a raise. they told me the law was that way when i wrote them about it. my congressman retired and became a lobbyist and then he

got me $7,000 per month from the lobby from the transit system. what i'm saying is that federal employees can get a raise, i think there should be a minimum raise because a lot of people can't make it on the social security check. you have to make over $50 per hour to do it. we are ray small business business state. we lost a lot of industrial jobs. athink that you should have minimum amount, say 1%. we should be getting the same .mount as the federal employees the state employees get the same thing. we don't have nobody negotiating for us. a lot of people need the raise and are not getting it. they needed for food and fuel.

i'm waiting on your response. i don't want to hear that you can't do this. a cosponsorctually of a piece of legislation that would, in fact, give a 6.7% check to seniors. here's why. ceos in this country have received, and the last year, they saw their incomes go up by 6.7% and we think that those of us who are cosponsoring this that there ought to be a one time payment because there is no .ola this year of 6.7% you have done your homework. isillionaire, a billionaire done paying into social security .fter $118,000

i agree with you. we should raise the cap. we should ask people who make more money to pay more into social security. the other point that you made, the market basket that figures out what is the cola, is not appropriate for seniors. we think that there ought to be a consumer price index just for the senior market basket, which includes more for pharmaceuticals, transportation, food, and heating your home, which would mean that you would get a higher cost of living adjustment than others because your market basket is actually more expensive and less diverse. you've got it right. things that my senior citizens task force is fighting for. thatnk these are things

are absolutely affordable and absolutely winnable. you have been representing your district in illinois for 18 years now, nine terms. guest: finishing my nights term. host: you are around during the time of speaker dennis hastert's speakership. i want to get your reaction to the sentencing and what the illinois delegation is thinking and feeling today. guest: i really can't speak for the delegation. nothing has been brought to the floor. you.e to tell i was absolutely shocked. one of the reasons he was picked as speaker of the house was because he was mr. clean. he was a safe candidate for that incredible office, two steps away from being the president of the united states. i'm very happy that he was at least sent to prison for some amount of time. i think it would have been a travesty if he hadn't.

apologized toas the people who have been harmed by what he has done, those kinds .f things can last a lifetime as the judge said, the judges is a brother of a republican state legislator in illinois -- he said that he is a serial child molester. this is a horrific crime. dennis hastert needs to pay for it, both in prison and in every way in his disgrace for the rest of his life. host: we have only a few minutes left with congresswoman jan schakowsky. a democrat from pennsylvania. go ahead. caller: yes. i just want to put it in a nutshell. platformlican party

has always been to get out of the safety net platform. they want to put it on the free market. a lot of the republican callers and viewers is the social security is not just democratic, it is republican. a lot of republicans are trying to make ends meet. things like women's issues, like the environmental protection agency, these around the republican party hit list. they are not just holding out for their own best interest. host: i want to look the congresswoman jump in. they wanted to change

medicare, and it as we know it, turn it into a voucher system. it is the republicans that have long called for the privatization of social security. the only real secure piece of retirement benefits right now, which is social security. pensions are disappearing and savings have gone to the wind. pushing to create and rebuild that kind of safety net for children, for poor people with the child tax credit. they are trying to build it in for people who are trying to make it and having a hard time.

government has a role in doing that and i think you for porting that out. democrats have been for that program. wet: we would be remiss if did not give you a constituent. arlington heights is in your district. an independent. caller: good morning. i have a few comment in regards to illinois. wow. where can we start and where can we and in regards to our taxes, ?roperty tax, sales tax very, very expensive. we don't even have a yard here. we don't even have a yard. this woman here is very smug and fearng a lot and utilizing in regards to controlling the narrative. host: do you have a question? caller: obamacare was forced upon us by the government. it is a ways and means to gain

more money, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, what have you. i had to subsidize other people and a lot of kids, too. that goes for the state of illinois and chicago. host: congresswoman, i will give you the last few seconds. guest: as you know, in the state of illinois, there has not been a budget for a long time. government inr lowstate of illinois is so that many places that are providing services to our people have had to close their doors. governor has said that unless his turnaround bustingwhich involves unions and cutting programs for people who need them so much, that he will not pass a budget.

taxes.y taxes are local the state government has not come through with the resources that we really need. that is why property taxes and sales taxes are going up. it has put the state in a very situation. if the governor would give up on his take an early but agenda that hurts the state of illinois. host: congresswoman jan andkowsky, the house gavels a 10:00. we appreciate your time on "washington journal." guest: it has been my pleasure. host: we have a simple question for our viewers.

, what is the proper role of government? we have split up our phone calls by age group. >> on american history tv on c-span 3. >> never has this committee undertaken such an investigation. its purpose is not to prepare the fbi and legitimate rather toement, but evaluate domestic intelligence according to the standards of the constitution and the statutes of our land. >> over 40 years ago, a senate select committee chaired by senator frank church was cia,ned to investigate the irs, nsa.

40thsaturday marks the anniversary of the church committee's final report. why thatot explain quantity was developed, except that this was a collaboration that we were engaged in with the united states army and that we did develop this particular weapon, you might say, as a possible, for possible use. >> and on the civil war at 6:00. >> in 1860, the united states was not old enough to have wisdom. lee's family had been living in virginia 225 years. do not think lee anguished at all over the decision he made and i think that devotion to duty came to him in 1861.

virginians.ad been james but robertson talks about .obert e. lee the film "the final decision" the 1968 presidential race. presidency.he won as a result of that. his ability as the chief of the armed forces in the leading power in the world and the chief of the free world is to think responsibly about what one can achieve and to try to define one's policies and try to understand geopolitics in that light. >> military historian jeremy

blatt looks at the origins of the cold war and looks at dwight d. eisenhower as a military man. >> "washington journal" continues. last 30 minutes, we are asking, what is the proper role of government? we have split up the phone lines by age groups. 418-29-year-olds -- for 18-29-year-olds. the reason we are asking this question is because speaker paul ryan talked about what he believes the proper role of government is when he was addressing a group of georgetown university students yesterday. [video clip] at the democratic national convention in 2012, they showed this video that government is the only thing that we all belong to. i think they got it exactly

backward. government is the only things that belong to all of us. it is not supposed to manage people, but to serve them. totalk this mindset is in think with the way that you live your lives. cliché to say that your generation is the most technologically savvy we have seen. netflix org on to voodoo or hulu, that is a huge win for me. [laughter] >> you know better than anyone that technology is not a toy or a distraction. it is what allows you to focus on the essentials in life come on your faith, on your family come on your work come on your hobbies. i would argue that government is supposed to do the same thing. , you days, with technology are so used to customizing your everyday life. it is at your fingertips. why on earth would you want to

support a governing philosophy that seeks to take away your right and your ability to things like your health care or education. you cannot say the government is of the people when it is deposing decisions on the people. government does not impose community. the people created. the government's role is to protect it. host: house speaker paul ryan yesterday. what is the proper role of government? first up, john from albuquerque new mexico on the line for those over the age of 50. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to start with thanking you for your service and thinking c-span. always love to call c-span. to agree with paul ryan this morning that the government works for us, we should not work for them.

that caller earlier was talking about congressman giving thems elves a raise. i feel like government's role is to make regulations favorable to the american people's employment. no more laws favorable to people in other countries, immigrants, people in v says getting work. when we are employed, i'm not talking about seven dollars per hour, i'm talking about livable wage, we are more than happy to purchase our own insurance. forcing us to buy our own keepance is forcing us to food offer tables. government's role is to make a favorable environment for us to earn a living. on that issue of

regulations that are favorable for employment, what if there is a regulation that could hurt one sector and help another. say the coal powerplant regulation that could help those in the outdoor community or the tourism community that you just talked about. what happens when the goals conflict? caller: i will tell you what. i went through a lot of soul-searching around me environment and we have clean coal technology coming online. if it comes down to protecting the environment at the cost of a whole state like kentucky or ,everal states in the business they are not going to stop burning coal and china matter what we do. they are not going to scrub it through a clean coal power plant. jobs got to put american first. we need all sources of energy at play here.

we cannot discriminate against coal it is going to make everyone's energy costs going up. we have to try to do it as clean as we can. workingto put americans first. if you don't have a job and you are losing everything you long, the last thing you care about is global warming. we hope our viewers will wetinue to join us --host: hope our viewers will continue to join us. the senate armed services committee is holding a hearing .ight now defense secretary ash carter will be testifying. flip over to c-span3 if you want to watch that. michael is in baltimore,

maryland. 18-29 years old. what is the proper role of government? caller: thank you so much for having me on. i really enjoy watching the "washington journal." i think the role of government and the perception of the size of government has really changed. the government should support common welfare of the people. i think the size of government is a lot smaller than people perceive it to be. in maryland, infrastructure is terrible. potholes and the roads, lack of public transportation, icy .overnment's role in that i was a supporter of the affordable care act. i was in high school during the wars in iraq and afghanistan. major occupations of foreign spending trillions of dollars and the ripple effect of

i thinkat is not what of government's role is. i would like to see more of a domestic focus. host: when you say that the perception of the size of government has changed, when did that change? when did people start having a different view about that? caller: i think the commonly stated idea that in the 1980's during the reagan and thatcher administration's, there was a rates and the perception of the role of government. there has been this shift in this idea that the government has gotten too big and that it is way bigger than it ever has been. if you look at public funding of education, look at the sizes and role.

i think this is not based on how things used to be. host: this is from the office of personnel management. this is total federal employees. during the regular administration, 5200 -- 5,256,000 federal employees. 185,000 4 million federal employees. three different data points to work off. does that reinforce what you are saying? i think that is the case and just the collective perception of the way people

and the size of government has changed a lot. people went to college and are expecting a certain kind of job and opportunity. i think people are looking for an answer, but they come from two different places. i think the government's role is to reintegrate people that have lost their jobs in mines, mills, manufacturing into the current economy, as opposed to holding jobs that are not coming back. competitive advantage, we are not going to be able to

compete with china in competitive manufacturing and coal. that is just the reality of the situation. people are not going to be able to get their jobs back. bring up bernie sanders. the bernie sanders campaign actually cutting back on jobs. that story making headlines. laying off hundreds of field after a tough stretch of losing five of the last six nominating contest and has virtually no chance of mounting a come back. before the iowa caucuses, his campaign staff had more than 1000 people. the staff size fluctuates, but they will number about 350 campaign staff now. several other papers.

what is the proper role of the government? rex is up next on the line for those ages 30-50. good morning. caller: good morning. great discussion. the role of government, in my humble opinion, is to step in in the faceis right of what is exactly wrong. i'm talking about the insurance companies. their hands had to be forced on this health insurance issue. i think not every day that the law got past. does it need some tweaking? absolutely. is it perfect? absolutely not. , when does ask you the government decide when something is hurting enough people that they need to step in? caller: when did the government

decide? host: when should they decide. when does an industry hurt enough people that it is than the role of the federal government to step in and fix the situation? caller: well, when it starts hurting the people. host: define the level of hurt. hurt being level of a diabetic that cannot go out into the marketplace and get insurance because insurance will not be able to get around the marketplaces. insurance companies hung the beholdp on me and lo and -- it was unbelievable how lucky i was. the next take him of affordable

care act became law after i ran out. i was able to get coverage. i've had that coverage ever since. i'm a type one diabetic on an insulin pump. the affordable care act saved my life. and i've not alone here. i'm not alone. the insurance companies, we had to force their hand. the president stepped in and did exactly what was right. host: i appreciate you sharing your story with us. jim is waiting in pennsylvania on the line for those over 50. good morning. caller: how are you doing? host: go ahead. caller: this whole thing started in 1981 when they decided to get rid of all the high-paying jobs, when they started bringing in as many illegal people as they could, when they suppressed send by threatening to anybody who asked for a decent wage increase, they threatened

to send their jobs overseas. what we've got to do is decide the proper role of government. in this country, the government is the people. but they turned it around. with the politicians and the money and the lobbyists and the wall street friends and the treasury department and the supreme court. everybody is getting money except the people. i think the question you are asking is the role of government. personally, i would like to bring back the old tried-and-true way of handling politicians. feathering.and you find out they are corrupt, you go down there, tar and feather them. ok, jeff.

we don't support attacking and physically hurting him first congress. good morning. thanks for taking my call. every time people are attacking .he government if you don't like the government , go travel to places like somalia and iraq and libya. roads, we have ambulances, we have police officers. all of these things, somebody has to pay. angry when i hear people like ted cruz saying they will shut down the irs, the department of education. it is not something that doable.

we cannot have these kind of issues. travel overseas. host: do you think people should be able to step up and criticize government when they see a problem? caller: i'm not saying the government is perfect, but the notion that people are saying, -- we can is us change the system, but the that we take the government out of the system -- it is a disaster. government helps every time there is a disaster. disasterthere is a

they say, where is the government? you can't have it both ways. let us not play the politician language. if you want more than what you have, please travel overseas. host: we've got your point. let's go to houston texas. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. thank you for taking my call. that is a very interesting question. host: are you with us? caller: yes, i am with you. that is a very interesting question, it is a very proper question. i hear politicians on both sides of the aisle. that thes that i feel government should give to the americans in this country.

i think that health care and education should be paid for by the government. first of all, how are we going to remain the world's largest if we do not keep our people educated and healthy? host: should the government pay for college? caller: there is a free enterprise system, if you will. i think college, if you will, there are things that have been spoke about -- the question again? host: you said there are things that have been talked about with paying for college. caller: yes, in the political spectrum. i feel that education is very .mperative

i think it is something that can be talked about. if we are to remain the world's largest superpower, education and health care are very important. a third thing i would add -- what about a major infrastructure package? i think that with infrastructure , that is a balance all the way across the board. we see roads, bridges, everything is crumbling in this country and all of this. i think it is something that can be talked about. if we are to remain the world's largest superpower, education and healthi really think that td be able to put honest individuals back to work, if you will. those are some of the things that can be looked at because it all goes back to our children. children are our future. we have a lot of politicians, some who have served many years. i think that if everyone would , what about children, what

about health care for our children? jordan is up next to new york. some of the things that callers have already said that the government should do include creating jobs, getting people back to work, stopping industry from hurting people, providing health care, education, infrastructure. do you agree with all of those are some of those? first off, thank you for c-span. i appreciate that. i think the government should be to how they control the people of the country. if we look back to our constitution and the founding fathers, we have this defeat aion created to previous government, great

to claim independence from them. the government should be limited andhe needs of the people where we should have a free keep our that we can -- i want to address the caller somalia.ed about somalia was a failed government, as we see. this was from over rule and government and they government that wants to pretty much have all control of everyone and everything that they want to do in every aspect. socialist.ers is a

pretty much, he has no idea of economics. want to do give free college and free everything. host: how old are you? caller: i'm 27. college,s idea of free doesn't appeal to millennials of your age. caller: the most millennials, yes. who understand free market economics undereducated, it makes no sense to have such ideas like that. when you explain your position, how does that usually go? do they turn around to your view? caller: pretty much, they tell me, moved to somalia if you don't like it. why should i? i have a free voice just like anyone else.

host: that is jordan in new york this morning. a couple of stories to make you aware of this morning. the u.s. supreme court could make it tougher for the government to crack down on .ublic corruption justice across the ideological spectrum expect concerns during arguments of the supreme court in the case that current laws give prosecutors too much power to criminalize the everyday things politicians do. at issue is that federal law that bars public officials from accepting money or gifts and exchange for official acts and bob mcdonald was watching the arguments about his conviction in 2014 of accepting money in gifts and loans from a wealthy businessman in exchange for promoting a dietary supplement. certainly, a case to watch the decision.

the decision is expected later this summer. something that has gained a lot of attention, the so-called 28 pages in the 9/11 commission report. they were trying to provide some , in "usand insight today," they said that it was important to understand that they were not drafted by the 9/11 commission. those pages were part of a prior report by a congressional panel investigating intelligence failures related to the september 11, 2001 attacks. pages have been described as a smoking gun implicating the

saudi government. what often gets lost in those stories is that they were based .ntirely on unvented materials the independent 9/11 commission studied evidence gathered in years and reaffirmed the 9/11 commission conclusion and it concluded that there is no evidence against the saudi government. if you want to read the full piece, go to "usa today." back to the phones for the next nine minutes or so. and reaffirmed the 9/11 commission conclusion and it concluded that there is no evidence against the saudi government. before the house gavels and for the day. philadelphia, pennsylvania on the line for those over 50. what is the proper role of government? caller: yes, good morning. first of all, i would like to say that mike from maryland really restored my faith in young people.

second of all, i would like to say that we have a responsibility to government. i also believe that government has a responsibility to us. host: what are some of those responsibilities? caller: some of those responsibilities is not shipping our jobs overseas. i believe that abortion is wrong. i'm a democrat. i totally believe that abortion is wrong. but i also believe that we have a responsibility to respect the law. as ahoices that we make people, as women, you are going to answer for those choices before god. that is what you should consider. if you have an abortion, that is wrong. also, i believe that government has a responsibility to get us

jobs -- and no, they do not have that responsibility. that is our responsibility. , government has a responsibility not to take our jobs and ship them overseas. are we in a world economy? yes, we are in a world economy. but why do we have to do contracts that make it impossible for us and lose us money? i don't get it. host: we will go to jonas in maryland on the line for those between 30 and 50 years old. good morning. caller: how are you doing, sir? host: i'm good. go ahead. caller: my main concern as far is the financial market is devaluing our currency. they are going to be starting to

demand gold. it is an economic shift happening. i'm afraid we are going to go into a major recession because there is no regulation going on. it is scary. host: if there is one piece of legislation that would restore what you think the proper role is in the federal government, you think it would be to reinstate glass-steagall? caller: reinstate glass-steagall and somehow liquidate. i don't know who is going to pay it, but i guess the american people are. i can't afford that kind of tax yet. pennsylvania on the line for those between 18 and 20 nine years old. good morning. caller: good morning. you know, what i think is really twisted and broken as when the

founders put the constitution together, it seems to me they knew people couldn't very easily compromise and they showed it right there, the struggles that went on when they tried to put together the constitution. before onal saying out of one many. host: out of many one. caller: pardon? host: out of many one question mark caller: out of one for the good of many. fighting forbody their own viewpoints. they don't know how to negotiate, they don't know how to satisfy to be willing to accept the best that they can get that will benefit the most

that we can see. it is just like how the constitution was formed. are there enough people that have the mentality to bring it back, to negotiate? say the proper role of government is more negotiation? find a middle ground? caller: yes. that is how the constitution came about. read about it. they were it area did not like, let's all do it this way. it was not that way. they had to have this compromise. people can't do that. it is insane what goes on. everybody is fighting and trying to destroy the other to get something done. -- then criticizing

obamacare -- i'm repulsed by that name. it is not perfect, but it is better than what we had. don't see anywhere that that happens in government. i think it is broken, i think it is making the rest of these ideas are viable, it is to be able to find, what can we accept that will work for the majority of people. to beare supposed representing the majority of the people. i don't agree with all of the extremes. it is totally broken. host: all right. one other news story. today on "washington journal," an associated press report noting that vice president biden arrived in iraq on thursday.

landed at midday after an overnight flight from washington. he is expected to meet with government officials. the white house did not disclose his itinerary. we will look for more reports from that visit for you on tomorrow's show. time for a couple more calls. in westminster, california on the line for those over 50 years old. good morning. caller: good morning. glad to talk to you. start, you know you guys have it right when you guys do the party that the person belongs to, like you are doing now with the age. if you do the age, do the party, so that we know what their party is, so that we know if fox news is giving them their information or their findings of information

somewhere else. suggestion.iate the we sometimes try to split up the lines differently to provide different types of information about the calls. what is your party? caller: i'm a democrat. is thing is, what i'm saying , also, when you do that, we ofe a better understanding where that person is coming from. i can appreciate what you are saying, which is good, but let us know what the party is. i pay taxes on my life and i've never felt bad about them. they do go to good places. i work construction. the freeway work and all of that , that is put out there

with the taxes. it is not going to the government employees. a lot of these jobs that are being done are private parties that are bidding these jobs at the cheapest bid they can get. host: i do me to jump in on you, but the house is getting ready to come in. we appreciate all the calls this morning. we are going to take our viewers live to the floor of the house. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c. april 28, 2016. i hereby appoint the honorable john j. duncan jr. to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, paul d. ryan, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 5, 2016