my comment is pretty short. mohammed ali was a larger than life figure. like in the day to confirm to not go into the draft, yes, that was a big deal. for the last week we have been memorializing a boxer. an athlete. jobs, who literally changed the world the way we do business, the way we communicate, didn't get half of the coverage of mohammed only. i -- my -- mama to ali. we don't have our priorities in the right spot. host: jerry in detroit, michigan. caller: good morning. caller fromo the florida, he is comparing apples and oranges.

what i admire most about mohammed ali is his moxie and boastfulness both in and out of the rain. and his courage to stand up against an unpopular war. that made him hated by people in the right and you supported the war. all the great matches of his career including his ine like thethrilla manila and the rumble in the jungle. certainly one of the first boxers that sort of promoted himself. he combines sportsmanship. i think he combined a little bit of the entertainment. bitink he was a little probably a huge influence for generations of fighters both here and around the world.

back to tavis smiley's op-ed this morning and usa today. when i think of mohammed ali, i think first not of his dominance inside the ring but rather of his perfunctory gem deep love for all of humanity. courage is in deep slide -- supply these days. mark is in melbourne, florida. the legacy of of mohammed ali. caller: i'd like to speak more

about his muslim religion if i could. ofy talk about his religion peace, you tell that to those people in the world trade center .n september 11 i don't think there's anything piece of -- peaceful about the muslim religion. 202 is the area code if you want to talk about mohammed ali. we will be coming -- be covering his memorial services afternoon. from the washington post this is , this isical back page a short summary.

inn ali was called to serve 1967, he refused. he said it was against his religion and he was a member of the nation of islam. boxing official strip him of his title and did not allow him to fight the most four years. his decision to follow his religion cost him millions of dollars and several important years of his career. later, he came back and won the heavyweight crown again, but he may be remembered more for following his examples than any of his boxing titles. he stood up for what he thought was right, even when it was not easy and cost him a lot. that's in the washington post. time magazine. the cover story is on mohammed ali. here is the inside story. he also worked at espn and other

outcast, hero, legend, is the title of the article. it has several historical photos and here. mohammed ali's father instilled in him the sense that he would have to make his way by following white man rules. he felt like he was big enough to make them on. style that probably ruined many other fighters who did not have his speed and talent. you can get away with holding their fists at their waste and avoiding punches and pulling back, leaving one side to the other. his style led people to believe he could not take a punch. he made the u.s. of a victory for the 1960 rome games and was a sensation.

handsome, eight outgoing, 18 year old, he chased wilma she could not stop laughing. he took pictures with his camera when a soviet journalists digging for controversy as tim about racial segregation them in america, cash is clay at the time said, tell your readers we have qualified people working on that and i'm not worried about the outcome. to make, the usa is still the best country in the world, including yours. i ain't fighting alligators and living in a mud hut. he would later rate write that code -- regret that quote. here was a descendent of slaves grateful for the advantages of

democracy. he was not agitating to people's the hot lunch counters. he was knocking down commie boxes with those fists. but back, he was, in his own words that others the olympic n. when he was refused service in louisville he said he threw his gold medal in the ohio river. this was not true, the metal was stolen when he left it unattended. this is time magazine this week. marlboro,upper maryland. caller: yes. i just wanted to call in and say the whole week long tribute to him has been great. he was a great rocks are. i grew up watching him with my he was excited.

he was larger than life. i think the coverage is misplaced. we are not having a conversation about the things in his life that caused him to be so hated by the american public. the fact that he was against the war. going from problems clay.s clay -- cash is why is it hard to treat mohammed .li so poorly as a black man the conversation this so we has been centered on the man, but we are not having conversations about the issues in our society that caused this man's life to be so controversial.

do you have to be larger than life and a glowing personality to garner that attention or gain that respect? we are not focusing on our country. that is a terrible situation that we have, some of the same issues that he dealt with in the 60's and 70's. host: thank you for your comments. thank you for having me. i agree for what the previous caller just said to and i disagree with the comments from a guy in florida. and the other guy talking about their religion of islam. i am a veteran. it doesn't speak for the entire religion of islam. he was a larger than life figure. he did a lot of humanitarian things.

manrson has to be a black that they want to denigrate him and don't want to give him credit and comparing him to steve jobs. racism is so out of this world it is amazing how stupid some people can be. holding those views. he recognized all over the world. i met him. he was a very intelligent guy. besides the fight game, he always won. he won out of the rain. he stood against the war that became unpopular before most people even realized it host: where did you meet him? caller: i met him at a hotel in midtown manhattan. i forget the name about tell -- hotel.he

he has a funny sense of humor, he made me laugh. it was a real pleasure to meet him. shame -- racism in this country. i have been trying to call the station when you have other subjects, and it is almost impossible to get through with the trump supporters. hope you keep watching and keep trying to call. tweeted thisma out, we pray that the greatest fighter of them all finally rest in peace. yolanda, national city, california. woman, what i -- ider myself a person i amup in the 1950's and

64 years old. he never was a person that cared for the sport. it is brutal, dehumanizing another human being. but growing up in the civil rights movement, this man gave so much to me as far as speaking out against injustice. like the other people that comment on all these ignorant people that talk about muslims stuff, asers kind of out during spoke segregation in texas, growing up in texas, just in the small towns of texas, that man gave me so much courage. i think he has done so much for other people that are now

benefiting from his kind of courage. you don't have to be a lover of muslims -- the muslim religion, but you can be a good christian, and you can be a good jewish person. you can be a good buddhist. you can still get so much inspiration and courage from a host:.e him some of the video we have been .howing you was from 2005 this is from 1996, the opening of the atlanta olympics. representative barbara lee, from the oakland area, deeply saddened to learn of his passing. no one had his passion and commitment for peace. said.n power, she she includes a picture of

herself with mohammed ali. says, ali was the future. he showed the greatest of usa. mylan says ali expose the injustice of the vietnam were. helplped to end it and people like me. he had someeading, good thoughts of the general -- gentlemen, but his islam legacy will forever taint his legacy. next call is steve in robert still, missouri. please go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would like to make the common that he is really a good man, and he did a lot of things for .eople he helped the poor. there is only mistake he made.

you cannot turn your back on god, christ, the son of all your good does not get you to heaven. glory toist gave up come to earth to save our souls. that's the only difference between christians and every other religion, we cannot save ourselves. it takes the son of god to save us. i hope everybody who believes in jesus christ. host: we have divided our phone lines this morning by region or it if you live in the eastern percent of time zones, -748, 800100, 202, -- mountain and pacific time zones. bertha, good morning. caller: i remember going to college with people who were

,lassmates of mohammed ali supposed to have graduated in 1959. the schools did not offer the foriculum that they needed someone who possibly had dyslexia. brilliant and he had a heart of gold. himself in a positive way, despite the fact that segregation did not treat him very well. the previous caller, who called that pretty -- i pray , i'm not talking

about one individual but a country that leads in -- theynity they are need to pray. ryan, rest inpaul peace champ. you inspired a generation. stephen in so long, ohio. my name is steve willis. hello? listen, i remember mohammed ali d like it was yesterday. i am 68. he made me proud to be black. he made me proud to be black. to be a negro during that. of time was a curse. i remember it like yesterday. and i am a proud vietnam veteran. he made me proud of my people. i still today have a prejudice

against the old south. but god bless america, because i love this country and god bless mohammed ali. you: do you remember what thought about when he refused to go to vietnam? he was in my opinion, right in his own words. my people were struggling during that. of time. they were desegregated and deeply hated. because i amtnam still an american, no matter what. and i served proudly. mohammed ali refused to go, i understood it. i still went and served my country and i am proud of it. america and the world lost a legend. mohammed ali became the greatest and lived like -- life with strength, principal and generosity. next call is jean, in

louisiana. i thought about this. i looked at donald trump, mitt gotey, bush, they all deferments for fighting and not vietnam. they were all white, rich, man. stripped this black man of everything that he had. to mr. sanders, this is a man who had the courage of his convictions. debt that she did not wait to lead a revolution. host: rita you're on the washington journal. caller: i'd like to make a comment for those who keep calling in talking about his religion. christianity as a

perfect religion. christianity was used for slavery. christianity had violence in it. please remember for those who christians, don't put down some else's religion and if you're going to speak about islam, please have the decency to do your research somee you spout off stupidity. historyto understand before i speak out stuff. they have no idea about it. just spouting off stuff. they sound so ignorant. and also i would like to say that i believe what mod ali did i not going to the -- vietnam war was great. he stood on his principles.

and to be called during that on -- evilness, couldn't get jobs, be inbred lines and live on the street and have to go over there and fight against another country that never did anything to you. i would not have gone either. host: we got the point. here is some video from 1969. [video clip] black people don't have nothing to fight for. we go to vietnam and we come and brother coming back with one leg cut off and no arms. come back home and fight for freedom and we get our heads be

up. i just am think i should go 10,000 miles from here and shoot some black people who never called me later. back, and i read while i'm in the foxhole i reading us onwhite folks killing the streets of america. --h this in mind host: wallet ali really was the greatest, unmatched not just in power and skill but also encouraging conscience, thinking of his family. at donald trump tweeted this out, mohammed a lead is dead at 74, a truly great champion and a wonderful guy. he will be missed by all.

.ext call is from cincinnati originally i am from india area --. in the 1960's i was a high school student and india. introduced, we were -- and in the 1970's, when i was a dental student he decency ofus to the human moral integrity and high principles. champion around

the world. thank you very much. longtime spies -- sportswriter who work with mohammed ali over the years, .ack to his article soon he would renounce his slave name and demand to be called, ca-caches ask. ali, worthy of most praise. the press mostly refused to honor the name change, mostly calling him champ.

host: the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, at a time when that title had significance was turning his back on mainstream religion, politics and commerce. he was making a powerful statement in the turbulence 60's cities, ands swept the vietnam war was expanding. critics, aters and pauli was now seen as an out broken agent of change and he was seen as the mouth and muscle of the american counterculture often n.y.c. could not fully understand and might not have approved of his he had. nextel's harry in conyers, georgia. good morning.

we are talking about the legacy of mohammed ali. caller: good morning. say.can i he sacrificed everything just about. richardshave been the -- richest athlete in the world. twl two wars in vietnam. iam 69 years old now and developed an attitude that this thats the type of guy should be recognized all over the world. at the same time, america should be very proud of the shukman. we have all kinds of religions in this country. man, i say young man, 74 is jean to die at this time. i am so proud of mohammed

--host: thank you. thank you, harry for calling in kerry -- for calling in. sayer: i won it to call to that i was listening earlier and i heard a previous collar say -- caller say something that was very offensive. i am an original african. i am fairly young. i did not live during the time when this was going on. i did read a lot about mohammed ali and his biography. an outstandings individual and a man of great culture. to try to demonize all of that fake -- with a religion

under the -- other than christianity. i am a christian but i do have friends that are muslim. i have learned a lot about their religion. islam is a peaceful religion. what a lot of people do not understand is that it is not that muslims do not believe in jesus christ. they do not believe he died on the cross. that is the only difference. everyone in the world is waiting for jesus christ to come down and rid the world of this evil. i won it to point that out. -- i wanted to point that out. host: in the cover story in time, it he talked about the friendship that malcolm ask had with mohammed ali and the role of elijah mohammed in the nation of islam as well. tv whichhis year, book is every weekend on c-span2, covered about why randy roberts

called "blood brothers." it is about the friendship and the breakup of that friendship between the hamed ali and malcolm x. -- between mohammed ali and malcolm x. you can watch that any time. you can see the whole program. magazine, robert lipsyte, in 1964, mohammed ali was granted a deferment from the draft. not qualified under current standards for the armed services leading some to wonder if it was a gift from the louisville draft board to the local pillars that owned his contract. others speculated that he had been deemed mentally unstable or homosexual. was -- theater, he

1964 tests had determined he was not smart enough. he had struggled to answer the questions, especially the math and his army iq was listed as 78, below the passing grade. he was retested and failed again. later, he had not become smarter, but the army had lowered its standards. the champ was humiliating. if you blithely told reporters that he was the greatest but not the smartest. he had always been embarrassed by his weak academic high school record. occasions, he had admitted to the author that he had never been able to read an entire book. that humiliation was the main reason that he first said -- i nothing against those be at a. he may have been the most quotable athlete of all time and most of his utterances were joyous. what that quote was explosively

polarizing. apart.ntry was falling on television, february 17, 1966, senate hearings raged over the war in vietnam. mohammed ali was oblivious. as a swarm of reporters descended on his rented miami bungalow for his reaction to the reclassification, i watched his mood change. it began with bewilderment and morphed into questioning. as fellow muslims many from world war ii and the korean war arrived. he grew more manic. they told me that cracker surgeons would see that he was sent to the front lines and snickered that they would drop grenades down his pants. continued to roll up and reporters provoked his anger. they asked him if he knew where we at nam -- where vietnam was.

he shrugged. when a newcomer with the microphone asked the same question for the hundredth time -- what did you think about the viacom? -- viet cong. that would be it. he would repeat his quote in many times. it was not meant to be a political declaration but rather a whiny response of a worn-out and exasperated young man. the adverse reaction was so quick, it felt like all liketions and older -- politicians and older sportswriters were waiting for him. this is all in time magazine.

robert is in california. go ahead, robert. us?rt, are you with let us try john in his gray, north carolina. good morning. you are on the washington journal. caller: good morning. ali'sa fan of mohammed back in the day except for the muslim thing. i guess i have to ask -- where a first world muslim country that anyone would want to live? it is a bloodbath over there. problem with that but there was much about him that i admired. would go so far as to say that there are muslims in this country that i would have voted for. muslim world as

producing a lot.

but i will not take away from his boxing. he was the best. thank you. host: 2:00 p.m. eastern time, louisville, kentucky. live coverage on c-span of the memorial service that is being held for muhammad ali. billy crystal, former president bill clinton, and bryant gumbel will be speaking as well as his children. a couple of rabbis will also be present. there will be carotid chance -- koranic chance and readings. -- chants and readings. the turkish president is also expected to attend this memorial service. bill in reading, pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. but other things have to come first instead of boring about something that is over. time magazine. on april 28, 1967, he refused induction. boxing commissioners who were mostly political appointees withdrew their recognition of his championship and refused to license him to fight in their state or municipality. 10 days later, he was arrested and released on jail. -- on bail. he was stripped of his livelihood before being committed of a crime.

a jury did convict him. the judge imposed the maximum sentence, five years in jail and a $10,000 fine. he would go into exile but never to prison. muslimmmer, he married a woman who changed her name to k halilah ali. his influence was growing. athletes, particularly black athletes were inspired by his story to stand up for equality in their sports and in society. well the movement began with black football players and track athletes, it would eventually influence the baseball players who demanded free agency and the forcedennis players who athletes into the sham of

amateurism. his main source of income was the lecture circuit. blacks were finding a symbolic leader. , able for the first time to concentrate on current events, and prodded by the questions from his audience is, understandre fully that his views on vietnam, religious persecution, and civil rights. he channeled his thoughts. he said -- you read about those things in the dictatorship countries where a man does not go along with this or that, he is not able to work and earn a decent living. his take on race relations may have been considered simplistic but it was direct and strong. both the white race attacks the

black people. they don'tdecent living. his take on race ask what our rn is for our beliefs. we do not want to live with the white man, that is all. what he wanted he said was a black homeland. we were brought here for hundred years ago for a job. why don't we get out and build our own nation and quit begging for jobs. add, swans island, maine. mohammed ali legacy is our topic. caller: good morning. at what an dismayed hero we have made at of this great boxer. as a combat veteran myself, in vietnam, i have been unable to clay for theus mistake he made. when his country needed him, he could not answer the bell. i happen to be at west point in

the late 1960's. another great black athlete, arthur ashe, was called up. and he answered the call. has a pretty good reputation for making use of the talents that the country sends its way. was serving at west point. as an associate coach for the west point tennis team. the same thing would have clay. theo cassius same thing would've happed where his talents would have been fully utilized in the ring. he would never have seen the front line. he could have gone on in a much better direction then what occurred subsequent to his decision to refuse to serve.

ed, what was it like to be at west point in the late 1960's? caller: it was interesting and a tough time for the country. your program this morning has depicted the divisions in the country quite well. but west point was pretty well sealed off really from much of the demonstrations. i do remember going down and marching in parades in new york city. you could see the proponents of the war on one side of the street and on the other, where thosethat were -- were that were violently against participation. muhammad ali's comments about the war saying that he would not go out and kill black people. well, our enemy in vietnam was not of that race.

, unfortunately, assisted i think -- we would call it that he was not handled well by the people who were advising him. he had a great career in front of him. probably greater than what he actually was -- achieved had it not been for this horrible decision. influence that others had on him, particularly the nation of islam, later on, were also to his detriment. separatism, and the races. really meet him not too much better than those segregationists who were on the other side of the fence. host: we going to leave it

there. thanks for sharing a little bit of your story this morning. queens, waynesboro, georgia. caller: i won a to talk about jesus christ this morning. it is touching my desk i want to talk about jesus christ this morning. it is touching my spirit. you have to get saved, sanctified, and holy. the religion thing is going to send us to hell. get right with god and love one another. god does not care about color or race. we are all god's children. move on. i love everyone. this is grieving my spirit this morning. god made us all. if we cannot -- we cannot help

our color. host: queen in georgia. owego, new york. that is what it says. i did not trust it. i know there is an oswego. to focus on his religion. i think he was a good representative of the muslim religion, more so than the guys that flew into the twin towers. the religion is very peaceful. those guys were not true muslims. fight. -- you can you cannot kill. and that is what he stuck to. at the cost of a lot of stuff. courageous in that way. and i wanted to say that we are all going to miss him. thank you. host: that is my right in owego,

new york. the unlikely friendship of senator warren -- senator orrin hatch and muhammad ali. politico.com has more information on this relationship. this is the conclusion of the sportswriter who knew muhammad ali. this is the conclusion of his cover story in time this week. what is danger -- in danger of being lost is the story of a black man and his journey from the south, a religious conversion, a political education, and a conscious decision to sacrifice comfort and wealth for his conviction. he himself was rather modest in his demands on his posterity. in a 1975 playboy interview he offered how he would like to be remembered as a man who never lookeddown on those who

up to him and who helped as many of his people as he could. i would settle for being remembered as a champion of the people. i wouldn't even mind if folks forgot how pretty i was. for half a century, muhammad ali took a as beatles and all for a wondrous ride in which we make him the symbol of the resistance to war, gracious to -- racist struggle, and establishment pressure. he made us laugh, cheer, and cry along the way. he made us brave, most important. david is calling in from los angeles this morning. go ahead. caller: i have to take exception with the guy who was talking about west point and his disrespect of muhammad ali by continuously calling him cassius clay. to mind, i hope

you can give me just a little bit of time as you gave him. this justto mind -- follow the order mentality, american style. my country, right or wrong. mohammed taught the ay was howcassius cl to be the man that he became. for him to stand up as a free thinking, free acting, in his own conscious self interest black man was practically unheard of at that time. because what we have today is a culture thationist justifies the most insane, insidious locality, perpetrated againstlity perpetrated

the people of color. the work, thatt was a conduct and behavior i nation that dehumanized people of color, particularly the black man. why would a black man want to join a service, military or otherwise to support a system that discriminated against him. brutalizedinated but him. taught this man sanity. host: we are still listening. -- give us a short version of your story. waser: my story is that i around in the nation of islam in the time that muhammad ali was a young man like myself being

taught by the honorable elijah mohammed on how to be a man. it is not personality worshiping but understanding the spirit of muhammad ali and where it emanated from. he did not just pop up from somewhere. he had a masterful teacher that instilled in him and be the understanding of how to respect yourself. and he did wear that honor and that teaching with grace and poise and humor and all of the stuff that you will be hearing today. david in los angeles, thank you for your time. one needed in cincinnati -- juanita in cincinnati. iowa to talk to you from a black woman's point of view. my household was the greatest.

i was the oldest of 10 kids. my father had been a boxer. all of my uncles, all of them, were world war ii veterans. all of them. and korea and veterans. every last one of them said that muhammad ali was absolutely correct. in his stance. i also want to point out to your seemingly, islam is much more accepted and welcome -- andur culture welcomed in our culture. the honorable elijah mohammed did teach our men how to live honorably and how to get a job. thank god for muhammad ali.

at 9:00 a.m. this morning, live coverage of donald trump speaking at the faith and freedom coalition. this will be on c-span3. ,ecause of the senate schedule the house is coming in at 9:00 a.m. also this morning. that is right here in washington, d.c. the front page of the usa today, this is a large, half pail -- halfpage headline -- donald trump's trail of unpaid bills. judgments and other government filings reviewed by the usa today network. -- theye accused people have accused donald trump and his businesses for failing to pay them. waiters, and other hourly workers at his resorts and clubs. real estate brokers and several

law firms that once represented him in these suits and others. his companies have been cited for 24 violations of fair labor standards act since 2005. failing to pay overtime for minimum wage. thee cases were resolved by companies agreeing to pay back wages. this is a portion. there is a rather lengthy and involved story in case you want to read it for yourself. the front page of the wall street journal this morning -- clinton e-mails dealt with drones. at the center of a criminal probe involving hillary clinton's handling of classified information is a series of e-mails join american diplomats in islam of god and their superiors in washington about whether to him pose specific -- whether to impose specific drone strikes in pakistan.

as part of a secret arrangement that give the state department more of a voice in whether a cia drone strike went ahead and two congressional and law enforcement officials. it were briefed on the fbi probe. some of the e-mails were forwarded by this is clinton's aides to her personal e-mail account which ratted them to a server she kept at home in suburban new york which he was secretary of state. investigators have reasons concerned about mrs. clinton's personal server was less secure than state department systems very the weight -- the vaguely worded messages did not mention the cei -- the cia. little bit from the wall street journal. reporting on the e-mail situation. had -- henry is in new york city. the legacy of muhammad ali.

caller: good morning. boys visiting an all school in kenya. when muhammad ali refused to serve. hello. are we there? don't look at your tv or listen to your tv. just talk into your telephone. caller: this was a school for boys who had lost their parents during the civil war. theccurred in kenya in 1960's. custom that any askedr with asked -- was tradition inenyan villages where the entire community was able to come out and question the chiefs. question them about anything at all. as a visitor, i was subjected to this.

and it was an extraordinary experience. , who loved kenyans this man. as adolescentm boys would. refused toand why he serve his country. agony of almost in an their feelings for their country and his turning away from his duty. as hard as i tried to, to explain our country and our value system, these boys really had difficulty with it. i try to explain to them that i thought hamed ali was a man ahead of his time, putting the fx and morality and

religion of love the ethics of nationalism. our army tospiring see the importance of this man -- that was deep in the heart of america. politics continues today at noon. with live coverage of hillary clinton's speech at the planned parenthood action and best action fund. everything we cover live on the c-span networks will be repeated at some point, particularly in prime time in the evening. that is live coverage of hillary clinton at new. from politico, a new national poll is out. hillary clinton is over donald trump. this is fox news. former attorney general michael casey had this op-ed this morning in this -- in the

washington journal. he is the politics. he is the former ag of the u.s.. race, religion, and gender have been used for reasonably questioning a judge's impartiality. black judges, those of professional histories, before they took the bench, including civil rights work have been asked to excuse themselves from civil rights cases. a female judge in the southern district of new york in 19 75 was challenged in a sex discrimination case, as was a mormon judge in a 1984 case that involved a bureaucratic power structure in utah. these were rejected. mr. may casey writes that i have the experience when i was a federal judge of being talented by one defendant in a multi-defendant case against islamic terrorists who were eventually convicted of plotting a wave of violence in new york.

it included one successful murder, the 1993 bombing of the world trade center, and plans to bomb other landmarks. the defendant argued that i was zionist and sought information relating to my and my wife's ties to israel, and information showing i could not be impartial. like other judges before me i had no difficulty and not much satisfaction swatting away the ifims as judge curiel would his decision was put before him. the word would use "racist" it would simmer below the surface suggesting that a judge would allow his at the neck ancestry to judge his rulings is unacceptable in america -- or is it? whether they know it or not, warmer attorney general mckay says that personal considerations have no place in

deciding cases. the black robes are supposed to suggest that judges are all the same. it should not matter whose head is above. realm marksm in the and aspiration. claims may be the underside of what we get when we bet -- when we abandon that aspiration, but they are not the whole of the. d.c. comicashington, at the final word on mohammed ali's legacy. i am african-american and studied in germany. i was in europe when mohammed ali was doing those fights. midnight., it was at i studied in germany. on air ats would come

3:00 or 1:00 in the morning. 9:00 or 6:00 in the united states. they would have to pay for it in the united states, but the german citizens did not have to pay for their fight. i got to see all of the fights. i saw every fight. in honor of mohammed ali, the germans loved mohammed ali -- i wanted to be on your program. i wanted to call in. you have ignorant people calling and talking about caches clay. around this planet, we have to get together with other nations around the world and understand hate will not get this

anywhere. we have the greatest nation on earth. we stopped being this crazy idea of make america great again. do isome people want to take us back to plantation society. you have a very good program. thank you very much. host: we have another hour left on "the journal." the house is coming in at 9:00 a.m. working on legislative branch appropriation issues. next hour, we will look at retirement security. our guest is former senator kent james lockhart with the bipartisan policy center, which has a new report out. ♪

>> our c-span campaign 2016 bus continues its travels throughout the country to honor winners from this student cam competition. maryland anded in montgomery blair high school. what he won students were presented with awards in front of classmates, parents, and local elected officials for producing 14 winning videos, including "driving forward." ryder, one charles $3000 for their documentary on infrastructure spending. our bus stopped at woodrow wilson high school in bothngton, d.c. where

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states. [cheering] ♪ >> "washington journal" continues. host: when did you retire? >> many do not. one of the things that leaps out is looking at the statistics, the best estimates we have is 40% of the american people will run out of money in retirement.

the federal reserve did an analysis. they found 46% on the american people would have a hard time coming up with $400 for an emergency car repair. we have serious problems in terms of retirement security and in terms of personal savings to meet the everyday needs of the american people. with james lockhart also the american bipartisan center, ineorge w. bush appointee many financial commissions throughout his career. of the american people depend solely on social security? can you give us statistics? guest: you have to do it by quintile. 20%. almost 90% ofis their income comes from sosa security. at the top 20%, not a lot. is theortant thing middle and lower. that is what we try to do with

the commission, help the lower income people in retirement. actually increasing their retirement benefit significantly. we put in a new basic minimum benefit with the idea that we were trying to reduce poverty in old age. if theit by 30% proposals are emblematic. host: 40% of seniors will run out of money in their retirement. america,t 20% in income-wise, 90 percent of them rely solely on social security? guest: yes. they do not have any personal savings. we are trying to look at personal savings and retirement savings. thate proposing a new plan would allow smaller companies to easily put money into 401(k)'s for employees and have them centralized an investment

manager that would allow them to reduce reliabilities. we think it will be a big pickup. some of the numbers we show, they would increase savings resort of the middle income by upwards of 50% by the time it is fully implemented. kent conrad, do social security need to be reformed? we have no choice. as we know, social security is headed for insolvency. that is according to social security's own trustees. it is only 18 or 19 years away. everyone will take a 23% cut across the board. getting the program on track is for peopleimportant dependent on social security. it is not only the bottom 20%. a significant majority of the american people are very dependent on social make theirnefits to

retirement comfortable and secure. it is essential that we get about the business of getting social security back on track. that is important not only for the individuals dependent on it, it is important for the economy. , you mr. lockhart referenced the fact that companies -- you are looking at companies in your proposal for retirement security to help provide. what is the reason that companies should be responsible for someone's retirement? guest: that we are suggesting is companies help someone save. they don't have to put money in themselves, they do not have to match. many do, and that is great. it is a benefit that many people want. we are proposing a company less than 500 people could enjoy this nation-wide scheme. they could match or not match, but it would make it easier. we have a very complicated system that is very hard for

people to figure out how to save. if it is done automatically, that would really help bring savings up in the country. host: how long have you been working on the retirement savings proposal for the bipartisan policy? guest: more than two years. we have had 19 commissioners. republicans, democrats, conservatives, progressives, people who are deeply knowledgeable in the field. one of the things that is so striking, not only about sosa security but about the retirement system, half of the people in the country are not participating in a retirement savings account at their place of work. half of the country. that is a big opportunity for us to make a real difference. as jim was explaining, we propose retirement security accounts that would make it dramatically views year for employers to offer retirement savings accounts at their place of work. all the employer would have to do is a payroll deduction, and

send it in like they send in payroll deductions for taxes for people that work for them. we leave them a responsibility as the administrative burden. there would be third parties who would be fiduciaries responsible . they would get the fees. the fees would be very low. millions of people would be involved in the plans. we have divided our phone lines a little differently as we talk about retirement savings proposals put out by the bipartisan policy center. if you are under 40, (202) the number. if you are between 40 and 61, (202) 748-8001. for those of you 61 and over, (202) 748-8002. about an expansion of government savings programs? if you include that in your proposal? guest: we have a couple of

things. one thing we are suggesting is for younger people -- a savings match up to age 35 and lower income people. that is one way to get savings started for people. it is important to start saving when you are young and continue the habit going forward. that is one program we are suggesting. we are relying on the private sector. another thing we are suggesting is after the retirement security plans are in place by 2020, we are suggesting any company with employees actually has ,o participate in the program or have their own 401(k) plan, or be in the treasury account. host: how do you convince a business that this is a good ,dea for you economically, and i barely make enough to feed my

family, i can't be providing this? guest: from a corporate and employer standpoint, i started a small business at one point, and it was expensive to do a 401(k). we had 30 people and it is almost 3% or 5%. we will not make employers do something like that. all the employer has to do is have a tax deduction, which they are already doing for fica, state income tax, national income tax. it is not a big deal and is a benefit for employees. many employers would like their employees to have more savings. that is one reason why when i started my small business we did a world one k. a 401(k). we did i think companies would like to do it if they could do it cheaply with less liability than they have today. political willa to reform social security or raise taxes, or cut benefits, or

implement a new retirement savings proposal? nowt: perhaps not right just before an election. the clock is ticking. meeting with colleagues. we met with colleagues after we rolled out the report yesterday. i met with colleagues the day before, republicans and democrats. they are very interested in what we are proposing. we make social security solvent years and beyond. we increase those at the bottom, the lowest earners in our society. poverty.hom are in we reduced poverty among the elderly by 1/3. we do -- i want to go back to the question of having his mrs. offer these plans. we do not require them to match the contribution of the employee. , and it is that

desirable that they do, but to participate in a retirement plan all they have to do is a payroll deduction. thehave the money go to plan's sponsor who will gather millions of employees together in a large pool, which will make rates and expensive, -- the inexpensive, and they will be responsible for the fiduciary burden. we think employers, and we have -- we to one have talked to hundreds in preparing the report, and they have said if you will simplify it and lift the burden off of us, we would be happy to participate. a florist and a gas intion business could join exchange or cooperative? guest: effectively it is a

cooperative. there might be a tech company that gathers the money and keeps whichcords, salix investments are available. the individual would have the selectiondo their own , but there would be fallbacks so there are standard options as well. make it as simple as possible for everyone involved is what we want to do. before, we can implement this to increase savings for middle americans by 50% by the time that they retire. so they will rely less on social security, which i think is important. been have iras successful? guest: they have had some success, but it is hard for an individual because you have to make a decision. we are suggesting automatic enrollment. you can opt out, but we have 401(k)s, and we

have seen participation rates skyrocket. let's take calls. we have a lot of callers on the line. illinois, 61rst in and over. are you ready for retirement? am, but peter, please do not cut me off. i think that this discussion is a bit of a false premise. i don't know the two gentlemen. i do not want to speak inparagingly of them, but some respects they are misleading the american people as to what is really happening. historically, it was lyndon johnson in the 1960's that co-mingle the sosa security with the general funds disguising the of the deficit we have been running for 50 years. -- what they need to do

is to claw back the tax breaks for the 1% for all of those 50 years as a first step toward solving this. them to explain to me, what good is a 401(k) do you when you're not making enough money on your regular paycheck to make ends meet. we make jobs that are paying eight dollars, nine dollars, $10 an hour, and you cannot save money because you do not make enough money to live on to begin with. host: tell us your story. how have you saved? are you relying on social security? i'm lucky. i have social security substantially above average. i've 2 small pensions. that is the key. tensions. -- pensions. i have an ira. save enough, then you are signed with the sharks

were investment companies cater to the 1% and all you do is pay fees to lose your money. i am the lucky one. my health care is subsidized. i am doubly lucky. host: what age do you plan on taking social security? caller: i took my social five.ty at age 65 i a wife that was ill and she last november. i had to retire one year before i was scheduled because i pulled security at 66. host: what do you want to address from what michael had to say, mr. lockhart? guest: he has done it right. he has saved, he does have pensions. that is important. he made the decision, and everyone should when they think about retiring, look at the various options. i'm sure he knows, if you retire

at age 62 you take a haircut in your benefits. get higher, 70, you but you have to make decisions depending on your situation. host: looking at your chart, most people take it at 62? guest: for a lot of people that is a mistake. for many people the best way to say this to wait for retirement security. you do not want to outlive your benefits and savings. a yearcan get 8% increase from age 66 to 70, it is a big increase if you wait. is toof the proposal encourage people to work longer and try to wait as long as possible to take social security. host: what would you like to say? guest: very thoughtful, his comments. he has put his finger on a big problem in the country, income

inequality. we know it is pervasive throughout our society. what we have tried to do is in the mechanisms available to us try to counter the trend. if you look at the results of what we have produced, it would do the following. it would increase retirement savings according to the urban institute by 50% by the time it is fully implemented. that is a dramatic improvement. that happens because we make retirement security savings plans more widely available throughout our society than they currently are. second, more incentives for employers to participate and match. we provide a sabres' credit. $500 of match. you put into savings, if you are under 75, $50,000 for a couple, the government would

match your savings dollar for dollar up to $500 a year. on social security, it is the most romantic. .- most dramatic we would increase the bottom 20% by 35% over what is currently scheduled. bywould increase them 60% what is currently payable. we cover all of the costs so that we extend the life of sosa 75-years.y at least we achieve sustainable solvency so the reserves are increasing after the 75th year. that means that we avoid having everyone face a 23% cut in social security that is coming in 18 or 19 years. problem solve every facing americans that are .nsecure in retirement? no do we make dramatic progress with the proposal? absolutely. host: william, 61 and overline,

give us a snapshot of your situation. caller: i'm very fortunate for someone who started with nothing. , i am collecting social security. i had a pension. a lot of the topics have been discussed by you guys. number one, in 1976 when i got my first job, i saw a line on my first paycheck is at 5% taken away. i asked "what is this?" they said, that is your pension donation. i did not like it. i've 2 small kids and all of the bills. atyears later when i look the bank at the end of the month, i'm glad they did that. i did it for 42 years. whonot one of the people brokerage people making a lot of

money. i sold stock in a major company. i owned it for 3-years. the gentlemen, all of the topics i get is of the company, paid a good dividend. a salary.ot get they got stock options. that is how they got paid. i figured to -- figured it up last year that the executive had 6 million shares of stock. $2.42 dividend per year. as far as i know, he paidsecurity. host: william, what is your point? caller: something needs to be done to revamp this so that when people get to 62 or 65, the money is there. iras, i cannot tell you how much

i have lost in 42 years. host: mr. lockhart, you are a republican who worked for george w. bush as the deputy minister of the social security administration. ortaxes need to be raised the income limit need to be raised on social security? caller: sosa security is insolvent. peopleears of even the over 61 will have their benefits by 23%. we have tried to create a balanced plan. 50% comes from benefits and 50% from taxes. we are suggesting that we need to raise taxes. $118,000. cap of we are suggesting it goes up to 195,000. host: why not unlimited? guest: we thought that was too

unbalanced. we are trying to create balance. we have republicans and democrats, that was the number we could agree on. it is 85% of overall wages. from our standpoint, it made sense. we also are suggesting that the 12.4% that is charged now for the employee be increased by 1% over a 10 year period. a very small incremental increase. that helps. the other thing we did, importantly, as the senator said, we are increasing benefits with a lower income. we wanted to create a balanced program. host: senator conrad, you were there for 26-years and served on many commissions. is it going to happen? is this report -- is this report going to see action, and are

some of these proposals going to happen? know. of course, i don't i've always been an optimist. i have believed the system, at the end of the day, will perform. shakenidence has been from what i've seen for the last five or six years. i will say, if you look at what is coming at us, it is undeniable. everybody is going to take .ocial security a 23% cut that will happen in 18 or 19 years. we can avoid it. steps.ake commonsense the left and right will have to give ground if there is going to be an agreement. i can tell you, on this ofmission that was made up democrats, republicans, academics -- people who have

given a lifetime to try to solve these problems, everybody gave up something they would like to see in order to achieve a much larger gain. that is to fix sosa security are long time -- to fix social security for a long time. and ask of those who have the most in society to give up a little something? absolutely. we are asking the 1% and more than the 1% to give up a little something. everyone is better off than they would see if we waited for 23% cut. with respect to non-social security retirement savings, who fellowthe half of our citizens who do not participate in a retirement savings plan at work, we will make it possible for virtually all of you to have access to a retirement savings plan at work.

just like the gentleman who had been saving for 42 years, how pleasantly surprised he was by what he has now, we will give you that opportunity. to you.be up you can opt out. you can say "no, i will not have that 5% or 3% withheld." that is your right. it is your money. at least we will give you the opportunity. i stress, half of the american people have no retirement savings plan at their place of work. we can fix that. this commission, if it's proposals are adopted, it will be fixed. that is not a partisan issue, that is something everyone should be able to agree on. host: if people are automatically enrolled in a savings plan, the participation tes go up in the lower income levels. you can see the red is with

automatic enrollment. voluntary enrollment is in blue. houston, texas. how are you planning for retirement? i do some work for myself at the same time is holding a job. my concern is that these are the same gentleman who -- host: turn down the volume on your tv and just talk to your telephone. caller: my concern is that these are the same gentleman who when everybody was saving money through their employer, they complained about that and found a way for everyone to lose that money. now, they are asking everyone to give 5% of their income to more private industry. they stopped employers from

--from having to give pensions. they are still working on that. how can they be trusted to handle 5% of working people's income? i don't trust them. host: senator conrad? nott: first of all, we are insisting on any particular percentage. the 5% was a reference to the gentleman who called in and said that was what he was contributing. i will say this to you -- under the program we are proposing some individuals decide. they decide if they want to contribute or not. they decide where their money is invested. if they want to keep it in cash that is their decision. at least they have, at their place of work, an chance to have

a savings plan. in addition we are fixing social security. i proposals would fix social security so we do not face a 23% 18oss the board cut in years. we are not relying on someone who has made mistakes in the past. we are not relying on the goodness or kindhearted this of some business. this is a plan that would give people a chance to save. if plan that would get sosa security on sound footing for the foreseeable future. guest: each investment manager would need to be certified. we would have an extra step to make sure that they are safe and their procedures are strong. that they are implementing the plans as they suggested they would. host: half of americans over the 85 percent or more

of their income from social security only. mr. lockhart, were you a proponent in the 2000's when there was an attempt to reform social security and lead you invest privately? guest: i was very much involved in the bush proposals. what we have done, instead of putting the private account in social security, these new plans are outside social security. the idea is that we need to get personal savings up and retirement savings up in the country. we need using mechanisms to do it. i was involved and i think we made good progress. i probably did 100 town halls with members of congress, senators -- and what i heard then is the younger generation wants changes to social security. they know they will have cut tax. -- cutbacks. get don't think they will

anything from social security. we tried to build on that. president clinton had proposals in the late 1990's. we were trying to build on things that happened before and trying to build a consensus. line.40 to 61 year old give us a snapshot of your retirement planning. caller: i have a 401(k). i do not consider that retirement planning because congress predominantly, and to some degree the president and the supreme court, has helped them totally rob the masses. we call the mortgage failure took place. they pay these people who purposefully destroyed the whole wealth of the country. you're asking people to trust you again. let's tell people about the

ious. social security was robbed by congress. put that back and you don't have to worry about solvency. you try to privatize thing so theives can steal it and you can come up with another plan. congress should implement term limits. we are tired of you come a we don't trust you, you are deceitful. you're pushy, your living off of our sweat and labor, but you don't do anything for us. everything you do is for corporations, other countries, or yourselves. host: senator conrad, your tired 2013.13 -- you retired in when she talks about the co-mingling of the funds, if you could address that and if social security funds are used to mask deficit like an earlier caller said. guest: i agree with her.

i'm no longer in public life. you can see that i proposed the so-called social security lockbox. the senate ton stop raiding sosa security to pay other bills. i thought we should separate social security funds from general security funds. we were rating social security. we were using social security surplus is not to invest you have the money for the future, but taking those surpluses and using them are general fund expenses. it did mask the size of the deficit. i've probably gave 100 speeches on the floor of the senate. they are all recorded. look at my record. it is as clear as any could be on that question. the lockbox issue. government owes

social security $2.5 trillion. it will be paid overtime. at the moment, there's less cash coming into social security than going out. we have a problem already. it is being masked because we are getting interest on the trust funds. from my standpoint, i agree with the senator. it should have been segregated. it was not segregated. the money will be paid overtime. 2.5 trillion dollars is not enough to cover the problem. if you look over the next 75 years, the whole is $10 trillion is $10 trillion. we will try to create solvency, but it will take dramatic changes to social security. host: davis and wilmington, north carolina, 61 and over line. our you -- are you retired?

caller: i went out at 62. thank you are taking my call. there is never a question that i would take mine at 62. i will say, i do not understand why there is a limit. i do not understand that you reach a limit at a certain income that they stop taking it out. this may -- why? why do rich people that do not need it get it? people like warren buffett? i am thankful for my sosa security, but i am doubly thankful that i worked for a good company with a fine pension plan. i cannot think of anything old-fashioned, but they are going away. that supplemented social security. i think the lord for that.

i do not understand why they were allowed to raid the trust fund. host: we talked with mr. lockhart a minute ago about the limits on sosa security contributions. what is your take? that there is is a long history to social security. social security was started during the franklin roosevelt administration. the idea was they would be a relationship between what one paid and and what one got out. truthful. pute who are the wealthiest in more and get out less than they put in. the relationship is very aggressive. transfercurity does income from those who are the

most fortunate to those who are least fortunate. that is the case, a fact. offe took the cap completely, the amount of wages subject to social security , you would destroy the relationship between what goes in and what comes out. what one pays in and what one gets out. that breaks the bond of it being a social insurance program. remember, the fundamental idea, from the time of franklin roosevelt, is that there should be some relationship between what you pay and what you get out. if you take the cap off completely, you have taken away that relationship. why did franklin roosevelt established that principle? he wanted to make certain that wasyone in society

supporting social security so it would be there for the people who needed it the most. social security will go broke in 18 years or 19 years. that means that everyone will have to take a 23% cut. that will be a disaster, especially for those who need it the most. our proposal is to not only fill in the hole and present the -- and prevent the 23% cut, but to system more progressive. asking those at the top to pay more and get not as much back, but to allow others who really needed to get -- you really need it to get quite a bit more. of the that 9% or 10% american people who are elderly are living in poverty. we are saying that we want to do something significant to lift one million people out of poverty who are elderly.

host: mr. lockhart, yesterday when we were discussing the segment, our conversation between the producers and myself, we talked about pension and employers and benefits. contractors into and the economy. is that the trend? we will be outsourced and contracted where we will not have the opportunity for pensions and savings plans? economy think the gig is happening. with our retirement security plans, there will be the opportunity for individuals to contribute through them or through an ira. but we need to do is to create opportunities for people to make it easier. that is really one of the key things that we are thinking about in this plan. to go also to the social security question, it is more aggressive am a meaning that lower income people are getting more and higher income people are getting less than they

expected and they are paying more for that. what we propose is a small thing. the upper income people will have to pay all of their taxes on social security. many do not pay taxes on social security because they have low income, but there is a point that they will pay taxes. we will say 100% of social security is taxed up to $250,000 in income. we are going after the 1% a little. 61, are you 40 to ready for retirement? caller: my husband and i are planning for retirement. he is working very hard and i'm trying to save very hard. .e are the sandwich generation thinking heart of retiring. we understand the realizations that will come our way was social security and other benefits. we have been fortunate and have

worked hard to be in that situation. our biggest stressor is trying to educate our children on top of care for parents. we have had parents on fixed income, almost social security alone. we manage and help them. even though we are barely medically knowledgeable, the ability to project their needs financially because they are living so long. longevityint, their and modern medical science is creating, you could say, a financial burden on us. how long does this go on and how do you plan for it with your older parents? i know i'm not the only one facing the situation. we have children trying to -- college and enter the workforce

who are struggling to find employment. host: let's hear from senator conrad. guest: she is right. she is putting her finger on some that we discussed in great detail in this commission. 31% of one then who are 65 will live to be 90. something like 20% of men who are 65 will live to be 90. that puts at risk running out of income as you get older. we do a series of things to try to address that. we encourage plans that create lifetime income for those people who are participants in the plan . we remove a lot of the things that prevent them from offering lifetime income solutions. typically, when someone retires they take a lump sum. they should have the choice of taking part of it as a lump sum

and part of it as a lifetime income option so they get a paycheck every month for as long as they live, knowing that some will live shorter lives, some will live longer lives, but reducing the chances of people outliving their retirement savings. guest: i said it before, but an important issue to delay taking social security as long as you can and using other accounts first. that bump up and benefits is very significant. that is a lifetime annuity that goes up with inflation. very few pensions go up with inflation. one of the proposals that we have is for the surviving spouse in social security. the way that it works is if there is a couple and one of them dies, the survivor gets the hire of the 2 social security payments, but loses the other.

that means they have a very dramatic drop in income. we propose that instead of it working that way, you would keep your own social security benefit , plus three quarters of your spouse's social security benefit. making a germanic change for cup change for couples across america worried about outliving their income. that would make a huge difference. a widow may lose her husband when she is 75 and lose one of the 2 social security checks. we would say, you can keep your own plus three quarters of your departed spouse's. this could make a huge difference for someone like the most recent caller. bipartisanpolitics of i partisanpolitics.org

if you would like to read the plan for yourself. what about the massive amount of part-time workers? issue.a huge this is one reason that half of the people are not participating in retirement plans at work. they are part-time. they do not have one available to them. , theuld extend myra program started by the administration through the treasury department that invests in treasury securities of the $15,000. we change that so that there can ofautomatic enrollment employees by their employers and that they can have a contribution from their employer. that would be the employers choice, but they could use the myra program, which relieves them of the administrative responsibility and the do sheer irresponsibility, all they have

to do is transfer part of the employee's earnings to a myra account. they could match it and interest those people automatically. those people having their money transferred can say they don't want to participate. they could do that. at least, they have the opportunity. that would dramatically improve retirement savings. we are proposing a clearinghouse . right now, we know that people will have seven jobs or eight jobs in their career. that means they will have an ira here, a savings plan there, and a retirement plan some other place. they would be able to aggregate their funds to better manage them. a lot of the time people forget they had a fund and they lose the money. this would help.

host: why is it so complicated? you have my rep, roth, limits on how much you can put in. is this have to do with tax laws? guest: a lot of it was driven by tax law. we are trying to make it more people centric and less tax law centric. we trying to do things simply in creating the retirement security plan. it is unfortunate. one of the things we are suggesting is that you look at how you score retirement lands. plans.rement the talk about it as a tax expenditure because there is a taxed eduction. in reality, it is an investment in the future and we want it to be scored that way going forward. host: according to the federal reserve, 46% of adults do not have the available funds to cover a $400 emergency expense. 27% of respondents 60 years old plus have no retirement savings or pensions at all.

arthur in memphis, tennessee, 61 and over. give us a snapshot of your retirement. caller: i am over 60 and have drawn social security. all you have to do is raise the capital on your social security? is that true? guest: that is true. the problem is that there is no way to getting it passed the congress in the united states. are possible,s it if they are not passed doesn't mean much. the hard reality is that that breaks down the relationship between what people put in and what they get out. when franklin delano roosevelt made social security, fundamental principle was that there should be some relationship between what you pay in and what you get out.

if you break that relationship, that you break down the willingness of people to participate. something you have to think about. we have to be in the real world. you have to deal in the real world. if you took the cap off completely, you have that proposal before the congress of the united states, it would not pass. jim you are on "washington journal." with kent conrad and cassius clay -- with kent conrad and james lockhart with the bipartisan policy center. caller: couple of ideas. first, i think obamacare will be here for a while. why can't we take the residual amounts that people are credited

, and instead of letting them have the money now, put it in a health savings account that will not go away for when they are older? or the $2000 for the ira as a tax credit. that residual money could go into a fund that will stay with you until you retire. addition, why can't we move hard assets like toys property at yellowstone park into social start putting hard assets from the government into the social security funds? you will approach a that problem at 2 ends. you will have hard assets and social security to reduce the deficit. host: james lockhart? we talked about the complications of some of these issues earlier. house savings accounts

are very helpful. myself.ne if you can save money to a house savings account, it is important . another way to cover your medical expenses in retirement. you can use it as you are working. i am a believer in health savings account. as for hard assets and social security at industry shouldn't, we did look at investing social security funds. that is one idea that is too far at this point. some countries have done it successfully. 10 of the has a system where they put money into stocks and bonds and it has turned out well . i'm not sure that we are ready for it. is an issue that jim and i, on opposite sides of the political fense with -- political fence with

disagreements, we agree to agree cannot convince our commissioners to go there, but we agree it would be wise to put some of this money into what the gentleman described as "hard assets." real estate or equity. other commissioners were not prepared to go there. 2 highlights from you on this program that you are very enthusiastic about? guest: three things. number one, according to the modeling done by the urban institute, if our program were adopted, retirement savings of the middle class would the increased by 50% by the time the program is fully implemented. that is number one. number two, we make social security solvent for 75 years and beyond so that there would be no 23% across-the-board cut in 18 or 19 years.

third, we reduce elderly poverty by one third. lifting one million people out of poverty. part of the reason for that is that we dramatically improve payments to the lowest earners come the lowest 20% of earners in the country, and we dramatically improve payments to surviving spouses. get senatorialt privilege. 2 proposals from you? >> two proposals we have not talked about. one of them is so foundational -- increasing financial capabilities of the american people. to understand investments, compounding interests, and we need to do it in schools, as few poor retire, and as people make lifetime decision. home equity is an important part of retirement. trillion in savings. using the home equity better is

something we are proposing. bipartisanpolicy.org if you want to see the plan by the bipartisan policy center. the house is in session, legislative branch appropriation. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c., june 10, 2016, i hereby appoint the honorable ted poe to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, paul d. ryan, speaker of the house of representatives . the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. merciful god, we