hope to achieve next year in fiscal and regulatory policy. we will take your calls. you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: before leaving the apex , there was au possibility of him responding to thepolicies and experts of trumpet administration even after his term ends. he told reporters that he would be vocal against core questions about our values and ideas. think it isf i necessary for me to help defend those ideals, i will examine that when the time comes." we want to ask you about president-elect trump and if his victory gave him a mandate for his agenda.

his critics point to the loss of the popular vote, which does not give him one of according to them. is the supporters look at the victory in the electoral college, saying that gives them the mandate to complete his agenda. we want thoughts from you of if he has a mandate and what he should do with that. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. and independents (202) 748-8002 . president-elect trump, does he have a mandate? you can make your thoughts known on twitter and facebook. there was a recent poll in the washington post taking a look at this idea of mandates, not only taking coals of this president, but comparing him to president obama. pulled, over were

1000 adults, saying 29% of those responding said that donald trump's election gave him a mandate. 59% of those saying should compromise going forward. 13% expressing no opinion. comparing to president obama's first election, 50% of those responding said he had a mandate. in his reelection, only 34% saying he had a mandate 56% of respondents saying he should compromise. that was from "the washington post." the national review, does donald trump have a mandate? a conservative obligation, it said that the fact that mr. trump did not win the popular vote is irrelevant. it is not all that unusual in our system of government. depending on how you count it, we have had four or five prior

presidents who did not win the national popular vote wall that was a modest political liability, their later successes stood or fell on what they did with the office if they were able to win the electoral college when the -- cleanly. adams,re john quincy rutherford hayes, john f. kennedy as far as those go. u.s. news & world report, there was a piece recently by a contributor, don't repeat the mandate mistake. that is the name of the piece. not only did donald trump get 5.6 million fewer votes than barack obama in 2012, 800,000 votes here that mr. romney got that here. let's have no more talk about an overwhelming mandate." she says the biggest difference

between the two elections is that mr. obama won an election fueled by hope and change, while mr. trump won an election fueled by discussed. won by just one percentage point in michigan. this idea of a mandate for donald trump, what do you think of that? (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002. good morning. you're on. go ahead. caller: good morning. i do not think donald trump has a mandate to run roughshod over whatever things that president obama or any other president has

put into effect. i think -- in fact i believe that before anybody will follow him in any way, putting the people that supported him, we should see his tax returns, and he should put all of his businesses in a blind trust. host: when it comes to the mandate, why do you think he does not? caller: because he was not elected by the majority of people in the united states. host: even though he was elected by the system of the way that we do elections in the united states -- caller: i don't agree with the way we do elections right now. i believe that should be changed. i believe that it should have been changed after the problem with outdoor. int: let's go to floyd jonesville, virginia. our line for republicans. go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you for taking alcohol.

-- our call. i think he has a mandate to change things. i live in coal country. they took the hospital out. no jobs. we need jobs. we need to change things. i believe he was given a mandate to change things. thinkhink this, i don't -- he will not change regardless of when he is returning. -- not aven us a date date, but a season when he is returning. that will not change any. he does have a mandate to change things going on in this world that has just got so bad. i hope he does. ralph from michigan. democrats line. go ahead. caller: do you have any statistics there on how low the voter turnout was because what i am hearing is that the voter

turnout was much lower than either of obama's elections, and they did not give obama a mandate, of course, the republicans never worked with him in his first farm or second term. because the voter turnout in the united states is pathetically low, maybe around 50% for this election, i'm guessing, that would mean that if donald trump 50% that voted, only about a quarter of the country voted for donald trump. i have to agree with the other fellow about the electoral college. we have had to presidents recently that have lost the popular vote and yet they want the electoral -- won the electoral college. host: aside from the popular vote, you say that the simple victory does not give him a mandate? caller: no. not a strong mandate.

the other reason he does not have a strong mandate is his his are constantly changing. his facts are changing. his positions change. muslimes he is against immigration, sometimes he is for mexicans paying for the wall, sometimes he is not. he was never specific on his facts. his positions change. they have changed during the transition. of lowtake the fact voter turnout, the fact he lost the popular vote, i don't think -- and -- host: let me stop you there only because pbs newshour took a look at this idea of the turnout and posted a piece on their website, saying that "well mrs. clinton was leading the popular vote by 1.5 million over sunday, she

trails president obama in 2012 totals more than 2 million ballots. the number of people who voted for donald trump were just slightly ahead of those who supported mitt romney in 2012. purple statesin like florida and pennsylvania had a slight uptick this year, 19 other states had lower turnout compared to 2012. dropping 1.3% in iowa, nearly 4% in ohio, a combination that became the death knell for mrs. clinton's presidential hopes in areas that president obama performed well during his two terms." we are talking about this idea of a mandate for donald trump. if you think he has one, (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. here is virginia.

hello. caller: thank you for taking my call. i believe that donald trump has aended given the fact that win is a win regardless of how many people turn out to vote. the idea of the popular vote, this is written in the constitution right now that we have the electoral college. that is will we go by. won we wouldon not have this conversation. election donald trump did not have any chance with the paths, now that tohas won they are trying go through why he was the winner and wife mrs. clinton lost. we need to move on. he has a mandate to change this country. that is what people are looking for. he has the mandate as far as i'm

concerned. minnesota, independent line. what do you think about this idea of the mandate? caller: good morning. i think that it is just not working. the caller before me said that donald trump got elected. i am independent. they did get elected by the law of the united states of america. does the popular vote suggest intentions as far as the voters are concerned as donald trump goes forward with his agenda? caller: if there was a humongous difference between the election, and say he would have had the

popular vote that he lost by 10 million, we're talking 1%. that does not bother me. the only other thing i would yearso point out is 100 that the old establishment sent the young men into war where they died by millions. we have the old generals with savers sending young men against machine guns. it is time for a change. -- iu can see, our country think this country will do just fine. that was from minnesota. incoming senate minority leader, chuck schumer from new york was asked about this idea of a mandate. he spoke about it not only in terms of donald trump but the

larger picture of what is happening in congress. here is some of his statement yesterday. [video clip] >> the republicans now have both chambers of congress. of state the majority houses in state governments. >> democrats got a majority of the popular vote. hillary did. it is not a mandate. when he is opposed to our values, we will go after him to then now. repealed.t let him epeal or the rules -- r the aca.k or if his presidency takes a divisive turn, we will do it tooth and nail. caller: what do you think of -- host: what do you think about this mandate for donald trump? caller: first i have to say you always look dropdead gorgeous.

smoking hot. , thateople call you juan is another thing. host: thank you. caller: i want our country united. if that could be one mandate, unite our country. i want peace. the division in our country has gotten so start and so sad. i hate it. we need to unite as a country. we are americans through and through. we are blood brothers and blood sisters through and through. we need to unite, not divide. the divisions in our country have gone so stark, it upsets me. i want our borders protected. i want that. i want immigration -- if you google immigration gumballs, we cannot take in the whole world.

our country cannot absorb the whole world. there are a lot of people that are already suffering economically. we cannot take an whole world to cure poverty. host: thank you. edward is next from new jersey. republican line. go ahead. caller: good morning. i believe that president-elect trump definitely has a mandate to carry out what she communicated to america. he was chosen by the people for his view for the future of this country. i definitely believe he has a mandate. theree people out complaining about the electoral votes, back in 2008 when the democrats elected president obama, and i believe the first

two years of his presidency they also had control of both houses of the senate and the house. that they did it not try to make the change when they had all of the power? when theyhem look bad are not only complaining that hillary lost, but now they are complaining that in some sense donald trump is illegitimate by the electoral vote and not the popular vote. host: i'm going back to that poll at the beginning about those who were asked about the mandate. 29% saying that. those same people saying that with that in mind, donald trump should probably do more as far as compromising is concerned and even making comparisons to previous administrations as well. what you think about this idea of compromising on these issues? caller: we definitely need

change in this country. we definitely need change in congress. he may have to compromise a order and order -- in to work with congress on some issues. the majority of the issues he talked about on his campaign, he has a mandate on those because that is why he is in office. yearsrse, the past few with congress where they have not been working with president obama, and i understand that. that is why the approval rating for congress is very low. host: thank you. let's go to johnny in georgia. democrats line. go ahead. i do not believe that he has a mandate because he did not get a majority of the people. far aslast caller, as

the electoral college goes, democrats have never used it. the only people who ever used it were republicans. the majority of the people should rule in this country, not just that. he does have a responsibility to the people that voted for him to build a wall. if i don't see a wall, i'm going to get angry. should remove all of the legitimate people, that includes caucasians from europe and ,eople from down south america and it also includes asians. he has to remove all of these illegitimate people from this country. if he does not do that, he should not be president because that is why he was elected to be president. he was elected by the hate in this country.

he has got to do with the heat wants. -- hate wants. host: several people visiting the president-elect at his golf course in new jersey. you have probably heard in the news all weekend about future cabinet positions that they are still revealing. some response to the cia director mike pompeo. this was a story in the "washington times" this morning about some of the responses in congress. a california republican and house intelligence chairman, he said that mr. pompeo was one of the most respected members in congress on national security issues and will be a popular choice at the agency. "i'm confident he will be widely supported in the cia, and i look forward to his fast approval in the senate." of california said

that his republican colleagues was very bright and hard-working. "he will devote himself to developing the best possible intelligence for policymakers. strong had our share of differences, particularly on the politicization of benghazi, and i know he is willing to listen and engage." jim from florida, republican line. caller: good morning. donald trump has a mandate for a couple of reasons. number one, he clearly stated what he was going to do in his first 100 days. everybody knows what he was going to do, and he got elected. the other reason is if you take out an electoral map that shows the counties that voted for donald trump. it looks like a redneck with a few loose blotches on it.

the vast majority of the country voted for donald trump. the voters who voted for donald trump had to fight through a biased press. that tells me that the people who voted for donald trump voted for him strongly. they saw what was going on. we need a leader. we need a leader who will do something host:. do you think this idea of him losing the popular vote is going the four oracross eight years he might serve? caller: say it again. host: you think this idea that he lost the popular vote will continue across his administration? caller: i think the press and the democrats will try to make it that way. that is the biggest lie. the people who voted for donald trump voted strongly for him.

the vast majority of the country voted for donald trump. the urban areas, no. the people in the urban areas are going to think he was the best thing that ever happened because i will tell you what, all of a sudden chicago found the money to hire 1000 police officers. where did that money come from? where was that money before donald trump was elected? host: this is a viewer from twitter. "donald trump does not have a mandate. thinking the electoral college creates a mandate is saying corporations are people." let's show you a response from paul ryan. last week he was asked about this idea of a mandate for donald trump and what it means for him and republicans on the senate and house next year in the new trump administration. here is paul ryan. [video clip] >> the president is going to be judged on his results.

this was a person who helped him win an incredible campaign. judged onent will be the results of his administration. we are helping him get up and running and to make progress on the mandate that was just given to us by the american people. we are confident about the transition. we are very excited about getting to work for the american people. host: if you want to see paul ryan him last week, you can go to our website at the span.org -- c-span.org. our video library is available to you at c-span.org. darren from colorado, you are next. thank you for calling in. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. in going to try to feather the speakers, as well as the information about the cia and the mandate. here we go.

he stated that he does not have a mandate, donald trump does not have a mandate because that would be like giving corporations authority or power. well let's go ahead and discuss that like the previous caller said. with the appearance of mainstream media bias, donald trump, although he got a lower popular vote, it was significant enough that given the apparent mainstream media bias, which are that weit corporations need to restore the constitutional rights to the media to such a degree that it is fair and balanced. we have to be honest about that. there is a perceived notion by citizens in america that whatever the mainstream media says, they're going to do it in their best interests. they are going to report what is the honest truth.

these are powerful corporations. they have a profit motive. since they have a profit motive, they have to maximize office to shareholders -- profits to shareholders and minimize losses. we have to find the balance with the constitutional rights of the mainstream media to find the ethical and moral obligation to report the truth to citizens of the united states. host: ok. that is darren. have ae president-elect mandate because of his victory in the election? the number is (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. .ndependents (202) 748-8002 here was a comment on twitter, "the mandate sense the wrong message, it says that the

president can't ignore the views -- canlitical minority ignore the views of a political minority." caller: he didn't get less than half-- did get less than of the population that voted. mandate event a from a lot of people in his own party. choices, colin powell called one of them are rightlt wingnut. giuliani, and the one i cannot think of right now. he did not get a mandate. nobody knows what he is going to do. is onecting as if putin

of our allies. as if putin is winston churchill or something and will help solve our problems when all the time putin is getting ready to march into the ukraine and do god knows what to the balkan countries around him. i can hardly wait to see from some of the people i know who poland and latvia to see what they have to say about this guy. i have a feeling they feel the way that prime minister marco feels that this is a bad and dangerous person. -- keeping track of the polls since election day. numbers,omes to total

,3 million for hillary clinton 61 million for donald trump. ,hen it comes to swing states 21.2 million and then some for hillary clinton, 1.1 million for donald trump. -- 21.1 million for donald trump. electoral college coming into election day. what does that mean in terms of a mandate. david is next from washington state. he is on our republican line. caller: good morning, pedro. host: good morning. caller: well he lost the popular vote, more people voted for

senate democrats than they did republicans and for the house of representatives. i don't think he has any kind of mandate at all. i am afraid he is going to embarrass us on the international stage from his behavior. host: up next florida, democrats line. caller: good morning. i thought i was calling on the republican line. donald trump does have a mandate because it has already been proven that there were 3 million illegal votes cast for hillary clinton. if you subtract those 3 million illegal votes, don't jump also the-- donald trump also won popular vote. i believe he is going to do the best he can for everybody. i cannot wait until the morning stream media poster head out of and does their job.

their propaganda has so many people believing falsity. when the mainstream media starts to do their job, people will see. give the man a chance. he is not even in office yet. he cannot do any worse than obama. host: let me ask you a question to the point you're making. you said the 3 million votes should not have been counted because they were cast by illegal immigrants. where did you get that information? of the internet from several websites. i don't get my news from tv. host: why do you trust those websites and that information? caller: because i did not just get the information from one left side. i did my research. i searched several different websites. host: and those websites all caps was elite told you that the 3 million number was consistent

and could be verified in some form. caller: absolutely. one of them gave real poll numbers every time. host: ok. that was florida. let's go next to leo in maryland. independent line. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: can you hear me? host: you are a little -- it sounds like a lot of wind where you are. caller: let me step inside my call. can you hear me now? host: we have you. go ahead. [indiscernible] college -- people are so upset. the united states got it wrong. there was a law that allowed slavery. we improved on that and change that. it is time to change the

electoral college so that a majority of americans can be represented. host: really on the way he was elected, because of the electoral college were saying he does not have a mandate. caller: absolutely. he does not have a mandate in my opinion. host: from twitter, "president-elect trump won the popular vote in more states than secretary clinton and has a mandate from those voters." you can post on our facebook page and twitter and give us a call as well. -- it is theory federal insider page of the "washington post." it looks like -- it looks at what's federal handle withll president electra.

sensibleenacted legislation for the v.a. that allowed expedited dismissals of department senior executives. to a judge,ppeal but not to the full judicial board. president obama's administration decided to object to the unsavory provisions that allowed by passing that board. the attorney general said that the justice department would --ther enforced nor depend defend that measure. expect that to change under president-elect trump. federal employees could be changed with every administration the way political appointees are now. those appointees carry out the philosophy of the elected representatives, and federal employees carry out those policy changes. they can appeal adverse actions

to their board. the federalprotects employee system. more on that in the washington post this morning. let's go to michael in maryland. trump: absolutely donald had a mandate. won 85% of the county's across the united states. both he and hillary clinton campaigned for electoral college votes. that is how they ran the campaigns. if it was based on popular votes, donald trump would have gone into california and other blue states just simply to gain popular votes. an example would be a football game, pedro. issue is who scores the most points. that is the issue.

you cannot say, i scored more points, and the other team says i controlled the ball more. so i had more yards. that is not have the game is won. you run your campaign strictly on electoral college. the popular issue is not an issue. twitter, "he has no mandate. and wiki fbi coup leaks." cheryl from maryland. democrats line. caller: hello. i say mr. trump has a mandate. his mandate is profit from what i have seen so far. there are a lot of older white men who want to set the country back a hundred years. the rich are going to get richer. the poor are not going to get anything.

he is not going to build a wall because most of the people who are in this country work for big businesses. they business will not have that. business will not have that. present obama got osama bin laden out of the way. unemployment has gone down from 13% to 4.5%. all of that is going to stop. you people who think he is going to do something for you because you cannot of the hills and voted for him, you are going to see. that is my comment. host: here is louisiana. independent line. hello. caller: good morning. i don't understand why the people cannot respect the present of the united states. we respected obama when he got in. i can't they respect our president? not, mr. trumpr

is the president-elect, and hopefully we have heard the last of the clintons. alexander, you are up next. republican line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i am black and republican. people arew why making so much noise about mandate or not. you should look at a map of the united states of america. it is all red. donald trump won 30 states or something. we should respect the new president. he won. he won. he decimated the democrat. what are we talking about? he won everywhere. when you look at elections, i think democrats lost 700 or 900 seats. they were decimated. they should suck it up and

respect the new president. thank you. host: story this morning about a legislator who lost his grandson recently due to a shooting. this was from "usa today" out of chicago. two teenagers were charged on sunday for the shooting death of the grandson of danny davis. chicago police identified the girl whoas a boy and took part in the slaying of the boy after a dispute over a pair of gym shoes. the suspects were charged with home invasion. the cook county judge james brown held both teams without fail -- teenagers without bail. this was the grandson of representative danny davis, democrats out of illinois.

clayton from cleveland, ohio. democrats line. you're next. caller: good morning. my name is clayton. is set bymp's mandate his mindset, which is pythagorean. as you know, the pythagorean negative social scigns. thank you. host: howard is calling us. good morning. go ahead. howard. good morning. caller: i got to tell you -- good morning. i am annoyed by this constant hemming and i about the electoral college. it is what it is. the democrats don't like it when they lost. if they win, they love it.

nobody is going to get rid of it. it is too hard to do. i think the democrats likely stole several of the states. donald trump's voting was that high. thely he probably did win popular vote. why do we even talk about the popular vote? the electoral vote is what counts. far as the mandate itself is concerned, do you think there is any need to compromise on some of the issues donald trump laid out? caller: no. no compromise. concerned, am compromise is the most careful and hated word in washington, d.c. compromise, i hear that you want to take some of my pie. when i say pie, i mean rights. by the time they are done, i won't have any high left. no compromise. the democrats don't compromise. they go. ahead.

ust: and you are calling from filing. caller: i am and bangkok. host: are you there for business or pleasure? caller: i am an expatriate. my vote went out about four weeks ago by mail. host: was there any way to verify that it actually made it at was counted? caller: it probably was not counted. unless it gets down to the wire, they don't count those votes, same thing with the military. host: how are you listening to our program? caller: i am watching you on that kennedy, and i can also watch you on the internet. john int's go to pennsylvania. for democrats. good morning. caller: i was a previous democratic candidate for

congress more than 16 years ago. party has been lost. i don't recognize the party or support it. i was supported actively by all of the unions. i still stand with the united mine workers and the teamsters. those individuals in those jobs have been abandoned by the democratic party for their new policies of government control of our economy, government control of green sector jobs, and trying to force people to do things they don't want to do. the government is not force. the government should be run for and by the people. host: to this idea of the selection that just the place -- this election that just the place for donald trump, what do you think? caller: we should work with our

members of congress passed's jobs bill right away. his jobs bill right away. that would go a long way to resolve those problems. we should work with the democratic senators in new york to do this. he should also work with some of the people on the west coast. ultimately, infrastructure will be spent in democratic districts and republican districts. after that he should build his wall to keep his word. host: that was john in pennsylvania. looking at president obama stopping in europe and eventually going to the aipac summit. read and informal and represented the first time the leaders had spoken in person since the group of 20 convened in china in september.

that discussion led to a broader discussion about what is going on currently in syria, saying that "beyond pleasantries, the president urged putin to uphold his agreement underscore in the u.s. and partners commitment to upholding ukraine sovereignty. and the president noted the need for secretary of state john ofry and foreign minister russia to pursue initiatives to alleviate the suffering of the syrian people, but there is little prospect that much will change even though mr. obama and his top aides have been sharply critical of russia's support of assad." grace the last call on this topic. she is calling us from regina. republican line. caller: good morning.

donald trump does have a mandate. i am sick of these people having disrespect for him. it is so annoying. when obama was elected, he was jammed down our throats. now when we have a republican elected president, even the cast of hamilton are disrespectful. it is uncalled for. protesters, we-- need to find out who is supporting them, who is paying them so we know what is really going on. if the people cannot respect donald trump when he was rightfully elected and has a mandate, i am sorry for this country. and some of those people that are so upset, let them go somewhere else and try to live

the way they live in the united states. host: finishing out this topic about donald trump's mandate. on in the program, we will ask you about this idea of the electoral college, and what you think about that prospect -- process. we will take a look at several states across the united states that had voter initiatives dealing with the topic of marijuana on the medicine side and the recreation side. steve fox with the national cannabis industries ocean joins us for that discussion. and later what faces the president-elect and congress when they take on lowering taxes. freedomworks adam brandon will give us his thoughts as "washington journal" continues after this. ♪

>> here are some of our featured programs thursday, thanksgiving day on c-span. just after 11:00 a.m. eastern nebraska senator ben sasse on american values, the founding fathers, and the purpose of government. >> there is a huge civic mindedness in american history. it is not compelled by the government. >> followed by senator tom harkin on healthy food and the rise of childhood obesity. >> everything from monster thick

burgers with 1400 calories and 107 grams of fat to 20 ounce cokes with 12 seasons of sugar feeding epidemic of childhood obesity. founder30, wikipedia talks about the evolution of the online encyclopedia and the challenge of writing global access to information. >> if there is a thousand entries, i know there is a small community there with five to 10 really active users and 20 to 30 that think of themselves as knowing a little bit and they see themselves as a community. >> a year-long effort to respect replace ther and capital don't. >> i did my senior thesis. it was a great thing to do. it taught me an incredible am ount. it taught me what it is to be a

serious historian. i realized it just was not for me. >> followed by justice clarence thomas at 9:00. >> genius is not putting a two dollar idea in a $20 suit. 20 dollar idea in a two dollars suit with no loss of meaning. >> president obama will present the medal of freedom to 21 recipients, including nba star at the jordan, singer bruce springsteen, and philanthropist bill and melinda gates. c-span.orgspan and or listen on the free c-span radio app. >> washington journal continues. joining us now is steve fox, the cofounder of the national cannabis industries

association and a lawyer in washington, d.c. that deals with issues when it comes to marijuana. what did the united states decide in this past election about how marijuana is used recreationally or medically? large it was a pretty election with nine initiatives on the ballot. five of them were for all adult use, and for related to medical one of -- marijuana. eight out of nine ended up passing. initiatives were passed in california, maine, massachusetts, and nevada. the medical marijuana states where arkansas, the first state truly in the south to pass a medical marijuana issue, florida, north dakota, and montana expended -- expended on their existing program. host: why do you think there is this change? guest: this has been evolving

for decades, starting with the first medical marijuana initiative in california in 1996. we have just seen support for reforming medical marijuana laws , increasing 1.42 points a year to the point where the most recent surveys have support for legalization at 57% and 60%. there has been a tremendous increase. i think that is based on the fact that people understand that marijuana is not as bad as it was made out to be. not saying it is not without some harms associated, but given the grand scope of various substances and so on, they just realized it is not where it is rushing individuals for using marijuana. basically the changes in the law have followed that. host: now that the changes are made at state level, how much influence does the federal

government have over these state decisions? guest: there is significant federal involvement potentially. pastwe have had over the three years officially there have been -- to educate the viewers, in 2012 colorado and washington past legalization measures in those states. in response the obama administration issued guidance in august of 2013, which basically said that if you are acting in compliance with state laws, you will not be a federal law enforcement priority. that allowed individuals in those states as well as the medical marijuana states to understand that if they were operating in strict compliance with state law they could move forward without concern of federal interference. that now is the question moving forward with the trumpet ministration. host: what is the largest

question? guest: the question is whether that guidance from 2013 continue you'ret was a that when acting in compliance with state law you will not be a federal law enforcement priority. host: if you have question for our guest about what this means, you can give us a call. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents (202) 748-8002. first of all, what is senator jeff sessions stance on this idea of marijuana? guest: if you look up the record, you would see that he has had some strong anti-marijuana statements in the past. he does not seem to be much in favor of the use of marijuana.

we will have to see where that goes. stances thatad were supportive of federalism and the idea that states should be able to determine their own laws. there will be a balance there. we will see where it comes. us a per instance of what he might do or could do as attorney general when it comes to what is happening on the state level. guest: when you come down to it, despite all of this action at the state level where we now have 28 states and the district of columbia that have made the medical use of marijuana legal along with eight states and the district of colombia that have made the don't use legal, marijuana is still illegal at the federal level. the department of justice has the ability to prosecute individuals who are engaged in marijuana related activity.

we are hoping that they do not. it is possible. therefore when you ask what is possible, really anything is on the table. the question is whether the state laws will be respected. host: someone is operating dispensary on the state level, the federal government can't shut it down. guest: yes. host: do you think donald trump is interested in doing that? guest: he has said he is not. he said this was a state issue when asked specifically in colorado whether he would allow his attorney general to go after state legal businesses, he had said this was a state issue and he would not want his attorney general going after it. we'll have to see how that plays out. host: steve fox joining us. cofounder of the national cannabis industry association. tell us the people you represent. guest: we now represent more

that are businesses engaged in the cannabis industry in some capacity. that may be people who are dispensaries or cultivators or producers, but also many other businesses from law firms including the one i work for as well as accounting firms and many other ancillary businesses. calls lined up for you. the first one is from bernie in new york. independent line. go ahead with your question or comment. caller: good morning. i am really amazed that we continue to have a federal law in conflict with state law. when is the federal law to be changed? why hasn't it already been addressed?

caller: that is a question. is thatthe answer things move slowly at the federal level, just not news to anyone. -- which is not news to anyone. riders,e appropriations if you not familiar, those are amendments placed on appropriations bills that can limit the way federal funds are spent. we have had one appropriations passed and actually is part of the current appropriations bill which prohibits the federal government from spending any money to interfere with state medical marijuana laws. you have had that kind of movement. we have also seen movements in both chambers in favor of helping banks work with cannabis industry companies.

we see movements, but it takes a little effort to get full legislation passed to make it legal on the state level and federal level. host: george from maryland. democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am a former exemptions counselor, and i think legalization of marijuana is a terrible idea. it is a dangerous drug that causes sterility, and it causes all certain things. it interacts the menstrual process. i have treated people who have lost jobs and almost lost their lives from marijuana use. i think you should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking of legalizing this dangerous chemical. thank you. caller: i know some people feel ms tomarijuana's har justify making it legal. in this basic sense.

this is probably the best way of explaining it. i basically every objective , and this has been the conclusion of numerous, basically every government study ever done, marijuana is objectively less harmful than alcohol, a substance that is accepted in our society and widely used. maybe some people think it should not be, but it clearly is. marijuana is less addictive than alcohol, less toxic, less likely to be associated with acts of violence, and we do not see any reason that we should punish adults who prefer to use the less harmful of the two substances. that is where we come from. host: you have mentioned the hearts. what are the harms? caller: yeah. obviously you do not want people driving after consuming.

it can impair judgment. and helen smoke is not necessarily good for anyone in any sense. -- inhaling smoke is not necessarily good for a lot of the supposed harms talked about in the past, we could go down the line -- kill brain cells. if you did the research now, you would find that marijuana it cans brain cells and slow the progression of alzheimer's, parkinson's. it is very useful for people with epilepsy. there used to be claims that marijuana causes cancer. long-term studies that have been done have shown that actually it can reduce incidence of cancer. there is no increased risk even of lung cancer. ucla did a large study one time and that proved not to be true. the harms really are somewhat limited. conceding tobe

some people who say that it may have harms that it may have harms. i'm not saying it is absolutely harmless. in the grand scheme of things compared to alcohol, cigarettes, fast food, and so on, the long-term harms are limited. host: are we seeing more powerful strains of marijuana being created? guest: you do see strains that nt. higher in thc conte we have not seen any studies that show that that is causing a significant increase in harm. titrate or know to measure their dose. if it is stronger, they will simply have less, which in the sense of inhaling smoke i suppose is a good thing. over timemes stronger and it is widely used in our

society, we have not seen incidences of mental illness or whatever increase because of that. host: let us hear from keith in toledo, ohio. go ahead. you are on. caller: good morning. i agree with everything this man is saying. i am very much pro-marijuana. i have a concern with the new election if it will be harder for the states because it is still against federal. maybe if they will change the scheduling of the drug. it should be legal because to -- incarcerate people who smoke this, it's ridiculous. it doesn't help society whatsoever. smoking marijuana, cigarettes, alcohol, i think it would be better if nobody did any of it. none of it should be illegal. guest: thanks, caller.

a couple things i just want to mention. the scheduling is that it does,. come up. the penalties associated with marijuana at the federal level aren't connected to what schedule it is in. you could move marijuana to schedule to or schedule three and you would still have those penalties associated with marijuana. what we need to do is remove marijuana from the controlled substances act entirely and treat it like alcohol at the federal level. there are other people who feel like it may be should be treated as a medicine or dietary supplement. these are things that need to be figured out and should. would mentiong i related to what he said is that there is no reason to arrest or punish individuals for using marijuana. , but wey we agree really want to make sure that there is a larger point being made here.

that is that tens of millions of americans do use marijuana, sometimes as an alternative to alcohol, sometimes just because they enjoy it. somewhere orget it they do get it somewhere. that is what these states are doing. it is not just making marijuana legal for adults. it is also setting up systems of distribution and sales that are regulated and monitored. seed to sale tracking, they test the marijuana to make sure it is clean and pure. and taxed, which generates revenue for the states. in $135 last year took million in tax revenue at the state level. it will take in more than $150 million this year. that is money that is going to public school construction, public education programs, anti-bullying programs,

addressing homelessness issues, and so on. these are funds that can really be used. if the federal government's comes in and shuts this down, it ist means all this revenue going back underground and toward criminals and cartels. host: al from washington, independent line. caller: thanks for taking my call. the previous caller hit the head on the nail. let me strike it one more time. this is a revenue-generating law that is used at local, county, state, and federal. why do you think we have for-profit prison systems that must operate at 90% capacity? we need these little laws to generate money for profit for wall street. i think that the glut for profit in america is becoming really

shameful because it is eating the people. something when it is not being of used that is very helpful. i could go on and on with this. it is for profit. it is for greedy people. it is for wall street. who gives a damn about who gets her? hurt? thank you for the call. i know that there are a lot of intelligent people. check into this. you will see. guest: thanks for the call. i guess a number of issues potentially to address there. i guess i would like to focus on where he said that people aren't getting hurt by using marijuana. it's an opportunity to talk about people who do use marijuana. you are seeing articles now , moreplayers in the nfl

than a majority in a recent survey who said they want to be able to use marijuana in many cases because it is a better way for them to help treat their pain. we have seen studies now that show that where medical marijuana is illegal you have about a 25% reduction it seems in opioid use, which is obviously overly serious drug problem in this country. we also see that veterans frequently use marijuana to help alleviate ptsd symptoms and to help them sleep at night. it is also something that middle age people use to help them sleep when they are feeling stressed or have insomnia or whatever. people to change the way think of marijuana users. there have been stereotypes in the past about what a typical marijuana user looks like.

it is really not the case. all caps of people use marijuana and they certainly should not be punished or threatened with jail. host: mike from ellicott city, maryland, you are on. caller: i love this discussion. i agree with the other cal lers. i have a question. wouldn't it make more sense if the states legalized marijuana that it would make it affordable for people so that the average drug dealer -- you would take a lot of violence and things away from people who sell drugs on the street. no matter how many distillers you have, you can get marijuana anywhere. that's why it's silly it's illegal in the first place. the only people who pay are the ones who get pulled over or lose their job. at the end of the day come you

can get marijuana anywhere. people of got marijuana everywhere. agree, buting is i why do you make it so incentive that the average person would never walk into a dispensary and pay five dollars for an ounce when they can get more? theou do it, you take out industry and knocked out the violence that comes with it because there will be no more drug dealers because they can't compete with the state. thank you. guest: that's an interesting issue that has come up in the states where they have passed these laws to make marijuana legal for all adults. they do think about the tax that is being imposed and try to make sure that the tax is not so onerous that it keeps prices above the price that it might be on the street. i think what we're seeing is that those taxes are being kept

relatively reasonable. they still are somewhat steep in colorado. for example, you have an effective tax rate want to put all the tax rates altogether of almost 25%. at the same time, as there are efficiencies in the cultivation process and so on, you do see prices coming down. it seems like more than 70% of is market in colorado now through the legal, regulated system. we believe that will continue to grow over time as people become accustomed to going to stores and don't want to be seeking other means on the street to get marijuana, which won't be tested and properly labeled and so on. host: there was a recent op-ed times" by a.

social psychologist who makes the ideas of the concerns of legalization of marijuana. he says, first legalization is likely to reduce the average harm per dose of marijuana. some of these reductions will be pharmacological. he also says that legalization can also be expected to increase the number of doses consumed simply because it will be easier to obtain. harm -- totalmble harm related to marijuana could rise even if the average harm predose falls. what you think about that line? guest: because back to what you see as the harms associated with marijuana. the sake of conversation, we concede that there may be some harms associated. issue,ack to the alcohol you just have to compare the two. that assumption by that columnist is that there will be more doses and therefore more harm. how many doses of alcohol are

there? are some doses of alcohol being substituted for marijuana? a dose of alcohol has more harm than a marijuana dose. we are actually reducing harm in society if people have a dose of marijuana instead of a dose of alcohol. you cannot just look at marijuana by itself and say that we are increasing the level of harm in society. it's a much bigger picture and needs to be studied. host: because you said alcohol, alcohol is sold to adults. we know that kids trick it. -- drink it. drugs are supposed to be for adults. kids take it. guest: absolutely. what we have seen over the past 20 years is that through enforcement of regulations like that thered program has been a significant drop in alcohol use and a significant

drop in tobacco use both among teens, but marijuana use has been flat. an argument could be made that once we put it in stores and make it harder for teens to acquire right now. teens say it is very easy to acquire with it all being illegal. like one of the callers said, it's almost everywhere. once we regulated and put it in stores and card, we could use.e reduction in teen what we have seen in colorado is that teen use was about 25% back in 2011. now it is that 21% now. it seems like there has been some decline in colorado. certainly not a steep increase of any kind. we will continue to work with that and educate teens and try to reduce teen years. fox is our guest and the cofounder of the national cannabis industry association. he also deals with a law firm in town. how did you become a pot lawyer?

sorry for the term, but it's the easiest way to describe you. guest: i've always been more of a policy person and i've been lobbying on this issue since 2002, almost 15 years now, starting with the marijuana policy project and i've just been lobbying since that time. most of the term i do with the law firm's policy related. host: is this working with states or groups interested? guest: in terms of the policy work? yeah. the law firm works with clients who are engaged in the state legal industry. in terms of the work i do, it is working on ballot initiatives and working with other groups like the national cannabis industry association and trying to change laws on the federal level. it's a variety. host: what is the next round of states adjusted in looking at this issue? guest: we could probably see a few more states moving toward

medical. it could be a wide variety with now arkansas and florida moving in that direction. there have been conversations in georgia, texas, and others. in terms of adult use, rhode island has always been looking at the seriously now with massachusetts making it legal. there could be a greater push their since their residence may just drive to massachusetts now. why not make it legal in rhode island? we will see. vermont is another one that has shown momentum in the past. that may be possible. host: what is here next from earl in burlington, massachusetts, independently. caller: mr. fox, a question for you. and nativearijuana americans, what do you see happening for native american

and for the states who have decided, such as massachusetts, to allow marijuana used to be part of it? secondly, what do you feel about the cost? they are rather high for inclusion in to in this -- into this. guest: yeah, i mentioned earlier that in 2013 the department of justice put out a memo saying that if you are acting in accordance with the state marijuana law that you would not be a priority of the federal government. there was a later memo related to activity on tribal land, which basically gave similar guidance. despite that, it has been a little slow going from what i have seen in terms of having any activity on tribal lands. detail why into deep that is, but it seems like there

may be some federal resistance to that. we have to see how that evolves over time. in terms of the cost issue that you raised, that may have to do companiesicensing of to get involved in this space and there definitely can be some high barriers to entry. how thelly depends on state is deciding how their system will be regulated, if they are strictly regulating the number of producers there will be, which then includes all kinds of costs associated with participating in that competitive application process. there are also high application and licensing fees as well, which states feel are necessary to cover the cost of regulating the system. there definitely are costs involved. that will just evolve over time

and we will see where that goes. it could be that once tax revenue start coming in the states have the revenue they need to regulate the system and the licensing fees can be reduced. at that point, we may have locked in producers and it may be harder for other people to enter. it's a really dynamic and evolving field. host: how are businesses doing gaining access to banking services? guest: that's a good question. banking can be challenging. similar to the guidance that was issued in 2013, there was in 2014 byguidance the justice department and the treasury department that basically laid out have financial -- how financial institutions could go about serving people involved in the cannabis industry. that has made it so that financial institutions have become more involved over time once they develop compliance programs that they and their regulators felt ther were

needed. it has become better, but certainly a permanent fix at the federal level would be far than the guidance that exists right now. host: the upcoming and ministration to change those efforts as well and make it difficult on the industries themselves. guest: correct. the guidance could be changed by whichw administration might cause financial institutions to re-examine what is involved and whether to move forward or not. host: audrey is from florida, democrats want. line. caller: hello. i am a retired drug counselor. the gentleman you had him before that was a drug counselor, i share many of the same concerns that he had. the main problem that i have with marijuana, i would hate to see people get arrested for it. i think that should be put down

to maybe a misdemeanor or , like a fine or something. i do not think it is good to arrest people for smoking marijuana. here's my major concern and i hope you will really hear this. back when i was doing counseling, my understanding was that if you smoke marijuana on a regular basis, it would stay in your system. if you smoked it to-three times a week, it would always been your system. if there is harm connected with marijuana, it is going to be there. i've personally seen that. .ust be aware in the fattys tissues of your cells and all of your cells have fatty tissue. do you really want that in your system all the time if you smoke on a regular basis? host: audrey, thank you. guest: i said a number of times

that i certainly want to be sensitive to concerns people may have about marijuana. we are not here to say that it is without harm. i will say again that subsistence -- substances used from prescription drugs to alcohol to fast food to soda and so on, there are harms associated with all kinds of substances. marijuana has been studied for decades and the harms seem to be quite limited. all we ask of drug counselors and others is to provide patients wit or people whom they meet with that they provide them honest information about the relative harms of various substances. if you are talking to patients about marijuana and the harms, we hope you are also talking to them about the harms of alcohol, the harms of opioids and so on.

if it turns out someone is addicted to opioids, which can be deadly, and find that they are better able to treat the pain they may be treating with the opioids and they may be able to treat it with marijuana instead, as many nfl players are not talking about, there needs to be an honest conversation about that. we just can't talk about marijuana as if it is so supremely dangerous that it should not be talked about or considered for use. in a society where alcohol is freely available and freely used, we need to be honest about the fact that marijuana is actually objectively less harmful and should be talked about in that context. host: teddy from gettysburg, pennsylvania, good morning. caller: good morning. yes, i had a question about if anybody has been discussing or making any headway towards

changing the laws regarding jobs andug tests for preemployment ones, because for a lot of people, that is actually more oppressive than getting a fine or getting caught by the law. if you smoke a joint on the weekends, like the lady said before, it stays in your system for over a month. that is not really fair. a person should not be judged throughout the week for what he did possibly on the weekend. if anybodywondering is trying to fight that fight or not. thank you. guest: that is a good question. what we have seen with the ballot initiatives that have passed is we wanted to be andletely fair to employers allow things to evolve over time.

the initiatives that have passed have generally allowed employers to maintain whatever policies are currently have -- they currently have. as the caller notes, that isn't necessarily fair. as someone who consumes cannabis legally under state law on a friday, they should not be at risk of losing their job if they are tested on monday or tuesday because yes, it can stay in the system for a while. that is something that is just going to have to evolve over time and we will see whether employers modify their policies and make sure that whatever policy they have is actually testing for actual impairment and not just the presence of metabolites in the system. host: we have a viewer who says smoking is brutal. nt model is madness. if it is medicine, make it medicine.

guest: there are people working on making it a medicine. if people want to use it in that way, they will. there are people who are creating fake pens for marijuana, which are like e-cigarettes in a way. it will therefore eliminate the smoking. there are also vaporizers that heat the marijuana to a point just lower than combustion so you just inhale the canal anoints without the smoke. nabanoids without the smoke. just like we haven't made cigarettes illegal, that will be an option for people. as people become health conscious about this, if they want to enjoy cannabis without smoking, they certainly can. host: what is the edible market like this for marijuana? guest: it is pretty significant

at this point. there are a wide variety of products whether they are tablets or capsules or chocolate or whatever. significant segment of the market and some people prefer consuming cannabis in that way instead of smoking or vaporizing. host: let us hear from jim and park hills, missouri, republican line. good morning. caller: good morning to you. my concern is the language of things. the cannabis marijuana hit. back in the early 1900s, there were survey saying we wouldn't have to cut the trees down if we started actually growing hemp and marijuana and things like that. so could you elaborate on the language of marijuana hemp?

in that way people get more of an understanding fo. i support it 100% because i believe there are some many more uses besides the medical side. i saw henry ford make car parts and fuel and things like that. if you could elaborate on the it please? guest: trying to do it briefly, starting with hemp, hemp is part of the cannabis family, but it is a non-intoxicating plant like the flowers you would get from hemp wouldn't be something that you would smoke or consume for intoxicating purposes. use theown primarily to fiber from the stock, whether it , for buildingg materials, and so on.

it has many beneficial uses. then you have cannabis, which has thc, a higher level of thc in the flowers. what is used for what is typically known as marijuana, name thateally just a was put on cannabis back in the early 1900s. some say there were racial connotations calling to it marijuana, associating it with mexicans and so on. that name stuck over time. when it comes right down to it, there is hemp, which is nonintoxicating, and cannabis, which is potentially intoxicating. within that, there are a whole abanoids which would take a long time to get

into, but are interesting in terms of how they can be beneficial for health purposes. i would just mention cbd is a nabanoid. thc asople hear about the intoxicating, but cbd has many beneficial effects as has been highlighted on cnn with son sanjay gupta. for a guestall comes from peter in richmond, virginia, independent line. caller: my question has to do with confusion i have about the dynamic in which we have regular american citizens holding onto something medically viable. isn't that a decision for doctors to make? isn't that a decision that should be based on good

data-driven science and research? is that something the fda should be looking at carefully rather than a bunch of regular citizens who are voting on whether or not a certain herb is medicinally useful or not? i don't understand why we are leaving such important decisions to regular citizens rather than scientists, fda specialists, and so on. to walmart and get st. johns wort off the shelf without the fda saying something about it. why is this a decision we are leaving at the hands of regular citizens? host: sorry to cut you off, but only because we are running out of time. guest: it's a really good question. for an answer, you would really have to go way back into the war on marijuana. or cannabis was,

a product that was used medically akin early 1900s. -- back in the early 1900s. then the war on marijuana started and that was no longer there. studies of marijuana has been blocked for decades. attempts to do research, attempts to have marijuana cultivated for research purposes , all these things have been blocked by the federal government over the years. if the federal government had allowed research on marijuana to move forward decades ago, we would not have ever been in a position where the people of states had to vote to make it legal. peopletom line is that knew that it is helpful. i talked about it here how the use of marijuana seems to be able to reduce the use of opioids in the states. it is an effective pain reliever. it helps people with cancer through chemotherapy.

it helps people with ms. people in the states have realized there is no reason to arrest patients who want to use naturally that grows to alleviate their pain. that is where we are. host: steve fox is the cofounder of the national cannabis industry association, also a lawyer on this issue. what are your efforts going to be looking like in the days before the transition of power? are you going to directly appeal to the trump administration? guest: yeah, we are absolutely going to make the case that what is happening now is what the people of the states want. the people of the states do not want people punished for using marijuana. they also do not want the chaos of criminals and cartels running the marijuana trade. that is what the states have done. we do not want criminals and cartels. we want regulated, taxpaying businesses producing and selling tract and tested product.

if the trump administration stands in the way of that, all the revenue and the business and the crime goes back underground. that will be worse for everyone. host: steve fox, thank you. coming up, we're going to be joined to the head of the group freedom works, adam brandon. talking about be what faces the president-elect and the republican congress when it comes to issues like lowering taxes and regulations. that discussion next on "washington journal." ♪ >> with donald trump elected as

the next u.s. president, maloney a trunk becomes our nation second foreign-born first lady since louisa catherine average. learn more about the influence of presidential spouses from c-span's book "first ladies." the book is a look into the personal lives and influence of every presidential spouse in american history. it is a companion to c-span's well biography -- well-regarded biography tv series and features interviews with 34 of the nation's leading historians and archival photos from each of their lives. "first ladies" published by public affairs is available wherever you buy books and now available in paperback. we are asking students to participate in this years studentcam video documentary competition by telling us what is the most urgent issue for our next president, donald trump, and incoming congress to address

in 2017. our competition is open to all middle school and high school students grades six through 12. students can work alone or in a group of three to produce a five or seven minute documentary on issues selected. the grand prize will go to the student or team with the best overall entry. cash prizes will be awarded in shared between 150 .tudents and 53 teachers this year's deadline is january 20 2017. that is inauguration day. for more information, go to our website at studentcam.org. announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: joining us now is adam brandon, president and ceo of the group freedom works good morning. guest: things for having me on. host: how would you describe it to people? guest: we are a national grassroots group and most people associate us with the early days of the tea party movement.

we are often identified as libertarian or conservative. host: in the days of the incoming trump administration, what do you see as far as your limited government and what they intersect with what mr. trump would like to do? guest: there are things that i have dreamed of doing like the reins act. it would basically said that if a regulation has $100 million in cost, it has to be voted by congress. i boiled down our issue set into two things. theupport article one of constitution, which is separation of powers between the executive branch and congress. the 10th amendment, allowing the states to be laboratories of democracy. my great fear, of course, is power centralizing in washington. it doesn't matter if it's republican or democrat, but if power is centralized in the white house, bad things will probably happen to the country. i'm optimistic right now that we will be able to separate that power and diffuse that power a little bit in d.c.

host: i want to read you a line from a story in "the washington post." " mr. trump's agenda which includes a big infrastructure program and preserving medicare and social security may find more support among democrats than republicans." play that out as far as your point of view. guest: i'm waiting to see. the devil is always in the details when you get to this. when president obama pushed a stimulus package that included the shovel ready programs, we were against that because we look at that as just adding on debt for i'm not really sure what the return was. one of my problems with shovel ready programs is that if you're trying to build a new bridge across the ohio river, inmate take up to three years of engineering studies and whatnot before you can turn the first shovel. i expect that infrastructure to be a little different. i expected to be part of a tax policy where there will be some repatriation of funds from overseas. of dollarsllions

from american companies because of our uncompetitive tax code . if you stage a 10% tax on that and bring it back and you raise $200 billion and you see an infrastructure bank, so it is not controlled by folks here in washington. would have to show up with some cash as well to leverage that money to build that. i would not be as opposed to that as i am to running up the hundred billion dollars in new debt. when it comes to social security and medicare, the cbo says 90% of our debt and deficit going to the future is going to be driven by the entitlement programs. you do need to make some changes their. re. when you're looking at a world with growth, those changes social security and medicare almost impossible. step 1 -- get to growth. that will open up the climate for potentially doing changes on social security and medicare. host: our guest talking about these various topics is adam

brandon, joining us. if you want to ask questions, (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, and (202) 748-8002 for independents. trumpesident-elect promoted anything that in your mind would be a good way to grow the economy? guest: there are two things i hear right off the bat. when i talked to both activists across the country, you hear about taxes and everyone would like to see a more streamlined and simple fight tax code. that is the main thing you hear. you do not hear about the rates as much as you hear about regulation. a regulation because most people think i know what the tax rates are if you make certain adjustments. regulation -- that is hard to build a business off of. these unaccountable bureaucrats in d.c. randomly willy-nilly will pass a massive regulation.

i think being promised regulatory relief is going to be a massive jumpstart to the economy. ofyou could do a hearing three different tax rates, between text application and the regulatory belief, i believe you will be starting to see america at 3% growth by the end of the year. host: i hear regulation and if you are not a business owner, i do not know how regulation affects me. guest: for instance, let me take an extreme example right now where it really affects folks, and that as people working in places like west virginia and the coal industry. differentt regulations on power plants that basically eliminated their entire industry. that is one example of regulations just killing jobs. you look at other regulations that do a lot to raise the consumer cost, whether it is regulating the sugar industry's of that you protect domestic sugar producers. what does that have a knock on effect of doing? candy producers and so the producers, they do not use of

high but fructose corn syrup instead. there is a new ingredient introduced and it impacts all our lives. it's because of regulation try to protect our domestic sugar production. host: adam brandon with freedom works. 2006.bsite started in you were press secretary and now president and ceo. guest: i thought i would be there from two years and now here i am. host: this is susan on the independent line. you are on with adam brandon. go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you very much for taking my call. a big concern is that everyone mentions social security and medicare. number 1 -- i would like to know why social security has not been paid a dedicated fund so that congress cannot spend our money. sides, have taken

billions out of the social security fund. secondly, the same thing with medicare. out of our social security checks, we pay a monthly payment into our medicare whether we like it or not. those of us who are retired and have to work to make some kind of ends meet, we again have to pay into medicare. medicare is double dipping. the other thing i would like to point out is that if the retired folks didn't have to work, we are taking jobs away from the younger people. host: thanks, caller. guest: the caller brings up a lot of great points. she was referring to something that al gore originally championed when he ran as a social security lockbox. those funds would be put into a fund for social security.

when you look at the numbers and actuarial tables, i know it can get mindnumbing and boring, but it's not a joke. the social security fund is a bunch of ious that the government has put into a bunch of folders kept in the state of west virginia right now. money that people paid into social security has gone to just about everything in the budget decide social security. -- besides social security. the only reason that program will keep going is a future taxes keep telling in -- going in. in the private sector, that's called upon to scheme. i feel bad for the color. my parents rely on social security. when you fix social security, current retirees with medicare and medicaid are paid in full. you have to honor your promises. who are younger folks below age 30, they have the option to choose between social security or basically a version of a 401(k) that they can save into. that will help them boost their

retirement savings and security going forward. decatur,n from illinois, democrats line, your next. caller: good morning. my question is why don't legislators, lobbyists go home when they get done serving their time? why do they have to hang around and suck off the government for a job. here and there? guest: i really enjoy that comment. one of the things that i take up and really enjoyed that donald trump has said is when he talks about draining the swamp. , i am do find the swamp actually writing a piece right now on what the swamp is. it is not technically legally corruption, but when you look at a congressman who comes to town and after a couple of terms leave to go work on case three as a lobbyist and there sat loose -- their salaries explodes. the reason the k street exist is the complexities and government. instead of a complex tax code, a

simpler tax code. instead of a complex revelatory environment, you have fewer regulations and very clear regulations. in the complexity, that is where washington works. that is where the swamp is. even when you get a big change, you will often notice a change. it is the lobbyists on k street trading for special favors. if there's one thing we can support with the proper administration, it is a training that swap -- draining that swamp. host: when it comes to change in the tax code, is the climate the same in 1986 when it was last on? guest: i am actually looking at how it was done in 1986. everyone hears about the filibuster and 60 votes, but you can also use a tactic called reconciliation, which is something i don't fully understand because it's very complex.

you can use it to pass bills with 51 votes. i'm looking to see how they did that in the past and i believe that's how you will do that going forward. if you're someone like me who looks at these policies, when you have the senate and you have the senate and it's enough of a majority in the house, you have to go for it right now. pass tax reform in this climate, it may not be possible. host: what does it mean that house speaker paul ryan -- what is immune going forward and -- what does it mean going forward? guest: heading into this election, there's a lot of speculation if you would be able to return as speaker. donald trump selection kind of satan. save him. why? he has the agenda donald trump wants to push in on the other side he has the house freedom caucus that also wants to push an aggressive fiscal conservative policy. in between there is where the

speaker will be able to operate. everyone is more comfortable with the fact that the speaker has to push this agenda forward. if you does not push this agenda forward, he is going to have problems on one side or the other. host: four brackets under present trucks proposed -- president trumps proposed tax code. is this donald trump adopting the house version? guest: i don't think it really matters. what is interesting right now is that a few weeks ago everyone was predicting massive civil war on the conservative and libertarian side where we would just be battling each other. actually what you see is the unification. we have 3-4 months to get a lot of things through. we have plenty of time to disagree on a lot of the details, but we agree on the big things like regulatory o relief and simple find the tax code. let's go right now. host: let's hear from edward on the republican one.

caller: my name is edward espinosa. i'm a union trades member out here in california. a questionsk you about funding for infrastructure projects throughout the country. , there is partially funded construction projects all across the country that are being shelved right now. would it be a good approach for the government to go into these principalities and pull these construction projects off-the-shelf, fully fund them, and put people back to work? hundreds of union construction workers to work all across the united states without having to fully fund these projects. they are all over the place. what is your opinion on that, mr. brandon? guest: thank you very much. i agree that if folks like you are not back to work, we will not have the country growing at 3%. the first major effort structure project you will see is mostly privately funded and that is going to be some of these pipelines across america's middle section.

what you will see with infrastructure, the problem i want to try to avoid is that the infrastructure decisions are being driven here in d.c. as the previous caller alluded to, if it is done through d.c., there's going to be all kinds of special hands in the pot instead of what is the most important thing we need to do with these precious dollars. path forward with an aftershock for bank where local municipalities have to put their own skin in the game so it's not just a bike trail or a bridge to nowhere, but it's a hey we need this bridge and new runway. we need this vital piece of infrastructure to grow our economy. it is not been decided by folks here. it is being decided by folks back were going to be using this investment. host: south carolina, democrats line, let's hear from gummi. caller: hello. good morning and thank you for c-span. with the election of trump and

hearing people like your guest, both saddens and frightens me. i'm saddened to because the wealth of this country was built on the backs of slaves for 300-400 years of free labor and almost free labor. we depend greatly on some of the entitlements that your guest is talking about limiting. frightened because the less power that the federal government has and the more power given to the states means that our voting rights are in , are living arrangements are in jeopardy. we cannot live and make the money we are capable of because of what happened during the early 1900's around the states

right issues. again, thank you for c-span. it's great to be able to tune in every morning to hear your discussions. host: thank you, caller. guest: the two numbers i always forect upon is that america's workers, they have not received a pay raise since 1999. the second number i always think about is when this current administration ends, we are going to be sitting on $20 trillion in debt. these numbers are not sustainable. for all americans, and it does not matter what race or whether you live on the east coast, midwest, or center of the country, you have to start raising wages for everyone and you have to get this debt under control. , the single greatest threat to our nation is our debt. that is why i believe pro growth is going to be good for everyone. it does not matter your history or ethnicity. if your country is growing at 3%, that is when the country is

getting pay raises to host. host: here's the headline from politico. guest: what i see with the debt and the deficit is that there is -- i mentioned the $20 trillion in debt. it's him was impossible to chip away unless you begin with growth. we have just come through the first economic decade in our history that we have not grown at over 3%. but i think you are seeing here is for the next two years, let us put growth first. you get back to 3% growth. what you actually saw one tax cuts happened under bush and reagan and when they happened under the first supply-sider, john kennedy, what happened? taxes went down and revenues went up. that is when places like freedom' works comes into play. once that money starts flowing again, that is when he and told the line on spending. the way you get the countries

that under control is one growth goes up and spending is flatlined. after a few years, we will not have to worry about our debt in our deficit. host: lakeland, florida, independent line, here's john for adam brandon. alaska, there is no state tax and every resident of alaska gets a check because of oil. the united states has a lot of oil on federal lands. why don't they put a tax on that and that goes into the health care? the government loves surcharges. why doesn't the government put searches -- surcharges and every agency? that money should go in to help her. premise agree with the that we have an absolute

treasure of energy resources across this country. it is not just places like alaska. dakota,aces like north ohio, and i believe there was a new find a couple days ago in texas. useideas that if we those resources wisely, there is windfall resources we could use for either fixing infrastructure or for health care or for whatever we decide as a country to use those resources for. we do have to decide as a country that we're going to tap into them. we talk about social security earlier. maybe you can use some of the windfalls from the energy exploration to transition social security to a sustainable system. host: we have a fewer who asked this question. he puts that". quotes. guest: the irony is that it is

the oil and gas industry that has been contributing an additional 1.5% or 2% per year. when you look in our gdp numbers, almost all growth and united states, and there's a reason that you see it centralized in places like texas and north dakota, it has come from the energy industry. coming from ohio, while the industry was booming, you had steel mills in places that were pumping out steel pipes for the industry. if we do allow increased production of those resources, it has a knock on effect across the entire country. host: guy from falsity, washington, democrats line, go ahead. caller: i would like to make a point. we have $21 trillion in debt, but her assets in this country is $200 trillion. my point is this. i'm 80 years old.

i've seen are assets go to private industry, privatized, privatized, privatized. that is what the whole system is. dakota, oil and north watch them give it away to private industry. that is what they are drilling now. assets to be that belonged to americans, the government, the people. guest: the greatest asset i see we have as a country is a strong economy. again i believe it is essential to get back to 3% economic growth. we have looked at alternative ways to manage the economy in recent years and they have not produced that growth. once again that is why i'm excited about fundamental tax reform and i am very excited about regulatory relief as i do believe we will get back to 3% growth at the end of the european -- end of the european host year. host: one approach is a public-private partnership.

how does that work? guest: hypothetically how it would be is that you bring that concept of skin in the game. there is money available. let's say that bridge cost $100 million. if you bring $20 million down today, the infrastructure bank would make sure that $100 million goes out. banking the infrastructure hypothetically, you're actually putting projects that have an economically viable return. i was reading this engineer study when they were siding all these bridges in ohio and pennsylvania that are dilapidated. in the back of my mind, i wonder , do we even need all those bridges? should we focus on those resources on the parts of if the search absolute critical? maybe the bridge built in the 1920's is not necessary. i think my hometown of cleveland -- it does not have a nice airport, but it's functional and works.

every time i go home for thanksgiving, the airport works fine. i would rather we not build a new airport in cleveland but focus on a bridge collapsing someplace. if that bridge closed, it would have a nasty effect on the local economy. host: mr. trump does get his of fundingrms infrastructure. would you advocate the highway funding bill? guest: it typically comes at a places here in d.c.. find that there is a public ceremony will train that goes through little rock, arkansas. i never see people on the train. wherebypass in places they are great and they might not be the highest and important use of our infrastructure needs. host: adam brandon joining us on a discussion of economic policy and the incoming trump administration. roxy, you're next. you are from tennessee on the

republican line. roxy, go ahead. let's try maria. maria is in westfield, new jersey, independent line. thanks for calling. caller: thank you, pedro. i three areas that i wish her guest would address. if mr. trump is in favor of auditing the fed and the defense department with the black budget were a lot of foreign projects for infrastructure or hidden. the second area -- i wanted to know whether he is going to insist with the trade agreements with infrastructure that we use american steel, merrick products, and american workers. -- american products, and a mac and workers. -- american workers. the third and most important one ct preventinga

congress people from profiting from inside information. my understanding is that eric thatr put in something families could still benefit from this. if you could cover all these areas, i would be grateful. guest: i will go through these as quickly as possible. again, i have a lot of concerns way the pentagon does spend an account for money. hen i talk to military folks, they say there is waste, fraud and abuse in prot curement necessarily not systemic across the entire agency can take a look in their books and find

ways to better use their resources. when it comes to trade and the comment about american steel for projects, i re believe mr. trump is very serious about renegotiating a deals, however,e we have to remember we want to sell our goods to foreign it is ents, make sure equal trading field so that if buy, the american government is going to be able to buy foreign goods for use, we to make sure foreign countries buy our goods, as well. to inside es information, it is stunning to me the problems you have here in dc with the inside information and that is why, hey, i'm in for the swamp, you simplify things and make clear rules and away tions and take incentive for the profit. if there are so many decisions in washington, d.c. that drive business, that is a problem, you'd rather the are made on sions

business decision not political calculation. when it comes to trade, a story talks about surviving an appointment. they say that mr. trump appears rolf ve included hundrededberg, jr., to head up team for the transition and talks about how chamber of commerce is a lobby group in the represents american business interest and around the globe. guest: sure. we've had quarrels with the chamber on different spending and priorities, but my big trade ead of one dozen ou will see a different trade deals, with india, singapore, that is how it will move forward. you can find a specific issue, their sticking point, you are enough car parts and blocking our milk exports in for opening up some other sector of the economy. host: what do you think about administration renegotiating nafta?

do you think that is possible? is t: certainly anything possible. host: do you think it is probably? guest: four thing the trump needs to do, four promises they need to do. border security, that was the his that launched campaign, there has to be some border.on the regulatory reform, obamacare and has to e taxes. he deliver on the four issues. nafta renegotiation, i see is part, but i think the four main things you will see in the next -- first quarter of next year. >> moderator: next up maryland, atlanta, good good, go ahead, the guest.with caller: good morning, how are you this morning? it is wonderful, i listen to you the time. i have a question. out, dent obama is president trump is in, congratulations. i want to find out what he's do for homeowners? obama didn't do anything.

would ingle female, they not allow me to -- but yet our did.ident that doesn't make sense. is he going to try to help and concentrate to make america great again and bring back jobs? call delta airlines, somebody the phone, nswers and people in atlanta can't get the job. ing to do that? guest: i think it comes back to magic of hitting the number of three or four percent growth, you start seeing jobs appear. it is a little deceiving when employment numbers. unemploy cemetery low, labor articipation, lowest labor participation rates in the last 50 years. that means people are not job.ng for a once you start getting growth

back, you will see jobs reemerge talking about, bringing the call center job back to the united states. y question, i don't specifically if the call center job would come back, once you get higher growth rate, there demand for goods and services and start seeing people market.in the job host: here is dean from hot springs, arkansas, republican line. and r: yes, statement question. basically getting on the last caller, outsourcing is a problem west of the united states. big companies and everything start outsourcing like crazy, is there any way or do you think it would the government if the would force companies to pay the same wages or more for people working for the company on the outside to bring here?bs back because they're sending jobs out

is merica because it basically like slave labor, it is cheaper. say,if you make the company okay, you're going to outsource, for example, that lady talked line system, e okay, if you make that company say, okay, you've got to pay wages or more than you will pay in america, maybe they'll send the jobs back here, what do you think about that? guest: i don't understand the there.nt when you ask employers why they end people or jobs overseas, labor as percentage, and not factor.ily the driving we have the highest corporate tax rate in the world, the tax rate.rp rat when you look at regulations we aggressive e a very regulatory system. f you hold the regulatory bureaucracy back, you lower the rate so that our corporations face similar rate in the united as they do elsewhere, you

take away most incentive to move overseas. host: new york is where alberto calling on our independent line. us. are on with good morning. caller: good morning. yeah, how come this country for the any money people, for the americans? they have money for other people want, for they example, they give 2 billion dollars, i understand israel gets 4 billion for year and will billion for next 10 years, what do they do with that money? education, , free free health insurance, we can't obamacare over here, can't get no kind of insurance. thousands of ds of dollars in education. american people and that is what is never talked about. caller, i don't want to keep going back to my

same point tis true, we need to to 3 or 4% economic growth and people will feel increase. since 1999, america has not seen significant pay increase. to the question you brought up about foreign aid, i know it is hard for peep when he infrastructureat problems or the healthcare problem or other issues and is sending billions f dollars around the world, i think that is why trump's main points is he is pulling money back from different projects nations and one reason he won election, people are looking, we need to take problems at home. if you go around to our inner cities and neighborhoods, they bad shape and why fix and in cessary nigeria, sia, we need to fix ohio and michigan. host: "wall street journal" this morning, pictures and listings trump's key economic

advisors, steven moore, who will on thursday, david wilbur navarro. peter of that list, who do you like and who gives you pause? guest: that is like a dream team ist when you lay it out, work with stephen moore at freedomworks. the other gentlemen you mention, these are pro-growth folks, folks i know, they look at the what it takes w to break out of this economic stagnation we have. that is one thing that gets me excited about what is going to happen in the country. an opportunity to get growth back. host: with that in mind who, is your mind to n head treasure and he commerce? wilbur ross, look invested sinesses he's in, talk about american manufacturing, the steel mill in ltv steel closed, the

factory closed. as good as dead and he put a consortium together and labor, creditors and back up and mill running. fire is shooting out of the moke stack and wilbur ross did that. if he could do that, in what i saw in cleveland with he do that g, could elsewhere? he did the impossible. david kudlow. if you hear his mantra, about getting growth back to the there is also nd i've heard larry kudlow and moore, they make morale cause for growth. what it does for people, what it oes for the economy, the choices it gives you, economic growth isn't just about raising numbers, it's about giving a choice on what you can do with you kids for school, what can do where you buy a house, what you do for vacation. come hing necessary life from economic growth.

host: stephen moore will be here this program.on from pennsylvania, democrats line, go ahead, thank you for calling. caller: good morning. i watch c-span everyday. fracking in t pennsylvania and taxes on the never got a penny out of that got ly people benefit from the fracking was $8 ernor corbet, who got million toward his campaign. oil, who are making profit. texas,ackers went back to the people that leased out land are getting billed for roads put on their property taxes, governor 5%, he supposed to get pledged when running for office, i don't hear anything about axes coming out of the oil wells or pipelines.

like a ines are sort of one-way street, right to the top. and it is like 1% mentality. well, the energy industry is historically a risky industry. you can become wealth nethe oil industry and you can lose your easily.ery with oil prices now low, once you start seeing oil prices will see more economic activity being reengaged. mentioned a,ter, i how high does price of gas and american o be for companies to start producing again? guest: closer to 60 or 70 dollars again. if you grow the economy, demand will rise. you said growing the when we o many times,

left the recession, following trends, gdp would have been here. 2 trillion dollar gap between histore cal average and what we ended up doing. that is where i believe hidden is.wth what caused that growth to not happen, i look at reth latory that, we y, you change will start to close that gap. columbia, maryland, tom, go you are on with our guest calling on the republican line. good morning. good morning. re regulatory, does that mean poisoning the air and water?ng the 'll tell you something, how cousins t.v., they my

of all their too.ement and their jobs, host: got you, tom. steel specifically, the company went bankrupt, the problem is pensions were tied with the company and the company went bankrupt. i was referring to ross coming in and taking the company and into something profitable. i guarantee you, the few thousand steel workers working former ltv plant producing steel in cleveland, ohio today, are happy to have plant. and i continuing is clear, no one wants to have air like china rivers, but when ou look at how the regulatory state has been used, make some competitive. anyone thinks we will return to era of early has trial age, but balance tipped too far to the regulatory camp. more call from stacy

in silver spring, maryland. caller: hi. morning. i was just thinking maybe trump his business back and maybe ignite other ompanies to bring their business back. thank you. guest: well, we were talking earlier about trump's economic coming together. what you will see as break from the past, where you see a lot of people coming from the public sector, government folks going into government, you will see a private sector folks going into government and if ou -- people, i think you look at who voted for trump, people are voting because they want to see economic growth. is history books we'll take a look back on donald he p and see like, hey, did get the economy growing at 3%? if he does, he will be he doesn't, he didn't get the economy growing, that is what it is based on. is freedomworks, the website freedomworks.org, to things ut policies and they advocate.

he guest is adam brandon and is the president and c.e.o. of freedomworks. thank you for your time. guest: thank you very much. in the final 45 minutes, you hinted in the first uestion, we want to engage in discussion in the last 45 minutes about the electoral you see a need for its abolishment, especially last concerns, after the election. if you support that, 202-748-8000. it, 202-748-8001. we'll take those calls when continues. journal" >> here are featured programs hursday, thanksgiving day, on c-span. just after 11 a.m. eastern, ben values, merican founding fathers and the purpose

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k-d app. oeblth "washington journal" continues. host: this idea of the last of , since the abolishment the electoral college because results of the election, get that concept.on if you support that idea, 202-748-8000. oppose that idea, 202-748-8001. air on entioning it on this program. legislatively, an effort going back to a , take you story from a few days ago by the california senator barbara boxer saying she'll introduce legislation to get rid of the college after hillary clinton the election, she went on to be quoted as saying nmy lifetime, i've seen two elections where the winner of the general election did not win the popular vote n. 2012, donald trump tweeted disaster for couldn't agree more, one person, one vote.

she added, hillary clinton, whom supported, is on track to receive more votes from a few presidential any candidate in riftry, except for president obama. electoral system does not reflect modern society and needs immediately, she added. with those idea necessary mind, 202-748-8000. you support this idea. and 202-748-8001 if you oppose it. you can also make your thoughts nown on our twitter page at c-spanwj. if you want to post on the facebook page facebook.com/c-span. we'll start with sue, sue is in othville, illinois, she supports this idea. good morning, sue. tell us why. morning.good thank you for c-span. want to say the word gerrymandering, i think problem and i a

statesant to see in both and national elections buy us in electoral vote. i feel that mesh americans are voters are sufficiently sophisticated and a variety of sources for their information the politics and policies of our country. and, i feel that when the electoral vote does not majority of people who have voted and that has twice in modern history. so i have to say i'm frustrated that a person like elected by ould be the electoral college, that i to try to support removes the e that electoral college.

host: terry in mound, texas, who opposes this idea. terry, go ahead. yes, with the populous vote, with the changing vote would be a nondemocratic citizen in my view would have people that would be like in -- we'll texas, if texas had a ertain view to support one particular candidate then why would that candidate then go and popular d get all the votes because we would have the most population, then why would go and try to n get support from other parts of states?ted the electoral system helps not one the fact that particular ideology will ctually take the popular vote and leave everyone else, all the

other americans left aside. host: jeff, of the boston globe, ing ditorial, defend electoral college said this n. unitary there is new popular vote for the house of representatives, republicans majority of popular vote or the house on election day, collecting about 56.3 million votes and democrats got 53.2 million. advantage, democrats control 44% of house seats when convenes? unfair? nonthe least. election, not one mass nationwide vote. ontrol of prez dense sedetermined not in a single rand site, but in 51 state level election. mr. trump won 50% of the majority inesighsive the tally that counted. hearndon, xt, from virginia. line to support abolishment of

go ahead.e. caller: thanks for taking my call. an argument to the rt the electoral over individual vote falls on -- the with if you e in took away electoral and had then any vote g, anywhere in the united states is no more important than a vote elsewhere. a vote in a big state of florida, noate like more important than a vote in people i don't see how argue to keep electoral college that is more emblam attic and have votes matter for tate election, should be same for national election. i just think it is lunacy to otherwise. host: donald trump weighing in

on this very issue by tweet. this, when this argument or idea was being advertised put out in the public market. if the election were based on have popular vote, i would campaigned in new york, florida and california and won even easily.nd more let's go to laura, in hazelpark, supporter of apolishing the college. hi. waukt caller: i'm in support of electoral college because what i'm seeing is it is ot taken seriously anymore in regard to what their role is as elector. the elector was established by fathers to prevent presidentm becoming hold that t to

office. and does not have the skillset or the education or ability to do that job in that current role nd right now the electoral college represents partisan we tics and i think that need to abolish the electoral ollege because that no longer exists. elector are finding an based on wanting to use it the intended, re fathers that goes against everything that we believe in as a democracy. host: you may have heard about at least to -- advocate or lobby electors to change their vote. will gain any at traction? caller: unfortunately, as much for it to, i e don't think that it will. everything is so partisan.

it's not based on the will of the people, it's based on what they're obligated to do when they are nominated or elected to tie positions and they their hands. think that the people who are asking them to really seriously it at the issue are taking seriously. nd i agree with it and i'm not saying that switch your vote to hillary, i'm not saying switch saying this man is not qualified to be president states.united he is going to put us in danger. i think that they need to really take that responsibility seriously and elect someone who qualified to lead us into the future. hazel park, laura, michigan, we appreciate you calling. jackie, springfield, alabama, opposes the apolishment of the electoral college. us why.tell

caller: because our fore fathers it seems ears ago and like all that politicians now is our g to do away with what fore fathers did and i agree electoral vote because it should go back to states carried the son most electoral votes, it doesn't about anything else. i'm telling you right now, trump looks like he is on top of believe he is i going to be a good president and i believe stian and that all this stuff going on away our eople taking christian rights, it is bothering me. praying ve to keep about it, i do not agree that we need to take away our electoral votes. thank you for taking my call. host: you can call with your this topic. post on facebook page, a there ation takes place while this conversation is going on, that is the case on twitter,

as well. candace cotton says, as long as there is electoral college in i will not waste my time voting again, they proved our vote doesn't matter. agree with her, you may disagree, give us a call on the support the f you idea, at 202-748-8000. it, 202-748-8001. idaho falls, idaho, who opposes this idea. go ahead. caller: good morning. i'd like to say first the college was created to balance small rural states states large populous and it still serves that purpose. states are winner take all and they simply discard losing side and that part of the constitution to require tweaked

the proportional allocation of the electorate. all i have to say. host: would you support if the tate goes that route apportioning the votes? caller: yes, i would. ost: north hollywood, california, also opposer of the idea. james, james, tell us why. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. was listening a month or so ago when you had the fellow on an expert on the electoral college. i was ark mazed how complicated, himself, an expert, has a hard time explaining the populous. complicated matter, yeah. caller: i fall in the same category, i have a little bit of it, i'm a black american and i'm actually pleased by the number of people are nothing saying they opposed to changing it. i strongly feel when we don't that we want, to blame the electoral college is a inaccurate when we don't

large voter very participation rates in the country. e have a lot of political devices like citizens united us being ate against our vote to be accountable. think what people are saying is wrong, they are being misinformed. have informed electorate. e may be educated and sophisticated, but a lot of things we're not fully informed n when it comes to our candidates. but the main thing, this idea not it is not true that, true that it actually helps us an idea in, i think the two-party system, it kind of us to collaborate and compromise. working, i don't think the electoral college is

ot the reason it is not working. host: do you think that because mr. trump is not winning the it may give them pause on policy positions he is out?ng caller: who knows what he is going to do. again, i think that to s electorate, we have look at ourselves and we have to encourage everyone to vote. to be to find ways informed, we have to get our ocal legislator, remember that at one time, the electoral college wasn't determined by the house of representatives in the different states. believe, hanged, i that expert was trying to explain that to us. for them to not represent the will of the general populous, the general vote. that is jame necessary california, reference segments done on this, if you want to see those for ourselves, get

education on how the college works and issues that it had the years, you can go to the website at c-span.org, go to the video library and type in the phrase electoral college and will get various segments from this show, events we've and an over the years attempt to let you know more about it. wild and wonderful from twitter this morning, should the college be preserve? ed people on if you think or several state shoulds electric the president. mckenzie, alabama, those who oppose the idea. roger.rning, caller: thank you for taking my call. im for the electoral college, may have called in on the wrong one, i'm not sure. everybody already said what i say, but you have california or new york state largest have the populations. hey're going to tell alabama to, my state, how to run their

lives, why would we want to stay in the union? you know, it is silly to think lives by ust live our the way you want to live your life. it is stupid. law is set up for the electoral college, it is like saying they get to the -- on w now on all immigration and everything. but they are breaking the laws. alabama en fist decides, we don't like abortion r this law or that law and we decide not to abide by the laws? the left is thinking that it is they are do og this side. they are forgetting the right will start doing it. have to abide by the laws we have. thank you. alabama, er in president obama before he left peru, held a press conference, the press conference he was asked about the house

facing leader, pelosi, a challenge from democrat tim ryan, of ohio. l.a. times picked up the story and others saying he all, endorsed nancy pelosi to continue to lead the house democrat, she faces challenge from rest of members of the democratic he us, the party votes, says, he said that he cannot speak highly enough of the house is a bit eader, here of president obama from the about onference talking nancy pelosi. president obama: so much of was we accomplished accomplished because of her tenacity, her egislative skill and i don't normally medal with party votes on my way out the do shouldn't medal

ere, but i cannot speak highly enough of nancy pelosi. combines strong progressive just extraordinary political skill and does stuff hat is tough, not just stuff that is easy. she's done stuff unpopular in her own base because it is right american people. leader. she's remarkable host: the hill website has a bit ryan just as a bit of information as far as who he is and the background he comes from he's going to be speaking the member ofrity he is a the committee that steer federal ommission, the apropriation panel, he spent a good deal of time promoting college affordability and renewable enhanced access to healthcare. he's been a member of the

emocrats 30-something working group with no absence of irony, the group was created by nancy decade ago. about ssues young care and how congress with better represent opinion on those issues. say ill story goes on to his policy position evolve without controversy. antiabortion democrat who balked abortion coverage joining 64 democrats who voted so-called stu e pac amendment. let's hear from tom, philadelphia, pennsylvania, sking question that the electoral college should abolish and support that. tom, go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you for having me on. i think some people need to look t history of how this really started. it started in southern states

that supported slavery. written by southern politicians which electoral to remove owed them the popular votes. and it allowed people that it allow for everyone's vote to count, not like in the states use power to let citizens that is why e and it is difficult for me to try to people don't know the history of how this all developed, need to look in history. google it. that is how electoral stuff states give southern advantages they call it making everybody equal, but it didn't. we still struggle with letting people vote in this country. opposer of , texas, this idea. nancy, good morning. caller: hi. things.t first of all, we are not a

democracy. founding fathers hated, detested democracy. republic.are are the -- republics supposed to protect the rights of minority against the force of the mob, a democracy. i oppose getting rid of the f. they got lege rid of it, all the government would have to do is focus on large urban centers, so many people are. 100,000 dollars and public works projects and anything they want to have. people would vote for the political party quote, npower. nobody else across the country would matter. nobody what they thought or states thought and different states do different things to

help our country, right? thedon't want to get rid of electoral college, no one else would matter, huge urban centers. thanks. host: from anaheim, california, this next, supporter of idea. go ahead, ed. host: he's gone? let's go to joe, joe in bronx, new york, opposer of the idea. hello. caller: hi. this is joe, from bronx, new york. you do something host: feign, thank you, how about yourself? caller: good. listen, i quote -- i do not want to be ctoral college abolished. now that doesn't mean i'm not republican. to be republican, i might go to -- that is not that. why i am not in favor it, it always, always favor the democrats. democrats would not cry for

that. electoral college in favor of the democrats. the reason man say the electoral college was introduced, exactly he was only of the people say they are republicans, they don't know what they talking about. protect the slave states, okay. that is what it was for. man was right, to protect the slave states, okay. all that in mind, you wouldn't want to see the college go away? don't. no, i it always favored the democrats. emocrats cannot cry because they lose on election, it favors democrats. ost: why do you continuing favored donald trump this time? caller: that is an issue that as we go when ed donald trump get into office, you.telling host: fair point. ill from columbia city, indiana, line for those who

support the abolishment of the electoral college. ahead. caller: okay. pedro, i just watching the the presidential election, i saw that two states striped colors, instead of red and blue. wondering whyd of that is, is electorates split or can they split? why did they put those in stripes? depends who you were watching. some states apportion college but i don't know if that is the answer that is or you are looking for. about the ideank overall of the system that we presidents?t caller: i think it is possibly all right. the woman called in and said republic. i think we're a democratic there,c if i'm not wrong but i think the electoral should stay. i like to know why the striped

theirs, it they do could be explained with delegates up. out see what we can find for you, bill. how about that? there is a piece in "new york times" looking at donald trump, incoming trump administration, when it comes to the iran deal. erdbrink out of deaddead says policies might not be the worst the for iran, he writes in arger context, iran is waiting for the united states to pack up and leave the middle east, closes bases in the region and carriers out of the persian gulf, even with the iran's ings could break way. last week securities signed a to keep ging mr. trump the deal and lately republican necessary congress and groups mr. oppose the deal urged trump to go slowly and consider other ways to pressure iran o. uesday, the house of representatives did just that,

voting to extend some iran additional 10 years, even if the agreement is ipped up, iran might still stand to gain. it is already received tens of billions of dollars in frozen and is selling oil on the world market and cutting deals businesses.n thomas urdbrink for the "new york times" this morning. ead to jim, from oklahoma, opposes abolishment of the college.l go ahead. caller: yes, i am opposed to away with the electoral college. it.eed to keep this is not a democracy, this is republic. benjamin franklin exited the hall or the system of government that we have was created, a woman asked him what form of government was

given and he replied that it was a republic. i think that the electoral was a brilliant way for that time to to set up a system that was fair. today, when we have the two color map of the election sea of red it is a precinct by precinct, except in where there is rioting going on now. i do believe set up a system electoral colle is a brilliant system. host: moses from tennessee, go ahead, you're on. caller: i'm a democrat, i have when sense to know

america is out of place or in with god et proper lmighty because the system is restored. i support electoral voting and i support trump. host: why do you think it should stay in place then? it should stayve in place, look at the founding fathers and how the system is for that , it is made purpose. you understand what i'm saying? alabama, let's hear from lee. lee is an opposer of this idea. lee, good morning. admired you, i've you're a fair man, if you will let me get my points, please. i oppose it. put in riginally made, lace by our forefathers 225 years ago to protect the small

tates from the large states from controlling the elections. popular vote, new york and illinois and california elections overhe the rest of the population. now another point. trump got 65% of the electoral votes, that is amazing. and also, about these people and virginia nois calling in and saying it is not all of this.thing, go read the constitution, the constitution does not have a word in it that says democracy. republic. ist paper the federal republicmadison on the form of government versus democratic mob, they call them. people have never had

civic instructions in high or elementary school. our schools don't teach it anymore. in alabama.s lee if you are on twitter trying to a civics lesson, saying he will abolish the electoral college, two-thirds of congress and three quarters of the state to make it so. states, ns control 32 so it will never happen. twitter anyon off saying the college was devised to prevent someone like donald power.from coming to it obviously doesn't work. you can post on twitter at on facebook.d give us a call on the lines. minutes of ining 12 this program, your thoughts on his effort you heard about to abolish the electoral college. if you support this abolishment 202-748-8000. if you oppose it 202-748-8001. brad from north carolina,

carolina, go h ahead, you are on. caller: yes. media sa shows a map of the states, i hear all these callers calling to say, coast and west coast are democrat and the center of is all red. why don't they put a percentage those flyover or middle missouri, theyke have, the republicans won by 11 points, okay. hy don't they put the percentage of blue in that state and if you'd look at it, then youwould see more blue than would red, people. o as far as being a republic, the people vote to send a representative to washington, a republic is.

live in ecause you or nebraska, ouri it doesn't mean -- even if you country and he don't live in the urban or suburban areas, it don't mean ou don't have a neighbor that is a democrat. when the media puts up those and stuff, elections thatercentage of the state is blue and red, then people ould want to change their mind about what we're talking about. north hat is brad in carolina. here is sigmond freud, identifies himself on twitter, was designed to protect state rights, smaller state rights, democrats add support saying, and then bobby maybe it shouldn't be abolished, just apportioned according to the vote. count each american vote, no

state control. indiana, stanley, an opposer of this idea. stanley, good morning. on.re caller: yeah. everything has been said has good on the constitution, the way it was set up. states, you n the will never have a say so about by hing, it is controlled and west coast. host: so keep it as is, is that what you advocate? caller: yes. host: what about the idea some people make since essentially hillary clinton did win, she won the popular vote, that might affect how the trump administration moves forward? the r: well, goes back to same thing, new york, california your big cities, it is going vote from y all the the rest of the country. host: stanley in indiana. "u.s.a. today" looks at a policy

position advocated by donald to p, when it comes deportations. writing, len gomez couple questions asking about what could be considered. he asked the question, which undocumented immigrants will be targeted? saying president-elect trump on criminals may leave other undocumented immigrants in the clear. 740,000 young, undocumented mmigrants granted deportation protection under president to qualify they had to register with the federal government to have a clean ecord and work and go to school. president-elect trump vowed to end the program and reskinned protection, leaving them fearful of being targeted. mexican nationals will be most faringeted, they account for 52% of undocumented immigrants, according to pew research. from me from asia, 6%

south america and deported home ns are usually sent by bus, while those from other countries are put on flights. from -- i hope i pronounce your name right. washington, d.c.? caller: yes. you are pronouncing it right. host: okay, go ahead. okay.r: i believe in democratic -- we about one man, one vote. treating the rest of the country and reducing the of people's vote, when you use this electoral college. fterall, as the lady said, the republic, each state send a representative to congress, that represent the interest. that idea is null and void proper you have representation from each state sent to d.c. for interest. so for me, i think they

epresent a true, true democratic, should be one man, one vote. you. host: nashville, tennessee, next, where johnny lives on the those opposed to this idea. johnny, go ahead, you are on. caller: yes, sir. good morning to you. good morning to you. caller: yes, sir, a quick lesson for some younger people. i'm 51 years old and retired military. so what i haven't heard anybody talk about as far as popular goes, if you look back through your history books, your dictators and your 20th musilini, adolf saddam hussein. i'm an iraqi vet. by e people were lected

popular vote. hitler got 99% of the popular vote and we know nobody gets that much. electoral college was put in as stopgap in my opinion to make sure these not happen. remove that, if you electoral college vote, then you the the ability to rig election the same way third world dictators have been doing hundreds of and years. so we all are republic, we are a democracy, rather, democracy was created in greece model our government somewhat on that form. host: john nenashville, tennessee. "u.s.a. today" highlighting a new round of shootings of police saying texas detective was shot and killed while ticket outsideic his headquarters late sunday. san antonio police chief william mcmannooishgs s, the slain officer, also adding two other wounded in e incidents in florida and

missouri. mississippi, supporter of this idea. hi. yes, i'd like to abolish one reason,l votes, if majority of the people don't a voice r say in have in it, you know, and the people for, there is not elected, there is no sense in going to the polls, it is just a waste of time. others -- states make the decisions and that is how votes go on state by state saying it should be strict popular vote as far as person-by-person? caller: that is right shchlt go y popular vote because otherwise you waste all your time going to the polls to vote for what? just like in 2000, when bush woman, the electoral

bush,of florida to george instead of al gore and he won the popular vote. happened five has times since this all began back 1800s. host: financial times looks at those looking for national clearances and the incoming trump administration and talking about the vetting that saying or donald trump's plan to shake up washington is facing an security clearance has of struggling because reorganization and half million strong backlog. influx of fresh faces is what by trump's voters, disgusted washington insiders want from the new president. governmentwcomers to will face first clearance investigation, other new hires that must be s probed at time when investigation for top secret days, ces average 225 almost three times the government's goal. washington field office called special inquiry

unit carries out the background the white house officials and senior cabinet official and agents face beforee to complete work the new president is sworn in, but otherwise should not face the mostblems clearing important appointments. john from brooklyn, new york, for s for holding on, line those that oppose the idea, john, you are on. c-span, ood morning, and thank you for taking my call. es, i do support the electoral college. i thought it was engineered properly back when it was and i do believe that college can have an adjustment, when president or vote e elect wins popular that maybe each state gives up ne point from the electoral college. i know that is about 50 points in total, but maybe that will be an adjustment by which the popular vote has some strength o it, but i do agree the engineers of the electoral college represents all of the

and i states combined think that would be an improvement to the electoral popular voteve the some strength. thank you and -- ost: john, do you think there would be an appetite to make the changes that you are talking to congress month a amongst the people themselves? caller: there might be appetite if the masses of people, if you have 63 million people voting million votedd 61 for trump, maybe the congress peep ake the 63 million they'll voted for hillary to certain amount of legitimacy and congress, maybe to pass this amendment because i do hink that there has to be some value to the winner of the popular vote, but the electoral engineered.roperly host: john from brooklyn, new york, the last call on this call of this last program. another program comes your way at 7:00 tomorrow. thanks for watching. we'll see you then.

>> and a look at trump tower in manhattan. the president-elect return here last night after spending the weekend at a golf course in new jersey where he held meetings with potential cabinet members. of interviewing potential secretaries of defense and state the president-elect is close to making his pick and transition officials say his policy team will be in place ireland next week to begin working with the obama administration on the formal transfer of