to ban hour, we'll talk congressman bill johnson about tax reform and the trump moves to repeal the clean power plan. then congressman ♪ host: good morning on this thursday. the president will act alone on health care. later this morning signing an executive order that aims to relax standards for small business owners. go to c-span.org for our coverage. today's is the day many anticipate the president could announce his decision on the iran nuclear deal. will he certify or not? hill, the house is in session. lawmakers will vote on today to provide billions of dollars in emergency funding for hurricane and wildlife relief.

apple to gavel coverage starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. we begin with your thoughts on the boy scouts of america announcing that girls will be a to join the troops starting next year. do you support the idea? 202-748-8000, do you oppose it? if you have been a boy scout or have experience with the organization, 202-748-8002. orto twitter as well facebook.com/c-span. so startes are open dialing in. we'll begin with the front page of the washington times. their headline reads "rivals decry scouts decision as war on boys." be a sort policy shift law girls to join. bradford richardson reports the boy scouts of america board of directors announced a plan to open cub scouts to girls next year and to establish programs by 2019 that will allow girls to become eagle scouts.

drew sort policy shift immediate criticism from a rival scouting group. was that leader cited the century-old organizations desire to develop the next generation of female leaders and to allow females to participate in outdoor activities together. the wall street journal editorial board has this to say about the boy scouts decision. write "the boy scouts of america announced wednesday that next or they will allow girls to join the cub scouts. by 2019 it will start a program for older girls to become eagle scouts. at first it seems the scouts of surrendered in the culture war, but the reality is more complicated. boy scout membership has fallen by about a third since 2000 and today, some 2.4 million young people take part in scouting. the organization is long try to broaden its appeal with programs like see scouting and venturing, which are open to women in desk to women.

it wants to announce more programs for entire families. one survey showed 90% of parents not involved with scouting were interested in getting their daughters into a program what the cub scouts. scouting conjures images of hiking in the outdoors in learning to tie knots and the outdoor should remain central to its mission to build confidence that comes from mastering one's surroundings. scouting has long offered merit badges and skills like computer programming and personal finance that are also helpful to girls and boys. " the board goes on to write this, the progressive movement remains committed to stamping out differences between gender. the boy scouts of america was created to instruct boys on how to become part of the in death part in the non-neutral phrase, nonvirtual desk virtuous men. it's unlikely the cultural left will accept this separate but equal proposal. the wall street journal knows girls and boys will have separate scout leaders and separate groups. they will remain separate even in -- even as they join the boy

scouts of america. the wall street journal said the boy scouts are taking a risk, but for the good of the country, we hope they succeed. pennsylvania, experience with the boy scouts. tell us what your experience and what you think of the decision? i'm not sure what's going to happen to the girl scouts if they become boy scouts. from an eagle scout standpoint i think it's good for both and it's good for girls now. if it will hurt the girl scouts though. one other thing. this is about number 100 i'm of the priorities are going on in the country with a crazy president and the threat of nuclear war. week,we have seven days a 365 days of the year to ask all

sorts of questions. we well and have asked those. let's hear from bob and clover, wisconsin who opposes the idea. good morning to you. caller: good morning. i'm an old scout. i grew up knowing men and women are different for a reason. i don't mean to sound too religious, because i know it offends people, but i'm a christian. god created you and me different for a very good reason and i stayingthe boy scouts boys and girls need to be girls. that's all there is to it. a boy can never have a child, a girl can never produce sperm to have a child. activitiesabout the

that you do in boy scouts versus the activities that you do in girl scouts? caller: don't just what don't the girl scouts do? my sisters were scouts. , it went out camping depended on the leader i guess, but they went out camping. they did stuff in the woods. my sisters would, home and tell me about it and i would tell them about boy scouts and there wasn't just there was a time when the girl scouts came over by us and we all intermixed, but then at night they went to their camp, we went to our camp. in just the boy scouts of america say girls will be joining but will have their own scout group, it is up to the leader whether or not that they are mixed. but they can remain separate. this is from the washington times saying established in 1910 , the boy scouts have a long stood on tradition, but in recent years the organization

has yielded to a change in culture by revising its revision policy to -- admission policy to allow openly gay scouts and volunteers. mark hancock, chief executive oficer said the admission girls is part of a growing war and masculinity as something undesirable. he said the decision is the latest step in the boy scouts progressive evolution. good morning, robert. were you a boy scout? caller: i wish they had had that back when i was a boy scout. can you imagine how much fun it will have the jamborees now? i wonder what kind of bad they will give up for sneaking into the girls tend at night? that is going to be so much fun. you are going to have little girls getting pregnant. they will learn all kinds of nice activities now. the washington times goes

on to reports the boy scouts spent months reaching out to families to find out what they wanted the program to be open to girls citing internal service to scouts that asians and hispanics are particularly interested in activities that include the whole family. letter to the board just boy scouts, girl scouts president said the boy scouts would be better served by reaching out to those who the bsa has historically underserved and underrepresented such as african american and latino boys. providence, new jersey, you support the idea. go ahead. caller: of course i do. host: we are listening. caller: i think we should let the girls and because they have the right to know what the boys it would help the boys

and the girls to coincide with each other. i think it's great. start voting don't on stuff like that, that's when we mess up. host: john in missy -- minneapolis, good morning. you were involved in the boy scouts. caller: yes i was. my father was a scout leader the council level and i was involved in the boy scouts, but the venture scouts which had mixed gender. i have mixed feelings about the issue because i feel like boy scouts was a unique opportunity for me as a young man to sort of share my experiences or get to know other boys. and sort of grow up. in sharing my experiences growing up as a

young man. on the other side of the coin, i think this will hurt the girl scouts quite a bit as the smaller the two organizations. i think it is going to in some of what isthe value valuable in the single gender environment in terms of what they teach and what they espouse. on the other hand, i think the girl scouts in terms of the program and what they do teach, i think it has been not always the best program in terms of helping young women become full-grown adult women and i think that both organizations need to work together better to solve the problems they are experiencing. be integratedould well, it is just a matter of the leadership from both parties coming together to try and figure out the best possible solution.

but i don't necessarily think this solution as it stands at its faces a very good one. host: explain for those who don't have any experience with the organization. how does the organization work? caller: boy scout troops are set up in units, the smallest being a troop. then troops are organized in the area in two councils. -- into councils. my dad was involved on the council level, which is a more regional level. it represents maybe 20 to 25 troops in a geographical area. then there is the national council which represents the whole nation. the envoy for the national council committee for my area. he was the council leader for the committee on scouting. john in minneapolis to let

hear from scott in annapolis, maryland. you oppose. leader and a scout i've been involved with scouts for most 10 years now and the benefit of having boys only is it focuses on non-sex issues in terms of -- i don't mean nonsexual, i mean it allows us to focus on developing the boys in that program. i will give an example. they do have venture scouts that allow girls and about five years ago we were at a summer camp where there was a venture crew that had males and females and those crews were kicked out of scouts because they were caught -- in theirt camp camp one night. so the scouts and the counselors that were involved with them were all kicked out of scouting

and send home. the problem is you have girl scouts and they do as much stuff is ae boy scouts and there small group that has gotten involved with scouts that has pushed this agenda to merge the two and d mass killing the males ehat are involved -- demasculat the males involved. there is a minority pushing these roles in a majority do not support this. host: how is the president's desk presence of girls demascul ating? caller: in terms of when we are out, they are basically devaluin g what a male is. when we are out his scouts, we are focused on just issues that are boy related and not having to worry about keeping the kids separate like it night when we have camps set up.

you can't have the girls sleeping with the boys like that earlier caller said. that is fine when they get older and are in college, but when you are younger, it allows us to really focus on what it means to be a male and male specific issues. you don't see the girl scouts allowing boys to join. host: putting sleeping and camping aside, the activities that boy scouts do, are you saying those only applied to males? -- girlno, the girls scouts do very similar activities, but it allows us to focus on nonsex related issues. if you want to deal with sex issues, you can do that at home. the parents can deal with that. when it's just boys you don't have to worry about do the boys and girls run off into the woods over here together? where did they go in what's going on?

just like this issue with the venture crew where they caught the kids having sex together. and it was multiple kids. host: scott in annapolis who opposes the idea. more of your thoughts coming up, keep dialing in. boy scouts to allow girls to join their ranks in 2018. do you think it's a good idea? with theh experience boy scouts, we want to hear from you as well. we will get your thoughts again. on the is joining us phone. deputy editor with defense one to talk about the future of the iran nuclear agreement that was struck in the obama administration with several other countries. will the president made his announce -- make his decision to ? guest: white house officials are hinting we will see something today. maybe we will see something tomorrow. we question is what will see. we got a preview of this in a recent speech by senator tom cotton. who is reportedly working with

white house staff. , instead ofspeech saying that iran is not living up to the deal, trump might declare that the deal is not in america's national security interests and he would stop short of asking congress to reimpose the sanctions lifted under the deal. then what does that mean for the actual certification of this nuclear agreement? congress requires the president to certify that iran is actually holding up its end of the agreement every 90 days. this was not part of the deal that was negotiated between iran , the u.s., britain, france, germany and russia. the extent that was the republican column -- controlled congress attempted to impose some measure of oversight on a deal being negotiated by the obama administration. and theesident -- president were to recertify the

deal, to say iran is holding up its end. in the present declines to do so, it allows congress the ability to unilaterally be opposed to these sanctions -- reimpose the sanctions on iran. it was the congress and the u.s. to break its end of the deal. if this happens, if trump declined to certify, then that sends a very powerful signal to a ron -- to iran and the other parts of the deal and the world in general. it says the u.s. is arbitrarily backing out of a negotiated international agreement and i say arbitrarily because most observers, all observers, almost all observers including the u.n. agency whose duty it is to make sure that are -- iran is holding up its deal, say that the deal is working. iran is abiding by its agreements to stop processing nuclear fuel and taking other

steps towards getting a weapon. if the u.s. pulls out of its end of the deal or even in this weaker formulation, appears to be not holding up its end, that would make it easier for iran to read aloud of his side of -- wr iggle out of his side and get back to a weapon. host: theresa may calling the president to urge him to certify the iran deal to stay in it. what are they saying to the if heents and what decides to take action, what does it mean for other countries? >> all the other parties have been telling the white house and the president either directly or indirectly, don't do it. we won't come back to the table. the deal is the deal. this is what we set up and it was rather difficult to get to this point. this was the best we could do and on the specific issue that

it was set up to address, that is to say iran's path to a nuclear weapon, it is working. they will not come back to the table, it would be too difficult if the u.s. should unilaterally interrupt things. host: what about republicans in congress? is one of theton prime movers behind this new approach and he has been explicit in calling for a regime change. he believes that the policy of the u.s. should be that we want some real simple our in iran. off.s appear to be backing senator jeff flake has said we should just enforce the deal. rand paul has said something similar. should thelear president declare that the deal is not in america's national interest that congress would take this opportunity to reimpose sanctions.

if -- it would send a signal that the u.s. is ready to step back from this in a ghost -- negotiated international agreement. host: you can follow their reporting on this nuclear deal of the go to defense one.com. back to our calls and discussion with all of you about boy scouts allowing girls to join them. john in tennessee. you oppose this. good morning. caller: the thing is, good morning. is, you've got affirmative action. when you talk about affirmative action, it is seeping through every part of the government. you've got the young transgender is. you got a little girl who wants to be a boy and interested and

says i want to be a boy scout. it's ok, then she runs to death -- the guy from maryland hit the hammer on the head. linization.scu a man should not pertain anything of a woman and a woman should not retain anything of a man. it's a snowball effect. we start small and that it will roll up. it's going to go to bigger things. you cannot integrate sex is like that and have the proper teachings. kids are going to communicate with each other. i bet you can't take laura around the corner. this is going to be a big three ring circus. florida, you in

support it. good morning to you. caller: good morning. what a great conversation today. support the notion and the idea. i think it's inclusive, it's about time. there is so much fear. i remember when my dormitory in college was discussing debating going coed and all the fear and the sex. i can't believe what i'm hearing. i'm older now and i probably have a notion of what this fear about rampant septet random sex. that is so silly. militarywomen in the and let's give our children and adults more credit and be inclusive. what?f gender loss? i think it's about power and tribalism and i think that's the

problem with what we are experiencing with leadership. this fear of diversity. we need to move forward and evolve. host: what do you think about merging the boy scouts and girl scouts? caller: i think it's great. let's try it and see. we aresaid, i think tolly more innately inclined be civil and embrace one another, especially children. , maybe this identity crisis we are experiencing is because of the inability to just allow people to grow. we have to nurture that and stop this fear. however, it's like the good old boys and the power of control and identity. i was in girl scouts, we had the

we will get together with the guys. did you hear they are coming over? nothing happened. we figured it out. their counselors figured it out. all this fear, just move past. tony perkins, the president of the family research council says it's part of an effort to emasculate men by taking away the whole idea of what it means to be a man. this is a slippery slope and where does it stop? -- it doesn't stop at the boy scouts have been a mere shadow of what once was. let's hope that fox soon becomes a mere shadow. i was very lucky to have a very educated mother and to respond directly to your question, that is fearful. that is someone who is so locked into an identity associated with the concept. masculine and feminine today is

not an isolation. we all have strengths and limitations. almost like briggs it. i don't mean to be too political. once again, it's like tribalism. it is this controlling that concept of my identity. beparents raised me, i could and do anything and i grew up in the 70's. catch up, we are going reverse and this is silly. it, this isyond diversity at its finest. kristen there. boy scouts of america reads this decision is true to the bsa mission and core values outlined in the scout law. the values of scouting, trustworthy, loyal, brave and reverent are important for both young men and women. we believe it is critical to evolve how our programs meet the

needs of families interested in positive and lifelong experiences for their children. susan, you support -- you oppose it. it is your turn, good morning to you. do in theory. i think in the ideal, boy scouts and girl scouts are noble organizations. alleven c-span covered that -- that years ago. we don't have the environment, we don't have men and women both being destined not have time anymore -- do not have time anymore to be mentors and run troops. you have diminished ranks of leaders to support troops and girl scouting or scouting on both sexes. think that the scouts, girls and boys, are competing against

the virtual world more and more young boys and girls are just living online and their passions lie in other areas and it is tough for those organizations to survive in this environment. i will say i'm not adverse to them eventually merging if that means their survival. with the girl scouts i do have personal experience. i had does go family members that ran troops and they are upset about the organization as a whole as basically their whole focus was the cookies. crass marketing and the selling of the cookies and making as much money as possible to send to the national girl scout headquarters. scouting, at least on the girl scouts side, support a massive bureaucracy, extremely well-paid administrators and a lot of that money doesn't funnel down to the

troop level. so it's a lot of trends going on. scouts, theyoy have such diminished numbers and they don't sell cookies, they just have a massive income deficit that they are trying to deal with. two things you mentioned. the dwindling numbers and the money. on the numbers, the washington times reports that their enrollment has been down dramatically from its peak of 6.5 million members in 1972. in 2016, registration was a 2.3 million. on the money, if you go charity navigator.org. you can look up the boy scouts of america, the national council and how they spend their money. 88% overall score from charitynavigator. as far as how there money is spent. 85% of it goes to programs

expenses. this is for the boy scouts. 13% for administrative expenses. if you keep scrolling down, this is their contribution, gifts and grants. it's about $16 million. they make about $67 million for membership dues. boy scouts and members have to pay dues. they get government grants, zero dollars. total contributions, $85 million. total primary revenue around $173 million for a total revenue of $236 million. of that, they spend $221 million on program expenses. basic million dollars on administrative expenses. that is how it breaks down. you can look at the pie chart. thelso talks about how much president -- the chief scout

executive makes. you can see it right here, a little over $1 million. this is 2015 numbers. he is the chief scout executive who makes about $1 million heading up the boy scouts of america. go to charity navigator. you can find the numbers there. your thoughts continued here on the washington journal this morning on this thursday morning. boy scouts allowing girls. phone numbers will be on your screen, keep dialing in. we have about 30 minutes more of this conversation. the news and in program notes for you. c-span 50 capital tour is continuing with the c-span bus in tennessee's capital city of nashville. we will talk to the former governor a little bit later on in the program. virginia in waldorf, maryland, you oppose the idea. why? caller: i was a girl scout

leader for a long time, having many troops and they best do the same activities, i think the drive-by miss is not fear as some people were saying. i think if they need to calm more into modern times with what the children of today do versus what they did in the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's. the kids today are into the internet and cell phones, everything is pretty much automated for them. they have the same programs, they do the camping, they do the day camps with the boy scouts and girl scouts together. i just don't see the necessity of this. i think it's a numbers game where they are trying to bring more members into the boy scouts. but the effect of that on the girl scouts is what? are the girl scouts going to start bringing the boys into girl scouts? i think keeping them separated

and moderate -- modernizing the programs is a better avenue. host: we will go to wendy and putnam valley, new york. you supported, good morning. caller: good morning. what people seem to miss is that anthropologically, boys and girls play together as equals and it's a natural function of childhood. life is so structured now that free time to play together as equals is so diminished and anything that increases playtime for children of both sexes healthiereads to a society. you have men that are more comfortable with women, it might actually lead to less physical

violence because they are not this separate species, they are the same as i am. they are equals. when children play together, they play together as equals. think that keeping people a cart -- a part teaches their differences paramount as opposed to the same's as paramount. the only way to have a healthy society is for everyone to feel equal. host: john in milwaukee, you have experience with the boy scouts, what do you think? caller: i joined the boy scouts way back in 1950. my dad came home one night and said the troops starting a boy scout troop, would you like to join? and we did. i remember it was 1950 because i was 14 years old that year. i became an explorer. the -- i did a lot of

things, retired, then 2001 i went to work for the boy scouts as a neighborhood coordinator. take organizations that didn't have a troop and try to bring a troop into there. i noticed right away, i asked a what if the boy scouts and the girl scouts joined? and they said then they were talking about it. it as firstlue in believe haveat this module attitude that it's a man thing have a problem with manhood themselves. i think it's the best thing in the world. i have a niece that i would love to see join the scouts.

and girls wearys at one time they were separate, they are joined together in the navy and you see there is a need for young men and women to take a long hard look at the problems of our society and deal with them together. thank you kindly. baltimore, you oppose. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. totrongly oppose this demasculate the boy scouts. they will have them selling cookies next. boys and girls are different and no matter how you want to twist it around, they are different and little boys have egos that

have to be developed, it cannot be developed healthily if they are competing with girls. it is just a fact. they can try to change nature is a mistake. what do you say to one of the earlier callers who said let's not focus on our differences, let's focus on how boys and girls of the same? caller: they are different. they are different. you've got to realize boys are boys. boys have to grow, they have to develop their ego. they cannot develop if they are competing with girls. it's as simple as that. host: why is that? caller: its nature. host: girls can be challenging to them and hurtful to their ego? caller: of course you could. this is nature. they are trying to change nature and you are not going to do it. they have to develop themselves

healthfully. boy scouts help them to develop into good men. giving them a good healthy ego. if they have to compete with girls, you will have them selling cookies next. this is nothing more than to demasculate the mail. it's simple. maxine in michigan opposing the idea. on the domestic front, president expected to announce at the white house his action on health care. here he is onone sean hannity talking away plans to do. >> it will cost the government nothing, you will go out, private insurers will give you incredible health care.

this will take and i can sign it myself, i don't need anybody. earlier.o it i hope they were going to put it through inhabiting the bill. we are signing tomorrow a health 25% package that will cover and some people say 50%. it will cover large percentage of the people that we are talking about. truckers would benefit. [applause] >> they unite, they form a group. the truckers will form a group. this will be fantastic. we were hoping for the health care is going to pass. host: that was the president last night on fox news with sean hannity talking about his actions on health care. the c-span.org for details. thehill newspaper as headline, trump is saying fema can't stay in paris go. the hill newspaper, president

trump warned the administration's response to hurricane maria in puerto rico cannot last forever. he said puerto rico survived the hurricane, now a financial crisis looms largely of their own making. . total lack of accountability a total lack of infrastructure before hurricanes. congress -- we can i keep fema, military and first responders to amazing under the most difficult circumstances in puerto rico forever. on nafta, here's the new york times. business groups sound the alarm as nafta tears. the north american free trade agreement long disparaged by president trump was edging closer to collapse. negotiators gathered for a fourth round of contentious talks in washington. the trump administration has talked with american businesses

and has pushed for significant negotiators say our nonstarters. all the while the president continues to primed to withdraw the u.s. from the trade agreement which he has maligned as the worst in history. ministerdent -- prime of canada, justin trudeau, visited the white house yesterday to talk about the nafta deal. on the fronture page of the wall street journal of the prime minister and his wife meeting president trump and first lady melania trump as the two leaders discussed in the oval office what to do next on this trade deal. wall street journal headline says u.s. set a goal to dilute nafta. the trump administration has honed its strategy for remaking nafta in recent weeks as it prepares for a critical round of talks starting wednesday. a number of specific ways to water down the pact and reduce its influence on companies.

more on that in the wall street journal and new york times this morning. yesterday the president was in pennsylvania around the harrisburg area, one key area where his victory in 2016. he was talking about tax reform. as a boon todea the economy as a whole, but also to companies like the trucking industry. angeles times this morning has this story. trump's friend us is big tax cuts. the gop led congress is already thinking about scaling back. they report that president trump promised the largest tax cut in history. as he hit the road, republicans in congress were quietly discussing scaling back key provisions. aump that originally promised 15% rate for corporations that republicans are running into resistance from lawmakers and lobbyists who want to preserve the loopholes targeted for

elimination under the white house plan to offset the massive corporate cuts in the current 35% rate. according to the los angeles times, they are looking at 22%, 23%. some republicans are pushing back against other parts of the president's plan which is scrapped and limiting deductions for state and local taxes which would hurt residents like california and new york. i don't know why you plan to spend your christmas eve, but according to the hill newspaper, one top republican is saying houseepublicans -- republicans the democrats could be voting on christmas eve on this tax reform. back to your calls, mickey in new jersey. you are on the air. what do you think of this? caller: i will tell you this i've had experience with the boy brotheri've been a big

with a big brothers and big sisters organization. ok to get girls and boys together for dance lessons, computer classes, not -- knot tying lessons, but you don't take them camping together. this proposal reminds me of the hitler's youth where they took the youth to camp, boys and girls and encourage them to have reich.r the right -- while they had them in the camp they turn them against their parents, that is what this proposal reminds me of. host: that is such an extreme. betweenel you're making this decision and what was happening and not to germany. caller: let me tell you this.

you have the boy scouts and the can call itand you point and girl scouts if you want to combine the organizations. but to take them camping --ether is only encouraging it's encouraging early sex if the leaders are not paying attention to each individual at all times. host: heard your concern. the president yesterday as many of you may have saw was critical of nbc and their recent stories about his relationship with secretary of state rex tillerson and meetings he has had on the country's nuclear weapons stockpile. donald trump tweeting out network news have become so thatsan, distorted, fake licenses must be challenged and

death in an appropriate results. not fair to the public. responded, mr.s president he said, are you recanting the oath you took on january 20 two preserve, protect and defend the can't -- first amendment? that conversation continuing in washington. we will go on to craig who is in baltimore, maryland. you oppose the ideas of the girls joining the boys in the boy scouts. caller: good morning. the problem is, first of all we do have girls in the boy scouts in venture and we have females who have served his den mothers, den leaders and administrators. you have to understand the climate of the first issue is it's called boy scout corporate, which is the headquarters versus the politics of traditional scouting. the pressure on the corporate side is taking, the other issue in our international members,

you do have girls in the cub scouts and boy scouts, but you have to remember our foreign counterparts have a totally different mentality than kids in the united states. we are in oversexed society where you can't have a kid get up and the morning, eat cheerios, watson cartoons and then at night you got jerry springer on and if you want these kids to be together. it is never going to work. the other issue is ever since the supreme court case in 2000, there has been a plan by the lgbt and feminists to dismantle the boy scouts because it is a step towards teaching men about patriarchy. which is standard in all culture groups except the african-american community. they have to equalize it because one of the things they know is the highest rank to earn is the eagle scout. for girl scouts, it's the gold award.

is we want a piece of the action that you have in the boy scouts and eagle scout and we want to get that same treatment that you get that we don't get in the girl scouts. even before we get the membership, those of the underlying issues. it takes colter groups to also help develop scouting. there is a baseline rule of things you've got to learn, culture is involved whether you are jewish, hispanic, asian. that is a big part in developing young men to become -- in the african community where you are single-parent homes, you can't have that type of situation going on because most of the young men coming up are basically taught responsibility in a leadership vacuum, which is crazy. even patrick monahan said you cannot have a boys raised in a matriarchal society in competition with a dominant society and other groups with

the patriarchy. you will be wiped out, it's surprising you survived this long. so the boy scouts is important. they're up in black units were we have had black males achieved the rank of eagle scout and they've earned it like the golden state warriors got nba titles or the pittsburgh steelers win super bowl rings. when you keep it in outline of its only for boys, you have to do that. we have to be mindful for that in other communities because when america catches a cold in the urban communities, we catch pneumonia. host: in political news, usa today, donors take aim at party leaders. the intraparty feuding escalated when a coalition of conservative leaders including tea party patriots co-founder called on majority leader mitch mcconnell and his leadership team to step aside, saying they have done nothing this year to advance conservative policies. willrive to pass taxes

take center stage this week at a retreat where conservative donors. billionaire charles koch will meet with donors to discuss strategy. vice president pence will deliver the keynote address. less than two weeks ago, his chief of staff urged another group of republicans doesn't republican majority to consider funding a purge of republican senators to be able to advance president trump's agenda. that happening in washington. you also have this, the trump democrat. a democratic congressman stopped just sort of forcing a house vote of president trump's impeachment, pulling back under apparent pressure from his own party. texasentative al green of brought it up under the rules that would force a rapid vote. hours later when house is presiding of calls of the resolution for action, green did

not appear on the floor. it wanted to know him more time. house floor the staff at misled him about the timing of that vote. .hat happening yesterday go to c-span.org to listen to the speech and the proceedings on the floor. speaking of impeachments, the new york times release this story that a key democratic the man'snds that -- a party pledged support impeaching the president. one of the democratic party's most prominent financial backers is demanding the lawmakers and candidates on the left support removing president trump from office. making a defining issue in the midterm election. spend more than $91 million supporting democrats in the 2016 election. message, he called mr.

trump a clear and present danger to the republic and urged democrats to pledge that they would seek to remove him from office if they could take control of congress next year. that in the paper this morning on politics. let's go to marry in cambridge, massachusetts. you support the boy scouts decision. caller: hello. i was jealous when i saw things that my husband learned in the boy scouts and how we learn absolutely nothing in girl scouts. when they went on hikes, they didn't just go to tramping through the woods. they knew the names of all the different trees that were typical to new england where we live and probably the other plants and things. of an imitation of the native americans, how would you get along if you were lost in the woods.

if he didn't have anything with you. he won a contest starting the fire -- starting the campfire the fastest. like aried a little kit balled up and read and there were things you had. he showed me how to start a fire with a magnifying glass for instance. there was -- it was a flint he could start a fire. they were learning survival skills in the woods and the word scout refers to getting along in the wilderness and all kids should have access to that. i don't care whether the girls withtheir own girl scouts boys or not, but i certainly

know that boy scouts went to town and this was in 1930's, mile-- you had to swim a behind a boat and you would get an award. there was a process for being able to do that. to start a campfire on your own with no matches. . lot of things like that my daughter went to girl scout camp, they had a wonderful time, , theyey did theater stuff went traipsing through the woods, but i don't think they taught them anything. i just object -- this selling cookies, the woman who spoke about making all the money selling cookies.

it is silly, it's not teaching the girls anything. it seems to be all about these cookies. host: i'm going to leave it there so i can get in some other voices. greg is in wisconsin. what do you think? were you a boy scout? caller: i was. my mother was a cub scout den mother so we have a bit of history with that. a lot of this has to do with the parents decisions. where ie ymca camps grew up in chicago which was boys and girls. havecouts and girl scouts definite things they should be doing and it's interesting from doing the reading on this yesterday that the girl scout people aren't happy with this decision. it goes back and forth. i would suggest stay on topic. why the at keep going back to political news when we are talking about boy scouts and girl scouts? host: we are not changing the

subject at all. it is part of the format of the program to let all of you know what washington is reading and what the news is around the country. as wheels also have a conversation about certain topics. as we also have a conversation about certain topics. the house intelligence committee saying they will be releasing the facebook ads and also on sheryl hill, the sandberg of facebook met behind closed doors with the house intelligence committee that are investigating the russia interference in the 2016 election. in the washington times, the house resources committee passed legislation yesterday, the bill which is expected to pass the house overhauls the antiquities whatnd sets new limits on land can be designated as a

monument that lays out the level of competition between federal and local governments during that process. todayite house expected for thence the nominees department of homeland security to replace john kelly and that is kristen nielsen who is the deputy chief of staff right now at the white house. that announcement coming from the white house today. , the house is in session, the senate is not and the risk of the house about against putting it on the vote. billions of dollars in emergency funding and wildlife relief. that is expected to happen today in the house. lucille and hope falls, idaho, you oppose. caller: i oppose it. anothero come from realm and that the spiritual

realm. god the father created in both equal, but man was always the head of the family. i think this is another attack on the family. women are women and men are men. women were meant to create and have babies and large families and the attack is on the family these days. that's all i have to say is this another way for the method to put those boys and girls together, it will definitely lead to temptation and the focus andhe boy scouts disappears the focus on motherhood disappears. that's all that i have to say. host: tony in texas, you oppose as well. yes, i am utterly that yes, i thoroughly agree they do turn the kids against their dusty

children against their parents just like they are doing in schools. they are turning whatever their topic is, they are turning their kids against their parents so they go and start all kinds of trouble and fights. i am in other astounding of how simpleminded and stupid the american people is that we have our world falling apart when you are talking about girl scouts. we should be talking about our country not doing a dam thing for the american people. our leaders working together in corruption instead of for our country. host: later on in the program we will open up the phones. you can call in about any public policy or political debate that's happening. william in caller: north carolina, good morning. good morning. caller: i have to emphasize i was in the boy scouts for a number of years and i'm an

african-american and i think if they would integrate the boys , the development of the mail would not be as it is now and women are more dominant. in a normal society, the mail would be more dominant. the way it is now, if they ,ntegrate the girls in the boys they would just keep something that's negative continuing to be reinforced. i was in the boy scouts for a number of years. had over 5000roop

members without anybody ever a -- of crime. host: host: ok, william in north carolina. one of the pieces to share, it comes from the cal gorbachev -- writing "save the treaty i signed with reagan" about nuclear arms. russia and call on the united states to hold a full-scale summit. it is far from normal that the powersnts of nuclear meet only on the margins. we will take a short break. coming up, we speak with a representative bill johnson of ohio on the tax proposal, and then we will be joined by david

price for discussion on the future of the iran agreement. later on, we continue on our c-span bus tour through all the state capitals with a stop in nashville. the governor was not able to join us, so we sat down with a -- with him last week to talk about priorities in the state. host: in terms of your legislative initiatives, can you talk through what the drive to 55 initiative is? have: we decided we would 55% of our population have a degree or certificate by 2055 and we are ahead of that pace. we were the first state to get the technicalssed school -- to make sure any resident can get a free

technical degree. we are seen remarkable success in the number of people who are now attending post secondary legislation. we think it is a big difference maker as we compete for jobs around the country and around the world. host: what are the estimates of the cost of the program -- the cost of getting to that goal? guest: the cost can be born through existing means. we did not fit the general fund of the state of tennessee at all. we took some money out of the lottery fund we already used to support college scholarships. the reality is for a lot of students that take advantage of un --college was not that naffordable before. there is a mentor to help them with the process of being a brand-new college student. if you are the first person in your family to go to college, it

is a difficult challenge. itt: how long do you think will take to reach the drive to 55? by the end of your term? my wife says i am like a loaf of bread or a gallon of --sell by cell date. we are on pace, which is great news for all of tennessee. journal"ngton continues. host: joining us, representative bill johnson, and we will start with tax reform. the president was pitching tax reform in pennsylvania yesterday. what do you like about the proposal you have heard so far, and where are some provisions you are not crazy about? i cannot think of

anything that i do not like. there is a lot to like in this tax reform package. if you think about it for a second, making america competitive on the global economic stage, bringing our 20%,rate tax rate down to that is lower than the average for the industrialized world. that is going to put american businesses back to work. more importantly -- this tax reform -- i don't like the word tax reform as much as i like tax relief. this is a low-income, ,iddle-class america improving-quality-of-life, job-creating package. it will be good for the american people. what you make of the headline in the los angeles "gop-led congress is thinking about scaling back."

rateake the corporate tax more like 22%, 23%. the president wanted 20%. -- wanted 15%. he compromised at 20%. guest: i am with the president. i started out at 15%. i would have loved to see us get at 15%. that puts us in the driver seat with we rightfully should be. we're the largest economy on the planet. we are the bulk of the global economy. i would love to see us go to 15%. i don't to the president budging easily off at 20% mark. oft: why do you think some your colleagues don't want to go as low as 20 -- that they are 23%?g to argue for 22%, guest: i'm not sure what the argument would be. we have billions of dollars

oversees that are sitting -- overseas that are sitting there because companies don't want to pay the federal government $.35 on the dollar to bring it back. i think it is very important we get the corporate rate as low as we possibly can. in member budget remember budget director mick mulvaney, the president, and members of the house -- we want to see the economic growth rate get to that gdp rather than the anemic 1.6%, 1.9% we have been hovering at for the last eight to 10 years. we have to get america's flywheel back in motion and i think it in the corporate tax rate as low as we can is the formula to do that. host: what do you say to republican colleagues who times"ng to "los angeles are resisting 20% because they want to preserve reductions and loopholes targeted for elimination under the white house plan to reduce the rate?

guest: i say they had better go back and listen to ronald reagan and what he said in 1986. i don't know to remember that speech, but he said in all of this effort -- and i am paraphrasing -- in all that we have done here, lawmakers, policymakers, we forgot about one of the most critical factors in the formula, and that is the american people. colleagues, go talk to the american people who are depending on the jobs that are going to be created. remember who pays these corporate taxes. we often think of this as big businesses, right? who pays these corporate taxes? it is the consumers buy the products these corporations make. attitude is paying the taxes. host: let's hear what viewers have to say. we go to jail. republican -- joe. republican colorado. hi, joe. caller: hello. first of all, we need this tax reform. it will do a lot for americans.

everybody keeps ranting on the media how it will benefit trump and everyone else, but right now what we need is tax relief. we don't have it. we need terribly. -- we need it terribly. host: so far, from what you have heard, what do you think will benefit you and other middle-class americans? caller: first of all, the bottom line tax reduction -- it does not affect -- if i tried to write off the interest on my home loan, i cannot write it off. so, that standardized deduction is going to help that, because otherwise i have to go through this big itemization process. the whole package helps regular americans like me. i am a rancher. i don't want to sit there, worked my whole life, pay my taxes, then turn around, and ton i go to leave my ranch my child, i don't want him to have to pay for half of all the

work i have done my whole life again trying to keep it. so the estate tax appeals to you as well -- repealing the estate tax. caller: absolutely. host: commerce when johnson? -- congressman johnson? joe, i assume you pay as a subchapter s, llc sole proprietorship. one of the benefits of this tax relief package we have put forward is doing exactly what you said, bringing the effective tax rate of 40% down to 25%. ourave lowered -- in proposal we have lower the tax rate for both corporations and individual small businesses about 15%. that is big on the global scale. it is going to empower you to put money back into your ranch -- to invest in your operations. importantly, like you said, you

are going to protect what you have worked for your entire life because we are going to repeal the death tax, the estate tax in this plan. he said everything i agree with, my friend. al -- host: al. a democrat. caller: what he is saying his wrong. they need to save medicaid before they do anything. if they put all that money back into social security and medicaid, then work with the people like reagan did in 1986. reagan took the social security and medicaid away from us and put it into a k09. if you retire, like i did, i had to pay the tax to social security. we know what you are doing. you are going to take the money for medicaid and social security and pay for your taxes.

tell me the truth is not in there, because i read it. thank you. .uest: that is not true i can tell you i have an 85-year-old mother. gotfirst telephone call i when i was elected in 2010 was not to say congratulations, bill. it was to say ok, son, what is going to do to make sure washington does not mess with my social security and medicare. or else i'm going to come live with you. wifecond call is from my who said you had better do what your mother said. you cannot rollback the clock and make different retirement plans at this point in your life . i believe the federal government absolutely has a responsibility to honor the pledge and a promise for your social security and medicare just like my mother and millions of other seniors within that retirement window.

we not taking money out of social security and medicare to pay for this tax program. that is not part of the plan. host: sydney in alexandria, louisiana. independent. hi, sydney. caller: good morning. i would like to ask your guess how they keep saying ronald reagan cut taxes and raise the revenue. his revenue raises were as far -- were because -- his first tax cut was $33 billion on the income tax. the following year he raised taxes $90 billion. you don'tath tax -- pay death tax until after $5 million. how does this affect the average american? thank you. guest: number one, i don't care how big your family education is -- you have a lot of family businesses in america that exceed that cap you are talking

about. i don't think anybody in america, no matter you are, should work your entire life to build a family business, and then you have to pay that off to the federal government when you pass it on to your children. i don't think that is right. look, i can tell you this -- what we know is when you let the american people keep more of what they are in and pay less in taxes, where the federal government takes less from the american people, throughout american history, we have seen the effects of that -- how it gets the economy going, how people gain confidence and they invest, and a save, and they put money back into their businesses. it creates opportunities for them and their families and their children. i represent a part of the country -- appellation -- where the average income in my district is somewhere between $30,000 and $35,000 a year. this tax cut is going to be huge for the people in my district,

and i am a retired military guy. so i can relate to how important these tax cuts are. host: what about the impact of tax cuts on the debt? these are cbo numbers -- tax cuts do not reduce the debt. publicly held federal debt rose as a share of gdp after the reagan tax cuts in 1981, and bush cut them in 2001. here is the debt as it rises along with tax cuts. inst: i think what is missed that calculation is the effect of economic growth in the formula. you know, that is the same cbo that estimated that 25 million young people were going to buy into obamacare. they didn't. only about 10 million did. they missed the estimate by half. i think when you are using static scoring versus dynamic scoring, you just look at the

side of, the expense the ledger, without considering how businesses are going to grow, how companies are going to bring money back from overseas and invested here in america, the tax base is going to grow. there's going to be more tax generated as a result of that economic growth, and that is what people are missing. host: ok. stephen roberts though, missouri, who is a democrat. hi, steve -- steve, in robert saville missouri. i democrat. hi, steve. caller: you look nice this morning. is not going to bring back the jobs. to comeyou get the jobs back as you threaten them with tax evasion charges -- you threaten to put them in jail for hiding their money overseas, and make them pay their taxes. you know, we have such a corrupt government -- we have an attorney general that has lied to congress twice.

why hasn't he been charged with whatever that charge is for lying to congress? that is the way you're going to bring back jobs. they are getting slave labor overseas, hiding money overseas, and not paying taxes. this is nothing but a big scam, and we have heard this over and over again. host: let's have the congressman respond to that idea. guest: steve, i understand your concern, but i can tell you this much -- i mentioned it to greta just a couple of minutes ago -- those companies, how they are the money to pay the taxes in the first place? it is the consumers here in america that buy the products of they offer. that is who provides the money that those taxes are paid from. between regulatory burden -- right now government regulations pay -- take about $2 trillion out of our economy every year. that is the cost of doing business in america. we made the regulatory burden -- we made america a business un

friendly place to do business. we are trying to change that. we are going to continue that work. we are taking some relation -- regulations off the books. we are taking others that simply aren't working. i am not talking about regulations that protect the environment, public safety, provide for national security, but i'm talking about regulations for the sake of regulating because there are a lot of them out there. when you combine that with tax reform, you are going to get companies that are going to invest, create opportunities, hire more people. this is a job growth, quality of life improving tax relief package. i think you will see at the end of the day that it will be very different than the status quo, because we are not trying to do the same thing that has been done over and over again. guest: how do you respond to democrats -- the house budget committee -- democrats on the committee putting out a statement saying the republicans tax reform plan is step one of

the gop's three steps of giving to the rich and make american families pay for it. step one, cut taxes to the rich guest: i totally disagree with that statement, greta. that is an easy thing to say. it is not such an easy thing to prove. when you look at what is happening, collapsing the seven tax brackets down to three, look at the bottom tax bracket that goes from 10 to zero. doubling the standard deduction is going to mean millions of americans won't pay any taxes at the end of the day because the lowest tax bracket is going to be 12%, and millions won't pay any taxes as a result of doubling the standard reduction.

when you combine all the benefits of this tax relief -- tax relief package, this is going to be something that is good for low income and middle-class americans. i have a lot of those in my district, and they are telling me get this done, we like what we see. they have seen the post card size individual tax filing for. they like it. host: what about eliminating state and local taxes? guest: i get that. i live in a state -- ohio is a state and local taxes. i pay a lot of them, as did the people i represent. i understand that concern, and there is a discussion going on. host: for the viewers that do not know --explain what it is that is being debated. isst: what is being debated in the new tax package, at least the way that it stands right now, the deduction that you typically get for state income tax that you pay or local income

tax that you pay, that deduction goes away. keep in mind, remember, we are doubling the standard deduction. many people -- that doubling of the standard dead duction is going to more than compensate -- deduction is going to more than compensate because you have to look at the balance of it. for some states that have high state taxes, high local taxes, that is a big, big deal. states like florida, texas, others that don't have state income tax, they are not so worried about it. i understand the concern and that is a discussion on going. host: do you think that discussion -- that proposal goes away, the proposal to limit state and local taxes because otherwise you have members from new york, california, big states, large numbers of lawmakers that might not be on board. guest: i get that, but you have to look at it in the balance -- the doubling of the standard deduction, how does that affect the overall formula in the

, andidual tax category where do they fall in those tax brackets? , and is a lot to consider it is not just one item. you have to look at the tax relief package in its entirety. host: john isn't cap, florida. an independent. you are on the air with a congressman. caller: if you want a progrowth policy, you need a graduated carrot and stick application governed by the extent of whether company's do it or not, employ citizens with high wages, benefits and training, only purchase products purchased in the u.s., create infrastructure, repatriate me jobs for u.s. citizens, noting middle-class and poor u.s. citizen income has a positive u.s. economic multiplier effect going almost completely into local economic

stimulation doing to the necessity of life expenditures in our 70% consumer driven economy. if you just have tax cuts for the rich, that ends up having a trade deficit. look at nafta. negotiated and drafted without any union representation. the south korean deal. no union, no employee representation. we have a almost $700 billion annual trade deficit. that has to be solved. you cannot just cut taxes on wealthy that do not do program -- progrowth. we are trying to dollars sent overseas. thank you. guest: that was a mouthful. he said a lot. i am not sure i heard a question in there, but let me just say greta, --is is not, this is not a tax cut for the wealthy. anyone who says that it is really has not looked in detail

at what this tax relief package does. we go from seven tax brackets down to three with a doubling of the standard deduction. millions of americans who currently pay in the 10% tax bracket, they are not going to pay anything at the end of the day. that is going to be good for low-income and middle-class families. corporate tax rate coming down to 20%, that is going to be a job creator because they are going to be bringing that money back from overseas now, bringing it back, investing in america, growing businesses, innovating again. let me say this --greta, oftentimes we get this. if you look at the 100-year period, the most innovative period of time in human history -- the light, the combustion engine, the manufacturing of automobiles, the discovery of power flight, the airplane, space travel, communicating and

computing technologies, medical marvels, organ transplants -- america did so much. you know why? we did not have a federal government that was taking, taking, taking from the american people. around the 1970's, we began to see big government, on board. -- emerge. the epa came on board. the department of energy came on board. we began to see the federal government not only tell american people how to innovate, but where, why, how, and when. we need to put innovation and ingenuity back in the hands of the american people. government, taking less from the american people -- that is part of what this tax relief package does. in re empowers the american people to pursue the american dream on the terms. deadline -- ing to

host: corning to one of your colleagues, you might be here on christmas eve floating on tax reform. -- voting on tax reform. guest: i'm a holiday guide. if they want to vote on christmas day, it won't matter to me. let's get this done. it is the right thing for the american people. dan in rockville, maryland. republican. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. more thanfirst say the tax system than most people make in their entire year. i have a couple of points. family businesses being worth over $5 million is an extremely rare thing. i think we say that, but i need the numbers. it would be extended see that. and trickle-down is not going to really do anything.

it has been proven since reagan tried it. it does not provide anything down to the system. really, the true goal to bring jobs back needs to be educated citizens. i love them to get education to become relevant in today's society. --ortunate, caol unfortunately, coal jobs, traditional jobs for working-class citizens are not going to come back. this is my question -- how when the world you think this is going to pass the senate when you are adding to the deficit? republicans side say this is dead on arrival. they can for on the up it i hope you can answer my question. you for being on air, and i hope you can answer my question. guest: i appreciate your concern. failw senate colleagues when it came to health care reform, and that has been a big disappointment. we're going to continue to work with them.

we are in conversations with the senate. i agree with you on one major issue. i think it is oftentimes overlooked. education. i believe we ought to be letting states, local school authorities, parents, and teachers have a bigger voice in the education of our young people. i live in an appellation rule part of the country. not everyone wants to go to a four-year college. it ought to be available, but not everybody wants to. some people want to work with their hands, manufacturing, steelmaking, or be a skilled laborer as an operating engineer, or a plumber and pipefitter. we ought to have those kinds of opportunities, too. we need local authorities to have the lion's share, along with parents, on how our children are educated, because i would be willing to bet you the education needs of the people of my district in appalachia are

different from the education needs of a young person that lives in the inner cities of los angeles, new york, chicago, or places like that. host: commerce my, let's get your opinion on the clean air congressman, let's get your opinion on the clean power plan. this is "the washington post" -- abandoning epa power. epa will try to do them in him courts allow. yet the obama epa did not in our view break the law. guest: you know something,

greta, there is so much misinformation about where republicans stand on protecting the environment. if you look at the facts, and it is easy to put out generalities and what ifs. the supreme court already said they had put a stay on the clean power plan because they said this is executive overreach. yes, we have the clean air act. if you look at what we have done in america since 2005, we have reduced emissions by 25% here in america. you cannot throw out the baby with the bathwater. cannot continue to shut down affordable electricity with coal fired energy, natural gas energy, even the regulations that does not directly relate to energy -- renewable energy. we cannot throw out the baby with the bathwater.

under the obama administration's , we reducets particulates in the air by upwards of 60%. america is doing its part to protect the environment. can we do more? andlutely, we can do more, we should continue to look at ways to protect the environment. farming farming -- mule plow boy who had to live off the land, i know how important it is to protect our environment, but you have to have jobs --you have to have an economy to do even that. we don't want to roll ourselves back to the dark ages as a result of our environmental policies. here is one final point -- i have been to europe. i talked to energy focus in europe. they are going back to a higher oal in their energy profile because they cannot

afford skyrocketing prices of electricity and be competitive in a global economy. al toe are exporting our co other parts of the world who are pursuing it -- using it to pursue their own version of the american dream. we cannot stop our own economic growth when we are already doing more than anyone else in the world. host: before we let you go, we have to ask you about some internal politics on capitol hill, if you will. the chair of the budget committee, congressman diane black running for governor -- she may leave her term early, therefore handing off the gavel of that committee. black running for governorare y- interested, will you get it? will: i don't know if i get it, but i have put forward a case to be made that i would like to do the job. i mentioned being raised on that mule farm. you had to budget your resources.

every day in the military i provided input on the president's budget and execute the budget. it is small business owner i have had to make payroll. term on theird budget committee, i understand how critically important this process is. i also believe the passing a budget that not only comes out of a committee -- and i would like to see it be more bipartisan -- that is important, too. passing a budget is foundational, fundamental to the house of representatives doing his job. that is a domino that if it does not fall properly, nothing else falls and works well that we do here, because that is one of our fundamental responsibility is, to manage the nation's physical health, and i would like -- physical health, and i would like to improve that process, put some teeth into it, get back to congress's article one authority to control the purse strings in the country. that is with the american people

are demanding. address theng to national debt, we have to balance the budget. we have to have responsible budgeting. i would like to be part of leaving the effort. -- leading the effort. host: congressman bill johnson, thank you for your time. we'll take a short break and be joined by congressman david price of north carolina. we will talk about the iran nuclear deal. and later on, the 50 capitals tour begins with tennessee's capital city of nashville. that state's former governor, filled breast and, will join us bredesen will join us aboard the bus later on in the program. weekend on american history tv, saturday, on the civil war -- the author of "for their own cause" on southern

morale after black troops were assigned to guard confederate prisoners. one might assume that is why they chose these black troops because in the dish many believed -- because many believed they were not counted enough to fight. >> at 8:00 p.m., native americans and trade in 19th-century california. cowboysndian men are and they are dressed -- it feels like a marriott she bent. they are dressed really nicely -- marriott she banned. work that you the they did. they were forbidden to ride horses and they dressed really nice. at 7:00 p.m., we continue our series on photojournalists.

under george h.w. bush -- >> if i take his photo and say something about his hair, no one will leave this wasn't set up. i took the photo, windup running -- wound up running two full photos. in 2011, it was selected in the -- beste of the issues issues in life magazine for the past 75 years. american history tv, all weekend, only on c-span3. back at our table, congressman david price. nuclear deal -- what

are you expecting to hear from the president? cnn reporting the announcement of what he has decided will come tomorrow. guest: well, i'm afraid i expected -- because there has been a lot of news coverage in advance, that he will decline to certify what everybody knows to be true. that -- that is that iran has abided by the deal. host: what evidence do you have to say that iran has abided by the deal? guest: everybody that has looked at this, starting with the ie ea, there is no evidence they have abided day -- they have not abided by the deal. there was a technical issue involving a slight exceeding of the limit with expect -- with regards to heavy water. daily,pections are

intrusive. inspectors want to go to places where they expect activities going on, the bar is very low to getting access to those places. the deal is working as intended. the question is does the u.s. live up to its obligations. that is ironic, the country that we view as an international outlier, all of a sudden the roles are reversed. that is ironic, the country that we breaking faith, not upholding its end of the bargain. making iran a sympathetic country. that is quite a feat, and the president needs to think hard before he makes the decision. this is what is being predicted. i hope it is not cast in stone. i hope the present will certify, as he should -- as every objective observer, inspector, says he should. host: according to a piece in

"the washington post," president and he aides came to him put his team to work on a range of other options, not the binary decision of whether to serve -- certified or not, including a day certification option that would involve congress and not immediately break the deal. what does that mean to you, then. guest: it means he is trying to have it both ways. i am thankful those prudent observers or advisors are around him because there is this law in place -- the iran agreement or review act that doesn't golf first putand it was in place to make sure president obama stayed in line. effect ofow have the

bypassing the worst consequences, or i would hope so. guest: how does the law -- host: how does the law allow him certification? guest: there are all kinds of reasons he should certify. to dovery risky for him with the evidence suggests he should do, but if he chooses to go against the evidence and de -certify, congress does have 60 days under this law to make the decision whether to reimpose sanctions, and the president may advised that we not reimpose sanctions, -- may advise that we not reimpose haitians, but it is a role of the dice, and not one irresponsible commander-in-chief -- sanctions, that it is a roll of the dice, not one a responsible commander-in-chief should make.

the agreement could in effect remain in place. in other words, none of our negotiating partners, and are talking about china, russia, as well as britain, france, and germany. none of these partners agree with the de-certification. they all believe president trump should do what the facts dictate he should do. if he goes the other way, they are not going to go with him. they will not break the deal, reimpose sanctions. that isolates us, but it also means iran might have strong incentives to stay in the deal -- to continue to obey the terms of the deal, and to essentially continue working with the other partners. that is what i believe the president's advisers hope and expect might ocher. the president has said when he was campaigning that he

did not think it was a good deal the obama administration struck with iran and his other countries because they believe the deal should also include human rights violations and the proxy war iran wages with hezbollah in yemen and other areas around the world. is there something congress can do to pressure congress --iran on those issues? guest: yes, and we have repeatedly. the deal was never about the non-nuclear issues. -- hadtors will tell you they brought those issues in, and there's plenty of bad behavior from iran to worry about, but if they had brought that in, ballistic missile testing, hezbollah support, and so on, they would have to give on the nuclear points. that is the way a negotiation works. you don't entirely get your way. their decision was to make the nuclear deal as tight as possible -- to make it as stringent as possible, and to

leave these other issues to deal with. there is a raft of sanctions that apply to the non-nuclear violations. american businesses are not doing business with iran believe me. those other sanctions remain in place and you know they were augmented a few weeks ago when we passed the bill that put sanctions on russia, north korea, and iran. there are many ways we can deal with this bad behavior, and we need to do that, but that has nothing to do with the nuclear deal, and that was very, very clear from the beginning. the nuclear deal is as strong as it is from the beginning because it was focused like a laser beam on nuclear behavior. isre is not a thing iran doing that would not be far more serious if they had a nuclear weapon or moving towards one. host: you're up first for the congressman. caller: i would like to take

this before that. i am 67. on sunday mornings, i go to a coffee clutch, and it is mostly men of my age, and the conversation we're having now is we remember how they paraded our embassy personnel out with blindfolds, in our embassy, going through papers and that. did iran nots, invade the united states which is considered land owned by the united states? a small portion of our country is in iran. to 10,agree, almost nine they invaded our embassy. game over. beenshould have never

money back. we gave them money back. that should not have been on the table. the last thing i want to say, when you say laser beam, isn't that kind of blindfolded, so you put on a horse they can only see forward, not around them. i'll take my answer off-line. take you so much for the discussion. host: congressman. guest: sure. i think the laser beam analyses is quite accurate. the negotiators want to deal with the nuclear threat. you negotiate with your adversaries, not with your friends, so there is going to be some shortfalls from our point agreement wey make. if we weren't ready to accept that, we would never make any agreement. i think the decision is correct to make this nuclear agreement as tight as it is, and it is the most intrusive, the tightest agreement of its kind ever made anywhere. you recount the history with

iran. yes, a very negative history -- a lot of memories that you bring back. that makes it all the more remarkable that we were able to get this international coalition together, which included china and russia, by the way. it is just a remarkable diplomatic achievement, and we need to uphold it, and not slide back. now, the question about the these werets -- did getssets that iran back by virtue of abiding by the deal, but what happened at the front end was a basic dismantling of iran's nuclear program. they did not get a dime back until they reduce their nuclear stockpile, until they dismantle centrifuges,d poured concrete into the center of the iraq heavy water reactor

-- until they had done a whole series of things that basically, basically took their nuclear capacity to a non-weapons grade, and also admitted the inspectors, the whole regime that would make sure that it stayed that way. only then were the assets returned, and those were iranian funds that had been frozen. host: melvin in georgia. , credit. -- democrat. caller: yes, i have a question for your guests. dcertificationld have on the north koreae negotiations, and keep in mind the north koreans have also seen what we did with qaddafi, and what he did with his program. , what if you next iranian

election they produce another leader and looked the new agreement that the trump , what if youadministration -- e able to get a new agreement, and say that unless the form of the agreement, could the iranians come to the table and say we want to negotiate a different agreement, different framework, the one theeel like previous administration got was , likeible agreement the tropic is expressed in the present mensuration got a horrible agreement with them -- like the trump administration is expressing, the former administration got a horrible agreement with them. guest: good point. if they choose to, decertified because there is no material evidence of a breach. breaking with our allies. then the caller brings up the third major point, why would any country, including north korea, ever trust us again?

is this the way we deal with international obligations and agreements? don't take my word for it. let me read what the former prime minister of israel said yesterday about this korea problem. the lessons of a broken deal would not be lost on north korea's leader. makes no senset negotiating with the americans. if they can pull out of a deal that has been signed unilaterally -- if they can pull out unilaterally after a deal that has been signed at the relatively short time. that is pretty good authority, right.is absolutely that is a major consideration. you know, we have one rogue nation involved in nuclear activity, and now this can produce a second one. why on earth would we want to do that? whatever challenges we will face 10, 15, 20 years down the road, we certainly have protection in

the medium term, and it is worth maintaining. it should be maintained. moreover, if we break this or violate the terms, then we really damage our ability to make an agreement with anybody else including north korea. host: there have been discussions recently with david ignatius of the washington post and senator bob corker, where the senator says he has been advising the president, a few weeks ago before the feud between the two of them, but that he had been advising the president that if you do not certify the iran deal, you are then making it look -- you are sympathetic, because they have not violated any part of this deal. guest: that is my point, too. that is exactly right. host: what you make of that advice coming from a republican on a deal drafted by president obama? guest: i think it is very good

advice -- honest, straightforward advice, and he essentially got the same advice from the republican chair of the house foreign affairs committee. what is going on here? to president seems to me discredit the works of his predecessor. --seems to me to have say need to say could have made a better deal and so on, but the overwhelming advice from people like bob corker and the hasident's own advisors been due not put america in the situation of breaking our word -- has been do not put america in the situation breaking our word the one who violates this deal. now, the president is looking, i think, to have it both ways, perhaps, but he still has time. i hope he will reconsider. the most reformed, honest,

honorable thing to do would be to certify what everybody agrees to be the case -- that iran is not in violation of the agreement, and that we can get to work as we have already on the other issues of diplomacy with the middle east, iran, and other nations, but there is none of this that will be made easier if we are messing up the nuclear deal. the nuclear deal is absolutely basic. lancaster. in a republican. caller: i want to say a few things that i respect our president and the fact that he wants america to be strong, america to be feared. i agree with that completely. the government has forgotten there are people here that pay their salaries and pay for an awful lot in the world, and i am supporting our president, president trump, because he is looking out for us.

honestly, why do we have to be the good guy all the time? everybody goes against us -- everybody turns their back, has their hand out, and does not respect us. host: i will leave it at that point and respond -- have the congressman respond to that question -- why do we always have to be the good guys? guest: is it in our national interest to become international outlier? this idea that engaging in anything other than warfare is somehow a sign of weakness -- no this iran is a major asset to the country. to have iran's nuclear capacity not just frozen, but degraded, that is a win for america. this is an extraordinary agreement -- not perfect. no agreement can possibly be

perfect because it is a negotiated agreement, but it is an extremely strong agreement. we took the leadership in this. that looks like strength to me to lead not just britain, germany, france, but russia, china, and the tough sanctions regime that brought iran to the table, and then hammer out this strong deal. the way to put america first, if that is the way you want to put it, is to continue to lead, and lead honorably, and leading ways that will have others follow, and have iran's respect. i cannot imagine any realistic analysis of american strength or american interest that would say president trump should abrogate this deal. host: let's go to butler, indiana. walter, a republican. you are on there. caller: thank you for taking my call. mr. price, i heard you say we

are concerned with how iran v iews the united states. my head is hurting. i am asked so i'm not a warmonger whatsoever. hear me out if you would. guest: i didn't say that, but i think iran needs to view the united states is tough, determined, and honest. caller: you also did say that you would think it is important the iran, if we stay in deal, that would build respect, iran would respect us. if i can go to the major point here -- if you have a country that signs an agreement with the united states, and the day they are signing it, thousands of people are chanting with their leaders "death to america" -- remember that? "death to america." then we give them hundreds of thousands of billions of dollars back, what will they do with the money -- have a charity in the

street? the next question is does the united states consider iran a state sponsor of terror? if you believe they are a state sponsor of terror -- if you take their word solemnly, death to america, and if you believe and know they have american hostages today and we never got them back, i do not understand for the life of me why you would aide them, give them back money, appease them. arereason china and russia agreeing with them is you don't hear them saying death to china, death to russia. they are a brutal regime that throw gay men off of buildings, make women subservient, and their goal is to destroy israel and the united states. host: i want to in the congressman a chance to respond. list, andt is quite a you are, of course, right, that this is a country that is a

determined adversary of hours and of israel. do not negotiate with your friends. you negotiate with your adversaries. you negotiate on terms that thee america's interest and terms of our allies and european powers that have joined with us. it is in our interests -- make no mistake about it -- this is not appeasement. this is not doing something nice for iran. it is in our interest for iran to dismantle its nuclear capacity and to be a far distance from any kind of breakout capacity. --n this negotiation was when this intimate was negotiated, they were two with three months away from having an operational weapon. that was unacceptable. not agreement was designed just to contain it, but degraded, and before they got a dime back, they had taken that 97% reduction in the uranium stockpile. they poured concrete in the

heavy water reactor. ,hey dismantle the centrifuges and so on. so, their frozen assets were released at that point. that was only after the nuclear capacity had been degraded. about,orget the business kind of, a sentimentality towards iran or any other country. deal.as a hard-nosed there was no spirit of the deal. the deal is focused sharply on nuclear behavior, and if other things had flowed from it in terms of a better relationship, that would have been good, but as you say, that has by and large not happened. it was a deal where some hostages were released, but basically we are faced with numerous challenges with iran in terms of their sponsorship of terrorism and other bad behavior. we have surgeons in place that at this moment are dealing with that -- sanctions in place at this moment that are doing with

that coming we will deal with it in the future, and our allies will. make no mistake, this agreement is in america's interest, and that is why we did it. host: on the domestic front, "washington post" with a story about your collie, al green of texts, putting forth an impeachment vote on the floor. it did not take the step because of pressure from the democratic leadership. if it had been called for a vote, how would you have voted? think this president is on very thin ice in a couple of something this may be in the future our institution needs to do with because the constitution requires it. this russia investigation is ongoing. of course that needs to be completed. we need to know what the evidence is there in terms of russian interference in our election in the collusion of the president or his people in that.

we need to know what the russians have on this president. then there are the areas of conflict of interest, which is very, very serious -- the emoluments clause to the constitution. this is territory where we are going to have to get the facts and understand what our obligations are. in my opinion, congressman green's resolution was anticipating some of this, but was premature in terms of a vote yesterday. host: do you think it is premature for tom steiner, a billionaire who has donated to democrats, to demand a party pledge to impeach president 2018 ahead of the elections? guest: i think for anything like that to succeed there has to be acceptance of their responsibility from the majority

party. we're not seeing that yet. that will depend on what the do, and compels us to that is why we need to gather the full evidence before we move. host: another question for you on politics -- your colleague linda sanchez, a democrat from california was on our newsmakers program last week, and she said it was time to pass the torch for nancy pelosi and other democratic leaders to a new generation of democrats like herself and others. do you agree? guest: i agree we always have to be cultivating new leadership, but i disagree and am puzzled by in bringing this up here this critical, turnaround year, when i am confident we're going to take the house back, and i am we'll take the house back because the american people are all racial that what they see going on in congress -- in the white house with the president.

i have never seen, in my old time in politics, the kind of passion, determination -- my whole time in politics, the passion and determination i see in these town meetings in virtually every encounter i have. there is a great deal determination to turn things around, and our leaders in the house, our group of leaders, including linda sanchez, are presumably focused on that task. to be speculating about future leadership, i don't think is particularly helpful at this point. host: we'll get in harvey in amherst virginia -- amherst, virginia. you are on the air. caller: good morning. i appreciate you taking my call. i have a question -- did you personally see this concrete poured into the nuclear reactor iran? guest: no, i did not happen to be there, but i have on good

authority that that occurred, and that is the authority of the iea, which has the a solid track record and has beefed up its authorities to deal with the most intrusive inspection and enforcement regime in history. price,ongressman david democrat of north carolina. take you for your time. appreciate the conversation. come back again. guest: sure thing. host: we will take a short break, and when we come back open up the phone lines. there are the phone numbers on your screen. on,t dialing into it later -- dialing in. later on, the 50 capitals tour begins with the city of nashville. that state's former governor phil bredesen joins us. we'll be right back. night, the life and

political career of newt gingrich with the book "citizen reagan the making of a conservative." >> cable-television was prominent. >> cable news was not there. ofit was little pockets cable here and there, but it was mostly reruns of "i love lucy." there is no talk radio to speak of. just the big media, and c-span. and he quickly realizes the potency of giving special orders every afternoon -- giving a five-minute speech because it was being carried oliver cable into 100,000 homes around the country. digg army, former congressman ck armymy used it -- di

used to rib him about it, would 100,000 a speech to people, of course you would. that is what you are doing with c-span. cultickly becomes a political leader and he is this backbenchto junior member from georgia and, and is a member of the minority party. watch "after words" sunday at 9 p.m. on c-span's booktv. c-span was created as a public service by america's television companies, and is brought to today by your cable or satellite provider. >> "washington journal"

continues. host: we are in open phones here for the next 30 minutes. let us know what is on your mind when it comes to policy issues or political debate. phone numbers you can go to facebook and twitter as well. ed is up first in washington, d.c. a democrat. caller: good morning. scientist, i studied in europe and germany, and i know policy very well. i'm concerned about our country. congressmanis in a -- crisis right now. senator bob corker, on sunday, he called the white house and adult day care center, and he

suggested that general john kelly, james mattis, and the secretary of state tillerson are the people that are separating our congress -- country from chaos. that is very concerning. he also refused to deny he called the president a more on moron, and senator bob corker said we are on the path to world war iii. we in global warming right now, and the hurricane that built up to a category five and devastated florida. stainedident has america by going over there and insulting the mayor in puerto rico. that is one concern we have. i am a scientist -- a concerned scientists that our country needs to do better than that.

our people need to be vigilant of what is going on in this world right now. this president needs to get with these people who can advise him. he is not been advised by fact. he is being advised by people around him were giving him false facts and information. the world is looking at this , and the callers, when they call him, make sure their factual people and stop the -- called in, make sure they are factual people and stop this hatemongering. wakefield, rhode island. a republican. caller: thank you, good morning. thank you for c-span. i would look to see you someday hold at least a half-hour discussion on the state of the english language today and how it is being taught. things like the pronunciation of the word nuclear. it is ubiquitous across the

spectrum now. it has been getting worse and worse and worse. now i hear politicians, scientists, people in the news, talking heads, and they're all mispronouncing the word nuclear. it is just a perfect example of the state of the english language nowadays. that is my only comment. i would like to see a discussion about that run because people will be on the news -- i have heard people actually defend the mispronunciation of the word and give ridiculous reasons. there is only one word. it comes from the word nucleus. thank you. that is all. host: george in rhode island. front page of "the new york times," -- president trump will be signing an executive order easing restrictions on small

businesses that were set under the affordable care act. here he is on fox news last tax reform of his speech with sean hannity, talking about what he plans to do here in a couple of hours from the white house. [video clip] greattrump: we will have health care across state lines -- it will cost the government nothing. private insurers will give you incredible health care. i can sign it myself i don't need anybody. i would have done it earlier, but i was opened they would put this through and i would have it in the bill, but we are signing tomorrow, a health-care package that will cover -- i do know, some people0%, 25%, say could be 50%. it will cover a large percentage of the people. sean: truckers will benefit. pres. trump: truckers will benefit. they will form a group. this will be fantastic, and i would have done this immediately, but we were hoping

for health care. i think health care is going to pass. host: "the new yoimes" reports the executive order that he plans to sign is to promote health care choice and competition. . the new york times reports it would relax standards for so-called association health care plans. comingo, more on that today. that is on the table for discussions during open phones, as well as the nuclear deal with iran.

stire saying there should be a vote to impeach the president. hi, joe. caller: i like the story about trump talking about health care. i was going to say something else, but i think they should give them a shot, see what other states have to offer. think it is a wonderful idea. --e he mentioned, nucleus when we talk gender and gender politics, gender is about language. it is nothing to do with sex. about is just prepositions -- his jacket, her gender, but if we want to talk aboutsex, we talk biology. this gender politics to me is ridiculous. host: joe, are you for girls

join the boy scouts? caller: that is ridiculous. that is why the boy scouts are going south. they started with openly letting guys who like boys joined, and that was the fall of the boy scouts. so, this has been coming for a long time. it, and this is the way society is nowadays. it is said. you had something special for boys, and now these guys want to let the girls in. it is like anything. it is just crazy --crazy for someone of my age, anywhere. host: joe in massachusetts. andrew in massachusetts. what is on your mind this morning? caller: on the tax issue, if they are going to straighten out taxes, they got to start from the beginning and wipe the slate clean.

get the irs involved in this. sny person or business that owe back taxes for the last 10 years must start paying them back immediately -- no penalties or no interest. give them five years to have the arelaws figured out if they owed or not, then you start tacking on the interest and penalties. put all that money that the irs y to helpin a kitt veterans get the right treatment and off the streets to where they can be properly supervised and back on society. host: we hear your point. hear your point. you lena, -- he lena, a republican. caller: good morning. my shout out was for donald trump -- there was a phone call

about a new generation of democrats. i am pleased with donald trump. he got up off the chair and he said i can do better. he is a new punch of flavor in the republican party. he is a businessman. he is savvy, and i like what he is doing. he is shaking up the pillars of the earth. it is a new energy. he is shaking up the rug. we are seeing the debris under the rug. i am very grateful he took on this position, and i hope he does well. thank you very much. host: athens, alabama. avery is there. caller: good morning, greta, and good morning, america. i thank you for taking my call and i have one question -- as a black person that is 52 and has watched the racism in this country my whole life, i just

don't understand what exactly is people did to inerve to continue to a timely make any effort to protest or speak out against it it is always crushed. the president of the united fores called players who the most part trying to be we do not have much in political or religious leadership, they take a me -- to preleased brutality -- to police brutality , many stating that they felt fear. the president called them sons of bitches. what are we to do?

how are we to express our pain of never being accepted? what do we do to white people strugglenue to hundreds of years past emancipation, 50 years past , and continues to roll back all the progress that has been made? why continue to oppress black people? what did we do? host: ok. another issue to discuss, trade policy. the nafta negotiation between the united states, canada, and mexico continue in washington. the trump administration has

sparredx with american businesses that support nafta. yesterday at the white house, the prime minister of canada and his wife went to the meet with the president. here is the "wall street journal" with a picture of them at the white house. discussed as well as other issues. coverage ofh our that meeting if you go to our website at c-span.org. the "wall street journal" headline. in missouri a democrat. welcome. caller: i am and i like mr. bernie and i like mr. trudeau of canada. i wish we had a president like cam. host: why do you say that?

caller: i do not like trump. i consider him in the same way that i do that man out in hollywood that all these women his lifestyleon and what he has done to the women. i believe it is too much on our tv. i do not want to hear him in the news. i do not like people like cam that are nasty. i hope god punishes him and trump, too. host: dennis in fort myers, florida. democrat. caller: good morning. the reason i called is because i realized that c-span takes the headlines and reads that and pushes that information out to

the public in order to make an informed decisions, however, right after that you did play a clip of the president making his statements on another issue. didressman green of texas take the floor in the well of coveruse and you did those things, however, on msnbc last night, he was interviewed. his voice -- you can find the file and run it -- he said he was not asked by nancy pelosi or anyone of the democrat leadership to withhold the impeachment thing. it was his decision. maybe you should find that piece of file film.

when you run something that is out there so that people have both pieces of the information pie. host: this is what the "the washington post" reports. he wanted more time to review the resolution before it was voted on and that the house floor misled him on the timing of that though. according to multiple house democratic aides, party leaders have prevailed upon green not to provide the resolution. other hand, on the were happy to schedule a vote. are -- were they moving to table the resolution. you can read that and the "washington post". jack, riverdale, maryland. republican. caller: good morning.

friend executive order, i do not think it will go anywhere. but what a good idea if there could be a health care policy where there were factors of education, blood pressure, cardiograms, they check you out. smoking, obesity, and then can thatmagine the low rates may be 50,000 people would pay in an insurance program like that? that would be a great thing. another thing on language, the -- mentioned the word anybody mispronouncing the word is one thing but it is so crazy that the politicians and educated folks that can refuse to use "me" as an object. isy think saying "me"

terrible. and to use why as verbs when to use at would be great for the english-language. host: an independent on the line. caller: i want to comment on this whole furor about these football players that trump has created out of thin air. what the players are doing is obviously fully within their rights of the constitution but i want to remind people that this goes back to the 1940's. in january 19 42, the west virginia board of education announced a new law that required a salute to the flag by schoolchildren during the school day. their decree read that every teacher and student should be required to participate in the salute to honor the nation.

provided, however, that the refusal to salute the flag is considered insubordination. that was taken to court to buy a wasvah's witness family and thrown out by the u.s. supreme court as unconstitutional. you cannot force children to salute the flag. i want to read justice robert jackson who made the statement. primitive, but effective way of communicating ideas, but a person gets from a symbol the meaning he puts into it. what is one man's comfort and inspiration is another's suggestion." the first amendment grants us the right to view the flag as our own heads he fit -- see fit.

jackson went on to say that those who begin coercive, elimination of dissent soon will find themselves exterminating compulsive communication of opinion -- what trump is trying to do is not only unconstitutional but it is extremely dangerous. i just wanted to state that. in the republican line. caller: good morning. the man from alabama called about the black population being suppressed in this country. i look at it a little different. i can look at barack obama. i can look at our football players. i can look at black legislators and -- in this country who have made it to the pinnacle.

i want to know when we will have a discussion on the responsibility of black men. let me give you a quote. it was a quote from bill cosby, "young black men in this country need to pull their britches up, get a job, and go home and take care of their wife and children. households" rent is that deadbeat moms are deadbeat dads? host: will in ohio. a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to talk about the republican tax. this is so ridiculous. i understand that they need to lie to get this passed. some of the things they are saying like the representative from ohio ain't that these tax cuts will not benefit the rich

-- every expert has looked at this and said that 90% of the tax cuts would go to the wealthy. how is that not benefiting the rich? have got tog -- we rebuild texas, florida, we want to build a wall, we are fighting two unfunded wars -- how do you give out tax cuts when this is going on? it is ridiculous. republicans need to be honest about this and quit lying to the american people. host: will in ohio. we are going to take a short break. 50n we come back, c-span's capitol tour continues. in the capital city of nashville , coming up next. openere joined by that from tennessee. -- that governor from tennessee.

the wake of the worst mass shooting in u.s. modern history, are there immediate lessons here for governors as they try to prevent future attacks? >> i think all of us who are charged with the responsibility of the safety of our citizens not only mourn the loss of 59 lives in las vegas and 500 wounded, but started thinking that this is a whole new point of vulnerability. it is like another 9/11. if someone is willing to lose their life, in the process. there is a whole lot of different ways that they can cause other folks to lose their life and i think it has caused all of us and our safety folks and law enforcement -- we have got one more thing to think about in terms of how do we stop mass loss of life. >> what is that one more thing?

>> right spirit this is -- right. this is someone who knew it in the end that they were going to lose their life. they mercilessly slaughtered a lot of helpless people. it is another challenge. have planes flying into buildings and people driving cars into crowds. law enforcement people have to now take into account. culture ofh a deep country music and tennessee, can you talk through how that community -- and how a country music festival was the target? >> we obviously love music. it is at the heart of what we do. he had a lot of tennesseans who were out there. and sandy melton who died saving his wife's life.

of where it happened at a country music festival, i think this one really hit home across the state in terms of the painful reality of it. interview withs you, we asked our viewers to submit some questions for you about issues impacting tennessee. how are tennessee insurance markets dealing with the uncertainties of the trump administration cost increases? guest: guest: i think we had an issue country, that the rising cost of health care, the affordable care act was supposed to make health care more affordable but it obviously has not. in one place it showed up was insurance on exchanges keeps seeing increases.

part of that this year was the insurers pricing in the uncertainty of csr's being a part of the market, and without that, they went up more than they would have. what our insurance commissioner has abdicated, and what i support, is for congress to find csr and give states more flexibility in waivers so we can put things in place host:. medicaid through the affordable care act in your states renewing their calls for that expansion. is that something you think should happen in tennessee? guest: a couple years ago, i had a conservative alternative as a way to cover more people. that unfortunately did not pass in the legislature. i do not think the special session would reduce different results if we had when next week or next month.

again, what we had to do is figure out some way to align incentives so providers have a motivation to provide the best care and health care users have incentive to take care of themselves and make certain we cut out some of the health care costs we control now. journals 50's capitals toward his life today in nashville, where we are joined by former tennessee governor. governor brotherson, we heard and talk successor about the state of health care in tennessee. what is your take? i think we have a lot of issues with health care, particularly in rural areas. part of it is the coverage, and tennessee was one of the states that did not do the medicaid expansion. we have not got as far as we

could have there, and part of it is getting tougher and rural to locateet nurses out there and they are struggling. it demands attention over the next few years. host: you were governor when the affordable care act came into being, was that a boom to tennessee? guest: there certainly were a lot of people covered. i was a democrat who had issues with the affordable care act in the way it was structured. i think some of those are starting to play out that there is no question there are a lot of people in tennessee who benefited from the access to health care provided. i wish it had been passed in a more bipartisan fashion so adjustments could be made in one of the legacies of the very ways it was passed with no republican votes is that it has been in political play ever since,

unlike things like social security or medicare, which ended up having substantial numbers of people from both parties, so you could do those adjustments to get it to work. i am hoping we can see our way clear to make some of the adjustments we need to make it more sustainable than the way it is now. host: you mentioned tennessee did not expand medicaid, where you a proponent of that? guest: actually, i was. i actually went to at some of republicans ine the state who wanted to do that, it, helpied to make make it happen, but it was too much baggage and too much associated with i think president obama and it did not happen. you are the last democrat

to serve until -- in this position until 2013, and we are talking about the state of health care in tennessee and around the nation with him. we have two lines this morning. one for tennessee residents, 202-748-8000. and (202)-748-8001 for all others. governor brotherson -- governor a former, you are health care executive, how did that experience help you when you were governor? guest: i think it helped that in this sense when i came in as governor, probably the biggest problem in the state was this system we had. universalo use coverage and it turned out to be disaster. at least knowing how the system worked in some ways helped me work our way through that. we eventually got things solved

but not in the way i wanted. we had to take some people off the rolls rather than adjust benefits, but the experience and knowing about a little of how it worked taught me walk through those issues. host: why did this health care form become a disaster? because the idea behind it was to try to use managed-care as a way of cutting costs and thereby being able to cover more people. it is one of those things that managed-care is not as good as they wanted it to try to be and it is the perfect example of things work on the spreadsheets they give or analysis but it doesn't work in the real world. it, webout one decade of had the organizations that were trying to provide care were going bankrupt and all eventually did. hospitals were not getting paid,

doctors were not getting paid, and there were a host of issues. wascost of the health care greater than the total state revenue through the taxes, which obviously is not sustainable. you cannot do anything else, and it needed some dealing with and it occupied a lot of my first term as a governor. we got in a more stable position and it is quite a good program now but it was a painful time. host: the president has announced that he plans on signing an executive order to ease some of the rules and coverage to the affordable care act, are you supportive of that? that is a drop in the bucket of things that need some of the coverage rules that were in the affordable care act. they were probably more expensive than the needed to be.

i think it will take some much more fundamental working with the things to really make it work in the long run, and that is no different, no hit on the affordable care act. that same thing happened with social security and i think there were three different fixes on that before it came along. you never get these right the first time you do it. that is a small step in easing some of those rules and a step in the right direction but it will take a lot more than that. host: you served as governor of tennessee until 2011 and prior, you are mayor of the city of nashville, where our bus is today, it's here from viewers. this is cal in tennessee. good morning. caller: good morning. i am aou are a democrat, republican, and [indiscernible]

ofhought you did a good job really straining died out because it was almost a bankrupt state, so i want to thank you for that. i have another question, how is your health? i know during the end of your term, you were a little sick so i was concerned. i want to thank you for your service. guest: you are very kind, thank you. i appreciate that. health is fine. about the time i was reelected, i had rocky mountain spotted fever and i was really sick for a while and ended up in the hospital and going to the clinic but the nice thing about an infectious disease like that is you have a chance of it going away and buy a couple months after that, i never had any recurrence. i am a fortunate man, in good

health, enjoying myself come running in the morning. host: that was cal in cookeville, a republican. you won every county in your collection, can the democrat be elected statewide in tennessee today? guest: i think a democrat could be elected statewide. to be honest, you have to get a little distance from the national party. the democrats in massachusetts, california, so on would not play well here, but i think someone like myself or my predecessors, who are reasonably moderate to conservative business friendly democrats, i think work fine. i have always found that i think the solutions to our problems, they are neither liberal or conservative, they need to drop from all of those things. we talked a little bit about it earlier, we do some stuff from the left and right to make it

work. i think a democrat who is willing to reach across the aisle and work throughout the state, which is what i try to do, could do it. particularly in the governor's race, where it is not quite so partisan, in a race. host: does that mean you are not running for the open senate seat in tennessee? guest: [laughter] i have not expressed any interest in doing that. i served my 16 years in public office and i did not come for a few days and go home again, but i feel like it is ok to spend your time and go off and do some other things. host: john is calling from florida. caller: hello, good morning. i have a couple of basic issues, thanks for letting me share my views. mine in my --d of

in his late 40's, and i took him to the hospital in miami, florida, and he had an onset of diabetes. operatedt my surgically on in any way and only stayed 3.5 days and received a made $40,000 bill coming in and he ended up settling in the high 30's because he was scared he had about 60,000 to his name as a retired ironworker and my basic issue that i see, i hear these programs and hear the people talking about health care and everything else, but i have not heard once how doctors should cut their fees and doctors should cut their fees, i just see large hospital wings ame directed because it is tremendous business and that is

what it has turned into, a major, major business, rather than attempting to provide services to people at a fair price. it is turning into a gold mine for providers. host: let's hear from former governor phil brenda sent -- phil bredesen. guest: you hit the nail on the head. we have an extraordinary rate expensive -- an extraordinarily expensive system. unlike your friend come up with the bill personally, for most people, you go through insurance , medicaid or somewhere else, and just like any economist would tell you, when you don't have that tension there, the costs will go up. costs are outrageous. we are pushing a 2% of gdp in this country as cost of health care, the next highest is at 11 i think.

we have been expensive system. in a lot of ways, it is not that good. it is too oriented to these major interventions rather than some of the stuff software that has a lot more effect on a person's health. there is a lot of work to be done. it is not just about adding coverage. it is about making it much more efficient. we are supposed to be a country good at that stuff of efficient business and we have let health care get out of hand. host: governor bredesen, what is health america corporation? guest: that was a company i started in 1980 and had until 1990 one it was sold. there was a company that work in the nixon era, where there were a number of hmos started with some federal grants and loans and a lot of it

got me in trouble. i started the company to try to go in with those and helped fix them and built a public company in the new york stock exchange out of trying to do that. that is what i learned a lot about health care and how it works and how decisions are made that helped a lot when it came time to try to deal with tencare. host: linda is in kentucky, good morning. caller: good morning. i have a comment about the insurance that i feel it is the insurance companies that are causing all the problems because they have dictated to the people what, where they can go, what , where they want them, and the hospitals have been taken over by big ads.

i do not know how it is in the rest of the country but in kentucky and the surrounding counties i have them in, the hospitals and even my doctor is on salary, meaning he works for the same people running our hospital and not only the doctor but our farmers see -- our pharmacy is also run by the same company. i thought, who pays my doctor? he gets his money through insurance, so i feel like it is the insurance companies that are dictating the prices of what they will cover, what it will cost. i cannot understand why the government when it first came out with medicare and medicaid, they had a set price on what they would pay. that just stuck. the should not have set prices on this. that is the only ways in they went into that, they took over

our hospitals. host: i think we got your point. governor bredesen? guest: a couple of things i would say about what linda said. when medicare came into being, they were reimbursing, cost reimbursement, reimbursing hospitals for their actual cost. what happened then is for hospitals not to keep increasing those costs, because they would always get paid for them, i think medicare was the beginning of this spiral of increases that we have seen. back in 1965 and 1970, we were at about the same level of a number of other countries in terms of what health care costs, and we went up to almost double those numbers over the next half a century. i think the government program medicare is one of the factors

that has helped drive these costs up. it is easy to get mad at insurance companies and i have done it a few times, but remember that these insurance companies, if you take all of their profits and add them together, they do not add up to the profits of one of the big pharmaceutical companies. there is a lot of money being made in health care but being made in a lot of places all beyond the insurance companies trying to control us. i do not think they are perfect by a long shot, but i do not really think it is fair or accurate to sort of put all the blame on them. there is a lot of other places, pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, hospitals, that have not been responsible about costs, either. host: one of the rings president trump mentioned is he once to embrace state lines when it comes to providing health care. what are your thoughts -- he wants to erase state lines when

it comes to providing health care. what are your thoughts? guest: i have no problem with that. at the time of the affordable care act, that was being grasped on and how that would transform health care, which i do not think it would do. the insurance companies are regulated at the state level now, but there's no reason you cannot structure something where it could work across state lines. there are lots of places where the economic area that you think of as a natural unit for putting insurance together across the state lines in tennessee, chattanooga is on the georgia border, and lots of people across every day to go to work and go back home again and it would make a lot of sense in those cases. that is do not think not 1% of the solution of the issue, but there's no particular it in my mind.

host: betsy from mary in tennessee -- let's hear from larry in tennessee. caller: governor bredesen, i voted for it in my mind. host: governor bredesen and governor haslam. i vote for the person and i voted for every governor we have had in the state of tennessee, democrat or republican, since 1972. i had a problem with blue cross blue shield back in 1994. on ournot pay any hospital bill when i had a leg operated on, so i eventually dropped it and i got under tenncare and for a little while under mr. governor bredesen in tennessee, and eventually, they cut -- i was not on it long, but .hey cut me off of it they changed rules, regulations are whatever, so for basically 20 years, i was self paying, which was one of the best ways care oforld to take

your own hospital bills and they give you a discount because they don't have to put up with waiting on insurance. i eventually had to go under the affordable health care, both -- obamacare, it is the worst thing to ever hit the country. i was paying $713 a month and it would not paper hardly anything, and i was still paying out-of-pocket over the top of that. on to recently gone medicare. i have turned 65, gone on to medicare, and i just want to say that governor bredesen was one of the greatest and like i say, republican, it, don't even like the word independent. i just want to be an american. host: governor bredesen?

guest: well, first of all, larry, i am sorry about the tenncare thing. i had this problem, chat was trying to solve by trimming back some of the things like the drug benefit and so on and could not get that done between the courts, washington, advocates and everything else, so we had to end up cutting people. we never cut out any children of the program. i'm sorry you were one of them. i am sorry the experience you have with the aca. there certainly has had -- have been people who had that experience. i think you would find medicare to be a good, solid program that will take care of most of your needs. 1965s been around since and it has been a lot of work to work better and smoother. it has become a pretty good system and enormous help to someone once they turn 65.

host: governor bredesen, if you could redesign a tenncare 2.0, where would you start? guest: well, you know, we do have a tenncare 2.0 now in the state. we built it around managed care, so it was an integrated system and that was particularly important, not just for costs, but they provide better health care. when you have people who are on medicaid, which is basically what tenncare is, more so even more than most of the population, they go to the emergency room and become episodic, and a different doctor would tell them something else, and trying to get everything under one umbrella, so you were getting care when people were not talking to each other. now tenncare is doing very well on all the quality insurance measures and the like. i actually think that a system

built around a more integrated islth care delivery system the way to go and what we have in tennessee is what i think is moving toward that very well since when all of this stuff happened. current tennessee state budget is about $37 billion a year. when you were governor, what percentage of that budget was going to health care? guest: on the tenncare, high 20's, as i remember, and the projections was going into the 30% range. current tennessee statethere is no possible way to afford those kinds of numbers and still do other stuff. i mean health care is very good. care,eople have had told what i found in government is it is not a matter of making choices, it is a matter of making choices among good

things. it is good to take care of damaged children and good to have higher education systems and k-12 systems that are good. you have to have those in balance. tenncare had become the guerrilla of the table -- gorilla at the table and wanted everything. we had to get tenncare back in a proper relationship with the rest so you could spend money on education, which we did, and which the governor has done, spend money on things like damaged kids you have in any state that you want to reach out and help. host: a little over 6.5 million people in tennessee. mark in new jersey. caller: good morning, how are you? i want to bring to the attention of the listening public, "time" magazine did an article years ago, the largest one-day ever

did, called ""the bitter pill," and you can probably find it on the internet, a long-term investigation on the health care system and they found out the problem really comes from the rates that big pharma and hospitals charge. most use a charge master, a telephone size book that lists the medical codes and procedures and the hospital looks in the book, looks at the code and procedure, charges you according to that adds money to it or some hospitals might do the same thing for a cheaper price. you cannot go and shop around for a kidney operation when you need one right away, so the problem really lies, in my opinion, in the hospitals, big pharma, what doctors charge, which drives insurance prices up, which causes problems in the

country, so people should go on the internet and take a look, a shop around and internet, and see if you can find this article by "time" magazine. host: thank you. governor bredesen, are you familiar with that? guest: i sure am and the author of that article published that material in a book after that, a best-selling book called "the bitter pill," so anyone who once to read it and i we with the caller, it is a good description of how the health care system works. presume one of the online sites or your library. it really is a good read and points out, first of all, how andageous the charges are how much things increase with no underlying justification and the cost of doing it. it also talks a lot about the governmental process that

resulted in the aca and makes you kind of discouraged about the ability of the government to do anything well with the bureaucracy and roles that exist s that exist rule around to it, but for someone who once a deeper understanding and challenges of how the health care system works, i think that is a great read and place to start. host: book tv on c-span has book, if you want to watch it online, go to book tv.org, typing bitter pill and you will be able to watch it online. one more call, shane in florida. go ahead. , iler: governor bredesen work in health care and i would like to get my word in. it is obvious what is going on around the world. $3000what we have to pay to $5,000 for an mri went in

another country it takes $100. who uses the toll roads anymore, which is what hospitals are, a firebrand were free and we were treated equally, like we own our roads, we could all use them. we could use an mri every day and only cost $300, but no one wants to use toll roads anymore, so you have is a collapse in the toll road system. when you walk in the hospital, watch all the people who don't help the patient, billing, administration, all these departments in the hospital that don't have anything to do with helping people. i am trying to go as fast as i can. we have a huge dilemma costing this country billions and billions of dollars and it is called tobacco. we throw people in jail for cannabis and cannot prove it hurts a person. host: shame, we will have to

leave it there. governor bredesen? of the kind ofrt thing that at some point the federal government has got to do is weigh in on the subject and push down the rates. problem we had in any state, except maybe california, like tennessee, we are a medium-sized states, but we are not big enough to force a pharmaceutical company to make any changes in the way that it prices things. we are obviously limited by the law in terms of being able to tell them, we will not hide from you if you don't deal with that. some of this pressure on the medical industry is going to have to come from the federal government, who was in a position to do that. when medical care part d was passed, the drug program, there was a provisional law that you could not pay would the

pharmaceutical companies and that was to get them to support it. it is a strange thing in almost everything else you bias governor, you don't negotiate, put things out to bid, and you get in a lot of trouble, except in health care, but there are a lot of insight that that are relatively simple fixes that would not have any effect on the quality of care being delivered or would have a huge impact on the -- but with a huge impact on the price. host: former tennessee governor guest onhas been our the c-span best. we appreciate your time. the house of representatives is coming into session. disaster aid is on the agenda. speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., october 12, 2017. i hereby appoint the honorable bradley byrne to act pe