addiction. and a look at the state of the u.s. military with the coda would at the heritage foundation and the role of free health care clinics in the u.s. with nicole lambro, the ceo of the national association of free and charitable clinics. ♪ host: good morning. , 20s saturday, november 25 17 and as lawmakers prepare to return to washington from the thanksgiving break, the senate gearing up to vote on a tax plan as early as next week and they legislation could affect americans retirement savings from their 401(k)s to roth accounts, two other contribution plans. polls show that more americans are planning to work beyond retirement age. some say they will be employed part-time and others planning to work a full-time job. we are asking our washington journal viewers, when do you expect to retire?

hundred 30, call 202-748-8000. callen 30-50 years old, 202-748-8001. callu are over 50, 202-748-8002. you can reach us on social media, on twitter @cspanwj and on facebook at facebook.com/c-span. gallup on from americans attitude towards retirement shows that most americans plan to work beyond retirement age. nearly two in three employed u.s. adults, 62% say they plan to work past retirement but on a part-time basis. an additional 11% say they will work for time -- full-time once they get retirement age. a quarter say they will stop working altogether. it says that, of those who will continue working but only full-time, the majority plan to

do so because they want to, not because they have to. the proportion of want to versus have to explanation has edged up slightly since 2013 with the percentage saying they want to keep working part-time has risen from 34% to 44%. non-retirees desires to continue working from 9% will have to in 2013 to 5% today for the percentage of will have to work part-time will -- has dropped from 26% to 18%. when do you plan to retire? under 30, call 202-748-8000. 50, call0 and 202-748-8001. 50, 202-748-8002 .

a little bit more about some changes to retirement plans that could come from benefits. both the health -- house and senate bill could eliminate roth recharacterization scum a conversion from a traditional ira to a roth ira could be undone or reversed if participants find they do not have the cash to cover a tax bill from moving pretax savings to a roth account. the house summary explains the rationale this way -- it will prevent a taxpayer from gaming the system, contributing to a roth ira, investing aggressively , and benefiting from gains and retroactively reversing the conversion, if the taxpayer suffers a loss to avoid taxes on some or all of the converted accounts. the joint committee on taxation estimates the provision will at $500 million in revenue over the ten-year budget window.

that is one way retirement savings could change under the tax bill coming up being considered by the senate and the one recently passed by the house. jacqueline calling from peoria. over 50. when do you expect to retire? caller: thinking about in 14 years. i am trying to make sure that is my correct retirement age. host: beyond 65? caller: about when i hit it. host: how have you prepared? are you planning to live off of a pension or a 401(k)? how have you prepared for retirement? caller: my pension. host: where have you worked? caller: manufacturing. host: do you think you will be prepared for retirement? do you think you will be able to afford it? caller: i do not.

host: why not? caller: because we are not making enough money. rose is calling from st. petersburg, florida -- rosemarie, sorry, when do you plan to retire? caller: in july of 2018. host: do you think he will be ready and have enough to live on your retirement? caller: i do not know. because, if i will live for another five years or so, yes, if i will live to be 100, no. -- do you think you may have to take a part-time job? what plans do you have, if you

find you do not have some savings -- enough to live on? well, i did consider a part-time job and about two years or so. not necessarily -- i never gave a thought to it because it was -- i would not have enough money, but because -- not because i would not have enough money, because i would like to be back in the workforce, at least have something i do every day. situation,olunteer or an actual part-time job where i earn income. that was my thought. wonder ifre making me i should go back to work. because i do not have the financial resources to continue.

i do not know that. host: ok. the government accountability offices person was on washington journal earlier this week to talk about the agency's report on how well americans are doing saving for retirement. let's look at what he said. >> overall, why we put the overall report out, the country -- i love the people in the country where the retirement prospects do not look great. three major pillars for contributing to retirement, social security, employer , eachns, private savings one facing real fiscal challenges and physical stress. will only bety able to pay three quarters of promised benefits by 2035, private pensions, half of private sector workers do not have access to any sort of retirement savings plan. for those who do, increasing and cank) type plans which

provide retirement income but much more responsibility on individuals. on private savings, with the increase in debt, though it did come down from the recession, increase health care costs, most income growth going to hire income workers. it is difficult for many working people to save for retirement. host: debbie is on the line from gainesville, florida. over 50. when do you plan to retire? soon? caller: yes, i am retired now. first of all, good morning and happy thanksgiving and thank you for taking my call. it seems to me that once we got into the nafta and the global trade, and in the bank bailout, there seemed to be think tanks and media trying to make people think they did something wrong. and that they need to start working at a later age.

65't retire at 62 and because the medical industry -- i am a registered nurse -- states you will be living longer. you do not need to retire now because we are having trouble balancing our budget in washington, d.c. we need to cut this entitlements and you may need to wait because you have not saved enough money. we need to be focusing more of all -- on all of the theft and graft in washington, d.c., rather than trying to make the american people feel guilty like they did something wrong and they need to wait so they can cut the budget in washington, d.c. and give more tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires. that is what concerns me, trying to put this guilt trip on the american people. when you have not saved enough for retirement. meanwhile, they keep robbing us blind. prepareat did you do to for your retirement, how did you

save? caller: i had my 401(k) and i saved on top of that. i was prepared. i am 67. i came -- my working career before the nafta took effect and we got rid of the -- so many union jobs and the pensions and outsourced other jobs where people had to start working two jobs to have the same quality of life that i had. i was very fortunate. i just feel, because of this, our politicians and our think tanks, and the media have taken advantage of the american people so they can balance their budget off of the backs of the american people. by -- "we need to come

entitlements, we need to add more taxes, and cut taxes for the wealthy because that is i stimulate jobs," we know that is not true. they do nothing to end the waste, fraud, abuse. that is where we cover up for what our politicians are doing. the corporate lobbyists. they grabbed our legislation. all of our lives -- draft our legislation. our politicians just fund raise. i feel like the american people get taken advantage of by the oligarchs. we have been hijacked, our government. i am old enough to remember the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's where we had a quality of life and cared about our infrastructure and elderly. now we only care about the wealthy and the oligarchs.

ando after entitlements blame the people like they did something wrong so we can bailout the banks the next time. host: thank you for your call. report ourhe gao guest was talking about, fundamental changes have occurred over the past 40 years to the nation's current retirement system made up of three main pillars, social security, employer-sponsored pensions, retirement savings .lans, and individual savings these changes have made it difficult for individuals to plan for and effectively manage retirement. in particular, a marked shift away from employers offering traditional benefits -- pension plans to defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s, as the primary type of retirement plan. this shift to the plans have increased the risk and responsibilities for individuals in planning and managing their retirement, at economic and societal trends. such as increasing in debt and health care costs can impede

individuals abilities to save for retirement. kevin is calling from portland, oregon between 30 and 50. n, calvin, sorry -- kelvi sorry, when do you plan to retire? caller: thank you for taking my call and i enjoy c-span. i am a doctor real candidate and the first of my family to see a degree and received an advanced degree. i have a lot of debt to take care of. question, be men and women in my family all have retired in the early 70's and late 60's. i expect to work in that timeframe. let me just piggyback on the previous caller. there is a democracy in both parties. -- hypocrisy in both parties as a relates to long-term economic

solutions. for example, i thought barack obama -- i was all for the endorsement of hillary. when he endorsed hillary's running mate, that did not make sense because hillary and who she picked for vice president were nafta supporters. nafta has destroyed this economy and was a big reason why folks went to donald trump. had bernie sanders been on the ticket, we would call her now matter president. -- matt and president. president. someone who made $200 million from the free-trade economies -- agreements from making speeches and endorse a free-trade agreement that takes jobs away does not help any of us and our long-term retirement. i hope the dnc gets it right next time.

thank you for posing the question about retirement. it is a central question to folks making long-term debt investments like myself, who are getting their doctorate degrees and will have the debt in the near future. unless you have a question, i pulled everything i wanted to say. host: thank you christopher from dexter, maine, over 50. are you prepared for retirement? caller: yes, i just hit 62. in may. toave been putting away 7% 10% of my pay every week and have been working since 1977. i just retired and have close to 400 something thousand dollars stashed away with a couple of pensions from a union and social security. i have never made over $57,000 in one year and anybody can do it. put away 7% to 10%. you do not have to be rich.

i have a high school education and have done well under republicans and democrats. republicans seem to make it easier for me to get ahead. pensions,say you have in addition to other savings. said that employers nowadays are not offering those sort of pension plans the way they used to . caller: i work for a shipbuilder with a union pension that they contribute to when you negotiate. a lot of years, we did not get good contracts because there was not a lot of work. we took very small increases in our attention. my pension is not -- $1800 per month, not very big, pretty good but not great. , justf it i did it on my putting a little money away for each paycheck. a couple of times we were on strike and i work low-wage jobs

and kept putting the money away. anybody can do it. do not care if you make $10 per hour or $40 per hour. god bless america. host: the atlantic took a look at why americans do not save as much or do not have as much retirement savings as other countries. one. is that the u.s. -- theory is that the u.s. is susceptible to conspicuous consumption and spends too much. made america bad as savings, their mix of wealth and diversity and a very stable of the american identity is the culprit of its spending habits. studied thechers stereotype that minority spend more than whites on visible goods like clothes, shoes, jewelry, salons, health clubs,

car parts discover that even after controlling for income, minority save less than whites and spend more on such conspicuous consumption goods but the story was not just about race, white people import u.s. states spend more of their income on visible goods that whites in higher income states. -- amanda weitzeil higher income states. than. -- under 30, call 202-748-8000. between 30 and 50 call 202-748-8001. over 50 call 202-748-8002. tony is calling, will you be prepared for retirement? caller: i will retire pretty soon. i am hoping i get the powerball. the only way. it is no joke. i agree with charles.

these three presidents, if you wereat history, two republicans and one was -- not too long ago, obama, the first --s, i want to mention dwight d. eisenhower, the tax the wealthy 91%. we have a president who is trying to do the opposite. people -- they do not need tax cuts. they do not need them. the country will go in a second recession and this is no joke. trump cuts taxes, the

country will experience a second depression. this is no joke. host: what are you doing now to prepare for retirement? are you saving? do you have an employer-provided plan? caller: that is a good question. i have to pay my rent, water bill, electricity bill, car insurance, my check is gone. before i get my check, it is gone. water, electricity, car insurance. you name it. close, -- clothes, food. i have to pawn stuff. eat, i of going out to have to buy chicken noodles. cheap food.

that is the only way we survive. host: the atlantic story talks about savings and some people's inability to do so. there is a tendency for some to say americans do not save money because they simply cannot afford to. in many cases, this is true as the cost of healthy food and clothes for a family with andral children is a lot housing is expensive with medical emergencies financially punishing and the short term burdens of poverty makes it impossible to plan for a few months ahead. two thirds of workers are at a company that does not offer a retirement plan. the u.s. is unique in its large number of single parents with children, this affects the poor disproportionately wally college graduate at 29 is 30% more likely to be married than ap never finished high school which helps explain why nearly 60% of first births in lower middle-class households are now unmarried -- to unmarried women

. charlotte coming in from florida, under 30, when do you expect to retire? have you thought about that? caller: i have thought about it. ae young man who said he was phd student, for those, as you just read, for people who are high earners and highly educated, high skilled, we now are a high-capacity society. i think this is a beautiful -- especially with thanksgiving and happy thanksgiving, america, and thank you for c-span. i think where we are, as you read in the article, we are in a unique position because of our diversity and because of our capacity. yet, we have not been governed without diversity and capacity. we need to have a wholesale redistribution of asset capacity

of people to come into our government who understand and value the diversity and the capacity, the innovative creative path. as a person who has pursued higher education, high-capacity scientific science research, i have the capacity to move forward for 30 years because of this asset capacity. in higher earnings. yet i have high debt. but i can pay the high debt because of the capacity of the matching salary. this is really timely. this is where we are showing our crack in the kind of humanity we suffer from. andeed to have diversity capacity to be brought forward in the government. the nurse that called earlier, and medical fields, we see the

range of income capacity, intellectual capacity, asset capacity with people that come to us through the daily work. we hear and know that we have decline ina 40 year the standard of living, standard of play, and standard of -- standard of pay, and standard of capacity. the man who called by unions, unions have been a stabilizing factor for income capacity, benefit capacity, and for an ovation capacity as it relates to people having work without college. now, as you are reading, most ,eople have no private pension no defined-benefit pension, half of americans. we have had 40 years of a declining standard of pay and

standard of living. see the young i people, those with high-capacity and will have high earnings, we now have people who are 40-60 years old who have not earnibuted in any way to the $1800 the man said he receives from the government contract work of building ships. we do not build cruise ships and the country, we build military ships. he has benefited from the military contractor pensions that he gets $1800. now, he is one of the people who stated that republicans -- but republicans are the want to have pensions.disrupt the get a way from the defined benefits. they do not want to give us the sosa security at 62. -- social security at 62.

we need a diversified people coming into the government with diversified capacity that will change the system as the system is corrupt. it is built on exploitation of the humankind. that is where we are. now we have working class white people who are complaining about their capacity when they have no assets intellectually and have not pursued education. they said they created the training for the kentucky miners and they refused to take it. i watch c-span. regularly. i work on 48 and then sleep. i watch c-span early after making the rounds of night. i see where we have people who have not pursued their intellectual -- i see the elders -- host: we have a lot of colors to get to. -- callers to get to your home investor news, one-way

retirements are being affected by the resolution signed by president trump that killed an irama arab auto ira -- auto and, the reservation past the obama -- resolution passed in the obama administration as the department of label had -- labor had issued it under president obama and it created a safe harbor under which states could establish automatic enrollment, payroll deductions, individual retirement accounts for private sector workers who do not have access to a retirement plan through their employer. let's look at what the labor secretary said, testifying before the house education and workforce committee recently. about the presence decision to -- president trump's decision to reverse the ira on a room. they have limited access and congress has not excited access to those programs

. some states, craig morgan, stepped up and establish retirement savings programs for private sector workers who do not have an employers sponsor plan. pastessional republicans and present from signed legislation that nullified rules that make it easier for states and localities to set up these programs. what would you say to the workers now whose access to good retirement savings programs is in jeopardy? what should they do? >> this goes to a broader question. asis important, particularly we come out with a study on the economy this spring that we engage in a larger discussion so that individuals that have various employment relations can have access to employer benefits. host: fernando calling from homestead, florida, between 30 and 50, when do you think you will retire? caller: i think i will retire when i am over 65. host: have you been preparing for that? how have you been saving for that retirement?

caller: no idea. i think retirement is when you give things to people that do not deserve it, you give your stuff away and you do it in the name of -- at the end, he honors that. host: ok. kathy calling in from michigan. you are over 50. when do you think you are retiring? caller: i do not know. i will probably start filing for social security at 66 which is in six months. i looked it up, it is $1204 per month. maine, i worked at a hospital, i worked there for 14 years and the retirement is $125 per month with no health insurance for anybody. does not matter when you retire.

they got rid of that. , i took some money from an inheritance, taking care of my grandmother and put it into a piece of property that is worth a lot of money now. i will probably at some point so one parcel. the rest will go to my children and eventually everything will go to my children it was a small amount of money. putting it into a vacation would not be wise. that is all i have. i do not put into the retirement plan where i work because of this real estate i have. i do not have that much, after you pay health insurance and dental, vision, life, short-term disability, on and on. i want to make this one point -- if you make $10 per hour, you are grossing $400 per week and my is what you -- say you take

him $350 and by the time you pay phone$600, and your heat, , electric is $300, your car insurance is $150. you have $350 left for food and what do you do for dental bills? welfare is a good thing, when everybody receives their fair share. that is not what has ever happened in this country. we should have cradled to death health insurance. it would make life so much easier and so much more profitable for the country to -- for the country. i believe in strong unions. ahave a brother who will have nice vegan and should be retiring now but -- a nice pension and should be retiring now, i think he manages his money but there is whining on his part. host: what is the solution? people in washington pushing to increase wages?

do you think there should be more pressure on employers to provide better benefits such as retirement benefits? what do you think it would take to make it easier for people to retire, given the cost of living? washingtonhink that needs to look at their retirement. put the numbers out there. so we can look at what they put .n, what they took him i have a friend who is a professional aid for dale kildee and he did very well. be some type of pension plan. i do not think that -- i do not want to get into it -- there are people who work way up in the administration and any business that make more than they should and sure pension plans are lucrative, that includes public and private. the majority of the people have

-- do not have that. it is good to save money to spend in retirement. i do not see the guy you of having a lot of money in the back. -- i do not see the value in having a lot of money in the bank because it does not hold value. host: frank as coming in from spanish fork, utah, over 50. do you plan to retire? , i got a have retired medical retirement in 1998, i worked for u.s. steel. 40 union. -- the beginning of the decline of the american manufacturing. our steel plant was sold by u.s. steel to a private concern. attorneys specializing in phasing out businesses. i feel quite fortunate that i could advantage of many of the union benefits. -- one of the owners of

the plant was a united states congressman who said that business does not need government interfering, yet they mismanaged the pension fund and turn to the government pension guaranty corporation to give us our pension as it was cut in half because of their mismanagement. a contradiction that the government did have to step in and take responsibility. i am glad they did. one other thing about education -- i worked in the steel plant even though i have a bachelors degree and many in my family were educated. -- onlyissing out on education as a means to make , i am i used to think working in a steel plant with a bachelors degree. what am i doing? i realized after a time that at life,t that enriches my

the things i learned in college and things i learned to do made me a more rounded person. we have fallen away from looking -- the value of education to provide those things. host: did your college put you in debt? caller: no. andaduated in 19 cc nine got a job in the state of california where my father inked in the summer and -- 1969 and got a job in the state of california where my father worked. i got work scholarship money and money i earned in the summer, i paid for my education. from 1965 to 19 seeking nine. -- 1969. host: asking our viewers when you plan to retire and how you have prepared. under 30, 202-748-8000. between 30 and 50, 202-748-8001.

over 50, 202-748-8002. according to fidelity, they have issued the limits for contributions to certain retirement plans. it says for 2017, if you have a 403 b, 49 and -- another, the contribution limit is $18,000 annually, over 50, an additional $6,000 you can put into the plans. roth and traditional iras, under can- under 49, you contribute up to $5,500 and you must unemployment compensation. over 50, an additional $1000. traditional iras modified adjusted gross income limit for partial dependability, single, now between 62 thousand dollars

and $72,000. if you are married, between .99,000 and $119,000 joint return with several provinces between zero and $10,000. a non-active participant spouse it is $186,000 to $196,000 with limits for different kinds of retirement plans. we talked to about when you are retiring. otis from south carolina, over 50. have you retired? caller: i do not think i will ever be able to retire. i am 67. i never worked for a company that have a retirement plan. i have always been in construction. when the job is built, you go somewhere else. you just do not get a retirement built up like that. . do not have a savings account i lost it when my wife got sick. with a debilitating disease.

we do not have insurance at the time. i had to get state insurance. when i did that, my savings was too hot for us to qualify -- too high to qualify for us so i had to get rid of the savings account. i know i will be working until i am dead. host: are you still working in construction? caller: yes, i am a house painter. it is not an easy job, especially the prep work. sanding to do a lot of and climbing up and down -- i still climb up and down 44 letters to get the job done -- 40 foot ladders to get the job done. i am still active physically. i am worried about some of my sisters. and brother who have retirement plans.

reform --new tax plan something will happen and they will lose the. there will be politicians who make sure the companies do not -- up to their retirement what they said they would give their employees. somebody will be hurting. everybody better be watching what is going on in washington right now, if you ever want to retire. i am drawing social security. at 62.tarted drawing it when i did that, i lost $900 per month coming in, if i would have waited until i was 65. right now, $900 is a lot of money to me. a very lot of money. i wish i would have waited. at the time, i have problems with family i needed to help the

only way to do that was to start drawing social security and continuing working. that is why i am in the position i am in now. can, keep onif you working until 65. do not lose the little bit of money. it is a little bit to most people but to me it is a lot. $900 more per month would help me out tremendously. over now, it is a little $1100 excellent drawing each month wrong social security does $1100 per month is what i am drawing -- $1100 per month is what i'm drawing from social security. put money awayg, from your check, even if it hurts as eventually everything will level out. keep working as long as you can hear -- keep working as long as you can.

stay on your politicians and do not let them mess up social security, ever since the republican president put it in effect, they have been against it and trying to find a way to starve it to death. they are trying to strangle social security by not telling the people that they need to be putting in at least 13% to 15% into social security. as calling in from goose creek, south carolina. you are over 50, are you planning to retire or are you retired? caller: i plan to work until i am about 68 and i am 64. i have been listening to the callers, i come from a disadvantaged upbringing. my parents were divorced. i could not get a decent job. i was working unique construction and i cannot find a job -- unique construction when i cannot find a job. i went into an armed forces recruiting station.

i joined the navy for four years. and then i married my high school sweetheart. at the time, i have $5,000 in my pocket. i never intended to make the military a career. i spent 20 years in the military. during that time, my wife and i started saving in our 20's. we put enough money away for our children to send them to college and pay for the majority of that, i have two dollars. we did a lot of sacrificing -- i have two daughters. we did sacrificing. my wife walked to the store to buy cookies for my children and my children were made fun of sodase they took generic to school and one got in trouble because they did not know what a coca-cola was and the teacher thought they were being smart. my -- our priority

to save money. and 20 years, i got a college i went to the-- military the day i got out, i went to nursing, covered under employer for a one plan. -- 401 plan. i presently have my money in the a1 even though i worked for separate entity of the organization that contributes money for me. i continue to contribute money into a 403b. i am saving about 30% of my income and my house is paid off, my cars are paid off. it is all because of the thriftiness my wife and i started with in our 20's. host: do you think the problem with many americans is they do not save enough and plan ahead enough the way you and your wife did? caller: i do. our society is built on a capitalistic society and about consumerism.

when you see people walking around with $800 iphone's and $150 jeans, you have to ask yourself where the value of the products come from. i did not do it growing up because i cannot afford to. early in your life, you have to make your priorities. this is not new. i got out of the military 22 1994,ago, born in 1953, at the end of my military career , all this information was out there. churches have the same information with programs they provide their version is on how to save money. dave ramsey is out there, follow his advice. at 20 years old, if you put money away and stop when you are 40, started when you are 40 and stop when you are 60, they have three times as much money from place at 40same

when they started at 20. host: front page of the wall street journal, standard & poor's -- at new heights which affects 401(k)s. u.s. stocks record runs notched another milestone with the s&p 500 closing above 2600 level on friday for the first time, the toad market index rose 5.3% 26.242, up almost 1% for the week and marking its second fastest climb to a round number -- the s&p took 49 days to reach 2600 from 2500, a speedy rice exceeded only by the 35 day search to 1100 in 1998. will is calling in from florida. you are under 30.

how are you planning to retire and when do you think you will retire? to make myecided plan only about three years ago. i am 35. hopefully i did not start to eight. -- tool latge. -- too late. i watch my money grow and hope everything goes ok. host: do you think you will retire at 65 or might you want to continue working once you reach that age? have you thought about it? caller: i will go as long as i

can. i will work as long as i possibly can. i did have a dramatic brain injury when i was 22. i was told i would probably shorten my ability to be functional as i age. i will just keep going as long as i can and hope for the best. host: ted is calling in from warnings and, oregon, you are over 50. had he retired? caller: yes, i do not collect retirement, i call a graduation -- call it retirement, i call graduation, i did it when i was 57, 2 years ago, i was a union, journeyman plumber for decades and always had a great time. i enjoyed it. being a plumber, ok? i have been graduated for a

couple of years and have enjoyed $100,000 in benefits. everything i got is paid for. i live close to the beach. every day i get my surfboard and go down and ride my surfboard. wavesriting the ocean with guys in their 20's and 30's, 40's, older than me. i think that there are so many people that never thought it out and never planned it out. i was active duty air force as a plumber in my 20's to get into this country club. journeymanas a union electrician who traveled the world and took all his kids with him. and mom. we were very, very well treated as kids and very well treated because of the training of a journeyman, and my dad said, only three licensed trades, plumbers, electricians, steamfitters. i chose one.

now, i have a garage full of plastic guards. a barn full of surfboards. a new wetsuit and nothing stops me. host: i assume you had a pension. that is something allowing you to live the life you are living. are you worried there are fewer pensions available to workers today been back some days ago -- band back -- were in a very good plumber and you did not work much, you do not get much of the end. me, i was always fully employed. i used to call the contractors the pimps. i let my numbers do the talking. the profit margin. red and black. i always had a contractor tell me, thank you. me, i kept them at arms length and never had to talk to them

about a wage or a price. i would tell them, take care of the issue today because i know how much you hate big italians at local 290. they can be here in one hour and things would be taken care of and i would go on. it was a very good life. what took the wind out of my sales at the end, no matter how much of my money i throughout a job, i cannot buy any material that wasn't made in china. that took the wind out of my sails. having the ability to walk out the door was priceless. host: some other headlines, president trump will meet with senate republicans next week ahead of their big tax vote. president donald trump went to -- will go to capitol hill next week to meet with republicans as they prepare to pass their own tax overhaul when they return from the break. wyoming senator john barrasso who chairs the senate republican policy committee made the announcement friday, donald

trump made a similar visit to the house republican conference shortly before the chamber passed it legislation last week. alan is calling from scottsdale, arizona between 30 and 50. when do you think he will retire? caller: i subscribe to the george burns role of retirement, tolooked at the palladium entertain at 100 years old. i started going to my father's work at 10 years old. point -- i have been thinking about this for many years, i enjoy people. i enjoy service. i tell my customers, i am just trying to make a few people happy everyday. as long as i can do that every day and am well and able, and i can think and be productive, if

i am 100 years old, i am 100 years old. one of the things i would like to say is that i would like to see program -- this is an important thing for retirement, that is to have a program for people to come on and talk about lowering the cost of living for america. it is one thing to have a tax-cut the next thing, when you look at the cost of living throughout the whole spectrum, energy always place the biggest part. there are many factors that add to the cost of living, especially if we have five dollar gasoline. i would love to see a program on that. host: we appreciate the suggestion and maybe we will do that. says that the house is set to vote next week on an anti-sexual-harassment training resolution. the house will vote on a

resolution requiring all lawmakers and staff to complete anti-harassment training, a new mandate following a flood of sexual harassment allegations rocking capitol hill. paul ryan announced that the lower chamber would alter the rules to force offices to complete the training which was previously optional and rarely required by hill offices. the vote is expected as soon as monday and follow through is promised days after the senate enacted a similar requirement. ed calling from silver spring, maryland. are you retired or planning to send? caller: i do not think i will ever retire, i am 85 and doing part-time jobs. but i spent all of my life saving money doing everything that nobody spends out, unlessever eat i am with my daughter.

-- i stayed ats group houses to stave money -- save money. i bought a house at 65. i sold it just before the thing busted. i bought stocks. stockman who sold me before that busted. i go all over the world. theater.olunteer i scavenge a lot. now i do not need to do this. it is my life, and i save money. i am a depression boy. we got somebody to help us.

to cook almost nothing so my mother could work an extra job, she was a schoolteacher. i learned about scavenging with her. from patricia calling in mountain home, -- you are over 50. are you retired or will you retire soon? caller: i am retired, 66, my husband and i are both retired, i was 50 and my husband was 54. we came from illinois and moved to arkansas because the real estate was cheaper. host: that is pretty young to retire, how did you plan? caller: my husband had a good union job with the truck line and 38 years of service and we figured out our expenses and figured it is time to go so we picked up and left. we are living pretty well. we have a decent house.

i have parkinson's. it is hard for me but we live well. people do not appreciate what we have. host: did you save in addition to the pension? how did you make sure you can live beyond retirement? caller: with aging in job, it was good -- union job, good pay, 401k, we put it together and bought another house and sold the one we had. that is what we did. we never had stock. it not believe in them. -- did not believe in them. host: in other news, the new york daily news points out a baking controversy at the white house yesterday. they say no one believes sarah huckabee sanders bait this 5 -- baked this pie.

she sent a picture and said she made herself, something people twitter are having a hard time believing. she admitted she does not cook often because of her job as white house press secretary but many think she did not cook on thursday either after she posted a photo of the pie. the white house reporter april ryan said, show it to us on the table. that result in a number of other theys, with other pies said were baked. sarah huckabee sanders later stood by her story that she lpiefakenews. #rea do -- caller: i am 70 and am retired. i want to go on the coattails of

a man and a woman -- the man said he and his wife started saving when they were 20. i was brought up -- i never heard of a credit card or designer jeans. if you do not have it, you did not buy it. my father was a brick and stone mason. andpprenticed at age 15 became a master builder and work hard. i am the oldest of three. when my sister was 10, my mother went to work in the school cafeteria where she went to school and became the head cook. it was a mentality. today, when you fast-forward, you go to the generation. my son has a good work ethic. you do what your parents do. could afford the most expensive clothes for us but she would go to the children shopping our village when things were on clearance because that

is how they grew up, they were poor. cards, i seecredit people charging groceries or designer jeans and living beyond their means. they have to pay this off at 20% interest? when you are my age, you just shake your head and say -- "how do people feel they tempe with plastic and not plan on -- pay with plastic and not pay it off?" they are not even thinking retirement. i am trying to articulate myself and i'm probably saying something we have no way to solve. people do this. when they retire with $700 or $800 a month, they want to blame the government why they are not getting enough. did you work? did you work to put into your social security? now they complain.

host: coming up, we will be joined by jesse mechanic of the huffington post who will discuss the factors behind the opioid crisis. later, the strength of the u.s. military we will be right back. >> this weekend, tonight at , speechwritersan for presidents nixon to obama. and how your zip code impact your health. on book tv on c-span2, tonight at 9:00 eastern, christopher

bedford on his book "the art of the donald: lessons from america's philosopher in chief." author rebecca frazier and her ," on"the mayflower american history tv on c-span3 tonight at 8:55 p.m. eastern the u.s. capitol's arts and architecture. sunday, the groundbreaking ceremony for the dwight eisenhower memorial and washington, d.c. this weekend on the c-span networks. c-span's studentcam video documentary competition is underway, and students across the country are busy at work sharing their experience with us through twitter.

it is not too late to enter. the deadline is january 18. choose a provision of the constitution and create a video explaining why it is important to you. are competition is open to all middle school and high school students. $100,000 in cash prizes will be awarded. the grand prize of $5,000 will go to the student or team with the best overall entry. for more information, go to our website, studentcam.org. c-span, for history unfolds daily. 1979, c-span was created as a public service i america's cable-television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. >> washington journal continues.

host: we are joined by jesse mechanic, a have a thin post contributor. he is here to discuss the multifaceted issues which contribute to the opioid crisis. thank you so much for joining us this morning. tell us a little bit about how you got interested in exploring this topic of the opioid crisis. like so many people in this country it has touched me personally. i lost one of my best friends five years ago. i have worked in psychiatry to a degree. start to balloon into of sanity. i wanted to learn more about it, how it started and the different factors that exacerbated the crisis. that i wanted to the research on how we can pullout of it. it affects so many people that it is as vital we do everything we can. host: in your piece you have

written on this issue, you called the opioid crisis a 20-armed octopus. what did you mean by that? guest: that particular metaphor fromom a presentation dartmouth. she explained it like that because it is one of these crises that is so tough to nail .own i thought that was a good title for it because there are 70 different aspects to it. -- so many different aspects to it. early 1990's the where there was this campaign largely funded by big pharma to label pain as an entity unto

itself. that facilitated a rise in prescriptions, and that collided with the future king of narcotic painkillers oxycontin in 1996. as you have discussed on this show, it was introduced by pretty pharma, it is owned by billionaires with names on hospitals. people did not know when they were making their money. from hundreds of millions of dollars in ads and marketing they changed the narrative on opioids completely. they put on lavish presentations. that attended were twice as likely to prescribed opioids. if you look at the numbers, wasontin in the first year around $40 million in sales. by 2001 it was $1.1 billion. by 2010, $3 billion.

now we have to discuss how do we tackle the crisis. that is what the piece is about. part of it is addressing the over prescription crisis, but not over regulating. we can't just network fingers and take away all the opioids. cap tapering -- you have tapering, and that drives people to illicit substances. if you look at the statistics, a staggering number of 60 plus that 60,000rdoses plus overdoses were from heroin and fentanyl. those people don't it with your getting, the breakdown. fentanyl can be 50 to 100 times stronger than heroine. we don't want to push people there. medical marijuana can play a role. unfortunately it is only legal in 29 states and here in d.c. that should be made more available. it is not nearly as addictive or harmful to the body.

host: we will get to some of the causes and solutions. it is a lot to tackle. we are talking to jesse mechanic , contribute to the huffington post about the opioid crisis. democrats can call (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. s independent, (202) 748-8002. line ifhave a special you or your family have been affected by the opioid crisis. the life review is (202) 748-8003. a programming note, last saturday on washington journal we had a spotlight on magazine piece that went into the family. c-span.org you can find that onc-span.org -- you can find that on c-span.org. back to your piece. part-interesting that shows the rising prescription opioid and the

corresponding drop in the use of heroine. from the 1960's, it was a much higher use of heroin. guest: the first usage. host: yes, the first opioid use. care when was much higher. there has been a corresponding drop. guest: a pretty wild chart. 1 a corresponding -- host: a corresponding rise in the use of prescription opioids. what leads to that? guest: the main issue is before this whole thing began people did not really -- i don't know if people really knew oxycontin -- that opioids were molecularly identical to drugs like heroin. they were mostly used for inpatient treatment for cancer pain, postsurgical treatment, end-of-life treatment. not a lot of people connected the two. i think people that got into

drugs would get into it through illicit substances, but then what happened was the over prescription boom got a lot of people hooked on the euphoria of opioids. the charts switched. the first experience with an opioid became a prescription pill from a doctor rather than something someone bought on the street. host: i want to talk about some of the response by the government to the opioid crisis. the front page of usa today points out the trump administration has declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency and backing efforts to find better ways of measuring and treating pain and notes of developing precise treatments that would be more effective than opioids and the offing catastrophic side effects of the national institute of health will open proposals for $4 million in small business grants

to develop a device or technology to objectively measure pain. let's look at what president trump said last month when he declared the emergency. president trump: the terrible measure of the opioid crisis our families ripped apart, and for many communities a generation of loss potential and opportunity. this epidemic is a national health emergency. seen, many of us, we have and what we have seen in our lifetimes nobody has seen anything like what is going on now. as americans we cannot allow this to continue. it is time to liberate our communities from this scourge of drug addiction. never been this way. we can be the generation that ends the opioid epidemic. we can do it. [applause]

president trump: that is why effective today my administration is officially declaring the opioid crisis a national public health emergency under federal law. and why i am directing all executive agencies to use every appropriate emergency authority to fight the opioid crisis. this marks a critical step in confronting the extraordinary challenge that we face. host: what does that declaration do? guest: we don't exactly know yet.

it can do the things we need it to do, but we need congress to come together to allocate the right funds. it is a good first step, and the president said mostly the right things i would say. but we don't really know yet. there has not been many announcements of any sort of specific funding that would be large enough to actually tackle this. i guess my answer is we will see. it does enable a lot of funds to be released think it is usually government -- that could potentially go in the right direction but we don't know enough yet about what that would entail. host: we have eric calling in from lincoln, nebraska. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. mr. mechanic, i have been very interested in this issue because i believe it is a crisis and i applaud the president for what he said. one of the things i'm very

confused about, and maybe you can help clear up, if i'm john --american living my life you have spoken about how doctors are prescribing opioids, but how does one get started on opioids? that is what i am confused about. is in a recreational drug issue? a doctor prescription issue? i am confused. thank you. guest: to a large degree now it is a prescription issue. as the chart kimberly displayed before showed, a lot of the people now who get addicted to opioids, the majority started with a prescription. even myself -- i have a herniated disc in my neck. they prescribed -- it has gotten a lot better. approachke the cdc which was low and slow, a few pills at a time. the euphoria generated by

opioids is very addicting. people that have a back problem or a chronic pain issue and they will have a certain amount prescribed either dr.. knox -- prescribed by the doctor. not so much anymore, but there was a time when it was out of control. that got millions of people hooked on these things. they were unable to get off them. gabrielle from oxnard, california. you have experience with the opioid crisis? caller: yes. i am extremely concerned. i have been following this for some months. i have been a chronic pain for 30 years following an accident and aw back surgeries neck injury and head injury. the pain i have is pretty bad. i have been on opioids all this time. to the day the doctor

gave me opioids, i had to go through for surgeries. -- four surgeries. i was an experimental animal in a pain clinic getting injections. finally i was told, i guess you really are in pain. i think maybe he will have to take this terrible, terrible drug. my background happens to be in medical advertising. i had written for 15 years before i had to stop working. forew york city i wrote ads all kinds of drugs including opioids. i knew in my mind what they could do but i never experienced it. later on in a support group i -- i talked to people and we were mystified at what people were saying about being addicted. this did not happen to us. i think the reason is when you take it chronically, you do

experience the tolerance. you need to take more. but you learn the only thing , and you tried everything else, it just does not work. opioids works. the reason it works in the long-term is they have to let the pain come through. you cannot overdose on it or will not work anymore. that is the only thing it works and you need it. without it i don't think i could function. now with all this crisis, i see what is going to happen. the drugs will be very, very heavily restricted. already i have a friend who injured her back badly. her husband is angry at her for taking opioids. for woman can barely walk -- the poor woman can barely walk. we are pariahs. there are 20 million people in

chronic pain. i'm hoping finally you can have somebody on who can convince people out here that there are those of us for whom these medications are vital. a rashaid there will be of suicides if these drugs are pulled. host: i want to get jesse a chance to respond. guest: absolutely. there are absolutely plenty of people in this country that need these pills for their chronic pain management. they might have a subtle dependence but they take them as directed. they are not abusing them. those people should be able to continue to get the pills. we don't need to take them away from everyone. like you were saying, that makes people desperate. we don't people going to the street to get drugs to make them feel better. we can't over regulate this to death over could be catastrophic.

-- or it could be catastrophic. talking about the stigma around it, that is a shame and speaks the larger issue around stigma around addiction and general. host: president trump said his idea to battle the opioid crisis. [video] president trump: if we can teach young people not to take drugs, just not to take them, when i see friends of mine having difficulty with not having that drink at dinner, which is literally almost impossible for them to stop, i say i can't even understand it. why would that be difficult? we understand it is difficult. if we can teach young people, and people generally not the start, it is really easy not to take them. i think that is going to end up being our most important thing. really tough, really big, really great advertising.

we get to people before they start so they don't have to go through the problems of what people are going through. [applause] host: this new idea from the president sounded like just say no. the you think that will be an effective approach? guest: no. that is always been a nice idea that people are going to experiment with drugs. they will be driven to drug use for a myriad of reasons. that seems to be pretty much a waste of money. if you look at the past, that has pretty much been entirely a waste of money. the commission that reported to the president has a lot of very interesting findings, for sure, but what scares me is money spent on things like that and then on punitive measures. i don't think a wall will stop the crisis and i don't think killing kids not to do drugs

will solve the crisis. from west virginia on the democratic line. good morning. caller: i want to say what a wonderful show this is right now. the woman who called about 30 was sof pain treatment right on the money on everything she said. in my own words, i have thought about this a lot, the reason why she did not have a problem and she was trying to say this issue did not take pain medication for pleasure. own life i have been very close to this situation for a long time. sufferer.onic pain i have different treatments. right now i am only in partial remission. i am having problems in the middle of an opioid sea getting a couple of water. -- cup of water. i found in my life after being free of alcohol and free of

that thewith pills thing you have to do is if you take any of that stuff for pleasure -- viagra or something to affect someone in their psychiatric situation, that is different, but if you take this for pleasure, you are through. it will turn on you. i thank you very much for what has been said so far. i found this wonderful. guest: thank you for your call. you are right. the last caller -- for some people, they don't have an issue with it. the problem is everyone is different neurochemical and we can't predict how the drugs will impact and affect people. it is probably completely appropriate for opioids. if you have tried every other

avenues of treatment and you are not abusing it, you should be able to still get your hands on that. without a doubt. the issue is it is a lot better now. it was insane. in florida and west virginia were so over-the-top. people could go in with any m.r.i. and get hundreds of oxycontin. it was completely out of control . what you are saying is we can't overcorrected and take it away from everyone. that would be very damaging. host: we are joined by jesse mechanic, venture bitter at the huffington post and founding editor of the overgrown, a website where he has published over 300 pieces, and a clinical researcher at beth israel hospital. we are talking about the opioid crisis. democratic line, (202) 748-8000. republican, (202) 748-8001. independent, (202) 748-8002. if you have been affected by the opioid crisis, (202) 748-8003.

he wrote another piece of the huffington post entitled "when a drug epidemic hits white america addiction became a disease." you talk about the scorn over the epidemic in comparison to the compassion shown over the opioid crisis. is race a factor? race is ahink factor in most things in this country. i have written similar articles. some of the issues in the country is we tend to put different races and groups into a box, kick them down the stairs and look at them and say why are you at the bottom of the stairs in the box destroyed? even if you go back before this, just a look at housing, the first suburb in the united states. levittown. there is language in the grant proposal to build 17,000 homes. it says black people cannot buy homes here and the white people

cannot sell them to black people. they gives white people this base of equity to build their lives on an inner cities remain criminal states where poverty breeds crime and you have discrimination, and then a drug epidemic sweeps through ending it is met with scorn and draconian laws. 1 crack to sentencing ratio. crack is typically used by poor black people. things are still reverberating throughout neighborhoods. families are destroyed. it gives you a sort of recipe for poverty and poverty breeds crime. to help people understand why certain areas are the way they are. host: dan from corpus christi,

texas. caller: thank you mr. mechanic and thank you c-span. happy thanksgiving. the nurse hit it right on the button. she discussed most of my issues. i would, if you would bear with me a second, transition the talk to making medical care into infrastructure. it needs to just be infrastructure. then we can attach minor clinics for people can go and discuss their problems and set of taking drugs. that is all i have to say no. guest: this is a health care crisis. it was started by the failures and deceptions of the health care industry. we will pull ourselves out of it the same way. we need to expand treatment. the most effective treatment -- this is a bit of a shift, but the most effective treatment for opioid dependence is medication assisted treatment, treatment

with methadone and antagonists and behavioral counseling. 10% of clinics currently offer that. in certain areas it is worse than that. it is straightforward detox and rehab. that's not good unless you have tens of thousands of dollars laying around. that represents larger problems in the health care system. the amount of money you have and where you lived largely dictate the quality of care you receive. linda has been affected by the crisis? caller: yes, we have. my daughter has been addicted to drugs since she was a teenager. she was in her 40's. she had grandchildren. rehab, in and out of and out of prison. we were planning her funeral.

we did nothing she was going to make it. but the last time she was in prison she was diagnosed as bipolar. she got on some more medication that she needed, but then she came back out of prison. she still acted out and started doing drugs. finally she got on this drug , aled vivid trial -- vivtrol once a month shot. she is drug-free today. it is almost like a miracle. part in active in aa. she has a great sponsor. shot,id that once a month she did not have to do a daily thing. host: talk about the connection with other disorders. guest: sure. that parlays perfectly with what i was just saying.

that is naltrexon. it blocks the effective opioids and helps a lot of people. the caller brought up another good point, this morbid issue that typically feeds into addiction. that's another issue. we still have a stigma around mental health and going to receive mental health treatment. if you have depression or , youty or bipolar disorder should feel as comfortable going to the doctor to talk about that as you going to a doctor when your shoulder hurts or you have a stomach ache. that is still that how it goes and people try to self medicate. host: rick from tennessee on the democratic line. good morning. caller: i was -- i grew up in san diego. i was there in the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's. i was addicted to heroin for about 20 years.

i am in my mid-60's now. with no kind of damage other than doing some time in prison. one thing when he to do is harm reduction tactics. like in san diego, we may deal with the police, the community whenever somebody come toenever they a case or call 911 the police don't bust anybody. that encourages people to call in when her friend is od'ing. they need narcan available. people at the other 5, 6, 7 different tries at detox before they get their stuff together. host: and about some of these ways to address that. guest: one of the things he

mentioned that the end which is narcan, the can -- overdose reversal drug. they have done a good job of getting that out there. that should be over-the-counter everywhere. that will save thousands of lives for sure. but was his point before that? host: about infrastructure. guest: what was he saying? i want to make sure -- host: talk about some of the other solutions you have seen through your research for interrupting the issue. issue i think the biggest is really just expanding treatment. is going to cost a lot of money. people can't receive the treatments they need if they're going to have the best shot of getting off this. if we are going to really -- i remember now. he was talking about punitive

measures from the police and things like that. don't got is vital we the punishment or punitive route because that can send things in the wrong direction. send people to the fringes and that is probably want. host: jesse mechanic, you can find his pieces at huffingtonpost.com. thank you for joining us. will bep, dakota wood here for the heritage foundation to talk about the strength of the u.s. military. later on, they will a discussion on how free clinics could be impacted by a repeal of the federal health care law with nicole lamoureux. ♪ >> it's a busy week ahead for congress. we have live coverage of significant hearings. the senate banking committee considers jerome powell to be the next head of the federal

reserve. and wednesday, the focus is on zare.a pacific health committee for consider his nomination at 9:30 a.m. eastern on c-span3. tuesday and wednesday on c-span and c-span3. online at c-span.org, or listen live at the free c-span radio app. i went to medical school at johns hopkins. for those of you who may not know, johns hopkins medical school is located in east baltimore, probably the worst slum in america. it was a real shock to me because i grew up in canada and canada has a deep level of investment in its people. universal health care, universal childcare, paid sick leave, vacations. heavy investments in public art infrastructure. when i got these baltimore and i

saw the conditions, i was really quite shocked. it triggered this thinking in my --d that in the u.s. where does where you live shaper health more than any genetic factors? when interested graduated medical school and i went through a bunch of studies in policy. i got interested in how you illustrate these differences between neighborhoods and the impacts, the ultimate, cumulative impacts on people's health. >> the c-span bus is on the 50's capitals tour. we kicked off the tour on september 18 in dover, delaware and have now visited 12 state capitals. the next stop is tallahassee, florida. we will be there on december 6 with live interviews during washington journal.

>> washington journal continues. host: we're joined by dakota wood, the defense program senior research fellow at the heritage foundation. he is here to talk about the strength of the u.s. military and the findings of the foundation's 2018 index of military strength. thank you for joining us. guest: great to be with you. host: what is the index of military strength and how you come up with this? what data is used? guest: it is essentially a report card. you get to the end of the year and how to they do. we try to provide an assessment of the status of the u.s. military on an annual basis. it does not look into the future. is he reportedly currently assessed year. we use all publicly available sources. congressional research sources, testimony brought up by senior military officials to members of

congress and various committees, what the services set about themselves. we combined our experience, understanding and knowledge about the world and the military and say this is the status of america's militarily relative to its interest to protect american interests, the nature of the world, and the nature of threats that challenge u.s. security interests. host: overall the report says the u.s.'s military strength in readiness is marginal. guest: that is correct. host: explain with that means. guest: you can't really given a 72 or 73 on a scale of 100. ofuse a fairly course scale 1 to 5. the marginal is at about a 3. the u.s. military would be able to handle a major war. it would take the entire military to do that. what we have looked at historically is america and a

major conflict about every 15 to 20 years. it always happens by clockwork since the u.s. civil war. they believe the trend will continue. in terms of readiness, the capability of the equipment the military has, training, etc., they will largely be able to defend u.s. security interests. host: we are joined by dakota wood from the heritage foundation who is here to talk about their assessment of u.s. military readiness. democrats can call (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. we also have a line if you are active or retired military. you can call (202) 748-8003. this report broke down different aspects of the military. one is the operating environment. you broke that done regionally

according to where the troops are stationed. you said in europe is overall favorable. according to this chart in your report, when it comes to the middle east mostly moderate except for political stability which is listed as a very poor. in terms of asia mostly favorable. moderate for political stability. favorable, except moderate in the middle east. why break it down like this in terms of geography and what have you learned about these different places? guest: we provide context. if we called upon the military to go defend the national security interests, what are those interests?defending the homeland . resolving a large conflict on favorable terms. and then prevent the rise of a hegemonic power that would push out western liberal democratic kinds of governance structures.

we would know what someone like russia to dominate the european continent and it cut off the united states from access to lines.arkets along those if you had to go to war to defend your interests against a challenger that rises to that level, able to threaten interests in that way, that really only occurs in europe, the middle east and asia pacific. if you have to go to afghanistan and invent everything, there's poor road infrastructure, know your fields, it is hard. in europe there are airports, lots of friends and allies, politically stable, it is easier to conduct operations. we want to provide a regional context for the use of military power to defend these national security interests. in broke out as you described. host: you compared the different branches of the military. overall body said the navy and air force are marginal, you found the army and marines are weak?

guest: it is not an indictment of the personnel. men and women are shouldering a terrific burden and doing the best they can with the resources they have been given. what others resources? readiness, is a trained, competent carrying out duties? is a fairly modern or antiquated? old quitman or new equipment? -- old equipment or new equipment? and in terms of capacity, how much military do we have? if you have one conflict, you have the ability to secure u.s. interests anywhere else in the world. we look at the capacity to handle two major conflicts. you can handle one in the middle east or asia-pacific, and still have enough left over to deter potential competitors from making a move and acting opportunistically. incapacity, readiness and modernization, the marine corps and the army have old equipment and very smaller forces relative

to what they had put some in the weak category. host: jimbo from bakersfield, california. caller: thank you so much and thank you for c-span, the last bastion of honorable speech. i wanted to ask you first off -- wheni don't say if north korea since an intercontinental ballistic missile with a hydrogen bomb on the tip of it and tested in the bikini atoll area where we have tested many other hydrogen bombs, i was just wondering when they do that will that be an act of war? will we be at war with north korea when they do that? my second question is can you please articulate to me the difference between going to war with north korea and china? i have been having a hard time trying to understand the difference.

that he so much -- thank you so much, c-span. guest: the ballistic missile threat, whether it is from north korea, china, russia, anybody with the ability to range the net's sake becomes the most serious concern the federal government has. we do have ballistic missile capabilities, usually they are located along the most likely trajectories from the logic country against the united states. we have tested that several times. the results of in pretty good. the ability of an incoming missile to dispense decoys or maneuver in flight complicates the intercept problem that the u.s. government is aware of that. the air force and others are working to make sure we have the best solution possible. then it goes to a type of launch and where the hydrogen bomb, a thermonuclear device is detonated. if it was a fight against the

u.s. or territories or estate, hawaii or marching eastward to the continental u.s., that would be an act of war. if somebody does a nuclear test and its either in their own country or in international space, take it a little bit gray. we have done it in the past. if north korea tests it on their own soil or international waters, it raises the concern but we would not characterize that as an act of war. it is situation-dependent. the linkage between north korea and china is historical. we have gone to war on the korean peninsula in defense of south korea back in the 1950's, and certainly the chinese were part of that. changed.nk times that china is increasingly aware of the regional security threat posed by north korea. if we were to do something in

league with others in the region i think we would be in consultation with china. i think their interest would more likely a line with us. host: speaking of the u.s. nuclear power, you discussed that as well. it is strong in areas like warhead certainty, delivery platform reliability, and delivery systems. weak in areas like warhead modernization, complex nuclear test readiness. described the state of our nuclear arsenal. guest: get is an entire enterprise. talent goes into designing and maintaining and making sure things are actually going to work as we think they are going to work. there is physical infrastructure, from missile silos they are contained in, launch capabilities, the delivery system. is that a cruise missile, and it intercontinental ballistic missile? and the warheads themselves.

the u.s. is not any yield producing experiments since about 1992. most delivery vehicles and designs are based on 1960's and 1970's technology. that people involved in that, the infrastructure that was built the test and support that stuff is all very old. moratoriumsave had since the 1990's, index the question if things would actually work as we think they are going to work since most of that is based on computer modeling and simulation. those mathematical models are based on information that was collected when we were actively testing in the 1950's, 19 exceeds and 1970's. there are a lot of assumptions being made. the age of the people involved in those earlier eras are aging out of the force, and not doing any new testing or design or modification to systems.

it is hard to attract new talent into the aging infrastructure. it is a questionable enterprise at present. host: we are talking with dakota wood from the heritage foundation. decades in for two the marine corps, and retired in 2005 as a lieutenant colonel. we are talking about the heritage foundation report on u.s. military strength. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you are active or retired military, (202) 748-8003. now we have alex from lake charles, louisiana on the independent line. caller: good morning. host: you are on with dakota wood. guest: earlier you were quoted by a number of news sources expressing a view that any right of military base realignment and closure's was likely to occur in the near future. the you think another round is likely and to what extent is

unlikely to be effective in terms of roi? in light of the deity being the largest employer in the world and the economic stimulus provided to the communities that have aces, advocacy groups serving as allies or hurdles in a successful round? host: for other viewers, explain what a brac round is. guest: base realignment and closure. the military says we have excess basis. either they are shrinking, something that was old, or something built in a rural area decades ago but the town has expanded and it is now surrounded by residencies and commercial areas. and conditions change over time. maybe you need a new warehouse.

the whole idea of this closing unneeded facilities to save money, why would you want to save money on an aging infrastructure that is no longer used, and reapply those elsewhere. that is brac. the previous times i have spoken on this, i am talking about the need to conduct another brac round. 24% access infrastructure by the military itself. we don't what to spend money we don't need to spend on those words of things. when you close a base it does affect the local community. alex,as pointed out by jobs are at stake and seven those areas. the percentage of the local economy is a relatively small percent. you have a situation where one community will want to see a base close. military structure says it is unneeded. it gets into a debate about if it is a necessary closure or not. whether it comes the past this year, there is momentum to do

that. i don't think it has tipped over and actually being a viable option in this particular upcoming fiscal year. it is needed. the likelihood of it happening, i think we are kind of on the margins of that occurring. it is something the armed services committee has been trying to promote. host: tim from george on the democratic line. retired number of the military? what branch are you a part of? caller: both army and marine corps. host: what is your question for dakota wood? caller: why does the united states believe they can start an weaponsand picks of war and fight against god? guest: that's an interesting question, if you bring in a theological component and in this. a percentage of spending is less

as a percentage of the federal budget and a percentage of the gross semester product than we have in many years. ago defense decades spending was up around 35%. today it is down to 16%. in terms of the gross semester year average, the u.s. felt it was necessary to spend on national security sorts of matters. today it is down to 3.3%. i know there is a perception we are spending more on the military and we are doing things that are very productive and other -- provocative and other regions, but the reverse is true when you look at the history on that. the religious police has to do with your own personal perspectives of whether the way things play in the world are all divinely directed or the role of man has something to play in that as well.

bothly we see the domestically and other parts of the world where evil people do evil things. it is incumbent upon all individuals, regardless of religious persuasion protect loved ones.freedom, you have to have the ability to do that. host: speaking of funding, how has the recent funding budget cuts to the military affected its strength and readiness? guest: that has been the primary driver. we have seen reductions since the early 1990's. 2011udget control act of was an act passed in 2011. that is only five years. doing 25 years of a gradual reduction in spending from the end of the cold war until today. we had a spike post 9/11 for operations in afghanistan and iraq. those increased moneys were spent on consumables like

ammunition, health care for those who were injured, destroyed equipment, gasoline that drives tanks and airplanes, those kind of fuel sources. it was money spent and immediately consumed, not spent on readiness of the force or replacing aging equipment. the average aircraft is 27 years. frontline fighters are approaching 33 years in the average age. the main battle tank was introduced in the mid-1980's. since that time it has been updated a little bit with a new gun and optics, but it is still basically the same platform. this reduction in funding over time, while use of the military has increased, is wearing out the force. we have seen accidents with the navy, lost aircraft. currently only probably one third of units are acceptable levels of readiness. only three brigades in the army out of the 31 are fully mission

capable. in the air force, they used to have upwards of 75 combat squadrons. they are now down to 32. of those only about four are ready. the reduced funding had a degrading impact on the ability of the military to be ready for operations. host: we are joined by dakota wood the talk about military readiness. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you are active or retired military, you can call (202) 748-8003. i usually ask at the top and forgot. explain what the heritage foundation is. guest: it is a conservative in terms of governing principles public-policy think tank washington -- based in washington, d.c. we are member-driven. over 500,000 members contribute.

the average contribution is about $30 per person. we don't do any contracting with the government or have any relationship with it. corporate donations account for maybe 2% or 3% of the annual revenue. public policy interests y -- institute. host: ted is on the line from new hampshire on the republican line. caller: how are you? biduestion is if god for any kind of artillery -- god for bid any kind of artillery or weapon is used, what direction -- does the prevailing wind load through? from north korea or south korea?

those are major factors for what the fallout drift would travel to, or does it go from west to east? guest: it depends on the context. it is very local, can go from west to east, east to west, for a tornado or hurricane coming through at the macro, global level the weather patterns go from west to east. if something occurred, in russia the middle east, the north korean peninsula, the winds typically go from west to east. we would be concerned about fallout. it would go over the pacific ocean into the western united states. if you're talking about nuclear capability. chemical and biological sorts of weapons have a very limited lifespan when you get out into the environment. patterns, heatr and cold have the amazing ability to degrade chemical and

biological pathogens. world war i with chemical munitions, they were very local in terms of their effects. even though they are very frightening because of the effect they have on the human body. if it's a biological pathogen and its transmissible, somebody trying to use that i introduce and smallpox or influenza virus of some type, then it has to do with the mortality rate. the higher the mortality the more quickly in burns out because the effect makes it difficult to transmit from person-to-person. usually those types of things are local effects. radiation at altitude can spread from west to east and large, generalized terms. host: one of your charts is interesting. a look at the u.s. troop and russian troops near nato nations. u.s. troopsee,

stationed primarily throughout europe, around germany, italy, the u.k. and staying. the russians -- and spain. russian troops in occupied territories are centered mostly ukraine,larus, syria. guest: timed distance has a lot to do with things. that i'm having to reject u.s. military power in defense of an ally -- we have nato obligations. 27 of them are on the european continent. how long does it take us to project capabilities 3000 or 4000 miles from the u.s.? during the cold war when you had the soviet union and western nato alliance structures divided in europe, we had a lot of presence in europe. since the end of the cold war that has declined. two thirds of our base infrastructure is gone and turned into very resident things

like shopping malls and housing areas. that means you don't of the military capability if you needed to respond to something like russian moving into ukraine. a very worrisome construct. looking at belarus' state, if you're looking at it from moscow's standpoint. the lower presence we have in some of these countries, and you aok across mountain range or field and you see what russia is able to bring to bear and you say, how long does it take me to reinforce the capability? conditions have declined and our ability to take care of our obligations. caller: good morning. i want to preface this by saying my dad was a marine through and through for over 20 years. in that time, and i'm a 50-year-old man, what i have

seen -- i grew up by the marine corps base in san diego. lifetimeve seen in my is black men that a guard to the military have been treated the worst. mexicans have been treated the worst. and now we have a president that says terrible things about minorities. i would like to ask your guests what is he see as the future preparedness of the military when you have people like me telling young minorities not to go into the military. on the other hand you have rich people telling their kids not to going to the military. host: i want to let you address that. guest: my experience has been the exact opposite of that. the unit i was in for over 20 years and my continued association for the last dozen years has been the exact opposite. i think the military has led the way, especially in racial integration.

where we have problems in civilian society because of historical enmity and problems in racial discord and trying to get that harmony going, in the military we had minority officers leading mostly white units, enlisted folks coming up through the ranks to the top levels as well. in the units i was in we would have blacks, whites, hispanics, american samoa and. i had a maintenance chief from hawaii for many years. i think we have the best track record in terms of racial integration, the lease structures from different religious beliefs, economic stratification. really poor kids in some parts of the country working alongside rich kids from other parts of the country. i think the military historically has been a great integrator and provided the most opportunity for men and women and people from all different racial, ethnic and economic backgrounds.

that has been my experience and those of my colleagues. i can only talk from that first hand knowledge. host:. is calling in from new mexico on the independent line. just a few seconds left with dakota wood. when you talk about the military budget, you forget several things. you forget the testing of weapons, you forget the payment of generals and colonels through department. and the war ran into the debt. it was never on the defense budget. at all those things together, what is the total amount spent on the military? thing i think that 3.3% includes department of energy which handles nuclear , as well asre baseline and overseas contingency operation spending. forre still in that 3.3%,

-- 3.4% gdp, well below the 5% to 6% average using the same accounts you mentioned over the last 45 years. accounting for all those expenditures over half a century, are almost half of what we're spending in the past. wood of- host: dakota the heritage foundation, you can find more at heritage.org and on twitter @heritage. we will be talking to nicole lamoureux of the national association of free and charitable clinics. she will be your talk about what next, and what role for the play,'s -- free clinics and how they could be impacted by the aca. ♪

the way you build character's identifier course in any fight , and your core sin fighters. we all have weakness and from one of my characters, dwight eisenhower's weakness was his temperature -- his temper. at story i told was ike eight years older nine years old wanted to go trick-or-treating and his mom would let him. that he punched a tree and rub to this get off his fingers. his mom let him cry for an hour and recited aup verse from proverbs, which is he soul isquers his own soul i greater than he who conquered the city. it taught him that he had a problem and that if you wanted to be a leader of any kind, he had to conquer it. he's been for next 60 years working on his own witness. -- his own weakness.

sunday, president mckinley, architect of the american century. >> he was very consequential and very effective president. he can't quite figure out how or why he was able to accomplish what he accomplished. because he was in direct, he was an incrementalist, a manager. he was not a man of force. it turns out that without that force, he had an amazing capacity to manipulate people. and manipulate them into doing the things that he wanted them to do while they thought it was their idea. >> sunday night in a lock ontern -- at 8:00 eastern c-span "q&a." >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies and is brought to you today by your

cable or satellite provider. >> "washington journal," continues. host: we are joined by nicole lamoureux, the ceo of the national association of free and charitable clinics, here to talk about free health care planning in the u.s., and how the tax reform legislation, which could include a partial repeal of the aca, could impact these resources. thank you for joining us. we get started, tell our viewers exactly what is the national association of free insurable clinics -- and it charitable clinics? guest: we represent 300 free clinics and journal pharmacies in the united states of america. have no idea that these exist unless you're are one of our patients. we are organize at the grassroots level, not at the government level. he received little to no state or federal funding and last year

help of 200,000 volunteers, 94,000 of those medical volunteers, we provide access to health care for 60 million patient visits. 300%e who are 100% to below poverty, 18 to 65 years old can find help. one of the biggest misconceptions of you affordable care act was when i was passed, there was going to be no more need for a clinics, nothing could have been farther from the truth. last year, we had 100,000 more patients than the year before. host: how are you funded? guest: we rely on the generosity of individual donors and volunteer foundations and private public partnerships which help us lower health care costs in the united states. for every dollar donated, five dollars in services are given to our patients. 83% of them comfortable working household and 50% of those are

women. by having a strong donor base, people who believe in the cause as well as step up and volunteer for us, we really are able to build healthy america one person at a time. host: what is the difference between these that i can federally funded clinics? guest: federally funded clinics receive federal taxpayer dollars. our clicks do not do that. that's the first difference. for federally close ally of, they have specific rules they must follow. you must have a certain patient fromso many people must be an urban area or oral area. it's not odd -- or rural area. there are so many people who need that help and it's not odd for there to be a rural health center in more rural areas and have a free clinic right on the street from them as well. what we're finding is that more and more people need access to health care and federally

qualified health centers accept medicaid and medicare and only 10% of our clinics do that. host: we're joined by nicole lamoureux, ceo of the national association of free and charitable clinics, here to talk about the role of these free clinics and how they might be impacted by a repeal of the affordable care act. democrats, call (202) 748-8000. republicans, call (202) 748-8001 . , call (202) 748-8002. you talked about the need for frequent exposed aca, and there still is a need for that. is there a roof of need required to be treated at one of your clinics? patients aref our 100% to 300% power level, 18 years old is 65 years old.

when you are zero to 18, you qualify for chip. in taxes, we have a number of children's clinics. we find that people who are coming to the clinics need things that are not covered under the aca. dental care, mental health care, prescription medicine access, those things were left out in the affordable care act. we are fighting and clinics and states that did choose to expand medicaid, those clinics had to relook at what their services were provided. they totally shifted and became full dental clinics because that was not covered. in states like texas, they did not expand the aca and we are seeing a 40% increase in patients who are looking for care. host: let's talk a little bit about how these tax proposals that are currently being considered by congress could affect you. let's start with the house bill that was just past last week. it makes changes to the standard deduction and charitable giving.

how might that impact your organization and its members? 2013, andestified in as much as things change, things stay the same. in 2013, we were concerned about changes to terrible giving avenues. any piece of legislation that limits the ability of people to give funds to journal organizations -- charitable organizations is something the national organization at our counterparts in the journal sector cannot support. specifically for us, we would support a universal deduction for charities. rather than doubling the standard deduction for people. not only really incentivizes the top 1% to be giving. we know for a fact that 40% of our donors of thomas -- have told us they would not donate any longer is in the house bill. 40% of those. if you think about 44% of our clinics have an operating budget of $100,000 or lower.

if they lose 40% of their donors, that makes them shut their doors and then we have a health care gap, and more people go to the emergency room to receive health care. host: this shows the five largest u.s. tax inductions, state and local taxes, the second, mortgage and student loan interest in the third is charitable deduction expenses. of 2013 inn as charitable contributions. catherine is on the line from ohio on the democrats line. caller: good morning. i'm so happy to hear from you. i live in hamilton county in the great state of ohio. are there any of these clinics in this area? i know people who would qualify. they don't qualify for anything else in any dental care, eye care, and health care. do you provide those things? you are providing the service we can't get anyplace else. thank you. guest: what a great question.

we absolutely can help you in ohio. there are 51 clinics in ohio that can provide care. go to war website and type in your zip code and find a clinic near you to get care for you or your neighbors. we don't anyone to forgo health find acause they can't location, and we don't want people going to the emergency department. they are supposed to be for emergencies, so check out our website, you can type in your zip code and find a clinic. afcclinics.org. the senate tax proposal includes the repeal of the individual mandate. how might that affect you and your member clinics? guest: the biggest concern we have with the repeal of the individual mandate is first and

foremost, there are 29 million people who are still uninsured that everyone seems to forget. right now, there are still 29 million people who do not have access to health insurance. if we repeal the individual mandate, depending on whether you look at the cbo or the s&p numbers. from 5d be anywhere million to 8 million more people, you look at the cbo, is 13 million more people. s&p says it's going to say of the government $50 million, cbo million, $318 billion. doesn't matter. first, there's one more person that is not going to have health insurance or access to health insurance. i think the concern is we have more people going to the emergency department. to go to an emergency department when you have a car accident or a heart attack, not sitting behind someone who has uphold -- a cold.

are 29 million people who are looking at social servants -- social service agencies to help them. if we start cutting ways that people are able to give money to social service agencies, then we have more people going without. host: you talk about the potential for an influx of patients. about who is at least on a and is there a concern about finding enough people to handle if you do see an influx of patients? guest: we are always looking for more medical volunteers. we rely primarily on volunteers. us,000 volunteers helped 94,000 of those were doctors, nurses, pas, let text. -- lab techs. have staff members, but they are communities coming together, who came from hospitals and doctors who started the clinics. a librarian who said she kept seeing kids come into the

library with cold or they were sick and their parents were using the computers of the library to find a doctor that would be able to help them. she started a clinic in her community. we rely on volunteers. ,f we have influx of patients we are going to need more people who are going to volunteer with us and we really need more medical volunteers. we already are searching for more medical volunteers to come and see us. we know that the next generation of doctors are looking at other fields. they are not looking at primary medicine to do the next round of residencies. we're looking at workforce development. we need everyone to stop and think by making this tax reform go through, what type of influx and drain when you place on social service agencies that are filling in the gaps that we are not doing in this country? host: we're joined by nicole lamoureux of the national association of franchisor will clinics. democrats, call call (202) 748-8000. republicans, call (202) 748-8001 .

independents, call (202) 748-8002. have the clinics already seen an increase in the number of people visiting them, even since the passage of the affordable care act? guest: absolutely. we've seen 100,000 more patients in 2016 and we did in 2015. as a huge increase. one of the largest concerns we has -- people think the aca been passed that everything is fine, but nothing could be farther from the truth area there are some states that chose to expand medicaid and some states that did not. the states that did not choose to expand medicaid, it's not on for us to see patients lining up at 3:00 in the morning to make sure they get a space so they can be seen. seeing more and more people present at clinics with hypertension, with diabetes, and then find the opioid crisis right now, more and more people are coming in looking for help.

we have to look at have see and needle exchange programs, -- hep c and needle exchange programs. people saying i have diabetes, what does that mean/.' how to lie -- what does that mean? food, i come the from a different country, that doesn't make sense to me. it's a constant need. health care is not something you can say you are sick now, take a pill. it takes more time for people to understand how they can have a healthy lifestyle. is calling in from pennsylvania on the independent line. caller: good morning. do you have anything in pennsylvania or outside of philadelphia? do you advertise it all? guest: we have clinics, everyone can go to our website to find a clinic that is closest to them. we are located in all 50 states in the united states of america

and we do get the word out as much as we possibly can. with the money we do receive goes to direct patient care. we are not on tv or radio. if you visit nafcclinics.org in your zip code, you can find a clinic that may be able to help. host: talk about the impact of your clinics on places like texas and florida, where we have seen really catastrophic weather and hurricanes. have you seen an influx? guest: absolutely. we will start with texas and move on to florida. we saw washat clinics in the houston area that were absolutely ravaged by the hurricane. i was amazed, they still got up the next day and were putting on backpacks and going on the street and performing street medicine. there were people who were stuck on higher floors of apartment buildings. one clinic tells the story of when they were walking in an apartment building, they went to the top floor and they were five elderly people, all diabetics,

who hasn't -- you hadn't had medicine or food for five days. we started a program with direct relief international that helped our clinics really rebuild. they needed some money to rebuild because their buildings were ravaged. there are still more people. in texas, they are still rebuilding and people don't have homes or anywhere to go. we are looking for people who got cut and put dirty water on top of the cut. we had everything from have see , and illnesses, but make sure you don't get an infection and have to lose an arm. in florida, when hurricane maria hit in puerto rico, now they are finding more and more people are coming to florida and their health care is not being accepted. our clinics are meeting them at the airport. they are meeting them in saying this is where you can come to get health care.

this is where you need to go. when he to make sure everyone's vaccinations are up-to-date and that everyone has access to health care. floridaanother drain on for people being able to rebuild health care. we can make sure people can assimilate the best we can now there's no place for them to go back to. host: you mentioned to direct relief, they had committed $5 million in health centers and click next in the wake of these hurricanes and is helping those efforts. a $1.5 million charitable commitment to our clinics so to help everyone rebuild. host: leon is on the line from taxes on the democratic line. you?r: hi, how are host: go ahead, leon. caller: i was going to see if you have any clinic's of free dental, where i can get dental

work or at least get looked at. guest: it's a great question. dental care is probably the most overlooked issue we have in our country right now. we can go to war website and type in your zip code. if the clinic doesn't have center -- dental services, contact our offices and we will help you find a location for dental clinics. we will have a list of other places you can refer to. the dental society, missions of mercy. they're able to get you to care for your mouth you can stay healthy. host: we talked about the opioid crisis. we have a segment on that earlier. treatments-- what and services do you offer people who are dealing with the opioid crisis, and how has that impacted your centers? guest: it's made a huge

difference, dramatically increase the people asking us what do i do, i have a family member and i'm suffering from this myself. clinics, we do not prescribe narcotics in any sort of way. there are clinics that started needle exchange programs, education programs. there are clinics to have mark on right there. -- narcon right there. happeninging that's with people who are fighting opioids is there's also an c that is hep happened. we have connections to resources in the communities. many people aren't aware of. that's the amazing thing about free interval clinics. they can connect you to local resources if they are not able to help you at their facility. sometimes the hardest part of getting healthy is knowing where to go and how to ask everyone.

as you have seen, they don't know where to go. that is what we are able to help them do. host: we have colleen colling and from fort pierce, florida. i did tell the person i spoke to line a registered democrat, but i know differently. in florida you have to register. this woman is great with great information. i just want to say that i really believe in national healthcare. i have a plan would pay for it and i wish people would listen to it. we all deserve health care and i'm on medicare. i'm 68 years old i still work part time to pay the bills. to pay for any extras, would pay the deductible, etc. i'm lucky, we can have a 1% federal sales tax and every person who shops in this country would pay for national healthcare plan. i don't know who's working out they are, but god bless you, and we do have a clinic in fort pierce, florida.

can i say the name of it? started by a here, or several doctors. hands clinic. the do wonderful work for people who can't afford it. guest: they are one of my member organizations. comments.for your before the ongoing conversations only talk about health care is the full issue of what about national healthcare system and what about a universal health care system. we look forward to congress brings something forward we can read. as with everything, we really have to read every single piece of legislation line by line to make sure it addresses all of the needs for every single person as it moves forward. your member of congress and let them know about your plan. op-edthere was a recent in "the hill," that says you see no signs to access -- you have seen the signs to access a fire

alarm, break last december the alarm. host: talk a little about the johnson amendment, this was written by the president and ceo of independent inspector and also by the president and ceo the council on foundations. how does that affect nonprofits? member ofare a proud the independent sector and we do stand with the independent sector very firmly on this issue. we believe the job the memo should be upheld. -- it givesities charities the ability to get

services who needed the most and not bow under pressure from anyone else about who we should support during the election. it helps us to remain as connected to our mission as we possibly can. i think that's where we want to focus our efforts. how do you cover liabilities? talk about that issue with these free clinic's? guest: a couple of ways they can cover liabilities in states that have strong good samaritan acts, they take advantage of that. florida has an amazing good samaritan act piece of legislation that you utilize. there's also a federal tort claims act, where clinics can receive medical malpractice insurance if they work towards the quality measures that need to happen. they can purchase their own medical malpractice coverage and entity coverage that we hope congress will expand at some point and allow entities to be covered in the federal courts claim act.

we don't ask doctors to bring their own liabilities with them. important and there's a sense of comfort and where they are providing care. we provide quality health care to patients who need it. about what the impact of certain proposals before congress, revealing parts of the aca and things like that. what proactive measures would you like to see congress take that you think will help these organizations? we would like to see the senate remove the individual mandate. is a better stand-alone piece of legislation needs to be discussed. and we would like to see a universal tax deduction put into the tax bill. i think it's an important thing that allows people to just universally say this is what i gave to a charity and take off of their taxes. then they can decide about itemization or standardization. there are some issues we know we need congress to address, affordable medications.

that's one of the biggest concerns we have. two days ago i was standing in line picking up a prescription or mother was telling the story about how she has to get her sons as medicine every other week because that's the only way she can afford it. that shouldn't happen. her son isn't taking the medicine he needs to help them. we really need to address the issue of affordable medication. we have to address the issue of people being able to know where they are supposed to get care and make it more affordable for them to access that care and not just talk about it. recently, there has been a lot of talk, and the democratic side we talked a lot about now we want to repair the aca. we didn't talk about that before. republicans were talking about let's repeal the aca, there are 29 million people who need some action to be taken. we need to think about how we can make access to medical care more affordable. host: patrick on the democratic line from oregon. good morning.

you're on with nicole lamoureux. caller: you were talking about volunteers. , doing4-year-old man well and i have good medical coverage. layman, where my volunteer and how can i volunteer to help a clinic? what skills i need? the other thing i'm curious about this about the new tax law , the attack on the affordable care act. i was just wondering if your clinic is for that, is that a good thing or not a good thing? guest: we would love to have you volunteer with one of our clinics. our clinics need medical and nonmedical professionals to help us provide care to people. the skills we need are you being willing to learn. greet someone when they walk in the door. say hello and check people in. if you only have a little bit of time, clinics are always looking for people to help them spruce

up the court next just like we have to do spring cleaning, so to the clinics. you can sign up to volunteer on our website. we will connect you with the clinic closer to you, or you can contact our office and we can help you through that. stated a few times, we would like to see the senate remove the repeal of the individual mandate from their tax bill. without think it should be in this bill. think it should be in this bill. host: caroline from tennessee. caller: do you know a place the kenexa medicine that's prescribed to somebody else who can't use it anymore, but it's bubble wrapped, it could be used by people, there's a lot of it. guest: i would say would be great for us to have a conversation at some point in time off camera, because there are different laws in different states and there's a piece of legislation called the track and trace legislation which means medication has to be tracked from the minute it came off a similar line all the way to where it needs to go. onould be happy to help you

a phone call later to see where we can do that in your states, because certain states have certain rules. host: you can get information at nafcclinics.org. amount not only locations, but also is to contact those locations, nicole lamoureux, thank you for joining us this morning. coming up next, we are taking your calls. you tell us what's on your mind today. democrats, call (202) 748-8000. republicans, call (202) 748-8001 . independents, call (202) 748-8002. we will be right back. ♪ >> this weekend on the c-span networks, tonight at 9:15 p.m. eastern on c-span, former presidential speechwriters for presidents nixon to obama and sunday at 6:30 p.m., dr. anthony eitan on how your zip code impact your health.

c-span2, tonight at 9:00, daily caller news foundation editor-in-chief christopher bedford on his book the art of the donald, lessons from america's philosopher in chief trade and on sunday at 11:00, author rebecca fraser and her book the mayflower, the families, the voyage, and the founding of america, on american history tv on c-span3 tonight at 8:55 p.m. eastern, penn state university history professor matthew russell on the u.s. capitol's art and architecture. p.m., the at 9:10 groundbreaking ceremony for the dwight d. eisenhower memorial and washington, d.c. this weekend on the c-span networks. >> the way you build characters identify your course in -- core sin, and you fight it. we all have some weakness and for one of my characters, dwight eisenhower, his weakness was his temper. bike asy i told was a

little boy at age eight years , one at a goar-old trick-or-treating and his mom would not let him. treet so mad, he punched a in the front yard and rubbed all the skin off his fingers. his mom let him cry for an hour and then came up to bind his wounds and recited a verse from proverbs which is that he who conquers his own soul is greater than he who taketh a city. he said that was the most important conversation of his life. it taught him he had a problem, which was his temper, and if you wanted to be a leader of any kind, he had to conquer it. and he really spent the next 60 years working on his own weakness. >> "washington journal," continues. we are taking your calls. tell us with on your mind on the saturday. democrats, call (202) 748-8000. republicans, call (202) 748-8001 .

independents, call (202) 748-8002. we take a look at front pages in the newspapers across the newseum.care of the newsday focuses on the terror in egypt, more than 200 slaughtered in mosques attacks. the grand rapids press in michigan, house ethics committee intovestigating congressman john conyers, the longest-serving member of the house after allegations of sexual misconduct. in the miami herald, the top story focuses on paul manafort and the records that tied him deeper to the kremlin, what's now known as led some russian experts to suspect that the kremlin's emissaries at times turned donald trumps foreign campaign advisor into an adversary.

the columbus telegram is president trump planning to tackle welfare? he mentioned a number of times he wants to look at welfare reform is as users are taking advantage of the system very we want to hear what's the top news story or what's on your mind today. matt is calling from hackensack, new jersey on the independent line. good morning. >> good morning. happy thanksgiving. say, i can'tto understand why mr. robert menendez and al franken are not arrested at this point, with his corruption trial, menendez had the issue, out of his relationships with many miners, minor children. and i think god that we have a

president who has the courage to call out the fake news media bitter angeras and towards our president and his supporters, with lies and half-truths like hands up, don't shoot, and the president, always criticizing, never talking about his economic like progress, lessening regulations on small businesses and trying to lower taxes. by the way, if i may say one more thing, thank you. on the humorous note, many people don't know that madame hillary clinton's book, they had to change the subtitle. the original subtitle was why

the american people rejected crooked hillary, the fake news media, and obama's failed legacy. host: francis is calling from birmingham, alabama. caller: good morning. host: what's on your mind? caller: i was just listening to newsast caller, the fake all came from trump, and he's tied to russia, that put on facebook. that's where the fake news comes from. you keep attacking obama, think god for obama and obamacare. what were people doing before we had obamacare? they were floating emergency room's with no health care and no insurance. this is the reason why we are now,iencing some increases

because we are still living from obama, the progress obama has made. and it's really a shame that this president wants to take us in 2009,here we were with exploding deficit. recession whena office, a lots in of tv media lied about it. ,e were in the recession then and think god obama had to clean up all the mess that the republicans made. host: let's take a look at the other headlines today. in the "washington post," the consumer bureau has two acting directors, which one is in charge? president trump and the outgoing head of the consumer financial

protection bureau both named acting directors on friday, throwing of leadership into disarray. legal analysts were split over whether the white house or the see if he be has the authority to name acting director, with each side citing the fine print of dueling federal rules, some out of the laws were open to interpretation and that the courts ultimately would have to decide the matter. of course, president trump announced that the omb director mick mulvaney woodhead the agency on an interim basis, while outgoing cfb director richard cordray named his chief of staff leandra english to that post. on is calling for michigan the independent line for michigan. good morning. caller: hello, kimberly. host: what's on your mind? caller: iou an apology, because the last time i called, talked with steve, and i was so

discombobulated, because i got through so fast just like i did this time, i don't believe it. iou an apology, because he didn't mention you. you are the best one that is new. please stick around, ok? culpa, up for that, mea you are a caller indiana a few weeks back saying you are biased and you showed your bias, because you appeared on msnbc. please don't leave c-span. don't leave the journal. anyway, i would just like to remind that caller that like you, i worked for the boston herald, 11 like to have that caller look up the boston herald , it's the biggest republican rag in the country. argument that the you are some whining liberal, because of where you appear or where you worked. ok. that being said, mea culpa is

done. , i, that woman in florida believe her name was debbie. debbie, you get it right on the button, kid. we are in a class war, and we've got these republicans, oh, if you are middle-class and you are working for -- no, we can't raise the minimum wage because we have to cut taxes for the rich to make up for the taxes and the benefits that you paid into your entire working life. i just get so frustrated. i remember a time when even republicans referred to the middle class and working people as the backbone of the country. now, republicans hold us in contempt. they are waging war on us. we want to take away our social security, medicare, medicaid, health care, so they can get richer. wake up, people.

if you work for a living and you vote for republican, you might as well just cut your own throat , because they are always saying we have to pay for all these deficits, well hey, guess what? how about having the rich take personal responsibility for this country. question,i ask you a especially with tax reform, republicans have been saying this reform is to help the middle class. senator orrin hatch was very incensed at this with the help the rich. he pointed out his own level beginnings of that he wants to help the middle class rate why don't you believe that. -- caller: say that one more time? host: senator orrin hatch. caller: oh, come on. give me a break. every time there's a deficit, who do they go after for cuts? they cut our benefits. people who work for a living. i'm a union machinist. tori was, anyways.

and thank god for that union, because am going to have some kind of pension, i hope, unless the bank stirs with deregulation take that away. yeah, there can a pay for these tax breaks for donald trump, his family, his cronies, and they are going to say well, the american working class is always taking. how about you guys paying 33% like i paid. every time i buy something, i'm paying taxes. let's get real, kimberly. mad,e you, kid, and i'm so but debbie, in florida, i love you. host: thanks for your call, tim. marion calling from new york on the republican line. caller: i'm concerned about this health care. when they came out with the new obama health care, i never

with these new policies, because i didn't want the drugs. i don't believe in these drugs. i think drugs killed my husband, they've almost killed my sister. they've put other people to rest. anyways, i do not believe in drugs. and i didn't want it. so i couldn't have one. they said i had to take it. finally beginning this year, i did sign up, but they claim that anybody who didn't sign up because of some factor, they had what theiruble monthly fee is. policyhink this is a for for anybody, especially when i

paid for my own dental, i paid for my own glasses, i paid for my own doctor. i paid for my own to raise. and there's nothing any problem. and iw i'm paying extra still don't believe in a lot of these doctors. host: in some other headlines today, there is a report about disquiet in the state department under rex tillerson, the new york times reports dismissals and early retirements that have decimated the state department's senior ranks have some word. departures revenue stage in the broken an increasingly contentious relationship between mr. tillerson and much of his or its workforce.

host: that story about the growing discard -- discord in the state of art. yuri, pennsylvania on the democrat line. caller: good morning. just for the simple fact that right now, this whole nation is gripped with fear. as i begin to think about how trump got voted in, obama was the president for two terms and i think that really made it a because anle angry, african-american guy was voted for two terms. instead of voting with some type of sense, they went all the way to the other end because republicans were actually met another republicans, because they actually let him have a chance to win again.

fear and equality sometimes makes me angry but have to understand one thing and i'm talking to myself as well as talking others, that that fear comes from people being in power for many years, and they are so afraid of letting them go, they will do anything to hold onto it, even if it means destroying this whole country. need to pray as christians for trump, but trump off the ramp is so with his ideas and his backtracking anything obama has done, just doing away with it, it's just sad, it is sad that we are so divided as a country. , think that we have to start each person looking in the mirror individually, looking at themselves and saying what can i do to change myself? even if you don't feel wrong in your approach, even if you are on the low end of the total poll, what can you do?

people are afraid of change. and changes coming, whether you like it or not. host: let's take a look at some of the things that are and could be coming up on the agenda for congress when they return, according to the san francisco chronicle. looming deadlines, much unfinished business awaits congress when they return from the thanks giving holiday. the crash will be daunting, even if washington were functioning at peak efficiency. items, agenda whose core tax cuts, and potential government shutdown, lots of left over spending bills could asavel just as easily advance amid factionalism, gamesmanship, and a toxic political environment.

host: a tweet we got, why, after more than 24 years, do not get immigration reform and move on? on the line from baltimore, maryland is matt. caller: hey, how are you doing? host: i'm fine. what's on your mind. only 55 years old, but i've been paying attention to this thing for a while now. republicans have always gone in and set up that they were fiscally responsible and financial responsible for everything. but these are the same people who always get in office and blow the budget and the deficit sky high, and then there was that are on talk about your fiscal conservatives, and then you have all this corporate welfare that you are giving to these guys who are paying you to

bring these bills forward. they write the bills for you, you put the bills and action, and that he forgot about the people who have been paying the payingwho are actually taxes every day, every year. guys like trumped walking around 13% andt romney paying 14%, you want to take the corporation 20%, so what are they going to pay after they take the corporate to 20%, are they get a 5%, 2%? or have they been not paying anything? trump says he wants to reform welfare. what he should do is reform corporate welfare. you are taking all this money away from poor people and talking about we don't need this and we don't need that, and we are taking advantage of the system. these guys come all i do is take advantage of the system. my whole thing is what they need to do is get themselves together first and leave a small personal loan. -- it alone.

host: "wall street journal," reports with black friday and small business saturday, retailers are kicking off the season on firmer footing, after a year struggling to keep up with consumers shift to e-commerce, many retailers found themselves in an excitedly good shape on black friday, with pared down inventories and less for to slash prices shoppers. black friday sales were respected to come in at $33 billion, according to a customer growth partners for marcus research and analysis firm representing a 4.8% advance over black friday last year. sales were november and december are excerpted declined by 4% to 682 billion dollars, which could make 2017 the strongest holiday season since 2014, according to the national retail federation. on the democratic line from marlton, new jersey. good morning. caller: good morning.

earlier you were speaking about the 401k and saving for retirement and while i think we all have to avail ourselves of it if you have a 401(k), it's not going to be not a good vehicle to give someone a long, healthy retirement, because we have these stagnated wages for 40 years. so the amount of money you can put away and hopefully get to grow is not going to be sufficient. and i think that came in during the reagan years, they massively took people out of defined-benefit and put them in 401(k)s. that helped crony capitalism. it was never designed to help the average american worker. and i think what we need to realize and people saying about change, we are relying too much on the governments to change -- host: are you there? guest: callercaller: yes.

i think we need to focus on the growth of unions, so that the inequality that we see between the corporate interests and the average american is lessened. just asking the government to wage, that's hour not what he get it done. you have to get organized yourself and hopefully have a skill that you can market. in other news from the "wall street journal," the u.s. and south korea have that joint exercises, it is military exercises involving hundreds of u.s. and south korean aircraft will take place in -- on the korean peninsula and u.s. military announced the latest show of force is aimed at deterring north korea. the vigilant ace 18 drilled to

be held the summer for the december 8 will involve a total of 12,000 u.s. personnel said the air force spokesman colonel michael hoffer howard. host: sylvia is calling. caller: i have been listening to your program and i'm really happy that things are being told people that they should have coming. some people don't understand that they are eligible for things, and when one gets to be very senior citizen, they don't always check. i've been going over all the affordable, so they say,

programs of help for 2018. and it seems like none of them offer what i and some of my friends are in need of. dss and youe local talked to three people presenting to them your needs. and you get three different answers. aboutr, you were talking medicineach affordable for the senior generation. and i would want to know if you are going to author -- offer ways that we can find this local programs that you were talking about, that will give us not only our prescriptions, but also , i care and hearing aids or

dentures. those are all things that senior citizens really need to enjoy the rest of their life. and it seems like the people that we have contacted just say well, you will have to take out extra insurance if you want those things. that should not be. it will offer on your program today ways for us older people to accomplish that. maketh through the months, and sometimes, i run out of money before the month has run out. and i'm not alone. we did on freent insurable clinics, there was a website that we gave, nafcclinics.org.

that offers a list of available facilities across the country. bob is calling from anaheim on the republican line. good morning, bob. caller: good morning. wonder -- i grew up in the north side, and when i went into high school, it was 80% -- don't coming off, i'm just saying, because of why we don't have insurance and why we don't have money, people complaining of donald trump stealing insurance and taking away your medicare. he is just giving people who shouldn't be getting it from getting it. when i went to high school, the same high school for five years or even elementary school, there and about 80% white 15% mexican-american. not people who couldn't speak english. and then the rest, would be

asian or african american. now the same high school, because i live around the same area is 90% hispanic and the rest 10% will be white asian. an african-american. i've noticed as i gotten older, he didn't really bother me, times were changing, but i know because i'm pretty old now, i don't the doctor i have to go the doctor and it used to just be like a regular doctor visit now. and no one speaks english. since abouting on 10 years ago. and theyto the doctor have a translator who goes into the doctor with you and one goes in with me and i say i'm a mexican-american. i don't need an interpreter. as you go in, everybody talks spanish, from the dentist to the doctor, to the eye doctor.

everybody speaks spanish. 85%, 90% of the language is spanish and their it's an interpreter who goes in your room. i've been euro my life, i don't hundreds of hundreds of people who are gardeners they get paid cash and they get medicare and they get food stamps because they are the just the same as hookers. hookers arrested because they don't pay taxes. that's the only reason they get arrested. host: mary is calling in from republic, michigan. have two diverse comments. hoping donaldm trump can convince corporate america to reduce their high wages immoral and golden parachutes and all of that type of thing. is in responsent to a previous caller when you

said president trump is taking away everything the president obama can't list. in the eight years of president years of the 30 plus jesse jackson and al sharpton, what have they done for their black communities? why is there such high black on black crime still? perhaps if there were jobs available, people wouldn't have to be committing crimes. that's my comments. host: on tomorrow's "washington journal," we are joined by peter maynard, he will talk about the future of the republican party and we will also be joined by pollit, to talk about the cultural impact of sexual harassment and michael o'hanlon will talk about president trump and foreign policy.

that's all for today's "washington journal," in the meantime, have a good saturday. ♪ c-span archives 30th anniversary, a discussion about how television coverage as impacted politics throughout the years. then, warmer first lady michelle obama on her life in and out of the white house. then a discussion on whether artificial intelligence is creating or eliminating jobs. purdue university celebrated c-span archives 30th anniversary with a discu