the senate budget committee holds an oversight hearing looking at the congressional budget office. and taking up the nomination of alex is be the next health and human services secretary. on c-span3 the senate congress science and transportation committee looks at the auto industry innovations. and at 12:20 p.m., the u.s. council of mayors starts their winter meeting in washington. coming up in an hour, public wiseman talksrt out conflicts of intest with president trump, then public policy on rideshare services from the washington auto show ended at senator john thune, and on regulation of the u.s. auto industry. curt myers,ar from

the deputy secretary for driver and vehicle services at the pennsylvania department of transportation on driverless vehicles. ♪ host: reporting this morning that democrats are serious over actions by senate democrats and how they handled the shutdown in a result for daca. and chuck schumer says there will be no money for a border wall, as part of an agreement that would have resolved the docket issued. -- daca issue. that happening on washington -- in washington. is go shooting this week in the new york times reporting that there has been a school shooting every day since the

beginning of this year. we will ask your thoughts and how to best deal with the topic of schoolhootings. we invite you to call various lines. if you are a parent or a student, give us a call at (202) 748-8000. if you are an educator, (202) 748-8001. if you are in law enforcement, (202) 748-8002. and for all others, (202) 748-8003. if you want to post on our twitter feed do so at c-spanwj. you can also post our facebook page. these are the headlines from newspapers stemming from kentucky. this is the lexington herald leader this money with the headline "kentucky has go shooting leaves two dead, 17 injured." this shooting taking place at the marshall county high school. killed.", two 17 injured and five tickets in nashville for treatment.

unnamed suspect taken into custody. if you go to the pages of the daily beast, in writing about this, these shootings, they highlight the fact that they were to shootings this week and 14 wounded, adding the shooting occurred in benson, kentucky, a 15-year-old male opened fire with a handgun, 14 people shot and two of them, to students, killed. another shooting in texath week as well, in austin. , a gunman shot a 15-year-old girl at italy high school. the victim was hospitalized. studentnd shooter, a charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. that is according to the district attorney on tuesday. the suspect not named in that shooting. with those in mind, your thoughts on school shootings and how to address them. for the hour we invite you to

call in on specific lines. for parents and students to give your thinking, (202) 748-8000. for educators, (202) 748-8001. for those in law enforcement, (202) 748-8002. and for all others, (202) 748-8003. again, if you want to post on our twitter feed you can do so at c-spanwj. you can also post on our facebook page. whichffords law center, deals with shootings, the composite report taking a look at can violence in schools across the united states, when it comes to reducing at k-12 schools, "shooting shock us because these are safe havens." a report issued by the u.s. department of education and betweenfound that 1992-2006, 50 times as many murders of youngeople occurred away from schools rather than at

school. 140 times with many suicides performed off school property. and are in the 2010 school year, at least one homicide of a school youth for 3.5 million enrolled students. it also talks about gun free zones, saying that federal and state laws ensuring that schools are gun free has helped make the-12 schools even safer, reducing gun violence in these places. schools associated with homicide when these rules were adopted and fewer students are carrying guns. that is some of the things that, as far as the facts, that we will show you during the hour when it comes to school shootings. when it comes to that act, it was signed in 1990, president bush, and under the ruling prohibits the carrying of a loaded or unlocked firearm within 1000 feet of a public,

private or parochial k-12 school could in reference of the shooting -- school. in reference to the kentucky shooting, this was on the floor, before the full extent of those killed and injured were known, here is senator mitch mcconnell from yesterday. [video clip] >> this might be in with reports of a tragedy at marshall county high school in benton county, kentucky. officials have confirmed at least one death in several injuries. my staff is at the high school and is in close contact with local officials. they are monitoring this situation and will be providing you with updates throughout the day. i know that i speak for communities across my home state and sending prayers of comfort and healing to students, faculty and everyone affected by this violence. our hearts are with the entire community of marshall county,

and our gratitude is with the first responders who rushed into harms way. host: kentucky senator rand paul sending out a tweet, "deeply saddened by the news that a benton, kentucky, closely monitoring the situation we are praying for those that are injured, as well as family, friends and heroic first responders." we start on the topic of school shootings and how to address them with riley in germantown, maryland, in educator -- an educator. go ahead. caller: i think it is so crazy, because we all know the things that should happen in order to prevent this kind of violence at schools, and yet it is not happening. we need more intelligent gun control laws and we need to be putting more money into the counselingepartments at schools. there is a mental health issue in this country that is not being addressed and we keep cutting funding to education,

and of course you cannot make the class sizes any bigger, so they start trimming down on things that seem unnecessary, like a counselors. host: you list yourself as an educator, what grade do you teach? caller: the seventh grade. host: when it comes to your school, as far as preparedness, what is the plan in place for something like an act of violence with a gun? caller: it is a disturbing plan, they make an announcement, we going to code red, and we walk all the doors to the classrooms and the children are supposed to crouch on the floor in an area where somebody, if they broke through the window with a firearm, they would not be able to shoot everyone. and that is what we tell children, but it is not worth it to have intelligent gun control laws, you need to just crouch on the floor and hope you are ok. host: when it comes to the door

of the classroom, is it barred or is it a basic lock on the door already? caller: basic lock on the door, and if you have those windows, i just had wiring in them, but i'm sure you could break right through. host: arlene, a parent from cleveland, ohio. go ahead. caller: thank you. our children have no so forth. -- self worth. anytime you find a child willing to die at an early age, there is something wrong. we've educated all these people at harvard and yield and so forth, but they have no common sense -- yale and if so forth, but they have no common sense. there are no neighborhoods and no fathers in these homes. anytime you find young people willing to die at an early age, you cang is wrong and do whatever you want with these activated,- i get so

it is common sense. we didn't used to have that. they took fathers out of the home, now the mothers want to work and you are putting them in day care, and when you come home you are on the phone and you do not talk to kids. host: you think those factors are leading up to these of school shootings? caller: yes, these are young children. they are just beginning to learn and know who they are. you talk about self-worth from day one. host: an educator from washington, matt. caller: yes, ok, there are so many factors to this problem. i just want to comment on one. it is about time we have security cameras throughout our schools, including in a very classrooms. host: you are breaking up a little. can you get closer to the phone? go ahead. caller: we need security cameras

through all of our schools, including our classrooms. that is one solution. it is not the solution, but secured cameras are everywhere -- but security cameras are everywhere, why are they not in our schools? it would help to solve the problem. false allegations against teachers, and anytime there is any kind of suspected improprieties, we could have a camera and it is either on the camera or it is not. that is one possible solution. cameras in the classrooms and in the school as a deterrent. host: so where you teach there are no cameras or anything like that? caller: i am not authorized to comment, but iieve each school district has their own policies, ok? they have their own licies. i think that school unions would fight back, classroom cameras

and one of the things they would fight is they would say it would be used unfairly evaluate teachers, but the thing is -- think about it, if there is a gas station and there is a camera, you look at the camera. host: what about the idea of maybe a school resource officer states the idea by some about arming teachers? caller: again, it comes down to budgets. they are flatlined, so how will you find it? -- fund it? i think it is great, but can you really fund it? host: we will go to a parent. zachary, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to comment, i disagree about the camera angle. but i think actually it is more the mentality of how you have

treated these tools of modern times. a caller mentioned mental health issues, that is part of it as well. it is the way that we treat students and children and how they are brought up in the tedness.the regiment i you could look at the compulsory education, it is like a prison for students to come into. they are told where to go, what to do, they are constantly monitored. ice to work in a -- i used to work in a public school, i trained teachers in i.t. and seeing it from that side they have programs inside the schools, but the way the public school system works is they have a calendar load, all the standardized testing and the environment is not conducive to raising young people to be really productive, it is more to educate them to become these

memorization entities in society, so they are good at working at their jobs and listening to direction and that sort of thing. host: according to campus safety magazine, they have a statistic from the center for disease control. the cdc counted 120 pre-instances of students using guns between july of 1992 and june of 1999. shootings,school 93.5% of the shooters were male. shootersthe perpetuated homicide, and of those, 15.6% of shooters killed multiple people. off of twitter, "the school where i talked had a grt protection, so if anybody who was carrying a gun across the large campus, sounds would go off. we never had a shooting." "the killings are a new normal.

if somebody cannot say how they feel about being charged, the action is left to killing. i know it." we have caroline on the line. caller: good morning. say, untiled to congress can do something and change the law, they have had one of their own shot. they do not follow through. and until that is done, and the pockets,out of their nothing will be done or changed. host: specifically, what should they do? bush and congress do then -- what should congress do then? caller: they need to make the laws stronger or improve them some which way, because we have

it here, it is all over. and it has to quit. thank you. host: a parent in darlington, pennsylvania. sue, go ahead. caller: hello, my comments is i think america should start where we are and where we are in this country for our entertainment, child toouth, for any put the tv on is nothing but sex , guts, violence, is treated like a sports. what are we showing, what are we teaching our children in this country? we have parents that were two jobs. the father, the mother, who is teaching our children today? host: why do you believe all of those factors contribute to gun

shootings? caller: why do you think they do? if that is all you see on tv and a young child loses their innocence as soon as they are able to comprehend what they are watching on tv, what happened to all of the shows that shows heroes? what happened to all the news that shows the goodness in this world? is there not any left? why is it that we are letting our children run the streets and being picked up with drugs? our doctors are putting out these opiates. why isn't all of this managed? then you havthese kids that have no self-respect, ty have no honor, they have no pride. who is there to teach them that? jersey.rsha in new caller: good morning and thank you for c-span. toant the school shootings

be stopped. the government has to properly laws.s gun control, pass politicians have become too involved in shutting down the addressingand not what is important, our children. the nra has to stop being political and start thinking of people. i am very upset with what is going on. host: how far should the government go as far as the issue of guns and gun control, would you say do not allow any guns in certain situations, do you talk about mental health - - - what aspects? caller: i am talking about mental health, we have an opioid crisis, we have children who may be taking drugs. the government has to start with enacting laws and looking at gun

control. too many guns in the hands of many children. host: campus safety magazine also put out information for in another report, researchers from the department of education, study and 37 incidents of school-based violence, between 1974-2000, some reports according to that, says all the attacks were committed by males, some of them with a major loss, 78% of attackers had a history of suicidal thoughts prior to attacks, 71% of attackers felled a bullied, threatened, or injured by others prior to the incident, adding that in several cases the harassment was long-standing or severe, also that all the attackers, 95%, were karen students at -- were current students at the school.

hello? caller: i have a comment about the school shootings. i feel some of these students, for example this last one, possibly was due to a girlfriend, boyfriend, jealousy kids do not know how to handle real-life. y lot of them are raised, the are raising themselves because their parents both work. when they come home they are too tired to teach them anything. so schools teach them education, skills andthese life how to handle problems and more laws is not going to solve the problem. i think it starts at home and hopefully people will understand that, because most schools probably do have cameras. a resource officer might be able

to stop sometimes, but i do not think that is the answer either because there is only one in a large school, so they cannot be everywhere at one time. and so these kids getting the guns from their parents, or whoever, and they are angry. there is a lot of anger in these kids and they needed someone to -- need someone to see the signs and understand and try to resolve them in some way. site that puts the information in graphic form has taken a look at school shootings between 1982-2017 tech universin blacksburg in 2017 with 33 fatalities, 23 injured, newtown, connecticut with 28 killed and 200, columbine with 13 killed and 24 injured, and the list goes on.

this is from 2007 into close all the way to 2017. a number of information. linda from colonial beach, a parent, hello. caller: yes, i want to comment on the school shootings. i think a lot of it has to do with bullying in the schools. ca if they can get that lmed down where the kids are not coming into the schools and shooting is the answer, i think that would have a lot to do with it. host: do you have school-age children? do.er: yes, i i've won in middle school and one in elementary school. host: when you talk about bullying, is that something you hear firsthand from your children? caller: yes, my son -- there is a lot of bullying in his school.

he has a resource officer there and has beenubjected to bullying in school. and we have talked to him. i agree with some of what is being said about the parents. we both work. today i'm off. to talkalways take time to him and tell him that there are different ways to deal with bullying. and -- host: you mentioned a resource officer, what if the school was to go further with may be metal detectors or say the arming of teachers, is that something you feel comfortable with? caller: i would be comfortable with that, as long as they are properly trained on the situation of how to handle themselves when they are carrying, and i would be fine with that. great.etectors would be

as long as there is a way to keep the guns and knives out of the school, i think it would be fine. host: those are some of the comments we have heard in the first 20 minutes of our program. two shootings this week, the latest in kentucky. we are asking you to give your thoughts on how to address school shootings. you heard from parents, teachers, from others, and here is your chance to give us your input. if you are a parent, (202) 748-8000. if y are an educator, (202) 748-8001. members of law enforcement, we invite you to call (202) 748-8002. and for all others, (202) 748-8003. john andhers line, westminster, maryland. hi, i have a follow-up to a previous caller that mentioned cameras in schools into my thought was that if

amazon can develop a system that can track people going in and out of a store, taking items, why couldn't they develop something like that for schools that could sense if a firearm is brought near a school, in a school, near the entryway to a school, and may be set off an alarm? host: do you think that technology or some somewhere technology, if it existed, the question would come to if it is incorporated? how would that go over? caller: it might be a cost, but i thinks it's systems -- think since the systems have already been developed a figure could be implemented and if it was proven through testing, it could save lives. and i think that parents, taxpayers, would go for it. technology,ntioned some people of mentioned gun-control, where do you fall on that issue? caller: that is part of it.

from the statistics i have seen, gun ownership rates do not necessarily transfer into gun violence, in terms of gun ownership, but i think it is more of the entertainment that gets put into people's brains, i think that is kind of polluting people's brains and that is a big part of the problem. host: we will hear from a member of law enforcement, ed in georgia. thank you for calling. go ahead. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: great show, i enjoy c-span. i wanted to say that i am a criminal defense attorney and i believe that there is not really anything that you can do about it. we have always had crazy people and we will always have crazy people and crazy people do crazy things, and i know that we want to fix that problem, but in trying to fix it we actually

destroy some of our own liberty, so we shouldn't -- we have to learn to accept these things and i am sorry that is the case, but that is the case. host: when you hear people bring ford ideas like gun control -- bring forward ideas like gun control, and if ideas, what goes through your mind? caller: well, you are not going to fix it with more laws. you ulgo tou of australia and just take up all the guns. that would have to have a tremendous shift in our culture, but that is the only thing that you can really do. , more laws there are tons of laws right now. it is illegal to have a gun and every school in america, but people do it. host: do you get a sense that of schools had more police or resource officers, or onto security on campus, or if you

took more enforcement of gun free zones or metal detectors, do you think that could reduce these incidents? caller: those kinds of things would be marginal reductions, eut -- and there may b technological advances, but ultimately some people are just, they have defects in their minds and those people are going to do things that are bad. and we hear more and more about it now because there is more and more communication. but it is something that has always happened. law: ed is a member of enforcement, a criminal defense attorney. you can talk about these issues this morning of school shootings on our parents -- of schoo shootings. on our parents line, melvin. caller: thank you for taking my

call. i want to make a quick statement. wasw a commercial on tv, it in his report, and what they had was -- news report, and it would they had was parents showing students how to shoot at a shooting range. you know cannot have respect for those who are showing hunting. it is a respected sport. but to take your child down to a gun range and show them how to shoot a handgun at the age of 80 years old, 10 years old -- 8 years old, 10 years old, that is irresponsible. that look atdren to many video games, they play video games or shooting games and stuff like that. pegida arcades and they do -- t hey go to arcades and they do the shooting games, and they are graphic, they show how to shoot. a person andhoots

to the blood shoots out of the head and that kind of thing. it is really influencing for a child to use something like that . i just disagree -- host: if the child was older, in his teens, would that be ok? caller: you know, in older child -- an oer child thaew up around guns d stuff like that, a handgun, i agree disagree with a handgun thing. i do not think there is a place in the world for a 10-year-old, no reason for them to have a handgun. that is the way i feel about that. host: melvin in virginia giving us his opinion this morning, one of several who have given their opinion. on twitter, "the only guns allowed should be single action rifles, all handguns into

semi-audit weapons must be banned." and "so much for the theory that guns don't kill, it is children kill instead of people." on twitter is how you make those thoughts known, or on facebook.com. anna, sun city, arizona. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. , we have had a quite a few incidents after that, but it dealt with the causes and i would like to see a good study on what are the causes. i have a theory, i used to teach and we used to medicate the kids with ritalin and antidepressants, very young brains getmpacted and i'm sure the pharmaceutical companies would not want us going there, but i think we need to look into how many of these kids are medicated, how many of them -- the previous person indicated

violent video games may be a contributor factor, and i believe that is probably likely. and the final elements of a perfect storm would be a lack of true spiritual support, the familial situation, there may be two parents, they may be uninvolved. i would love to see some kind of a study that will look at what the commonalities are in the social environment of these kids who are doing this. interesting many are in the bible belt. host: on facebook, two thoughts, max says "vetted citizen administrators. start by the gun free zones. there is a lot of technology to stop a shooter, if it is utilized. stricter punishment for those who commit gun crimes. we will never stop all violence

because we live in a broken world." 120 people so far posting on her facebook page. andrew is on our line for others, from new jersey. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i have to agree with that last twitter, whent you live in a broken world i do not know the answer. i had a loss in my own family. i lost my father in high school. losing my mother three years later. i go into the service. m-16 am taught the fire an to qualify. and within six months after coming out of the service, have to lose an arm. that is lost, but i never had a fascination with guns. and as far as video games, i have to agree with the last caller that these video games, these kids do not know reality

from fantasy. and in the meantime, when you look at the family situation in this country, you have people, you have little kids going around with iphones that are costing hundreds of dollars for the parents to buy. they play video games on the iphones. when i was a kid we were outside all day playing games, we never were in the house and we never wanted to come in the house. i think it is a combination of a lot of things. and i do not know what the answer is. host: ok. and thank you for your comments. we will show you other stories this morning and we will continue on our topic of school shootings and how to adjust them. -- address them. for parents and students, (202) 748-8000. for educators, (202) 748-8001.

for law enforcement, (202) 748-8002. and for all others, (202) 748-8003. the latest on the investigations by robert muell, the washingtonost with their desire, theut their team to question the president on flynn. writingcarol leming that he is seeking to question president trump in the coming weeks about his decision to oust michael flynn and the fbi director, according to two people familiar, the special interest in the events that led to the president pushing out michael flynn and a james comey indicates the investigation is scrutinizing efforts by the president or others to hamper the special counsel's probe. robert mueller turning attention to the president and key witnesses in his inner circle, raising pressure on the white house as they enter their second year. it was last week the attorney general was interviewed for

several hours. investigators, according to the justice department, he is the first member of the cabinet to be questioned in the probe. and there is a follow-up story taking a look at the fbi director as well as the related topic. this is saying that shortly after the president fired the fbi director, he was summoned to the white house, for a get tting to know you meeting. it was not long before the president and officials asked andrew mccabe questions, who did he vote for the 2016 election. he said he did not vote, according to officials, speaking on anonymity. the president vented anger over the several thousands of dollars of donations that his wife had received for a senate bid from a political action committee controlled by a close friend of hillary clinton.

mccabe, who had spent two decades of the bureau, found the conversation disturbing, according to an official. inside the fbi, officials expressed frustration that a civil servant, a very senior agent, would be asked how he voted and criticized for his wife's political leanings. one person in the conversation is of interest, the special counsel, robert mueller. that is in the washington post. back to the topic of school shootings. beaumont, texas. greg on the parents line. factorsyes, several int are contributing to -- this country, concerning our children. i feel hasing that harmed her children severely, is the fact that they no longer see as wrong and rights

wrong. this country was based on the pitbulls of god. now we -- principles of god. now we are not training our children in the way that they should go. many people say that if you spare the rod, you spoil the child. snapped the rod hated his son. but he who loveth himmel chastise him. that is a strong word to say that if you do not discipline your children, that you hate them. so the word -- means early. work andrained us to my first job, i was seven years old, as a paperboy. so we have gotten away from the system of the family. buying that people are

things for these children, specifically these phones and things that they are buying these kids that costs hundreds or even thousands of dollars, these kids do not have anybody to teach them things. host: mary, an educator. caller: yes i am an educator and a parent. i agree about the problems, but i think maybe two of the solutions offered was conflict resolution. something children if happens in the classroom, talk to your teacher. then go to the principal. if they do not listen, call me and we will meet with the person you are having a problem with. i do not hear anybody talking about accountability. and the man talking about the paper route and jobs, kids do not have jobs anymore. we have to create jobs for our children. these are life skills. ,hey could be a coalition

educators, parents, law enforcement. i think that we need to get a theytion in each district, could help in the classroom. and if the teacher does not listen, go to the principal, then call home, so there is accountability. that,mary, you mentioned but what do you think about improving security at schools? caller: we have facebook, we know that everybody is bullying each other and we do not have conflict resolution. we need to teach them life skills. host: what about increasing school security guards or technology? course, wet is -- of need tdo all of e alphabet. everybody is right. everybody says this is the problem, but we are alright. bring all of it together, all

the conflict resolution, security, the parents, all of the alphabet. host: mary in grand rapids, michigan. needs right, we do not more laws, that would control the population. parents need to take responsibility and to stop allowing the government to -- children." "get rid of gun free zones. every teacher should be armed. problem solved." zones,g of the gun free it was again in 1990 that president george h.w. bush signed that in 1990. it prohibits the carrying of a loaded or unlocked firearm within 1000 feet of a school. doug, salt lake city, utah.

a parent. caller: thank you for taking my call. dynamicthe problem is and there are many solutions, or reasons why a child might want to kill somebot a gun, but it all comes back to one underlying issue and that is the parent. if the parent's parenting the child, then the child is basically lost. until there is accountability for the parents, i am not talking about a slap on the wrist or a ticket, i am talking about a felony charge if your child gets a hold of your gun and takes it into a school and kills a person, the child should not be the only one facing a felony charge, the parent should be as well. as soon as parents realize that they are legally responsible for the child getting a hold of that gun, the child will no longer be

able to get a hold back on. -- hold of that gun. i have raised two children and have owned guns. the only, do not own a gun is when my children turned about 6 and started to get sneaky, kids get sneaky. they can get into closets and places and i sold all my guns when the children turned 6. when they turned 18 and they left for college, i went and bought more guns. person,not an anti-gun but i am a parental responsibility person. if your child gets your gun, you are sponsible. not the child. until parents take responsibility, this issue is not going to change. host: that was doug. a couple more stories when it comes to the back and forth and the going forward in congress on what to do about the dreamers. this is the hill reporting,

house democrats went in to post a shutdown recess, posting bitter feelings. new tensions in the immigration debate, those in the democratic caucus are furious senate leaders after forcing a government shutdown, agreed to reopen without a firm commitment to enact legislation protecting the daca program. it friends to weaken democrats going into the next deadline. and it will come bouquet efforts to rally behind a unified message behind in the midterm elections. if there was ever a case for the democratic nature of the senate, this confirms it. they are out of touch with the grassroots of the party." a democrat of california adds, "i do not see how we got out of this." and if you go to the page of the

wall street journal, said majority leader chuck schumer that hehat on tuesday, was pleased with the outcome of the debate because it put a spotlight on the cause of the dreamers and gave momentum in opposion from republicans ande he rescinded an to poffer vide funding for a border wall in exchange for an agreement to protect young immigrants who are in danger of being deported. "the offer is off of the table until -- that was part of a package and we will have to start on a new basis." the president responded, "chuck schumer understands after his humiliating defeat, that if there is no wall there is no daca." the best way to address school shootings is what we are asking you for the remainder of our time, 15 minutes or so. from hawaii, in member of law

enforcement. this is john. caller: thank you for c-span. i work in the united states military voice a officer. the answer to your question isn 't more gun control, the answer is not more loss, the answer to your question is not more enforcement or more protection in schools. parents startthe taking responsibility for their children and looking out for their chiren, and teaching them right or wrong, the basic rule is this -- the training starts in the playpen, not in the state pen. and until parents start realizing this and start taking control of their children, and

knowing where their children are at and what they are doing, this is not going to get resolved. host: john, even as a law enforcement officer we've had people tell us some of the issues dealing with bullying, some with mental health, and there are other issues too. how does it square with the idea a parent takes more responsibility you could reduce school shootings? caller: when you have kids running around all day and all night and the parents do not know what they are doing, who is responsibility -- whose responsibility is it? you had a caller who said the parents need to take responsibility for their children. training starts in the playpen, you start from when they are children and you teach them right from wrong. these kids do not know what is

right and what is wrong anymore. they go by, tthey ge into the gangs and they start hanging around. if these kids want to hang around with gangs, join the military. we will give them a uniform and we will teach them how to shoot and we will send them someplace where they can go kill somebody. host: joe in hackettstown, new jersey, an educator. caller: i would like to say the only thing that can stop a bad kid with a gun is a good kid with a gun and nobody is saying it, but i will say it. egal alienas an ill from mexico. host: mansfield, ohio. dave, a member of law enforcement. good morning. caller: good morning. i am a former marine like the previous caller and the corrections officer, and i agree with almost everything that is being said.

the base problem of the video games, the internet, but i hate to say it, but i believe until some of these people -- the united states is attacked with a small nuclear arm or something, and the reality check of what the pain and death, what these people are causing, instead of playing games, get a taste of what death is, i do not take america is going to wake up. we are living in la la land. that is how i feel. host: as far as resolving issues, what has to change? caller: like everybody says, it changes from the root. i do not think -- it is an overwhelming wave of information, people are selling video games, they will do whatever it takes. reality is the only thing that will stop it, and i had to say it but eventually we will get attacked one way or another and

people can look and say, it is not funny anymore. it is not cool. it is not cool being a gangster. until they realize what the pain really means. i hate to say that, but that is how i feel. host: the courier-journal headline, the sentiment about the nature of the shooter, two killed and several injured. suspect taken into custody after the shooting incident that took place in kentucky. video from a local news network shown to you now and the aftermath of that shooting. again, that gives us a broader discussion on the shootings. you can add your comments for the remainder of the time, on our phone line, andn our itter pages. "the video games tick me off. kids watch a violent movies.

girls play video games. the lazy man solution. what if we teach conflict resolution and to stop portraying guns as awesome and manly?" make your comments known on twitter our facebook page and on twitter. and we will hear from a parent in alabama. sandra, hi. caller: good morning, i have two points. number one, there was a generation that grew up with roy rogers, gene autry, they were heroes and i do not remember any of them going to school and shooting somebody. it is not the guns, it is what is being taught at home. for me, the major thing is they have taken all the small schools away, where everybody knew everybody, and teachers knew the parents, and they built big factories and they are putting all kinds of kids in and it causes trouble. the causes bullying.

if they would go back to the local school system, where the parents and teachers can get together, it would be cut out. it would not be no more. thank you. host: from another resident of alabama, we will hear from fred. he is in huntsville on our line for others. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to thank c-span and all of their ways of doing such a terrific job. i will say this because i mean it. i want to give a shout out to all the police officers in the country. you guys do a terrific job. everybody should salute you. have a nice day. host: we do have a line for law enforcement, by the way, for those of you and we have heard from several of you this morning. if you are a2,

member of law enforcement. usa today this morning, looking at the kentucky shooting, adding needs students was shot on tuesday. his brother saying, i was watching tv and i got a call saying there was a school shooting into freight me out and i sensed something was wrong with my brother. his brother has a positive outlook for other students. the odds look good for his survival. gabrielle giffords was wounded in a mass shooting in 2011 in tucson, arizona the"our schoolse spaces in our communities, she said, why do we allow this terror to happen?" a parent in college park, maryland. chris. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: well, thank you.

caller: i was in one of the roughest schools in washington dc. we had metal protectors and they had to take their shoes off and we put their backpacks through an x-ray machine. we had the state police outside, they were always on-site, and is somebody inside if needed. does it work? yes. if the kids got into a fist fight, it was just a fist fight. everybody was monitored after school and the kids went home. as far as what is being shown on tv, yes, video games, yes, internet, yes. but it starts at home as far as parents. i have to say, my son plays "call of duty." but i say, look at this. i show reality. i do not let him watch certain stuff because it is too much or. i remember -- mature. i remember when i was at home -- and as far as the kids and

everybody, the ones that have kids, you may not attempt apparent, but as far as th command that cou help, the metal detectors and x-ray machines, talking from experience, it helps. i am talking experience. your chris, we -- is experience as a resource officer, how much helped in preventing these things with preventing - -that students would tell you about? caller: a lot of the students, it starts from home, it starts with what they are going through. they come to school every day with some much on their backs and their minds. and i used to talk to a lot of the kids, from eighth grade all the way to 12th grade. and a lot of them, they need love and they want help and when we show that we care, no matter what they are going through, you show that you care for them.

look, this is how we will plan it, and you address the issues with them and they feel better. they are like, thank you. and they come to school and they will calm down knowing that somebody cares for them. some kids feel like nobody cares what they are going to either want to retaliate. they just do not care. host: thank you for the input. jeanette in massachusetts. caller: thank you, i really believe that everybody knows we are living in a different world today than we were 40 years ago, when abortion became legal. i believe these kids need to know that they cannot be repeated. -- god breaks the mold when a child is born. until that so-called law --

in our is not a law country and i believe our country is being cursed, instead of being blessed, because these babies -- these kids need to know where they came from. and -- host: how do you tie the abortion issue to the school shooting issue, directly? useler: directly, i -- becas life is disposable and now we have all this technology, yet kids do not know the truth about where they came from. where do you think they came from? they did not come from, you know, a plant. they were created by god. and until we get back to what our country stands for, the constitution was based on the 10 commandments. texas,k, sugar land, april is an educator.

go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to comment on the last caller that talked about how kids can be talked to and they can be understood, and i wanted to say that the kids will do whatever you want to them to do. they may not understand, but they will cooperate. as far as the people making comments about parents and how the kids are being lack in discipline based on parenting, i totally disagree with that. i have done a case study, in middle school, and i noticed parents really care about what is going on with their kids. they will do whatever you ask. they expect kids to do well in school. but you have to understand we cannot have it both ways, we all need to grow up a little bit. you cannot make parents work 18 hours and expect them to be a parent, but you also cannot not

understand that the parents are coming from the same institution as the kids. if school is going to be school, you cannot just teach them how to be industrious, you have to teach them how to be humans, they go hand in hand when dealing with humans. so we need to be more realistic that if you teach a kid how to be responsible, how to be respectable, how to not hold a grudge, before you start teaching them how to read a book, or even if you just teach them how to read and do it simultaneously, the child will make room to self manage so he can learn. if you teach parents and teachers, if you tell all those people in one setting, or even just in small groups, that what you are teaching kids about responsibility and respect, the community knows what is going on, so i tell you that if my child is spending eight hours with a lady or man, and less

time with me, then i think that we need to look at the teachers. host: as far as when you are an educator, are you a current educator? caller: i am retired and i will go back into education, but i do not see any self-management conflict resolution, in a life skill classes at the school where the child is mandated to do that, but when you go to college you are required to take psych 101. i do not understand the disconnected -- disconnect. host: tell us about security at schools and if there is a value in increasing that with a peace officer or some other way, to not only prevent the shootings from happening, but reduce the harm that comes from them. that it ishink misplaced on where the violence started as far as trying to stop violence, i mean, we have our answer.

if we just understand that kids need to be understood, their opinions really matter, their parents want to help them, we do not need to talk about guns or gun violence, everybody is in sync. host: got you. sorry to cut you off, but only because we are out of time. thank you for calling in this first hour. we continue on with our program. coming up, robert wiseman, eissman talks about the blurred lines between the trump organization and then we are live with the auto show and how policies are impacting the auto industry. ,epublican senator john thune

that's later on "washington journal." ♪ the c-span bus is traveling across the country on a 50 capitals tuour. we recently stopped in raleigh, north carolina to ask folks what their state. >> i think the most important of norththe state carolina is in our constitution about education. we say in article nine of the constitution that we will provide equal opportunities for all our students here in north carolina. so i will like to see that we continue to value equity and provide for the educational opportunities for all students here and fund that as well. not just give lip service to it, but fund that. >> one of the most important

issues is the court system. legislators are working on ways to revamp the court system and to take judges out of the hands of the voters. it's important that people elect judges and that the court system is one for the people run by the people. >> probably the most significant issue for me at the present are the many, many bills that have been introduced this past year, which i believe affect and denigrate the independence of the north carolina judiciary as an independent branch of government. bills have been introduced to make judicial elections partisan. i don't see anything that partisanship has in common with what we think of judges -- fair, impartial, independent. >> i would say right now it would be the gerrymandering case. currently you have republicans

controlling the general assembly in the north carolina state legislature. currently they are drying out maps that are gerrymandered -- drawing out maps that are gerrymandered. currently at this up in court, they have a case -- they supreme supreme court, they have a case. they are seeing whether these are gerrymandered or drawn to fit the population of that people. currently they are going through a supreme court case and decide if these maps are gerrymandered or drawn legally or illegally. >> voices from the state on c-span. ♪ announcer: "washington journal" continues. weissman, is robert president of public citizen, here to talk about the ties

between president trump as commander in chief and leader of the free world and president trump the businessman. we will talk about that an y in a minute -- and that in a minute. talk about the role of your work. guest: we watch government abuses and corporate abuses and we are worried about how corporations are influencing government policy. host: and report of yours taking look at donald trump as president but as businessman. what were you trying to figure out? guest: the worry was he did not divest his businesses when he took office. many others said that would create unprecedented conflicts of interest. ofwanted to take one slice how those comforts were playing out to sea in fact how outside interests are trying to use his ongoing business interests to influence the president, the policymaker. what we found is about 64 events that have been held by politicals,

committees, trade associations, corporations, and foreign governments held at the trump hotel. washington, d.c., mar-a-lago, or any of his golf courses around the country. host: are these political event held by legislators? political events are primarily fundraisers from the republican national committee. the trade organizations are having their galas and celebrations. givingre large events lots of money to the hotel or golf course depending on where they are. the same thing with the foreign government events, including more than $250,000 spent by saudi arabia at the trump hotel. host: where defined conflict of interest -- do you find conflict of interest? guest: in most cases there is nobody there from the trunk and mp administration. the reason that they are being held at trump properties is to curry favor with the president.

one diplomat off the record told "the washington post" of course i would come and stay at the trump hotel. of course i want to tell him how great his hotel is. it would be like diplomatic malpractice not to stay at the hotel and ingratiate myself with the president that way. we are seeing that in fact what they are doing. host: has there been evidence that a person hosted an event at the hotel and specifically got something from the trump administration for it? guest: i don't tickets quid pro quo like that, but we know the people and entities holding events at the hotel and golf courses are seeking things from the trump administration. for example, the candy makers association has had or is scheduled to have three major events at the hotel in florida. find thethat they sign trump properties so spectacular that they held their events there rather than try to curry

influence with the administration are nonexistent. in fact, they are seeking a wide variety of policies on sugar subsidies that they thi could save the50 million a year. it is worth holding a couple hundred thousand dollar events at the hotel. host: we will talk about the ties in this report from public citizen. if you want to ask our guest questions, here are the numbers to call. (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, and independents (202) 748-8003 2. where did you get the information? guest: most of these have to be reported to the federal election commission. we went through that database and look at everything we could. what we found is just a partial listing. we found every public statement

and event being held and compiled that together. there's no question we missed many events being taken place. host: 35 political candidates or political organizations, 16 groups, interest through religious groups, to individual companies, and one college football team. guest: there's a lot going on. there were a couple a dense schedule that mar-a-lago. the president had to miss them because he had to stay for appearances during the shutdown. $100,000 a was a plate fundraiser for his next president will campaign -- presidential campaign and the republican national committee. he benefits in different ways from that. that's going directly into his campaign. that only is it preparing him for the next campaign, he is simultaneously pocketing some of that money. host: when it comes to the football game, there's a link in the report about it and it goes was story saying that it selected by the wonderful

committee. a spokesperson said the group conducted a comprehensive report for proposal process to determine viable hotel properties and determined that only meets but exceeds our partners requirements for upcoming bowl games. guest: some people will land at the trump properties and that was one. for the governments and political campaigns, there's a lot of intentionality. the college football team, maybe less so. host: this is something that doe deals with the emily its claws. emoluments h clause. how does this apply? guest: it does not apply to the president to the vice president, but the principle should apply. the constitution h other conflict of interest provisions. the president can't take money

from foreign governments. we have foreign governments holding events at hotels owned by the president. there's a big question about whether that in fact violates this constitutional provision. what is sure is that it violates the spirit of the provision. there are ways of arguing around it and it may never get litigated properly in court. there's no question that the purpose of the constitution's provision was to prevent a president from taking money from foreign governments. this president is doing exactly that. host: but here from the president before he took office. -- let's hear from the president before he took office. we will get his justification and get your thoughts on it. [video clip] >> over the weekend, i was offered $2 billion to do a deal in dubai with a very, very, very amazing man, a great developer from the middle east. a friend of mine, a great guy. i was offered 2 billion

-- $2 billion to do a deal in dubai, and number of deals. and i turned it down. i didn't have to turn it down because as you know, i have a look situation because i'm president. i did not know about that until about three months ago, but it's a nice thing to have. i don't want to take advantage of something. i have something that others don't have could vic. vice president pence also have s it, but i don't think he's going to need. ivan looked provision as president. -- i haven't no conflict provision as president. they don't want presidents tangled up in minutia. they want presidents running the country. i can actually run my business and run government at the same time. i don't like the way that looks, but i would be able to do that if i wanted to.

i would be the only one able to do that. you cannot do that and any other capacity, but as president, i could run the trump organization, great company, and run the country. i do a very good job, but i don't want to do that. host: that was is just efficient -- justification going in. bared out?at paire and guest: he doesn't understand it. when the drafters were putting it together, either sell off all your conflicting business interests or recuse yourself from any conflict you have. the said we cannot ask president to recuse himself or herself from anything. they have to be centrally involved. they never could have imagined there would ba esidenlike donald trump who would refuse to sell off his business interests and think he does not have conflict of interest. he does not have an obligation under the legal standard, but

obviously it was assumed to be so obvious that he has an obligation under ethical standards and basic norms of the government. he didn't get that and he still doesn't get it. we see in fact that he has got conflicts all the time. interestsess involve all kinds of policy disputes, whether it is tax policy that will benefit him tens of millions of dollars to things like clean water regulations, which directly affect his golf courses. the labor department is now pushing for a proposal that would enable employers to take tips from employees. use an employer who has restaurants and hotels where the workers get tips. directly affects him. you go on and on for a list of thatnmental policies affect donald trump. he knows what his business interests are. host: ideally he should've put the businesses in a blind trust.

the suns run the trust according to him. guest: if they have gone to a line trust, it would've been put into a blind trust with a trustee in charge. of the proceeds would of been invested in a way the president would've never known about. he says the business is in a trust and my kids are running. if we take him at his word and there is reason to question whether he should, he is not aware of the day-to-day business going on. he obviously knows what he owns and very much knows how governmental policy affects his business interests. eissman with w public since in. we -- with public citizen. we have calls lined up for you. this is dave in florida. go ahead. caller: thanks for c-span. what a piece of work. he says the kids are running the business independently. he can't go down to mar-a-lago. who shows up in his place is

eric and don jr. the real reason i was calling is about mar-a-lago. that secretreported service and all those guys that accompany him to the golf course have to pay golf cart rentals. is he profiting off of that? plus, he is going out there with tiger and dustin and a bunch of other guys. is he talking developing deals with them? he just has no transparency. host: we will let our guest respond. guest: you are exactly right. it's not totally wrong that this happens. when the president travels and the secret service accompanies him as they should to protect him, they pay market rate forever they stay. if they stay on his property, they are going to have to pay him. it's a big problem when he spends one third of his time outside of the white house and

spends all his time on his own properties. that market rate is going to him personally. you got it exactly right. campaigned, he mocked obama and said he would spend all his time in the white house. he would be too busy to ever leave. almost one out of three days he is not in the white house and is instead at one of his properties. host: on the republican line, silver spring, maryland. caller: i guess my question is this. i'm one of the conservatives that thinks donald trump is a sham and not doing a very good job. i think you might have spoken to this little bit already, but are there any clear links with actual policy that has been enacted since trump has been in office and some of these meetings or petitions? the thing is that he is president. as long as he is president, people are going to try to petition him. he seems to be living in this

wonderful gray area. there's nothing you can do about it, but has any actual laws been enacted that can be linked to any of these petitions? groups wantterest to petition the government and ask for something, that's fine. i certainly have no objection to that. areoncern is when they trying to leverage their influence by staying at or holding events at his hotel or one of his golf courses. we are never going to have the paper trail to know exactly how it plays out, but we do know and can identify some of the groups that have been there. we know what they are trying to get. i talked about the candy association. that's one. the private prison company, they bye received a huge boost russell from the trump justice department on private prison policy. they held an event there. the chamber of commerce, which is a trade association for a big

business, they have held a couple of vents at the trump property. was taxp parity reform and slashing rates on big business. they got what they wanted. there is good reason to think that if you've got the money to spend and trying to influence policy, it's probably a good idea to hold an event at the trump property. you have good reason to think that you will get great payback. you have a president who is susceptible to flattery and wants to be seduced. if you're trying to influence him, of course you are going to do that. host: democrats line, this is dee. caller: this is a quick question. i'm talking to mr. weissman right now. he seems to be getting into donald trump and and his possessions and millionaire style. my question is that we have got a president who is loaded with money. this guy has got billions of dollars, ok?

yet people are complaining about all the money he has in his businesses that he had grown all these years because he 71 years old, ok? i'm 80 years old, ok? i've never ever heard of anybody talking about how these democratic people -- number one, osi and reid, these people go very poor into congress. every one of them are millionaires right now. i've never heard people like mr. weissman or people like him talking about how somebody can investigate how they go in poor and they all end up with million dollar homes and million dollars in their checking's accounts and savings accounts. host: we will let him respond. , wet: at public citizen talk about the things you're talking about all the time.

most of the members of congress now are very rich. theyo gon rich and that is a change from what has historically been the case. it is harder to run now. you need to raise some much money and it helps if you can bring your own money to the election. if you are a rich person, the easier to raise money from other rich people. we have seen the composition of congress change over the last 50 years to be much more wealthy. is a reflection of any consequence of the problem we have with big money dominating our elections. we have looked at what you're talking about which is how many members of congress make money when they are in congress. we found that they were investing in stocks. as best as we could tell, sometimes relying on special information that they had as members of congress. who pushed -- we pushed for and won a stock act that limits their ability to engage in insider trading. just like it's illegal on wall street to engage in insider trading, that law makes it

illegal if you are a member of congress. host: if a member of congress then has a business of any type, how do they apply? what rules are over them? guest: they're supposed to recuse themselves when they have direct business interests. most of them either sell them off or somehow try to manage it. this is an ongoing problem. nothing as severe as what we have got with president trump, but we see a number of members of congress who keep their business interests and its ed markey and troubling area. host: on the democrats line from washington, this is joe. hello. joe and washington, d.c., go ahead. caller: thank you so much for your insight on what's going on. like the woman calling, she's always attacking democrats and people who don't support trump. focusody who got their on trump being a good honest person, you better check

your rolls. you know they would not be able to get away and do with it as president. president obama down because he spit on the ground, but you allow trump to lie, cheat, and steal. think about your morals. you call yourself christian. host: do you have a question for our guest? caller: you are just hypocrites. host: do you have a question for our guest? caller: yes, sir, thank you so much. host: let's go to jeff in illinois on the independent line. hello? hello, go ahead? caller: i'm in shelbyville actually. i just wanted to say that anybody who reports a story that is off the record or anonymous,

i just don't believe it. they can write anything they want. it's always off the record. i just don't believe any story like that. that's all i have to say. host: mr. weissman? guest: i think there are issues about overreliance on anonymous sources. this administration, the best reporting has been done by anonymous sources, people who are plainly inside the trump administration but don't want to go on the record. i'm not sure if he is referring to the comment i made. the ali thing off the record we have is this unnamed diplomat who said of course he would stay at a trump hotel. the data that you and i have been discussing is all on the record. most of it is in federally maintained databases. people can go to citizen.org and find the report and see the link

to everything will citation for every claim we make in the report. there's nothing off the record about our reporting. ast: recently there was lawsuit filed by citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington on this topic. what happened on this lawsuit? guest: they filed a lawsuit about the topic you are raising and said the day the present took office, he was in violation of the emoluments clause because we know there were foreign guests staying at the trump hotels. that case at the first level was dismissed not onubstantive claim, but on thrise they did the rights that they did not have the claim. we will see how it plays out and will take some time before the court will resolve this. host: there was professor jessica levinson who wrote the "ea of outstanding and said, if there's one thing that's clear that if any plaintiff sues the president over the emoluments clause, this means

that the only people who can weigh in on a potential violation are elected members of government and therefore much like the discussion surrounding impeachment, the legal question becomes a political question." guest: this becomes fairly esoteric. one case was brought primarily by this group, a colleague organizations, and another has been brought by members of congress. the question is will be whether courts say any of them have the authority our right to bring these cases. the answer may be yes or no because the supreme court has made known what is standing doctrine very difficult. it's hard to bring these kinds of cases. what do you do? use a violation of the constitution, but the courts won't hear the issue. what do we do? nothing else except take it to congress potentially within impeachment action. host: rick in tampa, florida. caller: 52 questions.

-- i have two questions. the emoluments clause should applies to someone who takes money from foreign sources after being elected, doesn't it? is an accurate that barack obama has never been employed in a commercial enterprise in office salaries -- and all of his sellers have come from -- salaries have come from teaching? guest: on the second question, i'm not sure that's the case. i think obama had some jobs in the private sector, but i'm not sure. certainly he is going to now. it's true that most of his implement has been in the public sector. on the first question, i think that's not right. the president cannot continue to take gifts from foreign countries if he had been taking them from foreign countries previously. there is a question that may be part of what you're raising. if you just has events at the

hotel and he's charging the market rate and you are the on the hotel, is that really something that seems like a gift or something that might have a connotation of bribery? that is something for the courts hopefully to look at. there's an actual dispute and it's not totally obvious how it comes out. also however, it does appear that a lot of the events being held at the hotel would not have been held at the hotel but for the fact that he is president. a lot of the events at mar-a-lago would not have been held there but for the fact that he is president. that you see more clearly that it does seem like a gift and something that would run afoul of the emoluments clause. host: charlestown, rhode island, robert, good morning. you are on the independent line for robert weissman of public citizen. caller: did you do any of this investigation into hillary clinton with the money she took going all the way back to when clinton was in office? have you done anything like that?

guest: the parallels are not exact. we have not done anything comparable. hillary clinton did not own these properties and she was not president of the united states. if she did and she were, we absolutely would. there were very troubling issues about the existence of the clinton foundation while hillary -- she was taking money from foreign governments and dealing with foreign governments while she was secretary of state. we did raise concerns about that. i think the concerns of many conservatives and liberals anding were valid concerns real questions that should have been raised and i'm glad that they were. host: from vincent in pennsylvania, republican line, go ahead. your next. caller-- you are next. caller: good morning. if donald trump after being president acquired all his hotels and wealth, we have really something to talk about.

is this a man who ran on make america great again based on what he did in his life as far as his accomplishments as a businessman at 71 years old? would we not be having this conversation if he held his events or anything at say a holiday inn? the man does on the hotels and by law has to charge market prices. my question would be is he a good example for the layman, the general american who voted for him, as what he perceives as being a president for everyone? guest: for that direct question, for me, the answer is no. i don't want him to be the example for mucy children in regards to his ethical standards to his businesses, the

way he speaks, the way he bullies and denigrates. i have a point of view on that and it's not favorable to president trump. to the premise of your question, people voted for him because he's a businessman. i think that's a fair point, but that does not mean he should've have kept the businesses once he became president. no one has done anything like that for really good reason and we are seeing the conseqnces now. the other thing he said was what if you made the money afterwards? the problems are less severe than, but there are real questions about what happens for ex presidents who profiteer on their next presidency. that includes president obama now making speeches around the world for $400,000 a pop to wall street investment groups. there are legitimate questions to be raised about that as well. host: there's a story in "the washington post" that takes a look at the prices of hotel rooms at trump properties, showing significant price drops with trump-pence bob being the most.

that excludes the trump property here in washington, d.c.. have you seen anything specific at that property that causes concern? guest: the trump property in d.c.? host: yes. guest: they are suffering because people don't want to be associated with the president. and washington, d.c., we know that'se reporting going on, they are doing much better than they anticipated doing. it's almost certainly because people are going to that hotel because he is the president and not because they think it's a great hotel. and: this is initial report looking at this. when you go from here? guest: there's a solution to this, but it's not one the president wants to pursue. he should've sold his business interests. yes, he has these things branded as trump and it would be hard personally for him to sell, but he chose to run for president. when you take on that response

ability to the american people of being president, not asking too much to shed your conflict of interest. host: robert weissman of private citizen, thanks for your time. before we let you go, you are going to the washington auto show that opens this week. was your point of concern? interesting to see what the carmakers have to show because we are interested in new stuff as anybody. we are concerned how the automakers are trying to curry favor with this administration to roll back fuel efficiency standards. we are focused especially on d, which touts itself as a green company but has really led the way for trying to roll standards back. the consequences for the environment and at the pump are really devastating. host: thank you for your time again. open phones if you want to talk about anything you have heard this morning. (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans,

and (202) 748-8002 for independents. the washington auto show does open friday and it's a setup show and a day were politics become involved, where several members of congress and interested parties will talk about policy matters related to the automobile industry. "washington journal" continues after this. ♪ >> where are you from? go ahead. >> the moment itself, i described at the time and still describe it as a bizarre moment. it was a surprise when he called me over, but he's the president of the united states and urine the oval office. if he says -- and you are in the oval office. if he says come over, you have to. and formerurnalist washington correspondent katrina perry talks about covering president trump and his supporters for the irish media during and after the 2016 presidential election season in

her book, "in america." >> drain the swamp as three words is incredibly evocative. you know immediately what he's talking about and playing on the notion that he sees -- d.c. is built on a swap. ,mp. taking the horrible people and replacing it with better people is whether supporters believe him or not or believe that he could so full that are not, they were prepared to take a chance on it. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's "q&a." announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: for the next 25 minutes, aen phones until we start series of interviews taking a look at automobile policy and united states. you can call (202) 748-8000 for democrats, for republicans (202) independents (202) 748-8002.

the president heads today to vos in switzerland and talk about economic issues there. is expected to meet with several leaders. on thursday, he will meet with theresa may of the united kingdom, the first toxins present trump canceled a visit to the u.k. on thursday evening, he will host a reception with world leaders and a dinner with "select european companies" ask them toll " invest in the united states." he will meet with the chairman of the african american union, assertiona senator's that he would invite people from african nations. we will talk about other economic issues in the papers. lynn in high point, north carolina, your first. good morning. go ahead. caller: i just have a comment as

to what trump said about the africans and the haitians and yet he is allowing pregnant russian women to come in through florida and stay at trump properties. i don't understand what is that about. host: where did you hear that from? caller: i think it was in "the wall street journal." that was on msnbc one day, i think monday. mexico,ve in new independent line. i had a couple pet peeves about your programming and a few suggestions. on the first of each month, you always switch democrats and republicans from the top of your phone list. i'm an independent. we are the plurality now. there is more of us than there are of democrats and blican i'm asking iyou can put the

inpeents at the top of the phone list every third month. number 2 -- you used to have four 45 minute segments. the first was your question and the next three segments where of individuals. now the individuals are only on for 30 minutes. you changed it. i was wondering if you could go back to the original 45 minute segments. ust: the new segments allow for phones and conversations with people and viewers like you who want to call it to the program. the half hours keep the segments tight. sometimes we will deviate from that once in a while, but you are right in the fact that we did change from when you used to watch the program. caller: ok, thank you. host: do you like the 45 minute segments? what do they do for you versus what we are doing now? caller: when you have a question for an hour, you never give any feedback. listeners want to hear feedback

on the question. host: thanks for the suggestion on the independent line and thanks for watching so long. you have been watching quite a bit if you remember the way we used to do things as far as phone lines are concerned. arnold from smyrna, tennessee, democrats line. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: well, thank you. caller: i wanted to make a comment. e man that you just had on talking about trumps conflicts of interest. were you aware that they are trying to change the rules about how servers, waiters, and waitresses -- about their tips that they get? they are trying to overturn the way that it has been done and they are wanting to give the tips. that becomes the properties of the owners of the restaurants. you can find out about this.

there is a group fighting this. guest actually alluded to it in his comments come about go ahead -- comments, but go ahead. caller: i'm sorry. on facebook there is a group called tables turned. and they would like people to get involved. they are going to try to make this change right at the beginning of february. and want people to sign up join the campaign to try to stop this. host: tables turned? is that what you said it was called? caller: yeah, i'm facebook. host: thanks for the tip. ralph is next, independent line. caller: good morning to you and all. earlier today there was a that gunnd response to incident where all the children were wounded or killed.

it was that the only answer to a bad kid with a gun is a good kid with a gun. -- was really said passionately and sincerely. i think we have probably reached ,he point where we can try to try to use our collective sentiments and ability to think beyond to just simply ban all handguns so that the only people that will have them by the mentally ill, the criminals, and the police. then we can just work on the criminals and help the mentally ill and support the police. control, hunting, which we dearly need, just single shot may be clipped for a

five. no more than a 360. simple withy a single shot that you cannot really mass ser.laht excellent example of a system that we could monkey. i appreciate the time for my views. host: that is ralph in maryland on this open phones. if you are interested in automobiles and auto policy, and 20 minutes, we will feature a series of guests from the washington auto show that opens up this friday. it is in the process of setting up. today is a hearing for that that you can see on c-span and other things as we talked our guests. one of our team members is out there giving the sights and sounds on her twitter page. -- it'sington auto show our destination at the 9:00 hour to talk about matters of

automobile policy. isn't setup mode as the show opens up on friday with today being a policy day. a media day scheduled later on this week. there are the sights and sounds of people setting up and a discussion of auto policy to take place in just a little bit as we go back to open phones. larry on the republican line from oregon. larry, go ahead. caller: yes, my question was why don't politicians that are voted we constituents vote people in like me from oregon. if they are already so well to do, why don't they take their andy from a yearly salary why instead of receiving money from lobbyists, they could either donated back to the government or to a charity? it is kind of like a no-brainer in my mind. it seems like politicians in the

past, they were never that will off. that's the way it was supposed to be. they never accepted money for what they were doing in office for years. it just is kind of strange to me in how they shut down the government like that and it affected a couple of much older. my children. it's amazing how they play their little games, pulling each other's strings and they are not doing anything for we the people. the bottom line is they don't deserve to get paid, but they are getting paid. host: michigan, democrats line, next up is elizabeth. caller: i just want to make a statement about all this ridiculousness that is affecting the people. it's called the house of representatives and the senate. i think people, including myself, need to start voting for independents.

we need to stop voting in these republicans and democrats that just it to their guns whether the people want it or not. they think we just need to start getting rid of republicans and democrats by voting in independents that actually listen to people. host: why do you think they listen to people more than republicans and democrats and why do you think that will force a fundamental change in how business is done in congress? caller: i think you will not have these deep pocket senators the holden to all these lobbyists. independent, you do not have to play the game as much as a democrat or republican. there are good in both, although i think the republicans are -- i'm not sure what it is, but they drank the kool-aid or i don't know. it's how they stand behind this president that's ridiculous. independent, maybe you are not as aligned.

aligned to are not a a party, you are not the holden to a party line and you actually o yourself and listen to constituents. mine is a republican and he doesn't listen to anybody. a democrat would never win in my district. leashink he could at listen to somebody other than the president. host: ok, thank you. one of the things at the washington auto show is a course that exists in what is still being developed. it features a lot of sand and rocky terrain, which land rovers are being tested. its just one of the vehicles that will be on-site for the auto show. a conversation on policy matters coming up, but we will continue to show you sights and sounds at the washington convention center by the way. domestic, foreign, it a lot of different types of automakers will be on tap for that. one of the topics of discussion coming up is that of autonomous

vehicles, driverless car's. wes. we will talk to our guests about that phenomena as well. robert on the independent line, hi. caller: either question -- i have a question. when they build this wall, if they do, who will get those contracts? will it be friends of trump? that's what we need to worry about. who is going to get this money for building this law? who is going to get the contracts? that should be looked at really . "the wall street journal" reporting that the 16th chairman of the federal reserve has been voted on by the senate. jerome powell confirmed and will take over next month. he is a fed governor since 2012. field by a booming labor market and strong global growth, his task will be to sustain the economy's expansion

without letting it take up so much momentum that the fed would be forced to cool off was sharp te increases, riing a downturn. this confirmation is on the 20th after being nominated by president trump on november 2. it's time for us to be normalizing interest rates according to mr. powell. if you want to go to our website at c-span.org and learn issues on the federal reserve, all that is available to you when you go to c-span.org. whitemick mulvaney, ha house budget director, and head of the consumer financial protection bureau in an op-ed said that the cfpb has pushed its last envelope. "i read a quote for my predecessor that highlighted how he ran the bureau. he wanted to send a message. there's a new cop on the beat. pushing the envelope is a loaded

phrase, but that's absolutely what we did. have seen similar language elsewhere. it's fair to say the bureau's previous governing philosophy was to push the envelope aggressively under the us something that we were the good guys and the financial service industry was the bad guys." mick mulvaney continuing on, "when we go to the enforcement, we will focus on harm to consumer. you can count on us to pursue the appropriate remedies vigorously. if it doesn't, we will not go looking for excuses to bring lawsuits. on regulation, it seems that people we regulation have the right to know what the rules are before being chargedith breaking them. this means more formal rulemaking and less regular show by enforcement. and we will be prioritizing. in 2016 come almost a third of the complaints into this office related to debt collection. only a .0% related to payday lending. 2% to payday lending.

" that is from a memo sent to staff. from bedford, texas, republican line, this is tony. caller: i really love c-span. i wish i could get it in hd. i could've sworn trump said he was donating his salary i think to the veterans. i don't have any way to confirm it. is there anyway you can help him out with that -- me out with that? host: i'm trying to remember. he donated to various causes, veterans being one of them. keep going. caller: where can i get the actual money transfer where i can look it up on a legitimate site? he made this much money and it was donated here. host: i would try first the white house website. if you go to whitehouse.gov, there is a section that releases

memos, statements, news releases, and the like. if you want to try white house.gov, you might be able to find it. caller: i did not see anything, but then again i do live in texas. host: amanda from pennsylvania, democrats line. caller: i wanted to comment on earlier a question brought up about what we can do to try to stem these issues of school shootings. i was actually in high school during columbine, the very first one. i was in a unique situation because i was teased mercilessly. i was in a very small school and was on mostly being tortured. these kids are being bullied. the kid they pulled out of the school was a bigger guy. he looked like a cool kid. i think there may be some way to look into training teachers and the students themselves to recognize when someone is being bullied.

there's got a be early warning signs. do you know what i'm saying? host: that's amanda in pennsylvania. has a story dated from november of last year about donations of the present salary. -- the president's salary. it said the president donated his third quarteralary to raise awareness for opioid addiction. the administration announced it november. we need to reckon as how deadly and devastating drug addiction can be said secretary eric argan. market in san diego -- mark in san diego, california on the independent line, hi. caller: the person about the independent voting for someone other than democrat or republican is absolutely right. when they gave the dollar freedom of speech, it went

absolutely haywire. i'm a veteran with a problem and i hope you can make it a subject to let you know how alone i am out here. i'm somebody who is drafted and made a statement of conscientious objection. i've written my bicycle all the way to washington, d.c. and most of the way back trying to fix this problem. there seems to be absolutely no answer for some of us veterans. because when you start talking to the common citizen, our own propaganda is so good that they take on a blank stare like i just don't even exist. so please one morning dedicate some time to having the veterans call in with problems that can't get result so people can understand. when you write a $25 million to honorthe nfl owners

veterans, tell that to one on the street that has problems similar to my own. the situation is absolutely failing us. please, please holding morning for us. host: that is where mark is calling on the independent line. from florida, we will hear next from george, republican line. caller: good morning, everyone. to the veteran, i would like to say this. is difficult to get your records. -- it's difficult to get your records. the v.a. will tell a lot of people you need further evidence. of course the v.a. is backed up with a million claims so i don't really lame them in that sense, but i do blame them when they tell you a lie. say there's a fire in st. louis and you can't get your records. there's a lot of stories. what they tell you is here's the bottom line. if you have trouble getting your records, and i did for 40 years, i wonder wrote -- one day wrote

to the freedom of information act. whatever you require and that handwritten letter, go to the website. it's very simple. they have to send those records within 20 days. i got my records in 12 days. i can see you're getting a little bored. host: i have to look up something, but keep gog. caller real quick. please take your emails and twitter and facebook and scroll them along the bottom. the last thing i want to say is listen. the one moderator that keeps playing "saturday night live" clips showing president trump in a very negative light, that is one thing. you people are supposed to be nonpartisan. the other thing is this. i paid $1200 or more a year for cable. i don't want to pay for ads for

"saturday night live." i don't know about the rest of you people, but i don't care about paying for "saturday night live" or any other show. host: george in florida. let's go to rose in chicago on the democrats line. caller: good morning. that milkous with mold any op-ed -- myth mold any -- mick mulvaney op-ed. host: it's from "the wall street journal" and it's titled "the cfpb has pushed its last envelope." caller: i was curious if any trump supporters have received any benefits from the initial of limitation -- implementation. mulvay, theudget director, i'm wondering where the budget is from congress. and theiryday lending

big function at the trump tower, which the gentleman before didn't mention, but that was another function at the trump hotel was with payday lending. i also have a comment regarding russia being back in afghanistan and now the american soldiers being killed. they could be contractors, too. my brother was one of them. he was not one that was killed, but there were americans killed in afghanistan. it's odd that russia is leaving syria were supposed to be -- or was supposed be leaving syria and now we're entering syria. this is what trumps solution is? those kentucky children that have been killed -- trump is busy. this whole administration is going to davos. can any trump supporter of ford the hotel room -- afford a hotel room one night in davos? host: citing that the chlorine

gas attack happened monday near syria's capital that has defied president assad's forces since the war began nearly seven years ago. where the attack took place was the target of the august when he first 2013 attack -- august 21, 2013 attack. that assault stunned the world and led president barack obama, who called the use of chemical , to threatenline military retaliation on the sobs forces. -- assad's forces. the problem is to and -- he promised to never use weapons on under a banning them deal brokered by russia and united states that over did the threatened american proposal. russiaaley said that bore some response ability for the latest attacks because of its decision to feet of the renewal of the panel, known as the joint investigative mechanism.

russia said the panel had been biased and unprofessional, accusations of the united states and its allies disputed. sharon in maryland, independent line. caller: how are you doing today? i'm wonderful. i'm calling because a lot of my independent callers missed a very large point. america, our democracy is completely under attack because every citizen feels like their vote doesn't count and you can change that. it's just that the powers that be, which is congress and the senate, they don't want us to control our democracy. it is literally setting up for each case of voting registry for differentaws and things coming up, including budget. republican,ocrat, an independent voted on each law or had the ability to do so, then the senator or congressman

could go back and say 50% of my constituency said yes to this. as long as it's a high percentage, they can actually go back and prove understanding how people feel about each law. the problem is when you talk about people who pay for their you know you can pay one time. you cannot spread that across a metric like that. host: let's hear from nate in milwaukee, wisconsin, democrats line. caller: thank you very much for having me. i was going to say that in some ways what trump is doing all republicans are dimming -- or republicans are doing to hurt 'se investigation into trump

they are practicing whatever wisconsin does with scott walker and his associates, trying to hurt people associated with investigations into him back when he broke election laws. yesterday the republicans in our state senate voted to get rid of our state elections board administrator. take a look at an editorial written by joel mcnally, he points out just last month how you have a tax on both investigations in it. it's matching what tactics they do. host: we have to leave it there. thanks for all who participated in open phones. hour is devoted to policies.

what is the most important issue in their state. > i think the most important issue here in the state of north carolina is to make sure that implementing what we say in our instituti about edation. e say in article nine of the constitution that 'r going to provide equal opportunities for here in north s carolina. i would like to see that we equity and value provide for the educational all students for here and fund that, as well, not just say it to give lyft service it, but to fund that. >> one of the most important issues facing our state right

are the issues of the court system and control of the court legislators are working the court revamp system and some want to take judges out of the hands of the voters. i think it is important people lect judges and that the court system is for the people, run by the people. most significant issue for me at the present are any, many bills that have been introduced this past year, which and demigrate, independent as branch of government. bills have been introduced to ake judicial elections partisan, i don't see anything in common anship has with what we think of judges, fair, impartial, independent. >> i would say right now it would be the gerrymandering

case. currently you have republicans controlling the general assembly state north carolina legislature and currently they are rawing out maps that gerrymandered and at the supreme a case hey are having and trying to see these maps drawn by republicans or actually gerrymandered or if they are ly give the wholey population of people and to ently they are going supreme court case and decide if some maps are gerrymandered or legally, thaty or is like a big case right now. >> voices from the state on c-span. >> "washington journal" continues. 2018 auto show opens

to the masses on friday, a policy for most and day in which legislators and will talk matters of policy. overlooking the concourse there. sights as we gou along and talk to guests. the first guest is robert grant, senior director for the ride service, known as lyft. good morning. guest: how are you? host: fine, thank you. as ride share service, what of public policy affect your business most? guest: sure. a lot of y touch on different areas of public policy. at the federal level, we work on issues around consumer safety, autonomous vehicles. state and local level, intersect issues of safety in terms of nsurance, background checks, consumer privacy, and now at the international level, we're unning into, we just had our first international launch in

toronto, which we're super proud about. asare run intoing new issues we encounter local and provensial regulators there. regulation, of what occupies your day most these days? of my time these days is spent on policy vehicles.g autonomous here in washington, d.c., both debating congress are bills that would set a framework termstonomous vehicles in of how they should be designed, what safety measures they should lead up to, how the vehicles put on the road and so that is taking up most of my time. reason for the field hearing that senator thune is having here today. hopeful that the senate will move forward with senator thune's bill. you think the s masses are ready to get into a car without a vehicle. driver, i should say. guest: so many vehicles, who how 20 years from now we'll be transported around.

what we're trying to do here at consumers al with everyday, we put a million consumers in vehicles everyday what we try tion. to do there is build a relationship with the consumer. ago, when we started, we took a concept that was not people, getting in the car with a stranger, something do parents told you not to and made it an effort common occurrence. service will be the tip of the sphere for how consumers interdlt act with the vehicles. part of my job is to ensure there is policy set that allows or slow introduction of autonomous vehicle through ride-sharing platform, where we consumer acceptance, can build consumer want and need educated ers can get about what the vehicles are capable of, why we believe they re safer and how they will transform their cities going forward. ask : if you want to questions about vehicle safety,

those kind of issues, give us a call. democrats.0 for 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8002.ts, mr. grant, how much, as far as concerned, what is right amount from washington, what is too much at this stage autonomous es to vehicles? guest: lyft is of the position, opposed to regulation, we want smart regulation. autonomous ebate on vehicles, lyft and others are saying, congress regulate the industry, set common levels of safety, let's should nd what the cars and should not be able to do and so we're actually asking for this case. in there is always a balance there, but i think right now, all we're legitimacy that comes with reg scomplagz consistency hat comes with particular regulations around how autonomous vehicles are designed. washington auto show

officially starts friday. referenced and we'll talk to him about matters of policy and show the along.-up process going the calls, let's hear from bill florida, bill, you are on with robert grant of lyft. go ahead. caller: yes, good morning, pedro. i'd like to know if any of these cars are battery operated and if operated?hey solar and if they are gas operated, attention to the with regard tions miles per gallon? host: thank you, caller. mr. grant. you, bill.nk appreciate that question. li lyft hasnt moment, a mix of vehicles that are part of the open platform is what we partner g it, with many of today's leading

manufacturers and producers of systems to put these vehicles on the road. right now, it is mixed. of puttingernal goal billion rides in autonomous vehicles byelectric 2025. e believe the future is electrification, along with automation. right now we work through first technology onthis our own and with our great partners, there is a mix of vehicles. whether ehicles, electric or gas, meet all the current e.p.a. standards when it per gallon.es host: debra in north haven, connecticut. ahead, you are next up. caller: good morning, that is new haven. make a couple comments. first comment, i was so glad for lyft and for the other company, because in our society, we don't have a lot of jobs and is just really made a way

and lot of people to rk that was great. i was very upset, always trying a regulate something, found way to finally fill a gap, now they want to overregulate that well, it's ridiculous. umber two, the autonomous and electric vehicle, is that vehicles or ectric autonomous ut vehicles and electric vehicles, unclear what you meant when you said that? debra.hanks, guest: thanks. to your first point, we absolutely agree. we believe our service has provided an opportunity for people to earn supplemental income. take that asset, unused ar, and that sits 95% of the time and turn into something that can earn them supplemental income. with you, we're super excited across the country, all toronto, and now in drivers get to earn extra income

them, whether save for vacation, christmas or help them in a time of need between jobs. hat i meant by autonomous and electrification, autonomy is the level the vehicle can do on its via the self-driving system and electrification meant the vehicle and electric vehicle on gas.run really i'm talking about combination of system of would direct the car how to opere, where to go, vehicle that on a is electric. host: mr. grant, for a lyft how much do they make out of the fare and are they responsible for their own vehicle?for the guest: lyft drivers are independent contractors, in that sense, we help connect them with as a willing driver with willing digital rough the network. we take a small fee for the connection, but typically a 80% or more, ng

depending how often they drive incentives with their percentage of the take can be higher than 80%, that is the take between the driver and the platform. second question, when it comes to their expenses, the thingsis responsible for like gas and of that nature. cover r end, we insurance, we provide for the cost of background check, so we safe and wevers are also cover other aspects of end.tions on our host: from iowa, randy is next for our guest, robert grant. ahead. caller: good morning, pedro and robert. listening d of, i'm to you and what i hear initially we're using automation to put people out of work. through uber ear

or lyft, whatever the different utilizing these from-home taxi drivers, using vehicles, these are people that have been left out 6 the system, like there were billion -- or 6 million skilled left this country in the last 15 years. these are people who have been globalization and is haughtmyzing these cars another catch 22 where people will be left out of work. please.o ahead, guest: what i would say to that is twofold. a million as near drivers on the road. we don't ever see that number going down. just getting started. if you look at the ride share ndustry, right now we account for between lyft and uber .5% of all vehicle miles traveled. number will at

grow. our service will only grow and our need for drivers in the near grow.ill i think we're a few -- at least or 10 years away, maybe more, from turning our fleet of auto mated lly suite. i think with that, we have a drivers nsition, our will always be necessary, they are the life blood of our now, will ight continue to be extremely important to us. i think what we to is provide that you're talking about for folks who either want to earn supplemental income, need to cover expenses between jobs, what we found is havef our drivers actually a full-time job or retired or a tudent or just looking to earn supplemental income to help with other expenses. so i do think the future of work changing, but i don't necessarily believe in the idea drivers s that all our are going to be out of work. i think we will continue to need to see the tinue type of work they do for us

transition, as well. host: washington auto show features gas-based vehicles, vehicles, they are there domestically and electric vehicles come from as away as germany, though manufactured in the united states. again, it is a setup day, you hear noise in the background as cars roll in and out and various machines are set up the auto show, which is starting on friday. we continue with our with robert grant. go esda, maryland, nate, ahead, you're on. caller: i have a comment and a question. 100 years, auto safety and safety rules has been a state by estion state. killsot driver hurts or somebody, which will inevitably happen, even if they are safer humans, what is lyft's position on how safety rules and insurance and liability rules will work?

i mean, there is three possibilities, i guess. the car could be responsible. lyft could be responsible or software that he governs the robot driver could be responsible. the fourth possibility, too bad for whoever is hurt in the car wreck. for lyft n representative, what is lyft's position on that? host: thanks, caller. guest: thanks, caller. first thing, when it comes to actually ensuring the safety and of vehicles, that has been in the federal level, they have always been responsible for design and vehicle construction and ensuring vehicles that are produced on the road are safe. that is why we're working here at congress and with nitsa, put forward safety standards autonomous vehicles. when it comes to liability, lyft has been forefront of working with states to understand the responsibilities of our company, of our drivers, of hat happens when an incident occurs.

this is why every ride a lyft assenger gets into, there is a million dollar insurance policy that covers that ride. we've always been willing to ake responsibility for the safety of our passengers, fety of the folks on the road alongside our vehicles and our drivers' vehicles and we're working with states and with as we awyers and others navigate the future with i would n and on that, say we've had a product 100 ility law in place for years or so here, extremely to deal withn able the introduction of the airplane, introduction of motorized vehicles themselves. think there is some misunderstanding that there isn't current law that applies to this, i believe laws are can be done to cover instances with these vehicles looking forward to the conversations at the state level. host: robert grant, we hear about security matters, how deep are background checks for your you follow-upw do

if there is an incident? uest: great, great question, pedro. for every driver, before they are allowed to give a ride on undergo orm, they third-party background check hat examines full criminal history. we have disqualifying measures you ertain crimes, if commit any point in your life, you can't drive for us. hat varys and those crimes are spelled out in some state regulations and add additional that. on top of we perform full background check on the driver's history f. it instances of unsafe driving, we will deny ability trie drir to me forward on our platform. we do this on annu basis for every driver. between, as many have used the service before, there is the ide ability to comment on the ride t the end of the ride, rate your driver, submit comments and tell us, my driver trove in an manner, rate them with

three stars or less, if that that driverer match again f. driver maintains star rating under a certain amount, driver is suspended from the platform. we not only have robust but round check system, other measures to ensure safety is in place going forward. i will add, within the app, there are additional safety measures. of your picture driver, license plate number, you know who is driving you, what vehicle you are supposed to in, realtime history of where that driver went, share loved one so a they can see when you are on our way, these are additional safety features that make lyft one of the safer alternatives out there. ost: bill in michigan, independent line. caller: yes, thanks, pedro. question, i have a son that is disabled. ramrerapalegic.

here does interstate commerce come in on county highways, does liabily change on that? you, take my answer off e air. guest: thank you for the question. forward to look autonomous future, one thing we regulators andth manufacturers we partner with, and -- building the vehicles, vehicles in the future should be designed to meet the needs of every individual, those n wheelchairs, other disabilities, we really in favor of getting universal design as these vehicle guess to production. for our current service, we have things that really service those that have disabilities, particularly the blind, the ability to pay without using cash, to have someone order your ride, is going are things that make it easier for individuals who have certain to use our platform

and get around to get to jobs to economic security. host: robert grant with lyft joining us, thank you for your time. guest: i appreciate it, pedro, thank you for having me. holds oming up, senate field hearing on the topic of automobile and auto policy, the chairmanthune, of the committee, will join us next for our conversation, we'll and nue to show you sights sounds from the washington auto show and continue taking calls policy.ers of auto we'll continue on with dave in peoria, illinois. is crat's line, our guest gone, dave, but ga ahead with anything you would like to say automobile policy. caller: hello, thank you for c-span. anybody that t, wanted to rob a bank or carry a unch of guns on a car or a bomb, put a bomb in there and ust send it on its way or

biological, they could kill millions. scared to death of small pox scare. i called the hospital and told when i was in asbestos removal, all they had people and those they could solve the problem. host: let's go to andy in maryland. andy from new windsor, maryland. go ahead. caller: good morning. wanted to emphasize the mportance of the automobile to the average person to their mobility. car was a game changer for the world. tends to ment legislate policies that sound like they are for the good of people and migrate over time for the have concern future, people's ability to be own to drive cars on their an particularly irural areas could tell if you

us or as you talk to guests point out organizations that are advocating for the person as opposed to ompanies that are surely salivating at the money to be made on this. thank you. from memphis, tennessee, line for democrats. next. go ahead, you are caller: hi. be ridden or o driven by a vehicle that is owered by nothing, no one, no one, let me put it that way. host: you won't get in a then?less vehicle caller: i don't want a driverless vehicle ever in my life. hat congress and senate could do is, i live in tennessee. it would be nice to have a short nashville on a super-powered plane like we saw japan while we were there or australia has something that you can e ground that

go from one place to the other. i would love to go from georgia, you know, on a fast train that is hooked to something like they do in japan so it won't jump the track. i can take one person driving something like that, but think too, like the prior aller said, it is taking away from humanity. people that ride, they get and hing from going back sometimes that have a conversation that might lift them up. host: got you. washington auto show, continuing coverage looking at matters of automobile policy and issues of that. us, chair of the senate commerce science and transportation committee, south dakota, senator john thune. enator thune, thanks for joining us. field hearing today, what are you looking at? intersection the of innovation and public policy, really. e've got a hearing scheduled

here, the start of big washington car show here and we opportunity e that to highlight some of the things hat are happening, some of the cutting-edge technology that is already out there and where respect e headed with to autonomous vehicles, we have a piece of legislation reported out of the commerce committee we hope will be considered in the full senate soon, which i think and sort of encourage enable this new technology to safest way in the possible. host: that hearing at 10:00, you an watch on c-span 3, we will show it to you, we will continue talking with the sator. enator, when it comes to automated vehicle, what is main concern and legislatively how do handle that? guest: really, i think if you look at what is happening in the ndustry today, most people's concern is how can we do this in a safe way. there are five levels of l-1 through hicle,

l-5, with self-driving features. of the den in some vehicles, it is remarkable what has been done out there. 395 in a vehicle that would slow down and speedup and has e lanes on its own, series of sensors on the vehicles. what we're trying to determine best to promote this technology and all that comes with it, particularly safety. 37,000 people die on america's highways every year, 94% of are a result of some sort of human error. driving get away from under the influence and distracted driving, we can save a lot of lives. safety is motivating this more than anything else, but lots of self-drivingts from cars we hope to explore and the legislation is creating public framework that enables technology to move forward, but way for safety being the number one priority. 202-748-8000 for

democrats. republicans, 202-748-8001 and independents, 202-748-8002. the auto k in industry, 202-748003. senator, talk about matters of safety, talk about liability, what happens if there is an accident, who is eventually responsible? guest: those are questions we have to try and answer. entirely different, if you don't have a driver, who is liable in a case like that? and those are types of questions that we as policymakers have to continuess technology move forward.nd our bill will clarify roles of the federal government, the tate government, historically the federal government has been in charge basically of design construction, operation of state government, govern behavior of the vehicles, registration, standards, those sorts of things, so we're trying to define as much as we can and roles, but liability is a big issue. and we have ots of discussions with

attorneys about this as we were eveloping this, probably the most sensitive and delicate issue that we had to deal with. i think those questions in the as we move forward will clearly to come more into focus. what we have to do is create conditions and the allows framework that this technology to move forward, but in again, a way that safety the makes number one priority n. our bill, we require safety evaluation filed by all o be manufacturers of these vehicles they ose reports then if are in violation of any of these things, they will pay penalties a whole rangeover of issues, including cyber security, another issue people re concerned about in this technology. host: first call for senator chesapeake, n in virginia, republican line. you are on with the senator, go ahead, don. caller: hey, senator, how you doing today? can you hear me? morning, how ood

are you? caller: you are doing a fine job up there. anyhow, just curious on these cars, just certain cars, small mid-sized or are they like a limo, do you have a party something like that? i guess you don't have to tip there, , you save money too. caller: good point. go ahead, senator. guest: i think it would apply in a lot of ways. in the mobility business looking at ride sharing and big are, we talk about vehicles, we would like to apply legislation to trucks, we able to get trucks covered in this. a lot of trucking companies are ways to use autonomous technology in their businesses, as well. there is this idea people are concerned about, i don't want a truck without a driver in there, that will not happen any time soon. there are ways trucks as they are moving product from one part warehouse to another, that

sort of thing, could be a vehicle.ss eventually we expect that to be addressed, as well, but this and it rictly with cars does apply to up the spectrum of cars. manufacturers are new technology. the car i rode in last year, autonomous evel 3 vehicle. there is still a driver in the car. 5 is totally el autonomous driverless vehicle ultimately where we're headed. this is stages, a transition, we make sure, again, the transition is a smooth one, a safe one, we take full advantage safety that could come, the additional lives saved every ear from moving away from, you know, some human error associated with driving vehicles today. from fairfax, south dakota, democrat's line, doug,

senator.the caller: yes, how are you people today? i was wondering, you come from south dakota, there are no happens then? and rain, what happens when sen. caller: mud?as get covered with also, throw this in, what is going on with corn price? depends on prices farmers ke and if they are not roll money it will downhill and i will not make money. there we go. ya, i share i hear the commodity prices in commodity y low prices we're experiencing in south dakota are a real issue for the economy and ripple the entire through economy in south dakota. 'm hoping we can continue open markets and trade more demand for corn, obviously, there are a lot of things that go into that, we are working on the next farm bill right now and hoping we can put good safety measures built into the farm bill, but tovisions in there hopefully help smooth this period that

we're in right now and ultimately the best thing we can do, create additional demand for our commodities in this country around the world and lift prices back up. that needs to happen soon, i agree with you there. driving vehicle necessary south dakota, we have a lot of wide open space and weather to deal with. on the e sensors vehicles, obviously, that you are going to have vehicle to technology, vehicle to infrastructure that will cue on hings around the cars and i think the weather conditions you describe are very real in south dakota and those are things making mpanies that are these are going to have to contend with. that is why, as i said earlier, the technology proceeds in the safest way possible. look at the you driving conditions in our state, particularly in winter, we get a easy to e and snow and slide, some of these braking assist gies and lane technologies, could be vital in saving lives and preventing accidents.

we want to continue to move forward and explore the the innovationow to occur, but pay close is what we d that have requirements and standards in place for companies making vehicles. host: ton, democrat's line, you are next up. caller: yes, sir, good morning. to know, right now i'm reading an article from the spectator, it says automakers are considering aking cars just for uber and lyft, would that be coming over from yellow cab? they have been carrying the same regulations over for bigger all , safety doors and that? guest: well, i think right now, totally follow the question. but right now a lot of companies lyft, you just heard from lyft recently, everybody in the business of people, mobility business, looking for ways to do efficiently and safer.

as these companies are exploring technologies, all with an eye toward obviously saving money, experience est possible, but i think what you'll see is a lot of companies ride-sharing options and opportunities. ome of the biggest advocates for legislation are elderly and who community, peoe otherwise may not have access to automobiles, this gives them to d mobility and freedom get places. i think that as these car in the s that are mobility business, those manufacturing, those providing ransportation are all going to be looking for ways to take advantage of new technologies, ut them to work in way that maximizes their ability to move more people in the safest way possible. the washington auto show, chair of the commerce and transportation committee, field on automotive issues. watch on c-span 3 and the hearing hat is room in which the hearing room

will take place. hile we have you, senator, couple questions on other matters. we hear from chuck schumer the wall is off the table. we hear from the president say figure no money for the wall, no daca, where do we stand on the daca issue? guest: we have until february 8 to come up with a plan on that, agreed isn't anything upon at that point, the daca th in the senate, mcconnell, he will call up a bill to put on the floor and open up to the amendment process and let senate work its will. i think the best solution, best have get a result is to as many folks at the table and informing this piece of now so that when it get to the senate, it can 60 votes and pass the house and get signed into law by the president. administration, house, senate, republicans and democrats, a lot a discussions, there meetings going on later today

with many principals, those who involved in drafting this bill tochlt your point, you try to get a to solution in place soon or end up free-wheeling process on the floor, where nobody can and nobody outcome can predict whether that bill might ultimately be able to pass the house and signed into law by the president. the best way this can move forward, collaborative with input from all the various members who care deeply about this issue try to come up with a that can get the necessary votes in the senate and house to get to the president. likelihood of shukt after february 8? guest: i like to think fairly low. i don't think anything is gained by a shutdown. the f my colleagues in senate says government shutdowns ught to be like chemical weapons, ban them altogether. it is not in anybody's interest hopefully in this last

incident, the democrats in the that and think learned we've obviously had experience with that in the past on our ide, too, but i think it is in everybody's best interest to keep negotiating and working oward a solution and creating crisis through government shutdown, i don't think enhances the chances that you'll get the that number wants to achieve here. host: aubry from richmond, for nia, independent line senator john thune. go ahead. caller: good morning, senator. i'm a driver and it seems you are pretty excited about deprive y that will people of jobs, but maybe really be doing is to eliminate legislators problems we have. you guys need to start working helping keep jobs for working people rather than using deprive them of jobs. host: thank you, caller. guest: thanks. right. a concern obviously for

people who are employed in jobs s drivers, i fully understand that. i think that this technology and he transition that will occur as we move increasingly in -- toward self-driving features and vehicles, that i going to be a slowransition, not happen overght. i think there will be lots of new opportunities, as there are every new transformational job ology, new types of opportunities that are available for people. look what happened with the look at and i autonomous vehicles, vehicles as exciting technology that we have seen come along in a long time. that means, yes, it may replace some older ways of doing lots of here will be new opportunities created along with that, i think i'm anxious o see what those new opportunities, new good paying jobs might become available as a of some of these

technologies and i think, too, increase as ity we a result of that is going to ead to higher wages and higher standard of living in this country. i look at this as positive, nowing full well we got to be aware of the impacts it has and it causes in n existing jobs and employment for country, no s question about that and that is something we'll be paying ttention to as we work with these car manufacturers and look at the future and what we can do create a better future for everybody in this country. from bruce in deer born htmichigan. call: how you doing? the problem with thune, he's not a republican, he's a globalist, okay. immigration, if we don't get 99.99% , which means accurate identification of legally, t are here then any immigration reform is

meaningless and as far as these cars go, again, a agenda 21.t, like jobs -- 50% of remaining are going to be eliminated by such technologies in the next 20 years. host: bruce, we will leave it there. senator, go ahead. guest: again, as you look to the uture, you always have to be thinking and whether you like it or not, i don't consider myself we do compete in a global technology. other countries are racing to technology, other countries are racing to get to internet services, we are competing and i want the united races, to win those because it means we will benefit from the good jobs that come stabbedard of er living that comes with that, i me tis an it as, to opportunity for america to assert leadership and to assert have because of

our open economy in innovation and technology and trading these -- cutting-edge technology that will change the future we live in in a very positive and beneficial way. obviously we've got to solve issues today, like immigration e-verify isi think important part of that solution, if we're going to solve immigration, we got to make sure people work nothing our economy are people who are citizens and deal with issue of visa overstays. a lot of people come to this country and overstay their visas are here illegally that way. a whole bunch of issues related immigration that have to be dealt with. we have to be forward looking in we as f the things policymakers are doing and make ure that we're positioning our country to assume the leadership role that i think people expect create better standard of living for people here in america and raise people of life that

enjoy. and that certainly as i look at things under our jurisdiction in the commerce committee, the way i approach those issues. chaired by hearing senator john thune take place at and on c-span 3 c-span.org. senator, thank you for joining us today. guest: nice to be with you, you. host: we'll continue on with our auto from the washington show at the convention center, the auto show opens on friday, policy day and as center, set up at the we'll show you that and continue calls before our next gut. is mark in tlas, tex, independent line. mark, our guest is gone, go comment about the auto industry and public policy. caller: thank you, pedro. get in with the senator, that is okay, maybe you can pass it on to him. i don't want the government to be so short-sighted on this autonomous vehicles, throwing

them loose on the roads. towns in south dakota and iowa are having financial roblems, each manufacturer donate 50 cars each, set them in these towns, monitor that sound year. the town will get exposure, free advertisement, put 25 monitors a whole year under all weather conditions. states could come in and sponsor it, get an insurance company involved in this, they to be, might as well get their feet wet early, see instead of dumping it on the whole country. ost: george, morrisville, pennsylvania, democrat's line. hi. caller: yes, this is george davenport. host: you are on, george, go ahead. caller: yes, i was watching this television and my comments are, we need more state police highways to keep the highways down to the safety

we need on highways. we don't need automatic cars and tuff, we need safety precautions made up and we need good policemen on highways. we need more state police and stuff like that. why are you concerned about automated vehicles? most?concerns you caller: i'm not concerned, i'm against automated vehicles. 'm for making people more conscious about safety factors n things and that is why we need more. host: got you. thank you, caller, from pennsylvania. pennsylvania, kurt myers with the pennsylvania epartment of transportation, deputy secretary for driver and vehicle services, thanks for joining us. having me.k you for host: we heard from the senator on the federal side about vehicles, what does

pennsylvania have to consider when considering that topic? items well, a number of need to be considered, in fact, two years ago, pennsylvania put together a task task automated vehicle force and it brought together numerous stake holders from cross the state and also nationally. representing car manufacturers and technology companies, we had besides te agencies pn-d.o.t., state police involved department, rance the point being that this is so transformative needs to be discussed at all levels of government and moved to include municipalities in the discussions to ensure we are getting feedback from all the holders within the commonwealth.

host: as someone who represents you ommonwealth, how do look to washington, particularly federal regulators as far as how you are able to do what you want state wide and keep what the federal government will dictate? guest: we clearly recognize for the federal government related to vehicle afety, as well as a role for states. when it comes to the state's responsibility, clearly that driver licensing, driver education, as well as the vehicles, on of insurance issues, all of those are states responsibilities. from the standpoint of federal government, certainly safety of certainly at the forefront for their responsibility. host: so our guest will be with automated about vehicles and other matters, if you want to ask him questions, 202-748-8000 for eastern and central time zone. 02-748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zone and kurt myers is the deputy secretary driver and vehicle services.

as far as statewide in the commonwealth, sir, what has been testing like when it comes to automated vehicles and ability perform on roads safely? guest: well, we've had a lot of testing that has occurred, in pittsburgh, pennsylvania is blessed with some of the finest academic institutions in the world. mellen university, as well as twpments taking place at pennsylvania and penn state just to name a few of the universities involved in the development of automated vehicle technology. we do have testing that is going on right now in pittsburgh with a number of customers -- have located in that area. we're very pleased with that. clearly as penn dot, our focus is on safety. we're doing sure everything we possibly can to nsure safe operation of these

vehicles. understanding that innovative and ology requires testing we are happy that these companies have located in and we see that expanding beyond just the pittsburgh area. post e pittsburgh gazette recently reported a crash and two hurt after box into a vehicle, argo ai vehicle. an you update us on that and what does it tell you about the urrent status of the technology? guest: well, there is no question about the fact there are challenges ahead of us in automated pment of vehicles for actual deployment. challenges.rtainly but those challenges can and time.e overcome over but testing on highways and testing on roadways is a component to ensuring that the development of the intelligence, the deep learning, if you will, of he vehicle, is done in a

real-time environment. it is one reason why so many companies have come to pittsburgh. we have all seasons in summer, h, winter, fall, we have rain, we have snow, we have mountains and and bridges. all these things are items that obviously automated vehicles need to deal with in operation. so unlike some of the other reas of the country, where vehicles are being tested in environments that are primarily pittsburgh ny, really presents a challenge to these vehicles, which is be ntial for them to developed. host: first call for kurt myers, deputy secretary of driver and for le services pennsylvia department of transportation, carol in texas, go ahead. good morning, deputy secretary, and thank you, call., for taking my wonder if you had any information or you had ever and lyft, how uber

which are two major corporations, that are pushing autonomous vehicles, how they behaved here in austin, texas. austin, texas passed an ordinance to make sure that all ber and lyft drivers were fingerprinted and that they they were background checked and uber and lyft fought so hard they eventually left town and then they went back did, and r and lyft bribed the legislature in overturn any to went alongances that that way. host: okay, caller, thanks. uest: well, from the testing that is being done in austin, this is testing being done obviously in san francisco, many aware of that. that you ompanies

mentioned, uber and lyft, obviouy they've broug to the table a new way of doing business, different business traditionally in place. clearly in any type of new going to be re are issues associated with that it interacts with individual municipalities and that matter, and i know jurisdictions across the country are working through those issues and and will continue to do so. host: we had a few callers this talk about particularly drivers professionally as they ee this new technology come into play and ultimately might it affect their jobs in the future? you weigh the concerns? guest: great question. one area we are looking at impact to the workforce associated with automated vehicles. is that especially when you look at the commercial look at the truck

industry, those drivers do more drive the truck. they are responsible for making unloaded, the truck is they are responsible for making sure that it's loaded properly, many other functions, including any of the cdl drivers there watching today, know that there is a pre-check of the vehicle that needs to take place before they can even take that load on a tlif tlif delivery. the drivers role is more than driving aspect of it. in pennsylvania, we see as example, this transition period is going to be a long period of decade. i always mention the statistic example, lvania as an that 5% of the vehicles registered in pennsylvania today ont are currently being used the road are 1995 and older. so clearly that gives you good

indication of the fact that we decades, even when these vehicles are available for total transition autonomous vehicles eing used by vast majority of people. there will always be individuals who will have antique and vehicles that they'll want to drive and operate, which as ously won't be operated an automated vehicle. host: from mark in jacksonville, ahead, you are on with our guest. caller: yes, thank you for taking my call. comment on how states regulate the automobile industry, such as california for ing emission standards the whole country in cars. cars currently today, many of the new ones, l have large distracting screens in them that are meant to help driver, but really don't t-- the driver in triefing driving the car. what point does the state come that the screens

be of limited distracted use and car river can control the and when you think of artificial intelligence driving the car, is se remember the key word artificial, it is not real, so you have to think of that when situations occur when you have hundreds and thousands of vehicles on the road. thank you. you. thank guest: well, thank you. in fact, in pennsylvania, one of the sponsibilities is emissions program and i can tell you that pennsylvania is one of that adopted the california standards, but that of the onal on the part state through its state far as ure to do so, as the standards california has. northeast number of states that have adapted those standards, as well. emissions program clearly is program that designed to impact a positive way the air that all of us breathe and the east coast,

we have concerns with the air and emissions program for vehicle system one system help reduce ze to emissions. everywhere inired the country because air quality ssues are not consistent from one area to another. vehicles, even t toy,ail from the standpoint control.ons that is why we have the test. i fully expect in the future as changes that vehicles will be able to communicate with let them know when particular parts of the vehicle emission system have in turn allow the individual to go and get that vehicle fixed without having to the test that so many of us are used to today. to the screen on the dashboard, i know in

pennsylvania, as an example, while the screens are perfectly can't show a you video on a screen that the can see. some companies have designed screens, even though videos in the front, they can only be seen by the passenger or the back seat as opposed to the driver themselves. distracted driving, please is a very big concern at the state level and are something that we constantly reviewing on ways to distracted driving because clearly there is no question about the fact the data leads to crashes. host: are cell phones still an issue, then? an t: cell phones can be issue, certainly. as we know, many states have that you can only operate a cell phone with hand-held. anything that distracts you from the primary responsibility of concern vehicle is a to us from the standpoint of

safety. from that standpoint, when use or at cell phone even worse in many cases, it ing, the fact is that distracts the driver from doing what they need to do. a very complex operation and it is something forward with e automated vehicles, again, it is the engineers and others that going to need to develop the technology needed to be able to vehicles on the highways safely and certainly deployment standpoint when they are all available in a interact in so they appropriate ways with each other on the roadway. maryland, don,rom we are running short on time. ump in with your question or comment. caller: okay, my question is what about the older person? i may get easily

distracted while i'm dng th we help that problem? guest: well, in pennsylvania, we a number of mature driver programs and i know they exist country, as well, they are run by triple a, as as some other organizations that are available to the public older lp in training drivers on ways to compensate, if you will, for some of the that you may face as an older driver. or example, there are compensation from standpoint of how you sit in the vehicle, how up, ways he vehicle that help you avoid turning your back ton you're looking pull out into a passing lane. so i would encourage you to look the state of maryland, i'm sure those programs are at aaa has it and aarp

nd i believe a few other companies that also offer those services and training. departmentmyers with of transportation of pennsylvania, thanks for your time this morning. guest: been a pleasure. thank you. that's it from our show at the auto show, thank you for watching "washington journal," way er program comes your tomorrow. we'll see you then. >> coming up in half an hour, senate budget committee will oversight hearing for the congressional budget office with keith hall.

live coverage starts 10:30 eastern this morning. politico reporting today president trump will nominate charles chuck r reddick. if confirmed by the senate, mr. reddick would join the agency at the most challenging times as implements sweeping new resources h limited and face possible restructuring by congress. r. reddick is considered tax controversy specialist as for more than three decades the sented clients before i.r.s., justice department, state tax authorities and other read moreons, you can at politico.com.

>> is to make sure we are implementing what we say in our constitution about education. we stayed in article nine of the constitution that will provide equal opportunities for alour students in north carolina. awould like to see we have desk continue to value equity and provide more educational opportunities for all students here and fund that as well. not just give lip service. >> one of the most important issues facing our state now are the issues of the court system, legislatures. they're working on ways to somep the court system and want to take judges out of the hands of the voters. i think it's important to people elect judges and that the court system is one for the people run by the people. >> probably the most significant

issue for me are the many many bills in the past year which i theeve denigrate independence of the north carolina judiciary as an independent body. bills of been introduced to make judicial part of it. i don't think anything partisanship has in common with what we think of judges. fair, impartial, independent. >> right now would be the gerrymandering case. curreny we have republicans controlling thgeneral assembly in the north colinstat thereator and currently throwing a master gerrymandered. see if mapsing to drawn by their pelicans are gerrymandered or drawn to actually get all population.

currently they will go through to see theyt case were drawn a legally or illegally. >> voices from the state on c-span. at the start of yesterday's white house briefing, national security adviser h.r. mcmaster previewed president trump's visit to the world economic forum in switzerland. he was joined by gary cohen. the president leaves for europe this evening and will adjust the form on friday morning. everyone, thank you sarah. it is great to be here today with general mcmaster. as sarah said we are going to the world economic