admiral john richardson talks about the future of his service. , the presidentn addresses the republican caucus retreat. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and house speaker paul ryan will talk to reporters at a press conference after. back in d.c., the palestinian ambassador talks about relations with the u.s. and supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg sits down for an interview at a local synagogue. in the evening, president trump will speak at the republican national committee's annual winter meeting at his downtown d.c. hotel. >> coming up on "washington journal," erin via cough and david wasserman will talk about their new project on gerrymandering and congressional redistricting. onrissa martinez decastro the future of the daca program and the trump administration's

policy. we are live this morning in montgomery, alabama for the next up on the c-span bus 50 capitals with the alabama senate president pro tem. he will discuss key issues in his state. ♪ host: good morning, everyone. we will begin with your thoughts on the economy. president trump during his first date of the union has said since his election 2.4 million new jobs have been created, wages are rising, deregulation is spurring growth, and the tax cuts mean more money in american pockets. we want to know, are you seeing a difference? does president trump deserve the credit? if you make the low $50,000, .ial in at (202) 748-8000 if you make between $50,000 and

.100,000, dial (202) 748-8001 if your income is over $100,000, (202) 748-8002. asn us on twitter, as well c-span on facebook. the president counting the economy on tuesday. [video clip] since thetrump: election, we have created 2.4 million new jobs. [applause] trump: including 200,000 new jobs in manufacturing alone. tremendous number. [applause] pres. trump: after years and years of wage stagnation, we are finally seeing rising wages. [applause]

pres. trump: unemployment claims have hit a 45-year low. [applause] and something i'm very proud of, african-american unemployment stands at the lowest rate ever recorded. [applause] pres. trump: and hispanic american unemployment has also reached the lowest levels in history. [applause]

pres. trump: small business confidence is at an all-time high, the stock market has smashed one record after another , gaining $8 trillion and more in value in just this short period of time. [applause] pres. trump: the great news for americans, 401(k) retirement pension and college savings accounts have gone through the roof and, just as i promised the american people from this podium 11 months ago, we enacted the biggest tax cuts and reforms in american history. host: president trump in his first state of the union address going through the economic numbers of today's economy. do you believe he should take credit for it. let's go to ed in lawrenceville, georgia. caller: good morning.

i tell you how i feel about who should take the credit, i would like to point out to everybody that when the new $20 bills are released, that beautiful black woman on the bill is a republican. she never was a democrat because the democrats owned the slaves. as far as for the credit for the economy, it is quite obvious that president obama never made it past 1.5%. president trump got 3% and it has been going pretty strong and i'm doing a lot better. that's all i got to say. host: tell us how. how are you doing better? do you see more monthly income? , as soon as trump got in, we bought some stocks that we did not have before. up, theys kept going

never went up under obama. host: ok. sheila in carlton, georgia. good morning. caller: good morning. i think i got it muted. host: you are good. go ahead. caller: ok. excuse my speech. it is terrible. and i got my food stamps have week, idown to $45 a mean a month.

and i'm just having a hard time. host: ok, sheila in georgia. y makes between $50,000 and $100,000. are you doing better under 100 --the trump administration? caller: no, i make less than $50,000 a year. i wanted to make that clear. i did not see that when i first tuned in. yes, i think trump gets the credit. everything has turned around since obama has left office. this is trump's time now and he released a lot of the -- i can't think right now, but no, people are getting jobs now, things are booming, absolutely. he gets the credit. host: do you personally feel it?

caller: yes, because i'm retired. host: so how? how are you doing better economically? well, gee, i don't know. got investments and stuff and they are really going wild. i guess that is what i could say. host: sure. you also said people are getting jobs. are there people in your community that did not have jobs before that are now employed? caller: yes. my neighbor was three or four years could not get a job and now he has finally got a full-time job. he has been working now every day. host: what kind of job did he get then finally? caller: truck driving. y in iowa.r

let's hear from lewis in florida. as donald trump deserve the credit? caller: i think i give him some credit for the stock market because the stock market has been given a tremendous amount of gifts to very large corporations, kind of the quads i trickle down effect. i think the real benefit of long-standing quantitative easing in worldwide monetary accommodations by the big federal reserve banks, which is of this is one year, we started off in a very bad situation when obama took over and it gradually got better. trump is very lucky because he inherited a much better economy th -- and timing is everything. timing is more important. take can a president

credit for an economy in their first year, given what you just said about timing? caller: well, they always will take credit for the good stuff. [laughter] caller: but not the bad stuff. that is politics in general. host: what do you do for a living? caller: i'm a retired attorney. host: you make over $100,000. have you seen investments grow? caller: there is no doubt that when you give big corporations huge tax cuts, they are going to make more money at the end of the day and the stock market is a forward-looking indicator and obviously investors knew and deregulation can be good or it can be bad, it all depends. i don't believe clean coal is good cold. i don't believe there is clean coal out there. a lot of the policies do sound good on the short run, but maybe the long run, not so good. what about the fed?

this is a headline from "the wall street journal." -- they voted not to increase the interest rate yesterday. caller: trump could count on his man in charge of the fed, but a lot of the credit goes to yellen. historically, when these times are written about, yellen and bernanke, bernanke first, yellen , providing federal reserve accommodative policy to the banks to loan money out. it takes a long time for it to peak. in now we are seeing a peak money supply growth and that cannot last forever and there will be another recession eventually. in the meantime, it is very good stuff, so if you are a stock investor, you have done well, but most people i know don't own enough stock where it changes their lifestyle. most of the people i know,

clients of mine, did not have any stock. only a few people have stock options, stock portfolios, so for them it is really pretty good. it has been good for me too, i don't deny it, but i'm still worried about the longer-term implications. host: did you vote for president trump and 2016? caller: i did not, no. host: let's go to charlie in new york. making below $50,000. good morning. what do you think? caller: yes, good morning. lie is that this is not trump's economy. it is still obama's economy. barack obama is the only president in our history to never have one year of 3% economic growth. 1.5 percent, 2.5 percent every year for eight years.

depressionring the managed to have 3 percent economic growth, so how is this obama's economy? it is ridiculous. these liberals are morons. host: allen in houston. you are on the air. caller: good morning. i would just like to bring up three points. no, life has not changed dramatically. im a nurse and the only thing can see is president trump is causing a lot of uncertainty in the health care field, which a lot of nurses don't really appreciate it. it is kind of making their jobs a little shaky. we talked about jobs, jobs, jobs, but nobody is talking about quality of life. our health insurance went up. any money that trump has added

into the economy through his tax cuts or his tax plan is going to things like increased health insurance, things that you have to pay for because he is benefits, small repairs on your car because the roads are not being fixed. any money that we have gained from trump's tax plan is circular, it is going right -- it is going in one hand and out the other because he is cutting --many benefits and so many for example, decreasing police departments. now you have to buy a gun, now you have to buy an alarm system in your home. that is all i would like to say. thank you for listening to my comments. host: that was allen in texas.

wondering if the rest of you agree or disagree with him. do you see your lifestyle not improving, your quality of life? "the new york times" put a 2018 state of the union fact check and they begin with what the president had to say on the economy. 2.4 million new jobs created since the election, including 200,000 new jobs in manufacturing. the math is correct, but context matters, they write. said thatn yesterday the president taking credit for african-american unemployment

was insulting. [video clip] >> the president is attempting to take credit for the te ofloyment ra african-americans in the country. the fact of the matter is if you go back to 2011, the unemployment rate for african americans in this country was about 16.8%. t it wasook at wha when this president took office, it had dropped 9 points. time, it has dropped one point. since 2011 down to the time that he took office and one point since. policiesply that his caused all of that to me was insulting. host: jim clyburn yesterday on capitol hill reacting to the

president's state of the union address touting the economy and taking credit for it. the "new york times" fact check says after years of wage stagnation we are seeing rising wages. the fact checkers say that is false. what do all of you think? should the president take credit for a strong economy? we divided the lines by your income. caller: good morning. like so many programs, i don't know where to begin, but i would like to point out something that the american people need to be listening. during the obama administration. the press was telling business things were getting better and business disagreed. now during the trump administration, business is

telling the press things are getting better and the press seems to be disagreeing. my biggest single disappointment perhaps in life, but certainly in my political life, was the day that president obama refused to back the simpson bowles commission that he himself created. if he had back to that commission and put all of the things in that the democrats put themselves on the line for on that commission, if he had back to that commission, this would be a different country today. dissensiont have the among us today if he had done that. he would have gone down as a great president, but he ran away from it because he really did not know what he was doing and he listened to the political people in his administration

when, before he took office, he said he would be very bipartisan. it turned out to be everything but that. host: how can this president be different? what can he do on a bipartisan bipartisan level to be different? what policies could he do? caller: well, i really disagree with that being a question. what is not bipartisan about what he is trying to accomplish. i think he is leaning over backwards. the democrats want to find

his legs and trip him up.

if they object to the way the house construes the facts, they should have been more cooperative.

the fbi's public

when a new president comes in, he inherits what was going on. these republican speakers talk about transparency. if they wanted transparency, why don't they allow bob mueller to come out and quick trying to block him. everyone knows that donald was just in new york on man. everyone knows that donald was just in new york on man.

caller:

our area has not been hit as bad as some of the cold areas. i'm in mental health counselor.

i'm in my own practice now. -- i have money in the stock market. it is following the same trend. host: how can the president and lawmakers help you? he is not going to alienate his base. alienate his base to do what? caller: to do things like not build the wall. corporations are getting rich again. the gap between the rich and the poor is spreading even further. know, take proctor and

gamble. they are buying stock back, but laying workers off. hear from trump, it is something positive. when you look at what he calls fake news, there are other places laying people off. the carrier plant, those jobs still mess -- left and went to mexico. brad and west virginia. we will hear from the president again this evening or this afternoon. he is heading to beautiful west virginia, he tweeted this morning. not one democrat voted for our tax cut bill. 5 isresident says march rapidly approaching and the democrats are doing nothing about daca.

the president will be talking to lawmakers at 12:40 5 p.m. eastern and we will have coverage on c-span, c-span.org, or you can listen on the free c-span radio app. he will be talking to the republican lawmakers one day after making their way to that retreat the train that they were andtruck a garbage truck this is a picture on the front page of the washington post and it is on many of the newspapers this morning. one dead as train carrying gop lawmakers. representative jason lewis, a republican in minnesota, was one of six taken to the hospital.

he was released, but one other person was listed in critical condition. tolet me take a moment reflect on the events of today. i know in speaking with many of ryanspeaking with paul train side, over the phone, i know it has been a harrowing day. for all of you that were involved in this train accident today. i was in the oval office with the president when we were informed of what had occurred. me, we were both deeply troubled. but quickly relieved that the scope of the accident was not larger. many fond memories of

health and senate retreats. we remember catching up with the colleague that you did not get andpend as much time with we remember bringing our kids, who are now in their mid-20's, running up and down the rows of the trains. just know that our hearts were with you this afternoon, as i know where the hearts of millions of americans. just know that our prayers go out to the families of the lost and the injured for comfort and for healing. let me be clear with all of you, we thank god, we thank god today because we know that it could have been much worse. we are grateful for the first responders, including the capitol police in the house comeion, who i heard sped along with the house chaplain,

sped to comfort and assist those that were injured. days like today especially, i just want you to know, to you and your families, thank you for your service to america. and god bless you all. [applause] host: the vice president at the republican retreat last night and, as we said, the president will be going there this afternoon tuesday to lawmakers. after the train accident, many members of congress responded to the scene, including some who are doctors. >> most of the people, all but one up here, our physicians and responded immediately, getting off the train, tending to those the doctorounded and and i were the first off the train and were able to get to the two that were laying on the ground. you have one gentleman

heard that there was a fatality, but i will tell you that this group of doctors here and other members in the house and the worked together with the emergency medical team to try to do everything we could for these people at a terrible time. are blessed in many ways to try to help people and hopefully at least one life was saved today. i think everybody had a little bit different experience, but i can tell you if you watched what happened and what took place today, everyone knew they had a role in what they should be doing and took a role in trying to save a life, from cpr to controlling bleeding and maintaining airways. i'm very proud to be associated with everyone on this stage.

host: republican lawmakers on the train that responded to the scene after they hit the garbage truck and again one fatality there. back to our conversation with all of you. does president trump deserve credit? but do you see a difference where you live and should he be taking credit for it? headline. you still shooting up nearly 6% in january. mainstream investors are buying in pursuit of profit. markett signs of a stock that may be getting overly exuberant. that for some stock market rose pros say it is not entering

phase.up jonathan in west hollywood, california. good morning. is the economy better where you live? caller: um i don't think so. not really. that there are a lot more homeless people, there are a lot more people in need of food and shelter. they don't seem to be getting services because trump and his delegates have shut everything , what we are facing here are a lot more people that end up in jail because the hospitals won't take them and they won't give them any kind of support and so if they are mentally challenged or they are physically disabled, the best place to put them is in jail and the state makes money.

john in clarksburg, maryland. over $100,000. you are on the air. caller: good morning. host: are you better off than you were a year ago? caller: no, i'm not. i don't think things have changed for me. haveimportantly, things not improved for the country as a whole. the gap is widening because of trump's policies. the tax cuts and the tax advantages to the rich are touted as his major don'tlishments and they benefit the poor of the middle class and they want in the long run.

i'm more concerned about the future than where i am today. host: do you mean social security and medicare? caller: specifically social security and medicare. i think it will cost a tremendous amount of money to live into old age and to survive , both for health care and social security benefits. i think those things are in jeopardy because of trump. host: why? why because of him? caller: well, i think because of the republicans and i think because of ryan and i think that he will go along with whatever ryan says. what does ryan want to do that you don't like? speaker ryan? caller: i think he wants to take away entitlements. i think he wants to reduce social security and eliminate a lot of medicare benefits and

medicaid, as well. host: well, in the larger budget question still remains on the table for speaker ryan and the leader of the senate, mitch mcconnell, and the president, as well. c-span's capitol hill producer tweeting out -- the house and senate are both not in session today. republicans are on that retreat and you can bet that majority leader mcconnell and how speaker ryan will get some questions about what is next. when they go before the reporters this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. eastern time. in indiana. good morning to you. caller: good morning, greta. what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

in februaryber back 1992 when clinton took office, that is when the economy took off within four to six weeks after he was elected and was sworn in as president, the economy just shot right up and he got all the credit for what bush had done. so, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. host: so, if bill clinton is going to take credit, donald trump should be able to take credit? caller: there you go. the democrats were all over it when that economy took off and you can't tell me clinton had something to do with that within four to six weeks of taking office. i think president trump should be able to get the credit for this. keith in madison, wisconsin. caller: good morning.

was agree that this strong economy. the press is saying this is an butomy, a strong economy, when you conduct a class war, that is what is reflected in the stock market. the business owners love it when the president said during the campaign he is going to conduct a vicious class war. that is what he said in the campaign. nobody should be surprised. if people demonstrate, they get out on the streets, they occupy factories, they occupy businesses and try to take matters into their own hands, the cops onick them, the military on them, they will gunned them down in the streets. host: how do you know that? caller: how do i know that? because he admitted he will conduct a class war. he said that if you were listening during the campaign and i was listening very closely. he said that wages were too high

and he wanted to bring down wages. that was his signal to the business community that he was going to conduct a vicious class war and it is reflected in the stock market. host: what do you do for a living? caller: i work for the state. and the people i work with have not had a raise in five years. host: so, no adjustment for inflation, either? caller: no, they have not had a raise in five years, some people have not had a raise in 10 years . it is great for people who on the stocks, but not for those who do the work. host: do you get attention? caller: i get a small pension, not very much. host: are you collecting it now? caller: no, i'm not retired. host: when you retire, you will get a small pension. caller: yes, i had some money in the stock market, i took it out because i know that is going to go south real fast. you would be wise to get your money out of the stock market right now before it explodes. host: ok.

in other news, front page of the new york times," story," mueller zeros in on trump tower." president trump and his advisers raced to cobble together a news release about a mysterious meeting at trump tower the previous summer. rather than acknowledge the meeting's intended purpose to obtain political dirt, the statement instead described the meeting is being about and it's your russian adoption policy. has become a focus of the inquiry for robert mueller.

some lawyers and witnesses who have sat in or been briefed on the interviews are puzzled over mr. mueller's interest in the episode, lying to festival investigators is a crime, lying to the media is not. for that reason, some of mr. trump's advisers argue that mr. mueller has note grounds -- no grounds to ask about it. the fbi agent that called trump treasonous helped to draft the anthony weiner memo that rocked the hillary clinton campaign's 2016 campaign. the fbi agent accused by president trump of trees helped draft the infamous letter from

former fbi director james comey that dealt a major blow to hillary clinton's campaign days before the 2016 election. he supported reopening the investigation into clinton's use of a private email server. this according to newsweek. diana, welcome to the conversation. good morning. caller: good morning to you. host: does the president deserve credit? caller: no. [laughter] caller: not at this point. he has been benefiting basically from the wind that his back from the obama economy. i'm a 76-year-old retiree. i'm doing all right financially. i have a fair amount in the stock market. as far as whether a better off, i guess i'm slightly better off because of the stock market, but it has been improving for a number of years now. the tax legislation is going to increase my income taxes, i'm

one of those who will be negatively affected by that. i'm concerned about the deficit in that tax legislation, which is going to create rising interest rates and higher inflation. higher inflation is never good for retirees. there is a perverse consequence to that tax legislation, kimberly-clark one of our major employers in wisconsin is closing 10 plants worldwide and laying off 5500 employees specifically because the tax legislation now provides them with enough benefits that they can afford to close those plants. [laughter] host: why? why would they close the plants? caller: they are closing the plants because the money that they are getting -- it was in our newspaper and outline very carefully -- because they are gaining so much in the way of , theirtheir bottom line profits are increasing to the point where they can afford to invest the money to close the

plants, if you can believe that. unbelievable. we are going to pay a price for this legislation and i'm afraid as your other caller said that we will have a correction in the market. i've never gotten over psychologically what we went through in 2008. i was not particularly affected, but because i pulled my money out ahead of time, but the devastation, the unemployment, , people haveres never recovered, many people have never recovered the lifestyles they had prior to that. they have not recovered the wages. this is a short-term sugar high. for thet tax cut corporations, a temporary tax cut for the worker, which in the end is going to cost the worker's job. short-term, we all may be feeling a little bit better right now, i fear what is going to happen in the next two or three years, four years. safford, virginia

making over $100,000. go ahead. let me go on to alex. now you are on the air. caller: ok, yes i think he should take credit. when you are the president you take the good and the bad. we'll know some of the stuff that happened early in the obama administration was due to the tax cuts that george bush did and he took credit for it and you have to take the good with the bad. one of your previous scholars was mentioning -- callers was mentioning social security and medicare under trump, those two programs have been going downhill for the last two decades. i can't see how you can blame trump for those two programs. thank you. host: dave in cincinnati. caller: hi, greta. good to talk to you again. host: good morning. caller: greta, my life has not changed much.

social security, disability. i'm 65, i'm on social security. my rest was raised first of the year by $50 and that is a problem for me, greta. and i get bytamps day-to-day, but it is no better. i would like to talk about quality of life, greta. i live in the inner city in cincinnati because that is where the rent is cheapest and i see the heroin epidemic around me every day, greta, and i wish something could be done about it. i wish president trump had not cut the research and all the in trying are evolved to help these people. it is bad out there, greta. i see it every day. host: that is dave in cincinnati, ohio, below $50,000.

more of your calls as we continue to talk until the top of the hour. another moment from the vice president's remarks to his republican colleagues yesterday at the retreat in west virginia. he was talking about watching the state of the union. [video clip] >> i went home after the speech and i turned on c-span. apparently nobody else did. [laughter] that part in c-span where they take telephone calls. what i'm talking about? they were taking the calls. as soon as i turned on the television, this is absolutely true. they said, let's go to the democrat line. a man on the other end said, "i'm from west virginia." [applause] >> i already told shelley this story. [laughter] >> the man said, i'm from west

virginia, i'm a lifelong democrat, he said, i'm a disabled veteran, he said, i just called on the democrat line to say that i agree with 100% of what president trump just said in that speech. [applause] host: vice president pence watching c-span and listening to all of you and your calls. after the state of the union. what is your message to washington on the economy? that is our question for all of you this morning. do you believe the president should take credit for it? if you missed the state of the union, you can go to c-span.org and watch it. "the new york times" this morning has this story. the headline that president trump's first state of the union address drew an audience of 45.2 million. a television audience was also smaller than the one of

president barack obama's first state of the union address, which had 48 million viewers. fox news won the night with an audience of 11.5 million. the president this morning tweeting about the audience -- fox news beat every other network for the first time ever. had is what the president to say. david in bethesda, maryland. good morning. caller: good morning, greta. host: how is the economy there? caller: so, in maryland, i think just in general, i was listening

to c-span yesterday and we had the state of the state address and apparently maryland in general is doing better than what it was. it could be due to that, it could be due to the tax cuts. but i was at $31 an hour and i was ready to leave because i had another job offer and my employer matched it and i got a six dollar raise. that this year with commissions because i have an hourly salesman for air-conditioning, i'm hoping i can make over $100,000 this year with my wife staying at home with a newborn baby. we are looking to buy a new car. the stock market and my 401(k) have done very well this year. my mutual funds have all done very well. i don't know that president trump needs to be responsible for all of that, but i'm certainly going to remember this time in my life as a very good, very secure financial time and i

think part of it is due to my hard efforts and may be part of it is due to the outlook in general of the economy right now because of some of the policies that are in place and if i could just add one more thing, i would hope that they could spend a little more time on the infrastructure package because traffic in this area is horrible. i have an hour and 15 minute commute every day. i listen to c-span and you guys get me through my commute, so thanks. host: bethesda is just a short distance from the nations capital. the traffic you are referring to is related to the government doing it business in this area. a couple of retirement announcements. trey gowdy, a familiar face and name, announced his retirement from congress yesterday. he said there is a time to come and a time to go and that it was time for him to return to the justice area. representative trey gowdy will

be stepping down. bob brady also not running for reelection. accused of bribing a former opponent to leave the primary. he will not be seeking reelection. lewis in fort myers, florida. what is it like for you where you live? caller: well, i'm really not a true floridian. i came from atlanta, georgia. my wife started working for comcast making $30 an hour. doing splicing. then what happened later on, the fema pay got gone and no more work. then i wound up taking a job, but it was doing work through a temp agency. the happened is that company no longer had funding for me to work anymore. if the economy is so great and everybody is getting

trickle-down funds, why did i not continue to work? are saying that trump wants to take credit for the economy, wonderful, wonderful, but at the same time, we went through a bush era when we lost everything. we had no company cars, the lost everything. where we everyone forgets about the bad times. time that we lost a obama tried to pick the country up. during the fight between the republicans and the democrats he was able to be successful. he economy grew. at that time i was able to hold a job. host: we are listening. the jobs were good during that time. go an entire year,

whether i had a temp job through a temp agency, any job, i was able to hold it. other quickle headlines. no new trial for bob menendez, the democrat from new jersey. the department of justice dismissed the remaining charges against the senator, a decision that underscored how the 2016 supreme court ruling raised the to pursue corruption cases against officials. it comes less than two weeks after prosecutors said they were retrying mr. menendez. news on the financial front, the appeals court of holds the cfpb as constitutional. courtral appeals delivered a major win to

liberals who pushed for the independent watchdog. ripe for thease supreme court. cf d.c. circuit tees up the pb for constitutional review. host: are you doing better? caller: yes, i am. everything is looking up. businesses are thinking about expanding. gettingre raises. obamacare has stagnated all of the wages. for years we have not had raises except for health insurance going up. secondly, everyone blames the banks for the housing crisis collapse in the early 2000's. the democratsy

under bill clinton that liberalized the mortgage qualification rates to allow people to do the lending. they made the law so they could do that subprime lending. a person working at the time was telling everyone how he was their first house. they were renters. they are buying a new house. i took them aside and said, kent, you cannot afford this house. my house payment was 1/3 of what they were telling him it would be after subprime lending was. a year later he was moving out house and to his apartment house minus his lifetime savings that he had put aside. the stockout how market has not improved and increased anyone's livelihoods,

people do not have government or union pensions. they have been able to put money 401(k)s. president obama took over when the stock market had completely crashed. yes, there was quite a bit of money the government put into the stock market that help the economy pick up. when president trump was elected, a pundit and said he was going to crash the economy. he has done exactly the opposite. i think president trump deserves the credit. if it were down turning, he would certainly get the credit. i don't know why there is such a political divide. we need to start taking care of our own people. host: next, a look at a new project focusing on gerrymandering and redistricting with david wasserman and aaron b ycoffe.

martinez-de-castro will join us. then we will go to montgomery, alabama to continue our tour of the state capitals. we will be right back. ♪ >> sunday night, the former speechwriter for george w. bush and atlantic columnist with his ocracy.ump

he is interviewed by carlos losada. >> it comes from the same route same route as democracy. it is a book about the study of power. this is a study of donald trump's power. how did he get it, how does he maintain it, howdemocracy. does he get away with it. it is the system of enabling. it is the system in the white ande, between trump congress, and the media that enables him to have an audience, the traditional elements of the republican party that have and his corehim, group of voters within the republican party that enabled the republican nomination and the presidency. tv.n c-span2's book

>> c-span's history series landmark cases returns with 12 new supreme court cases. each week experts discuss constitutional issues and personal stories behind significant supreme court decisions. monday, february 26 at 9:00 p.m. eastern. do help you understand each case we have a companion guide written by tony morrow. landmark cases: volume 2. to get your copy godo help you e we have a companion to .-span.org/landmarkcases c-span, where history unfolds a daily. c-span was created as a public service by america's public cable companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. "washington journal"

continues. host: we are back to talk about gerrymandering. we have aaron bycoffe with fivethirtyeight and david wasserman with cook political report. you joined in on a project to look at gerrymandering. david wasserman, what is gerrymandering? guest: the manipulation of boundaries to benefit one political group. sometimes it serves to create a majority and minority district, for example. it has become a catchall for what is broken in washington. there is talk about how gerrymandering has created and dysfunction. the main driver of what has polarized congress is the voters themselves sorting and like-minded places that has made it easier for and dysfunction. the partisans drawing the map to create highly democratic or republican seats. host: is it still happening?

guest: of course. it is happening at a dizzying pace. in the last round, republicans benefited from the fact that they won the midterm elections timese power to redraw 4 as many districts as democrats on the state level. most is done by state legislatures. if you have commissions. that has been the subject of debate. should we move to a commission process in more states and take the power out of the hands of the people who are drawing lines for themselves and members of congress? what is happening in pennsylvania? we had a ruling about the maps the republicans came up with. guest: it has a slight democratic majority. they rolled that pennsylvania's republican-drawn map was an unconstitutional gerrymandering. one for maryland and one from

wisconsin are on the ity.nstitutional it is like of sanity. where do -- it is like o obscenity. where do you draw the line? how do you define that? we are waiting to see if the supreme andt's will issue a stay folded in with other cases. host: you're calling it the atlas of redistricting. what were you trying to accomplish? wanted to show there are trade-offs when you draw districts. you can maximize certain things and in turn lose out on other things. one example is one of our maps tried to do nothing else but make districts compact. they are pleasant looking, but the outcomes, especially in

minority-majority representation , it hurts a lot of people. you can see similar trade-offs with our other comparisons. there is no perfect way to draw a map that will please everyone and will be completely fair. host: more compact, what do you mean? guest: there are different ways to measure it. one measure is the length of the lines between districts. others try to see how close a district's shape is to a circle. about 18 states have standards and their laws, but they do not define what that means. givenp drawers are not rules to follow as far as making them compact. host: what is the impact? guest: a lot of states have the criteria, but they do not define

it well. that has been a struggle for reformers who say why cannot we have -- why can't we have normal -shaped districts? it is easy to poke fun at some of the shapes. on ave had the rapid skateboard district in illinois, the upside down chinese dragon in pennsylvania. it is easy to poke fun, but harder to say here is a shape that districts should adhere to. there are all kinds of natural geographic boundaries that are oddly shaped. ss itself doesne not guarantee fairness. often they are drawn to make the map fair or give minorities more of a voice. host: you wrote the accompanying to "hating gerrymandering is easy, fixing it is

harder." we talked about the results. what is the other approach to take? guest: rita took ava writing. we featured seven -- we took a variety. we featured seven different ways to draw a map. for the districts to be competitive it would be possible withinte 242 house seats the national average, fitting our definition of competitive here that would be tripling the number of current competitive seats which is 72. an interesting lesson from the exercise is that the bias is not so much pro-republican as it is anti-competitive. , 70 twourrent map competitive districts is lower than what we have found in maps that we drew with an out rhythm following -- with an algorithm following borders.

the anti-competitiveness helps republicans because they have a natural geographic advantage because democratic voters are austered so they need to win lower share to get majority. that itu are saying does not necessarily benefit republicans. there is a lot of red on the current map. guest: there is a lot of red, but looking at a map is not necessarily the best way to judge how evenly split congress is. many of the red areas are bigger than democratic areas which are clustered in cities. a map can give not necessarily the full texture of things. democrats tend to benefit from high density areas in cities? guest: democrats are inhabiting a lot of urban districts where they are winning 90% to 10%.

republicans have a lot of districts in rural areas they are winning 60% to 40%. there ist a deficiency for apublicans -- there is deficiency for republicans that is benefiting them. one of the old sayings is that thing to help democrats win a majority might to be a resettlement of their voters. host: how would the current map and howproportionality you define that for the criteria? guest: proportionality, we look at how the state as a whole voted in the last elections and came up with a number from that. be used that to figure out how many congressional seats that would result in for each party in the state. what were the results? yeah, we came up with a

proportional map that allocated seats according to the party's share of the vote. the house came out pretty close to evenly split. the only map that we drew that house wasemocratic our democratic gerrymander of the country, which shows that even if you are not paying attention to party, you will probably end up with more republican seats because of the alignment of the electorate. host: what does that say about 2018 midterm elections and ' chance of taking back the house? are the favorites. republicans are having a good couple of months, but there is a of vulnerable republican districts. lot ofseeing a retirements. democrats have a good shot. the interesting question will be do democrats remain as in favor

of districting reform if they are able to overcome the republican gerrymander from 2011 and win? host: what are their efforts like now? what are they doing to overturn the redistricting that happened in 2010 or 2011? guest: they are excited about the case before the supreme court. they believe the efficiency gap standard being proposed by the plaintiffs in the wisconsin case is a tool for detecting partisan gerrymandering and will lead to ofrer maps in a variety states. even if the supreme court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, it would be a long process to overturn a lot of the current maps that we have. i think that democrats are benefiting in some places from republicans' decision to spread their voters thinly. there is a misconception that parties create state seats for

themselves. in pennsylvania, there are 6 republican seats that are from before the map is redrawn. redrawing a map could enhance opportunities for democrats and weaken some others. lois.hi, lewis. caller: i have been a longtime democrat. i asked my father, who do i vote for? he said to vote democrat. don't worry about nothing. i have been voting democrat. i watched the democrats and the republicans on tv. years ago whenry she told a friend of mine, don't worry. if you tell me what is going on where they have all of the

chemicals and everything, your job will be safe with me. the next thing you know, she ,oes in the next day and says what are you doing here? you are fired. she is corrupted. i tried talking to people, and we finally got rid of her. it is a disgrace that the democratic party stooped so low in the last election. even with bernie sanders, i'm not in favor of bernie but -- lost it. as far as i'm concerned the democratic party is a disgrace to the country. host: robert in baton rouge, louisiana. independent. caller: i wanted to ask your guests, are there considerations when they redistrict for a third

party or independent voters? not just democratic and republican? louisiana. guest: a valid question. a lot of the arguments before the supreme court now are that we should have maps that for proportionately represent democrats and republicans, but what about third-party voters? we have had a robust discussion ourhe facebook -- on facebook page on proposals. would we hear from some people is it is time for a more radical approach like proportional representation or multimember districts. if we got rid of districts, there would be more of an opportunity for third parties to be represented in the system. i do not think we are headed in that direction. .ost: let's takeif we got louisa when you look at that state,

what is happening? guest: across the deep south, we have noticed that the voting rights act has created a lot of majority-minority seats. you can see the one blue seat from new orleans to baton rouge, a majority african-american district. it also helped to make surrounding seats whiter and more republican. we are seeing the pattern where in southern states you will have seat andity-majority republican seats surrounding it. craig in maryland. caller: it is like elijah cummings. he is from baltimore city, but he goes all the way to anne ,rundel county, into laurel places he should not be representing.

that is wrong to the people around us. host: what do you make of the state of maryland and that comment? of maryland's districts are sprawling and oddly shaped. one in particular, the sixth district, it is held by a republican where democrats were able to redrawone in particular. they redrew it to favor democrats and got an extra seat. host: how did we get to the point that maryland looks like this? really wantedts to preserve their advantage. by drawing atch it seat from western maryland into the d.c. suburbs. you have a state with a logical breakdown of the delegation might be five-three for democrats. instead they have a 7-1 advantage using creative cartography. host: hi, dan.

your thoughts on gerrymandering. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to point out that many years ago republicans made an effort to focus on state level politics, putting money towards electing candidates at the state level. i think that that is very impactful on the discussion about gerrymandering, since democrats are trying to catch up at the state level putting money towards state-level candidates not justgislatures, the governorship. host: talk about the history there. guest: republicans did make an effort to take control of a lot of state legislatures. there was a lot of money put into that effort. democrats, a number of them, believe there was some involved in the

way republicans gained the advantage. i think it was winning electio ns. democrats have learned that lesson and are making an effort to win back it governorship, because they will have veto powe r. host: in the special elections? guest: we have seen democrats in the past congressional elections in districts that hillary won. republicans are not showing up for candidates not named trump. host: good morning. ander: i was listening on this conversation and got the tail end of things. my issue is that i do not think it makes a difference if you are democrat or republican. , bothk, at this point

parties need to work together better in order to get things accomplished. i am not going to lie, i am not a huge fan of donald trump because of the epa rollbacks. i am for the protection of the environment. as far as republicans or democrats, i am a democrat of course, but i do have candidates that were republicans in the past that i have liked. time,ng is, at this everyone needs to work together to get things done. the divide in this country right now is her renders. isis ridiculous -- horrendous. it is ridiculous. host: what would be considered fair for a bipartisan map? guest: we took election data for the past two presidential elections and compressed it to

as small of an area as we could based onnew districts that. we were able to see the district.ip of a if we wanted to drop a heavily democratic map we could draw districts that were heavily democratic. that is similar -- that is a simplified version of the process that many state legislatures used to draw their maps. host: the project is called the atlas of redistricting. you can find it on their website . if our viewers want to play along, it is very interactive and you can see how your own state is drawn and how it would look under different scenarios. let's hear from frank. republican. caller: good morning. i was wondering what the effect would be if the supreme court mandated that district lines could only go down as far as county line boundaries.

guest: one of our maps was designed to follow existing borders like counties and cities . a lot of people would say that is a logical approach. i agree. getink that the best way to politics out of the process would be blind to partisanship when drawing districts and arrange them logically around existing borders. the problem is that districts have to be equally populated. an current district has average of 750,000 people. if you stack counties together you are probably not going to get to that exact population. you have to split some of them. following borders is a reasonable approach. guest: there are some states, like the compactness

requirements, some encourage map drawers to follow county and governmental borders. to do it is impossible that in every case and they are not extremely strict. host: impossible? why? guest: most cities are too big to make a district by themselves. in order to make them -- host: the population requirement. guest: the supreme court has been strict about one man, one vote. they have interpreted it that districts must be equally populated within a person, unless you are a state like iowa or west virginia, which are the only 2 that do not split counties at all. in most cases it has been a rigid interpretation. if we allowed more population variance we might have more regularly shaped districts. host: pennsylvania, democrat.

hi, dennis. caller: thank you for taking my call. you mentioned pennsylvania. pennsylvania is rated the second-most gerrymandered state in the country. i live in the 10th district. is slightlytrict down along the pennsylvania-new jersey porter, a narrow strip across the top of the state, then angles down to the central part of the state. in threesentatives election cycles have been 13 republicans and five democrats. the state legislature, the house and the senate, have huge republican majorities. pennsylvania is certainly not a 75% or 80% republican state.

it shows how they gerrymander. in fact, republicans only hold one statewide option and that is pat toomey. yet state. it shows how they gerrymander. , they have huge advantages in the house of representatives on the federal level, and in the house and senate at the state level. host: can you explain? guest: the caller is right. it was very close to the , yet it has level 13 republicans and five democrats. there is one district outside of philadelphia that has been called the bullwinkle district because it reaches to lancaster county and parts of montgomery morey to take in republican voters. part of the reason for that advantage is the map. some of it is the natural geography. democrats of pennsylvania predominantly live in pittsburgh and philadelphia. drawresult, it is hard to nine out of 18 districts to be

.emocrat-leaning seats we tried in our simulations to achieve more of a proportional breakdown and it required conscious gerrymandering. , talk aboutbycoffe your work coming up with the map that you see. guest: it is possible to draw the map that -- two draw a map that favors democrats. all of the purple districts outside of philadelphia. in an election where democrats do really well across the country in house elections, they will pick up a lot of those seats and have that advantage. host: independent. caller: the map that you show us, it would be a good representation of the american financial federation.

it is a foundational element. we no longer have a republic. amendment one says speech is free. the supreme court and citizens united says that speech can be bought. speech has been bought. we now have, not a republic, but anbought. entirely financialized environment in our country. host: special interests play a role in redistricting and gerrymandering? guest: absolutely. are a lot of interest groups with a stake in the redistricting process. we'll see that again in 2020. that one of the reasons it is so hard to solve t, ismandering, to cure i

that reformers have a hard time agreeing on how districts should be drawn. that is what we are trying to drive home. host: talk about that, aaron bycoffe. for you.cult was it talk about being a computational journalist, what does that mean? how are you gathering data and using it? guest: using data and computers to investigate a lot of these problems. that.can talk more about as far as analyzing with the districts look like and the votes that went into them, it is hard to get that data. even in pennsylvania now, one of the issues with the map is is that -- the map is that the supreme court asked for boundaries for the local precincts, and there is no central repository for everything. even the state has trouble putting that together.

david can talk more about drawing the maps. host: i want to know how you gathered your data. you said it was difficult. precinct level data that we have we purchased from a private group. that is available in many cases. states do not necessarily have the ability to do that or have access to that. in pennsylvania, for example, charge ofty is in their own election and sets their own precinct boundaries. often, the maps are not available at all to the public. you have to get it on paper. it is a difficult process. host: this took six months. we are starting to understand why. guest: it was a massive data undertaking. would not have been possible without a free online app we use. it is a guy named dave bradley

who is a programmer who developed this 12 that anyone can use to redraw their own district. andcan totally nerd out test different scenarios. we might have a few nerds watching c-span. guest: we have published the m aps in a format that you can use. and i mean that in a loving way. caller: good morning. thank you for this topic. my question goes like this. in redistricting, how is it determined from citizens who are allowed to vote rather than just population areas? i live in california. we have a lot of folks that may not be allowed to vote, but how do you count or discount them in the district? guest: when we draw districts,

and i'm referring to the constitutional guidelines, reuse the total population. this has been a contentious issue. it was the subject of a supreme court case several years ago if districts should be based on citizen population or total population. of equallyr purposes populous districts. minors who are not eligible to vote, the supreme court ruled in favor of keeping the current guidelines, which is the total population. there is certainly a lot of concerns, particularly on the conservative right, about exactly who should count. guest: there is concern the justice department is pushing for the census bureau to ask about citizenship on their questionnaire. the concern is that that would cause a lot of noncitizens to

not participate at all. host: what would happen then, david wasserman, during an election? guest: it could lead to a loss of representation for high populated areas with noncitizens if they are more reluctant to answer the census. theoretically, you could end up with slightly fewer citizens -- slightly fewer respondents who would count for the purposes of forming a district. host: maryland, democrat. caller: good morning. you answered my question already because you asked how you would set up gerrymandering. are you related to debbie wasserman? guest: no relation. host: good morning.

i am in atually, suburb of st. louis. i live in a very gerrymandered district. i live in a district where the gerrymandering looks like a w prongs around the city of st. louis and a handle that goes to the lake of the ozarks. it is very, very gerrymandered in favor of the republicans. on a want to comment definition for gerrymandering given by josh stein, the ag of north carolina, on one of your other programs. that politicians choose their voters rather than voters choosing their politicians. i wanted to agree with the

gentleman that we need to get united.itizens it is ruining our republic. i wanted to recommend a book that i saw on united. c-span about why your vote does not count by david daley. host: let's talk about missouri. guest: it is true that in a lot of cases politicians are choosing their voters rather than the other way around. that is why a lot of states, more and more states, are pushing towards forming these commissions to draw boundaries instead of having legislatures do it. is when someone is in congress they want to protect seat. they encourage the legislature to draw boundaries that will do that. host: is there a grassroots

effort in multiple states pushing legislatures to resist that pressure and instead higher commissions, some sort of independent body, to draw the map? guest: the dilemma is it is hard to convince politicians to give up power willingly. there has been a referendum that.s that has led to for example, the commission that we have seen take power in california was a ballot initiative that was championed by arnold schwarzenegger. there are several other states in advance of 2020 there are robust reform movements. hawaii is one of them. we will see if that puts new rules in place for the next census. this has been higher profile this decade than last. host: louisiana, republican. caller: i would like to use

that as an example redistricting is only a problem since democrats have been in control, or lost control, of the state legislatures. had 55% andublicans democrats 45%. democrats won 17 states and the republicans 14. hadin 2000, after the republics gained control of the texas and theure redistricting, all hell broke loose. the justice department sued. the democratic legislatures left on thete to avoid voting new districts. has only become a problem since the democrats lost so many

elections. host: is it sour grapes by democrats? reason thisof the has risen to consciousness, particularly on the left, the last caller alluded to a book that has been high-ranking on charts.ymandering the theory is that republicans have rigged the elections. democrats have engaged in gerrymandering, not only currently in maryland, but in the past in states like georgia and texas. republicans have not necessarily gerrymandered more aggressively than democrats in the past. they have just had more power to theo because they won election before the last process. if democrats win a larger seat

at the table in 2020, i wonder if democrats will be as strongly in favor of reform. s hate the way this is done, but the challenge is agreeing on a solution. host: good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i was wondering, what do you think, what do your guests think about getting rid of districting altogether and having representatives -- may be taking five representative statewide? -- statesdistricting like texas have 36 and georgia has 12, or whatever. it seems like they should have the same amount of representatives for their population and state in washington. maybe you could have one republican, one democrat, one

, andendent or green party they run statewide instead of districts. host: david wasserman? have had proposals for radical changes on how we elect members of congress. the supreme court has held for many years that districts should be single-member districts. if we had statewide proportional representation, theoretically we would have republicans from massachusetts, democrats from utah, and perhaps more regional diversity, which is lacking now we could move to multimember districts or an algorithmic process for drawing the lines. there are many radical reforms that are a ways off from being realistic or feasible, but could present interesting outcomes. guest: there was a time when

members fort-large multidistrict states. they do not exist anymore and i do not see us going back. host: james, massachusetts, independent. morning.ood thank you for c-span. my question was raised by your previous caller. at largept of representation throughout the state. i think it is fairly obvious that districts are a historical atcuriosity. why should we have representatives based on districts when we live in the , andnications age virtually every representative is concerned about issues all over the states? we need to take a fresh look at this and consider at-large representation for each of the states. thank you, very much. guest: the idea is that members

of those districts will represent the people of those districts. a representative for philadelphia will have different priorities than a representative from pittsburgh. that is the case. if we went to multimember states where we only had at-large members you would lose -- you would see a lot of the local concerns go unheeded. that is the case. guest: there are also concerns about minority representation. whitelvania is largely a state, but you do have an african american majority district in philadelphia. how can you ensure that minorities have the ability to elect a candidate of choice? websiteease go to the aaron bycoffe -- to the website fivethirtyeight.com.

thank you both. we will take a short break. when we come back clarissa castro will be here to talk about the president's speech and what he had to say about immigration. then we will tour our capitals with a stop in montgomery, alabama. we will be right back. >> for nearly 20 years, in-depth has featured the nation's best known fiction writers for conversations about their books. as a special project we are featuring best-selling fiction writers for the fiction addition . join us on sunday at noon

eastern with the author of the 2016 bestseller "the underground railroad," which was awarded the pulitzer prize. our special series, in-depth fiction addition with colson whitehead on book tv on c-span 2. sunday night on q and a, the book the man from the train, in which he investigates one of the deadliest serial killers in american history. within times it happened 100 yards of the railroad tracks. one of the things that helps us identify his prime as opposed to someone else's is that it usually happens at the intersection of 2 railroad tracks.

at the intersection presumably because he knew that after he committed his crime he had to get out of town before want to be did not stranded waiting for a train to come through. being at the intersection of multiple railroad tracks gave him more opportunities to get out of town before the crime was discovered. >> on saturday, watch the 2018 writers festival on book tv. starting at 2:00 p.m. eastern on political candidates and presidential elections through american history. u.s. foreign-policy. the former californian senator discusses the current political landscape. dave barry talks about his writing life. followed by margaret macmillan and john meacham on their

favorite historical figures. watch saturday starting at 2:00 p.m. eastern on book tv on c-span2. "washington journal" continues. host: at our table, clarissa martinez-de-castro. calleddosus, formally the national council of the -- of laraze. the president tweeted that march 5 is rapidly approaching and democrats are doing nothing about daca. they resist, blame, obstruct, and do nothing. disagree.ould only because the reality is that , and we have seen the reality play out on national television as recently as when the president had the televised

meeting on this issue at the white house, we know that there has been, for a good time now, a group of members from both sides of the aisle trying to move the issue forward. the president in that meeting asked for a bipartisan agreement, and that was represented. i think that members of congress have prepared multiple bipartisan proposals in the house and the senate. that includes democrat, right? that is the word bipartisan. the issue that we have been facing is that every time that members actually do their homework and produce something, the white house or someone in leadership moves the goalpost and says never mind, not that, something else. host: let's go back to that original meeting. the president insisted there were four pillars in any agreement the 20 and

republicans. he reiterated that at the state of the union. [video clip] pres. trump: in recent months, my administration has met with democrats and republicans to craft a bipartisan approach to immigration reform. based on these discussions, we presented congress with a detailed proposal that should be supported by both parties as a fair compromise. one where no one gets everything that they want, but where our country gets the critical reforms it needs and must have. [applause] here are the four pillars of our plan. of ourst pillar

framework generously offers a path to citizenship for 1.8 million illegal immigrants who were brought here by their parents at a young age. that of our framework generously offers a three timesrs almost more people than the previous administration covered. [applause] under our plan, those who meet education and work requirements, and show good moral character, will be able to become full citizens of the united states over a 12-year period. [applause] the second pillar fully secures the border. [applause]

that means building a great wall on the southern border. it means hiring more heroes like cj to keep our communities safe. host: your reaction? is that not a bipartisan offer by the president? guest: what you heard was 2 things. that is what i mean by the moving of the goalpost. when this conversation started, that was the scope of the conversation. people were saying, fine. let's do something on relief for dreamers. that is the popular thing. 80% and 90% of americans support doing that, including republicans and trump voters. they say let's do the relief for

dreamers and include measures for the border. that is how the conversation started. then the white house said, never mind. when there were bipartisan proposals they said, we want this and we want this. at some point if you are trying to provide a solution, you have to wonder why does the goalpost keep moving? is part of the frustration you are seeing in the senate and the house right now. host: if what the president just outlined was put on the floor of the house and the senate, would yes?ay vote guest: the problem is we have not seen the details. one thing that we do know from a couple of bullet points and yes? comments that people have made is that the president is asking for $25 billion for the border. we do not know exactly how they will be deployed and used.

largest law of the enforcement agencies in the country, upon which there have been numerous reports of wrongdoing, and you are trying to write a blank check. it makes sense that members of congress want to know how that will be used. things that there has been so much controversy about with this for pillar proposal is that the president is talking about, and because he is surrounding by advisers that have been wanting to cut legal immigration, something americans support, and they are trying to use relief for dreamers, wildly popular, to push cuts for legal immigration. host: is the wall a nonstarter? guest: we think that the wall is a waste of money.

even law enforcement agencies are saying that the best ports of entryn and technology needed in those places. we think that the wall is a waste of money. it will be a burden for taxpayers. we are willing to consider improvement to those structures, even though it is a waste of money. times"the washington congress considers slammed down plan. plan to offern dreamers congressionally approved legal status, but not full citizenship rights, in exchange for limited border security improvements. although their proposal falls far short of what dreamers have sought, democrats wouldn't have to accept big changes to legal immigration and conservatives would not have to vote for citizenship rights. guest: i think it is moving in

the right direction. if you hear statements that have been made on both sides, if we limit the scope of this conversation to border provisions and relief for dreamers we can solve the problem. people want to modernize our immigration system, which we would welcome. we can move on to that. the question here is what these guys are talking about, interestingly, is doing what they criticized the obama administration for doing. the obama administration could not pass legislation, so they could not create an avenue for the youth to earn their way to citizenship. there is no automatic citizenship anywhere. the folks that have the power to enact legislation are saying we are not going to do what legislation can do.

we are going to do what executive actions, which we have criticized, can do. that is weird. call inviting viewers to in. we have a fourth line for those that came into the country illegally. tell us what you think about the debate. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i wanted to say that i think if voteuld do an up or down on the dream act alone, i think we know how that would come out. that seems like such a simple solution. why is that not the option? guest: thank you for raising that. you said it better than i was trying to. the wildly popular thing is relief for dreamers. i think that folks understand that these young people have grown up your. they have no country -- grown up

here. they have no country to go back to. what we have learned about their stories, we have learned about the fact that dreamers, people in the daca program went through the daca program, actually went through background checks -- all the things that americans want immigrants to do, they have done. ifis actually a fact that the dream act as a measure was brought to the floor of the house and the senate, it would pass. the problem we are having, i think, is that sadly, because there is bipartisan support for this measure -- is that republican congressional leadership is not doing that. but tammy is right. if this was brought to the floor, the dream act was brought to the floor for a vote, it would pass. host:but tammy is right. you said the daca participants had to go through vetting in order to get that certification. did they go vetting

through, and what did they have to prove in order to get to be approved? guest: they have to go through criminal background checks, to make sure they have a clean didrecord, and people who don't have a record, who have a record and have different offenses, are not able to be in the program, right? that shows you how much misinformation there is on this issue, right? we had recently a member of congress say the capitol police should address daca people who are coming to the state of the union. these are actually documented immigrants. they have gone through a process of background checks. host: they have paper? permit.hey have a they have gone through the process. in order to do that, they passed a background check. as a result of doing that, they get a permit and a work permit. not only that, they have to renew it. it is not like they did that years ago and all is forgotten. goy had to renew it and through that process again. so indeed, we are talking about vetted, documented immigrants, and that is why it makes sense

to go forward. host: mark, who is in fort lauderdale, florida, independent, joining us. morning, and as usual, thank you very much to c-span. before i ask my question about immigration, perhaps, greta, you could look into something for me or us, your listeners. morning, and as usual, thank you very much to c-span. earlier in your show, you played a clip from tents where he was speaking at -- from pence where he was speaking at a retreat they are having right now. talk about watching c-span right after the state of the union address, and then a story about how the first color to c-span virginiat was a west person that was a proud democrat that thought that trump's speech the world.t thing in i listened to c-span that night, and unless i missed the very first color insert -- calle in switching aroundr, i did not

hear that. if i remember correctly, you guys keep pretty good records. you have video, etc. could you have one of the interns or assistance or producers look through your tapes of that night? host: sure, absolutely. i will clarify, i think the vice president was saying the very clarify, i think the vice president was saying the very first phone call he heard when he turned it on, when he got home from the state of the union. mark, do you have a question or comment? caller: i saw the show ended not hear that, so i would love to that really occurred. we always hear these stories from the trump administration. sometimes, they are not 100% accurate. thati hate to tell the lady th, your guest, but i think that you have got a very hard road to hoe . trump is of course using daca as a bargaining chip, and he is asking for so, so much as part of a bipartisan agreement that

it could well lead to things were the democrats would just theyto pass on it, because would have to accept everything he wants to get a little bit of what they want. i have been focusing too much on dark out when the immigration, a comprehensive immigration package, which may be impossible, is the thing to go for. my wife is an immigrant. she just got her green card. she had started a long process that was going along fine until trump was inaugurated. then, it slowed down immensely. permission finally came through. i am certainly in the immigrant's corner. i think that will make the country great. the daca, dreamer kids, young adults, certainly should -- host: mark, let's take your point about not focusing solely .n the daca youth instead, a broader immigration package. if you don't focus on the daca

youth, you are facing a deadline. what happens to these kids that fromgiven relief deportation by the obama administration? what happens? guest: it is absolutely right, and i agree with mark. nobody is saying this is easy. that is where we have not seen the dream act brought to the ther, which would be easiest way, as tammy mentioned before. organization that has worked on immigration reform for years. we would welcome the opportunity to have that debate. and congress got close earlier. they did not get there. we desperately need to modernize our legal immigration system. what we haveid, right now is a man-made crisis, right? these kids have been fully vetted. all of a sudden, the rug was pulled from under their feet, and they are in a sticky spot march 5. at that time, we are already

seeing people lose their status. there has been a court decision that has kind of provided some reprieve, but that can be gone at any moment, and that is what we need to remember. on march 5, the 122 or so dreamers that we have seen loose status every single day now goes to thousands of day. youth who have grown up here, who go to our schools, who are first responders, who are in our -- they are in all segments of society. those folks start losing status. .hat is why this is so critical what happens when you go to the emergency room? you take the most critical patient first. i totally agree. we desperately need to modernize our legal immigration system. unfortunately, like stephen miller in the white house has -- but we have a critical patient in our hands.

even that, democrats, can they what that caller suggested and refuse any offer from the white house? are they not in a position where if they have to demand a vote on this for the daca population, they need to compromise? perhaps the wall is the compromise. host: here is the thing. immigrants have been willing to compromise, right? sometimes, some people would say they have been willing to compromise too much. the point is, they have been at the table. they have worked on bipartisan agreements that they have said -- some of this stuff, we don't agree with, but we are willing to do this. the problem is that every time they reach that time and come together, not with a democratic proposal, but with a bipartisan proposal, with republican support, the president or his team at the white house move the goalposts. so what happens?

imagine if you are playing a game and people keep moving the goalposts, keep changing the rules on you. how can you get there? i think it is kind of duplicitous to say that democrats are refusing to compromise, when reality it is the goalposts that keep getting moved. host: roberta in san diego, republican. caller: hi there. well, first off, i find it kind of amazing that we never hold mr. obama responsible for his comment regarding, i may not get immigration fixed in the first hundred days, but i will get it fixed in the first year. had he kept that promise, which we see mr. trump doing, i would say that maybe the daca people would have been taken care of. but as usual, no one in the democrat side, no one in our lower rosin group -- our la raza group, once you ever give anyone

credit, and blame should be given to that. ask our guests, what grade would you give president obama on immigration? guest: we worked with president obama really hard. i encourage roberta to look at a. at one point, our organization called him the to porter -- the leftter in chief, and that a mark. we did it because we are nonpartisan and we are looking at the effect of policy on a number of communities. not just the undocumented community. not just the latino community. but the millions of american families being affected by these issues. indeed, we criticized president obama quite a bit, and we pushed congress really hard. you might remember it was in 2013 when the senate actually tosed bipartisan legislation modernize our immigration system. the daca issue.

unfortunately, in the house, they refused to bring it to a vote. this is where we find ourselves. we did hold president obama's feet to the fire on this and other issues, because we work on many other issues, as we are doing now, with frankly policies we are seeing rolling out from the trump administration, but also their rhetoric. we have to acknowledge the impact of their rhetoric on how people feel and start looking at each other. this notion of making us afraid of each other, which we believe as a civil rights organization, that when you invest your time in making people afraid of each other, what you are doing is taking away their power of agency, to come together and solve problems. host: james in north carolina, a democrat. hi, james. , thank you for c-span. i have two things to talk about. about the chain

immigration. i am an immigrant, and now a u.s. citizen, and i am trying to petition for my parents to come here. to now, they are trying count my parents as extended family. i don't understand why as u.s. citizen i cannot bring my parents here. to classify my parents as distant. -- right now i am in the process of petitioning them to come. i want to know what happens to that petition if this bill has gone through. thank you. obviously, i hope you are working with a qualified community organization or a lawyer on that case. i am not giving you advice on your case. james makes the point obviously, when you played the clip from the president, the stuff that clip did not cover is the other

we are movinghat the goalposts away from where we are. that is one key. the american public wants to see immigration be legal. the thing here that the administration is trying to use, relief for dreamers, which is incredibly popular, to actually try to push through radical changes to our legal immigration system. as james mentions, these are rights of u.s. citizens. for some people, your parents or your brother and sister might be distant relationships. obviously, for james they are not. they are not for me either. this is the most important thing. if anybody wants to understand what family migration looks like or results in, even if people are trying to call it chain migration to disparage it, look in the mirror. today,merican family

including trump on both sides of his family, is here because somewhere along the way there was family migration that allowed us to come. host: let's listen to what the president had to stay best to say of the state of the union about stopping unlimited numbers of distant relatives. under the current, broken system, a single immigrant can bring and virtually unlimited numbers of distant relatives. under our plan, we focus on the immediate family by limiting sponsorships to spouses and minor children. this vital reform is necessary not just for our economy, but for our security, and for the future of america. terroristweeks, two

attacks in new york were made possible by the visa lottery and chamber gratian. in the age of terrorism, these programs present risks. we can just no longer afford. it is time to reform. these outdated immigration rules , and finally bring our immigration system into the 21st century. what is the impact of the president and republicans wanting to limit the petition to just spouses and minor children? imagine people who have a sibling, and that is their whole family, and they want to be with that sibling, or their parents. the one thing that is missed in this conversation is that citizens who are sponsoring someone to come in have to demonstrate that they are able

to take care economically of that person. i have not heard that in this discussion, right? here is the other thing that always strikes me, is when the president said, there was one immigrant from this program that did something wrong, so we are going to get rid of this program. is,way i think about this imagine a member of congress does something wrong, which we seem to read about in the paper every single day, and their response was, we are going to get rid of congress. that is how ridiculous this notion is. i know some people may say, yes, let's get rid of congress, right? but that is how ridiculous this responses. yes, we have to focus on the people who mean us harm. what if instead of doing that, we are trying to do away with legal immigration that vets people coming in, they have to acknowledge that they are creating incentives for the type of immigration that most of us want to see diminish or go away,

which is illegal immigration. maryland.e plains, eric is a republican. you are on the air. caller: good morning, c-span, and good morning to your guest. me, myself, i am an immigrant. i came in this country, and i followed the law, and it took me a lot of time. i am a u.s. citizen today. when i hear your guest, it seems as if she is blaming the republican for the problem that we have right now. actually, i would say that neither the republican or the democrat are your ally in this fight. if you really have an ally, it is trump, because the deal he offered is the best. member, president obama had both the house, the senate, and the presidency, and he did not do anything. actually, he deported even more

immigrants them trump has done so far. host: ok, let's get a response. is this the best offer? guest: here's the thing, right? and i agree with him that obama was in office, in control of government, something similar to what we are seeing right now, and we are holding people accountable to the same standard, which is, ok, if republicans need democratic votes, there needs to be a bipartisan compromise. immigration, regardless of who is in control, it has always been a bipartisan issue. the president presented a proposal. anyone who reads the newspapers or your ipad or online media can see that it has been denounced or condemned, or said people were not going to support it, from both sides of the aisle. i know people are saying the president is saying democrats don't want to move. people in his own party say they don't want this proposal.

at the end of the day, what i am seeing is, where legislation is concerned, it is up to the people who have a vote in this very illustrious capital, and that is republicans and democrats. right now, going back to the first caller, the easiest thing would be, bring the dream act to the floor. it would pass. who is not allowing that to happen is republican leadership. that is who happens to be controlling the process right now. from richardson, texas, independent caller. good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. have ito know -- you figured out. republicans want cheap later -- cheap labor. democrats want cheap votes. president trump outsmarted the democrats because he knows nobody is going to vote for this. when it is done, it is said and done. when the dreamers law goes back to what it was, making them not dreamers anymore, the democrats

are going to be blamed for it. what people don't get through their head -- they don't want you guys to have citizenship. they want your cheap labor and they want votes. that is all they want. host: we heard your point, richard. if this does not happen and march 5 comes and goes, and this daca population, the stay is not extended, who do you blame? guest: i think the people who prevented this simple and elegant solution to come forth is republican leadership, unfortunately. this is coming from an organization who has worked with both sides of the aisle on this and other issues. and we are really frustrated by seeing that they have a way heroes to emerge as the on an issue that is wildly popular, and they are refusing to do it. it is mind-boggling. thing i am encouraged by is

the courageous activism of dreamers, who i think in many ways, they're coming forward has helped show many americans the truth about this issue. immigration tends to be a fact-free zone anytime. that has been incredibly helpful. frankly, the voices of the american people -- eight out of 10 americans at least are in favor of seeing this issue resolved. i think that members of congress and republicans themselves are going to see themselves in a conundrum, if they are seen going into a midterm election, that something as simple as providing stability for fully vetted, document immigrant youth, who have grown up in this country and are basically americans -- that they were not able to even do that little thing. host: should democrats stand their ground again on the funding for the federal government, as they did when the

government shutdown? daca was one of the main issues they said, we are not going to vote for another continuing resolution because you have not dealt with it. should they stand their ground again if the february 8 deadline comes up, and potentially shut down the government again? guest: nobody wants to see a government shutdown, right? at the end of the day, we said this before. republicans can control completely what happens. leader mcconnell, in the midst of the previous shutdown, said he made a commitment, which used to count for a lot in the senate before. we will see if it still does. said on the senate floor -- made a commitment that he would bring this issue forward. as the last caller said, it tells you if they want to solve it or want to keep politicizing it. for the sake of these kids, who have given so much and done so much, i hope they do not keep

playing politics with this. host: let's go to danny and charlotte, north carolina, a democrat. morning.ood i think the democrats have to be a little bit more careful with their handling of daca. i think they are putting too much emphasis on it, because the democrats i am dealing with an north carolina, we have formed a focus group, and we feel that daca is the only thing the democrats are really dealing with, while we are concerned more with other issues like social security, medicaid, things like that. and none of those issues are -- nobody is talking about it or bringing it up. host: ok, danny. so you want them to not stand their ground on daca? sorry about that, danny. lost you there. let's go to key largo, florida. independent. you are on the air, andrew. caller: i am calling in regards to a realization that we are all

immigrants to this hemisphere. it goes from the north pole to the south pole. as i said, we are all immigrants. woman question to the that was a representative from what was known as la raza, years past. about 30 years or more, there la a representative from raza, saying their agenda is to take back what was stolen from them -- meaning california, la nevada, arizona, new mexico, colorado, utah, that was stolen from them, they say. is that still the agenda of what is now known -- what was la ra za? guest: that has never been the agenda of our organization. we are turning 50 years old, by the way, this year. i think there was a group that name, buta in its that is like saying there is a newspaper called "the washington

examiner" and another called "the washington post," and they are the same thing. they are not the same thing. you may have seen information about a group that had that in their name. that is not our agenda. u.s., the national council of la raza, wants to build stronger communities to build a stronger america. our focus is to work with the latino community, to make sure that latinos can make their fullest possible contribution to strengthen the country. host: why change the name? guest: the interesting thing is that, because we changed our name last year, some folks said, did you change your name because of the election? we are a 50-year-old organization, so i think that most folks would understand that you don't flip a switch from one day or another. it was long in the making. we are 50 years old. our latino community that we work with to represent is a

young and violent -- fibrin community. community.d vibrant we wanted to represent the aspirations of that community, and continued to be something people identify with. our mission is something people identify with, and we felt the name should reflect that. unidos means "united," so it is an homage to our look -- our latinounidos side, but about our americanness as an institution. caller: american culture, usually people change their name to change their identity. to adopt a new image. to have an alias, that does not wash. but anyway, i want to take you back to what you said. i am on the republican line. i am with the guys who are always in control of everything. i would like to cut to the chase

of this whole thing. you mentioned triage, taking the most important cases first. to me, the most egregious case in immigration is the people who have served in our military. i would like to stipulate that we let all of those guys in, right off the bat. then, after we pass that bill and let those guys in, or gals, what comes next? my daughter is dating aloe who -- a fellow who some would call an anchor baby. he is the first in his family to be born in the country. he has a masters degree. i would like to know his citizenship status, but i can't. there is no idea. i was stipulate everybody with a college degree that has no criminal record should be let in immediately. the thing is, america, we do not talk about people in labels, i don't think, as much as individual cases. the idea that there is a bunch of people and we label them all as daca and treat them all the same, regardless of their individual merits -- that does

not seem very american to me. host: your response. let's get a response, color. guest: -- caller. guest: there was a lot packed in there. he said we refer to all daca people the same. partly, it is because they all have to go through the same rigorousnd the same background checks, and all that stuff. that is why they are referred to as a category. they are documented immigrants that have been vetted and gone through criminal background checks. , iterms of who comes in would agree with you that people who are willing to serve in our should have definitely a clear path, but this goes to show you how politicized this issue has become, that even with that population, which you would think is a no-brainer, just like you do, we have not been able to move forward. that just shows you how wrapped up this gets into the politics, and moves us away from a solution.

right now, dreamers includes many people who are willing to do exactly that -- go into our armed forces and serve the only country they have called a home. i think it is learning those stories and what those kids want to do that has made so many americans be willing to get the solution that we need, and yet we are stuck. i think folks like the callers who have been saying, this seems simple, why can't we just do this -- they are going to continue to be very important in this debate. host: as we go to the next call, i want our viewers to look at the so-called dream act. our guess has brought it up several times. if this is just put on the floor, she argues and others do, this would pass with bipartisan support. as we hear from stephen in glen bernie, maryland, a democrat, take a look at the dream act. go ahead, stephen.

all right. we will go on to anne in washington, d.c., independent. caller: do not believe the hype. all right. we will go onthis is never goin. when you look at the amount of african-americans in this country who are totally against this -- do not believe the post. the post told you hillary clinton was going to win. this is not going to pass. thank you. host: your reaction? guest: well, i think several callers have mentioned this is not going to be easy. i could not agree more. we have been working with both sides of the aisle to try to get them to modernize our entire legal immigration system, something we have not done in more than three decades. we have not been able to get them there. it is definitely a difficult thing. i would say again that the energy, the support from the american public, and the activism of dreamers and many

other communities -- let's not societyevery segment of is asking congress to act on this, whether you look at facetech or agriculture, of every denomination, multiethnic groups, you name it. so i am banking on the continued pressure to try to get something done, but i do not recognize that this is not an easy thing. host: what are you hearing about a possible agreement? we read from "the washington times" the perhaps republicans agree to not citizenship or permanent status, and democrats in exchange deal with some border enforcement, but not a wall, not as much as the president would like. is that the direction you are hearing the sides are headed? guest: i think they are moving in the right direction. we have heard members of both sides of the aisle say that the way this gets done is to limit the conversation, to relieve our dreamers and some border

provisions. if you look at negotiations 101, the opening salvo the administration made has been shot down by both sides of the aisle, and now those folks are saying, let's get down to business and figure out where it is, and these things together makes sense. let's figure out what we can bring to the floor. host: is your group on capitol hill? what is your grassroots effort like? guest: we do obviously a lot of education with members of congress. one of the things that is always mind-boggling is how little members know about immigration. they repeat the talking points. this is across the board. with a lotbers deal of issues. we are not going to know every one of them necessarily. there are a lot of members who would think if you do relief for dreamers, that means automatic citizenship. that does not exist. right? this notion that one immigrant can bring an unlimited number of

people, like the president said -- yes, theoretically, that is true, just as it is true that i could theoretically be an astronaut. that i am not going to be one. it is trying to create space for them to have the conversations needed. that is something we do on this issue and any issue we work with. the other thing is, we have a network of community organizations across the country who has heard millions of citizens and immigrants annually, and they are seeing what these issues do, so they also bring their horses to the capital from that perspective. host: to learn more, viewers can go to unidos.org. our guest is one of the deputy vice presidents in the group dealing with advocacy and legislation. thank you for your time. appreciate it. i want to follow up on our caller earlier who said the vice

president mentioned the very first phone call after the state of the union was from west virginia, a proud democrat. he asked us to look it up to see if that was the first caller. our producer did. you can find it on c-span.org. the first caller was a democrat from west virginia. the vice president said he watched the speech and the reaction. they are listening here in washington, and we appreciate all the calls today. we are not done. the c-span buzz continues its trek across the nation to all the state capitals. today, we are in the alabama capital, montgomery. the state senator pro tem will join us next on the c-span buzz. we will be right back. this weekend on american history tv, on c-span3, saturday university. eastern, of north carolina at chapel hill bent onr molly were

20th century fundamentalism, and the origins and growth of pentecostalism. >> fundamentalists are conservative protestants who militantly oppose -- militantly oppose, that militance is important -- new ideas about the bible, science, and society. >> and at 10:00 p.m. eastern on "real america," the 1989 documentary "island of hope, island of tears." over 12 million men, women, and children passed this way, through rooms and corridors haunted with a special stillness which remains only in places once noisy with human life. they bought tickets for a thousand places in america. here, they traded their drachmas, there -- their liras rubles into dollars, saying their first american songs, experienced their first american

christmas and hanukkah. here they waited to be given permission to pass over to the new land. at 10 a clock a.m. eastern, an interview from the west point center for oral history, with catherine westmoreland, wife of u.s. army general william westmoreland, who commanded u.s. forces in vietnam. catherine: my name was red cross, and i did -- i worked almost every day in the vietnamese hospital. hospital. our and then i went to [indiscernible] once a week to do red cross work. >> watch american history tv, every weekend on c-span3. "washington journal" continues. stop number 17 on the c-span 50 capitals tour takes us to montgomery, alabama, home to

approximately 200,000 people. montgomery was once the capital of the confederate states of america. it later played a central role in the civil rights movement, including being the city where martin luther king pastored a church and russ parks protested segregated buses. running us this morning to talk about how national issues affect the state is alabama senator and senate president pro tem del ma rsh, serving in his fifth term. thanks so much for being with us. inhas been quite a year politics in alabama. new governor, new senator. how is that working out for you? guest: it is going very well. there is a calm over the state, i would say, getting through the transition. things are moving forward very well. got a good year. for the first time in several years, our revenues are better than usual. we are one of the states that budgets, and education

budget and general fund, and we have revenue this year that makes the edit process much easier. host: about $26 billion a year is spent by the state government. 40% of that goes to education. is that an increase over the years? guest: education has been increased over the years. we take great pride in education in this state. we have a lot of way to go making improvements. two is one reason we have budgets here, to make sure the focus on education is kept for the budget process. host: senator, about 25% of your budget is spent on medicaid. where does that money go? guest: obviously, it goes to those who need those services. we believe it is an essential service of eminent. the state of alabama is very conservative. we chose not to expand medicaid under the affordable care act. we think it wise to do so.

we are streamlining the medicaid services, making them more efficient. we passed legislation in the state to make that happen. we have worked with people to secure maybe wavers in certain areas to better serve our citizens. we will continue to give that care to our citizens, but we will be fiscally responsible at the same time. when the congress and the president pass & new tax laws, how does that affect your state? what is the process? what happens? guest: obviously, when congress passes a new tax law, especially the recent case of a tax cut, it has been very positive to this state. we followed that up with a tax cut of our own that was just passed out of the senate two weeks ago and will go to the house. as a mentioned earlier, we have more revenue in the state. we want to show our citizens that when we have excess funds, we return what we can. we don't want to overtax our citizens. it has had a very positive

effect from washington's move, and now the state has had its own tax cut, our economy is under 4% unemployment. we want to keep moving in that direction, and we think giving dollars to people to spend helps do that. host: you mentioned the economy a couple of times. is economicates do incentives for businesses to relocate to their state. we are all familiar with what is going on with amazon right now. do those work? are they cost is economic incentives for businesses to effective, to offer economic incentives to corporations? guest: you know, alabama is very pro-business. we have been offering these economic incentives. we go a step further in that we come back three years after the fact and automatically review these incentives. at the end of the day, there has to be a net economic game to the state of alabama. if you give those incentives, that is great. get industries here. that we have to see a net gain in tax revenue for the people working at those facilities or taxes paid into the state for

those facilities. we do not just to the incentives. we follow up to make sure it is a good deal for the state. host: 202 is the area code if you want to participate in our conversation with senator delho: murray. we will begin taking those calls in just a minute. , when an issue like immigration is being debated in washington, how much say so does the state have over immigration policies in its own state? little.ou know, very however, alabama, some years ago, passed immigration legislation. it was a way to say to the national government, do something about this. this is a problem affecting all of the states. we don't have control over that as a state. i think sending that message to washington is important, which is why we passed legislation restricting immigration into the

state, to crack down on it, knowing the federal government ultimately has the upper hand in all those issues. host: about a third of alabama's budget, and this is typical of states across the nation -- about a third of your budget comes from federal revenues. where does that money derived from? -- derive from? guest: we pay into the federal caucus like anybody else. the state of alabama is fortunate. we probably receive more federal dollars back then we actually pay him. federalake those dollars and we use our state dollars to match those to the fullest extent that we can, so we can maximize those programs that benefit everything from those citizens perhaps that for instance need medicaid, or similar projects across the state in cities and towns. federalize the us dollars. we use them very efficiently. point $7 trillion in infrastructure proposed by the president in the state of the

union. where would that money go in alabama? guest: we have a lot of needs and alabama. we have 400 bridges slated for repair and replacement. a lot of our major arteries need repair. we have a very large infrastructure look, looking at everything from ic to roads and bridges, to determine what the future needs of infrastructure in our state are. we will be prepared for that. we realized we may have to look at our own revenue sources that have to match federal funds that may become available. mentioned, $1.7 trillion is a lot of money. alabama wants to make sure we get our fair share of that. if it involves matching funds, we want to make sure we have the dollars to do that. host: mentioned, $1.7 a call frn roanoke, virginia. you are on with state senator dell marsh. caller: senator marsh, i would like to ask you, i know the

impact on our state as far as illegal immigrants. impact onof image -- your state, alabama? guest: sunny, thank you for your call. obviously, in alabama, we have seen a rise in those perhaps immigrants here. hard again, it is a process to determine who is here legally and illegally. you want to make sure -- listen, i want a fair immigration process. i think the federal government can come up with one. my mother came to this hard process to determine who is here legally and illegally. country with her family as an immigrant. i think we as a country want to welcome that. but at the same time, follow the process. it is detrimental and we have citizens that work here, pay taxes, looking for opportunities, and if those are taken away because there are illegals in the state, that is not right. we have to solve this problem, and i hope the federal government will do so. host: we have mentioned you are the senate president pro tem.

what does that entail, and what are some of your legislative duties? i like a smooth working body. we have had one. strangely enough, last year, the governor stepped down. we had no process in our state to elect a lieutenant governor midterm. therefore, i have resumed the duties of both the lieutenant governor and the pro tem. it has been interesting, because generally i worked the floor of the senate, and when there are problems i sit in the chair. you will find the relinquishing that chair to one of my counterparts and working the floor. that is my job, to keep things running smoothly. i have a great relationship with democrats and independents in the chamber. i was elected unanimously to be pro tem, and i never forget that. we serve the people in this

state, and my job to best serve them is to keep that chamber running smoothly. host: senator marsh, do you know doug jones, the new senator? personally know mr. jones. he is from the birmingham area. i was raised there. but i have not met mr. jones -- senator jones, i am sorry. let's hear from dan in glen bernie, maryland. you are on the air. please go ahead. caller: i am calling because i am an immigrant who came here, joined the military, working for the government. my mom is here. i have a sister who is here also. my question is, if someone is illegal and has a child here, i do not think there is any provision that has been made for that illegal parent of the young predicamenthat is a

where i am in a very precarious position right now, where if she has to be deported, what happens son son -- already having to hide just to get a job, to put food on the table. what happens to that little child? it is just heartbreaking at this point. host: thank you, dan. senator marsh, the president talked about family immigration in the state of the union. our previous segment on "washington journal" was about immigration as well. what was the law alabama passed a few years ago that you mentioned is to mark -- mentioned? guest: the law says if you are an employer, you have to take more steps in making sure those you employ our legal citizens in the country. it puts some of that burden on those industries throughout the state. there was little pushback, as you can imagine. everybody takes responsibility, but the law was directed more towards those who are hiring

individuals to make sure they are legal citizens. host: does e-verify work? guest: we think it does. the system has been improved over the years. we rely on that system. yes, we think it works. host: ethel's calling in from montgomery, alabama. hi, ethel. caller: good morning. i wanted to ask the senator hospital funding we have going on, the crisis. what are they going to do to put the money to keep the rural hospitals going? host: thank you, ma'am. senator marsh? ethel, thank you for calling this morning. we understand the importance of rural hospitals. i represent rural areas in the state. we are working with the hospital association, along with the medicaid personnel, to make sure the adequate dollars are there. but we also have to look at this in the big picture. if there are rural hospitals that truly are not serving or do not have the capacity to serve

citizens, in some cases, we will have to close some of those hospitals. i hope it is not many. and maybe move those individuals to hospitals that have the services citizens, that can pror critical care. we understand the need for rural hospitals. the meat should be to serve those and care for those. many times, the argument is that is the biggest employer in the area. it is about jobs. i respect that, but it is really about serving people and taking care of people. that is what we have to do at the end of the day. host: let's hear from bill from leland, mississippi. caller: i want to say i do not believe that 80%, 90% of african-americans, or even are down foriod, daca. when people come to this country, the first piece they come from is the african-american piece of the pie. we built this are down for daca. country, and nobody is focusing on us to have full citizenship, full rights, where we are not being killed,

not being put into the criminal justice system that supports other races, the drug systems, everything. we pay the biggest prize, and we don't get anything out of this. we need to start voting independent and just get rid of all illegal immigration. host: senator marsh? peter, were again, understand this is a problem. i can feel this gentleman's pain. it is externally aggravating to be paying taxes in this state, working here through the years, and possibly lose your job because of someone who is not a citizen of this country. we want a fair system for those wanting to come into this country, but if there is a fair system in place, go through the process. that is all we are asking. the president -- there are a lot of dreamers, and citizens of this country, and we have to look at that first. i think there isthe nothing wrog with looking after your own

citizens first, and that is what we are trying to do, and then have a fair way to people come through this country, but make them go through the process. march -- marsh represent the anniston, alabama area. from your constituents, do you hear about immigration? guest: you know, really, it has not been a big issue there. in my district, we talk about education and workforce development. that has been the challenge in alabama and other states. economy. changing you have to have a higher education level. we are looking very hard at ways to increase that level and offer vocational training even in the high school area, because it is going to be such a demand of these industries coming in. electronics,nces, vocational training are things we are concentrating on. forant to raise the quality our citizens, and you do that by raising the education level, giving more opportunities.

host: i want to ask about two bills going through the legislative process in the state senate right now. you are working on a bill to eliminate special elections. was that in response to doug jones being elected? guest: no, not at all. what that is really in response to -- we have, for whatever reason, several legislators in the past year that have left office, some unfortunately because of deaths, and others leave.e chosen to we are within a year of a general election. we are trying to have a formula by which if it is after a certain couple of time that you do not call a special election. leave. we are within a year of a you go ahead and let it move on to the general election. that is the direction we're headed. it is nothing to do with the outcome of the u.s. senate race. the second one is about eliminating marriage licenses. what is the purpose of that? guest: well, the purpose is just

to make it to where someone can go and get married simply with a certificate, and not have to go through the ceremonial process, if you will. that is all that was about, to expedite the process. there is nothing other than that. literally, you can go in now, sign the paperwork. you don't have to have a probate judge or do a ceremony. you strictly go do the paperwork. from beverly, california. good morning to you. caller: thank you for taking my call. onad a couple of thoughts the daca and bremer situation. i was wondering -- a lot of the dreamers, one of the requirements, one of the things they had to do was, they had to get an education. are all senteople back, who is going to pay for these student loans? i am sure they have family student loans. my other thought was, what about the consideration?

years,someone wait 10 when you have already been through the whole process of being here since you were a child -- what about the thought that everyone has a requirement that you have to do at least three years of military service or something, instead of taking children out of the country that have never lived in another country before? it just does not make sense to do that. host: any further comments about immigration, senator marsh? guest: no, not really. i mean, there again, we as a state have addressed that. we have encouraged the federal government to do the same. we agree it is a problem, and we want it to be resolved. what is frustrating about the federal government, on a state level? guest: you know, i guess sometimes -- there again, i am president pro tem of the senate. sometimes, i question whether the federal government is paying attention to the individual

states, and really how they feel about something. i think that is inherent with most states. -- we proud, in alabama feel we have a good system in place, developing laws. we sometimes feel like washington just does not listen to us. immigration is a perfect example. was probably eight years ago or longer that we passed immigration legislation, and it seems that washington is taking way too much time to deal with this issue that we think is solvable. reasonable people get was probao around the table, solve the problem. in alabama, republicans and democrats, we work well together. we would send a message to washington. at the end of the day, it is about the people of this country. start working together and get the job done. host: let's return to politics very quickly. just roy moore -- what is he doing now? is he still active in republican politics? in your view, did he hurt your party?

i don't think -- guest: i don't think he hurt the party. at the end of the day, the people of this statement the decision and sent a message. i think -- i personally think isdon't thinkthat -- that mr. e finished with politics. and i hope so. i think it is time. we, the state, will move on. it was costly as a republican that we lost the senate seat over this, but i do believe that we will recapture that seat in 2000. host: what brought you into politics five terms ago? know, my background is business. i am still a businessman. i love business. i saw a need many years ago that we did not have representation at the know, my background is business. state level. many things were going on. they used to call alabama tort hell. i came in the legislature in 1998. we have made this a pro-business state. our economy shows that. i am proud of this.

my business background helped me work with others to get that done. so that is what got me in politics, is understanding that you have got to be involved if you are going to solve the problem. i have been involved. i am still a businessman, but i still enjoy politics and moving the state in the right direction. host: has president trump been successful, in your view? guest: i think he has. i will tell you one thing -- i told my friends here. all of us probably wish the president might have had a little political experience under his belt before he went in office. as a businessman, i know when you first get into politics, it is extremely frustrating. president trump came into that, having to learn that political landscape is extremely difficult. i think he has had to do that as he has moved along. the tax cut is huge. that was a huge win for the president. i am hopeful he will have success with the infrastructure plan, as you mentioned earlier. i give him a good grade in his first year, especially when you

consider he had such little experience in the political arena. host: gary, asheville, alabama, hello. caller: hello, good morning. host: please go ahead. for listening.ou the reason i am calling is, there is a severe opioid problem in alabama as well, that you are aware of. and medical marijuana has been such a problem to get through our senate. you have several bills sitting around right now, and you are not doing anything about helping veterans that have ptsd and is sick. there are a lot of steps. i am a native of alabama. in the military, i come back home, and i cannot understand natural thatat is

does not kill anyone is not authorized for people who actually need that stuff just to get along from day to day. natural that does not killit is not addictiv. it is only in the minds of those people that are addicted to everything they put in their mouths. i would like to know what you are going to do about the opioid problem. we need medical marijuana legislation through. thank you. host: senator marsh? guest: of course the opioid problem is big in this state. we have legislation in this session that addresses that. it is out of committee. always,, drugs are unfortunately, a problem in most of our states. we pass legislation to try to deal with that. the gentleman mentioned legalization of certain drugs. we have actually legalized some in casest we feel help with children and serving children. at the same time, when we legalize those drugs, we have to go through one of our medical

universities to approve and monitor. we try to be responsible. we try to pass any kind of legislation dealing with the use a drugs in the state, we are very conservative state. i am not going to tell this gentleman i think we are going to pass any kind of marijuana legalization in this state. i just don't see it. i think a lot of people still believe that our laws dealing with drug use or drugs in this state are fair and adequate. but we will do all we can to address the opioid crisis, which is not only in this state, but many others. it cost theoes state of alabama -- and this is an issue we have brought up in given what it costs the state of alabama? guest: i don't know the exact cost of that. we know it is costly, but an example of that, -- a piece of

legislation we will be giving with today, the giving out of needles to those who have drug problems. a very controversial piece of legislation. it comes down to money. we have four doctors in our chamber and they are split on the issue. there were read if you give them out, it promotes drug use. others say we need to give them out so it will save hundreds of thousands of dollars in future medical costs. they need to be discussed very thoroughly and we are doing that and we do that many times to address the cost of the state, down the road. host: frank is in virginia. caller: how are you? host: we are listening. caller: and we do that many i appreciate the opportunity. we have so much national discussion about the border, immigration problems and mexico but we never stop to compare the problems in mexico with the border in canada. we have no problems with folks crossing the border in canada.

we always have a problem with people crossing in mexico. do we ever sit back and think why do we not have these problems in canada versus mexico and what do we need to do as a nation to solve that issue? i don't think it is so much of keeping people out as we need to be the big brother in this world and help our folks in mexico with their issues so that the mexican community and the hispanic community does not want to crossover. the canadians do not want to cross over and take our jobs. they have a wonderful society there. why can't we work hard to help mexico improve their school systems? a teacher and we know what is going on in that country. they come over here so they can survive. why do we not take that approach out-of-the-box versus the status quo? host: thank you sir. senator march? guest: -- senator marsh? guest: it is not a problem with

--ding jobs in canada, the the president makes a good point. you can send money and offer that but sooner or later, the people of that country have to determine they have to fix things. we can give them aid and help them, but over time, they cannot solve their own problems, so i would encourage -- i am all about helping these countries that are our friends and allies but at the same time, they have to do the work in their own country. host: the last call is gary in kentucky. you are on the air. caller: happy tax break day.

teamster and i the pensionucky and crisis is very serious in this nation and there is a bill that is in front of the senate being reviewed by the finance committee right now. what you might be heading toward in terms of passing something like that. it could be bipartisan. it affects millions of americans. guest: i assume he is referring to a bill in congress. i am a state senator, so i would not know the exact specifics of that legislation. marsh, of thedel alabama state senate, thank you for being our guest.

the bus is parked right outside the state capital in montgomery, alabama and we want to thank our cable partner, spectrum further help. next up is next week in jackson, mississippi. coming up next live, a discussion with russian experts on the next presidential election in the future of the country under president putin ticket leadership. this is being held by the atlantic coverage -- atlantic council. live coverage on c-span.