in the afternoon, fbi director christopher wray will take questions on the budget from members of the senate appropriations panel. c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1970 nine, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. coming up on washington journal, ohio democratic congressman tim ryan will talk about the 2018 midterm elections. then, politico tech reporter john hendel joins to talk more

about the senate vote to restore net neutrality rules. and we are live from bismarck, north dakota for our next stop on our c-span bus 50 capital store. willnor doug bergum discuss some of the issues facing his state. ♪ host: good morning. it is wednesday, may 16, 2018. the senate returns at 9:30 this morning. housemates at 10:00 a.m. for morning hours. you for the next three hours on washington journal. north korea is now threatening to call off the upcoming summit between president trump and kim jong-un. as korean state officials say they would walk away from negotiations unless the u.s. and its allies and their demands that the country dismantle its nuclear program. they also protested ongoing south korean-u.s. military

exercises yesterday. we want to hear what you think this morning. the phone lines are open. .emocrats, (202) 748-8000 republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can also catch up with us on social media. on twitter, @cspanwj. on facebook, facebook.com/cspan. good morning to you. you can start calling it now as we start to talk about the upcoming negotiations the u.s. and north korea and the threats by north korea to pull out of that summit. that story making the front pages of several national newspapers. here is the washington times. north korean leader threatens to cancel summit. that kim jong-un canceled a meeting scheduled for

today with south korea. the story more from the wall street journal. they note that a senior north korean official said yesterday that pyongyang was not interested in a summit meeting with the u.s. that would focus only on denuclearization, accusing washington trying -- of trying to impose on our dignified state the destiny of libya or iraq. in a statement attributed to a foreign ministry official, desireng said it had no to deal away its nuclear weapons for economic desires or benefits . a meeting -- if the u.s. is trying to drive us in to a corner to force our unilateral nuclear abandonment, we will no longer be interested in such dialogue and cannot but you consider our proceeding to that summit. that's according to that foreign ministry official. this came after north korean officials suspended high-level

talks with south korean officials and threatened to call off the summit, noting its objections to military exercises being conducted by the u.s. and south korea. here is the response from the u.s. so far. president trump has not tweeted about this. will continue checking his twitter page this morning. the new york times notes that the white house released a bland statement. we are aware of the south korean 80 a report -- media report. the united states will look at north korea independently and continue to courtney closely with our allies. closely with our allies. the state department spokesperson spoke about the upcoming summit, the threats from north korea, and north serean concerns about tho joint military operations. [video clip] >> kim jong-un has said in the

past that he understands the need and utility of the united intes and korea continuing their exercises. they are legal and planned well in advance. we have not heard anything from that government or the government of south korea to indicate that we would not continue conducting these notcises, or that we would continue planning for our meeting between president trump and kim jong-un next month. >> he didn't tell you anything about -- >> we have no information about that whatsoever. we have to go on what kim jong-un has said before, he understands and appreciates the importance to the united states of having these joint exercises. the republic of korea has as well. we have received no formal or informal notifications of anything. >> so you continue to plan the summit? >> absolutely. we will go ahead and continue to plan the meeting. host: taking your calls this morning, we want to get your reaction. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001.

independents, (202) 748-8002. as you are calling in this morning, more on the joint military exercises and what they mean. we are joined on the phone chief the pentagon bureau with the military times. good morning. explain these exercises and why we do these, and why we guest: are doing and now? guest: -- why we are doing them now? guest: we have been doing them for years at approximately this time each year. they are late because of the olympics, so everything was pushed back on the calendar. it is basically the south korea and the u.s., our largest air exercise. about 1000 u.s. personnel, maybe a little more than 500 south korean personnel flying all types of military fighters and support aircraft. for the u.s., that means our f-18s, our growlers, electronic attack aircraft, and for the

south korean air force, which looks a lot like ours because they have purchased our equipment, it is upgraded models s and f-5s,rs -- f-4 and some f-16s. it is about operate ability -- , and also a show of force in defense of the peninsula. host: are there other exercises that happen as well? we have seen new reports about ground landings and demonstrations of those. this is not that, correct? guest: no, this is not that. this is strictly aerial. this is part of a larger package of exercises that has been going on for the past month. the u.s. and the republic of korea exercise all of the time. the timing of this in preceding

the potential talks on the 12th m angiven ki opportunity to say i do not like this. as we saw this develop yesterday, this has been the most predictable development of this very unusual diplomatic approach to north korea. pompeont trump sent mike to north korea before he was even secretary of state, before he spoke officially for the u.s. government. to have a very high level meeting with mr. kim. it is not clear what senior what detailhere, was there except it was a high level of meeting. in the week sense, you had this dizzying pace of development with of the free prisoners, the agreement to meet, the decision on where to meet. the two sides, typically, when you have this level of high-stakes and the people involved, you have a lot of senior staff in the background

taking trips in advance, working out all the details, developing white papers, developing talking points so neither side goes into this with a surprise. what i think we are seeing is because you are not having those high-level interactions between the u.s. and the north koreans, this is all being worked out in the press. with why move forward these exercises now? was there any thought of postponing them are canceling them? guest: not canceling. i do not think there has ever been a consideration of canceling. they did push them back, and the pentagon would not even really call it postponing, just rescheduling to accommodate the a olympic's, because there was a lot of goodwill coming out of the winterland picks. -- winter olympics. four that weize of have on the peninsula, about 28,000 personnel. they interact with each other and do exercises all of the time. i do not think you will see that change anytime soon. host: was it expected by the

north koreans that these would be happening again after the postponement due to deal of x? olympics? guest: you have seen news that the north korean regime that these exercises "took everybody by surprise." if it took you by surprise, it means either with your diplomatic staff, senior staff, they are not talking to each other. do they goow often near north korean airspace when they do these exercises? guest: they are off the coast. we try to get more details yesterday about exactly where they would be flying, and the pentagon was hesitant to provide any more details. i think you're seeing a general clampdown on any additional information about these exercises or any comments at all. you have not even seen a tweet from the president today. they just want to keep a very

bland, still face forward to get to the 12th. military, all the of the services, even the koreans have been very forthcoming about who is participating, what their goals are. this year, not so much. host: do we know when they are expected to and? guest: the 25th. cobb, thank you for the time this morning. guest: thank you for having me. host: taking your calls this morning, we want to get your thoughts in the statements from north korea yesterday and expected reaction from the u.s. government today and the days to come. gloria is first, maryland, line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span. i am that blind 80-year-old preacher who calls you once in a while. i have no idea why anyone is surprised.

north korea is behaving like north korea. i think it is high time for this country to wake up and realize that we need to be praying for our president. that he becomes a leader, that he becomes a negotiator. no one who would hostage millions of young people who are victims, a hundred thousands of so daca people, no one who would deny the legitimacy to other human beings that was just given to his in-laws. became's parents just legal due to the reunification act, which trump has relabeled chain migration, which does not exist. we need an end to the craziness, and we need someone at the head of this country who knows what he is doing. we need to pray for the president because he is in the white house and god is able to fix something even as broken as

trump. have a good day. host: bob in maryland, independent. go ahead. caller: yeah. kimt of all, i believe jong-un, that the south korean president moon jae-in, kim told moon that he understands the needs for the joint military exercise. hello? host: go ahead. you do not think this should be a surprise? caller: no, not to either side. i think north korea is just tong this as a poor excuse throw a tantrum before the upcoming summit between kim and trump. host: to what purpose do you think, bob? caller: to get more concession out of the u.s. and its allies.

i tell you, in the end i am very pessimistic about the outcome of this whole summit thing and whatever, this hoopla that is going on in south korea and the korean peninsula. at the best, we can just, we'd have to just assume that north korea will end up keeping at least a few if not some nuclear warheads as insurance. scenario we can really expect out of all of this summit. they are not going to give up all of their nuclear weapon stuff. host: got your point, bob. thanks. john, republican. go ahead. will not talk much about the military exercises,

because i think a lot of people are a little confused on that. the north koreans did say they we areood why holding exercises a few months ago. i am more concerned about the problem with john bolton. i have no idea about how in a couple of those interviews he had a week or so ago, he libyaned olivia -- the case. and he mentioned it in a narrow phase of saying well, they denuclearize completely and it was a good solution for north korea, without understanding that everybody knew after that we invaded them twice. there are three countries that -- iraqclearized because we invaded the place, anya because we reached agreement with them and then we invaded, and south africa. it is south african case, the real similarity, because they had nuclear weapons.

they were in the process of a governmental change. nobody invaded the place. if he was going to use an example, that might have been better. libya is just asking for trouble. president add in trump backing out of the nuclear agreement with iran, i am not surprised at all that the north koreans came out with a statement like that. we will have to see if this is a negotiation point or if things are going downhill. host: you bring up john bolton, the president's national security adviser. he was brought up by the north korean foreign minister, who was at the focus of these comments yesterday. mr. kim, a longtime north korean diplomat that has met with north korean dictators and high-level u.s. officials over the years, singled out john bolton and his demands ahead of the planned summit, which included a little yeah -- libya style denuclearization process and the

complete disposal of biological and chemical weapons. theridled remarks provoking other side of dialogue are recklessly made in the u.s. and i am totally disappointed." he was quoted as saying as well "we do not hide our feelings of repugnance toward mr. bolton." matt in pennington, new jersey, independent. go ahead. caller: thank you for answering my call. i want to say that having some kind of precondition before the meeting is realistic. however, you have to consider the special thing for north korea. for example, is complete denuclearization possible before the meeting? i do not think so. it could be considered as part of a strategy, but at the same time, we have to consider that the north korean countryside, the population, and there is no way for the country to defend

themselves against america, forces.ing the military for a certain point, i can understand why north koreans still want to have some kind of nuclear weapons or some type of self-defense. reachs that, even if we the goal of denuclearizing north korea, what about the future? there will be a lot more problems coming down the way. getting a nuclear weapon within a limited time because they have the knowledge and the technology. i do not think that denuclearization is the most important thing before the summit. there might be more ways to negotiate. that is all of my opinion right now. host: more opinion from members of congress. several senators weighing in yesterday. here are a few of their comments from twitter.

fromrkey, a democrat massachusetts, saying don't take the bait, mr. president. u.s. military professionals are training in the region with our mores to be a better and responsible deterrent to north korea then "fire and fury" and other rhetorical bombast. thesey graham talking about meeting of the republican senators at their weekly luncheon yesterday. tweeting "president trump is a leader in peace through strength. president trump gave an excellent overview of our north korean and iran policy, and how he plans to deal with both threats. he is fully committed to koreanarizing the peninsula, and hopes to make it a win-win for north korea and the world at large. also strongly committed to protecting united states interests and the american homeland from a nuclear armed north korea." brian schatz, democrat from

about these ofe elements. "diplomacy is better than war, but this is why offering the presidential meeting up front is unconventional." he also tweeted "let's slow down and use all the expertise at the department of state. we are on a deflategate -- diplomatic path and that is positive, but we will not solve this in one meeting, but we can make it worse." if you tweet from viewers this morning. bring our troops from south korea home. we have done half a century of global policing for you. korea accomplish much more with south korea and played the u.s. the whole time. milo says the only tangible thing that president trump has done with north korea is give ukem a membership to the n club. during your thoughts this morning. democrats, (202) 748-8000.

republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. matt in baltimore, go ahead. caller: hi, this is a 90 vet-year-old world war ii chiming in. i do not think the president is getting nearly enough credit that he deserves for the level of negotiations we are going through. as far as the iran nuclear deal, that was the phony as to thing iest ever came up -- phon thing that ever came up. until -- instead of killing us this year, they have to wait 10 years -- eight years, actually. i also believe someone made a comment, i might have misheard it -- we did not invade north korea. was korea invaded south korea. north vietnam invaded south

vietnam. if it had not been for those actions, there never would have been either of those wars. further, when we were fighting in korea, we were not fighting north koreans. we were fighting chinese. they had chinese pilots filing -- flying russian jets. my friend was with the air force and got himself in their metal medal shooting down three russian jets. to back off and let this president do what he is doing so well, and that is negotiate peace for a long, long time. thank you. steve, maryland, line for republicans. go ahead. caller: yeah. -- kimi kim

jong-un, he might lose some power in north korea. that is just my personal thought. thank you. cincinnati, ohio. line for democrats. go ahead. that 90-year-old gentleman had something to say isre, but to me, china pulling the strings here more than anyone. they are providing north korea again with control of the mol, the press has reported. the visit by the north korean leader, they gave him a lot of gifts, expensive gifts.

sanctions, he did nothing about that. china is not going to help us. just going to play us, and north korea is just going to use the tools they use to get an advantage on us. we are not going to succeed at this at all. thank you. host: we are still waiting for a response directly from president trump, but last week, president trump held one of his rallies. during that rally, he touted the upcoming summit with tim johnson. here is what he had to say last thursday. [video clip] singapore, i will be meeting with kim jong-un to pursue a future peace and security for the world, the whole world. [cheers and applause]

as the relationship is good. but you remember everyone in the fake news, when they were saying he is going to get us into a nuclear war. he is going to get us into a nuclear war. [booing] and you know what? what gets you nuclear wars and what gets you other wars? weakness. [cheers and applause] andhe relationship is good hopefully for all of us, for the world, hopefully something very good is going to happen, and they understand it is very important for them. it is important to everybody. japan, south korea, china, everybody, i think it will be a very big success. my attitude is -- if it isn't, it is not.

if it isn't it isn't, but you have to have that. you do not know. times todayw york in their reporting noting that while president trump has raised expectations for a breakthrough with mr. kim, other officials have tried to strike a more cautious note. in an interview on cbs face the nation, secretary of state mike pompeo, which has met with mr. kim twice, said we have our eyes wide open with respect to the fact that north koreans have not proved worthy of their promises. we are hopeful that this will be different. getting your thoughts this morning. your reaction in the first hour of the washington journal. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. kentucky, line for democrats. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to make a couple of comments in this.

the idea of trying to make a summit with north korea is a good idea and it has not surprised me at all with what has happened in the past couple of days. nor -- the war never stopped ending, it just -- the war never ended, people just stop shooting at each other. another thing to remember as well, they are not an air of country. asian people are different and they are not going to give up their nuclear weapons just on a whim or economic aid. they are not going to lose face. i think there will be a lot of give and take as we go back and forth. thank you for taking my call. greg staying in kentucky, in kentucky. independent. caller: good morning, thank you for c-span. host: go ahead. caller: yes. host: what is your comment? caller: my comments. i would like to go back 27 years

under the william jefferson courtney administration, talking about appeasement, as i recall. madeleine albright went over to north korea, getting a basketball signed. i believeappeasement, that was appeasement and nothing was done. regarding the current dictator's father. now i have seen what i believe is history, when the north's dictator and the south non-dictator came across that dmz. i agree with the previous caller. trump is not getting credit. i did not vote for him, but he is not getting enough credit for what we are seeing, just as other presidents do not get credit for what they have done. thank you. host: herbie in fort washington, maryland. democrats. , go ahead. my point is trump should

have never had bolton. he is a war hawk. it is going to mess up the deal, him hiring that guy. host: why do you think that, herbie? he got us into the vietnam war. trump had a good thing going until he got this guy in here. another thing i want to say, truck does not work for poor people -- trump is not work for poor people, trump works for rich people. georgia, in independent line. caller: thank you kindly. this negotiation with north korea is nothing but a kabuki dance. we the country, the united states of spent more on the military than the next 10 countries combined. i was posted caller. -- are we supposed to crawl up

or of north korea? -- year because of north korea? [inaudible] who said he could have taught al capone a few things. continents,d three al capone only controlled three districts. war is a racket. look how much money we spend on war. whose gdprth korea, is smaller than california. they have half a nuke and we have about 18,000. this is a kabuki dance. gar in georgia. one caller bringing up madeleine albright's efforts at diplomacy with north korea. basketball diplomacy, as it has been referred to in the past. the washington post is talking a little bit about that in the relationship between former nba rodman and north

korea's leaders in recent years. the roots of this relationship extended back to 2000, when madeleine albright, then secretary of state, brought a basketball signed by michael jordan, a teammate of rodman's from the chicago bulls. is one of the first americans believed to have met kim jong-un. pennsylvania, independent line. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i heard the other day that the leader of north korea would like us to scale back our operations in south korea. i do not think that is an unreasonable expectation if we are going to expect the north koreans to scale back and stop their nuclear development.

their weapons redevelopment. i think that we should be willing to scale back our operations in south korea. not right off the bat, but totally vacate our troops from there and be willing as well. i do not think that is an unreasonable expectation from the north. i do not hear a lot about that. i do expect that the u.s. and were proceeding with operations as normal, except on the near term. i would like to hear -- and i'm going to keep listening for what we would like to do to meet in the middle and compromise in the modern world. we seem to be pretty -- have a very strong position with foreign affairs of not being willing to compromise very much with others. i hope that changes, because i think that will do a lot of good and allow other countries and s, you know, others in the

world to regard us as equal in kind of understanding world players. thank you for taking my comments. host: where is the line for you? how much should we be willing to bend? caller: in the immediate term, just say yes, ok. because this is an upcoming summit, it is very important, as planned operation that we have for the very near future, maybe even now, we will postpone that. we will hold back on that to show good faith with this upcoming summit, and eventually, eventually, perhaps when it is a when it isninsula, maybe eventually -- it might take a decade or two to totally vacate and let those people handle their own affairs if it is in the interest of all. that is just my overarching

tome of this, being willing meet in the middle and eventually, you know, because isn't that what donald trump and certain administrations have said? we ought to be saving that money. we should be investing that money on our continent, not on a foreign peninsula in somewhere. host: thank you for your call this morning. more calls on the latest from the north korean peninsula -- the korean peninsula, but we want to bring you the latest on capitol hill. this story from the washington times, gina haspel picked up a key backer yesterday when virginia senator mark warner said he would support her, despite doubts among lawmakers about her past record regarding torture and detention policies in the wake of 9/11. this announcement triggered a

flurry of additional democrats to come out for gina haspel. -- other democratic senators four other emma craddick senators also pledged their support for missiles will. all are on the ballot this fall and all are running in states carried by president trump in 2016. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell moved quickly after this announcement, saying the full senate would consider the confirmation earlier than expected with a vote possibly by the end of the week. we will keep you updated on when that is happening. here are some other updates on events from capitol hill. today, events we will be covering on c-span and the various c-span networks, scott pruitt is back on capitol hill. he will be testifying before the senate appropriations subcommittee about his agency. we will be carrying that on c-span3 at 9:30 today. watch it on

c-span.org and listen on the free c-span radio app. later, fbi director christopher wray will be before the senate appropriations committee. that is airing on c-span3 as well. you can also watch it on c-span.org and listen on the free c-span radio app. one other event you can check out on c-span.org, former camber dental of the cut employee list for wiley will be before the senate judiciary -- cambridge analytica employee, christopher wylie, will be before the senate judiciary committee today. cambridge analytica's finances are said to be the focus of a u.s. inquiry. and theice department fbi are investigating cambridge analytica and the now defunct political data firm, and have sought to question certain employees and banks that handle the business. this is according to an american official and other people familiar with that inquiry. 10:00 this wylie,

morning. back to your calls, the question is about north korea threatening to cancel the upcoming summit. rob in north carolina, independent. like it islooks overcast in north carolina, thank you for taking my call. , and nice tie.t your pennsylvania caller talked about compromise. the north koreans had a few missiles that failed to fire, but they fired them over japan, toward the soviet peninsula, and theyy have a base, are making as much hay out of their program as they can. they turned on president clinton and continued the program after we made some concessions to them. they have a million man army. they still have a standing army howitzers, missiles that

point at south korea, even if they had no nukes. that is why our forces are on the border. if they want us to withdraw our forces, they would withdraw their missiles and howitzers and everything conventionally in their border. that the north koreans are playing the end against the middle. the chinese would like to absorb them and have them come as workers across the river into china, and you know how china -- you have seen the documentaries over the years, how they put workers in factories and let them make about five dollars a day and put them in bunks. the north koreans, their economy has gotten so bad that they were resorting to cannibalism to survive. what we are trying to do is reunify the families from north korea and south korea, the blood

families, and have that piece -- have them at peace with their neighbors to the south and welcome them through south korea, who we have worked with and are a powerhouse. caught someun attitude, he can always count on the chinese to make them his girlfriend and have his people go up there and work for five dollars a day. also, they can claim territorial waters in the south china sea off north korea or 20 miles, 100 miles, and china can make a pact with north korea and they can hover over all commercial shipping through there. i think he has an offer from china in the past few days, and i think that mr. trump -- this is the first president that has ever made the attempt to have a diplomatic relation or talks with the leader, and he is making overtures toward us. let's pray for him and pray for

peace. supportive of past overtures toward north korea? caller: nobody ever met with them. they said they dismantle their program, which they did not. i hate to be cynical and crass about it, but that task site -- test site that is going to be shut down, if they back off 10 or 20 miles, they have one little missiles, we can shut it down for them. it will never work. host: rob on the dismantling of that nuclear site. the wall street journal has a story about that. north korea has begun moving buildings around its nuclear step towardsa dismantling the facility as the regime seeks to build trust with the u.s. after declaring its nuclear arsenal complete. roughly a week before the site

is supposed to be the host of international journalists. images captured on monday showed buildings gone and trucks working in the vicinity. over the weekend, north korea said it would close that facility between may 23 and may 25, collapsing tunnels, blocking entrances, and removing observation facilities. there has been a debate over whether the test site is still usable following the failed test in september. york, democrat line. go ahead. are you with us this morning? caller: how are you doing? you? doing well, how are caller: i am doing pretty well. i want to comment on the president of the ideas -- how are you doing this morning? host: go ahead. caller: i do not think we should back off from north korea.

if they push back the summit, it just shows a lot of weakness within our country. they have yet to comply with anything that we have asked of trump isi think that hea pretty good space, as wants to show that we are not week. host: that is all. a reminder -- that is all. host: a reminder to turn down your tv when you talk on the air. keep calling in. (202) 748-8000 democrats(202) 748-8000, -- democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. we want to update you on some of the primary results from yesterday. roll call is focusing on a key race in pennsylvania. nonprofit executive caret easement support -- karen

-- i'm sorry, this is for nebraska's second district. there were pennsylvania but east manwell, led ashford 51% to 49%. don bacon ran unopposed in the republican primary. bacon unseated ashford in 2016 by one point, while president trump carried the district by two points. of otherad the backing democratic leaders, including his colleagues in congress who donated to his campaign. he has also been added to the red to blue program, which was -- which he was viewed as a stronger challenger to bacon. to pennsylvania, plenty of results out of pennsylvania. the hill newspaper covering that race as well as roll call.

lou barletta is expected to win the gop primary seat. that was called at 9:40 p.m.. he was backed by president trump and the pennsylvania republican party, and defeated jim cristiano tuesday. he has served in the house since 2011 and will now face casey in november. key will be one of the senate races watched as democrats look to take over the senate. seats asave the house well, a focus as democrats look seats in the23 house to secure the speaker's gavel. we will be talking more of the primaries -- about more of the primaries this afternoon, but back to your calls as we discussed the latest development set of north korea.

gary in kansas, independent. go ahead. i cannot see the bully that we call our president dealing with another bully from another country. it does not sound possible. that he can be a positive result , bringing home any good news. gary, how do you think this ends, this negotiation? caller: the same way that things happened in israel. you are dealing with a fireman on one side that is starting a fire, and we have to have somebody who knows how to negotiate. our president does not even listen to his own attorneys in this country. he can't be a gentleman and

sickgize to a very represent him in -- representative of our country. how are you ever going to get anything good out of that? host: you are talking about senator john mccain. we do like to hear from the white house when it comes to senator mccain. caller: of course. all he has to do is be a human, decent man. he wants his name on everything. we do not have any money, we are -- int host: up to our debt up to the top of the bald spot on our heads. all you have to do is look at the other departments. you can see itnd in every single conversation. we need this money. gary in kansas this morning on the issue of the comments made from the white john aide against senator

mccain. the washington post notes that the a -- this is the sixth day that- sixth senators have jumped to the defense of john mccain, as an aid reportedly said "it doesn't matter, he is dying anyway." yesterday, no one brought up the mccain smear, nor the steadfast refusal by the white house to apologize for it. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell received multiple questions about those comments and his thoughts on those comments about john mccain. here are some of the comments and questions he received from the congressional reporters at that stand up after the luncheon yesterday. [video clip] >> does it bother you that there is no announcement from the president staff who insulted one of your senior colleagues, john

mccain, with this morbid joke, and nobody even apologized for it? who said that should apologize, and should apologize publicly. >> to the white house apologize more broadly? [cheers and applause] -- [inaudible] host: if you want to watch that full event after the senate luncheon yesterday, it is available on our website at c-span.org. 10 minutes left in this segment of the washington journal, getting your thoughts on the latest development out of the korean peninsula. richard in north carolina, line for democrats. go ahead. go ahead, richard. i would like to know if anyone has ever heard of the seventh fleet.

okinawa, guam -- kwong, the bases the you nice -- united states have in the south pacific. country thatlittle has a man standing on it with second-rate robins -- weapons to is a big threat to the united states. the one reason the united states is still in north korea is to keep south korea from overtaking north korea, because they do not know what the chinese might you againto stop them -- do to stop them from doing it. and then you have the japanese. the reason they made the treaty with the japanese is because they are interested in the japanese not invading the korean peninsula. host: don in missouri, independent. go ahead. ofler: hi, i wanted to -- course, about korea, we should

just ignore them unless they become, you know, reunite with the south and become democratic. i also want to comment on gina haspel. we cannot, as a nation, turn to torture. we are the united states of america. selfe the senate pulls its -- pulls itself together and votes against going back to the mistakes we made under the bush administration. vote no on gina haspel. thank you. host: don in missouri. you want to give you a few more updates on those primaries yesterday, again focusing on the and.tate of pennsylvania -- pennsylvania, in part because they are operating their congressional elections under a new map. they throughout the old

districting map -- through out -- threw out the old districting map. least oneo add at woman to its all-male delegation in the next congress. plenty of updates still coming in about pennsylvania, but one race you heard a lot about earlier this year, or at least one candidate was rick's accone, a-- rick s republican. there was plenty of outside interest and outside money spent in the special election he took part in. -- issian the gop primary for pennsylvania's 14th congressional district, a victory that puts him in a strong position to win us -- win

a spot in the house of representatives in november. result also deals and other damaging blow to the political career of gop state ccone, whotive rick sa had looked to this primary for redemption after an embarrassing loss in a special election weeks ago. with primaries taking place this primary season, we will keep you updated throughout the season on the washington journal. stick with us. in the meantime, back to your calls on the latest out of the korean peninsula. waiting in sofia, north carolina, democrat. go ahead. caller: i would like to make a comment. i think kim jong-un is playing trump and south korea. and he wants to be president of all of korea, not just the north. this nuclear thing, it is already falling apart, what they

are tearing down is already falling apart. they are not losing anything. kim jong-un is not going to go through all of this trouble all of these years to get the nuclear weapons and just give them up. he is playing trump and playing south korea. i would like to make another comment -- trump just got half china.ion from that does not seem legal to me. that is all i have to say. host: lynn in north carolina. democrats can call (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. .ndependents, (202) 748-8002 a piece from clifford may in the washington times. thatites that the approach president trump has taken to both iran and north korea is different than past presidents.

his harsh rhetoric and tough sanctions appear to have caused kim jong-un to ponder whether his nuclear ambitions in danger rather than fortify his power and longevity. we can be hopeful about upcoming talks, but should mr. kim prove deceptive or intransigent, the president must be prepared to walk away and immediately ratchet up his maximum pressure strategy. couple that with mr. trump's decision last week to withdraw from the iran deal and the logic is plain. mr. trump intends to do what his predecessors promised and failed to do: permanently prevent both from acquiring the capabilities needed to mass murder americans at a time of their choosing. to succeed will require enormous determination, sharply increased economic pressure and a credible threat to use military force as a last resort. if our enemies believe that we are stronger than they are and unwilling to take no for an answer, they are less likely to

us that answer -- assuming they are rational. if they aren't, all the more reason not to permit them to realize their intentions and achieve their ambitions. david and washington, d.c., independent. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to comment on the north korea situation. what a lot of people do not realize is you have two actors. trump and kim jong-un. most of them might seem crazy or irrational, but they are very rational. kim wants to not get overthrown domestically, and he has to balance out a lot of actors. if you count out the 20 plus years of sanctions put on that country and the problems that they have, it is insane to think that they will walk away from this deal. when you consider china as well, you have to think about them. happens, they have millions of refugees coming into china, and china cannot take that right now.

they have problems of their own. roman international perspective, this deal will work out very for the u.s., korean peninsula, and china. i do not see why people are so upset about all of this. host: if you more tweets from our viewers. the united states has no more moral high ground regarding anything. kevin says in the end, the president will suffer a global humiliation at the hands of little rocket man, who will shun any summit. jared in katy, texas, line for independents. go ahead. to make as, i wanted quick comment on the entire political landscape in general. old, i see a lot of your viewers are older than that. if you have not, i encourage you to read the work of jordan bjorn petersen, a

clinical psychologist who has a lot of insight on the world today. stepg back -- taking a back and breathing a little bit, whether you are on the left or the right or you you have -- if you have deep rooted convictions in the state of the world in general. we are americans and we share a commonality, and i think that is forgotten a lot now. i'm a new and. just like being a parent, you children, you use the tough love approach like a conservative or be a little more liberal, but you cannot argue the merits of whether or not we love our kids. the same thing goes for our country. i encourage people to think about that in these conversations, because it can get very heated but you are not seeing the forest for the trees for the most part. genuinely wants the best for our country, i think obama genuinely wanted

that, but we lose sight of that. this jared in texas morning. time for a few more of your calls. if you want to join us, democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. we also wanted to read you some reaction from korean experts interviewed by the new york times in their wrap up of the latest outcomes in the north area and north korea -- in the korean peninsula. they said this pointed to the complexity of negotiations that president trump faces. it lays down a probable marker that exercises will be on the table in negotiations, said a korean scholar at georgetown university. the trump administration had considered him as ambassador to seoul.

scholar saidkins that mr. kim was pulling a page from mr. trump's playbook. it is probably them acting like north koreans after being pussycats during january. acting like tough guys like trump, saying he would walk out of the summit if he did not like the deal. christopher hill, who negotiated with north korea during the george w. bush administration, said it was possible that the threat was more serious. the north, he noted, has a history of insulting the south, and normally the united it comes to the defense of its ally. crystal in north carolina, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say that some of the democrat people that are calling in, i think they are anti-american. when obama was president, i did not vote for him, but i was behind him because he is our president. i believe that he was acting in the best interest of our country

and i trust our president trump to do what is right with north korea. i do not think he is being played. i think he is trying to make a deal and he is waiting for the other side to react so he can react. i think all of this anti-trump business needs to stop and we need to unite as americans and get behind him. some of these people seem like they are on north korea's side, and they are americans calling in. it is crazy to me. that is pretty much what i want to say. before you go, define being american and being anti-american? do not think it is a good idea to get on a national line and talk bad about our country. i really think that is a bad idea. i think that we should unite and get behind our president. we are solid that

together, because they are watching us. they are listening to everything that we are saying. everything may can get their hands on, they are listening. thisneed to knowhost: our finan segment of this washington journal. here is the lineup for the rest of today's show. coming up next, democratic congressman tim mine of ohio will talk about messaging ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. later, the issue of net neutrality will take center stage in the senate. john hendel will be here to talk about why that is. and then coming up at 9:30 this morning, the c-span bus is in bismarck, north dakota. c-span's 50d 34 on capital tour. we will talk to the north dakota republican governor doug about the issues facing his state.

first, we go to yesterday on capitol hill, legendary motown singer smokey robinson came to congress to urge lawmakers to update copyright music laws. here is a portion of his testimony. >> the hours and effort that went into writing, recording, producing something that will truly make an impact on the world for generations to come. i wish for you all to share in that experience here to be creators of something innovative , constructive, and enduring. something that will make a profound difference in the lives of so many. the music modernization act will make that difference. thank you for making it a reality, and i really appreciate everyone who is here, and all of you senators who are supporting this particular act, this particular subject, because it is very important. it would be like if you went to

the grocery store or the supermarket and the owner was there and you said, i am going to get groceries from you for the next 10 years but i'm not going to pay you. it is the same thing. ,hen people do things or create create a business to make a living for themselves, they should be compensated or that. the music business is no different than that. if we stop paying people -- because it is only music -- it is ludicrous. their time and effort and creativity went into creating this music that people are getting pleasure from and listening to and having forever and ever. there should not be a time limit on that. people are going to be creating music forever. those who have created it in the past should not be not compensated for their works because it was prior to 1972. i appreciate you being here.

washington journal continues. tim ryan isssman back at our desk, a democrat representing ohio's 13th district. i want to begin with last week's primaries in the buckeye state, seven other states having primaries in the last eight days. since then, what are you taking from the results, anything we should read into election 2018? guest: we saw a lot in ohio, women winning. a good majority of the races in ohio we had women coming out of democratic primaries will be running for congress, which i think is a great thing. i think we saw a little bit of that last night as well in pennsylvania. things are starting to firm up for the fall. should be an exciting few months. host: is ohio still a purple state? guest: no question about it. what is happening in washington, d.c., we have a lot of

corruption scandals in the state of ohio, a huge republican primary that got pretty agree, a lot of people running away from john kasich command dragging him through the mud in the primary, which opens up the field for richard cordray, our democratic and thefor governor slate of candidates running behind him. host: coming back your definition of purple state. democrats have four of 16 house seats. donald trump won by eight points in 2016. ohio has had a republican governor for all of four years since 1991. how do you define it as a purple state? guest: barack obama won their twice, sherrod brown, twice. when we stay on message in ohio, we talk about the bread-and-butter kitchen table issues that all families are facing, we win elections. that is why sherrod brown won twice, barack obama won twice.

it's been convenient. for the republicans that have always one in the years before redistricting. they control the redistricting panel for the last 30 years really. the last three big cycles after census. they have control that and havee been able to gerrymander both the congressional seats and the state legislative seats. host: that bread and butter message you talk about, is that only a message democrats can use

in ohio that bread and butter message you talk about, is that only a message democrats can use in ohio, is that something we should be using nationwide if democrats want to win? guest:we need to speak directlyo that uncertainty. that goes to health care, college affordability, work force development. so much anxiety today and the president throws gas on it, which is as an opportunity in the fall. host: we would you direct democratic leaders to deliver that message? guest: i don't think we are quite there yet. our candidates are. at the local level, they are focusing on these bread-and-butter issues. it has been very localized. , a young,h conor lamb newbie to politics, running a terrific race. he stayed on message, stayed disciplined, focused on the issues that were central to the won.rn pa district, and he he was talking about pensions, wages, was not afraid to say the word union, how important they are to build the strength of the middle class. he state so focused and disciplined. i think we have the antitrust

sentiment which has energized our base. our candidates are coming in with issues very connected to the local community. host: is that unusual, for candidates to be ahead of national party leaders? being on message? guest: the national leadership -- we are saying the right things, i just don't know if we are highlighting them if we enough. but this is what happens when you're in the minority party. in such a big way. you get a lot of your intelligence, new ideas, your messaging from the candidates who are running out in the countryside. that is what we are seeing happen now. a lot of these candidates are doing a great job. host: should democratic leaders talk about impeachment? guest: i think we just have to let this play out. in ohio, in a lot of these other congressional races, then that is the number one issue. that is a focus on president trump.

we lost the last election and where we are as a party right now, we have not talked directly to the american people. these issues with trump are accountsoubling on all , including the $500 million the chinese government for a development project he is participating in. the meetings in the white house that days later his family members are getting huge loans. deeply troubling. the rush investigation, deeply troubling. it's important we stay focused on that in the congress stays focused on that. what you should vote for us, it needs to be focused on what are the families focused on in ohio, what are they thinking out -- about at the kitchen table? we need to be talking about that. democrat from, ohio here until about 8:30 this morning. .emocrats (202) 748-8000

republicans (202) 748-8001. independent (202) 748-8002. we have talked before about your run against nancy pelosi for party leader. if democrats win the 23 seats needed to take back the house, should she be the speaker of the house? guest: that is a conversation that i think we should have following the days after the election. i hope that is an issue that we have to talk about, that we are in the majority. i think it is best for us not to have some kind of internal bodywork over who is in leadership. we had that discussion a year and a half ago or so. my position on that has not changed. now it is about rallying the troops and getting the dynamic candidates we have across the country elected. host: let's talk about your position of leadership. madee past year you have two trips to iowa, three trips to new hampshire, one trip to south carolina -- very important

primary caucus states. why? guest: i want to be a part of the national discussion happening now. we have congressional races in those states that are very important. i think if we get the majority, we have to pick up a seat in new hampshire, the opportunity to pick up a couple in iowa, including steve king's seat. a couple seats in south carolina. indiana, west to virginia, kentucky as well. it is not just those states but those are important states. it's an opportunity for me to shape the national message, which i think is important. host: your next-door neighbor, pennsylvania also an important state. the president tweeting about pennsylvania and the senate race. congratulations to lou barletta, he will be a great senator and will represent his people well, like the have not been represented in many years. of mine and ad special guy and will help to

make america great again. any reaction? barletta is a mr. nice guy but he is clearly a part of the republican establishment here in washington, d.c., voted with the republicans, in lockstep with president trump. i don't think that will be good for him as he moves into the fall. host: peter is in lakeland, florida. independent. you are on tim ryan. caller: good morning. i am on the independent line. for 30 years, i was a diehard democrat. know,just want to let you as i see the democratic party right now, it is like a seinfeld show, a party about nothing. it works for its donors and not as voters. would you tell me how you feel about medicare for all americans , $15 minimum wage, and why do democrats always vote for these

bloated defense budgets year after year? we are $700 billion-plus and there is no money at home. i am alet me first say supporter of medicare for all. i think one of the most important thing we can do right now given the fierce competition we are in globally, in the global economic system, with china, with a lot of other countries, is get this health care burden away from the american businesses. the beste is one of ways to allow them to free up the capital to reinvest back into their companies and i get new machinery to do new research , to train their workforce. every business person i talked to,nd every union i talk the number one issue they spend the most time, money, and energy on is figuring out health care. givescare for all program them the opportunity to focus on what they should be doing,

growing jobs, raising wages, providing economic security that work for them in the communities they are in. medicare for all gives them the opportunity to do that. we have to good healthy in the country. in the next year, half of the country will have diabetes or prediabetes. high blood pressure. asspent 2.5 times as much every industrialized country in the world on health care and we get the rest -- worst results. that is a broken system. $15 minimum wage i support. as a party, we focus too much on that being our economic plan. plan,s not an economic that is a social justice issue. we need to start talking about 30, 40, $50 an hour. a number of americans are caught between poverty and the

middle class. we are noteed to say just talking about $15 an hour, solid talking about soli middle-class jobs. lastly, as far as democratic messaging, i think we can be hostile as a party and country to monopolies. i think we can be hostile to the concentration of wealth. should be hostile to a system that creates this much inequality. but we cannot be hostile to capitalism. we cannot be hostile to the free market. in youngstown, ohio, i need private sector people, rick vickers to come into my community and higher my people. it cannot be just straight government. we as democrats need to growth,te the idea of investment, and of the people who did take the risk. it doesn't mean that you pander to corporations, and you should be hard on them, top on to beat

to fail, and all the rest, we need those regulations in place. but at the same time, if we are going to bring the country together, our party needs to be appreciative of rome the economy and private sector. host: ronald is a democrat in hyattsville, maryland. caller: how are you doing? guest: great. caller: i have heard you speak about a whole gamut of strategies we need to take. i am in total agreement of you. soive in washington, d.c. i'm not in ohio. n.am a black ma when i go out to work, i am working for my family, for everything i believe in.

to speak ill of people but i will say this anyway. the trump administration is trying to hold me back. do you have any suggestions for me? host: hold you back in what way, ronald? caller: upper mobility, from getting the jobs i want, from , like ane to fluctuate average white person would with a job. you go to work, you are fine, you pay your taxes, and that's it. stuff to gouch through on my and -- end, it is just unbelievable. andt: let me say first foremost, there was a study that came out a few weeks ago that highlights this fact. basically, it said, a young, black kid that lives next door

to a young, white kid of the same age, same neighborhood, same state, same country with the same economic indicators, even middle-class, that the african-american will still have less of an opportunity to succeed and to be presented with the same opportunities as the white kid. there is still inherent discrimination in many of our systems including our economic system. what this gentleman talk about is right. and economic growth initiative is not enough. even if the economy is growing, there is still this inherent racism in some instances that have been built into the system that we have yet to figure out how to fix. i think we know how to fix it, it is in the criminal justice system as well. this has to be an issue for us that we have to deal with, or we are not going to reach our full potential, or all of our kids will be able to get on the field

playing for the united states of america. host: how do you have that conversation in the campaign setting alongside all of these other issues you have highlighted? guest: what is the purpose of the united states, what is the purpose of the government? to create opportunity for anybody that wants to work hard and play by the rules. we're all in agreement there. if you want to work hard and get ahead for you, your family, your own personal dignity come you should have that opportunity. the problem is that opportunity is not presented to certain people of color for a variety of reasons. it fits into the broader narrative of how we create opportunity. thisther issue is this investment into our communities has had an adverse affect, disproportionate on communities of colors as well. a 2.3 chilean dollars tax cut that went primarily to the wealthiest 5%, 10% of the people in the country is starving the

programs we need to reinvest in places like youngstown, warren, akron. passed theends who tax cuts in the republican party are saying we don't have any money. so here is the debate we will have in the fall. do you think a $2.3 trillion tax cut is the backs -- best thing to do for working-class people? do you think is a good idea that we borrow a lot of that money from china and are paying china the interest from that money, and we see what they are doing cyber, oneines, built, one road initiative, pushing them out further from europe into asia. or do you agree with the democrats who are saying we think tax cuts need to be more for the middle class, we need to increase taxes on the wealthiest , the people who have been burning -- earning all the money, where the concentration of will is, and we take that

money and rebuild the united states, rebuild our military, we make education more affordable, we ramp up our research and development that we need to do in order to be the world leader in wind, solar, additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, all of these growing and emerging sectors of the economy. president trump and his administration have done triple down on trickle-down economics. they are talking about coal jobs. jobs in the30,000 coal industry in the last 10 years. here is what we say to coal miners in west virginia, down in some of the southern states. we say to them, do you want to double down on the last 10 years where you lost 30,000 jobs, losing your pension, and go with the republicans? or do you want to go with the democrats who are trying to secure your pension, appreciative of the work you have done, and have a plan to

put you in front of a tidal wave coming in and win, solar, and other areas where you can have a good middle-class job with a good pension and retirement? tot: a lot of people want talk to you. kevin is in ellicott city, maryland. democrat. kevin, are you with us? caller: i'm here. your last point was really important. the problem with the democrats -- and i've been a lifelong democrat. we never have a plan. the republicans are the best at politics because they have the five ways to fix this or that. if democrats could come up with some strategic plans on how to fix health care, improve obamacare, how to improve middle-class wages -- we are not good at politics. democrats are so that this, it is not about trump, not about republicans, it is about democrats and our values. you have to sit down and come up

with plans and introduce them. do what paul ryan does and talk about how you are going to fix things step-by-step and stop talking about things that people cannot connect to. guest: i think that's exactly right. we are moving into a post trum world in some sense, even though he is still in, people are going to want you to tell them what you're going to do, you are going to come up with a plan. it will not be necessarily short term. going to openare the coal mines, steel mills, like waving a magic wand. it does not work that way. host: vincent is in massachusetts. my name is risen from boston, massachusetts. i am 100% behind donald trump. he is the best president this country has ever had. he is trying to undo the damage that the democrat did with the

kennedys in the 1960's. you know what is going on right now? north korea, russia, and. are planning an attack on israel. they plan to put the focus on north korea while in iran and russia are planning an attack on israel. host: how do you know that? caller: donald trump knows what is going on! the world knows what is going on! caller: i have never heard iybody with that -- guest: had never heard anybody with that accent talk bad about the kennedys. question is very simple. i am in steve shepard its district, i call on a regular basis. i ask him, and i will ask you the same thing. when you took your oath of office of office, did you put your hand on the bible and swear that you would uphold the constitution? guest: yes, we did. caller: then why hasn't the republican party, because they are in the majority, gone by

constitutional law? i ask them, and i ask you the same thing. we have constitutional law, we ine rule of law, and we had this country a high moral standard. we treated our brother kindly, even if we disagreed with him, we could sit down and have a civil conversation. in what way are republicans not acting constitutionally? caller: we have a president who made a half $1 billion over the weekend. we have emoluments clause is. why hasn't the republican party done some thing to stop that? that is constitutional. if you want me to continue, john, i will. as an american, i am tired of this man breaking law after law after law and the republican party, because they have been castrated, will not hold up the

law that they have taken an oath of office that they would uphold. host: got your point, catherine. guest: i agree. i think we have seen that from the middle of the campaign, the summer before the election. a lot of republicans jumping in bed with president trump. the congress has been complicit --h their investigations really soft pedal the president and the administration. the mueller investigation is getting added. we have to be patient about it. but you see david brooks, george will, others who are republicans talking about trump in the same fashion, that he had denigrated the office. things -- north korea, syria, what is going on in iran, china, all of these issues. we have 87 positions in the state department unfilled.

we do not have an ambassador to south korea. what are we talking about here? this is the united states of america. we have this hick up with north korea. was anybody there may be to tell the president that maybe this should not happen? host: you mentioned china, some criticism from you in the wake of one of the president's tweets about chinese can telecommunications companies, calling his china first policy? guest: it was recommended to the united states that this particular chinese company was operating in bad faith. they were spying on the united states, they were selling technology to the north koreans that they should not have been doing. our sanctions were going to bankrupt this company. -- you wanta sudden to be tough on china and their spying on us, all of these negative things, selling us

technology -- selling technology to north korea. you have to be very firm with them. instead, the president of the united states backpedals and says they are going to lose too many jobs in china. we are losing jobs in northeast ohio and we don't hear about some national initiative saying how he will help all of these people, the people that make $40,000 or less a year in the country. then you find out, as the one woman said earlier, there is potentially a half million dollars in chinese investment into a project where donald trump has his personal investments. what the hell are we talking about here? this is the president of the united states. he said he would get out of the business dealings. we still have not seen his taxes. i don't know if this will expand the investigation or not but it sounds like the president is trading favors from the united states to china, so that he can benefit personally.

that is not why we are here. host: back to massachusetts, republican line. backup, good morning. say, first of to all, i'm a little disappointed in c-span. i listen every morning. that thesehe fact , youe call in and they say are not hearing people, you are shutting people off. my feeling is that you allow people to talk on different subjects and i respect that. but the person that you have on this, you are not hearing people, you are shutting people morning, you ar- comes across as trying to say what the democratic party is all about four elections, elections coming up, and everything else. i'm a little disappointed in that. but what i want to say to the guest is, he made a comment that

he supported medicare for all. i would like to know if you knows anybody that is on that is their, insurance, they don't have any other insurance, because every $507 nowsenior days toward medicare. medicare does not cover everything. host: congressman? i'm not sure what the question is but any expansion of the medicare program he to make sure the integrity of the original medicare program is left intact. this is about making sure that our seniors -- not only our seniors have access to affordable health care, even expanded health care -- but making sure that people who are not necessarily in the age

category yet to get medicare have health care, too. we have a lot of people in communities across the country that are 45, 50 years old i don't have access to health care , or any kind of quality health care. affordable care act, we try to make sure that everybody has coverage. republicans have repealed that. we can do this as a country, cover everybody was good, quality, affordable health care. we can do this. other countries do it. we can do it in maybe a uniquely american way, but there is no way in this country with the kind of wealth we have, that people should not be getting the whole care they deserve. host: did not want you to go without asking you about your work on the appropriations committee. the ranking member that oversees funding for congress. 500 --s it cost nearly $5 billion a year to keep congress running? guest: our particular bill covers a lot.

we cover everything that happens at the capital, capital police, security initiatives, library of congress, the architect of the capitol to keep the ground running, all the staff that works on capitol hill. it is its own community. it will take some funding. it is, by far, the smallest appropriations bill in the last two years. the government accountability office, which does all the accounting, auditing of government programs, which is an essential function. house administration, how do you administer the thousands of employees here? it is an essential function. we are the united states of america. it should be properly administered. staff here has made huge sacrifices without getting pay raises for a long time, living in one of the most expensive cities. if you want to retain talent to

the legislative process, in the most powerful democracy in the world, i think it is a small price to pay. pay raise for a members of congress or staffers in this appropriations bill? is no pay raise for members of congress, which is maybe the ninth or 10th year for members of congress. there is a small increase in the amount that each member gets for staff. then they can determine pay raises and staff sizes based on that. each member makes the determination. host: tim ryan from ohio, democrat, thank you for being here. up next, we will tackle the issue of net neutrality. tech reporter john hendel of political will join us for a preview of some action in the senate today. later this morning, the c-span bus is in north dakota's capital city of bismarck, stop number

34. there is a live shot of the bus at the state capital. we will talk to north korea dakota governor doug burgum -- north dakota governor doug burgum about the issues facing his state. sunday on q&a, university of virginia history professor william hitchcock on his book the age of eisenhower, america, and the world in the 1950's. >> i call it the disciplined presidency. eisenhower, in a way that he carried himself, was a disciplined manner, a great athlete when he was young, and organized man, very methodical. that is how he ran the white house, too. extremely organized. the future president john stodgy criticized his and as for being so organized and predictable.

but for eisenhower, it meant that when crises came, he had a plan, he knew how to respond, who to turn to. plans are say worthless but planning is everything. you are always thinking, what is over the hill, what crisis might corrupt? he was very systematic in the way that he functioned. he met the press, leaders every week, he chaired the national security council every week. he had his thumb on the government. he trusted the process. he believed the federal government could work well if it was well led. at 8:00sunday night eastern on c-span. sunday nine on afterwards, barbara ehrenreich with her book national causes, which explores how the body eases and dies. she is interviewed by new york times science reporter natalie angier. is one of the draws of

being old, passing the torch, taking what you know, have done, accomplished, or want done, and passing it on to young hands. sunday night at 9:00 eastern on c-span2's booktv. washington journal continues. host: john hendel is a tech reporter for politico, focusing on congress and the federal communications commission, joins us ahead of a senate vote today aimed at saving that neutrality rules. first explain what we mean when we talk about net neutrality. guest: this is the concept that the broadband internet service providers should not block or throttle people's internet traffic. preventing them from getting in the way of how we experience the internet, where we go, how we do that, preventing disruption of

packages that you can go to. host: how would a tiered service work? guest: some of the companies have looked at that in the past. i know there was an issue with torrent throttling bit years ago, but that has not really played out. it is more of a fear. host: possibly in part because the obama administration treated some rules under their sec under net neutrality. today's vote is about reviving those rules. guest: they did a few things. they prevented any companies from blocking any websites, throttling traffic, slowing it down for consumers. the obama administration took a couple passes at greeting those rules. they passed some in 2010 which were struck down by the court even these rules were passed in 2015. those were upheld in court but

ultimately the fcc under the trump administration repealed those last december. this is senate democrats chance to bring them back. eye for the midterms, one of the things to keep in mind on the boat. pai: fcc commissioner ajit was on the sec when those rules were first developed during the obama administration. what was his role then, explain his role now. guest: when they were first passed, he was adamant opponent of the rules. he said they were developed in secret, opposed the types of communications law they relied on, said it was really meant more for 1930's telephone monopoly systems. there,s the background where he constantly railed against them. then at the beginning of the trump administration, president trump elevated him to chairman, which gave him a chance to take those down. that was an enormous proceeding last year. more than 20 million comments to the fcc, a high-profile vote,

finally repeal them on a partyline vote. host: how do democrats who are not in control of the senate been able to force a vote today on reviving obama era fcc rules? guest: it is kind of interesting. under the congressional review act. for many years this was a tool hardly ever used in congress. it let capitol hill taken aim at regulation that has been recently passed. the trump administration used this several times early on working with congress to repeal several of the obama administration regulations. in this case, democrats are looking at something the trump administration has done, the fcc repeal of net neutrality. they have a limited window of time where they can pose a vote on the floor with only 30 senators. they have 50 backing it right because itis unusual does allow the democrats to take the reins on this one. host: we will talk about the

prospects of that vote today as we talk with john hendel of politico about this net neutrality vote. if you want to join in on the conversation, democrats (202) 748-8000. republicans (202) 748-8001. (202) 748-8002. for independents. here is some democratic senators trying to build support through their twitter pages for this vote happening today. ron wyden with a tweet yesterday. the internet does not belong to big cable, ajit pai, and donald trump. make your voices heard to support our resolution that supports real net neutrality. ed markey of massachusetts saying just like water and electricity, you cannot live without broadband in the 21st century. we should treat it like a utility. that vote happening today. what is the outlook for that vote? guest: right now it looks poised to pass, but that is on the

account of the absence of john mccain. requires 50e cra votes to pass. normally a simple majority of 51. with one senator absent or health reasons, that gives them enough to pass right now. they have the democratic caucus united behind it, 49 members. susan collins is the one republican who says she will back the measure. she does not think it's perfect, would prefer that congress work on bipartisan legislation to work on the rules, but at the end of the day, she says this is better than nothing. we need some rules in place, and this is a way to do it. the question is whether any other republicans will join them. host: who are you watching, if somebody does? guest: senator john kennedy has been devoted to following this asue, has said, even recently as yesterday, that he is undecided on this.

he has gone to the congressional research service come asking for briefings. a lot of people are looking at him. net neutrality advocates have targeted him, have held rallies, bands to hiseast offices in new orleans, trying to make this real for him. the other person to watch is senator lisa murkowski. not always got along with her colleagues in the republican conference. as recently as yesterday was also undecided. last week her office said she had no firm stance on this, we would prefer legislation, but she seems open. yesterday she said not ready to speak on that. those are the two to watch, which would make for a bigger victory for senate democrats going into the house about, if they have enough backing. host: does lisa murkowski's electability has something to do with being from the state of alaska? think so.

there has been a struggle to get broadband service in lots of parts of alaska. it has been out of the mainstream when it comes to the policy issues. i think the state senate in alaska at passed some sort of resolution pushing her to support some of this. pressure back home for her. i think that does have something to do with it. it is always different for telecom policy in alaska, given the struggles they have there, given the remoteness and connectivity is that much harder to achieve in alaska. host: how long have you covered telecom policy? guest: about six years now, hard to believe. host: with us until about 9:00 taking your questions. centreville, virginia. for independents. i started an internet service provider company in 1995, also a subject matter expert. i had a question regarding a, the gentleman made regarding the

need for net neutrality. why was it so adamant that democrats want this net neutrality rule when the evidence seem to support the fact that there were no until it wasfor it perceived to be needed now? is a great question. this debate has been partly whether the rules are needed or not. you had manygo, republicans on capitol hill and industry saying you didn't need any regulations in place to protect consumers in this regard. they pointed to the federal trade commission, different ways that that agency could come into play, prevent anticompetitive behavior. again, it was considered a solution in search of a problem back then. since then, consumers have looked at any number of instances that have popped up and that has led democrats to say the rules are necessary, and that is part of the debate we are seeing now. what should government's role be over the internet?

i think you see many republicans who would be ok with no rules or with the version the fcc is proposing now, which is broadband providers file transparency reports with the fcc and then have the federal trade commission job and if there are problems in the marketplace. that is a great point. stephen moore, a former advisor to the trump campaign, columnist for the washington times. and half ago, he writes, net neutrality rule do not broaden access to new, powerful and high-speed internet services . when these regulations were enforced, the reduced investment. of broadband cables, wireless, and other technologies for internet services, the best way to ensure affordable prices is free market competition. that it shall he means slower and rest lara libel -- less reliable services. guest: i think you have seen that argument a lot, especially from those on the right, that

this would potentially be government intrusion, and ultimately would hurt the marketplace. you see a lot of debate over the broadband investment side of things, what the rules did to investment, whether that would harm that. you see many republicans on capitol hill -- they have told me they look at these regulations put in place in 2015, and they think it will prevent more people in the u.s. from getting internet access. companies will not want to invest when you have what they see as heavy-handed regulations in place. host: dennis in texas. republican. go ahead. i like your first caller who was asking you, what is the reason even behind the need, the perceived need for the act? one of the first things he mentioned was there was no particular issues that would cause you to think that we need it right now other than this

perceived idea that somewhere in the future there would be an impact. when you have something titled net neutrality, i think of the affordable care act, where my insurance went from $7,200 a year -- hard to believe but i just filed a few years ago. those0 as one of particular self-employed individuals in the market. the fairness doctrine, which democrats are trying to get day ofed, which in the cable tv, would be the opposite of being fair. now we have this thing called net neutrality, which is looking to -- a problem to solve. in the meantime, we have years of the date. how many millions of dollars spent? you have the big providers that some don't seem to mind, which they wouldn't mind. the big guys don't mind

government stuff because it serves as berries of entry for the smaller guys trying to get a foot in the door. in a day where i cannot imagine how the government and almond in this is going to improve ultimately availability, speed, access -- think of it in terms of the post office. the federal government is providing this postal service where they are required to serve each the and cranny with a particular kind of service. look at the deficit and the problems in that. . cannot possibly imagine at least at this time, this is something to be doing. host: thanks for the call. guest: i think the comparison to obamacare was interesting. you had some folks making that directly on capitol hill, when the rules were first pass in 2015. ted cruz called net neutrality obamacare for the internet. some of those concerns speak to what folks fear about these rules. they were passed under a certain part of give indications law

that was seen as maybe not appropriate for that. you had a lot of democratic lawmakers and fcc commissioner's say it could be tailored to the internet age, but that is part of the debate, in terms of what the marketplace should be. this,ms of the need for republicans on capitol hill have come around on that, too. fearing the rules coming into place, they proactively proposed legislation that would have many of the same rules as the order, prevent internet providers from blocking websites, throttling traffic, doing all of those things. you did see quite a shift in that way where republicans and democrats essentially agree on the need for some kind of rules and protections. host: i want to circle back to ed markey's tweet when he said we should treat the internet like a utility. we hear that term a lot. what would that mean in practice? guest: he could be referring to the part of the communications law it is under. right now it has been regulated for the last three years as a

common carrier title ii company. title ii of the communications act. thatis the part of a law was devoted to regulating monopoly phone service. that is one talking point that you keep hearing from republicans on capitol hill. they will say that has no business being a part of the law that oversees the internet. the many years before that, it was regulated under a different burdens, otherr parts of the law that apply to it. that is part of the debate. which legal statute do you need to craft rules like this? you had earlier rules struck down in court based on the earlier statute. that has been where some of the debate is, in terms of what it does or consumers, rules. host: john hendel is a tech reporter with politico. with us for the next 10 minutes. democrats (202) 748-8000. republicans (202) 748-8001. independent (202) 748-8002.

steve in phoenix. thank you for waiting. caller: my question is, why does it seem that the republicans are ?gainst equality net neutrality is kind of inequality. so is the me to movement and women's equal pay. i couldn't help but notice a common theme there. any thoughts? guest: it is interesting. you see many people framing it as an equality issue, that this is an important set of regulations that helps people online, keeps people safe in terms of mobilizing in that way. that has been a part of it. democrats constantly talk about why this may be helpful and necessary for small businesses, any number of important consumer activities. important for millennials. they constantly referred to that, and that is part of the midterm play. why republicans are

not necessarily for this, i think it goes back to business, what they think will happen to broadband investment. they look at where the companies are coming down on this, they had united in opposition to the measure the senate is going on today. , theyamber of commerce can count some of the broadband companies as their members, and this is a higher alert vote, caution to vote against it. host: what time is this vote expected to take place today? guest: an initial proceed to vote around noon, and then 3:00 is when final vote for president will happen. way: considering a unique to the floor, any unique rules that apply, can it be amended as it goes? guest: there is no real possibility for amendment in this case. you will see many senate democrats talking pretty dramatically about how without this you may see the end of the internet, things slow down.

that has been part of the real debate you have seen over the last two weeks. some of the tweets you read speak in dire terms about what could happen if we don't have rules in place. currently, the rules themselves, despite the vote for the repeal of the rule, are still in effect through june 11. we have those right now and democrats want you to believe the worst about what will happen if we don't have them. republicans meanwhile don't think it will be that bad. had said a lot of this is a rhetorical act, that a lot of people were tweeting, one word at a time to show the slowness of the internet. he also said he does not think it would be a big change for customers internet experience. host: the wall street journal taking up this issue. editorial today by saying, all of this is for political show because the house is unlikely to take up the measure. mr. trump, we hope, with that

undermine his appointees in important reforms. but remember this stuff when mr. pai's rules exist and the internet does not cease to exist. guest: the numbers are looking pretty rough in the house. they have 160 cosponsors for the house version of this resolution right now. 218 votesse, you need to force one on the floor. so they still need to gather several different other democrats to back this measure. additionally, a couple dozen republicans. it seems like a very difficult thing to do but they also have more time. in the senate, they can only force this vote through june 12. in the house, they have until the end of the year. they can talk about this for months leading up to the midterms, rally for support and say this is critical for consumers internet experience, and they could also from republicans as people who are just in the clutches of big

.elecom at the end of the day, they have sold out your internet experience. that will probably be the line you here. the campaign offices know that. the senate democratic campaign arm have a six-figure of by right now focusing on net neutrality. they are looking at november. host: tony is an independent. go ahead. caller: thank you for c-span. can you hear me? host: yes, sir. caller: i heard earlier talking rent but i did not hear about netflix and how --cast throttled them tell down in order for the to pay them more money. it is not a hypothetical. we have seen where the lack of net neutrality fairness rules have been impacting businesses and could impact consumers as well. i just wanted to hear your comment or address that. guest: that's a good point, another one of those issues that

has come up. there has been a handful of instances over the last 15 years that has spoken to that, really starting from the comcast bit around 2007,ent and then you also saw some .ssues with netflix those are worth focusing on because a lot of democrats see those as a sign of what could be to come if there were no regulations in place. right now the big broadband companies say they would not any internet fast lanes, any limitations on consumer experience. democrats would say, we need more than just your good word. we need regulations in place. they look to exactly what you are talking about. they look back at those instances and say, no, we are not just going to rely on good faith. we need something more. host: david is an washington, d.c. independent, go ahead. caller: i wanted to piggyback on

the previous caller and other colors. 2005, there was that thing that happened with bit torrent. but in 2011, 2013, at&t, sprint, and verizon went to block google wallet because of the services that they were developing, a mobile walloping system. 2012, verizon was caught blocking tethering apps. as far as rising internet prices, we had these rules and regulations in place since 2015 and we saw there was no significant rise in broadband rates, and no significant slowing in investment. we already have a test case study to know that these theoretical harms of this is real in terms of passing the challenge he we know the harms of not passing net neutrality are very real because we have seen it play out in the real world. i will take the response of the air. guest: i think those points strike wide to why democrats a

this is necessary. you have seen many folks see the rules in 2015 did not hurt broadband investment, did not hurt the consumer experience. at the end of the day, that is one big take away. one sign that maybe these are not real problems that need to be repealed, and that is why you have people pushing the return of those rules now. you are right. there are many different incidents that speak to this being a potential real harm. republicans are still inclined to say we need legislation to address that, not this tool. we need different government actors to come into play to protect the market in different ways. that is where you are seeing the debate. i appreciate those points because i think those are real, key incidents to focus on on why we need protections. host: a couple minutes left. i want to ask whether you will be covering that hearing today with former cambridge in a

lyrical employee christopher .ray -- chris for wiley he will appear before the senate judiciary committee at 10:00 is that something you been following? guest: a little bit. i probably would not be covering that hearing given net neutrality vote, the house lawmakers also taking on some national security telecom issues, given what is going on with zte and president trump going to bat for the company. that will probably be enough for one day, but i have a colleague covering that hearing later. host: that is at 10:00, you can watch that on c-span.org. christopher wiley on capitol hill. linda is in castleberry, florida. for democrats. caller: good morning. i have a really serious problem. understand [indiscernible] monopoly. i have one place to get my

internet, and it is charter communications, which has been one of the big players. they have already showed what they do as far as republican -- i don't trust the republicans anymore after all of the gerrymandering, everything else they have done here in florida and elsewhere. how do we fix this? they keep saying, we don't need it, we don't need it. but it seems like, over and over again, you see these larger these smaller companies, or they merge, and then we the consumers pay for it. guest: i think that's a really important backdrop to this debate, given we have seen different mergers and acquisitions all over the place in this space. that is monday complicating factors probably for sprint and t-mobile.

two of the biggest wireless companies. they announced plans to merge. a lot of people see that and i think they get worried about what the internet will look like for consumers and what wireless service will look like for consumers when you have fewer players in the marketplace. frankly be stronger when it comes to that, prevent from in that way and allow for more competition. hat is one key aspect to the debate. host: mark, independent, go ahead. caller: good morning.

quick. i want to piggyback what the 100% caller said, she is correct. virginia, not a small city, by any means. costs are olitics, rising. local politics is isolated out market. i agree. it should be treated as a utility. is ridiculous. you have line coming to your home with internet. seeing our service provider is continuing to add different you more money. i think it is ridiculous. you are sitting in your house and your lights start linking because your power provider says, how many watts do you want today, a thousand or 10,000 in it should be treated s utility with conglomerates getting swallowed up, it is not a free market, no one will be

against the te mega-giants. i think a part of that comes down to what utility means in a sense. i think most republicans and democrats would agree there eeds to be competition in the marketplace, there needs to be affordable broadband service. is a word lity embraced by democrats, but scared republicans. utility and see hear government control. i think that is then been where debate has been when it comes to a word like that, there resistance on bipartisan basis to idea of government control over the internet. ou saw that earlier this year, leaked trump administration plan to nationalize 5g wireless service. was at the beginning of the year. you see sec commissioner and from ted cruz to maestro saying no, we can't have the government running this.

democrats, lot of and some republicans, open to greater government role and find help along the broadband and help get more competitors. that is huge sue, for consumers out there. choice, not a lot of that is one thing they feel in a real way. ou feel that reflected in bipartisan way when congress takes that up, too. broadband mapping, they care in way that transcends partisan fact of net neutrality. host: that september vote on net neutrality rules taking place later today. for hendel covering politico, a tech reporter there, at john m at twitter hendel. thanks for the time. guest: thank you. phones on xt, open the "washington journal." any public policy issue you want lines about, the phone are yours to do it. you can start calling in now. the der, at the bottom of hour, we'll go to north dakota, "50 n's bus continues the

capitals tour" today in bismarck, stop 34, we'll talk to governor doug burgum. stick around for that discussion. >> this weekend, c-span's city alabama.e you to we'll cross the bridge and in a town known for the civil war and the civil rights movement. eastern on 0 p.m. book t.v., visit the home of r. martin luther king junior, used as the selma headquarters march.planned the featured in "house beside the road," and -- was a photographer here who was embeddedses in the house capture nted to dr. king's emotions as he

watched on television, president johnson committing to signing act.g rights this is the chair that dr. king was sitting in that night that television. addressed the on nation. >> meet the first african the city,ire chief in mr. allen talking about his book flame," g through the and american history t.v., look at voting rights movement that 1930s and visit several locations arounda the own integral to the movement and visit the bridge and look at the role the bridge played in before and after the battle for civil rights. the past and the president come and you have a modern south.in the 5:30 p.m. alabama,

eastern on c-span's book t.v. on on american history t.v. c-span3. working with our cable affiliate as we explore america. >> "washington journal" continues. host: open phones on the "washington journal." yours to talk about any public policy issue on your minds. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. the topic of our first hour of "washington journal" today was the latest out of the korean peninsula. headline on that, north korean leader threatens to cancel summit with trump. military drills halt diplomacy with the south. update on that. sarah huckabee sanders, white house press secretary, of course, commented on the issue now.rth korea right here is a bit from her comments

morning.ters this >> sarah sanders: this is something we fully respected. president is used to and ready for tough negotiations, if they want to meet, we'll be ready. if they don't, that is okay, too. we'll continue with the campaign is aximum pressure, if that the case. like i just said, if they want president is certainly ready and prepared, if okay.hat is again, these are ongoing conversations, beyond that, i say other a lot to than what we've laid out, what our priorities are when it comes the conversations and we'll be prepare federal it takes place. >> is the summit just as likely happen or less likely? we're hopeful it takes place, we we thought me thing yesterday, it is an important conversation to have and omething we're again, hopeful it does. expecting the summit to take place?

>> again, we're hopeful it takes place. planning on that basis? >> yeah. if it happens, it happens. >> the exercise with the south, good faith effort to ensure the planned?on as >> again, we'll continue moving forward. host: that was sarah sanders outside the white house. house, the white president tweeted twice this morning, his two tweets focusing primaries, one tweet focusing on congressman barletta, picked in pennsylvania primary to face bob november.s his second tweet 40 minutes ago ongratulating senator deb fisher. the people of nebraska seeing what a great job she's doing and ballot box.sy the make america great again, the tweeted. open phones. carl in oxford, massachusetts, a democrat. go ahead. caller: good morning.

thank you for c-span. i want to make a comment. a lot of our problems tem from american exceptionalism, like the thing is we are no better than anybody else. may be better off as far as most people in this country have a roof over their head and food and everything. on americanad a war soil since the civil war. generations, two oceans atlantic and pacific have us from entanglement necessary europe. we've got two good neighbors, i mean, it uth, could be worse. people complain about mexico, worse.could be -- know, a lot of it basically that is it, we are better off, we're not better. feedback fromciate your viewers. thank you. host: viewers are welcome to omment on your comments or bring up their topic necessary

open phones. jared in brooklyn, line for republicans, go ahead. caller: good morning. host: morning. caller: the world and media to make blood libel against israel is disgusting. to defend right itself, every single country would do the same thing they are protect their southern border. thoughts ed, any more of the attention the violence long the border has garnered worldwide? caller: just it is not israel's fault, if they wanted peace in east, it would happen in a second. host: how could it happen in a second? hammas disarms, israel gives them full rights. in 2005 and out look what happened to them. palestinians on the eastern border, they will make it worse and israel will able to defend itself. ost: mrenplenty of focus in the wake of that violence in israel

along their border. i hope, each ct, bullet was justified, a mix of the w and support for soldiers. 60 killed, more than 1700 the violence fter along israel's border there. u.s. ambassador nikki haley at addressed y council the conflict, here is what she had to say. hammas attacked the crossing, point in gaza for food, and medical supplies, they are determined to make the lives f the palestinian people miserable. malkof cocktails and attempt to fly them to much to cause as destruction as possible. when asked yesterday why he put swastika on the burning kite,

he terrorist responded, "the jews go crazy when you mention itler," this is what is endangering the people of gaza. ake no mistake, hamas is pleased with the results from yesterday. colleagues here on council, who among us would accept this on your border? no one would. no country in this chamber would act with more restraint than has. in fact, the records of several countries here today suggests would be much less restrained. who suggest the gaza violence has anything to do with the location of the american are sorely mistaken. rather the violence comes from existence of ct the state of israel in any location. watch nd if you want to that full meeting in the

entirety you can do so at c-span.org. on "washington journal" for about the next 15 minutes or so. at that time, we'll take you to stop on the c-span "50 capitals tour," the c-span bus north dakota.rck, earlier in our program today we by tim ryan of ohio, one issue he talked about was tweet this ump's past week on a chinese telecommunications company. president looking to help out that company, mentioning it tweet. the president responding to the criticism that tweet garnered a ago on twitter. here is what he had to say. cnn "washington journal" and have written false stories, nothing happened with zte, the company, ications except as pertains to the larger trade deal. been losing as hundreds of billions per year ith china, not seen china's demands yet, which should be few

in the -- should be few in that u.s. administrations have done so parley in negotiating. demand, no en our obling, the meetings haven't even started yet. the u.s. has little to give because it has so much over the years, china has much to give. the president from two minutes ago. in holly, michigan, line for democrats. go ahead. caller: hi. like to speak about the and our t big pharma justice department, i believe it is big pharma, are shutting off access to have medicines canadadrugs.com. think if i go to my local tore, i can't even buy good medicine, the pharmacy doesn't even have it available. this to change, i,

as senior citizen, can't always good brand y medicine. here in the united states, if it ite available, but i can get from canada drugs. thanks for my call and thanks for c-span. brian, madison, ohio, line for democrats, go ahead. you are looking all dapper this morning. how you doing? well, go ahead. caller: yeah, i think if was kim i would be -- talking and all nobel prize that because if i were him, i you know what, i approached south korea and talked to south korea, now we'll give some president from another country all the credit for the deal? that being an issue for him. an ego, too.

schenectady, in new york, republican, go ahead. caller: yes, like to say about border, the thing with the guy at the strip. it is important for the united help israel because, you know, iran has taken so much money to all kinds of problems nd i think think it is hamas causing the problems. i think it is them because they one care or elimination. they don't care where anybody else, anybody that affect the united states or israel, they problems.to cause host: wayne in new york this morning. open phones for the next 15 minutes. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. the president's tweet from a few moments ago talking about trade negotiations china. this story with a chinese link

focusing on the trump and one of their upcoming projects. trump ew york times," boasting six-star golf course brought on new ally, chinese-owned company. the mmc group said tuesday it struck a deal with an arm of metallurgical company fo build a to the rk next door tru the trumptrained, but administration imposing tariffs goods.ese made enior official will arrive in washingt between n -- the deal mmc falls under belt and road initiative, ambitious plan to

aroundoney and influence the the. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8002 for independents. breaking from "washington post" this morning focuses on thousands of pages of congressional testimony and the light they are shedding on the tower meeting, the meeting that has become a focus about russianrned election.in the 2016 the e-mails were revealed in of congressional released this morning. city democrats circulated the testimony in advance of the formal release

farm al release just happened. trump tower -- dirt about clinton. she has denied she was acting on behalf of the russian government. helps w information explain why some of those at the eeting had written the candidate's son before the trump tower meeting. plenty to dig through from the 2500 pages. the "washington post" taking a stab at it this morning, you'll more about the story throughout the day. the nicky in baltimore, democrats.ine for go ahead. caller: hi, good morning. i just want to say this violence israel is just tragic and 00% predictable and should be put scarily at the feet of donald trump. he had no business moving the it is to jerusalem, supposed to be international

for all the ty residents and citizens of thousands 's placed of people in jeopardy, killed people. think that is impeachable offense in my opinion. thank you. host: paulette, camden, arkansas, line for democrats. go ahead. caller: i agree with what she going on, all the mess in the world, donald trump created this. e didn't get in there to help the united states, he got in there for his own gain. how it affect ow the united states and he don't represent me as being my president because he has just it a mess. and the tweets he get out there does, he ought to know little rocket man was going to come back. knew the rocket man wasn't going to meet with him. act like a person that don't have good sense. thank you. staten island, line for democrats, go ahead.

caller: i agree with her. with the caller who was talking about our atlantic and pacific ocean borders, i agree with him on that. but we are kind of lucky in a compared to other countries. the caller after that, i wanted a friend who died. 9/11.re in our 20s on nd i believe the stance is all wrong. most of the terrorists were from very arabia and we have a ifferent relation with our -- stance icy and with saudi arabia and in 1976, the l took land from it can't be and

denied. there was a child, a baby that killed from asphyxiation that day, yesterday, don't think that kites set compared to ything nipers targeting people and injuring thousands of people two weeks.r the last host: financial times editorial are taking on what they calling israel's disproportionate response to the gaza protest. write, at least 58 palestinian protesters killed, 60 according to to other reports and 2700 injured on monday when israeli soldiers opened fire on armed protesters, some attempting to storm the border fence. the u.n. special reporter disproportionate use of force as eye for an

eyelash, it was deadliest single in gaza since the last border wor between hamas and litant forces in 2014. international outcry that in gaza should sound a warning israel's claim ground is leeching away. promised repeatedly mr. kushner will unveil new peace plan, but every president the appears to encourage israel's rime minister to take maximalist position that militate against peace. ultimate deal mr. trump promised and more like a fresh disaster in the making. of playing firefarm, america is fanning the flames. to read more, that is in today's paper. ew minutes left for open phones. also want to update you of on capitol hill.

live shot of the committee earing room, senate appropriations committee room where scott pruitt, epa director morning, ify this happening at 9:30, if you want o watch it, we're airing it live on c-span 3. appisten on the c-span radio or look on c-span.org. hearing, christopher wrey will be before the senate appropriations committee to talk budget issues, 2:30 this afternoon. happening on c-span 3, -span.org and the c-span radio app. back to your calls, we take you to bismarck, north dakota for of the c-span bus tour. anthony in st. paul, minnesota. for democrats. go ahead. caller: hi, good morning. want to say a couple things one about the d police.

israel was not our greatest ally, if you remember the incident, israelis attacked our ship twice with boats. did anybody, i'm 59 years old, i never recall nything about anybody having said about israel having a bomb. the first time the word used was against palestinians allowed them into the country. -- out of bout control white people. before i i want to say black on white crime. what about white on exhibit go to a church, concert, store, walk down the street. give me a break, stop it. kerry in locust grove. go kaed.independents,

caller: my name is kerry, retired from the united states and i also spent 20 years as high school rotc instructor. i find out from recruiters right now, there is shortage of on le joining the military the enlisted side. factor, minorities don't seem to be enlisting as much as used to. i don't know if it is related to current administration or not. proof is the fact that they have ow lowered the asfab requirement score, i believe the army down to 31. at 35.y is i think air force somewhere around there. host: eric, can you explain what the scores are for, what they udge for people who aren't familiar?

caller: scores are for, exit for college.e sat it is the minimum academic is aptitude david dacci, armed services, services,casional david baldacci to see if you have aptitude and background knowledge to be part military. host: are there any physical the david s in scores?is or scores? are you a recruiter yourself? caller: no, i'm not a recruiter. navy.in the i retired from teaching rotc for years. i am in touch with the military, i know recruiters and get rotc, these are things i'm hearing when i'm around these people. ost: kerry, would youment your son or daughter to go into the

military today? caller: yes, i would. would. my grandson is talking about joining the navy. respect for of military members and appreciate what the military did for me. definitely would. i think i'm in the minority with that feeling. host: what do you tell your grandson? caller: i tell my grandson all the things the navy did for me, on the right path. able to get free college wife now me and my enjoy the medical benefits, the benefits that you earn by being military.he yes, i would. i believe in this country. i believe in this country and elieve we need a strong military. host: kerry, thanks for the call from georgia. republican. go ahead. caller: hello. what is your name? host: i'm sorry? caller: what is your name? john, john, wanda.

john lennon do caller: don, i have figures for you. calls -- are you there? wanda, go ahead. caller: counting calls from c-span callers. have had 76 democrat and 45 51 republicans independents. you have had hour six democrats, two republicans one independent. so you guys are calling yourself but you're notl, and furthermore -- wanda, let me address that and i'll let you talk again. as ake calls in open phones they come in. caller: no, you don't. the phone gh and rings off the hook and you don't answer. promise we have a lines, e rotate to sometimes there is not somebody waiting on the democrat line, will see a republican and

another republican or republican and then independent. try to take the calls in the order they come in o people are not waiting for a long time on different lines. go ahead with your other comment. screeners also cut me off. i've been cut off several times your screeners once they find out what i want to say. want tonda, what do you say? about to head to "50 capitals tour." want to his is what i say. you guys are not fair. ou're biassed, just like the rest of it is media. you are not fair. promise we're trying our best to be fair. we'll take theifiedback and and cism and work on it hope you keep watching. the last call. coming up next, a conversation with north dakota republican doug burgum about the top issues facing his state. he will be aboard the c-span bus part of the c-span's "50

capitals tour," stop number 34 today on that tour. around, we'll be right back. >> the book, "age of eisenhower," and -- disciplined the presidency, eisenhower, the way himself, disciplined man, great athlete when he was every an organized man in respect, very methodical. that is how he ran the white too., extremely organized. a lot of people, especially the young senator, future president kennedy, criticized stodginess for being so predictable. meant when er, it crisis came, he had a plan, knew turno respond, knew who to to. he used to say plans are worthless, planning is everything.

thinking, what is over the hill, what crisis should erupt and be thinking about it, in the way he ic governed. he met the press every week, met ongressional leaders every week. he did -- chaired national and ity council every week had his thumb on the government. he trusted the process. e believed the federal government could work well if it was well led. night at 8 ay eastern on c-span. host: stop number 34, to d skyscraper on the prairie is tallest building in the state and one of only four capital tols that are towers. joining the c-span bus, the governor of north dakota, doug burgum, a republican, he's a

rancher, a tech entrepreneur, a venture capitalist and first-time politician, winning 5% of the vote in 2016 when he ran for governor. governor, why did you run? peter, r burgum: well, good morning from north dakota. it's great to see the c-span bus capitol.ront of the what a sweet bus you have. thing.eally beautiful impact was the reason why i ran, sector, i spent 30 years in north dakota building tech companies, spent recruiting talent and capital. has unlimited potential and i thought i could impact with a team of people through state government. host: you ran, you did not get the republican party nomination, is there a big, populous streak in north dakota? is.t: well, i think there there has also been great streak n our state going back since

1992 of the state electing eople who were first-time politicians with business background, starting with ed shaffer, secretary of a iculture, john holman, now u.s. senator, first-time elected as governor with business background. downripple had a business background there has been a long leadership of the folks, it is one reason north dakota was named best run state years in ion for five a row prior to my taking office. state that welcomes business the governor's office. host: we'll talk about some issues in north dakota with the governor. if you happen to be one of the 755,000 residents of north to talk to the governor, here is how you can get through. for 48-8000, that line is north dakota residents. country, s in the 202-748-8001. we'll begin taking the calls in minutes.

governor, the development of the has that changed the state? governor burgum: incredible of north the state dakota and the dynamics of world geo-politics because of the changes the way we think about energy. was a kid growing up, one thing we knew for sure, we would un out of food in this world and run out of energy. of course now, one of the reasons why in the last few we were faced with low commodity prices for energy and was because of abundance of food and energy. energy, bundance of amazing productivity of entrepreneurs developing the that and the technology allows these companies to come out way to figure bring oil out of shale that is 10,000 feet below ground and do in a productive and cost effective way is nothing short f remarkable and changing dynamic necessary favor of the

u.s., as u.s. moves toward, not independence, but energy dominance. ost: how has it changed the face of the town of williston. williston is in: the center of the region. williston e day at state. visited people from all over the country at the training facility. we've got over 15,000 jobs in our state that could be an understatement by a factor of two. encourage anybody listening in, we need qualified petroleum ls from engineers to commercially certified truck drivers earning wages to nurses to doctors. professionals,lth we have great jobs available in and tate and watford city williston have built great

communities, family-friendly. we've poured money into infrastructure in the last eight taking care of traffic. new hospitals and schools being built. is up.population young people are moving there, diversity is increasing. doors are open and love to have people move here and fill the jobs. 100,000 on up over people since the beginning of the boom and of course, we've youngest state in the nation, which is quite a aging.rom when we were great place for young people and families and love to see people on here and help us keep growing. host: north dakota has one of unemployment rates in the nation 2.6%. governor, you mentioned food and production, one of the -- if you ever had a sunflower or honey, chances are it came from north dakota. changes tential nafta are being discussed here in washington. your state?t affect

governor burgum: agriculture has rich heritage in north dakota and many families, including mine, my great grandfather homesteaded here. started a grain business, i grew up work nothing that grain touches 90% of land is farmland or ranch land. the most some of talented, most progressive and most productive farmers and in the world here in north dakota. he one thing that these independent, hard working north not ans, they want trade, aid. they know they can compete with anybody in the world with free and fair market. people in north dakota are excited to see this administration is working hard have balanced and fair trade around the world because when we have that, we we can compete and export our products around the with anyone.pete

host: governor governor burgum, debated, how eing close an eye are you keeping on that? governor burgum: very close. is such an important ag state hoben chairman of agappropriations from our state, i just had had a chance to sit round-table with him with 25 of the great agriculture eaders from across our state and i would say there is a lot of confidence that there is going to be farm bill that is preserve a lot of good things in the farm bill today and make some tweaks that will help make improvements. host: with both the agriculture the energy segments of our economy, there are environmental concerns. how are those being addressed in north dakota? governor burgum: when you have 90% of north dakota in farmland land, and you have a back to the

american indians that lived here ith the pioneers that moved here in the late 1800s and early 1900s, this is a group of people where i say everybody in north dakota is on the clean air team and everybody in north dakota on the clean water team and everybody is on the sustainable, -- le soil team because we this is our livelihood. i'd say that everybody in the the cares deeply about environment and it is great we have some of the cleanest air in country and cleanest water in the country. we have an environment here in industry where we focus on innovation, not on regulation. nature tries its to solve a problem that happened yesterday and by the time it becomes ough and regulation, particularly federal egulations, it might be two or three years past when the technology urs and advance and plenty of way early detection automatically we can be nformation

proactive about how we identify problemsat might cause in the environment. we're trying to be on front edge to protect n as way environment and not on trailing edge of regulation and i think for our ork willing state. ost: is the dakota pipeline 100% functional right now? governor burgum: absolutely. the s really helped on take-away capacity, as you know, we're the number two state in the nation behind texas. prior to the dakota access a lot of our oil was moving out of the state on by that creates inly communities and environmental and much safer to pipeline, very y pleased that is up and running. host: 202-748-8000 if you live the state of north dakota and want to talk to your governor. country dial the

in at 202-748-8001. caller: glad to see somebody in that is a businessman for hey don't take things themselves. governors, had two one named j.j. equipment company he made his money off of because how many city, count and state institutions use office equipment? other is bob kerry, he said,to the government and 10 million dollars in low interest loans and he got it. and instead of putting loans

$100,000 a piece, he put it all n his own business, the $10 million. so it is good to see there is in north dakota. have a nice day. governor burgum. governor burgum: thank you for that nice compliment and i think do know that i declined to take salary when i took this job. here, along with the first lady and lieutenant governor honored to have opportunity to serve the people of north dakota. nebraska, youoln, can't talk about lincoln without talking about the huskers and of have a new w they coach coming in this fall from nebraska. they are excited about that. north dakota state, which is won ix of the last seven national football championships has done that because we've been able to recruit players from nebraska. we're worried the nebraska -- ers may not be coming to

wish the huskers well and happy o continue to cheer on the north dakota state university bison. great playing software? governor burgum: great plains software a company i started in 1993. accounting software for mid-size companies. brand names some that your viewers might know, people might think about small businesses oracle t know of sap or and great plains we built a global franchise serving the mid-market, small and medium-size businesses, great entrepreneurs that do a great job of driving the conomy and developed slate of software to help them run operations more efficiently and was -- ectively and it became a significant company. e grew from handful of 10

people to over 2000 employees, the company went public. with goldman sachs, one of the most that time ino's at all of tech n. 2001, acquired by microsoft, became a division of gre-- microsoft and has a significant presence today in north dakota and it is -- was all ndous opportunity for of us in north dakota. we had team members from 220 towns across l north dakota that helped build that company into a global organization. of us at the time we got acquired by microsoft. dakota, 400, rest of north america and 400 around we were at the time acquired, we were a global company. the world's e of satya nadalla, the

c.e.o., and we're excited to have them as big employer in the state and it was real honor me to have opportunity to work in career for so long where manyd such an impact on so small and medium size business improve d help them their life and success. host: governor burgum was senior microsoft.dent of i think i read that the north plant of microsoft is the microsoft entity outside of washington state, is correct? governor burgum: certainly was at one time. if it has that distinction, there are people ith microsoft in fargo and continue to invest in that area, another place job openings are open. jobs there, 00 people came from 20 states to microsoft fargo

campus. former great plains campus. employment opportunity necessary our state. argo, tremendous community, named number one on all kinds of lists of best place for start-ups and and great places to work, quality of life and along with other cities in our state that have been on the lists for small and medium-size cities. love to have people head out to monster, career builder, indeed or job service in north t the jobs dakota. we'd love to have you. host: jill live necessary fargo. hi, jill. caller: hi, hi, governor burgum, to see you on c-span. i appreciate much the work you are doing with north dakota. have a question. the farmers do actually get aid forms for farming. balance out s them

a fits, their losses, i am small independent worker, one endent contractor and of the things need is affordable healthcare. otherwise, i can't do what i'm here to do on the planet and i'm plan foratting is your north dakota? blue cross for north dakota had monopoly on the market. contract, make drugs formulary versus can you make how sure it is level playing field like me and all of he other artists and writers, we're not farmers, but we also need a level playing field, i'm what your -- i know you beenant-affordable

healthcare act, what is your suggestion? host: go ahead, governor. jill, thank um: you. there are certain things about obamacare that i was opposed to and on the record, but it to the fact it was not actuarially sound program. it was a program designed where that yments and benefits were promised to americans exceeded revenue coming in from in. people were paying unsustainable solution. healthcare is affordable part do that. to we return competition in the market place. orth dakota is fortunate we do have competition in our state in cross, blue blue hield, offering plans, competitive market place to do that, i think we'll be able to brings use competition

price down, not government intervention and that market is those o help provide solutions. again, if there is anything more reach out to can our office and we can help you north dakota insurance commissioner has got a consumer protection group. anything l you have that is not working with your health insurance, give us a call t the governor's office or insurance commissionary office and we'll take a look and see if we can help. thanks for being in north dakota thanks for doing the work you do. host: annual state budget in orth dakota is little over $ai8 illion and 14% spent on medicaid. governor burgum, that is rather you compare to other states across the nation. why is that? well, we do um: money on e a bit of healthcare in our state. take a look at education and

human services side, makes up 80% of the budget. states, ot of other these are things we need to make sure we have under control. a position where your state budget is driven by how much federal money you have match, you know, we might have another 25 agencys that make up that last 20%. it puts quite a squeeze on it. supportive of as the graham cassidy bill. have given block grants to states and given states flexibility to design programs population. each state is unique. ne cost driver in the state is distance. and in delivery of service to rural areas. able to build the network that is appropriate and nique to serve citizens, like jill who we just heard from, you fits do that on one size all. healthcare market in the u.s. is trillion out of 17 trillion

twice the social security of russian economy when soviet union collapsed. anybody to ous of of gn healthcare system out washington, d.c. to serve the different aspects of geography and demographics of the different states and i think the we have 50 states to have 50 platforms of innovation flexibility to design healthcare system for north dakotans that work for and i hope this congress and this administration ill fight to give us chance to do that. host: jerry in bismarck, north dakota. hi, jerry. caller: good morning. governor, thank you c-span for having me on. regarding this bill.program and the farm goingu supporting what is

on in washington about the farm bill and also regarding your it department? youow that -- or understand and governor dalripple have something to do with the your it department have anything to do with getting donald trump elected? thank you. host: governor. governor burgum: okay, well, there.of questions you know, certainly the snap or for emental nutrition families portion of the ag bill is a big part of that. is one thing of course, congress works it big dollar h a component of that, it will be nteresting to see how congress works its way through. very important part of the farm bill and important to a number in north dakota. terrific e do have information technology department in north dakota that

working on trying to reinvent how we deliver government services here, didn't have to do with getting donald trump elected. he got support in north dakota of his policies about growing the economy and being pro-agriculture and pro-energy pro-business. host: governor burgum, we talked daugaard yesterday in pierre, south dakota and asked him his biggest working with the federal government and he talked about the army corps of engineer water, lake, dam anagement, do you share that frustration? governor burgum: well, we share a long border with governor i want to just say, give shout out to him, great miss him as will governor of south dakota, done a great job of guiding that state. states, h other including montana to the west, down stream, we share incredible

river, which is tre mu water resource for the nation and our state. there is always interesting corps of king with the engineers. we have a great relationship of ing with the army corps engineers on the red river on the eastern border, which borders between north dakota and minnesota, we're working and have worked in the past on protection flood projects for communities like head, grand ore breckenridge. work with how we sovereign nations in our state. we've overeign nations got five tribal nations located within the borders and things like to see when we have opportunity for energy development that the often nations are hampered even more than the states by federal regulations

we've been working leaders ith the tribal land management to consistent form and environment so tribes have the ame opportunity for economic development we do in our state and that is one area where red nment regulation and tape really gets in the way and hurts it really is -- economic development on our tribal lands. host: 5% of the north dakota native american, one of the largest percentages the nation. governor, you mentioned flooding, every spring we hear being news about fargo flooded. haven't heard it this year. one nor burgum: well, we, year when we made it through single having to fill a sandbag.

of fargo, moorehead and red river valley, when we valley a valley, it is a without edges. 40-mile king about a high flat bottom of historic agassi. lake topsoil that is three feet thick where my great grandfather homesteaded. up on the red river valley. it is farmed without irgation, why north eason dakota leads nation in a dozen river but when that red north and get winter, it is literally so flat and winnipeg and 20 dlt 5tion change is feet. one foot per mile for 225 miles. compared to any other part of the u.s. and reates very unique challenges

for flood protection, which is work, we ees don't build ditches or diversion like 1960s.eg did in the that is what we're working on to go tting a diversion around west fargo, fargo and moore head. important is the border with canada to your economy? governor burgum: very important. one trading number partner and we've got great the ionships, both with provence of saskatchewan and nanatoba. hosted premiere with the first fall and here in north dakota. certainly value that elationship between the borders. with canada, interconnected system, communities get natural propane piped from one country or the other. we have people born in a

that leave the u.s. and go to the nearest hospital in canada. really, it on the map may look like two countries, long that border, interconnected communities. armers may harvest grain and aul across the border to terminal on the other side of the border. having ability to move goods back and forth is important and we're going to continue to work terminal on the other side to have great relationships with them. the same time, all of us on both having e committed to secure border because that is important to security of our nation. ost: north dakota is home to one of the best slogans in the the city of hat is minot. minot.t governor doug burgum, first term republican governor, joins us on bus in bismarck. thank you, governor. we want to thank our cable midco, for bismarck, helping us set this visit up. next stipulate