cassellius discusses the top her tion issues facing state. as always, we'll take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is next. host: mr. trump: he will demand the justice department -- key members of the house intelligence committee, as well as members of the intelligence community. we are going to tell you about the request by the president and get your thoughts on it. if you want to give us a call,

democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you want to post on twitter, it is @cspanwj. you can post on facebook. several stories in the papers taking a look at this request. the headline -- trump demands in corey into campaign snooping. the feud with the justice department escalated dramatically over the weekend. informantts an fbi snooping around his campaign. the president is calling on the agency to investigate itself. that was the headline. the tweet that was sent out by the president yesterday on this request, which started yesterday today, themand,

department of justice look into whether or not the fbi, department of justice infiltrated or surveilled the trump campaign for political purposes. if any such demands or requests were made by people within the obama administration. this was prompted by a story that appeared in the new york times on may 18. the fbi used in informant to toestigate russia's ties campaign. the informant, he made contact late that summer with papadopoulos. other aid, with

carter page. the lawmakers who say they are concerned federal investigators are abusing their authority have demanded documents from the justice department about that in woman. that is in the new york times this morning. the wall street journal talks about the informant, saying the wall street journal has identified the informant as a scholar at the university of cambridge. the paper added the journal made no agreement to withhold his name from publication. and officials have expressed concern about compromising sources for the investigation, saying it could put lives in danger and damage international partnerships.

we will talk more and show you more about this latest news. if you want to make your on this demand by the president, you can call us, democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can post on twitter and a facebook. we will start with the loris in innessee -- with deloris tennessee. this is ridiculous. why would the president want to put someone -- people out there trying to help us, lives in danger, families in danger. every time they come up with , he throws out

something ridiculous to distract us from what is going on with the investigation about russia. america, please wake up. our lives depend on it. what do you think about the fbi informant talking to members of the campaign. it had been done, a long time ago. why put out the person's name? he does it every time they are lead up tody to something concerning his administration with russia. host: pittsburgh, pennsylvania, ronald, you're next. caller: i have a suggestion for donald trump. off 20% of the fbi, the cia,

the nsa. this is what they are up to. failed to protect us during 9/11. they need to work with the middle class. host: let's start with the beginning. what do you think about the request from the president, having the justice department look into this? it's a joke. the justice department isn't going to do anything. the justice department is corrupt. as a response from the justice department, the departmentponse, the has asked the inspector general to expand the review of the foreign intelligence surveillance act to include determining whether there was

impropriety or political motivation on how the fbi conducted its investigation of persons suspected with with russian agents. also saying the deputy attorney general issued the following statement -- if anyone did infiltrate or surveilled, we need to know about it and take appropriate action. 748-8000. (202) republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. willie, maryland, you are next up. caller: it is a smokescreen. tookady who called earlier away my funder. it is a smokescreen and sounds like it is getting hot and close

to what is going on with the russian investor asian -- the russian investigation. host: what is it a smokescreen for? caller: he knows something is up. host: is their relevance that it was done for political purposes? i don't believe that. host: why not? let's go to carmen, democrats line. my name is matthew, sorry. i agree with the other democrats , i think this is a fiction. it is some casual contacts between this individual and members of the trump administration -- i mean the trump campaign.

they read like we have a james bond mole. this is ridiculous. you cast it as fiction if you think these conversations took place? caller: i believe the conversations took place. the fiction is this individual was acting in the capacity that the president is saying he did. host: you do not think it was politically motivated? caller: i do not. i do not think so at all. bob: trenton, new jersey, on our independent line. caller: i cannot believe the intelligence of these callers calling in. remember when trump first stated he was wiretapped and everyone made fun of him?

it turned out to be true. release the name of this guy, the new york's time -- the new york times did. the matter what party you are in, we can come down on this government for what it is. it is corrupt. divided, we are coming down. host: what do you think about the claim by the president about this being politically motivated? caller: absolutely. there is no reason to do this. did they do it to hillary? she sold 20% of our uranium. why not put a mold in her -- mole in her campaign? o, no, hands-off those people. it is obvious what is going on. host: rick, magnolia, texas. go ahead. caller: good morning.

on what themment last caller stated. the new york times release this. general's inspector investigation that brought out most of the details. is that true? ist: the inspector general calling for a fresh, new look at this. caller: they did some investigation. kimberly is the one who brought out the article that brought this to light. i think it was initially uncovered through the justice department. host: what do you think about the request the president? is valid. he is the executive. the department reports to him. he has the authority to have them investigate it, especially if there is impropriety.

if they are investigating a campaign, of course. need to have accountability. host: two callers say it was a smokescreen to detract from other issues. what do you think about that claim? caller: it is related to the investigation. maybe that is fair. they are related. it could be a carry-on from what he is doing. know it is a smokescreen. i think that might be too broad of a brush to paint it as. back to the new york times reporting on this on the 18th. it says details about the relationship remain scant. clear how long the relationship existed and whether the fbi paid the source or

assigned the person to other cases. informants take great risks when the fbi.or day we on to say the can't protect sources is the day american people become less safe. the giuliani acknowledged president nor his legal team knew with certainty that the fbi had planted a spy in the trump campaign. for a long time, we have been told there was some kind of infiltration leading up to today. that is the president's request, saying a formal request will be made by the department of justice, taking a look at the idea of an informant for political purposes within the campaign. this tweet was sent out

yesterday. requesttalk about this by the president and the surrounding issues. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. one of the people responding to this is devin nunes. he was on foxnews yesterday talking about issues surrounding this. here's what he said. [video clip] >> there were two outlets that had lots of details. if any of those details are correct. we do not have documents. we cannot confirm whether there is an informant or not. we have never asked for the name of any informants or sources. if any of that is true, if they ran a spy ring or informant rang and they were paying people within the trunk campaign, if that is true, that is a redline. host: the new york times

reporting today its request by the president, by handing the question to the inspector general, he appeared to be trying to thread the needle demands.owing to his it is not clear whether it would satisfy the president, who complained it was disgraceful to hand over the surveillance investigation to an specter general who lacks prosecutorial power, saying it would take forever and suggesting he was an obama guy. -- whether the trunk campaign worked to sway the election. the president said at some point, we will have no choice but to grant the powers granted to the presidency and get involved. wisconsin, paul, democrats line. that informant he talked

to, pop and carter page, both being in cahoots with the russians. come on, people. get your head out of the sand. host: does this new request -- what do you think about that? is a disgrace. i cannot believe the republican party used to be lawn order and now they want to rip down our fbi and law enforcement for a crooked president. it is shocking. very shocking. host: let's go -- let's go to georgia. caller: how're you doing? they have been using informants for the history.

spies into hells angels and gangs. they could have gotten trump a long time ago. ofmp just wants to get out this mess we are in. see colluding with a country like rusher who is trying to take over america. these republicans, i do not understand. host: you are saying what they did is ok in your mind? caller: it was, because they were involved with russia, with the involvement of russia. russia is the enemy to the united states of america. iran, they have been would have done the same thing if someone had been negotiating. run for17 people president. none of those other 16 people was involved with russia,

helping them win the election. that,if it goes beyond saying it was politically motivated, does that change your mind? caller: i do not think it was politically motivated. the man was -- this is almost like treason. any time you are dealing with someone, a foreign country, this is something that is upsetting to the democracy of america. donald trump is not exempt from the law. maine.et's go to allen, go ahead. i characterize this as a situation where we have seen this movie before.

the leader of another country went through the same thing one year into his position of being in leader of that country 1934. the chancellor leader of germany expunged the previous intelligence service in the night of the long knives, when chancellor hillard decided the -- chancellor hitler decided loyal to him and then installed his on security and intelligence organizations to make sure he would be in charge of the empire. this parallel to the situation we are talking

about? emperor trump is doing away with the intelligence and the legal structure of the united states just as hitler's had done. he is attacking the justice department and the intelligence services of the united states. host: republican line, rob, you are next. know where these people are getting their information. i have been watching this since it started. the fbi is dirty. how can you not see this? -- hannity had this thisyear and a half ago,

was a set up. host: prove that. how do you think it is a set up. caller: they will prove that. host: how would you prove it? caller: this was paid and set up by hillary clinton. that how do you know for sure? caller: from what the evidence is showing. they have been saying who is involved in what. devin nunes has proved. he is trying to get the paperwork out. him ifthe fbi refusing there is nothing they did wrong? host: larry, alabama. up, thisefore you hang pennsylvania lady who just got presidentlking, when

obama was president, he investigated the russian probe and found out they were hacking into the dnc. he went through all the channels issued a warrant and russia, who put their name out, wall street and everybody putting their name out on this, and guy investigating the trump campaign, they already put it out. russia did. there is a way to stop the russia probe. that is what trump is trying to do. rosenstein goes and session goes, they will go to russia. host: you are saying this is not

politically motivated? pure fact.s is everybody sees these indictments the special counsel got, the guilty pleas he got. this is not politically motivated. this is pay for play and obstruction of justice. host: adam, on meet the press, asked about what was going on with the fbi and looking into the trump campaign. this is chuck todd asking about this. [video clip] me ask you about this controversy involving the fbi informant. is something your republican counterpart wants the department of justice to release more information about this

informant. we know who this is. when did you become aware of this informant? characterizeant to what this individual may or may not be. department, the white house, has said revealing information about this information -- revealing information about this individual could compromise lives, compromise the investigation, and the president's response is -- bring it on, we don't care. new, and dramatic and destructive low to ignore the warnings of the fbi and justice department and risk people's lives. they would like this information trumpof service of the defends team and any further narrative they have.

there is a political spy and in the trump campaign is nonsense. , i am hearing,ng we are told -- that is another way of saying it is untrue, but we would like to spread it anyway. in fairness to the president and his supporters, they look at the history of this informant, ce was involved in political campaigns and possibly political espionage and think -- why shouldn't they be suspicious of this? >> i cannot contact -- i cannot is, but it is a string of meritless conspiracies

. it began with the christopher steel dossier, all of which was untrue. it is designed to create alternate reality for trump supporters. >> you are confident the fbi acted appropriately? >> i am. host: that was yesterday afternoon. president's claim of a spy is nonsense. we will continue on for the next half hour. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002.

let's go to earl, nashville, georgia. caller: this is a white-collar crime. you don't want to expose your man that you are using to get you information because if you if you read what the man just said, you're are going to endanger other lives. they are trying to use that to cover up what he is doing. you are going to incriminate people with all of this stuff going on. themselves,e acts you are saying they are white-collar? trump said he could walk

down the street and kill a man. informants' work. do you thing that is a white-collar crime? >> they have the right to get the information they need to obtain what is going on. study criminal justice. host: if the president claims it is politically motivated, if that came true, what would you think of the nature of what went on then? caller: [indiscernible] let them do their job. that is what they get paid for. host: let's go to kevin. these guys calling in on the democrat line forget hillary foundation sold itnium to the russians and

was done through the obama administration. i am sorry they do not want to look at facts. if there was collusion between the russians and any presidential campaign, it was done on the hillary clinton side. kevin, bring it to the modern day, the request by the president. he wants thes why request. that would be proven. all of these people that don't want that proven are democrats. host: what you think about the informant's work? is it appropriate? caller: it is not appropriate. there is no way either party should be able to spy on another campaign. it takes away our freedoms. they are trying to dictate who gets elected and that is not right.

the american people should have a say in who gets elected, not billionaire corporations or unions. host: the wall street journal takes a look at this. the states here go beyond his political future. was the knowledge limited to the fbi or did it run into the obama white house? what are the standards for the future? jeff sessions and rod rosenstein need to clear the air by sharing what they know. the is bigger than blowing

identity of a source justice leaders have already known. from tennessee, ralph is next. this is my first time looking at your show. i love your setup. understand how anyone can think we do not need an investigation into russian involvement when trump said they were involved in interfering in our election process. as far ashing is, investigating hillary, i don't have a problem with that. i would rather deal with current events. the last thing is, some people absolutes, all the justice department is dirty.

that would be like me lumping all trump supporters in the same category. host: sandra is next from utah. be terrified the department of justice, the fbi, the cia, the different components of our agencies were weaponize to against an american citizen, a president-elect, and possibly a sitting president. i don't care whether it was a republican or democrat that did this. this is above and beyond watergate. this needs to be investigated now. it was referred to the inspector general. is that a good start or does it need to go further? >> we will have to the what

shakes out from that. i want to put blame from the republicans on this. donald trump was forced to work with people who seen necessarily would not have had to work with had the republican party backed him. reports thell president's lawyer saying the special counsel intends to end his investigation into whether the president of structured the russia investigation, saying the special counsel share of the investigation a couple of weeks ago. , giuliani'stimes

comments appeared to be away for the pressure for robert mueller as they negotiate an interview. giuliani expressed concerns over the outcome of the midterm elections. caller: it is interesting the president is believing me new york times is a legitimate newspaper when he is calling for an investigation based on something he read in the new york times when he has been calling it fake news for almost two years. host: what do you think of it on its face? poweris trying to use his to obstruct justice.

powerk he is abusing his to use the agencies to his own , calling for it like he is a cane, saying i demand an investigation. minnesota, john, st. paul, republican line. have been hearing for over a year that the investigation has been going on. where is the proof we needed the investigation? proof ofhat there is collusion. where is that proof? maybe c-span can give it to us. host: what about the request by the president? to my secondl go point. there is the difference between collusion and interference. there was interference.

that does not mean there was collusion, does there? the point we are talking about, looking into this work by the informant that was reported on, what do you think about that? they are talking that it is going to endanger lives. that is a cover-up beyond what watergate was. host: how do you connect what he says to this idea of a cover-up? caller: how else are they going to quash this? they are going to use any means necessary to shut down the facts of the case. mike, ohio, independent line. ridiculous. is can anyone read anymore? the fbi are suspending their own

personnel and demoting them. we turn around, the real collusion isn't with this , that the democrats took to the pfizer report to get a warrant to spy. this is bigger than watergate. we have three departments toolved in this, trying overturn a president the people of the united states voted in. host: you are saying the president's request is reasonable? caller: it is. i am so upset. if someone is accusing me of something, it is my right to know who is accusing me and what and being accused of everything should be drawn out in court. need an investigation. we need new people in there because everyone is corrupt.

will, out.this a lot of democrats are going to jail. the tweet saying -- i demand and will do so officially that the department of justice look into whether or not the fbi/department of justice infiltrated and surveilled the trump campaign for political request put out by tweet yesterday. getting your thoughts on this call by the president for this new look into the department of justice and the fbi over these reported activities. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002.

ohio, independent line, mike, go ahead. i am just recovering from surgery, i have plenty of time to watch c-span. i remember history as far as the tost big cover-up, the plot seize the white house under franklin roosevelt, when the industrialist and the big bankers got together and tried to bribe the marine general who franklinhe beans and roosevelt said -- we cannot take on these guys, it is so big, it is going to have to be swept under the rug. now, with collusion, russia, all of this going on. i would like to know -- host: how do you feel about the president in the request he is made? caller: this should be

investigated and not leak out anything until the facts are maybe what we ought to do is have a international criminal court come in and investigate everybody. host: you support the request for the department of justice to look into this? support moeller and his team to privately investigate this matter until the facts are found, and that of stories that-forth confuse people. fear and confusion are the oldest tricks in the book and they work. that is part of the problem.

caller: a couple callers ago, people elected this president. people did not elect this president. electoral college elected this president. the people elected hillary clinton. let's get that straight. [indiscernible] host: i'm sorry. you are breaking up. we will go on to sandra in staten island, democrats line. i want to say i am not going to discount my fellow ouricans opinions about president, but it is strange, ever since the investigation into him, every time you turn around, i want to investigate this, i want to investigate that

. to take the investigation and the attention off of him, it is crazy. i used to be a republican. we were the party of family values. we get this president and he has overtaken the republican party. the point the president is making, do you think that is a reasonable request to look into? i don't know. he has been tearing out our justice department. politically motivated, do you think it is that? caller: no, i do not. since when has russia been our friend? that is all i can say. caller: i want everyone to remember who was in the oval .ffice after firing comey

it was donald trump smiling to the world. the news is tightening. -- the noose is tightening. host: how does this apply to the president. obama ofe accused wiretapping him. that turned out to be not true. the americanect people. moeller --protect detect robert mueller from this. a couple of opinion pieces this morning in usa today. in the debate section of the opinion section, the editors write it is important to remember his mandates. in additiony narrow

to the russian interference and collusion between russia and the trump campaign. living -- has been you has not been living in a cave knows it has been a target rich environment. including the firing of james comey last year in the pursuit of the russia probe. other issues and allegations have sprouted. the president's son-in-law mixing personal business with foreign policy. paul manafort's financial irregularities and michael: selling access to the oval office. when it comes to the robert mueller investigation, the

headline says the end of the investigation is overdue, saying what is the harm in letting it go on. if the administration cannot of this, the burden constantly shifting investigation will give rise to a narrative that any failure was due to robert mueller diversion, that the trump administration was stabbed in the back. is end of the investigation overdue. that was about the moeller -- the robert mueller investigation. republican line, louisville, kentucky, richard, go ahead. i want to know if the

fbi put a spy in the trump campaign. they putant to know if a spy in the obama campaign. i want to know was illegal activities were done by people of the fbi. we know they were. want to know if my thelligence department, fbi, cia, department of justice, i want to know if they tried to overthrow a duly elected president of the united states through his campaign and it continues now. that saidhe article because of the investigation, now we have gone from collusion to something man afford did in 2005. before long, they are going to investigate you, me.

don't the american people get it? hello.eorgia, david, good morning. the question at hand, trump's , jeff session has used his recusal to broadly. he does not have a man within the justice department to go to bat for him. look at the way they are slow walking everything. it is slow walking to get to the next election. if this report comes out and so many things have been discovered afraid it is going to lead to obama and that is why everything is being slow rolled. sending out annan

sayingor this news, senator mcconnell and speaker ryan, if trump continues along this half, he will bear responsibility for the harm done to our democracy. you do a disservice if you continue to an able mr. trump's -- if you continue to enable mr. trump's self-serving actions. caller ise last right. he is trying to destroy this country. does everybody think when he ran talkinghe last 10 years about obama, do you think this guy is going to tell the truth? his father was arrested in the kkk in new york. the presidentuest makes now, talk about that. caller: it is a lie.

he lied about obama. host: what is wrong with this request now? caller: it is ludicrous. host: wide? caller: it needs to be continued. there is no faith in the man. host: are you saying the fbi should look into this activity? that the department of justice should look into this informant activity? caller: look at trump and what he has been doing. host: christopher, new jersey. though russia investigation should continue. overis watergate all again. he said, if there be no accountability, another president will feel free to do as he chooses. the next time, there may be no

watchman in the night. i am fearful this man is doing what he chooses to do to hurt the department of justice and the fbi. i ask them to stand their ground and do their job. christopher, you said the investigation into this activity should continue. why not extended to the request about this fbi informant? withr: they should, but cautious ground. should be very careful with the way he is choosing his words. has been attacking people has been harmful to this country and it is dividing our nation. host: fred is in harpers ferry, west virginia. thanks for having this

discussion. it is wonderful. i am retired, former federal employee. i look at these things. some the questions that are not being asked -- so many questions are not being asked. this does a horrible disservice to the robert mueller investigation. if it had credibility, this is the end of it. formerd we hire intelligence agencies of other countries as informants? host: can i ask a question? caller: the job of the fbi is to protect us. they allowed the russians to metal in the trump campaign -- to meddle in the trump campaign when they were supposed to go to him and say listen, you are a target. when did they start doing that did they stophen

doing that and start colluding with the fbi to find this guy doing something illegal? host: south carolina, independent line. theer: i am in agreement investigation of the informant should be done because the things that were allowed to happen during this campaign, all the things that happened during this campaign was put in place by the fbi and cia trying to stop trump from becoming president. all of these things need to come out. there is a case the president is saying it is politically motivated? caller: yes. i feel it is politically motivated. barack obama, from the beginning, with hillary clinton,

threw his support behind her and no matter what, she was to become president so she could carry on his legacy. anything that can stop that is what they were trying to do. giuliani being profiled in the new york times, the headline saying he could get the best out of the president. andefends the president lashes out at his enemies, allowing the president to focus on landmark achievements. in a way fewhim other people do, giuliani said. guysis one of the smartest you are going to meet and a lot of people underestimate that. they do not get the best out of him. mr. giuliani and mr. trump are reunited.

is versus special counsel robert mueller. david, denison, texas, republican line. absolutely it is appropriate to call for an investigation. a clear mindth could think back over what trump endured overy have a year now, being called every name in the book, racist, homophobic, you name it, treasonous, mentally unstable. democrats and the news media want to accuse him of calling people names. host: make the case why you think this request by the president is valid. caller: i cannot think of any

time in history when a political campaign -- you have to keep in the justice department was under control of. it was the opposition political party. detailsve through these , hearings and reports over the with the links that have happened the past few they are now trying to he washe informant as not spying. he was getting information. they are trying to get ahead of the story now that they know what is coming out. brennan, basically a threat to the two republican leaders. if you don't do something to stop this, you are indulging the

president. happening,ll find you will find it is the fake 's $12 million list them by the clinton campaign and the dnc to fund that dossier. the russians, for the hoop law they did to interfere with the election, if you look at the details, half of the money was spent after the election, not before. host: david, thank you for that. the president sending out a new tweet. panicking.n is he has disgraced himself and the country. he is the one man responsible for the destruction of america's faith in the intelligence community.

talking about this latest call my him to take a look at activities of the fbi. california, eric, hello. caller: the last caller from texas is the perfect example of the projection when you talk about people name calling the president and then you put this tweet up. theinvestigation into investigation, there was a drew extraer page attention. if people would take their time and read for themselves, do research and figure out why pap -- he had access

to the stolen clinton emails. carter page had numerous visits to russia. he was denouncing the united states as being a road nation and represented russia. host: you are saying those two instances, that was ok for the fbi to have this informant and talk to them and ask them questions? have a possible president coming in and you have, on his staff, people who have russian ties to the extent

these two gentleman did. of course they have to check to see what those ties were. host: it is purely that, no political implications? caller: no political implications. i wish they would do the investigation and put out there what was going on with carter page and papadopoulos. is next,th carolina robert, go ahead. caller: good morning. all of his life, he is nothing but a fraud and everybody knows it. he has been caught lying. host: to the point of the president's request, what do you think about it? caller: it is more obstruction of justice. this guide is a criminal.

what leads you to believe it is obstruction of justice? caller: host: what leads you to believe that? the investigation involves him and his family and administration. northrobert from carolina, last call on this topic. two guests hour, joining us. this will's alexis simendinger, national political correspondent for the publication. also, roll call's jennifer shutt. later on, we continue with our ourtates capital store. -- 50 capitals tour. we speak with the brenda cassellius. that and more when "washington journal" continues.

>> i think the most important thing the leaders of our great ourtry can do is further rights as citizens, not only in nevada but all of the country. in a day of censorship, they need to remember that we are the freest country in the world, and it needs to stay like that. most important thing is our education, and i feel like we need more resources and more incoming coming to our teachers to help provide the education for students. important the most

issue anywhere, especially in the state of nevada and our is twon nevada region, things, one, affordable housing, whatever that may mean, and number two is workforce. there are just not enough people to build and further jobs. poverty, we need to add more jobs so people can work and have a good life. would say keeping our environment clean and safe for all kinds of organisms and species. >> voices from the state, part of c-span's 50 capitals tour and our stop in carson city, nevada. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. c-span was created as a

public service by america's people television company. today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public post events in washington, d.c., and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. "> "washington journal continues. to talk aboutus activities in congress and also the white house, alexis simendinger reports as the national political correspondent for the hill, and where also joined by roll call lizzie jennifer shutt, and she controls a report on budget and appropriations matters. .et's focus on the capital we start today with a look at matters of defense spending. jennifer shutt, what happens this week? they will be looking at a

massive bill that authorizes the pentagon and all of its programs. i believe there are about 550 and minutes of the house rules to midi will start working through tonight around 5:00 p.m., and they will have a sacred -- second hearing tomorrow around 3:00 p.m.. it will take up the bulk of the house's time this week. are a lot of contentious issues. and then the 2.6 increase for soldiers, the largest in about nine years. that is something members on both sides are supportive of. defense spending has always been a big topic for this president. talk about that. guest: the president is very animated and has been for a while about the idea that he would get a big boost in defense spending. i think this authorization bill

is $770 billion, enormous. the president, with pentagon chief james mattis, has been an enthusiastic with lawmakers to complete this as rapidly as possible, by the summer, he hopes, out of both chambers. he looks forward to signing legislation that would give a huge boost to all kinds of hardware, the idea of supporting the troops in terms of a pay raise. in the house, they are enthusiastic about a kind of space war, which is an interesting new topic that kind of galvanizes a lot of interest. so the president just thinks this will be a big success and undergo hisuch argument to the u.s. military active duty that he is a president supporting them. host: the dollar figure you talked about, what is the general reaction of that? how do both sides see that?

guest: the $716 billion authorization figure, since the february bipartisan budget agreement that set caps, both sides are supportive of that. they voted in favor of that spending agreement in february. the omnibus that followed the fiscal 2019 cap's, so this is a level that both party leaders have worked out, and the defense authorization is waiting for that and appropriators will write the spending bills. might remember that the president had some hesitation about the omnibus bill. at the last second, he talked about how he might veto legislation his own party was sending him. lawmakers, their harris started to turn white, and then went to the white house and tried to dissuade the president. one of the effective ways they did that was to argue to the president, look, this is the military spending that you have been fighting for. president --made a

presentation to the president, and the president was talked out of his, how should we say, discomfort. that discomfort has not fully gone away some a but he is focused on this idea that what they want for the military is important. host: you are nodding your head in agreement. guest: absolutely. the: the piece about veterans, $2.6 billion, talk about how that will break down. guest: the 2.6% increase for active duty troops? host: absolutely. guest: that has been a big central issue of the defense authorization and appropriation, increasing the pay raise for troops. that is another thing that this will will do. host: we will talk about that and other topics this morning with our guests. if you want to ask questions about spending for the military or other matters, 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans.

independents, 202-748-8002 of you can tweet your thoughts @cspanwj and you can also go to our facebook page, facebook.com/cspan. going into the august recess, what are the big ticket budget items is still have to be considered? guest: a lot is happening at the committee level. the house and senate appropriations panels have had the vast majority of their hearings for the 2019 budget requests. the house has already written and marked up, i believe, four of its five bills in subcommittee. they will look at energy, water, week.riculture bills this those will be heading to the four most likely before the august recess. from speakereard ryan or leader mcconnell about what exactly may bring to the floor, in what order, and what packages will get the bowles on floor. the bills on the

it will be difficult, especially with all the nominations that they have that they are trying to move through. one of the things we're looking for is whether not there packages are what are called minibuses, and then might be four of the 12 bills on one, sort of a legislative vehicle, and they will debate amendments on that and move some into conference. i think it is highly unlikely that congress agrees to all 12 of those appropriations bills before october 1. i think we're still looking at a cr to get us past midterm election in two mid-december. then we will see some kind of package move forward. president trump did begrudgingly signed the omnibus earlier this year and made very public statements that he would never sign another bill like this again, so there are a lot of conversations going on behind the scenes about how exactly it

will be packaged. so that remains to be seen. guest: drama. more drama coming is what we are saying. host: this comes from congress, especially paul ryan, that he wanted to return to regular order, especially when it comes to spending issues. and now we see these larger packages. talk about the political breakdown of the bills and the motions. guest: budgeteers have long talked about how the system is broken and has been for a long time. this does not seem to follow a regular order no matter what the leaders try to do. pointslso, as jennifer out appropriately, really challenging for these lawmakers to be steamrolling towards this when they really want to be out of washington and at home and campaigning and will he be done with this and knowing that a lot of this is like a hangover that keeps coming back.

we will see. as the president likes to say, we will see. but this is a situation which, as jennifer points out, she is the expert here, it is entirely unlikely this all gets wrapped up with a big bow by the time they would like to be gone. host: you said chaos. i suppose this is one of those many matters that republicans have to pay attention to. guest: one of thf tee interestig things that has struck me is how the republicans, especially the conservatives in the house, have begun to see that there might be repercussions for the extent of the spending, that republicans in the president all in charge in washington put their weight behind spending registrations that is going to look enormous to some voters. and they have tried to walk back in some ways their embrace of this legislation.

we saw the president propose to the house and senate conservatives, let's cancel $15 allion and what we just approved and signed and enacted for the omnibus spending. one of the things that is fascinating is republicans are not interested in doing that. we have seen that in leader mcconnell and the senate. we are not pushing back what we enacted. we see there is lukewarm support for that among house republicans. they will take this all the way to the voters and see how it plays out on the campaign trail. an jennifer shutt, why the hesitancy to take back this money? has a lot of previous spending and spending they argue would not be used. there is a lot of concern on the hill that it is a midterm election year, and there is andern about campaign ads

leaflets, $7 billion of that $15 billion package is chip funding, a popular bipartisan program that was reauthorized a couple months ago. with the administration and certain members of the republican congressional it or ship are saying is this is money would never be spent, and it will not affect the deficit that much but it is not money we expected to be spent. but it is still not an easy thing to put a campaign out against your opponent. that is one of the things we have seen a lot of, sort of republicans, and democrats are opposed to it. there is also a decent amount of money in their for ebola, and we have seen a bit of any ebola outbreak in the congo. organizationlth talks about how that may spread and affect the country.

so there's concern for republicans about rescinding ebola money. we will start today with clarence from pennsylvania, democrat. caller: good morning. a little comment on the earlier program this morning. every time something happens, donald trump takes the -- we had those people killed at school, and he promised the kids in forward to he was going -- the kids in florida that he was going to do it. and now we have this and he still did not do anything. now he tweets about the justice department and cia mistreating him. when is this man going to do what he is supposed to do? our children are dying in this country. thank you for taking my call. host: to the point of gun

violence, alexis simendinger, the white house said this is an issue we are going to rock on. where are we on that? guest: in some ways, the adapted theirdy rate of gun control or go measures in legislation that they previously considered and tried to take the smallest bite out of this controversy by embracing the idea of maybe some additional background checks, and the justice department has said that they are looking into rulemaking to try to pull back on bump stocks, which is the toice that has contributed in a guns or rifles rapidfire fashion. the president has expressed again and again his sympathy and his concerns, but this is a political year, and while the president initially said that he wanted to do much, much more, he

had a meeting with the national rifle association earlier this year and his enthusiasm for that was muted like conservatives up for reelection that are strongly supported by the nra. so i do not expect to see the president take any additional stance to try and press congress for additional legislation, and he will continue to point to the realtor efforts that the justice department is going to make under attorney general sessions. host: jennifer shutt, do you see as widespread debate over this topic this week as much as the last school shooting? guest: i do not see there being much of a change on capitol hill at we will definitely see one-minute speeches in the house and senate with lawmakers talking about what they want to see be done. this will continue to be a campaign issue for democrats, as well as some republicans a for reelection and moderate

districts. i do not expect to see appropriations bills or anything like that that would significantly change gun policy. host: virginia on the democrat line. hello. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have a question and then a comment. gas prices here in virginia, the price when trump was elected was like two dollars 10 cents, and now it is almost $2.70. when they talk about the tax bill, it wipes out anybody's middle-class tax rebates that we may get. ,nd over the last couple weeks i have been listening to republicans call in, and they will say that trump is anointed and one with say i wish he is president for life. i thought about his tweet today that says "i hereby demand," and

i thought, say what? that with the voters are supposed to say to our public servants, not the other way around? i am wondering -- this is sort of a joke, but does trump think he is reincarnation of henry viii? it sounded like that was from the middle ages. anyway, that is all. thank you. host: thank you. she talked about gas prices and the larger impact as a result of the tax bill. jennifer shutt, the tax bill was a big debate last year and went to vote again. now republicans are campaigning on it. what have we seen, particularly help republicans have responded to it? guest: republicans are definitely campaigning on this issue, something they are talking about at press conferences on the hill. they are going to be doing that through november. whether or not we see another clarifying tax bill come through congress this year with

bipartisan support remains to be seen. of course, neither chamber has even begun marking of their budget resolutions, which is how they would get that reconciliation process. the margin and the senate is narrow with only 51 republicans, so i'd in a think we are going to see any legislation of that scope this year, but we might see some smaller textiles in the house. host: the clarifying part of the tax bill, what would that look like? guest: it depends on who you talk to. to be,y it needs especially with the gambling decision, there are questions about whether or not we may see if federal bill taxing gambling if it is legalized in certain states. there are smaller issues like that and a lot of niche industries discussing other tax issues. alexis, the department of

justice, role that into the larger issues of the investigation into the president's activity during the campaign as it relates to russia. guest: there is absolutely no doubt that the president is extremely distracted by the continuing investigation that robert mueller as special counsel has engaged in for a year. case, therticular president has worked with his allies on capitol hill in the house, and he certainly working through rudy giuliani, his new personal attorney, to continue to raise questions about what he considers to be bias or a witch use, he calls it, and his of twitter and his response to reporters and his denigration of the overall investigation. particularly this tweet suggests that he is not giving up on this idea that he even needs to threaten action or promise action, depending on who he is speaking with. in this case, he wants to

showcase to voters that whatever comes out of the special counsel investigation has been somehow misaligned or is too broad or is exploring a range of interests or inquiries that he considers misdirected or inside the department of justice and the fbi. some of that is public relations tactics and some of it is his genuine disturbance that this is overshadowing his presidency. politicalnational correspondent for the hill joining us, alexis simendinger. and jennifer shutt is from roll call and reports on budget and appropriations matters. from florida, republican line. caller: good morning. one gentleman, the one before the last caller, he was talking about guns and why president trump doesn't do something about it. ok, whydering now,

congress or why the people of the country do not really go to were the source of the problem is, and it is not guns and not the police and not the schools and not the government, but parents do nothing to care anymore. the kids are running the streets or they are raising themselves, actually. they commit crimes all over this country, and the law does not do anything because they are considered minors. but when these children are going and killing children, ok, it all goes back to the source of the problem, and that is the parents. host: thank you very much. gerald in louisiana, democrat. caller: two things. about the guns, man. too many kids dying, man. we got to do something. every two or three month, we have a mass shooting. nothing. these are our kids. our kids are dying for nobody

else, hours. nothing. second thing is about trump. [indiscernible] he talked about barack obama for seven years. now he wants to investigate the fbi for stuff he has done. and what about all this proof he is supposed to have about obama? [indiscernible] host: ok, got you. issues.ed those two but there is a good intersection of money and politics, the farm bill. we saw and attended vote last week on the farm bill. it did not fail, did not pass. what was voted on last week? what happened? guest: the farm bill is a massive authorization bill that deals with a range of programs, including health insurance, world development programs,

trade issues for the agriculture industry, as well as a supplemental nutrition program, which people still referred to as food stamps. in the package was a work requirement for most people between the ages of 18 and 59 to have to do at least 20 hours a week of work or work training, and that is something that democrats were vehemently opposed to and they were trying to see if this bill could still be bipartisan before went to the floor, but it was not. to pass the house floor, you needed the vast majority of republicans on board. there are a lot of closed-door meetings between house leadership and the freedom caucus, the far right group of thet 30 or so lawmakers, on farm bill issue, which they say they are not necessarily opposed to. they voted against it, mostly because they want a leadership agreement on immigration, and that is something that really for stated members of house republican leadership because

they sort of agreed to hold a series of conservative-leaning immigration votes on the floor before the end of june, but the freedom caucus member still voted against the farm bill because they said they want those votes to take place before they vote on the farm bill. so there is a lot of frustration between those groups. host: part of that is this call of a discharge when it comes to dreamers, known as daca. guest: discharge petitions are very rare, very rare to be successful. tools, and there are wedges that exhibit great distrust. example,een, again, an which we saw in 2013 with speaker boehner, but the conservative minority freedom republican conference, a distressful of the leadership farmere using a must-pass bill that speaker paul ryan is

-- is firmlynd behind because of the legacy item for him. he is retiring in january. the freedom caucus opposed to movement on immigration that was andg pushed as centrists, their own party used the farm bill as a wedge. in this case, speaker ryan ends up looking embarrassed, not being able to navigate this. they will come back to this this week and try to figure out what the answer may be for both initiatives, farm bill and immigration, unrelated. i think it is an exhibit of the disc in -- distrust between the two parties over immigration, an unresolved issue in the courts that animates the president and his allies among the electorate. it is a fascinating thing to watch if you're interested in

washington drama. host: what about this idea of distrust that she spoke about? guest: speaker ryan has announced his retirement and there is a struggle to determine who will be the top republican during the next session of prague -- congress. we have seen conservatives urging a republican of ohio, tim jordan. guest: freedom caucus member. guest: one of the founding members of the freedom caucus. there is some hesitance to that. but this is example of him flexing his muscles saying, remember, we are a core group of house republicans, and you need us. that is the dynamic that is paying out -- playing out here. host: possible immigration bill, a vote on the dream act would be one of those, which would affect at least 2 million dreamers. act with the usa

border security. and there is an open slot for the speaker to insert something he would like to do. what is the likely victor in those options listed? guest: it is a little unclear. they have tested the waters with the goodlatte bill. it has gotten the least a much of support. that is embraced by the freedom caucus, but that was not necessarily worthy bulk of the votes go. centristsse, the joining with democrats to be supportive of some measure to help the drummers -- dreamers has really irritated the freedom caucus. is that anything they are doing is helping nancy pelosi and the house democrats. a larger argument that republicans have been making for a long time, way before the trump administration,

and that is that if republicans cannot get a resolution on the right side with immigration reform to actually take action, this will dog the party into the future, and there are many republicans who are concerned about this looking at 2020. so this is not just an issue for this week or this congress, but this is an issue that will continue, not just in the court and this president, but looking ahead to the next presidential election. host: bruce is in nashville, independent line. caller: hi, good morning. guests, my question is about the social security trust fund. are there any discussions relative to the budget about the assets, earnings, or liabilities that the social -- of the social security trust fund? thank you. host: jennifer shutt? guest: in order to move any social security legislation through congress, it would need to be bipartisan. that is not one of the areas

that you can move their budget reconciliation, that fast-track process that republicans used to pass their tax bill. you can do medicare and medicaid through a reconciliation process, not social security. party you have the same controlling the house and a super majority in the senate, you would need that legislation to be bipartisan. whether or not republicans right anything in their budget resolution that would call for changes to the social security trust fund, i think that remains to be seen. we're still sort of on the fence about whether or not there is going to be a markup in the house or the senate on budget resolution legislation. one thing i would remind individuals about is that a budget resolution is not a bill and is not signed into law. any budget resolution that calls for changes to social security, you then need the authorizing committee to actually make those changes. host: alexis simendinger, social security is a topic we hear about occasionally.

as far as active work on trying to salvage what is there, it is not happening. reasons isof the because as long as we have been in washington, it is not a crisis in entitlements that it goes forward into the future. i remember having president obama, who had argued with a democratic president, let's try to change the cost of living adjustment and social security, and that relatively minor change would have reduced benefits and was considered so controversial that there just was not an effort to touch that. before that, we had commissions looking at it. speaker ryan hoped to tackle entitlements. that would have been part of what he would have hoped to create as a legacy for republicans. it is not going to happen this year. as jennifer was pointing out, democrats waiting in the wings to create political ads that would argue that republicans want to take money away from

poor children, take money away from seniors. it would be too fraught an issue for them to want to touch and an election year. host: jennifer, this is a question from twitter. guest: wow, ok, so there is more than 550 amendments on the defense authorization bill. i have not read through all of them. a lot of them do deal with defense issues. one of the amendments that my colleagues at roll call are watching is one that would theinue to ban zte, corporation that has broke sanctions with north korea and iran. president trump has tweeted a little bit about the company. there is a lot of other issues in there. there is one amendment that would expand defense regulations

about illegally shooting down drones. guest: sanctions, provisions it it runs beyond the pentagon. jennifer should just make up a number. out of that 500 -- no, i am just getting. she knows everything -- i am just kidding. thank youar as zte, for the set appeared there was a larger issue yesterday. larry kudlow talking about not only the specific decision that has larger political implications we will show you a little bit of what he had to say. [video clip] >> president xi as president trump to take another look at it. this may be part of the overall trade discussion, but it really is an enforcement action, a .egal enforcement action being run by the justice department, as well. i do not know how this will turn out. wilbur ross is having a careful look at this.

let me say with as much clarity as possible, if any of the remedies are altered, there is going to be very, very tough, including big fines, compliance measures, new management, new boards. the question is whether there are perhaps some small changes around the edges. is doingresident trump this because there is a very good feeling between him and china. to getdo not expect zte off scott free. ain't going to happen. host: alexis simendinger, start with the smaller issue of zta. but also china and how this plays out with what the president hopes to do with north korea. guest: one of the interesting elements of this storyline is that the president is getting defensive over this idea. as mes the president xi to look at this, and he agreed to do it. in therarely criticized

united states among even his supporters for agreeing to do that. his point was that he understood, and the president explain this last week himself, saying he understands that the tough tariffs the united states would like to impose on china, particularly over intellectual property and the theft of u.s. technology that would affect zte, he said he understood that it is tough and is making china be more open to negotiations. but it is also in jury is to some u.s. companies, especially those that make parts. he said it is quite of a balancing act. he promised the president of china he would look at it, and you can see his advisers are trying to just be very clear about what might happen to zte. the president has a broader relationship with china and is working with china on a range of things, not just trade in

tariffs. turning toident is china in what he hopes is a constructive way of dealing with north korea. have a visit by the south korean president this week. guest: tomorrow president moon will be here to talk to the president. they spoke on saturday about the situation with north korea. nowe kind of in limbo right in terms of whether the president will be meeting with kim jong-un on north korea on june 12. the president is talking to his advisors, and president moon is one of them, but whether he should proceed to pursue this meeting because north korea has sort of walked back. the president is trying to figure out where he stands on that. from jennifer, anything members of congress about this meeting? guest: there is a chance of some members of the foreign affairs committee may meet with him or

members of his cohort, but i do not know for sure. host: we have a call from florida, independent line. caller: i am wondering why congress cannot stay in session over the weekend until they catch up with all the the neednts they need, for congressional approval and senate approval. let's be real americans and give of our vacations so we can get all of the work of the country done this year, before the elections. host: sounds easy enough. why doesn't it happen? guest: congress will be going on break for memorial day. they do not consider it a vacation though. they go home and campaign. their meeting with constituents. or they go on trips abroad are working, working, working. break int recess is a which lawmakers are really looking forward to being home

and campaigning. but it is not unheard of for political reasons that republicans are arguing, should we truncate the august recess? do we really need the four weeks? know, it is happened before that majority leader mcconnell has talked to his colleagues and his conference and they decided that they would shorten it may be by half, and then a tuneup they sure did buy a week in state in. the caller is right, that senate leader mcconnell has said that, and the president has argued, we are so behind in nominations and trying to get confirmations through, what can we do to continue to push them, and leader mcconnell has said he is trying to work with democrats without changing senate rules or the race says -- recess to try to speed things up. host: the general appetite as you see it on the willingness to shorten that vacation or work period?

guest: it is important to make a distinction between what they say in public and what they feel. a lot of republicans support this. said he isbama has fine with completely canceling the august recess because he really wants to see those 12 appropriations bills get significant floor time. he does not want to have to compete with the judicial and executive branch nominees for significant floor time. i think that is something we will continue to see debated. in reality, we may see the scheduling of one or two weeks in the senate. i really do not think we will see the house extent its schedule at all this year. host: on the democrat's line, mobile, alabama. catherine, go ahead. caller: forgive my asthma and there with my voice. i have a question for both of you that has troubled me and a

lot of the women i am meeting with that are independent, republican, and democrat alike. we want to know when enough is enough. leading by chaos and hatred and anger and rage is not a plan. for a party to nominate a man is it openly, on tv, that he could grab women by their p's just because he had a lot of money, why a woman would vote for this, why the money issue over their daughters in the granddaughters. the legislation is against the female population. we're second-class citizens still. i just cannot understand why any woman would vote for a republican. please help me with this. host: talk about the larger impacts of the #metoo movement and how it played out on capitol hill. guest: political analyst i have talked to are not quite sure exactly what the entire impact of the #metoo movement will be, the what they are seeing are a

couple of things. first, an enormous number of women are running for office, mostly democrats but also some republicans. and they are doing well, at least in some of the early primaries we have seen. and many voters think that that, regardless of party, think that is a very auspicious sign, that there is involvement, that there is opportunity for women candidates at all levels, notches congress or at the state level -- not just congress or at the state level. democratic analysts suggest that the polls are showing that women voters are moving away certainly from president trump in larger numbers than, say, older white male voters. younger voters are moving away from being supportive of president trump and the republican party. that is one of the reasons why we have seen, as jennifer was suggesting, if you ask

after giving the message to the president, look what we have a call this, texas for him, rolling back regulations, conservative justices, they would like the president to continue to focus on issues they think speaks to parties, all especially conservative voters, women, too. economiccus on that message, we are working for you sort of message, and reach across the divide -- the gender divide. the president will talk about things to remind voters about some of the controversies, michael cohen, stormy daniels, the russian investigation, and they wish the president would just be very quiet about that. host: jennifer shutt? what you were saying, republicans in congress

are really trying to stay on message on what they have done and what they can do. i think both male and female republican lawmakers are on board with that. there is a lot of frustration about the president's tweets and sometimes going off message and the stormy daniels issue. frustrating, particularly in the midst of the #metoo movement. host: we saw a lot of changes as far as policy matters and how offices handle sexual-harassment training. general response from staffers on capitol hill on that? guest: i am not sure how much congress is talking about and debating its own policies for sexual harassment in the workplace. most of the issues they are debating uphill are sort of thatol hill-specific, and resonates with female aids and female staff members. but how much that impacts the woman in the middle of the

country or those dealing with sexual harassment anin the workplace, i do not see a decision this year that helps her. host: a call from san diego, democrat's line. caller: good morning. all these things to talk about. i cannot believe what is going on. with everything that mr. trump it is china and other places. [indiscernible] come back to this country and he makes more money. host: any attention to these products made in china and how it affects mr. trump? guest: well, i think the caller is right the president trump and his family, whether it is his son-in-law or the trump organization, is being looked at through the prism of what benefits him personally or his family personally. that may be fair or unfair.

it is up to the evidence to show. that there is definitely a lot of examination and some expert reporting about the continued ties of the president or the trump organization or his family businesses. ivanka trump has a business of her own that deals with clothing. so there is lots of discussion about in what way the president has moved his view. as some ofue, too, who has covered previous presidents, president trump is really unusual in the way in which he embraces issues, whether they are global or domestic, through his own barometer of himself, his own worldview,'s view of himself as a negotiator, his trade, his business, real estate. it is very much coming from his own experience. that is an unusual thing to see,

but he is our first business president. it is interesting. host: arizona, republican line. , the dreamers are disingenuous because as soon as they are able to speak english, the start translating for the parents. second, if you want to pay for that wall, just cash western union remittance money that illegals are sending to their home countries. host: jennifer shutt, look at the bigger issue of border wall funding. the president campaign on this and wants congress to pass it and where are we in terms of appropriations? guest: he is not going to have a lot of money. couple that passed a months ago had $1.6 billion, i believe. he definitely has not gotten the

full either authorizing or appropriate and amounts of money he has wanted. that is one of the issues where he begrudgingly signed the omnibus, the money to build the wall. that is another issue we will be watching for throughout the appropriations process this year, a homeland appropriations bill. it has not been released in a house or senate yet, so we still do not know how much the republicans are proposing to fund for that walk. one of the issues will come to a head at the end of september , thethe fiscal year ends continuing resolution most likely will not include new funds for anything, including the border wall. so trump is going to have another situation, especially in cr has his border wall funding being punted once again. i do not know how heavy they

will have to lobby him to sign that cr. host: what is the hesitancy of republicans to give him the money, considering that they control both houses and this is a the president campaigned on? guest: the president campaign on mexico paying for the wall, and it would be american taxpayers paying for it now through an appropriations bill. when the of the issues you have is that republicans can pass republican only spending bills through the house. they need 60 in the senate, and there are 51 republicans in the senate or do you need a decent amount of democrats to support the spending was solution. democrats are mostly opposed to spending on this border wall. they're not opposed to border security issues, but they're mostly opposed to a border wall, which they say would be ineffective in addressing concerns that president trump has set a physical structure would address. host: alexis avenger, how does this play to the president's larger strategy on border security?

the wall is a symbolic proxy for the president, which is about national security and the america first message that the president campaigned on. he fully understands that it is not a completely 2000-mile physical barrier between the united states and mexico that would be constructed. you said he understands that. but the discussion of the wall, which is a word that embraces everything from the use of drones and cameras an additional border security, building walls, but also just the manpower and fencing. the president understands that. but he also is so frustrated with this idea that he cannot shut down the border completely immigrantsocumented from coming through. he got very animated about that this spring when the caravan was

moving through mexico to the u.s. border. -- he wasparade nelson forretary what he said was an inability to shut down the border. her argument is that this ultimately is an issue for congress. congress needs to work to change the law either unilaterally or through executive action. host: let's hear from carlos in florida, republican line. caller: this question is for alexis. the youngers ago, lady talked about why women would vote for trump when he said he could put his hand on a lady's p. clinton, her husband

was a guy who wanted to stick cigars -- host: ok, we get it. to the larger issue of hillary clinton, consistently this comes back from republicans who argue about her time in office and how she should be looked at. guest: oh, gosh. do we have an hour to talk about this? this goes back to 2016 in a way in which we had two of the most unpopular presidential candidates running against one another. -- hillarynton clinton had her own baggage as candidate and former secretary of state but also her husband, bill clinton. ways, they brought up her husband and office, the monaco linsky scandal, as the caller was referencing, and her reaction to it. the caller suggested there is hypocrisy to go around on all

sides. even hillary clinton's staunchest supporters, they thought it was a personal perspective on her husband's behavior or but it has been problematic for democrats all the way through. democratseen younger just taking a broom and hoping they could keep hillary clinton out of the public field. and we have heard in the past and her argument is known that a certainents contingent of democratic voters, and she is going to keep speaking out on issues of women's equality which she considers to be children she has fought for. host: and there are still cause for these kind of investigations on capitol hill. guest: correct. i think we will continue to hear them called for, whether or not those investigations are taking seriously or produce any serious outcomes. that remains to be seen. guest: definitely motivates

republican voters. host: definitely. on the democratic line, lawrence, go ahead. caller: yes, good morning. my question, going back to the last caller and the lady previous from that, the question asked of the lady -- and i would yourto ask the ladies, response -- is it a political response or is it a moral response? because it appears to me that men and women should both be saysy upset when a man that he has the right or he could do what trump said he would do to women and nobody would care. a this a political or is it moral decision that we should be highly upset because there seems to be no morals in this administration? and the enablers are the

dare step upho and say this is morally wrong, this is not how our country should be. host: are these responses you here in washington? is it a political response or is it moral? guest: well, it is both. it is definitely a societal reaction, too, a gender reaction. fundamentally, i think what we have seen is that the safe terrain for everyone is the legal elements, and we can debate the morality of it, the ethics, the he haverhill, the business side, the response ability of corporations. but the legal element is what i think has really seized congress to discuss, state governments to discuss. we have seen this in every walk of our domestic life and around the globe. is right, that

this is a much broader issue for many, many people. faith-e people, it is a based kind of discussion that needs to be have. we have seen organized religion among men and women, but mostly men. i think this is just a broad conversation we have had for many decades. right now, we are what is illegal. .uest: i completely agree that is one of the issues we are say in lawmakers from both parties trying to figure out this year, what exactly they can't do to try to legislate -- what exactly they can do to try to legislate people's behavior. can you legislate morality? that is something that remains to be seen. you can argue what is legal. rose in chicago, illinois, democrat. caller: good morning.

what prompted my call was when theasked, what is with hillary clinton lightning rod, you know? well, did we forget, in 2010, who was the lightning rod for the republicans? michael steele and the pink van with nancy pelosi. now you have donald trump talking about nancy pelosi at every single rally, the campaign rallies he is at. he is talking about nancy pelosi. now it is nancy pelosi at the rallies versus crooked hillary. i mean, do we have to forget the nancy pelosi bash in 2010? how isk, nancy pelosi, she generally setting up, if democrats take control of the house again, her return to speakership? is there some type of underlying

work? guest: she has been asked about this publicly a handful of times about whether or not if democrats take the house if she would step aside and allow younger members to take over, and she has been clear that she will once again seek the speaker's gavel. i think she has even said she has enough support in the democratic caucus. but you need a majority of the whole house. depending on the margins following the elections, that could be a very close race. that is something that, following midterm elections, there will be a lot of campaigning for whoever will be speaker, either republicans or democrats. host: what would a nancy pelosi-led house look like following november elections, if it happens? is impeachment on the agenda? guest: is impeachment on the

agenda? yes. but do democrats are nancy pelosi want to talk about it being on the engine do now? no. there are liberals within the democratic caucus who are out there right now talking about if they get the house back and campaigning, saying to voters, look, we will investigate this administration and hold their feet to the fire. we will file impeachment complaints to the house, and we will seek to end this presidency. and using that as a political argument. one of the things that is interesting about why the president targets nancy pelosi is not all about gender. it is but nancy pelosi is the most recognized senior democratic official in congress or you could argue in political life right now. she is so well-recognized, in part because of her long tenure

she is used as republicans as a symbol of liberalism, because she comes from san francisco, california. she is a ferocious fundraiser. withay be in some stew members of her own conference, especially the younger members who would like the new generation of democrats. but what is the democratic agenda? that is one of the big question marks going forward. democrats argue that you do not need to settle that in a midterm year when you don't have a presidential candidate. that is up to the next round after midterm elections, they argue. host: you just heard from alexis simendinger of the hill, the national political correspondent. also joining us is jennifer reports on budget and appropriation matters for roll call.

coming up, open phones. if you want to call and contribute, 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8002 for independents. you can also post on twitter, @cspanwj. and on facebook, facebook.com/cspan. and our 50 capitals tour continues on in minnesota. coming up, brenda cassellius.

>> unfiltered coverage of

congress, the white house, the court and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. to you by yourht cable or satellite provider. host: the secretary of state ike pompeo speaking about the iran policy, he's doing this at the heritage foundation in d.c., if you want to find out more about the thinking on iran, particularly u.s. country go to he our sister network at c-span2 on this network. phones until 9:30 or so. 202-748-8000 for democrats. republicans and independents, 202-748-8002. c-span wj is how you post on our twitter feed and you can put on our facebook

facebook.comc-span. daily news, stories from last week concerning the shooting. inadequate, the picture of governor greg abbott with gary e along placing d greg bonham flowers at santa fe high school. five state law passed years ago, as many as seven santa fe employees could have trained, armed and campus martialed in the open fire 10.ling this came to light after early aftermath of the most deadly at t nothing school history a time when senior state officials are calling for prevent to be armed to such shootings. that from galveston county daily news. star advertiser of hawaii, picture of lava coming up from there. island this as hawaii still continues

outflow, ru eruptions. hat is a picture of what is go og there. dominik in new york, you are up on the independent line. caller: how are you. vote for point, not any more democrats, we can't stop the trump agenda. same thing trump did at bigger rate. e have to make sure we keep republican necessary power and nancy pelosi, she wants to raise taxes, we don't want to go there. he created jobs, good jobs and people are paying social security, medicare and unemployment insurance. keep going. that is my point. host: from fairfax, california. taylor is next, independent line. good morning. good morning. i've been trying to get this little while.r a i told your screener it was

it is ine pence, which a way. i don't hope at trump gets impeached, i hope to do ill be able something about the hundreds of unborn babies being aborted in this country. huge issue for me and i'd like about it.re i don't know if you have a comment. host: republican line, mark is salem, om ben pennsylvania. caller: good morning. you asked question earlier about intod the investigation go what happened during the thing the president requested and i it should.ee we have to understand these people were set up. papadopoluous, page. the hillary clinton dossier to do it and we're not talking about any of that. were set up, induced to take information by a third party. they didn't go to peep and he

will ask for it, they were went asked, do you wadirt on hillary. is a problem there with that. all of a sudden, they were able to expose this out of nowhere. is like still they are the biggest genius walked on the as of the earth or corrupt they come along with the hillary clinton campaign. why can't people see that? taking a d trump is beating over something that is unbelievable and nobody stopping it. ost: that is mark in pennsylvania. arkansas, georgia, kentucky and the ff in texas, for elections this week. "wall street journal" this orning, georgia democrats, in that state, georgia democrats present rdog hope to unified front and push to eshg lect a governor, a post they 2003.'t held since they have to battle of the two stacy's. between stacy

abrams and minority leader who atlanta and stacy evans from the northern suburbs gachlt elected a woman or african american as governor. democratic party once dominated georgia politics, earlyhas eroded since the 2000. g.o.p. controls every statewide ffice and both chambers of general assembly. mrs. abrams and mrs. evans style as progressives, running on healthcare and transit. bring in s aims to young people and minority to defeat the g.o.p. is important d it to win, but georgia and candidates must appeal to moderates and d suburbs as state representative. massachusetts, hear from catherine next. catherine, go ahead, you're on. hi, pedro, good morning, c-span viewers. calling about -- i don't

or 30th, too many gun shootings in the schools in this country. i'm a mother. i'm worry body children in schools not being safe, not safe and i'm wondering when the president is going to action. regarding that, he is the now, not president obama or any other president in the past. what action would you like him to take? to havei would like him some form of gun control like we massachusetts. within the people in we have gun control. willing to accept that we

an't act like we're the wild west. and if you look at gun shootings hat have taken place, florida, and what not, these are states are the wild ey west. host: okay. let's hear from jordan in independent ate, line. caller: hi. i just wanted to talk about i know there ent, is many parties, but i believe sensible rtant to be and that helps issues like immigration, like immigrants that did the paperwork. i think it is important to learn context and remember that because we should also have empathy for immigrants coming in because my parents were once immigrants and i'm the daughter of an immigrant. joe host: jordan, what is an your mind? in

caller: i think an independent issue t both sides of an and see what is is sensible, they don't see what they want to merits, down side and good side of each side. host: i assume in past you had a chance to vote for pure independent candidate? if you haven't, who represented your belief system? i really haven't chosen strictly on democrat or or specific party to look at qualifications what is that.rom host: west virginia is next, this is bud on the republican line. caller: good morning. host: morning. comment es, i want to on social security. the trust fund. people say, it is a trust fund. no trust fund. in 1968, lyndon johnson, of the united states,

that the social into the und would go general fund and that was just welfare. and anyone who would like to social up, just go to security and welfare and there th lot of stuff in there that -- people. ost: what do you think is the future of social security? general ell, with the fund, whenever the general fund start t of money, they cutting back on social security. host: and you're okay with that? not.er: no, i'm i shouldn't -- they should have social security and the first place in the '60s to use for welfare. that, though, m how do you preserve it? eligibility?age of cut back on actual amount of

dollars spent? what would you do? i would raise the tax threshold on people who is paying in. business when he they reach that height where it but the individual $100,000, axes, make whatever the point is right now. employer paying his share pay his share then -- host: got you. got you. san antonio, texas, republican line, mark, go ahead. caller: yes. i was wanting to praise governor abbott and lieutenant governor the round-table discussion suggestion, i think in standing for the shooting

texas. also, i grew up in a parking lot 75% of our l, vehicles in the parking lot had rack in the he gun back of a pickup truck. we never had gun shootings in schools. we have them now is because the young people are so to the point they are views, not socialist trong anymore and bullying of certain students to ones that are weaker, they break and turn and other things for violence, that is my opinion. had and so the story that the picture of the governor, had sidebar story about this idea of teachers is that something you support? caller: certain ones, retired military. retired military myself. i know in our schools here in retired io, we have military teachers. they would be great. people i'd say no, but

certain ones, yes. guarding schools, putting bullet windows in the entranceways, metal detectors, thing, at is a great limiting the entrances to school is a great thing. antonio, k in san texas. another story in washington times taking a look at one of primaries having tomorrow. saying houston area voters will have a chance tuesday to weigh whether democratic party should go all in for medicare for all when they cast ballots run-off race between lizzie mosie r. and laura strengthen obama care and mosie needs to go rty beyond the signature legislative achievement, affordable care act. mrs. mosier is banging medicare latest contest exposed division between moderate and progressive wing of democratic party. "i'm the only candidate running

7, fighting for single-payer healthcare system, win me points with lobbyists who spend big to beat step to take every d healthcare to tex texan," and no mention to medicare. we have to work ahead of us to website said.r georgia is from east pennsylvania. caller: yes, i would like to hillary mment about clinton. i've been trying to get through o make this comment for a while. she attested president donald during s stalking her one of the debates. i watched those debates and she not stalking her. jumped out in y front of him in his space and if

e was make something kind of faces, he was probably trying to figure out what kind of trick was up to this time. the campaign far back? she still tells, attesting to it in public. i seen it on one of the stations last week. he still saying that he was stalking her. she jump out in front of him. tochlt ron in y michigan, independent line. caller: how you doing? well, thanks, go ahead. caller: i have a question for you. immigration. i have a wife overseas and i'm political l this thing about immigration, how

it for everybody else. i just want to know if they will husband and ere wife, married to a foreign citizen, be able to come, that able, the spouse be able to come to america? ost: if that is not your case, why is that? caller: why is it my case? actually, if -- are living with not your wife in another country? have been h, we married since 2012. host: why wasn't she able to then?ver caller: president bush passed law on anybody that was involved type of crime the petitioner is not allowed to petition. your wife's t is case? caller: yeah. my wife is suffering because of that. have you addressed your

legislator about this? addressed , i everybody, even president trump. host: you haven't heard fronts?s on these caller: i heard responses they would get to it and all this it.ff, they never got to host: if that is the case, where do you go from here then? that is have no idea, why i'm calling c-span. the legislature is best way to start or those related to that. i know t our website, that many nuanned issues when it all the immigration and issue necessary one way or bet addressed to c-span.org. at go to video library and you have bility, just type in immigration. we've coverod this program and ther forums, as well, dealing on all sorts of aspects of the topic. yours, ind an answer to not sure.

check out c-span.org. in florida. go ahead, you're in the. caller: welcome c-span. line is this. we are willing to spend $21 to make o build a wall sure those mexicans don't come into our schools and shoot our kids. hello. i don't think that is who did it. being facetious, why can't e use that $21 billion to fortify our schools where there within our community spiritually, economically, emotionally, use for that, as well, since we don't have a real plan how about we use the national guard? hat will make sure that we do not have to use resources, the and each resources community to be able to support the policing at the schools. going to cost too much, we

don't have enough to do it. we love our kids. we don't have the money to be able to do that. but we can use the national temporarily, put a post up, let them provide that until we could find a way to combat this problem. nathanial in ay, florida. president will participate today is swear nothing of new c.i.a. director ina haspel, story on "washington post" talking about that event and criticism for a previous one saying it was just his planned attend asbestosance at swearing in of director, that president trump went on and brennan disgraced currentry. and trump quoted a commentator brennan of being responsible for the intelligence community, according to trump's

tweets. the tweets came two hours before scheduled to leave the headquarter necessary langley, where gina haspel is to be installed as next c.i.a. director. to 2017 ed from 2013 under obama has been critical of he current president in recent months and on sunday he wrote on disastrousp was on a path and congressional leaders bear responsibility for -- asking the r f.b.i. to look at an informant during the trump campaign. out a tweet on that topic earlier this other thanning mo. democrat'sn georgia, line. go ahead. caller: hi. listen, i just want to make a couple of comments. that until we get

rid of trump and those who are spineless, when it comes to making sure right track, he's on any track he wants. they act like they are afraid of him. man.a man like any other he wants to be involved and that is the way some people in the republican party treats him. they act like they are scared to death of him. not only just a man, he's ignorant in politics. ntil we get rid of him politically and there will be no justice and no peace for anybody. he does not care, he does not the little man. e is concerned about himself and the rich people. now he wants to cut out medicare that,ood stamps and all of he's never walked in our shoes,

he has no clue about it. okay. let's go to danielle in illinois. danielle, illinois, you're on, go ahead. hi.er: so first of all, i'm a teacher. say f the things i have to as far as these horrible school shootings happening. prayers are with all of the families and i think it is atrocious that people on the main-stream news media organizations are saying that is to say because what is l upset about happening and as teacher and someone on the front line every single day, we are not meeting needs of the children. that is the big issue. and day out, y in i watch boys and girls, certainly, but certainly boys, and emotional needs are not being met, whether at home or at school. i watch our social service

group, i watch them not be able and i ally beat them watch them not be able to say i just ds need help and think we need to start meeting he kids and stop blaming the guns. guns don't kill people, it is these people that are not need.g help they thank you. host: joel from eagle, idaho, line.ndent caller: hi, pedro. this is a call from the wild we really don't shoot them, we find a tall pine.rosa on more serious note, the issue outun control, what is left is discussion of person part of called the amygdala. a scientist on several marsh, ago, abigale she's been doing work with the n.i.h. teenagers, there is something going on in brain

of the kids that is not normal. documents it in her book, has to do with amygdala. ollie north said, you have kids and we don't know the long-term effects of the drug. i encourage anyone to do research and not shout, it's the guns, it's the guns. t is not the guns, there is behavioral problems going o. thanks. from eagle, joel idaho, independent line. five minutes left on open phones, if you want to give us a all or comment on things you have seen. democrats. the caller had mentioned oliver nra president on the fox news on sunday, talking texas school shooting, here are his thoughts. been school shield had high school, a fe

less likely that would have happened. the problem we've got, we're the dickens treat /* to treat the symptom and not the disease. youngsters steeped in culture of violence, drugged in many cases, nearly all perpetrators are male and they are young teenagers in cases. they have come through a culture commonplace, e is all we need to do is turn on the t.v., go to a movie. look at what happened to young people, many young boys ritalin since kindergarten, i'm not a doctor, i'm a marine, i see those kinds

things happening. new alexis is next from york, republican line, good morning. so i know a lot of calling in about schools, have hadn the teacher, a lot to say. speaking to somebody in high school about five years ago, and teenager all of about five years ago, i can tell it has to do of with the way that we socialize boys.aise i think there is a problem here, they want to stigmatize mental illness. it is not always about mental illness. a lot of things go on in have a lot to do with what is going on, but there is a way we socialize and raise boys, specifically in this called toxic masculinity and nobody pays attention to it. men raise look at how and speak to other men and how and how meniolence,

look at standing up for the real , that is problem here. people sit here and say, it is the weird kid, the weird kid. the weird kid tis how we tell boys to react to people around them. you -- what was the first sense that you got this was a connection between masculinity, as you describe it, and gun violence? thing. here is the when you're in high school, and react to e way boys each other, watch guy get pushed around, he won't immediately or speak to anybody about it, he'll just see it as like, this is my fight, this is have to do in order to prove i'm a man to everybody at.where i'm lexandria, virginia, virginia, mike, independent line. good morning. caller: i echo what some previous callers said about guns of a problem as much as

and the fact of mass media. the t.v., and even the days there was mass murderer, the stations show outrageeous orgies of gun fights. was 11-year-old boy a few ears back, who stated that the reason he shot a younger child tree was to see what it felt like to kill someone. we should have raised the alarm then, 15 years ago. host: foreign policy related stories. "new york times" reporting under headline, u.s. suspending tariff against china and give reason why. and a report that it was steve mnuchin the treasury secretary who said yesterday the two

countries made progress as they intense trade negotiations in dc last week. lanned tariffs on $150 billion of chinese goods are off the table while talks proceed. the trade war on hold, he told fox news sunday, details remain undecided and trade experts warn mr. trump'sould cut leverage and thrust the u.s. china gotiations with that bogged down previous administrations. that is "new york times" story. morning, n post" this a story taking a look at the president's discussions with korea over that upcoming summit saying it was on the call korean president set to come to washington, it and d less than 30 minutes the president thought south orean interpretation of pyongyang shift to harder position, sharp contrast to moon met on zone as with dictator kim jong-un last

onth, according to senior u.s. , ficial with knowledge of the the meeting with kim jong-un, plan suggest moving forward and to nail down ut agenda and finalize several outstanding issue. to get gyang is trying more concessions from the united before the summit or to be building a narrative to blame if things go poorly. caller: pedro, do you remember misery index? host: yes. calk caller: that was combination of inflation rate and unemployment rate. i think it was first publicized in 1980 when reagan was calk aller: running for president. and so iver been lower just think our government is

doing a good job. anybody who thinks our be fixed needs to they're sadly mistaken. thank you. tennessee, on, democrat's line. colin, you are next, go ahead. doing? yes, how you host: hi. caller: yes, this is paul robinson. i have a comment to make, it is our government. the government is not out to middle classl, the or lower class people. it is not doing nothing for us. top.arted at the and then it trickled down, go to gas as pump right now, instead of going up, nobody talking about it. peoplent trump tax bill, got bonuses, gone now. pump now and have money to fill up. i want to say thank you.

host: colin from jackson, tennessee, last call. tour of state on capitals, "50 capitals tour" is how we bill it, today the bus, in minnesota. coming up on our program, iscussion with that state's education secretary, brenda cassellius, that conversation coming up on washington when we come back. >> tonight on "the communicators," second part of our coverage of the congressional hackathon conference. for leader mccarthy and myself with steven dwyer, to bring people together on capitol ill and people off the hill in order to forimprove government make government more accountable tools people and use the that come here to better serve constituents. engineered a sort of whole

new process for creating hearing reports and that is a process been in place any, many, many decades and we automates an app, that committee hearing reports, web-based yap app. taking weeks to do, manual and one that justice done with essentially click web-based of a button. host: watch "the communicators" on c-span2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: stop number 35 on tour of capitals. today we're in st. paul, minnesota. river, the s the mississippi river from big st. paul inneapolis, st. paul is second most populous city in the state, more than 80 languages spoken in the public

schools and joining us to talk about the education issues that the state and the nation faces commissioner of education, of minnesota, brenda cassellius. commissioner, thanks for being with us. highly ranked when it comes to the quality of and public schools, yet the same time, criticized and teacher pay issues. how do you reconcile that? education commissioner: well, we overall lly good achievement, as you know, and we achievement large gaps and that's been our focus this st eight years of administration, almost eight equity, go offer achievement gaps to ensure great education they deserve. this morning, fighting for more funding for public schools, so we don't ding have to see cuts and teacher

layoffs. that, ontinuing to do continuing to work on ways to support the schools and they get professional development they need so teachers have skills to work with speaking minnesota.ages in host: commissioner, a lot of states this past year have seen west virginia, north carolina, arizona. avoided that? education commissioner: we have avoided that, we have good working relationship with teachers. they know this governor is fighting for them. we have good support systems out field, in rural schools, area.l, as in the metro we avoid today because of that. teachers are fed up and they're of being it tired underpaid, being under attack happening in schools. they show up everyday to do good and i think we need to

give them a little bit more credit. host: last night about midnight, commissioner, you sent this tweet. mark dayton presented school bill and we have one hour legislature and no clean bill to prioritize our kid's safety, so disappointed with the legislator, can you that, please? education commissioner: well, school en fighting for safety for years and common laws in the school and the governor stood up and been eally active this year, especially, after parkland, with our student body, who has been here at mom's demand, who has been here and over 90% of especially, after minnesotans support universal background checks, common sense age 21 , raising age to for assault weapons, closing the red flag laws

don't erous individuals have those guns and can't get in. agreements with republicans on the other side to do some protections of the buildings and some ability to do enhancements around school security and staff and mental health support. we said, let's agree on things get a clean on and bill, get it sent to the governor right now, april 16th, presented clean bill to both bodies. two authors in the senate and still, lasthouse and night, fighting for it. and trying to get them and urge bill through hat and get it to the governor's desk knowing that the earlier t, a few hours said the overall education bill good shape and it his not potentially get signature and so i was urging that to his desk

right away and didn't get it done. one of the five and a alf million minnesotans, here is how you can talk to them. 02-748-8000 for minnesota residents. all others, 202-748-8001. go ahead and start dialing, we'll begin taking calls in a empt minute. we encourage educators to call well. you have classroom experience, superintendent experience, in best way what is the to secure a school, if people get in, are they able to get in? education commissioner: most of schools have been able to secure their entrances, but it procedures now. nd being able to ensure that once folks are in, we know how classroomsstudents in and make sure those are barricaded appropriately and

people are safe once in. lot of preventative things we can do around school safety, such as in minnesota we a program called positive behavior, work on school kids feel supported. if e able to see early on students experience difficulty, crisis, that onal means having support personnel, having counselors and social that necessary schools can work with families and children and get them support they need. able to identify and they're having crisises intervene quickly and get students this kind of help. things 't prevent all from happening, but you can certainly try to provide the support systems and unfortunately minnesota is a state we've cut back on counselors and social workers and support and staff in the lassrooms and it is just shameful. we need to be sure our teachers

to make sure students are getting what they eed and not coming to school feeling that they can't be supported. 38 : 30% of minnesota's billion dollar budget is education and k-12.f that is where does that money go, commissioner? education commissioner: well, most funding in education, true well, t other states, as it heads out to school districts funding they use that for personnel, either teachers r support staff, bus drivers, engineering staff, facility cafeteria staff. most funding goes out for that. we've seen, because of minnesota, especially, the past couple of decades of cuts, it's hard to catch up to be able

well-rounded education, we saw cuts to administrators, cuts to counselors and social workers, cuts to arts program approximates and theater programs here in minnesota. able to offer well rounded education, you are well le to have really rounded individuals who can be the bestally and they can and find the joy they can for their futures and what to do in their careers. you know, invest nment education are important. other thing that happens when you have cuts to education, ou are not able to pay teachers. we have a low unemployment rate, recruit good, to high quality individuals who are interested in positions because get a job and get paid business and cal so it is really important that we're able to stay competitive to get we can continue the highest quality individuals

our classrooms working with kids. host: let's hear from derrick calling from lakeland, minnesota. on with you are education commissioner brenda cassellius. caller: thank you, good morning, c-span. good morning, america. welcome to our wonderful, eautiful state, c-span, been watching since '91 and participated in "washington times.l" many let me tell you about the state of minnesota. we have great education system, run very infsh inefficiently n. my district we $100 million and 8 or 9% o to the administration and we have teachers on average making ore than $100,000 a year when normal residents do not make that. o i would just say that you're very greedy, you are sticking up for our governor, our governor so defiant to the other side, negotiate.ow how to i just say, i love minnesota, go

for joining k you us. cassellius?ssioner education commissioner: minnesota is a beautiful state and we have a very diverse opulation and a governor who stands up for kids and for the poor. i'm proud to have been part of the past eight in s and i would say that our teachers, they are not overpaid, they make 2% less than average teacher across the nation. not sure what is happen nothing akeland, could check that out, but absolutely our teachers are not overpaid in minnesota. in pipestone, minnesota, in western minnesota. hi, michael. c-span, ood morning, good morning mrs. brenda, how ma'am?ing, education commissioner: good morning, thank you for coming on. caller: my concern, with isaprofessional protest that

involved in our state, i have worked with co-op situations and i have experienced this and seen eyes that a lot of is involved the individuals who ha orced to take that particular dramatic ave had consequences behind it. you may know in our state that diagnosis of autism is very point, so we're actually losing the battle in my opinion, that when you leave the supporting staff to deal with with autism that i work with, it is common sense of it.t book end sense we are more mentors than teachers. on year by year. paraprofessional become mentors members of our community and need to take a look at that bill. ost: that is michael in pipestone. commissioner cassellius? education commissioner: michael, the comments. i started my career as

araprofessional working with students emotionally behaved. i can't think paraprofessionals they do.r work my sister is paraprofessional cognitivents who have disabilities, it has a place in my heart. worked to put forward some legislation and some grants for paraprofessionals to become teachers because of the incredible teacher shortage that and so we value paraprofessionals, i'm not sure exactly what was happening, i think you said something about a test. to look into e that if you call my office or e-mail me, be happy to follow-up with you. host: commissioner cassellius, of federal e-added education department, when it locals? helping education commissioner: well, you know, i actually give my hone number out to everybody when i go and speak and talk and

i get back to everybody within 24 hours. i think the value-add is open door to be able to resolve ones we just he heard, to be able to talk to the people around the state and to be a place for teachers to learn and grow ogether and share best practice. we've worked hard at the agency out. able to move and get we created regional centers of excellence. within the regional centers of have equity e coordinators who work with our teachers and principals to help them plan, help them the kind of teaching method that the diversity we have growing within the state so all they teachers have what need to be successful with students. i think the value-add is there being policy advisor to the legislature, to the governor and we have adequate funding and that money is

theing to kids that need it most. ost: mark dayton, democrat, minnesota senate and house are republican held bodies. joseph, in st. minnesota. hi, cindy. caller: good morning. i'm calling to voice my opinion everybody in central minnesota. what all disgusted with is going on in the schools here. we have so many immigrants in the schools are basically set up as a social no education really going on. teachers have no control. the ings happen in classroom, they basically have no venue to, you know, voice it to. and it's pretty much free for all. horrible.e our governing system is out of control. supporting everything for everybody, but us. great exodus going on in minnesota right now.

people are pulling out and wants to live here. great job. you for your opportunity to let me talk. i hope the president comes out a e, i think he could make huge difference. host: cindy, st. joseph is notta school district that big, is it? caller: well, they combine all it little towns to make bigger, then of course you have bigger tax base. all they are doing is building schools and charging it to good old taxpayer and yet the no system of grading. i mean, everybody is pretty much dumbed down to nothing. are some schools that work harder, but i mean, public school is a failure. a failure years before mr. trump was elected president not gotten any better, going l the immigration obattling that and it is just a nightmare. it is horrible living in this

beautiful state. host: let's hear from cassellius. education commissioner: we sure appreciate everybody's opinion. ut i just would have to respectfully disagree that i think minnesota has a beautiful system, especially up in central minnesota, where we have high-achieving schools. i would encourage her to go and principals her school and take a tour of her schools. 've been in those schools, hundreds of schools across minnesota and teachers are a great job doing with kids. diversity is beautiful unifier in the state. growing diversity and it neighbors to e experience minnesota nice and get out the pie and cookies and and et your neighbor churchs and sin g gogs across te able to reach across the aisle, as well and is the ends and that minnesota way. i encourage her to give me a

to , i would love to talk her about schools, give her a school principal and show her on.t work going host: reminder, if you are minnesota resident and want to talk to commissioner of of minnesota, 202-748-8000 is the number for to dial. brenda cassellius, are you a schools? of charter education commissioner: yeah. we've had charter schools for 20 years here in minnesota. i like high quality charter schools. r e been working on two liication grants that is a that is supportive and helpful. we work to evaluate our schools nd we work to evaluate authorizers so we can be sure options high quality for our kids and families and so have excellent private schools, about 15,000 chooses and families who to home school. we have about 55,000 students in

schools and then we have really terrific public schools. to paint a glowing picture all our schools are achieving at levels they want to achieve and working hard at trying to reach all students, ouri can guarantee you that superintendents, our school principals and teachers have strategic over the last four years since we had a ew law in place around strategic planning ensure they are looking at graduation rates, highest graduation rates we've improving third-grade literacy and addressing gaps.ement so very looking forward to our acts very student succeed impleme implementcasion. broad stake holder engagement in hat and i think people are excited about the new leaf we're going to turn over next several better.re to do host: next call from gaithersburg, maryland, good morning. caller: good morning.

actually calling about this issue. little ere in gaithersburg in maryland and we right ch other here, here. i know the space, because of the ly caring for ual ly is i have, my concern -- ce and about the issue you know [indiscernible] -- this could have been to the whole nation. time my s that it is so leaving the house, i'm worried about their lives, so orried about them coming back trump on't know whether administration is understanding

what there is according to emotionally, concerning all the and -- s, host: we are going to leave it there, brenda cassellius, we're to the school safety and guns.n school and education commissioner: yes, so i didn't hear the previous i did hear just a brief thing about young men and know that i n't quite understood the question, was something about being young men going out into the community. you could clarify for me so that i could answer more -- not clarify any of the callers' questions, we'll johnny in norman beach, florida. johnny, you are on c-span. hi, i really wanted for doing such a

good job and i also wanted to know that i'm going to be visiting florida sometime soon. minnesota, excuse me. talk to you later, bye. ost: and mike is in byron, minnesota. mike, where is byron, minnesota? caller: about five miles west of rochester. mayo clinic. are on with commissioner cassellius. caller: okay, i'd like to say, person that called from i think st. peter, about public schools. i have five grandchildren in all getting s, straight a's. one in a choice school and the fourth great and and eighth grade math and science. i can't agree when someone says doing a good job. host: what sichoice school, mike? learning, my ed

grade.on mason, in second yeah, very intelligent, i try to his mother he get its from me, she didn't agree. host: all right. m minnesota., mike talked about the choice schools. offered? is education commissioner: yeah, thank you, mike, for bringing that up. of options for students for advanced level, for disabilities, ve gifted and talented, a lot of local control. school districts will look at students and what they bring and create programs that really do their needs. is pseo, program post-second education option, students in tenth grade to take college level course work ully paid by the state in vocational and they can take

college in the schools, as well, hrough the university of minnesota, where we train teachers with college university akwulty, they pair up and take classes there in the high school or what we call vocational enrollment, students will take work in the -- in our schools and we partner with organizations, a great example is mcfail music program here. mcfail center for music, most talented the master musicians, who do an in many rural schools because they can't get into our out that far rural areas. they will beam them in, so to and do individual lessons with students. aally excited about that, and number of maintenance schools, schools n our public that have special focus in arts,

theater, dance, mathematics or number of opportunities. you know, your -- who is really intelligent could benefit from minnesota, check into that, as well. ost: commissioner cassellius, 3m, target, general mills, headquartered in minnesota, do with corporations like that, as well? education commissioner: we absolutely do. we have this very unique relationship with i believe cargill, they work with some students with disabilities and and do m come in work-alongs, job shadowing when they are still in high school. is called the search program. amazing we have fill throppic community, nonprofit alongside hat works

schools and does good job of partnering with them. last call, sue in rochester, minnesota. seconds.ut 30 caller: yes. i want her to be aware that innesota is one of the tenth highest tax states in the country, causing many people to leave. it very making difficult to get other things done. just wonder if she's aware of that in making her request to the congress? cassellius?sioner education commissioner: i am our that we have taxes in state and, you know, i'm sure i have a very different position you. one thing i do know, in minnesota, we are paying less 1995 of our in personal tax income to the share education, so in my opinion and i know we are all entitled to our own opinion, i to do more for my kids than

my parents did for me. in is not the case minnesota and the amount of taxes we're collecting. year, nearly ion a half from state income taxes. minnesota department of commissioner brenda cassellius, has been our guest for the past half-hour. parked you, the bus is outside the state capitol in st. paul. e want to thank our cable partners, comcast for their help in setting this up. madison, wisconsin. now live back here in museum, there the is a forum going on talking bout the u.s. response to infectious disease outbreaks, it just started, it is sponsored by american society of microbiology.