the capital stork into news in madison, wisconsin, talking to rebecca clay fish about some of the key issues facing her state. ♪ morning.d almost rise is the new york times headline on the nfl new policy requiring major league football players to rise during the national anthem or stay in the locker room. said thattrump players that took a knee in silent protest should be fired. what do you think? use up the new policy? (202) 748-8000. do you oppose it? your number, (202) 748-8001.

you can join us on twitter and let you know -- let us know what you think. start dialing in. we will begin with roger goodell, the nfl commissioner and his statement. it was unfortunate that on field protest created a false perception among many that nfl players were unpatriotic. this was never the case. this season all personnel shall stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem. do not stand for the anthem can stay in the locker room until after the national anthem is performed. we believe today's decision will keep our focus on the game and extraordinary athletes who play it, and on our fans that enjoy it. the nflent saying, chose not to consult with the union in the development of this new policy. nfl players have shown

patriotism through social activism, community service in support of military and law enforcement, and protests to raise awareness about the issues they care about. the vote by the nfl today contradicts statements by roger goodell and the chairman of the nfl management commission about the principles, values, and patriotism of our league. the nfl union will challenge any part of it that is inconsistent with the collective bargaining agreement. what you think? kneeling and other unpatriotic disrespectful symbolism during the national anthem. requiring players, personnel as they refer to in the statement, to stand. you remember that the president in september of this year brought the issue to the forefront. it at events.t he tweeted saying, "if nfl fans

refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our flag and country, you'll see change take place fast. the fire or suspend." attendance and ratings are way down. boring games, yes, but many stay away because they love our country. league should back u.s." [video clip] don't think people should be staying in locker rooms, but it is good. you have to stand proudly for the national anthem or you shouldn't we playing, you shouldn't be there, maybe you shouldn't be in the country. you have to stand proudly for the national anthem. is the story, do you feel like you pushed this to a conclusion? >> the people pushed this

forward. i think i brought it out. the people rot it forward. this country is very smart. we have very smart people. it is something that could have been taken care of when it first started. host: sports news website says this policy is similar to a policy the nba has. this is the player-team conduct in dress section of the nba official rulebook. each player should be uniformly dressed. players and coaches will stand in a dignified manner during the nationalof the anthem. you support it. tell us why. theer: we need to support fighting for our freedoms. that is what they are therefore. the least do is stand up for the

national anthem. host: ok. what was your reaction last season when this issue was being debated. were you one that stopped watching? caller: i haven't watched nfl in 2 years. i lost interest. i am there to watch the entertainment and be entertained. politics should not be in my sports. , cleveland,a ohio. caller: i do oppose it. they are stifling free speech. flag thenas the conflated with veterans? the flag is one thing. free speech is another thing.

people being killed by police daily is the top thing. that is what the protest is about. if donald trump don't want to deal with the actual reason for the protest, which is black people being killed by police daily, that is what the issue is. if the nfl don't care about their players before the game or after the game, they can be killed in the streets also. then to deal with the issue and stop all this nonsense about veterans -- some of the nfl players are veterans. they need to get real with this. f ngs ridiculous and because of the protest, then

black people are going to boycott because they can't protest. the nfl is going to be over. would you think everyone is racist if they are protesting the nfl? caller: that's what they said. that's what donald trump calls them son of a bitches. a don't understand or he don't want to understand. the point is something must be done about racist police. in 2006 came out with their report which said kkk, white supremacists, infiltrated lawce departments and enforcement nationwide. that resource in 2006 covered the 1950's.ack to

all you have to do is roll the tape on the white police with a water cannons on black people. that is shown during the civil rights era what happened. host: some are pointing to an incident in milwaukee. video shows milwaukee police confrontational from start of incident with sterling brown. the milwaukee police were confrontational in january with the milwaukee bucks rookie, sterling brown, who was taser over a parking violation. video shows department members acted inappropriately and have been disciplined, according to the milwaukee police chief at a news conference on wednesday. robin, you oppose the policy? good morning. caller: yes, i do oppose it. it is fake patriotism. they say they care about the

veterans, but he makes fun of john mccain. it is a double standard. he feels like those black men are disrespecting him and they he is notor so hurting them. i don't think i will be watching the nfl anymore. if they can drive in cars that and are being beat up what -- they're not kneeling because they don't like the veterans. he is a liar.

it is a lie. it is fake patriotism. it is not ok to tell someone who mourns there has been that is what they signed up for. host: finish your thought. onler: for me i hope it goes to something else. trump.e following donald whatever he says they go along with it. it is usually wrong and it is usually based on a lie. host: let's hear from charles

who supports the policy. charles you are on the air. caller: of course, i support requiring the players to stand. , --act trump has contradictions in the things that he says when he does respect the laws of our country ,nd tries to make people look especially law people, look bad. that is a contradiction to being a patriot. they're talking about police brutality, of course it is, and it has to be taking care of. i have something to say to the , the time for us as

black people and white people to -- firstly,ycott where will you march 2 and who are you going to boycott? is going to black communities and show the young kids how these black players and white players, it is a vast majority of black players, go into these athleteses and use from jesse owens back in the day day carry a lot of pride. you can protest, but there's a point where what good does it do to keep protesting? what you do is you show the people, you are making millions

of dollars. as far as trump is concerned, he is just a hypocrite. he does everything he can to make things go his way. i feel sorry for the man. if the man would shut up and this whole united states could be a much better place. doneport with the nfl has for those specific reasons. thank you. host: more of your calls coming up. on this decision in atlanta with the nfl ceo, the washington post headline, nfl owners of proof a two-dayanthem after meeting of the 32 owners leaving it to individual teams to discipline players for acting disrespectful during the anthem. changes were met quickly with approval from vice and skepticism

from the nfl players association, that said they were not consulted on the changes. for reaction from those in the nfl, jenkins with the eagles tweeting, what the owners did 'as to work the players constitutional rights to express themselves and draw attention to , like racial inequality in our country. it to the let discussion over racism. we will create a more just system. betterbrutality and educational and economic opportunities for communities of color struggling in this country. smith of the carolina panthers tweeting, appropriate implies that those are

being disrespectful. that is an opinion. those that believe that a northern responses from the players and more portly why men choose to protest. is crazy to think that ratings dropped because of the kneeling. i promise it was more people theally not watching due to support of kneeling that once opposed. were actually terrible. memphis, tennessee, arthur. caller: i oppose it. hazard ofonald trump the first amendment. you have a right to protest if you want to. does donaldell trump think he is? he is not a king. host: google go to andre, who

also opposes. caller: i oppose it. i am a veteran who served my country for eight years. that is why i served my country, so people can have the right to feelst and kneel if they -- it is unjustified. i wonder how many of these people who support the ban actually served in the military? it is not like these players were turning their back on the flag, they were just kneeling out of what they feel is injustice in this country. again, i am a veteran who served and i don't think no man on this earth should have the right to tell me i have to stand proudly. you serve your country, you've and what you're

supposed to do as an american citizen, as a patriot. for you to tell me i have to stand? no, i don't think so. and i'm a season ticket holder. when i personally go to the games and the national anthem is played, i do stand. but for someone to tell me i have to, i disagree. host: what do you think about next season as a season ticket holder? caller: i'm going to still go to the game because i paid money. what you might start seeing, it might start seeing fans kneeling and not standing for the anthem in support of the players. what are they going to do? ban me from going to the game? tell me i have to stand? and i would love to know from all of america, i would love to hear veterans. that is why we serve, so people

can have the right to protest, to march. we go to other countries and defend the rights of other citizens in other countries. american, i feel citizens should be able to protest. it is a nonviolent protest. they are not stepping on the flag, they are not turning their back on the flag, they knelt. we get upset when people are not allowed to kneel in prayer. if someone kneels at the flag they are upset. i oppose it. i guess i will be considering my whole season-ticket membership, but let me say my atlanta falcons, i support them. i think the way arthur blanche

handled the situation is great. if i'm correct, all of the owners did not vote. i think every owner should be on record voting one way or the other and we should know which way they voted. host: some of them did not vote. i'm trying to find who the owners are that did not. we can try to get that for you if there is a list. i think we know of one. steelers owner art rooney said after the vote raising a fist and linking arms during the national anthem as some players have done would be disrespectful. my producers telling me, which one? one whos owner is the decided not to vote. we'll give you more information. owner said he abstained

from the nfl owners about partly because he wanted to hear more from players. he added he may halt concession sales that levi stadium during the playing of the anthem. we will continue getting your thoughts, three nfl decision requiring the players to stand as we continue through the first hour of the "washington journal." we want some policy news in washington. talking about an intelligence meeting happening today. let's begin with the call for this meeting. who made it and why? caller: this all came about because of a tweet from the president. we got one on sunday. an investigation into those investigating him.

then there was a meeting monday at the white house with the president and chief of staff john kelly and senior justice department officials rosenstein and christopher wray. engineered,as thecrats were concerned president calling for an investigation into the investigators was pushing the bounds of the constitution and powers of the office of the presidency. a deal was brokered by kelly two gop chairmen would be allowed to view information currently in possession of the justice department about the use of a confidential informant. of course, the president and his

thatrters call that a spy, was used to gather information about his 2016 presidential campaign. that is what we have today. we have gowdy and nunez meeting with the justice department officials to view that information. two hours later on the hill the same doj officials will brief the gang of eight. kind of an involved explanation, but it centers around the use of this informant and information that that individual gathered. host: some are saying that this informant was there to give information -- get information about the russian-side of this, russia's attempts to infiltrate the campaign.

how does this meeting become bipartisan? caller: it became bipartisan because the democratic dojership really pressed officials and the white house to avoid having the information that is briefed today become instantly politicized. it is hard to imagine in this current environment that chairman nunez and chairman nunez especially chairman who has been on the president's side and has aided the president and trying to question the legitimacy of the special counsel probe, that they would not use that in some way to continue doing that. democrats were concerned about that and wanted to be briefed on the same information. what we are likely to get later today, yet again, will be two

very different descriptions from the republicans and democrats on just what they heard. host: will the presidency this information, for anybody from the white house? very goodat is a question. i don't think that has been addressed. the president is the leader of the executive branch. he has the power to pick up the be given any piece of information. he can declassify any piece of information. i don't think the white house has been cleared on if he has seen the information about the informant, but he absolutely could. cq rollhn bennett, call, white house correspondent. thank you. back to our conversation with you about the nfl's decision to ban kneeling and they say disrespectful symbolism during the national anthem. the reaction from politicians.

the vice president tweeting #winning with the story about the nfl's decision. vice president mike pence then you have steve glad the nfl listen to the millions of fans who are proud to stand for our national anthem. then you have representative duncan, i've no idea why to the nfl so long to adopt this commonsense policy, but i'm glad they got the message from the american people. good morning. caller: i think the politicization of this has gone far. this is an economic decision from the nfl. that is the first point that has to be realized. to do with their political beliefs of the nfl, i imagine they would side mostly with players. they're looking at it as an economic decision to do this. i think, as for what is

fact that we are still overwhelmed by politics on a day by day basis, i think it is one of those things they are looking at not isolating either side of the fans looking at this issue. if someone islike very pro-life and they wanted to wear something very pro-life at their work all the time, and they dealt with the public, and they dealt with a mixed public, i could see that regardless of their views or their organization a with them, they don't want to isolate the people that are trying to patron their product. it should not be really about the subject, and should be about understanding the economics of this. companies and

organizations are going to want totry to sell their products the greatest group of people. it should not always come down to that piece of it. anyway, that is what my thought is. new york times, their jump page about the story. the debate has shaken the leak because it has affected the metric that is most important, television ratings. it is impossible to know how much is a result of fans being turned off by the protests during the anthem, industry , including the chief executive of cbs sports, says data shows the nfl's handling of the issue is partly to blame for the drop-off. in the washington times, the ratings declined in 2017 by 9.7% in the previous season. last 8t super bowl

million viewers. believed wasritics due to the fan's lukewarm response to the fans upset over the protests. others pointed out broadcast television audiences are shrinking overall, no matter the programming. in richmond, virginia, you oppose, good morning. caller: i oppose. i am a veteran and i stand for the national anthem, but i would like for you to ask all these people that are on the other side of the fence, did they ever serve their country? ticks me offff -- terribly that people have such strong opinions, but they didn't have strong enough opinions to serve their country. we have politicians that have phones for his two everything now's. they could've done the same drop

i did in the military with a heel.spur on their i served six years so i can have my own opinion if i want to neel, or whatever. i wish you would ask the people who call in if they served their country or not. host: your sentiment is echoed in the new york times editorial board piece. many players, african american by and large, have been kneeling during 2016 when colin andernick began sitting kneeling during the ceremony to protest racism and police brutality. many fans and team owners thought he was showing disrespect for the flag and even the military, as though the stars and stripes were a battle standard and the goofball field

a battleground. since colin kaepernick became a free agent a little over a year ao, no team has offered him contract. he filed a collusion grievance, which led to some of the top coaches in the league saying he was not only good enough to be a backup quarterback, but a starter. as more police brutality reports arose, more players knelt with colin kaepernick and his cause. issueesident, smelling an sure to fire up a cause, said get him out or he is fired. that riled up fans on both sides. moreplayers knelt, conservatives threaten to boycott the league.

the fury mr. trump ignited was so troubling, it brought team owners and players together last october to discuss it. here is the new york times obtained audio. here's the patriots owner. the problem we have is we have a president that would use that as fodder to do his mission that i don't feel is in the best interest of america. he is a supporter president trump. it is divisive and it is horrible. is inague decided it the best interest of america to substitute a phony pageant of solidarity for a powerful state of the lesson. happy memorial day weekend in advance. i am against the nfl and their policy. like a couple of callers i'mioned, i'm a veteran and a police officer. that is irrelevant when you are a citizen. should not bem defined if you served in the

armed forces. however, if you intentionally avoided serving, i question your patriotism let alone your loyalty. that is called a draft dodger. that is what the man in the office is. whatis a distraction from he normally does. the nfl players are doing peaceful protests, no different than muhammad ali and white athletes throughout american history. they do nots decide want them to have a peaceful protest, i would love for the players to not only stay in the locker room, but not come out of the locker room. one caller mentioned it was about money. that the ratings are going down. money is playing a factor. imagine if none of the players actually go on to the field on opening day? i'm a huge football fan. i have family members that are currently playing in the league. support anyone

peacefully protesting as long as it is their right to do so. a veteran should not decide what is most important for this country. the flag is there to represent all of us and the things that divide us, as well as the things that can bring us together. i wholeheartedly support those players and athletes. i hope they literally don't come out of the locker room. i guarantee we will really see a ratings drop. host: opposing the nfl's decision. news, north korea says it destroyed its nuclear test site. only one broadcast network correspondent was there to witness several big explosions. there is story from bbc. trump lawyer paid by ukraine to arrange white house talks. says donald trump's

personal lawyer received a secret payment of 400,000 dollars to fix talks between the ukrainian president of president trump. it was arranged by intermediaries acting for ukraine's leader. cohen denies the allegations. shortly after the ukrainian president returned home, the agency stopped its investigation into trump's former campaign manager. in, heen was brought said, because ukraine's registered lobbyists and embassy could get little more than a photo op. he needed something that could be talks. aid use personal contacts

to attend a jewish charity in new york state that led to michael:, a trusted fixer. 400,000 dollars. you can read more on the bbc website. good morning, edward. back to our nfl discussion. caller: good morning. rule.sed the new just finding out about it yesterday on social media. course, i oppose it. i support players exercising their first amendment right. that is to protest. this is just terrible. this is an attack on our first amendment right to protest. players should join together and fight this back. by the president. fight the league. this is disgusting. it is a violation. it should be challenged in court.

is a violation of our first amendment right. i was going to say it is terrible because i love the nfl. football team supporter. this will challenge if i should continue watching games, supporting the team. the giants' owner is down with the new rule. it is disgusting and should be challenged. today andlumn for usa the sports section rights, the nfl might think it is establishing clarity. it is drowning in the gray area. consider the contrasting responses from meridian jones when they're asked separately if it is appropriate to ask prospective players about their intention for conduct during the anthems. rooney says the steelers have not engaged in such questioning. jones believes it is fair game,

legally we can ask that. stated it has to do unanimously, but shortly after meetings concluded, the 49ers ceo revealed his team abstained. it is striking that other owners who back protesting players did not object. there are apparently no plans to alter the presence of military anthem and crafting an policy that punishes the centers come the nfl is presenting the un-american display of patriotism. the lack of engagement with nfl players association's is hypocrisy. the nfl promise last fall to not change the policy without involving the union in the final stages of development. the nfl didn't ask for this crisis, yet as the most popular league in the nation that has

assumed the attention. kudos to caddell and company for the effort to support the players coalition as its pursuit of social justice initiatives is undeniably noble. yet the new anthem policy is like taking two steps back to another time in america. you oppose it as well? go ahead caller:. i do. i looking at it. it is like more sensors that -- more censorship. i am awanted to say that disabled veteran. i kind of disagree with the former veteran that spoke earlier. the flesh did put up and everything. for trump to try to change it around and saying people not standing for the flag are disrespecting vets. even in this country, we know that you can burn a flag and not

go to jail. how can you tell someone they cannot take half a stand. i cannot stand all the time. if i go to the nfl, are players that support this going to jump me if i do not stand? why are you not standing? are they going to question my reasoning? this is ridiculous. we need to get back to law. said, everything is not going according to law. this is a dictatorship in the making. host: patrick in new jersey. caller: good morning. i totally agree with it. when you are at work you have to do what your boss tells you too. i am sure you do. you are under orders to have certain segments in a certain way. nfl players are no different. you are on the job. you told to perform. they are such crybabies. i remember when the nfl had a lot more white players.

that is what i would like to see. i lost interest because i cannot relate to the players anymore. it got to be all political. you are there to have fun at the game. the blacks take everything too seriously. crybabies. host: you lost interest in the game because you don't see yourself on the field? i can't relate to any of the players. how they conduct themselves off the field. pierce averages. not members of the community. in philly we had -- host: a gross generalization about an entire group of people call them savages? geneticskin color is a marker that is indicative of traits -- host: let's move on. let's go to j in baltimore. caller: how are you?

put down the drink it is only 7:30 in the morning. too early. in terms of donald trump and the like a fairhe is weather fan. he is a patriot when he wants to be. he was a draft dodger. now he is in the office. now he is a patriot. the big deal in the nfl isn't the anthem. it is a relatively new phenomenon in the nfl, they didn't do that 20 years ago. the problem is that the game has been watered down. o blame it on anything that happens in the 2-3 minutes before the game starts is a little upside down thinking. i understand they want to protect the players, but look at 10 years ago. the game was much better. it wasn't being parsed out by

basically lawyers on the field. how they run the game and turned it over down to a call, is not fun to watch anymore when a guy in the striped suit dictates of the winner. whether someone stands or sits for the anthem is their own business. they are all americans, there is no argument. the biggest problem the nfl has is the product. in other news, the wall street journal, fed signals june rate rise is coming. this from their notes after the federal reserve met most recently. officials were likely to welcome a modest rise in inflation above the 2% target. consumer prices rose 2% of the year and ended in march. the so-called core prices rose 1.9%. newe is this story in the

angers northence korea, cooling plans for talks. have korea said they would second thoughts about a summit meeting between kim jong-un and president trump and american officials continue to make what threatsh considers against his leadership. north korean officials signaled out -- singled out vice president mike pence for comments they called stupid. that north korea could end up like gaddafi. in a statement carried by the north, the north korean officials, feist foreign minister, referred to a and outrageous acts by top american

officials and that mr. pence had made unbridled remarks that north korea could end up like libya. he called him a political dummy. morning.apers this also, in the news on capitol hill, senators said bipartisan proposal on sexual harassment reform. senators announced a deal to force more transparency and to lawmakers -- on two lawmakers accused of such harassment or predatory behavior. immune toll is not workplace arrests made. it has lacked the kind of protection for complaints. politico's headline says the new reforms are very weak. more to come. on capitol hill yesterday, mike pompeo was testifying. the new york times headline, a long to do list and a testy debate for pompeo. here is one exchange with congressman lou about a

presidential tweet on a deep state within the intelligence community. [video clip] thank you for your civilian service and military service. i appreciate you being here and agreeing to testify. i would like to ask you about the conflict in yemen. i need to ask a few questions thet an official statement president of the a united states made on his twitter account. he said there is a criminal deep state. representative nunez said he will investigate the state department. do you believe there is a criminal deep state at the state department? >> i have not seen the comments of the president. i do not believe there is a deep state at the state department. served as ciay director. do you believe your colleagues are part of the criminal deep state? >> the term deep state has been thrown around. i would say the employees that work for me at the cia nearly

uniformly were aimed at achieving the president and america's objectives. when you interact with colleagues at the fbi and department of justice as well? >> yes. to every exceptions rule. i never led an organization that didn't have bad actors. i don't think any government organization is immune from having malfeasance. those agenciesof are honoring their oath to the united states constitution? >> in general. yes, sir. on capitolpompeo hill yesterday. his testimony covered a wide range of foreign-policy issues. you can go to c-span.org. you will be back on capitol hill today. you can find more information on our website. we showed you republican --maker's decision to

republican lawmakers' reaction to the decision to ban kneeling during the national anthem. america strength comes from our commitment to always protecting our fundamental rights like freedom of speech. nfl targeting players who exercise that basic right eye protesting against inequality -- we will go to felicia in phoenix. good morning. caller: yes, i oppose it. i oppose it because this country, for centuries, has put the white male in the position of man. where they have put the black male in the position of blackmai male or boy. here we have the nfl players

taking a stand for the injustice and abuses that are historical. they come from slavery to beyond werery to when blacks migrating north to get away from all that. they would catch them and brutally put them back into slavery or through trickery in prison than and take away their life. here we have black men on equal standing economic grounds. they have millions of dollars. then you have the owners who represent white males, or the man. seeing thesee black men as boys. how dare these boys speak out against the injustices that have by the good old boys

club all these centuries. how dare they take a stand. i am opposed to it because anytime you have black men coming together, white men become fearful. when they were lynching black people throughout america, there was a hysteria. there is almost a sport about it , because the thousands of people would come from all over the nation to witness a lynching . person got out of their place according to what america thinks is a black person's place or the lie that a black man looked at or wanted a white woman. this comes from the fear of white annihilation. they are fearful they will not exist. they keep our black men incarcerated or as boys on playing fields.

80% of the nfl is black men playing. there is a higher percent of that of black men in prisons. it is all about them trying to keep their checks and dots in order so they can remain supreme, which is where this racist, supra missed ideology comes from. it is horrible, because it will get worse. nge sinclair group is selli all the newspapers and closing them down, then they are purchasing mansions all over america. when where is there a time we had mansions all over america? during slavery. look out. i see them. lease outthey tosoners for labor

corporations owned by "white mal es," they are about to do the same thing. instead of seeing workers in orange jumpsuits, we are going to see them on plantations picking cotton. host: i'm going to leave it there. the daily news, the nfl dishonors the flag. the new york post, their headline, also on the nfl. players fine teams if protest anthem. good morning. caller: thank you for the discussion. i love c-span. i am a white person, 60 years old, grew up in texas for 30 years, lived in minnesota for 30. the last 40 i have been an independent journalist and community activist.

one of my main focuses has been police violence. the reason, this is directed to the white people in the audience who do not believe police violence and brutality and abuse even though now with cell phone video and body cameras we can see it with our own eyes. the fact is the people we elect to our city councils and mayors do not hold police accountable. the district attorneys do not hold police accountable. the.judges do not hold police accountable when you can watch the eric garner video, seven minutes long, watch someone choked to death before your eyes and not think there should be accountability. when you can see 12-year-old tamir rice in cleveland shot to death 1.5 seconds after a cop gets out the car and not think someone should be held accountable, there is something deeply wrong.

i am even afraid of police and i'm a white, middle-aged woman. there is something deeply wrong. all those small government people, those so-called conservative people, that talk about the government being out we haveol, when appointed people and given them in punitive to use force, including lethal force, and we have no accountability, there something wrong. the nfl players took a profound and moving way to say something is wrong. it breaks my heart over and over again. host: a couple of other headlines for you. the washington times, trump told not to block hostile twitter followers. the presidential account is a public forum and he cannot block people who have views he does not like. this from the wall street

journal, abuses draw scrutiny. how sexual abuse has gone on so long and olympic what individual sports are doing to prevent it from happening again. susan lyne's apologize to the athletes who had been sexually abused and their families yesterday at that hearing. [video clip] create toonths ago, i serve as the acting ceo of the u.s. olympic committee because i felt an obligation to address the important issues that bring us here today. like you, i was deeply saddened and angry to hear the statements of the girls and women who were the victims of larry nassar. powerful and compelling stories of victims and survivors, including those that had sought help them people

in the olympic community. they found the system unresponsive, needlessly complex, and fraught with risks to their alan thicke dreams. olympic dreams. this is unacceptable. the olympic community failed the people they were supposed to protect. i would like to apologize to those individuals and families, some of whom i believe are with us today. i believe we can do better. we will do better. , you canto c-span.org find it there. time, whyos angeles dianne feinstein is moving so much to the left that she opposes the death penalty. dianne feinstein build one of california's most successful political brands by standing up to her party's liberal wing. in 1990 she faced down billing

from democratic party delegates angry over her support for the death penalty. put forth campaign ads to show that she was tough, pragmatic, and mainstream. two years later after a tough race, she has coasted to reelection cents. more than a generation later, california has become one of the nation's bluest states. at 84 and is seeking a fitful term in november, feinstein has moved left, though not far enough for democrats. issues, she is changing long-held positions, at times over writing her first instinct for centers him. feinstein announced quietly she no longer supports capital punishment. after decades opposing legalizing marijuana use, she said she supports the law keeping the federal government from interfering in states such as california.

she opposes the death penalty. other moderate decisions that once worked for feinstein have made her look out of touch to some. californians booed her last year for failing to run the state health care system and suggesting it could be possible to work with the trump presidency. at a confirmation hearing for the cia director, she hinted that she might support trump's nominee, praising her work as the deputy director noting that she it come to like the nominee. after her confirmation hearing which feinstein called the most difficult hearing in her two decades in office, the senator joined nearly all of her democratic colleagues and voted no. we have time for a few more calls. you support with the nfl has announced? good morning. caller: the nfl got it right for these reasons. once a player or employee gets

on the field or the sideline during game day, their focus should be primarily on that competition that is about to commence that they need to be a part of. if they do not want to stand for the national anthem, it is reasonable that they should be allowed without penalty to go into the locker room or tunnel and do something constructive to prepare themselves for the game. the nfl should give some of that public service announcement time to the citizen review boards around the country, particularly where these teams are, and strongly encourage the players to become participants in promoting awareness of the citizens review boards to protect people from police brutality and for the purpose of being active participants in it to help get this problem resolved, which is what these protests were about. they have drawn enough attention to what they were trying to fix, the psas give

announcements to the citizens review boards in the country. jay. hi, caller: good morning. i want to bring out the fact that people always generally the sporting advance over the national lampoon. people commonly violate the flag code. anthem.the national people commonly violate the flag code. you find out no part of the flag should be used as a costume or athletic uniform. when they carry the flag horizontally, that is against the flag code. they have to carry it underneath. it is not supposed to touch anything. everybody violates the flag code in a sense.

there is no penalty for violating the flag code. enforced. the supreme court has found it unconstitutional to prohibit desecrating the flag. the flag now, when president trump -- host: we are running out of time. i want to get steve in in illinois, who opposes what the nfl has announced on the anthem. high, steve. caller: we still have the first amendment, right? you are allowed to burn the flag, the supreme court says. what happens if the players turned their back against the flag? at least they are kneeling for the flag. if they put their backs against it, what happens if they stand in front of it and burn the flag?

we are really getting down a slippery slope. host: ok. caller: if you really want them to protest and do something, they can take things in different manners. host: steve, i will leave it at that. we are at the top of the hour. we will talk to darren soto to talk about the farm bill and potential changes to the food stamp. then we finish off the hour with capitals tour as we make a stop in wisconsin. lieutenant governor rebecca kleefisch will join us. >> commencement speeches next week in prime time. monday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, oprah winfrey, representatives steve scalise, ron rosenstein, and attorney joe -- thursday at 9:00 p.m. eastern, me too movement founder --

starbucks coo, and nikki haley. wednesday, hillary clinton, rex tillerson, and canadian prime minister justin trudeau. thursday, apple ceo tim cook, governor john kasich, governor kate brown, and congressman luis gutierrez. friday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, jimmy carter, betsy devos, representative mark meadows, and lancea mayor keisha bottoms. c-span.org, c-span, and on the c-span radio app. words,"kend on "after james clapper with his book on fears"book "facts and and he is interviewed by democrat jim himes.

himes: what do you think the risks and opportunities are of the trump foreign policy, which is radically different than the obama foreign policy? james clapper: i have tried to look at ways that could be supportive of president trump and his foreign policy, whatever it turns out to be. for example, i agree what he came out on afghanistan. i know it was a teleprompter speech and all of that, but i thought you said the right things, and we need to stay maye, as undesirable as we view that. i thought that was the right call. i supported president trump's acceptance of the invitation to have a summit with kim jong-un. i don't know where that is going to go. there are potential pitfalls here, but why not try something different? >> watch "after words" sunday

night on c-span2's booktv. >> "washington journal" continues. host: at our table this morning, darren soto, democrat of florida, and he sits on the agriculture committee, here to talk about the future of the farm bill and food stamp program known as snap. congressman, the farm bill bill -- failed on the floor last week. describe this farm bill. usually a multi-year bill, multifaceted as well. describe this farm bill for our viewers who haven't been following this story. >> sure. historically national and -- guest: sure. historically there has been a -- and programs that come up with the farm bill. that has been the same thing for

decades now. we have three chairman on the committee that mentioned that quite a bit at the time. about five years ago there was an attempt after fighting it off in committee on the floor to attack the food stamp program. at that time, the farm bill was going down because of that amendment. five years later, the lessons of history have not been heeded. we saw a push by the chairman and committee members on the hitrity said to take a big on farm programs again -- or on the food stamp program again, and that, basically, shattered this coalition. so, what did we see first? there were three major changes to the food stamp program. one was increasing the work requirement, which there already is. if you are adults without dependents, you only get three months of food stamps every three years. what we are really talking about that is left is seniors, 60 and

below, persons with disabilities, children, and many of them are veterans as well, returning home, grappling with ptsd and other issues. so, the work programs would have broke even at best. because of how difficult it is for some people to get to these programs, and because it is a 120-hour training program for a $130 benefit, the cbo estimated that 2 million, potentially up to 3 million people would self-select to get off of food stamps, which is another way of saying being booted off because of these strenuous requirements. in florida, we have these requirements. in other states it hasn't worked as well. the biggest thing that hits us is lowering the eligibility from 2% below the poverty line. in our state it is not a controversial issue. we have expensive real estate.

people pay a lot of money in rent and mortgages. it would have kicked more people off food stamps in any other state in florida, 130,000 people. for me it became untenable to support. , it would have required each state to have a child support collection program, which sounds great, and in florida we have the economies of scale to do it, but in a lot of states they are too small and it does not work out. he would have spent $8 million to collect $6 billion resulting in a $2 billion loss to the snap program. on the farm bill side, we saw some improvements for cotton and new money for citrus research, which is important to our district, but most of the other programs didn't get any major, new improvement. a lot of the crops did not get any earth-shaking reforms that was really going to help. income dropping,

i think we need to do something more aggressive, particularly with younger farmers, and none of that was in there. we saw on the full floor it crashed in a major fashion. all democrats voting against it because of the draconian changes to food stamps, and we saw the freedom caucus, over a potential of changes to immigration, also vote no, and they are traditionally voted no anyway because they don't believe the government should be helping out with funding for farmers. i, of course, understand with food security, making sure we feed a nation, that we have to have a stable market. a lot in there, but trying to break it down in a way that everyone can understand. host: who in your district would have benefited or will benefit if this gets passed from a farm bill and how? guest: in our district we have been hit by citrus greening --

it is a small bug that has infected trees. it comes out of southeast asia. we have seen a drop of literally two thirds of production in florida because of citrus greening. we ended up getting $156 million over the last five years to research it. it is affecting florida, louisiana, texas, california as well -- citrus-producing states. there would be a modest version of a vaccine bank for cattle ranchers to make sure we are prepared should there be anything like, god for bid, mad or screw worm. they get it that if there was not display to mess with the snap program, we would have -- this play to mess with the snap program, we would have passed the farm bill five years ago.

they might have similar opinions on food stamps, but farmers are in it for the farm programs. this has been messed with it. was never going to accept food stamp changes. it is fighting for the instrumental program that will result in 2 million people 3 againstpeople off stamp -- snap against their will not we go into conference, and that goes off anyway. host: what changes do you need to make to become a yes, and if you heard changes you and other democrats want to see can be part of it? guest: the main one is to allow us to go above 2% of the poverty line. rent is high, people have trouble finding affordable housing. they spent two thirds of their income, many times, on rent, so it allows -- makes sense to allow folks eligible up to 2% of

the poverty line. -- iorkforce requirement want to look to other states. we have a workforce requirement. we want people to go back to work, but we have to make sure they have the transportation, the education to go to these places and be able to access them. if they can't, they are just going to flunk the rules, the unemployed, and go hungry. host: we are talking with darren soto, democrat of florida. usda says there are 48,000 farms across the state of florida. as you take your questions on that as well as the food stamp program. democrats host: there is also -- one of the reasons this farm bill failed, as you mentioned, conservative republicans upset over a push by moderate up against to protect so-called

dreamers, those that are participants in the deferred action child's arrival program. "the washington post" today says the gop negotiators on this, the centrist republicans, have delayed their vote over immigration, and this is where things stand. one additional republican signed the petition wednesday. four more signatures are necessary. sign, all 193 democrats then a petition could go to the floor and force a vote on daca. have you signed the petition? guest: yes, i just let everyone in leadership in the democratic party has signed it -- just about everyone in leadership in the democratic party has signed it, so i believe we are four both away. i believe we will have 100% of democrats. no other country than the united states. in my district, there are

80,000. they are ambitious. they don't take for granted being here in the united states. they are going to school, working in nonprofits, starting small businesses. they are american in all name other than the raw -- law not recognizing. it is critical that we do what we can for these kids. they will help continue to keep the economy going strong. your colic from florida, congressman cabello, a republican, who is leading the others sayffort with they stand ready to gather enough signatures to force action next month, but they were willing to hold off temporarily to negotiate a path forward with gop leaders who want to avoid this kind of fight on the floor. a tear from bill who is in camden -- let's hear from bill, who was in camden, new jersey, a republican. high, bill. caller: i have two questions to ask. i worked 49 years of my life,

brought up in camden, new jersey, a pretty nasty town. democrats and republicans play the card every time. tell me right now to my face -- people have been on welfare for 70 years, 50 years. they don't want to get off their because you a job keep giving them free stuff, and then taxpayers like me keep paying for this, it has to stop somewhere. host: thank you for that sentiment. guest: we had a major reform in 1996 that made sure if you are an able-bodied adult that could work you could get three months of food stamps every three years. the people we are talking about are primarily children, people with disabilities, seniors below 65 and above 65 -- folks that are not in this easily working population sitting on the couch. most of the welfare checks that people get in different states for just being poor, those are state programs.

in florida, we don't have that. unlike in new jersey, where you can get a check for being poor, that does not exist in many states, including the state of florida. i share your sentiment. we want to get people back to work. the one recent a lot of people fall off is because unlike in new jersey and other -- many areas of new jersey, they don't have transportation to get to a workforce training place miles away. and the things i would like to see in the country's people move to where the jobs are and that is a controversy of concept since -- controversial concept since people want to stay in the areas they are from. overall people should be working, and the vast majority of people on snap do work. the vast majority. is about those that are left and how we treat them. cherry hill, new jersey. fred is watching. hi, fred. morning.ood i oppose the changes to the snap program, but my main problem with the farm bill is it is designed to benefit factory

farms much more so than small family farms, and the worst thing about it is the king amendment, introduced by representative steve king of iowa, which is meant to protect factory farms, and it is meant to discourage people who want to document abuses on factory farms -- inhumane methods, for instance. farminal version of the bill does not include that amendment. guest: so, certainly, first of all, we want to encourage a new generation of farmers, small and midsized family farms. int, in the last century -- the 1800s and the early-1900 was the bedrock of the middle class was the bedrock of the middle class. to helpmendments

disabled veterans get small loans. that is one of the areas i have focused on. we want to make sure families across the nation, not just major, corporate firms are getting funded through this. a lot of that -- there were changes in the 1990's and the early-2000's to allow for more consolidation, and that is something that i think has had a negative effect. as far as being able to document abuses, certainly we need to be treating animals, even ones that are commodities, humanely. for -- with cattle, for instance, it is one shot they take to the head that is something they don't feel because it happens very quickly, but there are some cases in other areas of the country where there has been of use, and we need to make sure we are doing this as humanely as possible. host: ralph here in washington, d.c. independent. independent, am an

and my statement will reflect that. the republicans, now that they have got in office, they have got everything from environmental protection to any kind of benefits and health care. now they are cutting food stamps. you know, like the guy on the phone, he thinks everyone is a taker who gets food stamps. why don't we look of the corollary, which is the welfare system for the agricultural -- look at the corollary, which is the welfare system for the agricultural industry? thes an industry, like ethanol we put in gas tanks that has less energy, but we are paying for it, and it is showing no benefit on the carbon side, which was the original thing. that is costing billions of dollars. how about the usda and the farm bureau who spends billions of dollars developing and perfecting technologies that are raplicable only to the ag

businesses, the big farms, the agricultural uses of pesticides, heavy fertilization, and the automated equivalent to harvest all of this stuff -- that is all being subsidized. when i was looking at fair and balanced, i tell you the democrats need to get up off their butts, go after republicans, and running like a thele scared children, as wealthy are taking 90% of the pile the last 20 years. not having the guts to stand up to them, i am asking myself the question why does the democratic party even exist, especially when they let 10% of the workforce come in the country, which are illegal workers, and somehow economic terms, supply and demand curves no longer apply, and you wonder why wages are not going up, and the black wages in this country are actually falling in real terms. thank you. guest: first, i appreciate that

question. we did take a stand as democrats, and that is why the farm bill failed it we did not run. we stood up. we put up our votes, which were no because of the changes to snap that were going to kick families off of it and go hungry in the most prosperous nation in the world. we did not let that happen on our watch, which is why this bill went down. what i share your concern that there should be a balance. we are not just talking about any industry. we are talking about the industry that makes our food -- something that every american needs. and we want to make sure for the security of our nation, or the ability to have a healthy people, that we do have a robust farm program. i don't have a problem with having some supports to make sure that key some oddities like corn, -- key, that it is fruits and vegetables, are available in this country, but i do have to does do believe we

but i doely and we -- believe we have to spend wisely and should not be spending in areas that won't have a big boost in general. as far as immigration, we have a country of 330 million people, and there are only about 10 million immigrants that are here undocumented. the act -- the idea that this is absolutely bending the curve for wages is something that i don't believe is happening as much. what i believe is we have gone from a culture that had companies that care about when they did well raising wages, and now they care far more about paying out their quarterlies to their shareholders, and far more about paying their ceo's 200 to 300 times. it is greed and a change in culture in this country when companies used to care about how much their employees made and others. it is a reflection of the tax

code, which is why i opposed the gop tax plan because what he did was give 1% of the nation 80% of the benefits, and now there is going to be a requirement to have cuts next year. we will be fighting like heck to avoid costs -- cuts to medicare, social security. these other things through the tax code, incentivizing wealth at the top that is the big issue. not the fact that 10 million folks will be here performing many jobs that most americans, unfortunately, don't want to perform at the end of the day. host: pat, new jersey. republican. caller: hello, congress and. have only gotten away from the roots of the farm bill? small meant to protect businesses, mom-and-pop farms growing the food that said the country. now how much of this money is going to big corporations? they have made this a business. they have automated.

they are not making any sacrifices. i don't see any reason for any of this money to go to farms or agra businesses over a certain size. you talk about balance. why isn't certain money going to corporations running -- why is money going to corporations instead of mom-and-pop farms, the original source of the farm program? thank you. guest: thank you for the question. every month i take a tour -- we have blueberries, strawberries, summary things in central florida, and the vast majority of farmers in my district are small to midsized family farms that maybe 50 acres, 1000 acres. at 25,000, and one at 100,000, the biggest heard in the nation, actually. all of them are making sure this funding comes in for citrus

greening research. in my district it is the family farmers asking for us to do this, but i agree, they subsidizing. it should be for small farm is to have enough food in the nation that we should not go hungry. i would dispute that it is just support programs alone. for the last 50 years it has combination of rural and urban members of congress coming together to pass the farm bill that have farm support systems and the snap program unit. by the way, the snap program helps farmers by creating more demand, also making sure no one in this country goes hungry. thank you for the question. host: we will go to al in misery, democrat. caller: yes, -- missouri,

democrat. caller: yes, ma'am. i want a man to be honest. they took medicare -- medicaid and social security and took money out of social security and medicaid to support themselves. then when president obama tried to put it that can, they said no. now they took the tax cut -- [indiscernible] we are all stupid. he raised it for himself and gave us a two dollar raise. seniors, sir, and don't you try to do this -- explain yourself, why you took a raise in 1996. thank you, and have a good day. guest: thank you, sir. i was a senior in high school in

199610i know i did not get a way -- in 1996. i know i did not get a raise. fors probably working minimum wage. i share your sentiments that now that the tax bill has passed that could be cuts to medicare, cuts to social security. we saw that in the proposed budget by the president that were rebuffed by congress. next year if you have deficits it requires certain cuts to happen. there will be pressure to do that and we will be standing strong as we did on the farm bill when they are messing with the safety net of the nation. the vast majority of americans are working hard, pay into this -- the systems and they expect them to work when they have a family crisis, injury, may fall down on their luck. to -- needt we did to make sure we're keeping these programs in place. congress should not be putting

together wage increases for themselves and i am a supporter of the $15 an hour minimum wage. i absolutely want to give america a raise. host: we go to westville, new jersey. maria, independent good morning. caller: yes, i would like to bring up some myths the gentleman has promulgated as truths. the first method is americans won't do their jobs. they certainly would if they were paid seven times the minimum wage. people in el salvador who are agricultural workers make $113 a month, and when they come to america, whatever they are paid it is so much more, and they remitted back to the country. fromo has more profit remittances from america than they have from the oil industry. when bill clinton negotiated nafta, he was told the export of corn and wheat would put 20 million campasinos off their

land, which caused this migration. it is a willful blindness on the part of congress and it is globalism versus nationalism. gretta, don't think i am crazy -- i have had three visions in my life and they have come true. there weree was old-fashioned cannons in front of the capitol building and there was a great cheer but there have been no firing, and then we realized all the buildings were empty and all the traders were gone. it will come up to prayer and the american people getting rid of all. thank you. host: ok. congressman ask -- congressman? guest: thank you for the great question and you have presented why we need comprehensive immigration reform so that we no longer have the unlawful population in the country but we have a system that recognizes it. it is not something new. for over 200 years we have had

migrant workers from mexico, canada, into agriculture and other businesses. it has been going on forever. it is over the past 20, 30 years that people have scapegoated, trying to say this natural migration happening for over 200 years is the cause of problems in the united states. but if we have comprehensive immigration reform and everyone had an id card, we recognized seasonal labor, people would not have to stay up your and remit. they would be making at least the minimum wage, and there would be this underground wage program where you have people been paid less than that and driving down wages. i believe that immigration reform would raise wages in this country by preventing a black market of wages and so does the afl-cio. so do a lot of worker rights groups. so, it is stopping doing that, shaming, trying to scapegoat immigrants that is really keeping wages down in the country. host: congressman darren soto,

democrat of florida. thank you for the conversation. guest: thank you. host: the president has tweeted this morning about a suppose it's by in the trump residential supposede it spy -- spy in the trump presidential campaign. host: members of congress only briefed on this today. it was only going to be open to republicans, but has opened up to a second group, the so-called gang of eight. charles schumer put out a statement.

what is the point of a second briefing being done? take a short bracket -- short break, and we come back, we will go to madison, wisconsin, as we continue our 50 capitals tour. rebeccant governor kleefisch will join us. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. created as aan was public service by america's cable television companies, and today we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, d.c., and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable and satellite provider. here are program highlights for this memorial day weekend. saturday on c-span, at 9:30

p.m., the munk debate -- is political correctness a threat to free speech or a positive source for social justice? booktv, 11:00 p.m. eastern, john meacham. tv,on american history c-span3, at the clock p.m. on archival films on world war i. sunday 6:30 p.m., chris christie at the institute of politics. on booktv at 9:00 p.m., former intelligence director james clapper. tv, c-span3,istory on american artifacts, a tour of battlefield monuments and american cemetery in france. morrill day on c-span at 11:00 a.m. eastern, live coverage of a wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

on booktv, in depth with novelist david balda -- david cci, and then at 10:00 a.m., the marking of the centennial of world war i. go to c-span.org for more programming and times. >> and it is. number 36 on our 50 states capitals tour. we are in madison. it is named after james madison, home to oscar meyer and the university of wisconsin. joining us on the c-span bus parked outside of the state capital is a lieutenant governor of that state, rebecca kleefisch . ,ieutenant governor kleefisch what are the constitutional duties of the lieutenant governor in wisconsin, and how

have you and governor walker defined your job? guest: inquiring minds want to know, right? in all of the 45 states where there are lieutenant governors i think folks want to know what is the purpose, the constitutional duties of this position besides succession? here in wisconsin, that is my main constitutional duty, as well as other duties by assignment by the governor. i do things like chair of the task force on minority unemployment, the governor's task force on opioids abuse, and because i am an anti-poverty advocate i also chair the interagency council on homelessness because i care deeply about making sure that folks who are experiencing poverty and housing insecurity can attach to our resurgent economy, and that is what we have here in wisconsin. we are terribly proud of the fact that since 2010 we have

made some very significant changes under the leadership of governor scott walker. we now have a 2.8% unemployment 9.3%, 9.2%pared to a unemployment rate which we experienced in 2010 when we first asked our friends and neighbors for these jobs. in addition, we have kept taxes low. we have condensed and dropped tax rates in wisconsin. property taxes are lower this year than they were back in 2010. we want up with a $385 million surplus in this year's budget. so, families with kids under age 17 are going to be getting a $100 child tax rebate back, and then we're going to do a sales tax holiday ready for school so parents can go back and get their school supplies at a little bit less -- a little bit more of a discount than they would have under other circumstances. so, things are going very very

well here in wisconsin. additionally, as you are probably well aware, the green bay packers are predicted to win the nfc north. that, is thatl the campaign message as you hear up, u.n. governor walker gear up for a -- you and governor walker gear up for a third term? guest: sure. i think our record speaks for itself. we would like to continue on the path of welfare and workforce development because those are the biggest challenges of our percentcould with a 2.8 unemployment rate, couple of challenges, especially since wisconsin has become a destination for economic development. the largest direct investment in u.s. history is coming here to our state with the addition of foxconn to our company -- country. foxconn is a taiwanese lcb screens.of

, youu have a smart phone know what i'm talking about. it also goes on flatscreen tv's. they will start making those in wisconsin, but it will take 10,000 workers to build a gigantic campus, and once they start manufacturing it will take an additional 13,000 workers per -- workers. rate, 2.8% unemployment that signals to us we need to invest in workforce training today, and also our workers of tomorrow. wisconsin is long known for having really educated and really ethical workers. that is part of the charm of doing business in the midwest, we think, but if you have a 2.8% unemployment rate, you know you really need to invest in retaining the youth that you have in the state going up k-12 system, our kindergarten through high school education, and our college

graduates. we have done things to make sure tuition is reasonable because we know student loan debt is a barrier to young people choosing to go to university. we have frozen tuition at our university of wisconsin system schools for the last six years straight. i don't mean freezing it at inflation, i mean just freezing it. additionally, we are investing k-12ersase-12ers -- our , our little ones. i have two little girls in school and as a parent it is important that we are putting an additional $130,000 per child directly into the classroom. it is not a sweep at the top at the administrative level. it goes directly to the classroom. next year we are doing an additional $204. we are trying to plan for the

future, not just to have really smart kids, but to have really smart additions to our workforce who will one day replace our retiring baby boomers because now that the economy is doing so well and the baby boom generation does not feel required by finances to stay in their position and not retire, we are seeing a number of retirements. we are looking for millennials to replace those baby boomers who are retiring today, but then genxer come next. zers.sorry, gen i am gen x. i am already working. percentage of the annual budget that goes to higher education -- you also mentioned you are the head of the task force on minority employment in the state.

special some of the problems that an urban area like milwaukee faces, and what kind of unemployment rate do you see there? guest: sure. we see a significant higher unemployment rate, particularly among african-american men, and we know we have a concentration in the metro milwaukee area. milwaukee is our biggest city. therefore it has the biggest economic potential, but there are some folks that have not attached to our economy yet. we are doing number of things to the unemployment task force and then through other avenues in order to assure that folks that are, can of, outside of our talent pipeline can find a way into it -- kind of, outside of our talent pipeline can find a way into it. reentry reform. it is not criminal justice. it is reentry, the other side of the system.

ofe in wisconsin, about 97% folks that come to our corrections system will return to the communities from which they came. now, to me, it only makes sense as first, a person of faith, but second and acknowledge or a just basic math and a fiscal conservative that we front-load our investment in returning citizens as opposed to back loading. here is what i mean by that. you can pay for educational opportunities while someone is still in our corrections department in order to give them the skills and ability -- perhaps even a credential or degree so that when we returned to thehey returned community they don't have idle time or idle hands. credential byeful which an employer can acknowledge them and say listen, i see you have something perhaps on your background.

i want to give you a chance because we are living in a 2.8% unemployment world and i see that you are credentialed. i would like to give you a job. i would like to give you a shot, a try, a second chance at life, as opposed to back loading the investment, releasing someone that does not have a credential, does not have an education, and therefore does have idle time and idle hands with the potential to recidivate because recidivism is a problem not just in wisconsin, but countrywide. you can choose whether you want someone with a frontloaded investment -- that education -- two, out and be a taxpayer, be a contributor to their community -- to come out, and be a taxpayer, be a contributor to the community, or recidivate, and cost $135,000 a year. to me, it only makes sense that we invest in people's education

first so that when they return to their community they are aching to meeting member of society. it is good when we have more taxpayers. it is good to have a larger tax base because with governor walker's leadership, when you have a larger tax base, more money comes in. everyone gets to keep more of their more -- and their own money, and having more of your own money in your own control as opposed to the control of politicians is a better option. get our callers involved in the conversation. if you are a resident of 5 million,one of the nearly 6 million people up there host: let's begin writing. washington, d.c.. you are on with -- let's begin right here in washington, d c. you are on with wisconsin tenant governor kleefisch. is you arequestion

talking about unemployment, but as a family of small business owners, i am wondering what you are doing to reduce the welfare abuse in the state? guest: well, it is a really good question, and that is one of our finest anti-poverty efforts. as a former small business owner myself, and i come from a family that has a history. my mom owned a dance studio when i was growing up, and i spent all of yesterday saluting our trailblazer award winners -- female small business owners here in wisconsin. i believe this is the heartbeat of our economy, and we are making great strides when it comes to entrepreneurship. particularly for the small business owner, the 2.8% unemployment rate, while it is really great for workers and drives up wages, can be a barrier for a small business owner in trying to find a perfect fit in order to hire and grow the business. that is why we need to make sure

that folks that are currently outside of the talent pipeline -- folks in the corrections department or people that may have a disability that in the past and discouraged or joining theem from talent pipeline, or folks in one of our government programs can find a way to jump in. i will give you an example of a program we called wisconsin shares. wisconsin shares is what we call our taxpayer-funded day care program. there are a lot of -- particularly women -- out there to findk really hard the absolute best and right place to have their children spend the day when they go to work. wisconsin shares is a program by which taxpayers, kind of, throw in their money, and we help, normally, those women, pay for their daycare. really long time -- if you spend a long time trying to choose the right place, you want to make sure you keep your child there so you know they are

safe while you are at work. the wisconsin shares program, for a very long time, has had will we call it benefit cliff. in government that is where you want to make sure programs are helping people. you want -- you don't want to make sure the program is available to someone that makes $1 million. you have what is called an income taxed. if you make a certain amount of in the you are not program. you don't want the $1 million earner to be on a taxpayer-funded day care program. we stopped that, and then someone would be ineligible to receive the taxpayer subsidy. where the income cliff starts is where the income taxed -- tax ends. in the past, if you may dismount -- this amount of money, you would not get the subsidy at all. this is forcing some of the parents -- we have learned -- into really bad choices.

they make decisions they don't want to make that are tough and horrible. if you are offered a raise, which is 10 times more an hour, or a promotion that might bump you up a dollar an hour, or maybe you are offered to work more hours, that may push you past this income threshold and drop you off of that cliff, and make you ineligible for the program, and the daycare you have spent so many hours researching and determining to be the best fit for your kid. so here is the really horrible choice -- do you pick not taking the promotion, not taking the raise, not taking more hours, knowing that could be the very thing that propels you up the letter to your own american dream? der to youread --lad own american dream? boss, instead say no,

know i cannot get the manager salary until i take the assistant manager job, but i cannot risk dropping off the program because it is a cliff. what we have done in wisconsin shares in what we are looking at doing in additional programs is shaving off the edge of the cliff and making it more like a zero-entrypool -- pool, where you are you not your ankles before your knees before you are thrown off the deep end and have to swim. if you make more than that income threshold, we will just ask to co-pay a dollar. we're not going to say you cannot have that anymore. we're going to ask to have your child in a daycare where you feel culpable, but at the same time you can take the promotion, the rays, more hours, because we know that we eventually lead you to -- climb the ladder to the american dream.

model that behavior for the little one for who you spend so much time choosing the right care who will someday be a student in the k-12 system and successful following in your footsteps. the more time we can shave off those cliffs and make it easier for people to swim in this resurgent economy, the better off we are going to be. that is additionally why we are offering what we call our share employment training -- food share employment training program drug treatment for those people that have an issue. i mentioned earlier that i chair the governor's task force on opioid abuse. we lost more than 800 wisconsinites to this epidemic, and we are not alone by any stretch of the imagination. we know folks that are on our program need treatment and they are not in a position to pay for it. so, what we have done through some of our programs is allow a drug screen, and then drug

testing so that if they need treatment, we're going to help them with that. we want them to reconnect with the economy, but if you have any economy that mainly operates with agriculture and manufacturing -- a lot of heavy equipment -- you have to be drug free to operate those things, and frankly, to operate in wisconsin's economy. so, we want to attach drug treatment to your reentry into the economy, getting more people into the talent pipeline is one of the most -- economy. getting more people into the talent pipeline is one of the most important things we can do for small business owners and that is how -- why we will continue on welfare reform. moree past years, we have shares to the food program. what we have done their is because we have asked folks

to work, or get work training which we offer at no cost to the recipient, and we're hopeful folks will get a paycheck on their own and eventually will not need the food stamp or food share benefit at all. 25,000 people are back at work because of that program. host: jacob is right in milwaukee. jake -- jacob, you are on with kevin -- lieutenant governor kleefisch. caller: lieutenant governor kleefisch, unfortunately we have seen another school shooting in the news, and i'm going with the state of wisconsin is doing to prevent these tragedies and shootings in our schools. guest: thank you. it is a really good question. i mentioned earlier an interview -12ers, ave two k 12-year-old and a high school student, a 15-year-old. we are a sporting family.

both of my daughters know how to safely handle firearms. we know in some cases this is not only about firearms. this is also about mental health. so, governor walker has assured more dollars going into mental kalth in our case 312 -- through 12 schools. you asked specifically about school shootings, and mental health is something that follows you everywhere, whether you are a kid or an adult. for schools in particular, the governor has announced an initiative to spend $100 million in what we call hardening schools. a hardened target is something where it is very, very difficult to make your way into the target and victimize anyone. so, we know there are some schools in wisconsin that already have things like the vestibules before you get to the office. or, perhaps, even a metal

detector. there are other schools that do not have those resources, and they did not invest in those things, or they perhaps chose something else. we are making $100 million available in a grant-style program, and we are assuring that our department of justice is making sure that the right spending is happening, and hopefully the schools who are dollars for those grant are going to spend them exceptionally wisely. if you are a school system that would like to harden your school target and you want to make sure you have bulletproof glass in your office windows, this would be a perfect example of something for which you would apply that $100 million grant program. additionally, we want our schools to think long and hard about their drop-off and pickup policies. my example is at my daughter's

old-school, all of the entrances were open every morning. so, we want to make sure that our school administrators, our teachers, guidance counselors, and even our students -- because our students are very bright -- are thinking about ways to harden the target and make school safer for all of our kidos. host: lieutenant governor kleefisch, what is your reaction to the release of the video showing sterling brown of the milwaukee bucks being tazed? caller: i watched the video -- guest: i watched the video two times, and my concern as a recovering journalist, as i call myself. i am a former reporter. i'm waiting for the transcription, the closed captioning on that to hear what sterling brown was saying. for those of you unfamiliar, the milwaukee bucks rookie had an

incident with milwaukee police , and thens tazed brought down. i believe he was eventually brought to the police department, and then he was released without charges were being booked. videotape has the been highly anticipated because the milwaukee police department has spent the last couple of weeks talking with faith leaders in the milwaukee community about what they will see once the tape is released. i cannot hear the audio well. i tried to play a number of different ways. the journalist in me wants to withhold just -- judgment because i don't know what the conversation sounded like, that i will tell you as a parent, what it looks like, and what it looks like is parents who -- police who brought someone down first and tazed after, and perhaps i need to watch it again and in better lead, but i would be curious to hear other --

like, and out be curious to hear other folks reaction because what i saw as an appropriate reaction, particularly if someone was nonconfrontational. it appeared visually not to be an aggressive confrontation. i could not hear the audio, so when it happened, it seemed alarming to me. i will have to wait for the actual audio. it seems to me from sterling brown's reaction filing the federal lawsuit, the apology by the police chief, additionally the mayor, they were probably hearing the same things that i saw, and that is disconcerting. host: let's see if we can get sydni in lewistown, missouri in. caller: high, lieutenant governor kleefisch. the election this year, what will your top priorities be? guest: well, i confess that i am going to continue with a number

of my initiatives because i believe that fighting poverty is one of the most important things that i can do here at government, both as a mom, and as a woman of faith, and also as a public servant. because when you have an economy that is on a tear like ours is, and you see just a small portion of folks left feeling excluded from that resurgent economy and the great opportunities it brings, well, that is really a bummer, because there is no good reason for it. so, we need to find the barriers that are preventing people from jumping into the economy, and the money to find ways to remove them, so that, of course, is going to continue to be one of our top priorities. i would also say that fighting the opioid scourge will continue to be a top priority here in wisconsin. we also want to be a talent destination.

we actually had our legislature approved and the governor signed an initiative to recruit talent from out of state, including -- to wisconsin because we know we have a lot of good jobs that will be generated by small business owners and foxconns of the world, and even a great german gummy bear manufacturer is coming here to the state to manufacture gummy bears in short order. we know we have great need to supply our terrific businesses with really wonderful talent, so assuring they have the workforce they need will continue to be a priority. and then i have a fondness for tax reform, and the governor does as well. so, i think you will continue to see us aggressively make waves in trying to grow our tax base, getting more people connected with the economy, rising wages, and good economic growth, so we

ultimately can continue to do good tax reform. host: lieutenant governor kleefisch, you have 30 seconds to explain how you feel about the nafta negotiations going on here in washington -- how they affect wisconsin. guest: o, my gosh. you cannot put nafta and 30 seconds in the same sentence, man. that is hard. nafta is important to us. i went on a trade mission to mexico and there were more concerned about their own presidential election than our nafta negotiations, but when i met with a bunch of folks that had gone on a japanese trade mission recently, i ran into a couple of folks who had been to mexico city with me last year and now they were more deeply concerned. here in wisconsin, when you have manufacturing and agriculture as a high-growth industries, but also heritage industries, we need to get something done, something effective, and efficient, because they want to

continue to grow our industries of manufacturing and agriculture. host: lieutenant governor rebecca kleefisch of wisconsin has joined us on the c-span bus parked outside of the state capital in medicine, wisconsin -- madison, wisconsin. we want to thank our partners, spectrum, and the next stop is the capital of michigan, lansing. the house is now in session. live coverage on c-span. ays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c. may 24, 2018. i hereby appoint the honorable mark e amodei to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, paul d. ryan, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. almighty god of the universe, we give you thanks for giving us another day. we pray for