country asking donors to contribute to this very for americapert rising. 2016, the lesson we took was defining hillary clinton early and often was the key to making her an unacceptable alternative. this sunday on oral history, we continue our series on women in congress with former democratic congresswoman pat schroeder. was elected, i was in an idealistic mode of this is wonderful. how long do you think it will be the house isf female? i asked the library of congress what they thought. they said, probably 300 years. [laughter] i am beginning to believe them. it is very incremental. >> in the weeks ahead we will hear from sue myrick, either

clayton, barbara cannoli, nancy lynn woolsey. "washington journal" continues. host: we want to welcome nikki wentling, a veteran reporter with "stars and stripes." what are the major challenges secretary robert wilkie will be facing? guest: he was sworn in monday officially. he will have a lot of challenges quickly. it is a time of major change. the last yearpent passing major bipartisan reform bills. missionhem, the v.a.

act will change the private sector act which will be a closely watched. the veteran's choice program was created to allow veterans to go into the private sector for care if they lived far from a v.a. facility. a lot of veterans have said that has been strict and inflexible. they are looking to make it easier for veterans to go into the private sector and look into factors into making those decisions. it allows the v.a. one year to implement that. will lead that implementation. people are concerned over privatization at the v.a.. interview withst fox news yesterday and holland and on that. he is aware of that. congress passed other changes to the g.i. bill, caregiver veterans appeal

for benefits. there are all these things he will have to take on. the multibillion dollar project to implement a new health care record system through cerner. the leadership changes, the more whichisis at the v.a., has been exacerbated after the previous secretary was fired and more leaders left. he is aware there's some crisis among employees, not just that v.a. headquarters, it is spread out. he knows he will have to address that. he said he will show up to local v.a.'s, places he will work with them, and not just that headquarters. host: to that point, not only butl service employees, what is happening in the v.a.? why is there a disconnect or sharp set of divisions with those who have been put on by the president?

guest: back four years ago, the v.a. has been in damage control mode since the v.a. wait time 2014.l in president trump came in really wanting to change things. he put in political appointees who were really aggressive and wanting to do this. secretary shulkin was in charge systemv.a. health care before, so he knew operations. it seemed there was a power struggle with shulkin wanting to take time to get things done, and appointees that were not as patient and wanted more power. we saw all of the infighting happening. that led to shulkin leaving. do withit also had to the privatization issue. the deputy secretary has left, the chief information officer, the advisor on women's veterans issues, the political appointees it is becausey

they were wedded to the status quo, but we aren't sure what will happen now. is wilkie going to create his own leadership team, reassign political appointees, bury them in the v.a.? that will be the big question we are looking at now. host: our guest is nikki wentling. she covers veterans affairs for "stars and stripes." if you are a veteran, the number is (202) 748-8000. for all others, (202) 748-8001. we will begin with bill from northbrook, illinois. caller: good morning. my question is, there is a program to refer out into the private health system large numbers of veterans. having known something about the v.a. system over many years, i

never read any analysis of what they think this might do to retaining professional if soians within the v.a. much of the work is referred out. how might this not improve the v.a., but actually make it substantially worse? host: thank you for the call. guest: yorick concerns are shared. the choice program allows 1/3 of appointments to go into the private sector. that is cause for concern for a lot of these -- especially their traditional veterans organizations that don't want that to increase. there is already recruit and retention problems in the v.a. it is a good point that that could affect that.

they try to implement this new program through the mission act, they will be focused on not sending too many appointments into the private sector, but trying to figure out when to allow veterans to go into the private sector. someone who lives far away from , someone wholity has a specific medical issue? this will be the biggest priority for wilkie because it is such a blurred line, the privatization debate. host: it is not far from home. the v.a. hospital in d.c., what are the conditions like? guest: there have been a lot of problems at the d.c. v.a. hospital. we found out when the office of inspector general warned that bad.tions were staff and supply shortages were leading to canceled appointments. that led to secretary shulkin to fire the director of the

hospital. it has been over a year, and we found out this week that conditions have deteriorated even though v.a. officials said they were making progress and that they were taking care of these things. the memo came out saying they are at a critical level, worse than they were before, and that their leaders are going to have to meet with headquarters and possibleld be leadership changes. there have been 3-4 temporary leaders in the past year. we are saying things getting worse. it points to the fact that the policy things robert wilkie will have to take on, but there are individual problems at hospitals across the country. this hospital is one that is a couple of miles from v.a. headquarters and the white house. host: why is this so hard? questionat is a bigger i might be able to answer.

a lot of people would say it is a cultural problem, if you rocker c problem, steps need to be taken to root out corruption problem, stepsy need to be taken to root out corruption in the v.a. may not out lately that being used in the way congress may have intended and is not getting rid of that supervisors they say are out there, but instead low-level employees. it seems there are attempts to fix it, but no one has gone to the root of it. there have been 4 v.a. secretaries in the past 4 years, it could be the fact there has not been a lot of consistency. face ofe changing veterans at 2016 and what to expect in 2045. declining number of those from world war ii and korea and an increase from vietnam, the

gulf war, the persian gulf war. 91% of veterans are men, that will go to 82% in 2045. good morning, harold. caller: good morning. i am a veteran. i went into the army the day after john f. kennedy was killed. go to theosed to reception, but he was killed and they transferred it to the day after. i didn't try to get a deferment like my president did. and dick cheney, who was interested in war and in fighting. i think a lot of people that we have badhe v.a. that problems, medical problems, and because of the wars we put our men in that were necessary. the first was the vietnam war. we didn't have no business in

vietnam. now we are shaking their hands and everything is fine, and we have so many men in the grave. afghanistan wasn't enough. he had to go into iraq and start a battle and kill all of these men off. we have been doing it for years, and years, and years now. the longest war. the united states is a war country. if we don't have anyone to fight, we find ourselves. guest: i'm hearing concern and sadness that the v.a. is having to grow because of more veterans from more is coming back, especially the latest war. i would say one thing we learned about robert wilkie is he might understand the cost of four more, because his father was gravely injured in vietnam. his grandfather is a world war i veteran. maybe he will bring that perspective to the job. reporting from "stars and

stripes," two years after the president promised a veteran topline, it is open and located in west virginia? guest: trump made the promise two years ago that he wanted to create a hotline to hear veterans complaints. he wanted it to be at the white house and have someone answer the phone. he even suggested he might take a few calls and here veterans would beand action taken at the highest level. it has been two years. we wanted to look at what was happening with this. the v.a. is not saying that much. they won't tell us a budget. how manyt tell us problems the veterans call with their getting resolved. it is located in a building in west virginia, not the white house, which brings up questions is this what the president intended? are veterans getting help? how is this different from other v.a. hotlines?

is it a good use of resources? some felt that their calls were being sent back to their local v.a. offices rather than being acted on by the executive branch. some veterans have had good experiences, too. it is the fact that this is operating in the shadows in west virginia. everyone wants to know more about it and if it is what he intended. host: nikki wentling is a graduate of the university of kansas, spent time in little rock covering local news for the arkansas, and is now a veteran reporter for "stars and stripes." good morning. caller: good morning, sir. i want to say that i am a first time caller, but have been listening for quite a while. i'm a veteran. i came during the reagan era.

and served our military has also a contractor in iraq for almost a decade. the private citation of the to medicaloutsourced professionals i think is not in the best interest of veterans. i think it would be wiser to revamp the v.a. system itself. what i have noticed with a lot of professionals is they are looking at the v.a. as a money bill. doing a lot ofre things that are not in the best interest of veterans. the v.a. definitely does have their problems. i initially went to oakland, which is a horrible system. suburb, andd to a it is an excellent ran facility. i believe if the v.a. would look

at restructuring their infrastructure and taking care of conversations, and making sure that veterans help veterans, i think that is the key. you have a lot of people that have never served that are making decisions that affect people who have served. i just don't have the knowledge or experience or exposure to treat people who have gone through war and conflicts. that is my particular perspective. guest: that is something that i hear from a lot of veterans. they like the v.a. they like that it is uniquely equipped to meet their needs and they don't want it the be all set to the private sector. there are a lot in washington that know that and are fighting against it, but it should be noted they can't get totally way from the private sector because 1/3 of appointments made at the v.a. is sent to the private

sector and the v.a. doesn't have the capability to take on all especially with vacancies across the health care system -- mental health specifically. he mentioned the infrastructure of v.a. hospitals. that is one thing. one thing congress passed last year was they wanted to review all v.a. infrastructure across the country. can improvee v.a. and may be where old buildings are that should be taken off the roster. buildingsals, but that are unused and taking maintenance money. they're are trying to do things to improve the v.a. system, while trying to figure out how to balance private sector care. there are concerns within the trump administration that may be the private sector will be too big. there are a lot of reporters trying to be a watchdog to that problem. host: we hear a lot about the

whistleblowers. have you heard from them? yes.: this last week was the national whistleblower summit in d.c. panel.d a v.a.-specific i went to that. i hear from whistleblowers a lot from a specific v.a. hospital or talking about wider problems within the v.a.. you hear from them all the time. especially they feel they are concerns are not being heard as well as they could. congress created this office of accountability for whistleblower protection this year. that thatbeen concern office is being used to retaliate against whistleblowers, not protect them and have the best outcome for them. we hear from them all the time. we appreciate them bringing issues to us. whistleblowers alerted us to problems at the d.c. hospital this week. host: we welcome our c-span

radio listeners. .ur guest is nikki wentling she covers the topic for "stars and stripes." our next caller is from texas, also a veteran. caller: i am a vietnam veteran vet. like most, if not all of the veterans i have had contact with, i am against privatization of the v.a. i am concerned and would like you to discuss the committee or group that trump has appointed that the koch brothers are behind who are for privatization , who are going around and deciding which facilities are to be closed and have the final say in the matter. could you discuss something about them? call.thank you for the guest: she is referring to concerned veterans of america, a

group that is part of the koch brothers' political network. they have grown in power and influence under the trump administration. a lot would argue that they are for privatizing the v.a. they would say they just want a strong private sector piece of the v.a. i haven't heard they are in charge of thing which facilities are closed, i don't think that is quite true. there is a committee that would look at v.a. infrastructure across the country, but that will be made up of lawmakers from your more traditional veterans organizations like the vfw and american legion. have aninitely and have under trump been given a seat at the table during the monthly meetings with the v.a. secretary. it will be interesting to see who makes up that table under wilkie. i'm glad you pointed that out.

they are a group that we watch. rick, who is from says the v.a. is uniquely equipped to deal with veterans, but the gop always prefers the private sector. if profit can be made, you will see them. they want to privatize totally. sector wouldivate jump to that special needs of veterans is given the chance. guest: the concerns were brought up during the robert wilkie confirmation hearing. he said he is not for privatization. secretary shulkin said the same thing. privatization is a gray area. it is different for different people. bumping upople, private sector appointments to more than 1/3 of appointments across the v.a. is considered privatization. this is a concern under the trump administration.

it has been for a long time. we are going to have to pay attention. republicans are saying they are not for privatization. that privatizing the v.a. would take an act of congress. that would never get support from veterans. closel be paying really attention to this now that there is a permanent secretary who can make changes. from manassas, virginia, it sounds like you are listening on the radio. we appreciate that. caller: i am driving to the d.c. area. i was in the military for 13 years. i had a chance to utilize the choice program twice. well.t worked out very i went to a private doctor and got the health care i needed. much.cond time, not so i have been dealing with the same issue trying to get an appointment for two months.

,inally, after calling weekly the issue is not with the folks on the outside it is the folks on the inside on the v.a. side. how topt to figure out help the process along. if there's something i need to do, let me know. after talking to person after person, i found out it was within the v.a. we were having the disconnect. it was with the old system, the old way of doing things, and the reluctance to change to change something quicker and better for the veterans. i just heard derek say veterans helping veterans, perhaps that will be a better way of getting the things we need accomplished. sometimes that works. i am a realtor and i get veterans all the time who come to me because they know i know

what they are going through to go from home to home, state to state, country to country. they come to me because i have, for lack of a better term, inside knowledge. it might be a good idea to have veterans helping veterans. ont: thank you for listening 92.1 fm in the d.c.-baltimore area. guest: i'm five you called. i hear these 2 extremes about the choice program that either it is amazing and works immediately, or veterans have all these problems. it sounds like you dealt with both extremes. that is why congress wanted to fix the choice program, because there are managerial issues with getting providers paid, getting appointment set up. i think that is what they are trying to fix. they're trying to fix it in a year. we will see if that can be done. i don't know what you can do, who you can trust specifically

for third-party health administrators to run the party. wrote about a veteran in illinois having problems because his provider was not been paid by the v.a. for his care, so he was stuck with a $30,000 medical bill. it took us writing a story for the tri-west ceo to take care of this. veterans don't know of an hour to fix these problems. i think that is an issue. host: welcome to the conversation. appreciate your time. i was in the service from 1958-1962 and was discharged following 1964. i had medical problems. you can't pay your bill. they told the veteran we will garnish your social security, your salary, and you will be charged for being garnished.

that is a nice way of creating a veteran. when i joined they promised me the world and gave me dirt. proud of serving the country, but not proud of the the and how they treat veterans. they treat the foreigners more that are then a tree to veterans. we have to stop it now because they already did it to me. i want to let the other guys know, don't let them get away with it. host: is that the case? guest: i haven't heard of that particular issue, and i will see about that as a possible follow-up. as far as being disgruntled with think there needs to be a look at why there are still veterans this unhappy with the service they are getting. host: 22 veteran today commit suicide. the v.a. does a terrible job

because of government bureaucracy and red tape. veterans deserve better. guest: veteran suicide is a big issue. it is one that the leader of the house v.a. said when congress comes back in the fall he wants to do something to address this. along those lines, there has been a problem with veterans who are -- other than honorably discharged -- hitting health care through the v.a., especially mental health care. they weren't allowed for a long time to get mental health care, and now it is when there is an situation. mental health and suicide will play hand in hand with what to do with veterans other than honorable discharge is not available for benefits. should they get more care from the v.a.? often they received other than an honorable discharge for mental health problems. that is one part of a bigger issue of military suicide.

anchorage, alaska. good morning. caller: thank you for this program. components are in the assembling of the armies coming in and helping the coalition, why we are not using their resources for the medical? i am wondering when they are coming from that war zone, germany, i'm wondering what medicines they are putting them on? do they have the same rules and regulations we have? thank you for what you are doing, and that magazine is wonderful. -- i don't know exactly what she is referring to, but i think the defense department budget and how that is not being used in health care is what she is going with. the defense department budget has grown to $700 billion. the v.a. has also almost double

to $200 billion. lack't know if it is the of resources or how they are being put to use. host: our line for veterans, bradley, west virginia. caller: good morning. how is everyone doing this morning? host: thank you for joining. caller: i was a vietnam veteran and have had nothing but trouble since i came back. medical issues. the chief of staff at the v.a. hospital try to eliminate me from outpatient care. i had to go to richmond, get cleared, and go back. in the last month, i had to go through the same thing. to richmond and i had a neurosurgeon in richmond and my primary doctor saying it was ok for me to go to outpatient. i have a therapist that overrode that and said i was not able to go. system, the health net

the new system they have out which is not worth baloney. the outpatient clinic i went to 13 visits over the year. congressman jenkins has been working on it. they still have not paid. i have paid out-of-pocket for the services. it is a shame that a veteran has to put up with this aggravation, and of the v.a. doing things like this trying to get patients from outpatient care when this is a good thing. outpatient care is great. as trump put it, veteran's choice, i went back to my regular physician outside rather than going to a physician inside. keep the we need to veterans medical the same way it is and give us outpatient care.

i think if it is privatized it will go to pot. host: you are shaking your head. guest: it is disheartening to hear the individual problems because we hear them so much. he mentioned he went to his elected representative trying to get this resolved. i hear a lot, especially from elected representatives on the v.a. committee, that they hear from a lot of constituents. that is the biggest thing their staff has to deal with, hitting calls from veterans with issues. stilltoo bad this is going on, and i hope he gets better soon. also our line for veterans. go ahead. caller: i'm a vietnam veteran. i'm not sure what is going on within the v.a., the infrastructure and everything. in the boston

area, the v.a. health care system is the best, especially the psychiatric part of it. they take such good care of us. going to ae to see civilian doctor. i love the v.a. system. they are so caring. they are so compassionate with us. i am a strong, strong advocate of the v.a. system, especially the psychiatric part for ptsd. they are unbelievably great. the vet centers are unbelievable. they have been so helpful. guest: that is great to hear. we hear from a lot of veterans that do enjoy their v.a. experience. there is a saying in the community that when you have been to one v.a. hospital, you have been to one v.a., because

there is no consistency. the challenge is making sure that is consistent nationwide. host: secretary wilkie beginning the job this week after being sworn in on monday. he sent a video message to v.a. employees. [video clip] >> during my confirmation hearing and in previous messages to you as acting secretary, i shared my basic philosophy. customer service. customer service must start with each other, not talking at each other but with each other across office barriers and compartments. if we don't listen to each other, we won't be able to listen to our veterans and their families, and we won't be able to provide the world-class customer service they deserve. we must have a bottom-up organization. the energy must flow from you or those we are sworn to serve. the ideas we carry to the

congress and bso's and two american veterans who come. anyone who sits in his chair and says they have the answers is in the wrong business. host: pal will he be judged? there will be a lot of factors he will be judged on. it is obvious how he handles the private sector problem is going to be huge. it is also going to be how does he bring leadership back to v.a. headquarters? they have had a leadership accidents, a brain drain at the v.a.. everyone knows about it. it has been in the headlines. andhe brings the team in gets everyone on the same page comes back to what we started with with the morale crisis. if he can get everyone working together, that will be huge thing of what he will be judged on. host: another 10 minutes focusing on robert wilkie, the new secretary of veterans affairs sworn in monday with the

president on hand at the department of veterans affairs. he replaces david chilton, who was -- he replaces secretary shulkin, who was fired earlier this year. good morning. caller: good morning, sir. how are you? host: find. go ahead --fine. go ahead. caller: my father died in 1972. veteran.v.a. he was an aid in germany. they never gave him the right arburial. they set him in stone. i put it up myself. that is all they paid for was the stone. mother paid for the funeral. i don't think that was right of the veterans to do that to him. guest: i don't know exactly why they wouldn't have allowed burial benefits.

congress did pass a bill trying to expand how much money they burials.funerals and i hope in the future that won't your problem. that will -- won't be a problem. that may be something i'd have to be paying more attention to going forward is veterans are denied that. host: good morning. caller: i am an afghanistan veteran. i got out at walter reed in 2013 and was integrated with the d.c. v.a. hospital. you felt like a number. it was very busy. it was a hassle to get to from all of the traffic. when i moved to leesburg, i was integrated with the martinsburg v.a., which was the polar opposite. very nice, cleaner, not as crowded, really good stuff. ff.good sta

the hospital is about an hour a way. the choice program would be more effective, but they haven't helped much with it. they have referred me to locations where they are closer to the hospitals, but the same distance away from my drive. it hasn't been effective for me. that yoully feel can't just throw money at the problem. ranges take a wide of changes and a cultural shift to adopt these policies. guest: he hit on a lot of points we have been hearing. he describes the problem with the choice program. he is an hour away from each facility, but is having trouble using it because of strict rules that govern it. they are going to try to get at looking at a veteran's situation. they would look distance and other factors like traffic to

figure out if he should go to the private sector or not. he mentioned the d.c. v.a. hospital and problems there. d.c. hospitalhe are aware of issues and sent a letter, anonymous letter, to robert wilkie personally asking him to step in and fix things. there are employees that want things to be better, because that hospital serves tens of thousands of veterans in d.c. host: my next question doesn't focus directly on veterans' health issues, but the 3-d gunbattle. have veterans groups weighed in on the issue? guest: i haven't heard the traditional veterans group weigh in, but every town for a gun safety, gun control out, theyon that came created a veterans advisory council recently after the parkland shooting to get input

from veterans on policy and what they think. use theirns experience in combat and with igh inm expertise to we on issues. out and werey came against the 3-d gun issue and wanted to see the secretary of state jump in and not allow that to happen, because they know the cost of that sort of thing. host: joining us from chicago. good morning. caller: i want to point out, i have been in the v.a. system since 1995. what i don't understand is why can't someone walk into jesse andn's or heinz hospital find out why the care is so excellent. i have been in 5 different clinics, different ones at different times, and it is amazing how they seem to have the answer before you even ask.

excellent care. host: thank you. guest: this has been brought up on capitol hill. why can't the v.a. go into the well performing hospital, figure out what works, and spread that to the organization? robert wilkie did mention in his first interview that he wants to go to local v.a.'s and talk with employees. maybe part of his strategy is to figure out what is working and what is not. consistency seems to be a major problem. host: we want to remind viewers and listeners they can follow ikkiwentling.r @n bill from albany, georgia. caller: i have hepatitis c. i have had it for a long time. both the doctors from the clinic that used to be run by private people and they shipped us all

to the marine base, none of the doctors when i started showing symptoms -- they said you can't have the cure until you show symptoms, which i don't understand. when i showed symptoms, they couldn't figure out why i was showing symptoms. i had to go to the choice for a doctor in the private sector to actually see polyps everywhere inside my guts and stuff and expanding on my organs, which are having major problems. i have been to the er four or five times because of it. it took him to figure out with easy testing that yes, this is the problem, and i can get the cure. they refused the v.a. -- it used to be run by private clinic here for the v.a., both of them

refuse to give the cure. so, i don't understand. guest: that is concerning. one of the first things i covered on the veterans beat was the aggressive push by the v.a. to find and treat veterans with hepatitis c. they had gotten more funding and the right drugs to do so. they said they were having problems getting veterans to get treated and use the money and resources available. that is concerning he has tried and has not gotten help. they were proactively trying to find a veterans with that problem. host: it is the second-largest government agency or department. andhly how many employees approximately what is the budget? guest: it is the second-largest federal agency by number of employees. there are 370,000 employees roughly, may be some less

because of vacancies. the budget that congress is set to pass when they come back this fall is almost $200 billion. finally, how difficult is it to implement some of these changes, going back to my earlier point? guest: that will be the theme in r.e yea congress has all of these changes come expectations, and so do veterans for the v.a.. there are murky waters with the privatization debate. a lot of issues are big like caregiver benefits, the g.i. bill, trying to figure out how veterans claims for benefits are approved. there's a lot of scrutiny and oversight, so i think robert wilkie really has his work cut out for him in the next year. -- nikkiho covers wentling who covers all of this for "stars and stripes," thanks

for being with us. the house senator will be here to break it down. from california to talk about the wildfires that have impacted california and throughout the west and 9:30 eastern. this weekend, our c-span cities tour traveling with booktv on americannd c-span3's history tv. las cruces, new mexico. c-span2 will air our program. we are taken to white sands bookle range and his "pocket full of rockets." here is a preview. [video clip] >> we are sitting in the v2 building at the white sands

missile range. this house is the rocket which was captured at the end of the second world war. the united states went into germany to bring back as much material as they could. that the germans had developed as a weapon was beyond anything else the united states had. all of this material, body, were storedetc., here and general electric had the contract to assemble the rockets and fire them at white sands. the program started in 1946 with the first firings. where thee have germans had a 2000 pound payload, or warhead. scientists thought we could put we set upn there, so implementation to collect air samples to see the composition of the atmosphere at the upper levels to measure radiation levels, take temperatures,

measured the winds at the upper levels -- all of those things we didn't know after the war. we had never gotten that high. the missile range always prizes birthplaceeing the of america's space activities because of these being launched at white sands. something like over 64-60 54 actually fired. 64-65 were actually fired. >> booktv is in prime time. senator tim scott and congressman gowdy talk about their book "unified: how our unlikely friendship gives us hope for a divided country." john spicer with his memoir "the briefing: politics, the press, and the president." and the book "the case against impeaching trump."

discussing the book "harvey milk, his life and death." "tesla,munson on inventor of the modern." "10 arguments for deleting your social media accounts right now." book the, his capitalist come back, the trump though and the left's. plot to stop it watch booktv in prime time on c-span2. "washington journal" continues. int: the midterm elections the battle for the house of representatives with less than 100 days before the midterm elections, we want to welcome back david wasserman. about specific races. generally speaking, where do things stand for the republicans? for the democrats? guest: democrats need 23 seats

to take control in the house. there are 93 days left before the election and they are the clear favorite. not overwhelming, but substantial favorites to take over the house. allblicans are looking at the telltale signs of a wave election. democrats have a lead with women, with independents, donald trump's approval rating is 42%, a record number of republican retirements, and a democratic enthusiasm gap that is putting the house majority in peril. host: there is a strong economy, robust stock market, and people have more in their paychecks? guest: that is why 2018 is unusual. we have never seen this wide of a gap between satisfaction and the economy, which is high, and the opinion of the president, which is low.

the 40'sval rating in what clinton and obama's were when they lost control of the house. republicans are trying to run on a strong economy. you are saying in a number of special elections and early messaging that they are running against nancy pelosi. they're trying to make this a referendum on democratic leadership. have rarelytions been a referendum on the party out of power. it is pretty clear that republicans control things. host: you break it down even further. the 8 types of races that will decide the house. can you explain? guest: we are looking at a pretty large battlefield compared to the past couple of cycles. there are 65 races that we rate as at risk for the parties.

5 seats that democrats hold and republicans. there are a variety of different categories. host: you can explain the categories. guest: sure. one of the biggest that democrats are gunning for is white color wonderlands. wonderlands.ar many of them voted for mitt romney in 2012 but went to hillary clinton in 2016. high income, high college education suburbs. 10th district, kansas city, dallas, houston, all places that republicans are suffering from the drag of the white house. democrats in most cases have pretty strong nominees. host: let's talk about a race taking place next tuesday,

ohio's 12th district seat. open seat and a special election. whoever wins will sit in the house this year and run in november. why is this a dead heat? guest: we had this as a tossup since april. the reason this election is close in a republican district is because of the democratic advantage. 65% ofmost recent poll, democratic voters rated their interest in the election as a 9 or 10 out of 10. ohio's districts like 12th which voted for donald trump by 12 points, that is a close race. democrats in the franklin county portion of the business district, the columbus suburb, are really motivated to vote. republicans in the rural areas are less motivated to vote.

that is the function of their hero donald trump not being on the ballot, but hillary clinton is not on the ballot in 2018. that was a big motivator for a lot of the republicans who may be had not shown up in a while to come out in 2016. democrat danny o'connor does have a good chance. host: the president will be campaigning for the republican candidate. we will have it live on the c-span network. david wasserman is our guest. i want to share an ad by the bridge project, a democratic group. it ties together not only the republican in the race, but a member of the republican ohio delegation jim jordan running for the speaker of the house and connection to ohio state. [video clip] something from voters. he is refusing to back jim

jordan for speaker of the house. >> jordan said he will run for speaker of the house. >> seven former student athletes say jim jordan turned a blind eye to sexual abuse at ohio state. jordansler's claim that knew of sexual misconduct and it did nothing to stop it. stand with jordan the victims, or with jim jordan? host: was this a surprise to democrats and republicans? aest: republicans caught break in their primary because they nominated troy balderson. they could have nominated a woman named melanie who had been endorsed by jim jordan and pledged to join the freedom caucus. that probably would have tanked republican's chances. instead balderson won by a point. democrats may not have as easy of the time convincing voters he is in line with jim jordan as

they would have if they had nominated his primary opponent. it is a big deal that governor trump, a skeptic, cut an for balderson. it matters slightly that danny o'connor botched a question about whether he would support nancy pelosi for speaker. that has given republicans perhaps late ammunition in the race. it all adds up to a tossup heading into election night. described itradio as more of a country club republican, more mitt romney, less donald trump. guest: this is a high income high college education district. one of the clear patterns in midterm elections is they tend to attract a more college-educated electorate then

presidential years. that has never had much of a partisan consequence until now when you see donald trump approval rating so low with college-educated voters, particularly women. whereas his approval is robust with working-class whites. host: this is a special election in early august. guest: potentially a lower turnout which could benefit the side with higher enthusiasm. host: this ad is on the air in the columbus tv market. [video clip] >> my parents raised me to work hard, help others come and tell the truth. i am troy balderson. that is why i am running for congress and would never do anything to cut social security or medicare. my own mom and dad depend on those. for me, it is not about politics, it is getting the job done so you can save for retirement or your children's college. i approve this message and ask

for your vote on august 7. these candidates are trying to walk away from the political divide saying they will bridge the divide. they're not running as trump supporters or bernie sanders/hillary clinton democratic supporters. nonpartisan. guest: correct. what you are not hearing, for the most part donald trump's name, anything about the mueller investigation, russian interference, the supreme court fights, things that we hear about on cable news. your hearing about the economy, social security and medicare. democrats are still running against republicans' efforts to repeal daca. -- repeal the aca. this is a message for both sides in places like ohio's 12th. host: phone lines are open for republicans, (202) 748-8001.

for democrats, (202) 748-8000. if you are an independent, (202) 748-8002. you can send us a tweet @cspanwj . let's talk about specific races. one that surprised people when eric cantor was defeated for virginia seventh congressional district, where do you have that race today? guest: we have this in tossup. that is a surprise for people who have traditionally thought of this district as one of the most republican places in virginia. the richmond suburbs, north of charlottesville. culpepper, many of those areas. there is an urban-rural divide. we have a category of races where there are districts with suburbs that are increasingly professional, have moved in democrats' favor away from donald trump and republicans. toal areas are not as juiced

turn out as they might have been in 2016. that might create a challenging dynamic for republicans. this race in particular, democrats think they have a really good candidate contrast. you have the republican incumbent who is a freedom caucus guy, a constitutional conservative, a bit of a historian who unseated eric cantor from four years ago. nominee a democratic who is a former undercover cia officer. she wrote a diary and code growing up outside of richmond virginia. she has the kind of profile that might appeal to suburban voters. if you consider what happened in the governor's race in for genia virginia lastin year, the big fears the top of the ticket.

the republican senate nominee against tim kaine, stewart is not performing well. will that suppress republican turnout in the fall? that reprints republican turnout in the fall, that is big for them. how significant is the state supreme court weighing saa you have got to redraw the map, despite congressional republicans and the state republican family math has been placed. guest: that is right. the pennsylvania supreme court invalidated the republican gerrymandering in pennsylvania. i do not think it is a case where it automatically gives democrats six more seats than it had, but theave opportunities democrats would have had, it makes them better opportunities. democrats were likely to pick up two open seats, the district of delaware and chester county.

a newlso benefited from district outside of pittsburgh aere conor lamb, who won special election in march, is a flag favored against another republican incumbent. so there are all kinds of opportunities for democrats on this map, and it was not have been possible without the democrats when he some key state supreme court raises that gave them a partisan majority on the state supreme court. congressmanwallace, brian fitzpatrick, the republican candidate for guest: this proves that nominating candidates is as good as when a favorable districts in the redistricting process. both of you to have want to do well, and in this case, democrats nominated a candidate who is probably not the most ideal candidate.

wallace is a multimillionaire. he has owned mansions in maryland and south africa. that will certainly come up in a campaign can sintering that the this factor family, including brian, the current incumbent, and his brother, my mother used areerve the district, promoted as blue-collar republicans, and that has resonated. there are real districts where voters tend to evaluate the candidate as much as they died with the party. so wallace will have pretty much -- they evaluate the party. so wallace will have pretty much more money, but it will have diminishing returns. on the air with david wasserman of the cook political report. caller: i think you're right numbers ares poll it heard yesterday, he was over 50%. host: carol saying the president's approval rating is over 50%.

guest: we are not seeing that in national polls. that in several districts. for example, in upstate new york, in the 22nd district, that is a seat that donald trump won by about 15 points. the reason republicans are vulnerable is to courtlican tends controversy with things that she says. moderate republicans who support of the previous members of congress, richard hanna, they do not look to fondly upon her, inidemocratic assemblyman that district is actually ahead, according to most of the following we are seeing there are some cases where donald trump is a drag on republicans but there are other districts where republicans have no one else to blame but themselves for their political predicament. host: bill, good morning.

caller: good morning. yourld like to hear comments about the kentucky six amy mcgrath, the marine fire department and mother of running against a man who has been supported by the baking industry. how attacked a woman and a combat veteran of iraq. thank you very much. host: what are the main challenges they are facing in this race? guest: problems are popping up for republicans in surprising places. lexington, kentucky is certainly one of them. this is a district that voted for donald trump, yet today, most of the polling shows andy barr, the republican incumbent, behind slightly. nominated amy mcgrath, who is one of three former navy pilot's who are women running

for congress in 2018, and this has become a trend. democratic candidates across the country generally fall is one of three buckets -- women, military veterans -- a lot of them are of work obamaut administration people who are treating 2018 as a job fair. but in the amy mcgrath case, she pretty much tapped into the power of viral videos, and she is one of several democratic candidates who are veterans who have told their stories through videos that have become vital. and as a result, she has been $1.5 million over for the primary race. she actually beat the well-known mayor of lexington, jim gray, who had been democratic 20 sixteenths in a nominee in kentucky and carried the district. this is the case of democrats in the mood for something entirely new. they do not want existing politicians, they want people

with life experience that can transcend partisan labels and ppealed, and in this case, it is going to be up to the republicans to try to find her as someone who just moved back to the entire maryland, has not spent a lot of time in the andrict recently, and try kind of take the edge off her feel at a military veteran. take the tooing to different ways -- it will be a better-than-expected night for republicans if what happens? guest: if they hold on to the house. [laughs] host: but a race or two that will say ok, this will be ok for republicans. guest: the phrases i will be electionearly on on night when he kentucky, the sixth district. republicans probably need to hold onto that is to all of the house. i will be watching virginia's

7th, which will be one of the first elections that we get, virginia's 2nd, republican scott taylor against another democratic navy veteran. that is also a very competitive race. if you start seeing these races the democrats early on, it is a pretty obvious sign that the house is going to flip. host: no question it will be a way of if that happens. guest: if republicans hold onto two of those three, that it is not going to have it. i thought the hand gesture that mr. wasserman made for 50% for donald trump. host: the hand gesture, that was because he cannot hear. he wanted to make sure you hear the question. i've seen the manchester, and it kind of upsets me.

we holes that you take, are you digging holes on 100 people, 10,000 people, 100,000 people? districts are you taking them in? in democratic districts? of course they will be better for the democrats. these are not precise because electionump in win the when everybody thought it would be for hillary clinton. host: thank you for the call, and again, the hand gesture was because he did not hear the question. we want to be clear about it. guest: right. [laughs] host: back to polling, which comes up often on this program. guest: that is what comes up, can we trust polls anymore? if you take an aggregate nationally, hillary clinton fleet was about three points. two pointup winning one percent more votes nationally than donald trump. i think the mistake that a lot of pundits made was to interpret that national old into a sign

that she was surely going to win, which we never believe was the case, and in particular, donald trump had a pathway to victory through the electoral college. it did not require him to win more votes than his opponent, so i have not lost my faith in polling, and we are getting a variety of polling data from not only democratic districts but actually mostly republican districts this cycle, because that is where the battleground really is. both democrats and republican pollsters i talked to agree that republicans are in deep trouble in a variety of districts that donald trump carry in 2016. this headlinenow from politico, the architect of the 2010 house republican takeover is in trouble. the race with congressman pete sessions. what is happening in that district? guest: dallas is a classic example of a district thatguest: in 2016.ns drew

eight euros and 32nd district of texas, which is known as dallas, to be a saint republican seat, but over time, those republican professionals have moved away -- those professionals have moved away from the area, and that district voted for hillary clinton in 2016. pete sessions, the republican who has been there since 1996, cith the chair of the nrc for two terms, suddenly finds himself in a very unsafe place against all all right, who titans,r the tennessee and more importantly for this race was a high school football star. he was raised by a single mother who is a public school teacher, went to baylor and became a civil rights lawyer. said he wanted to play in

the nfl essentially to be able to paper law school. so he has got an appealing profiling is a republican who has been there for a very long time. these different biographies that can be so problematic for the in party when voters want change. host: let's go for joining us from hillsboro, delaware, republican line with david wasserman. good morning. caller: good morning. thatld like to discuss under the trump administration the best, he is one of presidents we have ever had, and if you do not vote for the republican candidate and you vote for these liberal democrats, they want to turn us into europe. they want everyone to come into this country. you talk about not being able to find a job, when everybody comes countries, you will not be a find these jobs. if you go for these liberal democrats, that is what is going

to happen to you. thank you. guest: well, republicans need voters like the caller to show up in 2018 if they want to have a chance. big problem for republicans is that more trump voters see themselves as supporters of donald trump than the republican party as a whole. keep in mind when trump ran for president in 2016 company ran not only against democrats but also congressional republicans fear he called all right and mitch mcconnell all kinds of names. that hurts republicans when it is congressional candidates who are on the ballot in 2018 and donald trump. many of his voters have not shown up to vote since ross perot was on the ballot in 1992, so are they saw lozada going to vote in an off year election? maybe not. we sat down with alexander

smith, the executive director of the probe republican pac america rising, and you can watch the full interview a.m. a.m. eastern on c-span's "newsmakers" program. the president critical of the koch brothers. what does that mean for the division in the gop? portion of that profile. [video clip] alexandra: this is not new. watching the presidential primary process layout is chief among the examples of that. so these are not new. is i would say what different about the immigrants -- and again, that is america focus, i spent my days watching democrats, not republicans -- but it is the paradigm. it is a new thing to have such a wide deal of the candidates moving so markedly to the left.

the divisions within the gop, real andgh they are are not they are, they unexpected, whereas the democratic party is breaking in ways that is a little bit new to our political ecosystem here. you: david wasserman, if take that point some of political infighting within the parties is not new,, but is it different for the republicans this year when you have a public dispute between a major donor to the gop -- $400 million that the koch brothers intent put to the campaigns -- and the president? guest: there are a couple of factors here. number one, the difference between the republican party being settled on twitter, and number two, you have a president who is very populist, who is in favor of tariffs and trade maneuvers that we have not seen from previous republican presidents. and i was skeptical and month ago that this would cost

republicans many votes, particularly in the farm belt, in the midwest, but recently, we have started to see some slippage industries we might have not expected. i was there congressional district is des moines but also a good part of rural. that is a district we recently our tossup column, even though public and incumbent david young has been vocally that hero tariffs soybean and corn growers in his district. we are starting to see this republicanin the face from some more races into play. host: whenever we see the generic congressional ballot, it is always about the candidate on generic does not mean much, but it gives the benefit right now to the democrats. guest: if anything, it might be understating democrats' advantage heading into the fall.

the average of generic ballot .coms that we see on 538 and others give democrats a seven-point or eight-point lead on this question. when you vote for a d or r? in our estimation, democrats need to win seven or eight more votes because republicans have an advantage in the last round of redistricting, so that would suggest a close fight in the house. what we have noticed in the special election is there have been eight since last april, and democrats have over performed. it actually equates to double the event is that we are seeing democrats have on the generic ballot because that was just they had a 16-point lead nationally. so when we get to these elections, and we are going to have another one in ohio's 12 th district on tuesday, we will

see it unfortunately volcker it.: -- host: what will we see for ohio? guest: this will be a big embarrassment for the republicans because the chair of the republican committee represents right next door. you have that the head of the congressional leadership on, which is the major pac supporting republicans besides the nrcc. from investor who managed rob portman's campaign. there are very few excuses for republicans to lose the seat. host: and they had a candidate they want alright? 00 host: and they had the candidate of a once, right? $20 and said he would be

open to raising the retirement age for social security, and democrats are kind of going back to the populace playbook to gain back ground in districts that won, and we have wenerable will get sees that call trump serve zones, that voted for obama in 2012 but for trump in 2016. maine, southern illinois, heavily white working-class districts where you are seeing democrats who voted vertro maybe behaving more like the democrats than you city in 2018. host: let's go to trea shreveport, louisiana, democrat line. caller: good morning. a they do not get much of turnout, have you considered what happens to trump politics, election war, unprecedented out of a really ugly election year? host: thank you, steve.

guest: keep in mind the president did visit pennsylvania's 18th district twice before the special election in march. he is headed to the columbus area today to campaign for roy balderson. there is not much more he can do of provocation and privately have the republican base to vote. he certainly attracts attention wherever he goes, but that was not enough for republicans back in pennsylvania in march, and it may not be enough for troy balderson here. host: we go to silver spring, maryland, democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. the republicans that has seen today are not the republicans that have ever seen before-. the republican congress some of it is not do their job, they do not stand up against the president when he is wrong or the reality is there is a lot of republicans who will vote

democrat because they want to punish donald trump, his behavior. this president does not get it. callannot name the republican, and it is not only one party coming in the people, republicans, they need to get someone who can do their job, and look at the economy. if this president shut his mouth and stopped tweeting, republicans can win. is, every time he talks of any damages the party, he damages the candidate, and i think that people are very angry about president, the way he is behaving, and this is the message for the republicans. but again, that leading will just say this is normal -- i have been around for a long time. republicans do have great ideas, but this is not be republicans that we know, and that is the bottom line. host: ali, thank you for the call from silver spring. guest: republicans really want to be running on this economy. it should be benefiting them enormously vizier.

has a wayhe president of making things a referendum on himself, and if i had to put a label on 2018, i think i would call it "the year of the angry female college graduate." that who is fired up enough to vote by the way, they are the likeliest demographic to turnout in a midterm election. donald trump's approval rating among that group, women with college degrees in the last nbc-"wall street journal" poll, 26% approve, 73% disapprove. compare that to men without college degrees to compare 58% to 36%. but women with degrees much higher turnout in the terms than men without college degrees. that is a real, real danger for the republican party, particularly when you have this not only a gender gap but a gender candidate. host: we go to now in fairfax,

republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i had a comment and a question regarding the guests and the electoral college, that he made a little while ago. the president in win the electoral vote and lost the popular vote. if you look at how it was across the nation, if you remove california from the popular vote, the president did when the popular and electoral vote, it just was not all spread around the country, it was really just one state, and that is the reason you have the electoral will, so that one state does not dominate all of the other smaller states. host: thank you. guest: this is the problem for democrats in the modern era of presidential elections is that their support is increasingly concentrated in a few states that are much more diverse in the nation as a whole, better more college-educated than the

nation, and that are more latino. and in 2016, there were three groups of voters with whom donald trump was uniquely unpopular, i would argue, and that was college educated whites concentrated in places like new england, the mid-atlantic, california, the west coast. he was unpopular with latinos who gave hillary clinton the largest margin on latino candidates among presidential candidate in history except more than half of the country's latinos live in three states -- california, texas, new york. and a third group where he really underperforms were mormons out west. since those days are safely republican states, it does not really matter that he was under forming in those groups -- underperforming in those groups. it did not cost him any electoral college votes. this is the perfect storm for donald trump to wednesday.

host: these are republican members of the house you are leaving transistors. there are 11, including wisconsin. why? guest: that is right here does category includes a pretty interesting races. speaker of the house paul ryan is leaving. republicans are in decent shape in his district, to be candid, because republican nominee randy baggage. lot of he is arrested nine times. republicans have brian-endorsed candidate ryan stiles to fill the uw board of regents is likely to win the primary, the category of races also enclose the special elections in ohio's 12th. thisso enclose virginias district that has been in the news a lot. leslie cockburn, a very liberal,

author,sive and she is actually the mother actress olivia wilde. somes has posted interesting thing about the mythical creature that you to his social -- mythical creature bigfoot to his social media account. this is an incumbent republican being challenged by democratic candidate and spending a lot of money into the sea area. guest: that is right. this district is probably the most rollerball district among republican incumbents. barbara comstock has been here since 2014, but she has never had to run in this type of political environment before. ofdoun county is the anchor this district, and democrats is not nominated a candidate from loudoun county until this year, a state senator, jennifer weston

represents the leesburg area, and she will track a lot of money and support. she is not the most polished democrat on the campaign trail, but it may not matter in a clear like this one, particularly in a seat of for hillary clinton by 10 points. host: we go to montana on our democrat line, paul, good morning. . we're joining david wasserman of the cook political. hi, mr. wasserman. how are you this morning? i would like for you to discuss, if you put some of the race in montana. i want to let you know that i voted for jon tester. i would like you, if you want someone to remind me of the headsnt he had, he bumped with mr. trump over an issue. i would like you to remind me what that was about, and i thought i would make a personal

comment about mr. tester, and over the am absolutely delighted that he is running absolutely red over theam absolutely moon that he will lump off the republicans in montana. thank you kindly and have a great day. largelet me add to that a house seat. aest: that is montana will be big state this year, and jon tester did butting heads -- butt heads with the president over the incoming v.a. secretary perry feels like he is in good shape against state auditor matt roosevelt. likely him in a democratic column. in the house race for the

state's phone house race. won a special election last week to succeed brian ryan sinke, the v.a. secretary perry he was arrested for assaulting a reporter. most voters had already passed -- cap their ballots by the time how much occurred, but will that factor into his votes in the reelection race? one thinghave not that's how seasons 1994, but it is a very close race. host: we will go to dj and virginia. good morning. caller: good morning. comment question and a for the guests. are you related to debbie wasserman schultz? guest: no. caller: ok.

i just went online, and your this,an actually correct on the third, the rasmussen poll shows trump at 48%. i wonder where you are getting your feedback from. host: if you go to the average on real star politics, it is about 44%. a presidentill have higher, some lower, and indicate the average. the rasmussen poll tends to benefit republicans more. caller: did you just pull it up? because i did. host: yes, i will pull it up here again. caller: please do. then i have a comment to your guest, you keep talking about how hillary clinton won 3 million more votes. the other day,ws they stated california in people --unties where

they had more registered voters than they had people actually living in these counties. there is where your 3 million votes come. host: can i ask the caller where you read that? caller: it was on the news! guest: do you know which outlet? caller: [no audio] so upset. i was talking to my son, and i think this is why everyone keeps preaching she won by 3 million more votes, and that is pretty obvious, and it probably states, butother california is the one they were zeroing in on. host: business real clear politics, so as we said, they take the average, the rasmussen poll have them at 48%. another full by quinnipiac have him at 38%. d has beenlt from ib at 41%, and so there is a

disparity between different polling, and they think the average, which is what we were using as well. poll.not use one rasmussen is one of the biggest one, and i think it is unfair that you do that. host: we will agree to disagree. i need to point out that the has made a claim that was totally on substantiated. after the election, there is absolutely no evidence for it, fromve very clear data election officials on the totals of voters registered in those counties. ofy do not exceed the number residents who are eligible to vote in any of them, and the fact of the matter is it is a outcomey understandable

that hillary clinton did win about 2.9 million more votes than donald trump but lost the election fair and square thanks to the electoral college. ost: request and the lives of back to ohio 12, i will not ask who you --dict to win the race, but let's go back to ohio 12, and i will not ask you who you predict to wednesday the race. is a little under two third of the voters who cast ballots in 20, and that would be on par with what we saw in pennsylvania's 18th district. election, generally about this november, is just as much about who is dropping out of the electorate as who is actually showing up to vote. host: david wasserman of the cook political report, we will check in with you often with 94 days remaining until the november election. thank you so much for spending

time with us on this saturday. thank you so much, steve. host: wildfires continuing california, and in just a moment, bob roper will join us from california in wildfire magazine as we turn our attention out there. just how bad is it, and if they are really inside -- and is there relief in sight? you are watching and listening to c-span "washington journal." we are back in a moment. ♪ >> nominated to the supreme president ronald reagan in 1987, justice anthony kennedy is retiring after 30 years on the bench. monday, we will take a look at legacy on the supreme court and is in fact on the nation with the clerk for justice kennedy from 2011 to 2012, and former assistant to the solicitor

general. watch the legacy of supreme court justice anthony kennedy monday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span or, for listen on the free c-span radio app. senate confirmation hearings for brent cobb enough to be is in court justice are -- brett kavanaugh degree supreme court justice are expected to grill him on roe v. wade . on tuesday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, c-span's landmark cases protec t an in-depth look. we will hear from supreme court reporter david savage discussing the nomination and the abortion issue. "> "washington journal continues. loweron saturday some spotlight on magazines, and

today, we turn our attention to the wildfires in california and elsewhere in the west. we want to show you this live mass to show you how widespread it is your joining us from ohio, california via skype is bob roper, a former fire chief and has also contributed to "wildfire magazine." thank you for being with us. guest: thank you, steve. host: give us a sense of what it is like on the ground. just how bad is it? guest: what we have right now is a series of fires that are just continuous that are taking lives, taking property, and really testing our response long-durationse fires on firefighters and the communities. host: is it any worse this year the previous year than previous years based on the many years you have been in the region? guest: it has progressively

gotten more frequent with fires, and what has happened now is we used to have a fire season. now what we have is a fire season that is really year-round. traditionally, he would have fires start in the spring. the rain would let up, and then through thetinue summer. but like in california, the fire santa ana winds that started in late august, september, now we're seeing november, december, in january. host: from the magazine, you write the following "the real normal is the continued in action to address the historical issues associated with wildfires. this call to action for our elected leaders is sorely needed as staff has been reforming the underlying research and action on his staff level, and now major policy action must be accomplished at the governor's

level if we truly desire a different result." what are you asking more specifically? guest: we have been doing the reports, we have identified what the issues are, and we need to start making decisions. wrote this i article -- and i wrote it back in january -- the good news is congress that what we call a fire fix on funding in march 2018, where one of the major things they did is they are funding the federal fire agencies differently, so instead suppressionrom the to pay for fire suppression, the federal fire agencies will be able to do preventative actions before a fire. they do it, then funding can be passed down to state and local government entities.

that is the good news. we stillews is that have a lot of regulations that we deal with wildlife fire from environmental reviews, how long done,es to get a burn ban to the conflict between dealing vs. doings, wildlife, a prescribed fire on their environment. i would like to just say that this is not a federal problem. this is also a state and local government problem, who all ships. bob roper,uest is who is joining us from ojai, california. viewersa line for a impacted by the wildfires. that line is (202) 748-8002. earlier,ng to mention because we have been dealing

a record amount of rain and easy to, the north carolina region of the country. of course many of us wish we could send some of that rain your way. my question is -- do you think this is also a global warming factor? guest: i am not part of the science community, but as a person who lives on this earth, i can say we are going through a warming.. period. what the exact cause of that i cannot cite, but what i can find is this morning period and how it is affecting wildfire some of the extended fire season, and so forth. host: look at the map of arizona, montana, texas, wyoming, these are impacting the far north as well as oregon and washington state. tom is joining us from humble, texas. good morning. caller: hi, guys.

have you seen the global map in the heating of the globe? i would love to see the gop scientists to say this is not global warming. you guys have a good one. i hope the fires are out. thank you. host: let me take on point, how have you tried to stem the tide? the controlled burn so how do you try to reduce the spread of the fires? guest: there are a series of actions that were passed by the federal government in 2009 call the flame act. in that, we created a blueprint fires to address wildland called the national cohesive strategy, and then asked, we are we restore how do

landscapes, how he built a fire-adapted communities, and aw do we respond when wildfire happens? the one thing we realize this fires do not jurisdictional lines. nor should we. host: this is a tweet from jodey "after losing my home to a fire, my heart breaks for the thousands of homes burned as they -- as i did -- lost everything. will fireproofing of homes become code for rebuilding? " guest: yes, it can be done, but i do not see a mandate for an existing home to fireproof it. we can never really say we can fireproof everything. we can make it fire-resistant, but the largest inventory of exposure phones out there is

what already is built. new codes will take care of new construction. it will take care of new construction. well takeggest thing care of public responsibility as well a local, state, and government officials as how to address the welfare problem. host: 202 is the area code, (202) 748-8000 for the eastern half of the country, (202) 748-8001 west, it is you have been impacted by the fires, (202) 748-8002. bob, let me ask you about the carr fire. how many homes have been affected, and should there be different regulation or zoning what homes can be felt and where? -- built and where? is still inumber

moving target as far as the number of homes. you will see the data that shows over 1000 structures. the exact number of residential still a moving target. the last i heard last night, it was over 600 homes. but in the days to come, that number will be vetted a lot better. making a difference, like i said, when someone wants to build on a legal existing law, there is not a lot local government officials can do due to private property rights. they can make sure there are the right building codes, they can do public education to raise those new codes and planning conditions will help our new structures, but now what we need to do is partnered with the insurance company, the communities, and the public themselves to understand how to maintain your home if you are already living in the area.

there are things that you can do to be ready for a fire and how to react to it. host: and your essay, by the way, available on the website, wildfiremagazine.org. dear talking with bob roper who is joining us the inside -- us via skype from ojai, california. give us a bit of your background. guest: i worked for the ventura county department, which is in southern california. i was the fire chief there for 15 years, serving a total of 32 years. then i became the state forrester in nevada, and post that, i'm doing a lot of consulting work with fire agencies addressing the wildlife fire issues, and i serve on the cohesive strategy, there is a western regional strategy, and i also work for the international association of fire chiefs, the

policy committee, as well as the international association of wildland firefighters. host: for those on the front line, how many hours a day are they trying to battle these fires? 24-hourt is continuous operation just to address it, ,nd then what you have to do is as players are saying that you have to start dealing with the predicted blood season that is going to happen afterwards, see is the one they you we have several of the water bodies that are from drinking water now surrounded by fire. all of that ash will go income and now from a public health issue, they have to start dealing with filtration. host: a tweet from james "sister-in-law lost everything in the mountains in gatlinburg when it burned up. they were lucky to get out of their." referring to the fires in tennessee. michael "concrete

and steel are the only thing that can withstand fire for an extended period against fires like this." caller: we live in downtown impact us.d it did my question is, the siegel who buy property out in the wild, out in the woods, they are so happy to have property, but they do not tend to the property around their home. if they want to own property, they should take care of it. a lot of these people have homes, a small space, and when it took off, the whole area was gone. that is my question. thank you. host: thank you, from redding, california. bob roper? guest: ok, this is one of those tough decisions for local legislators. i will give you an example here here in her county, the county board of supervisors enacted a

trace program that people are notified, they are given time to clear their own space, make successful, and if it is not done, then we have a contractor that goes in and does that work. it has been proven over time but making sure that you have an import program so that firefighters and the homeowners that defensible space, homes survived adding much better rate -- not absolute, but they survived much better. this is a tough decision for local legislators, but it can be done. host: this is a tweet from brave -- "how many fires are arson-related/" varies from year to year. if you go back to the national wildfire interagency website, they have the data for the national staff, but from year-to-year, it depends as the

weather system comes through, if there are lightning strikes versus down power lines, versus arson, the numbers vary. host: from maryland, carol, you are next with bob roper, who is joining us from california. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just had a comment about the buyers. -- the fires. places where there is too much water and are places where there are fires -- why can't the engineers created system where we waters where the fires are or the areas that are doomed to have fires? host: thank you, carol. thank you for the question. bob roper, can you answer that? know, the ring -- when we have a lot of comments like carol's that come in that we work with the federal science

agencies to look at how possible are some of these ideas, so there are people looking at these ideas and the scale of economy, the engineering and stuff that would have to be done. all of these are good ideas to hear about. host: let's go to robert in columbia, south carolina. caller: good morning. host: good morning. to the my question goes early detection -- why cannot satellites be placed in space out there in the western states for early dissection, and have the air force, the department of homeland security, participate in early detection of the fires, whether it is finby bomb? the air force have the type of

planes. i think that would benefit everyone out there. so from controlling to preventing the virus in the first place, is that an option? there is an option, trying to get all of this new technology that was developed for the military and for others, trying to get that converted now back for firefighters' use. we currently have satellite capability to be able to look at fires. we had capability that we map ,here lightning strikes happen but what we need to be able to do is take that new technology and they get real-time information, so when a fire was to start, detect it, then model to understand where it is going to go, be able to have the right resources so that we can keep the fires as small as we can, or if the fire is in an outlying

area, we will manage that fire so that we will be able to begin to treat the landscape. host: and to follow-up up on your earlier point, and again, more details from "wildfire magazine," suggestions for elected officials, month them -- first, to restore and maintain public lands is, to build fire-adapted communities and also the more immediate wildfire response. as you get what is happening in your area, as the fires received, how quickly does the shrub and the growth grow back? guest: it depends on the drain, but it is remarkable. sometimes within months, you will be able to see sprouting in some of the roots that are out there. it all depends on the temperature of the fire as it goes across the topography. sometimes the fire burns so far, hot, it actually

glazes the soil, which causes extreme runoff issues. but the vegetation in most areas will regret. which explains as we look at this video the so-called controlled burns, which do what? guest: what we do is recalled the controller prescribed fires where we go in and we say when a wildfire happens, we have no control whether a fire burns hot, were in our terms, burns lowered temperature. under a prescribed fire, we say we want to not blaze the soil, so we will like the fire, and we will burn it in a certain direction to be able to move the meditation, the old, dense undergrowth, so that we will be able to restore that landscape, send it out, have a much healthier landscape, so when a fire is introduced and it, it does not travel as quick.

it is part of the natural environment. little-known, texas, thomas is next. good morning. caller: good morning. y local years ago in the 1950's and 1960's, my uncle was a paratrooper. one thing that i have noticed , and to current day, and the magnitude of fire. towers to have the where these fire watchers would locate a fire and pinpoint it, and the fire that was very small and could be contained. it was very seldom we would have a massive fire like we have now. but i have uncovered something that is very important. if you look into the site and you see the jet contrails that go from horizon to horizon, which a jet contrail is only 10 to 15 times the length of a

fuselage of any large jet aircraft. now what they are dropping is impregnated strontium and bury him into aluminum minute particles. with these particles land upon the trees and down on the ground, and sa lightly hit some aside from any stupid cars in person, when lightning hits, you have not a local fire in the forest but you have a massive fire because the particles will actually rapid trees, number one, and they proved it. it went to hawaii, and every time they did it, it stopped. they went to hawaii and looked at a palm tree, and it was one palme most sturdiest con trees that they could find the mother they gouged the bottom

and pulled it apart with their hands. host: thank you for the call. we will get a response. we're short on time. guest: the callers talked about towers upon mountains. some of those towers are still staffed today, but it is hard for them to look from smoke, so we have looked at new technology. a lot of agencies are using the hours, but they are also using remote cameras on mountain tops. we are also using satellite to be able to detect and locate where the fires are so that when we send resources, we send them to the right spot with the right equipment. host: michael has this week " balanced moisture and sunshine in mother nature can produce amazing results. coach and has this -- "seeing the footage of those fires, couldis no way you

fireproof a home against that." -- "building homes in the mountains comes with an obvious risk. same for building around rivers and creeks." your thoughts on this? guest: the comment about you is -- fireproof -- that we had a fire that spread to santa barbara. we had an indivisible program that proved itself over the years, but even here, wea lost a theof homesno because of extreme wind conditions and the inverse that were transmitted -- embers that were transmitted spread a lot faster. into the future, that is what we are dealing with right now. rhetoric, climate change or not, we're seeing longer, more

frequent fires. we understand what it is. we have to start making tough decisions to be able to address that. host: another caller from california, joshua tree, jane on the phone. where are you located, jane? i am in joshua tree in san bernardino county very we have had fires in joshua tree in we have never happened before because of the grasses and the temperatures, they burn much hotter. as for protecting homes, you know, they create storms for themselves. they were reporting winds of 148 miles an hour in places up in northern california. i have been in california all my life, and the increasing fire summit has just been astronomical. everywhere i have gone, there has then a fire -- santa rosa, santa barbara, orange county. i highly recommend to the audience out there listening to "hey read the "new york times

magazine, there is a very good exposé. this is the new normal. world war ii efforts to decide how we are going to deal with this. the 1980's, exxon mobil theyll the scientists, were worried about what we would be facing. they were predicting this. started init was africa and head to the southern united states. able to turn back the clock, but we need all hands on deck for having go forward and address it. is a very disturbing time. jane, thank you for adding your voice to the conversation. bob roper? is absolutelyler correct that we have a problem -- we have to start addressing it. that is what we have done when

we created a national cohesive strategy. we have to go back and restore and then we have to build fire-adaptive community is. meanadapted does not fire-improved. it means the public that lives risk, theynderstands understand what their role and withnsibility is, and then a fire happens, we have to respond to it, and we have to remember that this is not just a federal. thing. administrative and visible responsibility as well because government, some of these fires could happen in a local government into the, and it could just the in some of the open space areas that we enjoy, and the state and fed have no responsibility in it. everybody needs to understand the role and responsibility and learn how to live with fire. host: the cover story of

"wildfire magazine" and a piece by bob roper call "wildfire: the answer." before we let you go, is there a cost estimate to all of this? [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] guest: no. we have not come up with a box that has a price tag on it. practices that have to start being done. costublic will incur some to maintain their homes. to do things that are responsible. the state and the feds have been stepping up. we have to do this in a collective action and not put a price tag on one entity. thank you for your time on this saturday morning. we are back tomorrow morning with "washington journal.

we look at the plans medicare for all with a roundtable from the center for american progress. globe reporter with a discussion over the tsa's so-called quiet skies. thank you for joining us. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> officials testify on border secrety and for family -- families seeking asylum in the u.s. remarks from south carolina senator tim scott on the plan

for economic growth. event honoring national whistleblower day. this is the final day of the net roots progressive conference. we will hear from tim ryan, julian castro and alexandria cortez. live coverage starting at 6:00 p.m. eastern. night, congressional historians richard baker, donald richie. >> one of the questions i hear people ask is this the most uncivil time in history?

>> the years leading to the memberar, when a host came over and became a senator because he disagreed with what he said. there are a lot of senators who cheered on that host member. >> we have had terrible political times. before thes a brawl civil war that had 80 members rolling around on the floor fighting one another. wig,f the members had a one of the members pulled his wig off during the fight and someone yelled -- he scalped him. that was enough to stop the fight. sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q and a.

>> nominated to the supreme court by ronald reagan in 1987, anthony kennedy is retiring after 30 years on the bench. monday, we look at his legacy and its impact on the nation. nicole argued 29 cases before justice kennedy and the court. anthonye legacy of kennedy monday night on c-span. listen on the free radio app. >> next week on american history tv on c-span3, watch the first of our nine part series, 1968, america in turmoil. year.k to the tumultuous

starting monday, we discuss the vietnam war. on tuesday, a look at the presidential campaign. wednesday, civil rights and race relations. thursday, a discussion on liberal politics. friday, conservative politics. saturday, women's writes. all nine programs are available on spotify as a podcast to watch , as a podcast, or watch c-span on our page. officialsent testified on migrant families seeking asylum in the u.s. held by the senate judiciary committee, this is three hours and 20 minutes.