millions and millions and millions of acres to the u.s. government so they could build a country. and our contributions to the united states are immeasurable. and so, i feel like some people don't understand that we are governments inside a government, we are sovereign nations inside of our big nation of the united states, and that the united states has trust obligations to every single indian tribe in this country. >> new congress, new leaders. follow it all on c-span. >> democrats in the house filed a resolution today to walk president trump's national emergency declaration on the u.s. southern border. the declaration would allow the president to use money that was not authorized by congress to fund the border wall. a tweet from house speaker pelosi, members of congress also

era notes to support and defend the constitution. on tuesday, the house will vote on walking castro's legislation to defend the separation of powers following president trump's decision to balance the law with his emergency declaration. you can follow the house live here on c-span when members gavel back in. and coming up, columnist george will discusses the growth of consecutive power. that is scheduled to start in under 10 minutes here on c-span. while we wait for that discussion to begin, here is a look at some of today's washington journal. >> our guest is shelley campbell, thank you for joining us. guest: thank you so much. host: what are you seeing these days in military housing? guest: our issues to bring forward the voices of military families and their experience in this life.

in this particular topic with military housing, we tried to understand what they are experiencing. what we are hearing back is many families experiencing issues , pestold in their homes infestations, or structural deficiencies. trying to find help, trying to find a way to get this repaired and solved. host: the numbers are somewhat striking, and we will put them on the screen. just under 17,000 people living in military housing around the country. 56% of respondents had a negative or very negative experience with privatized military housing. 35 separate companies are referenced by these respondents, and as we have heard, black mold, lead paint, faulty wiring, poor water quality, insects and , a wide pesticides variety of vermin, skunks, squirrels, and also illnesses with lifelong implications caused by poor housing conditions, reports and requests for remediation were ignored or denied.

about the other points, how did it get to be this way? guest: we don't know all the details. that is something that all of us who are looking at this, whether it is the senate armed services committee, the housing companies, the department of defense, us, trying to understand the pathway that got us here. but right now, our focus for all of us is trying to help these families who are living in dangerous circumstances, unhealthy circumstances, and trying to get help for them right away while we are also trying to understand the path that got them to this point. host: give us a modern history on privatization of military housing. when did that start, and in general, how has it been going? guest: so it started about 20 years ago. we understand that the contract lasts 50 years total. so what we understand is that families -- i can tell you that the reason military families might move to housing and why it

is important is the convenience factor, also the value. we moved so often, every two to three years on average. when you are going to a new community and trying to find a place to live, we don't have huge expectations but we do want to be safe and secure and healthy in our homes. that is what leads our families to housing. we also know they've got -- that about 70% of military families don't live on military housing, they live on the economy. but for those who choose military housing, it is usually those factors of needing to be near work, wanting to be near a good school system, or moving so quickly that we just maybe don't know the community very well. host: let me invite viewers to weigh in with their questions and comments on the phone lines. we will be hearing from military only in this next segment. please call lane in the next 40 minutes or so about the condition of military housing and tell us your stories, things you have experienced or have heard, or in general what you think is or is not happening and

should be happening in this area. if you live in the eastern or central time zones, (202) 748-8000 is your number. if you live in the west, the number is 202-748-8001 . again, we are talking about the conditions of military housing and our guest is shelley kimball from the military family advisory network. let's go to some pictures. put them on the screen here. the human factor that you all are citing -- what are we seeing on the screen right now? guest: this is a family who has some health issues which they attribute to the environment in their home. we had several responses from families who are feeling that. we have heard about doctors documenting the environmental factors and tying them to the medical issues. host: and there are more photos here of particular units of housing. from left to right and down below, what are we seeing? guest: sure.

you are seeing bentz filled with vents filled with mold. on the right side, this is carpeting -- we got a lot of photos from military families of these carpet photos. they are duct taping and holding things together on their wall. we even heard about stories of faulty wiring or outlets falling right out of their walls. what is the process for military -- host: what is the process for military families to report problems with housing? guest: this is something we are looking really closely at. you would at any apartment building. you call maintenance and ask them to respond. some of the complaints we hear are that response times, not having someone come, or if they come, doing sort of a cursory glance. in these mold pictures, instead of the full remediation treatment that would be required of black mold, more simple

responses, like spraying something on it and painting over it. host: and we understand that some of them were scared to complain because of fear of negative impacts on their careers. we spoke with air force secretary heather wilson this week, a former member of congress. she was asked as part of our newsmaker program about the military housing hearing that recently happened. here's a quick look. >> we know that we have some advertised housing contractors who have not met expectations, and we deal with that base by base. we also know that -- one of the things that bothered me last week about the hearing was not so much that there were issues with housing. housing is generally better than it was in the 1990's when we went to privatization, but on bases, even where we have had significant problems, we've got some major construction or rework underway, where there were construction deficiencies.

air in housing have a right to expect prompt and competent maintenance of housing there in. i think there have been some identified issues with that. what bothered me last week was that there were a couple of families who said they were afraid of retaliation if they reported a housing problem for their landlord. that their landlord would then , tell theirommander boss a were being difficult or something. that really bothered me. that is a leadership issue. as a result, the chief of staff and i have result -- have directed a 100% review by the base and wing commanders of housing units where the united states air force -- a 100% review. let's get eyes on. nothing better than leadership's eyes on whether there is a problem. we are also asking -- we have asked our inspector general to look at our processes for managing housing to see if there are some systemic changes need

ed to be made. host: that was "newsmakers" with heather wilson, the air force secretary. that will be sunday at 12:30 p.m. and again at 6:00 p.m. what do you make of what you heard from the secretary? guest: getting out there and seeing the housing is phenomenal. that is what the families were hoping for. they want someone to come look at this and know that it is real. as far as the idea about concern for retribution, i do not think members of the senate armed services committee could have been clearer about the fact that there will be no tolerance of that, and the leaders of the services, absolutely. i think everyone is in agreement that the concept of retribution for reporting something like this will not be tolerated. i am absolutely gratified to hear that. host: let's start taking calls from our guests. rich is in virginia. thank you for joining us. what would you like to say?

caller: thank you for taking my call. this has bothered me -- i have a house in jacksonville, north carolina, and i was shocked to find out after the last storm, i was talking to people about it -- there are retirees and federal workers living in the housing there. >> all of our washington journal segments are archived on c-span.org. we will take you live to george mason university. a discussion with columnist george will on executive power, about to begin. >> and judicial branches. the center has a focus on new questions and timeless questions to inform and celebrate public discussions. we are proud to host scholars, practitioners, policymakers and journalists of a wide range of perspectives, as example five by today's papers and speakers. even our focus on congress, ford's