beyond. in the age of power to the people, this was true people power. in the 40 years since the landscape has clearly changed. this dome on a look at media, broadcasting is given away the narrowcasting, youtube stars are a thing. but c-span's big idea is more relevant today than ever. no government money supports c-span. it is nonpartisan coverage of washington funded by your cable or satellite provider on television and online, c-span is your unfiltered view of government so you can make up your own mind. >> this morning on "washington , george yin 8:00 from the university of virginia law school talks about efforts by house democrats make president trump's tax returns public. eight: 30, house lawmakers join us to talk about access to higher education and at 9:10,

casey burgat talks about some of the people who work on capitol hill. and youtake your calls can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is next. ♪ attorney general william barr goes before the house appropriations committee today to discuss the justice department budget but it looks like the topic will quickly become his handling of the mullah report. you can see that hearing -- of the robert mueller report. resignation -- as well as ice officials. the topic the southern border. that you can see at 10:00 on our website at c-span.org. it is the washington journal for april 9. you can comment on those events and topics today. also the u.s. declaring iran's

military as a foreign territory -- as a foreign terrorist organization. here's how you can let us know ,our thoughts, (202) 748-8001 (202) 748-8000 for democrats and independents, (202) 748-8002. you can twit is or post our facebook page. roll call this morning sense of that hearing with william barr before the house appropriations committee. it is about a statement he submitted before the hearing today. the headline, barr makes no mention of mueller. house lawmakers want to hear more from attorney general william barr about the status of the special counsel report. it looks like they will have to bring it up themselves. filed a written statement that focuses on the justice department priority for a $29.2 billion request for 2020 and

leads out of the message of the -- any mention of the russia investigation. his appearance will draw much more attention than a traditional budget hearing because it will be his first appearance since robert mueller submitted his report. at 9:30 thisill be morning if you want to watch it. to watch that hearing. that will take place live today. about that in the context of our today in washington segment. that topic up for discussion. you can talk about the status of the southern border, especially of the senate holds a hearing on that topic. you see that on our website, c-span.org. you can also talk about the decision by the trump administration to label iran's

military as a foreign terrorist organization. the phone lines, (202) 748-8001 four republicans, (202) 748-8000 democrats, independents, (202) 748-8002. the usa today profiles the president's choice to become head of the department of national security, it talks about -- after graduating from amherst college, he worked in california as an attorney practicing business and corporate law. 9/11 hene/11 -- after ,ecided to change course eventually landing at customs and border protection. childreners detained turn trumps zero-tolerance policy. his officers fired tear grass into a crowded november, and in november -- and in december 4

migrants died while in border patrol custody. -- and carrying out the orders of the outgoing homeland security secretary to medically spleen -- medically screen all children in custody. that is just part of the profile to the person the president would like to see become head of homeland security. you can read that in "usa today. " in alabama, democrats line starts us off. go ahead. caller: good morning? host: you are on. caller: why doesn't they talking about on the border, you have ,ussia, they have 100 troops going through our airspace, that was last week. they said the people is coming

up. acting like they dictators on the cuban border. not even the president or the .ews networks talking about it host: anthony is next in maryland. my story is the firing of kristen nielsen and the i feel badice -- that they were fighting in the beginning. all through the obama administration, as you can see now with trumps properties he is trying to rid the properties of all the illegal immigrants he hired during the obama administration. he caused this problem. he said he would get those latino votes and he promised

them jobs. now that they are coming, he wants to know why. he promised all this. he caused the problem. does that relate to the firing of the homeland security secretary and the secret service chief? service, i secret think that was an embarrassment with the chinese lady in mar-a-lago. nielsen, the firing of her, she had a job she cannot fix. there is no way in the world she was going to be a. those people from coming when they were promised by donald trump he would give them jobs. you can see it if you play the tapes back. he said latinos love me because i give them jobs. now that they are coming because he gave them jobs. he is trying to fire everybody that is illegal.

that is why they are coming. host: that is anthony in maryland. it was mitch mcconnell on the floor the senate yesterday talking about the departure of secretary nielsen. here are his thoughts from yesterday. >> yesterday the department of homeland security secretary announced she is completing her two plus years of service to the administration and the american people. -- aen and women of dhs dizzying array of promises. they confront natural disasters, part our coasts, defend our critical infrastructure and maintain many of our nation's cyber security defenses and enforce -- and the pressure on the department has only been heightened as a result of the security crisis at the southern border. the department has to balance countless complicated missions from defending against criminals

and stopping the inflow of illegal drugs to defending victims of human trafficking and providing care for the individuals at the same time. through all of these challenges, secretary nielsen provided experienced and steady leadership, a grasp of the issues and dedication were major assets for the department, and as a result, for our country. my colleagues and i thank her for her service and we wish her well. a photo of secretary nielsen in the pages of the wall street journal and and a copying story taking a look at border policy. this is the headline. policy of returning asylum seekers to mexico block. this is an appointee of president obama monday ruling the administration lacked the legal basis under current law. ranlso found the policy afoul of the u.s. legal opera -- u.s. legal obligations. the judge's ruling would take effect friday. this would give the u.s. a few

days to seek -- from a higher court. and onlyen slow going a few hundred people have been processed. last week the administration said it was expanding the program to more immigrants. mike is next in sun city california. caller: i would like to talk about this reparations situation. about blackar americans and native indians that owned slaves, only white people, and then they generalize that all white people are descendents of slave owners. all of my people were yankees and they fought to us free the slaves. they're going to take my tax dollars? to give to certain people? i think it is more pandering from the left. host: senator cory booker has set up a commission to take a

look at the issue. what is long with the taking a look at the issue? caller: it is ridiculous on its front. how are you going to decide who gets what and do it in a fair way? then you are generalizing about all white people owning slaves. it is tantamount to ignorance. most white people do not own slaves. host: new york, independent line, your next. caller: good morning. i would like to comment on iran. -- islamic republic of iran once 9/11 happened iran's influence in the world is increasing. they are now dominating iraq politics, there in lebanon, they are in yemen. labeling them does not mean anything.

how are they going to contain this power? how are they going to resolve this issue? we are in a dynamic -- we're in a dilemma. we have no choices. that is the reality. host: the financial times this morning taking a look at this decision by the united states to revolutionary guard is a terrorist organization. amy williams write the guard is responsible for carrying out the iranian regional policies mike pompeo described, such as support for the government in syria and has blocked in lebanon and its push for a missile defense program. it adds the revolutionary guard to a list of 66 terrorist organizations that includes hamas. the trump organization says it

would deprive the group of awning -- of funding. iran says it intervened in affairs only at the request of neighboring governments to fight terrorism. several people have talked about william barr, the southern border, all of that up for discussion. you can add your thoughts to the mix at (202) 748-8001 four republicans, (202) 748-8000 for democrats, independents (202) 748-8002. social media sites available as well. at 9:30iam barr hearing on c-span3. the hearing on the southern border you can see our website at c-span.org at 10:00. other hearings and events taking place as well. in maryland, democrats line, how low. i would like to comment

about how trump fired nielsen as well as the secret service yesterday. -- you can see all of the history about dictators. is that heworrying is firing everyone around him who is against him. there is no disagreement around him. everyone lets them do what he wants to do and that is not how democracy works. i'm from hong kong. coming fromience that and i don't like that. host: does the president get a prerogative to replace who he decides to? caller: yes.

but that goes to show how messy the administration is. after 16 months or 12 months they are just gone. what theyntegrity of are doing and their process of selecting these people. maybe they were good for the time being and it seems like he is just taking what benefits him , the people who benefit him to be around him. host: sonia is next in kentucky. caller: i would like to comment trump's firing of .nybody who disagrees with him in even replacing people positions of high authority throughout our government.

, he puts in people that are insecure in their positions and have to answer to him. host: i will ask you what i asked the last guest. isn't it the president's prerogative to replace whom he pleases? because theyimply are telling him to follow the law. no. that is not ok. in moderation, yes, everything in moderation. he is like a bull in a china store. he is crashing up everything. host: soanya in kentucky talking about the resignations of the homeland security secretary. the secret service had an

announcement yesterday. you can comment on those topics as well. from missouri, republican line, jeff. caller: i watch your program all the time. you are great. this cyber terrorism has gotten completely out of hand. completely out of hand. is been passed down through five administrations and now trump gets stuck with the bad situation with the cyber terrorism krapp. -- the cyber terrorism crap. it is plain terrorism. host: give me an example of your concern specifically about cyber terrorism. caller: the flooding, the hurricanes. host: how does that relate to cyber terrorism? caller: i believe that through the internet they can control that stuff. host: that is jeff in missouri. he mentioned cyber terrorism. when it comes to issues on the

internet, you may want to pay attention to the house side today. debatese preparing to tuesday on the save the internet act, a democrat backed bill that would restore net neutrality regulations under title to. -- under title two. it would restore internet access allow thewireless -- fcc to regulate conduct not covered under those rules but it included it impeded an open internet. if you go to c-span.org it will give you a guide of the activities taking place today. if you were to go lower on the website, go toward the left-hand side of the screen, there is a listing of things we're covering and paying attention to. you can find that information at our website at c-span.org. if you want to comment on the state of the border, which some

have done, william barr testifying today and the issues of the robert mueller report or as one color has brought up, the decision by the united states to label iran revolutionary guard is a terrorist organization, you can call us at (202) 748-8001 for republicans, (202) 748-8000 for republicans -- for democrats and independents, (202) 748-8002 . we will take a few minutes to talk about william barr heading to appear before the house appropriations committee. here to talk us through it is stop long with the hill -- is scott wong who serves as the hill senior staff writer. the purpose of the hearing is one thing. the expected result is another. can you walk our viewers through that? guest: this is a routine annual appearance to come before the appropriations committee and

make his budget requests on behalf of the trump administration for the 2020 fiscal year. obviously the reason we are talking about this hearing this morning, the reason why this committee room will be packed with reporters and probably carried live on several networks is because of the battle over the release of the mueller report. that has generated enormous interest. democrats,ed ,ncluding top appropriators against bill barr as democrats seek to get their hands on this coveted 400 page report. today agreesment in part by saying i must say it is extraordinary to evaluate 100 pages of evidence, legal documents, and findings based on a 22 month inventory -- legal inquiry.

even for someone who went on the job before, i would argue it is more suspicious than impressive. she goes on to add that as time is a former attorney general, laying out the president's case against the department of justice, adding that your audition went well. that sets the stage for what kind of back and forth to expect from the legislators. william barr, if we look at his opening statement, he makes no reference to the mueller report. he will try to stick to the script and ignore the elephant in the room. as we know from the opening chairman ofrom the ,he subcommittee covering doj they are going to be focusing on the mueller report. they have been trying to ramp up pressure on william barr to much ofthe report in as

an unredacted form as possible. the law does state the attorney general will need to protect sources and methods in terms of how intelligence was gathered in the robert mueller report, as well as grand jury information would be restricted. democrats want to see as much as of this report as possible. they do not want the entire pages and paragraphs redacted. that would only raise significantly more questions. it will be a very interesting back-and-forth. the one thing to note is these are democrats who are not necessarily bomb throwers that maybe you saw on the judiciary committee in their interview with michael cohen several weeks ago. these are appropriators. they are bipartisan dealmakers. generally close to leadership, but these are not the folks that

will be playing for the cameras if you will. the be interesting to watch their turn with the attorney general. what can we expect from republicans? guest: republicans have been playing defense when it comes to the robert mueller report. it remains to be seen what exactly their tactic will be. example, bill barr wants to focus on discussion about reducing crime rates, violent crimes and certainly, as we have seen this week with trump's focus on immigration, bill barr wants to hammer home that this administration and doj is entirely focused on combating illegal immigration at the border. part of his request will be to million, for, $72

100 new immigration judges and support staff. you will see republicans try to steer the focus of the committee back to a focus on immigration and a focus on cutting down violent crime. host: if i understand it correctly, william barr will see a repeat performance later on this week on this topic. guest: this is lawmakers first crack at bill barr since we have summary heueller released a couple weeks ago. today he goes before the house and tomorrow he will go before the companion committee across the capital in the senate. that should be a little bit more lively given some of the characters on that panel on the democratic side, certainly dianne feinstein, the top democrat on judiciary, as well as senator leahy and senator

cruz from delaware on the republican side. lindsey graham, one of the top defenders of president trump and the trump administration. i am sure lindsey graham as well as some of the others will be playing defense for the president. host: and watching those hearings and coverage on capitol hill. scott wong with the hill joins us. he serves as their senior staff writer. thank you for your time. host: that hearing today on the house side with the attorney general william barr. you can see that at 9:30 this morning on c-span3, c-span.org, and are c-span radio app. from colorado, go ahead. caller: regarding the immigration. just on fox news this morning they had a gentleman whose son was killed by an illegal

immigrant. there's a group of a thousand people who've been killed. they formed a group and nothing is ever done. they said the governor of california, who is not going to argentina was mayor at the time and did not do anything. he said he should go around california. , a lot of people criticize fox, this was on one , every day they put up how many millions of dollars it cost americans were immigration and the other networks don't paste it. bill o'reilly on newsmax, this is not fox, says the democrats like the immigrants because almost all immigrants vote democratic and that is how california and new york became democratic. he said they want to do the same thing in texas.

if texas gets like they did in california and new york, there will never be another republican president. host: let's hear from matthew and mississippi. the morning. you are on. go ahead. matthew from mississippi, you're on. comment onanted to secretary nielsen's departure. can you hear me? go ahead. caller: being in the united , ands coast guard, retired in 2017,histleblower where i was assaulted by ice agents, it has been a constant battle of retaliation, reprisals

and terrorists acts against me. all my communications to congress have been blocked. constant cyber attacks, all reported. host: what did you think about the removal of nielsen at the head of homeland security? caller: she is running for cover . just like the last department of defense. host: that is matthew from mississippi. this comes in light of another story in the "new york times" that the department of homeland security and labor says they will plan to issue up to 30,000 additional -- up to september 30. congress has cap the number of visas businesses compete for. expandernments move to the visa program appeared

inconsistent with the trump administration's repeated message about a crisis on the southwestern border of the united dates. -- it wassaturday the on saturday that president trump told a gathering at the republican jewish convention that our country is full. we will your next from jeff in san dimas, california. republican line. protesti was calling to the report that was just given a few minutes ago by scott wong of the hill. that was a complete misrepresentation of the democrats demand. he is saying the democrats want as much as the report as possible. that is not true. they want the whole thing unredacted. he said representatives would accept reductions. he talked out of both sides of his mouth. he said as possible and then a

minute later he saying we do not was the pages full of reductions. host: as far as that is largered, as far as the issue of william barr testifying, what you think of that? caller: testifying, he is there to testify. this was a scheduled budget hearing. he seems to be protesting is sticking to the script, as he characterized sticking to the agenda. the agenda is set by all of congress, including the democrats. this is a budget hearing. host: let's hear from patricia. patricia in iowa. caller: good morning. my comment is about the president. he definitely has the right to of any acting rid

secretary or person he wants. however, it is his obligation to nominate someone for that position and get them senate confirmed. right now we have a god-awful lot of people who are acting and not getting senate confirmed. problem.ents a host: that is patricia, adding her thoughts to the firing of secretary nielsen earlier this week. you can make your thoughts known, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, (202) 748-8000 for democrats, independents, (202) 748-8001. one of the people making their thoughts known was chuck schumer taking to the floor of the senate to talk about those events. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> what is happening in puerto rico and the department of

homeland security indicates the chaos that is overwhelming this administration. president trump's policies, if he has them, shifts from day-to-day. he is erratic. he seems to get emotional. he pushes out whatever is on his mind. this country is floundering. there is a lot of rhetoric and not much else. all of these people leaving in very important positions. the president undercutting them, not calling them into the office and having a discussion but tweeting and ranting. i've never seen america governed like this. never. never. i do not care what your political affiliation is. i do not care if you are liberal, moderate, or conservative. what is happening in this white house as it fails to lead this country and instead does seem showhing like a tv reality is hurting us.

it is hurting us and hurting us badly. i hope we can get bipartisan efforts to do things about this and speak up about it. host: one of the related topics in the last couple of days was the condition of immigration and customs enforcement. in the washington times this morning, president trump's move to lead ice has surprised officials on capitol hill and some officials at homeland security but is drawing praise from her keep her of employees that said the president's decision showed courage. hadnational ice counsel tried to sink a nomination to be the agency's director. was going to see senate action until mr. trump stepped in and oppose the nomination, saying he wanted to go in a tougher direction. the ice counsel says the president made the right call and demonstrated integrity and a

personal commitment to fixing problems in our failing federal agencies. president trump stepped in and made a change. that is how it is supposed to work. that is leadership. that is how americans want their government to work, the ice counsel said on monday. in iowa, patricia. independent line. caller: good morning again. i already commented -- host: sorry about that. if you made the comment before we will go on to the next one. this is a new jersey, democrats line. hello. caller: good morning, america. this firing of all of these top officials and these key positions -- in these key positions is terrifying. remember, we have 25 people working without a national security clearance that

trump set up and put another guy in to give them the security clearance. our country is being sold out and this thing he is doing at the border, firing this lady because she would not separate babies from their moms. this is scary. this is like a holocaust. he is doing exactly what adolf hitler did. host: let's go to tom in ohio. independent line. caller: i was going to make a comment on the border. online --n you look the cost, we cannot sustain bringing in a million people a year. if you look at it and you average out the cost and get online and look at it, we are spending almost $200 billion a year.

as far as the commerce coming into this country, is that more important than the lives? we had a little over 3000 people killed on 9/11. we had 60,000 killed last year in america because of drugs. 90% of it is coming in from the border. i do not care where it is coming in. maybe we need to put our military on the borders. 60,000 americans killed this year because of the drugs coming in from mexico. 70,000 the year before that. it is a downright shame. it is a disaster on the border, no matter what anybody says. separating the kids and the mothers? that don't bother me. host: let's hear from alice in missouri. independent line. caller: hello. i was calling about the separation of the children.

everybody seems to want to blame trump for that. trump, when he was campaigning, he said he was going to get the latino votes. he was talking about the votes in the united states. [indiscernible] wire they letting kids take a loan trip down here? they should be held accountable. not donald trump. they won't let him get his people in his white house. everybody up there is working against him. -- i do not know what is wrong with those democrats. host: the senate homeland security committee holding a hearing taking a look at issues on the southern border will feature officials from customs and border protection and ice. you can see that at c-span.org. that hearing starts at 10:00.

watch for it on the web. sandra from michigan, democrat line. caller: i agree with that woman that said nielsen got fired for refusing to separate children from their parents. that is exactly what has happened. host: you agree with the firing or no? caller: i think it is wrong. -- you wered saying, doesn't he have a right to fire whoever he wants? yes, but they should be replaced. believe he has been planning this for a long time. he knows people all over the he has beenthink sending messages to the people in those countries to come here because if he wanted them not to come here, he would not be canceling their aid, he would be

giving them more aid, not taking it away. trump will do anything to make himself look right about something. anything. host: indiana, republican line. go ahead. caller: i wanted to make a point. we've been having problems on the borders for many years. trump is trying to fix the problems. up against democrats and all their stuff that they seem to come up with. this needs to be halted. her andtry to replace you know the democrats are going to do everything they can to stop that -- to stop them from

replacing her. i think it is so wrong. host: here is john in ohio. independent line. caller: thank you. here is my comment on this country. i see the country not coming together, but being divided. being divided between those who are the united states citizens of this country, and those that support them, and being divided by those that are illegally in this country, and those that support them. everything that is happening is leading to this division and it will come to a head shortly. thank you. host: the television station k ron out of san francisco talks about the latest entry into the 2020 presidential contention field amongst democrats. this is their story. another bay leader is a

contender. california congressman eric swallow announced he is running for president. he revealed the news on the late show. the democrat told stephen colbert he thinks the u.s. is in quicksand. here is more of that announcement from yesterday. [video clip] >> i've been in congress for six years. i've defended our country from the intelligence committee. i took a group of young members of congress. we have gone all over the country to stand up for the next generation of americans. quicksand,ntry in unable to solve problems and threats from abroad, unable to make life better for people at home. nothing gets done. i talked to teachers and truckers and nurses and they feel like they're running in place. it is not adding up to anything. i talk to people who are just like me, the first in their family to go to college. a lot of student debt, cannot buy a home, cannot start a business. i talk to kids who sit in their classroom afraid they will be

the next victim of gun violence. they see lawmakers who love their guns more than we love our kids. none of that is going to change until we get a leader who is willing to go big on the issues we take on, be bold and the solutions we offer, and do good in the way that we govern. i'm ready to solve these problems. i am running for president of the united states. host: sylvia from georgia is next, democrats line. caller: i do not like how trump is making all of the heads of our organizations be acting because that means he gets total control of them. that is not how it was supposed to be. they were supposed to be senate-confirmed. he keeps getting too much authority. he is destroying all of our democratic ways of life. it bothers me a lot. host: specifically what bothers

you? , nobody is instance noticing, but if you keep putting acting people in different positions, that means there is no control from any other body except him. well, bute them at that is not what the intent was. the intent was to be senate confirmed so their jobs would be more secure. he is making himself like an authoritarian. i do not like that feeling. it is scary. texas is next, david, republican line. caller: good morning. a couple of things. and the democrats are creating a narrative. one of the narratives is this is the most small to us -- the most

populous -- the most tumultous administration ever. with the popularity of the "hamilton" play in the book it came from, you would think there be a chance history would make its way into the storyline. president washington had thomas jefferson, james madison, james monroe working furiously within his cabinet to get rid of hamilton. this was before the official beginning of parties. hamilton as the leader of what became the federalists, what became the republicans, jefferson who was the original leader of what they call the republicans which ultimately became the democrats were at complete loggerheads with each other.

jefferson -- i'm about halfway --ough the chernow book jefferson and madison were carrying on a campaign -- they had their own deep state before there were even official parties. they were carrying on a campaign behind washington's back to get rid of hamilton because hamilton represented a strong central government. he created the national bank. they were from the south, he was from the north. all of the different things that implied at the time between slavery and abolitionists. hamilton was one of the first real abolitionists. they had all of stuff going on in washington's cabinet. washington was being accused of being a monarchist, so was hamilton, which was one of the worst things you could call somebody. host: that is the historical perspective. what about the modern era of the presidency? what comparisons would you make between this administration and

others? caller: jefferson was not a confrontational guy. he did his political stuff behind the scenes. he hand-delivered nine bills he wanted a congressman to introduce before washington's inauguration when the congress came in after washington second inauguration. the purpose of the nine bills was to create havoc and get rid of hamilton, to create extra investigations. they were all shot down, but he did not care because congress only met 40 days and the idea was if they did not get anything past, they would at least put all of that poison and lies and rumors out into the ether for people. host: before you leave, you may not know this, but the white house correspondents dinner this year will feature ron scherer as theirn chernow

speaker in 2019. i did not know if you're going to plan to watch that. caller: he is an amazing author. host: you can watch him and others at the white house correspondents dinner later on. west virginia is next. carol from our independent line. caller: hello. give me a little bit of time. am with your previous caller. i wish they would talk about more of that going on in washington instead of always like nixon. is just previous caller described is just what is going on in washington. i'm calling about the border. i'm so sick of hearing all of these people running for president telling me i want to , whetherbold steps

democrats, republicans, i don't care. if they wanted to take big bold then get back in washington solving problems instead of 60 days out of the year? host: was a big bold step they should take? caller: they should tackle immigration. change the loopholes. host: which loopholes? caller: it is not a hard task. they can all tell us what needs to be done, but i do not see nobody stepping up to the plate besides our president. like it or not, he is our president. he is the only one stepping up to the plate. host: you mentioned loopholes. which loophole should be changed? caller: the amnesty loopholes. if i'm not mistaken, when you apply for amnesty, you can apply

to the first country you enter that you are no longer in danger. we have a circuit court judge that says we cannot do that. and though the president his cabinet members agree with mexico that mexico would let the asylum seekers stay there, we now have a circuit court judge that is making policy. host: that is carolyn west virginia. republican line is next. new jersey. caller: thank you for taking my call. i guess i have more question that i do any commentary. seeing a lot of democratic rhetoric on different social networks. anybody from the democratic party propose an

answer to all of the hot topics right now. they complain about trump's immigration policy, about how he separates children at the border, children who should not be traveling to the border with their parents, things like that. they comment on him being a racist. that he ist destroying obamacare. none of these people are stepping up and offering any solutions, any viable solutions. the democrats do not want the wall. the democrats want aca to stay in place. they are not doing anything to show that they are prepared to run the country. host: that is john in new jersey calling in today.

several people making comments when it comes to issues along the southern border. one other event taking place internationally today are elections in israel. without there at 25%, engine and then yahoo! defending the use -- with benjamin --anyahu depending the defending the use of body cameras. the 2019 election is underweight and widely seen as a race andeen the prime minister opposition leader. the final poll gave the right wing block a solid lead over the centerleft. stations -- 10,000 polling stations are open nationwide with 16.3 million eligible voters. thousands are expected to swarm the beaches on election day, which is a national holiday in israel. we will go to illinois,

independent line. caller: i am calling on the problem with the border. anyone can see the thing that has to be done is to find out the central and south american countries are falling apart. that is because the u.s. government has sent the cia and the fbi into these areas in the last 100 years to destabilize all of them. now all of them have been lords,lized and the drug gang members, corrupt military and corrupt police have taken control. we need the u.n. to step in and look at the situation and look especially at honduras, el salvador, quantum all of, -- guatemala, and give the leaders , surrendero get out their leadership of the country you anded over to forces until legitimately elected leaders can be put in place.

host: that is janice in illinois. baseball topic making its way into the newspapers this morning. this from the daily news out of new york, saying the trump administration blocked the newly minted major league baseball deal made with the cuban baseball administration, which will make it harder for cuban baseball players. it made it harder for cuban baseball players to make their way to the mlb. the decision reverses an obama era agreement which made the path to becoming a major league are in the u.s. simpler and slightly safer. the obama era agreement stated they cuban baseball stood apart from the cuban government, which paved the way for major league baseball begin talks. connecticut, republican line. thankthank you -- caller: you very much. i'm from germany. i'm a german citizen. my parents are from iran and i

i want to share my thoughts about the topic you have right now in the united states with regards to the border, but also generally. i want to make the following notion. after centuries of having a dark cloud, the institutionalized church in europe, which not only wanted to decide what people ,hould do, but what they think and when you question the power of the church, you had to face serious punishment. i can now see in the united states something similar is going on. andtally polarized society in the institutions of the society like the universities, groups which want to say what is and when people want to raise a position, whether it is a republican or

democrat position, then they have to fear isolation. host: how does that relate to the border? caller: the border is a good example of this topic, which shows how polarized discussions because i amciety in a university which is majority liberal. when people like fellow students have a different view, they may not be able to pronounce their ideas, they may not be able to express what they think because they have to fear some kind of social problem. this is the last notion i want to say. the biggest accomplishment of the united states historically is that i can think and i can and thewhat i want

government, whether it is democratic or republican, cannot interfere with me. ken in montana, democrat line. caller: my feelings about the border are that when we start punishing women and children and , and ourthem in cages whole society is in an uproar about that, it is time we reevaluated our thoughts on this. if we accept this as the norm, to me it is the beginning of the downfall of our society. how peoplederstand about people that are in dire straits wanting to make their lives better, and we are going to throw them in cages

. some people except this? -- some people accept this? it is beyond belief to me that we have fallen into this state. host: several events taking place on capitol hill, hearings as well. mike pompeo set to appear before the senate appropriations subcommittee. his discussion will be the 2020 state department budget quest dealing with some of these -- budget request dealing with some of these international issues. you can see that live at 2:30 this afternoon. watch that on c-span3 and on c-span.org on our radio at. -- our radio app. at 9:30 this morning, william barr before the house appropriations subcommittee. expected to be asked questions largely about the robert mueller report. that is starting at 9:30.

in ohio, we will hear from carolyn on our republican line. caller: hello. i agree with the wall. we need the wall. it is our country -- our country is being invaded. our way of life is being taken over. that man talking about putting them in cages, they would not be in cages if they stayed where they belonged in their own country. stay out of our country. make your country better. host: let's hear from james in michigan. democrat's line. caller: i want to thank c-span for your wonderful service. topic, but i do not think it is right for people to call in and insult you and your host because you are only doing your job.

host: are you still there? iller: i think we -- host: think we may have lost connection. i think the connection went back. great in tennessee. -- gregin independent in tennessee. independent line. caller: i want to answer the democrats about the children. what do they think about american children whose parents get arrested and have to go to jail? they take the kids from them, just like at the border. it is no big issue. that is just part of the law. obama did it before trump. they have all done it. it is no big issue. the replacement of

secretary nielsen as homeland security, what do you think of that? caller: i thought she was strong but obviously not strong enough. the laws that have been passed are sufficient enough to make everybody leave that don't belong here. it is simple. it is not brain surgery. , you shouldegal stay, if your illegal, you got to go. host: dawn is in ohio, democrats line. caller: i agree with the previous caller on the fact that it is amazing everybody thinks this is an issue. it has been going on for centuries. host: ok. are you still there? finish your thought. caller: i don't understand why it is all coming down where we are blaming the current when it has been going

on since the 1970's. n in ohio. is daw increased calls to see the presidents tax returns. joining us from the university of virginia, law professor possibilityand the to see the presidents tax returns. later we will be talking to paullican representative mitchell and russia krishnamoorthi. up.e conversations coming >> attorney general william barr will appear before congress. watch his testimony for the house appropriations subcommittee on c-span3. and before the senate

appropriations subcommittee at 10:00 a.m. on c-span three. the complete guide to congress is now available. details about the house and senate for the current session of congress. contact information about every senator and representative. information about congressional committees, state governors, and the cabinet. directoryongressional is a handy spiral-bound guide. order it from the c-span store 18.95. network with small an unusual name rolled out a big idea. let viewers decide on their own what was important to them. c-span opened the doors to washington policymaking for all to see.

bringing you unfiltered content from congress and beyond. in the age of power to the people, this was true people power. there is no monolithic media. broadcasting has given away to narrowcasting. youtube stars are a thing. c-span's big idea is more relevant than ever. no government money supports c-span. it is funded as a public service by your cable or satellite provider. c-span is your unfiltered view of government so you can make up your own mind. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us from the university of virginia is george yin. he is here to talk about the presidents tax returns. thank you for coming on. could you start with the request from congress to the treasury

department, the law they are claiming to use to get the president's tax returns. do you think it would apply? that would apply. it is an almost 100-year-old law. it gives the chairman of the tax committee, including the ways and means committee, the ability returnsst anybody's tax . the law directs the secretary of the treasury to furnish whatever is requested. it is a straightforward law. it does not have any conditions or provide any basis for refusal. ist: the committee considering legislative proposals and oversight on the federal tax law including the extent to which the irs enforces federal tax law against the president. you think that is just because of this president, or have there been legitimate concerns against previous presidents?

host: there have been -- guest: there have been legitimate concerns against previous presidents. audits is expected to their boss. whenhappened in the 1970's the irs was expected to audit taxes, and they even sent him a letter, lamenting him on the care with which he had prepared his return. on a subsequent audit by the on taxation, it turned out he owed almost half $1 million in additional tax -- dollarsalf of a million in additional tax and interest. this is the type of thing congress could exercise its oversight function to double check. host: now that the request has

gone to the treasury department, what is the role of the treasury secretary steven mnuchin or the irs director? what role do they play? hast: the irs commissioner the more direct custodial control over the requested information. presumably he and people under him would be the ones assembling the information. the law provides that the secretary of the treasury shall to the the information chairman of the ways and means committee. at some point, the information that is gathered by the irs people would be transmitted to secretary mnuchin, the wood transport-- who would it to the chairman of the ways and means committee. is that an automatic

request, or are there contingencies? guest: there are no contingencies. it was written that way for the simple reason that congress it created924 when this authority, it wanted to give itself the exact same authority that the president had the time. prior to 1924, the president was the only person in the entire country who had the ability to access any tax returns and disclose them. congress realized it is of conflicts during that time -- because of conflicts during that time that it needed the same authority. it wrote the law in this open-ended way to say we get to request what we want, and when we request it, you shall provide it to us. yin served as the chief of staff on the joint

committee on taxation. (202) 748-8001 four republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. .ndependents (202) 748-8002 give me your experience working on these types of committees. should this request be honored, what happens to ensure privacy? think the request should be honored because it is in the law. it is not a question of choice or discretion. in terms of what happens to the information when they go over to the committee, the committee is required to examine the material in confidence to protect the privacy of the individuals involved. the committee can designate agents such as staff to help it

examine the return information and analyze it anyway it wishes. it cannot do any of that in front of the public. it has to be done in confidence. host: you mentioned president nixon, when he turned those documents overcome it went over to a joint committee on taxation. not committee members handle that process. is that the best approach? delegated committee to its nonpartisan staff to do the actual investigation. the staff took the number of months to examine the returns and wrote about a 500 page report that was eventually ,eleased to the public reporting on what it had found in terms of the tax return information of former president nixon. ask: if you want to

questions about this request from ways and means committee chairman richard neal to the treasury department for six years of tax returns from president trump. from indiana, this is larry for our guest. go ahead. caller: i have a question. you're saying they can do that to the question. does the president have the right to do that to schumer and a and all the other democrats that are trying to a losey -- nancy pelosi and all the other democrats that are trying to destroy him? until 1976, the president had complete authority to obtain any tax return and disclose it. because of the perceived abuse of that authority from president nixon during the watergate hearings, when he was trying to get back at his political

enemies, congress changed the law to restrict the presidents ability to get information and to bar any disclosure at all. the president currently has no ability to disclose anybody's tax returns with the single exception of people who he is appointing to top-level executive positions where the tax information might be relevant to the confirmation of that person before congress. the president has the ability to obtain information for himself, but he has to report that to the joint committee on taxation, and the joint committee in certain circumstances, if it is in the national interest, can disclose that access by the president. in the legislative report, they describe the meaning of the term national interest. they give as an example improper

political purposes. if the joint committee on taxation believes the president is trying to access the information for improper political purposes, that would be a basis for the joint committee on taxation to reveal what the president has done. the president has no ability to disclose anybody's tax return information. host: is there a chance that the presidents taxthe president haso returns have received some type of scrutiny? guest: absolutely. irs guidelines, is returns should have been audited or in the process of being audited. he has repeatedly said they are under audit. there certainly would be an expectation that either they have been audited or will be

audited. one tricky aspect of this situation is when we talk about the tax returns of the president, he happens to own many different business interests, all of which would have their own tax returns. it is not completely clear what would be required in a situation like this one. tommy,rom california, democrats line. caller: my name is tommy. i'm concerned about this. the 1920's, people have been submitting their tax returns, and presidents from the 1970's have been submitting 10 years of tax returns. i am thinking donald trump has too much to hide. if he is not afraid of nothing, why hold nothing back?

guest: we don't know the answer to that. i certainly don't know the answer to that. request hasneil's focused on one important aspect, which is that the auditing of the presidents returns needs to to ensure that the auditing is being done in an appropriate way. there are some clear functions of congress, its oversight function, its legislative lawmaking function which could be served by an examination of the returns. letter seemsneil's to reflect that interest. host: if you were wanting to find out and got access to these returns and places where you might have concerns about donald

trump's finances, where would you start? guest: that is the tough question. his situation is very complicated. it is not very transparent. i don't have a good sense of all that he is involved in. examined thathave issue much more closely. i would focus on the business returns more than the personal returns because if the objective is to try to determine or identify possible business conflicts that arise between his public duties to the country and his sworn obligations to the constitution versus his prize -- private business interests, it seems his business returns are much more likely to reveal conflicts of interest.

i would have to do a lot more studying to figure out what activities the specific businesses are engaged in and from that study i might be able to identify a handful of returns i especially want to look at. go ahead. caller: good morning, c-span. congratulations on winning the basketball game. guest: thank you so much. caller: i would like to think that our president is reasonably honest and above board and has my best interest at heart. however, knowing donald trump as i have known him, i believe he is a dodgy character. he has not divested himself of his businesses, put them in trust. membersrought in family

to aid him. i think since the mueller report will be coming out soon, at that point people are going to be wanting to know is our president susceptible to any leverage from foreign entities, whether they be the russians or the saudi's were china? i am saying he is an evil person, but he has shown to be dodgy and ask as if he is hiding something. host: we will let our guest respond. comments arek your useful. it is important to understand that there are these important functions congress has to do. this authority was created in part because of a situation not dissimilar to the one we have today. at the time the secretary of the

treasury was andrew mellon, reported to be one of the three wealthiest people in the country. when he served as treasury secretary, he did not get rid of his business interests. he continued to own his business interests. many of the same issues arising now arose back then when people in congress were saying do we know whether this tax bill that the treasury is recommending, is this design to help secretary mellon as opposed to for the benefit of the country and so forth? those same issues seem to be coming up today. that was one of the reasons congress created this law in 1924 and one of the reasons it seems an appropriate law to exercise at this time. host: if there is a scenario where these documents do not get turned over, what is the next

step for congress? guest: it would depend on how congress wants to react. if they decide they want to try to enforce their request, then they have to take some type of action. it will probably end up in court. it is not clear how that will come about. most people will assume that in the end it will have to be a judicial determination of whether the white house and secretary of the treasury would have to comply. host: if there is a scenario where the house democrats decided to proceed with impeachment, with that change the nature of the request? it certainly might. if you are talking about impeachment, there is presumably going to be a fairly extensive investigation. there will have to be clear matters that have risen to the level of that possibility.

in the case of that investigation, there may be open questions that come up, and people who are doing the investigating will determine if the tax returns will give evidence to support or refute whatever the investigation is examining. that would potentially broaden the nature of the examination by the tax committee. host: from north carolina, republican line, mike. caller: good morning. as far as i know, it is not legally required to release his returns. wanting to is truly be on the up about everything, why shouldn't the leadership of each party have to have an audit each year, and the chairs of each committee? collar is absolutely

right. for the last 40 years, presidents and i believe vice presidents have voluntarily disclosed their tax information to the public. obviously president trump has broken that it the point that your -- that. the point that your collar made is that was simply custom or tradition. it was not required in law. there is nothing president trump is breaking any law by not sharing the information. candidates have determined it would be in the countries best interest to be very open in matters like that. obviously this current president has chosen a different route. and is there

invasion of privacy argument to be made? guest: absolutely. the american public for a long time has viewed tax return information as private information. rightfully so. included,e, myself would not want to just share that information with just anybody. balanced against that is the fact that a president has some broader responsibilities to the country to essentially ensure ,he country the type of person the character. it seems to me somebody that rises to that level and attains that position does have a somewhat heavier responsibility to be a little more open than a private citizen. host: this is a professor

teaching law and taxation to talk about this request for the presence tax returns. next call is jeff from missouri. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my phone call. my question, that 100-year-old law you spoke about doesn't it say that there has to be a crime before you request the tax returns? guest: no. if the caller is saying there has to be a crime, there is no such condition whatsoever. it simply provides that the chairman of the tax committee can make a request in writing, and the secretary of the treasury shall furnish the information requested. there is no precondition on the ability of the chairman of the tax committee to act.

there is no basis for the secretary of the treasury to refuse. in the pages of the new york times this morning, it talks about an effort at the state level to possibly release the president's state tax returns. is this a more viable option? i follow that story little bit. it is a little tricky for several reasons. it is not exactly clear what information the state would have it there is some amount of -- the state have would have. there is some amount of overlap with the federal return. it is not exactly clear what the state would have. another question is what the state can do with that information. there is a federal state sharing

arrangement where typically the federal government and state government share information to help each other in their administration of the tax laws. along with that sharing information goes a responsibility that the states are not supposed to disclose any federal information they obtain from that sharing relationship. in this case, the state would have some information collected on its own and some information that had been shared by the federal government. how you untangle that i am not clear. it would involve some complication. right now it is just a proposal. i don't know how they are going to unwind all of that.

host: from new hampshire, sally. independent line. caller: how are you? my comment is i don't know why they would not do this for everybody, do everybody's taxes for anyone in the government, senate, look at them to make sure they are aboveboard in the first place. even though there is a privacy issue, it does not seem to be a privacy issue when it comes to donald trump i . he is great as far as i'm concerned. i wonder why they want to single him out and take away his privacy when it comes to income when all of them have a very good income in the money it comes from running. i had a stroke. when you get money to run, why throughnot looked

in the tax procedures? raisesi think the caller some good questions. i think the main reason why the focus is on the president is we have had this custom for the presidentsrs where have voluntarily disclosed tax return information. it has been so long it has been done in so many different presidents have done it from both parties, it was an expectation this would simply be continued. the fact that it was not continued raised the question in some people's minds. to what extent should this be extended to other leaders? those are very fair questions. perhaps it should. there has not yet been the custom to do that. we could start such a custom or pass a law if that is what the

people wanted to do. host: if this reaches the level of litigation between congress and the president, how complicated is that process? guest: it is hard to say because it depends on how the issue is framed. law is pretty straightforward. it is plain on its face. if you look beneath the law to the legislative purpose, i think you will find very clear justification for interpreting the law as it is stated. i think the issue is pretty straightforward if it had to go to a court. exactly what arguments might be made and how strongly the white house or the president might resist. is kind of still an open

question. host: from michigan, republican line. al, you are next. caller: i want to say i don't share what the president's tax returns say. if he can get these unhinged left-wing liberals off his back long enough, he could keep doing the job he has been doing. the fact is they don't like him. this is their next thing that they can go to to try to get back at him by wanting to see his tax returns. i think it is absolutely ridiculous. guest: thank you. i'm sure there are some people who share your view, but there are others who think differently. i think the important thing to concentrate on is does congress have some appropriate responsibility under the constitution to act in this

situation? congress has an important lawmaking function and oversight function. request, he is saying for us to serve the country the way we are supposed to, we need this information so we can do our job. i think that is the way i would look at their particular request. who: when you hear critics describe this process as a fishing expedition, what goes through your mind? i would simply go to the actual specific request. the request i thought was pretty well designed in the fact that even though there are many things that can be examined, the request is pretty targeted. not followed the story that closely, but i gather mr. neil has been interviewed.

he indicated he had given some thought to exactly what you'd be asking and why he was asking it. i think that is exactly the right approach. this is a serious matter. understandn people this is an important principle involved, and i think mr. neil is trying to carry out his duties in a responsible way. armand on florida, the republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. it is important. if your member, al capone could not get caught on any kinds, but they got him for tax evasion. if he is invading taxes, a lot of people are evading taxes. couldn't they go into his tax returns for that reason? he could be evading taxes.

host: sorry about that. go ahead. guest: if they get the information, they could be examining that. that is the function of the irs audit. if the irs is doing its job, it should have determined whether the president has filed correctly and paid the right amount of taxes. it would be in the responsibility of congress to give oversight to that to make sure that the irs is appropriately auditing the returns. yin served as the chief of staff on the joint committee of taxation from 2003 to 2005. thank you so much for your time this morning. guest: thank you. pleasure to be with you. will focusg up, we on legislative efforts when it comes to matters of higher education. two guests joining us from

representative paul mitchell from michigan and raja krishnamoorthi from illinois. program, the r street institutes casey burgat will discuss staff on capitol hill. that is coming up on "washington journal".

>> once tv was simply three giant networks and pbs. network rollsll out a big idea. on their ownecide boat was important to them. c-span open the doors to washington policy making. bringing you unfiltered content from congress and beyond. in the age of power to the people, this was true people power. the landscape is clearly changed. monolithic media. youtube stars are a thing. idea is moreg relevant than ever. it's nonpartisan coverage of washington is provided as a service from your cable or satellite provider.

you can make up your own mind. >> in his first appearance since the completion of the mueller investigation, attorney general william barr will appear before congress. watch his testimony live today at 9:30 a.m. eastern on c-span3 and in front of the senate on wednesday at 10:00 a.m. on c-span3. the complete guide to congress is now available. it has lots of details about the house and senate. contact and bio information about every senator and representative. governors in the cabinet. it is a handy spiral-bound guide. order your copy from the c-span store.

continues. journal" host: two members of congress joining us together to talk about the topic of transparency in higher education. we are joined by a representative raja krishnamoorthi, democrat from paulois and representative mitchell, republican of michigan. thank you for coming on. the topic when it comes to higher education, the transparency of information going to students. why is this a concern? is the largest investment in family will make a post secondary education for their children. havenk consumers need to the ability to determine what their children are going to get as a result of going to college or post secondary school. give them the ability to make an informed choice. host: what kind of information should a parent or student be

looking at to gauge success? guest: a family looking at a certain major or college wants to know what is the average salary someone is going to earn, how much debt will they have on average, how long will it take to get employment and other statistics. the other thing about this bill disaggregated the data. whether you are a veteran or a certain minority, we want people where they will be able to go and flourish. i think that is important for different groups of people to understand as they make this investment decision. host: the college transparency act is the bill. studenturns the band on data collection.

guest: it was intended to protect privacy. it continues to be a concern. it is possible to protect privacy and provide aggregate information, which this does, to people. you can compare the nursing programs in michigan. what is your likelihood of graduation and employment and what are you likely to make down the road? you can provide that information without compromising security or privacy. we had cyber security experts create a committee to protect that data. this is a data matching program. we are not going to create an individual database. that has never been the intent. we are going to protect against that. host: once this data is transferred, how user-friendly will it be for a person making these judgment calls?

guest: that is an important question. we want to make it as user-friendly as possible to allow people to sort the data as they wish. the main point is i think this is going to stimulate important developments. one, families and students will finally have a conversation about what is otherwise an emotional decision structured around numbers. developmentmportant that congressman mitchell and i have talked about in the past is stimulating competition between universities and colleges, community colleges with regards to price and outcomes. it is important because the cost of higher education is increasing to rapidly and pricing people out of the

market. guest: the other thing you get with this is you can get more information about the reliability of a washer and dryer when you shop for those. you can compare automobiles online and know what you are getting for the price. try to figure out what that is for a secondary education, what your investor is going to bring you, and what it is going to cost you. give people information so they can make informed decisions. student debt is a significant issue. they are making that decision based on a guess and i hope or maybe the band uniform. to askf you want questions about this effort, (202) 748-8000 if you are a parent or student. for educators and administrators. for all others (202) 748-8002.

how does this treat private colleges versus public colleges? guest: it will be the same on both fronts. not only private and public, but also community colleges and four-year universities. not-for-profit, everybody should be in the same place. at the end of the day, students and families need to know all their options and be able to compare apples to apples. guest: there are only a handful of institutions in the country that except no aid. less than five. they would be exempt because they take no assistance whatsoever. other than that, it will apply to all of them. we have community college associations from land-grant university groups, 166 different groups that support this bill, student groups, educational groups, because they see this as

a massive improvement over the reporting they do now and the lack of information. guest: this is bipartisan and bicameral. in the house, we have four sponsors, to democrats and republicans. in the senate, we have two democrats and republicans. this almost never happens around here, unfortunately. what it happens, it signifies something special is going on. i believe the white house is also interested based on what we have heard so far. hopefully this will be part of the higher education we authorization bill this term. host: neither of you belong to the education committee. guest: any longer. we were both on the committee. guest: i had to take a leave of absence to the other house intelligence committee. both of us still carry a lot of the legislation in this arena.

host: will universities be compelled to give this information? guest: a lot of information is reported now in a piecemeal manner. that is why they think it is a good idea. they report a hodgepodge of information that does not help them or students. it does not match other databases. it has evolved over 30 years into a jigsaw puzzle. this results that. -- resolves that. host: our guests to talk about these issues. you can call or post your thoughts online. patent, newwith hampshire. go ahead. caller: thank you. i thought this data was already out there. my son is a senior at the university of new hampshire. i have a daughter at the university of ohio.

we were compare -- comparing tuition, and there was a government website where you could compare this cool -- the schools head-to-head and look at default rates and loans. it was ranked within the state, and then across states and schools head-to-head. i found that helpful because you are looking at $50,000 a year. you need to say return on that, what is the return on that? is that website no longer available? is this in addition? i thought i thought that was the result of president obama and actions with the education department. host: thank you. isst: the problem with that it is just aggregate information at the university level.

t does not provide particular program information. you are trying to be an engineer, what kind of engineer? it does not provide you that level of detail, which is extremely important. hugere making a investment. you want to know the likelihood of success at that level. comparing universities to colleges is great. there is a big difference between nursing at the mercy of inhigan and architecture terms of graduation and employment. guest: i am aware that there are some websites out there. the student right to know and campus security act of 1990 requires all institutions that receive financial aid from the federal government to disclose

their graduation rates at the institution level. there are private websites, u.s. news and world report in princeton review at institution level data. portalt aware of any that would collect this data by major and outcomes. law thatecause the prevents colleges and universities from collecting student outcome data at the federal government level. host: let's hear from germany in philadelphia. jeremy in philadelphia. caller: i am a former student at temple university. we were concerned about the fact that people were being priced out of the market. i don't think that should be

something we should be thinking about. education should not be a luxury or commodity for the select few. it is not matter -- does not matter what you going to school for initially because things change over the course of four years. it is difficult to determine the return on investment when you are 18. host: talk to us about your students experience. you said you want to temple but no longer. caller: i went to a state university my freshman year. despite the fact i was paying $3000 a year, the quality of the education was very poor. i transferred to temple and graduated with my bachelor

degree despite they did not have a strong arabic program. i graduated with a background in foreign relations. jeremy'st is experience. i believe you can only make that are decisions with better data. i think it is important to know in the case of indiana university of pennsylvania what would be the outcomes from studying a certain major at that college. perhaps that would make you decide to proceed or go somewhere else. i understand people make decisions midway through their college career but if you have the data, that should enrich your decision-making. at the end of the day, if you

don't, you are making it blind. especially given what congressman mitchell said about the amount of debt that people rack up. the stakes are high. and up in a situation where you can finance that that and be happy. guest: this allows you to move from a community college to a four-year school and graduate. difference from someone who drops out and someone who graduates. the current system will not allow reporting. bemany cases, in order to successful, you have to go to graduate school. someone is able to get into graduate school or law school. .e want to track that all that information is to

inform people of the decision they are making. it is a massive investment. cindy in's hear from connecticut. caller: the previous caller had my point, but if your student changes their nature, they might have to take -- major, they might have to take more courses that they might have missed, which increases your cost. on how yournds student is. if they pick a major like art history, you know they are not going to have great earning potential. studentdepends on your and what they want to pursue.

overwhelming very for parents who spend the majority of their day working to have the energy to research this stuff. comment, a lota of required college courses have nothing to do with their major. i have a student in college, i know all their friends that are going to school. they have to take courses like apologizing for being white and this and that. these courses that are unnecessary. we should be looking at things that require courses that have nothing to do with their major. host: appreciate it. thank you. guest: i think it is an important question of what does it really cost to go to college? i have a daughter in school and what it costs is beyond tuition

and room and board. what is the true cost of attending that program versus another program? people are going to make that decision. they're going to find out suddenly they have a $3000 cost for art supplies. you should identify the time it takes to complete a program at one university versus another. if there is a significant disparity, those things will be revealed to people so they can make the best decision. if you want to go to school for art history, more power to you. you are entitled to make that decision. make it on an informed basis. host: does the information also track how much the college has to spend on itself? guest: i don't believe that is something that is necessarily

captured in this database. at the end of the day, it is much does it cost the student. what is the outcome. that is what people want to know. decision, youis really want to understand what is the return on investment. if one college or university ends up having a much better dormitory or dining facility, unless that translates to better outcomes, that cost may not be worth the investment. that conversation is what we're trying to stimulate. guest: part of this is a skills gap that exists. there are jobs in this country that are unfilled that we don't have the people with the skills to take those jobs. there is nothing the system that says go to school in this and

area, education in this you can get a job quickly and make money. it is not just college, it is career school that people don't know about because they don't see data on it. that is hurting our economy. there is no employer i have visited since i joined congress that has not said they need people. welders toeople from nurses. there is nothing out there to help people see that need. >>? host: let's go to k in new york. caller: i am wondering if this transparency act had been in effect, which have covered -- would it have covered trump university? my understanding is that was a fraudulent enterprise. there are a lot of older

americans losing their jobs due to mergers, lack of antitrust laws, losing their careers. they attempted to do that through trump university. i have not followed the outcome of what happened, but i believe it was closed down because it was a fraudulent enterprise. i would appreciate comments on whether or not this would have revealed it as a fraudulent enterprise. guest: all post secondary education institutions would be covered except the handful that do not accept federal financial aid. covers private for-profit, post secondary, graduate schools.

the point of this is to help people make decisions. it is sometimes easier to find the house then to figure out where your child is going to college. it is a list of colleges. it is a huge amount of time. we are fairly experienced in it. someone who's first get is going to college. i was the first in my family to go to college. i got lucky. people should not have to be lucky. host: thanks for taking my call. thank you to c-span. that i think make a lot of people don't recognize his -- one point i wanted to make that i think a lot of

people don't recognize is if you can get into graduate school, it is often free. the return on investment is often good compared to med school or law school. when i talk to people in my community, a lot of parents who are not scientists don't realize this. this is an underappreciated option people. i wish it were better advertised. guest: thank you. a family of engineers and scientists. my father was an engineer. i got a bs in mechanical engineering. some people say i practice the bs part now on capital hell. i've -- capitol hill. degree pursuing a stem pace huge dividends.

as you go to graduate school and a lot of those subjects, you will receive a tuition waiver, teaching assistantship, and they will pay you to go to graduate school. you will end up with a great job in academia or industry. database will reveal that. to the extent that people decide they want to go more into stem because of our database or because of the college transparency act, i think that is a good thing for our country. websitesording to some , student debt is at $1.6 trillion in total. is this a bubble? is this a concern? guest: i think it is a bubble. i think the other concern is

people tuxedo and -- to the that they made a bet would take along and be able to get a career opportunity to pay the money back. with information, people can make informed decisions. out an want to take additional loan to go to graduate school, they can do that. be informed about it. you are responsible for this decision. debt and1.5 trillion growing. in many cases, they don't know. that is the biggest travesty. paul is right. trillion $1.6 trillion in student debt. a lot of people are behind the eight ball right out of college because they did not know the

information we are trying to provide, what is the outcome of investing so much money in education you end up as a barista at the local coffee bar and spent $60,000 to get your education. you will not be able to finance your debt. you may have to stay at home. themay have to delay all economic decisions that power our economy, such as getting married, having children, buying a home. that is bad for our economy. the other point is there is this huge skills gap. we have 7.3 million unfilled jobs according to the latest report from the bls. that means employers cannot hire the right people. unless we get those positions filled, those businesses cannot

grow. the worstof these illnesses acty moved to other places. where the talent is. so we have to grow the talent here. our database points people in the direction of where the demand is and hopefully we can get the businesses the right tax of people they need. guest: we have some of the most highly dedicated and indebted baristas in the world. this is personal interest, and part of it is that heating andnow that cooling tax cut is make as much as one hundred thousand dollars a year, yes, with overtime, that they are getting general , maybe through community college, or liberal science, whatever you want to call it, that then what? and they are taking loans to do it. host: i guess the philosophical

argument is, if higher education is worth it, what argument would you make against? guest: it means that if you borrow money you are responsible for that money. you can blame someone else for that. you did it. believe, in many different areas, including education, you are responsible. so make an informed decision. more troubling, you have parents and grandparents who took out parent loans, and they are responsible for it. they have are realizing the have a significant loan debt for the young person who went to college that they are paying off or they are responsible if their younger payrolls.sn't that is a huge -- doesn't pay it off. it is a huge responsibility to have that. guest: i think of for your college education may not be in everyone's plans but a quality higher education has to be.

two thirds of americans today don't have a four-year college degree. those numbers are not changing anytime soon, so we need to make sure that the vast majority of our friends, colleagues, loved accessnd neighbors have to a quality postsecondary education that allows them to enter the middle class. those who decide to go to a four-year college, that they make the right decision about what major and where to go. ist is where our database trying to provide, so that the information to make the right decisions about what path to proceed along. guest: here is the problem we're overcome. the idea that you go to high school, college, postsecondary of some sort and get a job, and learning stops. guest: right. guest: we have to get americans to understand that learning is a lifelong effort. i think our education system

needs to add up to that as well, to be honest with you. other countries have done that for better. you -- whenas someone catastrophically loses their job, another have to worry about getting an education. we need to make it easier. people will change careers about every seven or 10 years. guest: paul makes an excellent point about lifelong learning being a cultural trait we need to acquire in america. in addition i would add to the add otherd things, one, we need to bring employers into the discussion with families and students, because i think they will pay for the upgrading of their employees' skill sets. that is something that happens in other countries like in europe, and we need to have that well. here as the other thing i would point

out is that we need to make sure that on the parental and family end, they have the information they need to make the right decisions and then, on the college and educational end, that they are competing with each other to offer the best outcomes possible. host: let us hear from stan in new jersey. hi. caller: yes, hello. i am calling in reference to the situation of student loans. the main thing i am trying to find out is, if you have a student loan and any wind up disabled. they give you a program which is called -- [indiscernible] -- it is a part of the new i am still here.

i got a letter saying that i was going to be discharged from student loans about nine years graduated iwhen i got a policy program, two years stopped theey program for you to become a drug counselor, which is what it was trying to do. from the money i borrowed, was unable to pay it back. now i am disabled and retired, and now, they are trying to make me pay back some of the money they told me i would be expunged from. i have one check. $230, driving a hearse for a funeral company. host: ok. it is a personal situation that i suppose other people find themselves in as well. guest: it happens to a variety folks.

the easiest thing is to contact the college they attended, talk to their long people, or talk to the congressional office and ask them to look at loan servicing, what the status is. host: from connecticut, bill. caller: thank you, c-span. the biggest thing as a parent is that you have to listen to your guidance counselors and the people who know your child the best as to whether or not your child is capable of doing college material work. ,nce you establish the fact like in the military, when you go in and the first thing they

do is give you a test to see what your best qualified for, there ought to be some way to ,igure out whether your child what the counselor says, is capable of doing the work. thank you. guest: thank you for the bill.ion, i actually agree with you, i think our schools, even starting with middle school and high school, should start to assess people's interests and aptitudes and expose people to the career path that might lineup with some of those interest is. a cosponsor of one of the bills called the perkins reauthorization act. it recently got signed into law by president trump last july, which basically helps to 's skills our nation

base and career technical education system. . one very interesting component of it is that allow school districts to spend a portion of money to expose people as young as fifth-graders to new career paths. i think the reason why that is important is because the types of work environments that perhaps you or i may have , or otheranufacturing types of careers, may be very different to what is the reality today versus 20 years ago or 10 years ago. and we want our children and families to be exposed to that and cultivate an interest in professions ifr their interests line up with what they see in reality. guest: i absolutely agree that young people and families are making career decisions by middle school. my son decided to be a police officer by middle school. and that is what he does now.

made.decisions are when we were young people, we have no idea what advanced manufacturing looks like. so you are absolutely correct, having examples of that in middle schools, having employers connect and say, this is what it looks like to do advanced manufacturing, or plastics in medical devices, for example. another comment about students and counselors i would make is, there are a number of famous people we know of that their teachers and counselors said they weren't going to amount to much. [laughter] you think of einstein, henry ford, so i don't ever want to get a situation where they are trapped by a counselor or teacher regarding their interest. they should make a decision on what passion they have to do something rather than have someone else decide for them have what itdon't

takes to do something. we want to be careful with that, there is nothing in this bill that would do that, but we should be careful about. host: cindy in minnesota. hi. caller: good morning. the problem is that we have public schools who are basically working on a democrat agenda, which is to not give them the opportunity. the gentleman mentioned the police force. they closed the school's here in minnesota. there is no technology, no introduction to anything that has to do with the locational type things, the something, the electrical. it has been promoted as s.t.e.m., and it is the democratic agenda item which basically puts them into creating robots, get rid of people working, with them into health care, but now you are

closing hospitals and there is not going to be any health care for everyone, the doctors are leaving. it is ridiculous. ineone had talked about this 2016, and i wish it would be investigated, because i believe it shows how this all happened. and someonehlin else were talking about foreign entities, foreign groups that in tot isis-type people take over our speech in america. host: ok. we went to stick to the topic. aest: at him believe it is democrat agenda or republican agenda. this is a huge bipartisan agreement. what happened to our educational system is we evolved to where we eliminated the auto shop, shop classes, a whole lot of traits classes because we believed with

the graham and all of that but everyone had to have a four year degree, -- with the space program and all of that, that everyone had to have a four year degree. we neglected. a variety of things that are now important. they were important to us as an economy and society before. we all collectively made a mistake and in doing that, we have people with educational credentials that don't send them very well. we are talking about changing the system back and representing the value of s.t.e.m. education. s.t.e.m. education is not one plot by one party or another to destroy our economy, i am sorry, it is simply not. [laughter] concur. there was a push to get everyone to go to for your colleges. we spend trillions of dollars trying to do that. but the four-year college experience is not the be all and all, it is not the american dream. , the american

dream is allowing people to reach the middle class, or a middle-class career, and for a lot of people, it will be a four-year college and maybe graduate school, and for others, it might be a non-collegiate pass. what people need -- non-collegiate path. to training and education and that is what our college transparency act is trying to help with. . host: our guest star representative paul mitchell, republican of michigan who serves the 10th district, and krishnamoorthi, democrat, of illinois. thank you both for joining us. coming up, we will hear from r street institute's casey burgat cost ofat the size and congressional committees that do various work on capitol hill. also, we will let you look at the hearing room at the house office building on capitol hill,

where the house appropriations subcommittee will be hearing from attorney general william barr. the official topic is the justice department budget, but there will also be discussions on the miller report. don't forget, you can watch the full hearing on c-span3, c-span.org, or . announcer: listen to the c-span radio app once, to view was simply three giant networks and a government supported service called pbs. out a small network rolled a big idea, let viewers decide all on their own what was them.ant to c-span opened the doors to washington policymaking for all to see kermit bringing you unfiltered content from congress beyond. in the. age of power to the people, this was true people power. in the 40 years since, the landscape has changed. there is no monolithic media. broadcasting has given way to narrowcasting. youtube stars are a thingp but

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oleum bar will appear before congress. watches testimony before the house appropriations c-span3.tee today on and, before the senate appropriations subcommittee live wednesday at 10:00 a.m. on c-span3. washington journal continues. host: this is casey burgat of the r street institute, he serves as a senior fellow, here to talk about the work of capitol hill committees when it comes to staffing and costs. good morning? guest: good morning. institute is a nonpartisan think tank, they classify themselves as libertarian, center-right, but it has people from all across the spectrum. they look at niche issues that don't have a lot of attention, for example, the internal developments of making a bill

work better. host: when it comes to various committees, what kind of staffing is involved in keeping those committees active in what is the cost of staffing? guest: it depends. i will say that it really depends committee across committee. you mentioned two of the most prestigious and influential, appropriations and ways and means, but there are two dozen others staffed by, from 24-year-olds to lifelong careerists. when you look at the numbers of how much it costs, it looks like a large amount, but when you compare across all agencies in the executive branch, it is a small portion of what it takes to run this government. the argument of our street and an increasing number of people is that we need to increase the resources available to these are thees because they engines that makes congress run, fund and execute the policies of the united states.

host: give us an example of a committee. guest: the appropriations committee, staffed by over 100 on each side, each chamber, which sounds like a ton of people. it is a small business in and of itself. it is responsible for our $4 budget. federal you need people who are really interested in that work and no the programs inside and out. there are a large number of them. host: how many people would be in that committee generally? guest: over 100. it varies year to year, it depends year over year and who status.olling majority i will argue forever that the best indicator of war congress cares about can be reflected in decisions.ing when you see an increase of staffers across a committee, it is a good signal that they care mission.t

when you see decreases, you will notice that it is not a huge priority of that particular committee. over time we have seen a huge increase in staff on the house ethics committee particularly with the most recent changes they huge changes that want to respond to something that they haven't in previous years. host: if a various committee has a wide-ranging staff, what is the highest title, the range of titles? guest: it depends. the senior staff are counsel.visers, senior they go down to legislative assistance, research assistants, then you have communication folks. it is a wide range, but these are businesses in and of themselves. it is set up to the chairman and to some degree the ranking member to make the decisions. it reflects the priorities of those leaders and congress as a whole. host: that staff operates ?ndependently guest: exactly.

the ceo of a business is a lawmaker themselves, the workers lawmaker.pport of the on committees, they are generally thought to be responsible for the work product of that committee. committee. by some are responsible more to the chair and what he cares about, others are devoted to the issues of the committee, said to hold expertise on a particular committee.that there is a lot to know. congress is an infinitely complex place, there are responsible for a vast majority of economies and industries, so you need expertise. host: the cost of staffing congressional committees is our topic with our guest, casey burgat. if you have a question about ats, give us a call four democrats, 202-748-8000 for republicans,

as a previousved staffer, and you have to talk about your experience, give us a 3.ll at 202-748-800 about one and 11,000, please about $101,000 -- explain that breakdown. guest: we wanted to see if there were gender gaps in pay. we founders not a huge difference between males and females on who serves on committees. about 52% in the house are male, 56% in the senate. but when you start going below the surface level statistics, you will find frustrating things, one being the payment cap for women, they don't reach higher level positions in the same right as men, and often when they do they are paid less than men. the senior staff is one of the

issues, these are high-ranking senior-level members who have been around congress for a long time, have served in previous administrations, perhaps in the --cutive wrench themselves executive branch themselves. it really does very committee by committee and year-over-year. host: and the disparity exists in the senate side as well, with males making about $105,000, and females making about $95,000. and that is the average. host: exactly. . guest: it is really tough to give it a exact number, but on average, those are the pay gaps. host: if you are a member of the senior staff, you talked about 151,000 average, and if you are a council on the staff, $119,000, other staff, generally, 103,000, year,ications, $100,000 a

and legislative assistant, year.0 a host: these are the folks who are responsible for really diving deep into a policy area, getting to know the ins and consequences,ting and they are making almost a third of senior staff. these are about relative to washington, d.c., which is a city. expensive these are younger staff, living and bunking with three or four people at a time just to come in and do the committee's work because they care about it and difference. a you can see why there are incentives to leave congress and cash in on the expertise you know, the networks have created. so we argue that it is a good return on investment to increase pay particularly for these low-level staffers who see congress as a career. they come here with good intentions and we should keep -- we should capitalize on that. host: what is the difference of what they're earning on capitol hill and what they could earn in sector?ate

guest: it depends on industry. oil and gas industries and defense industries are well-paying. if you have someone focused on the education sector, valued.ncies really are so it depends. which is why you see staffers being rational and a strategic and what they become known for, what their expertise is developed in, because they recognize how it can be paid up on the back end, and i don't blame them at all. host: casey burgat with the r street institute, here to talk about committee staffing. first call is from hollywood, florida, on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i worked for three governors in different parties, so i don't know much about how things work in the legislature, i was in the executive branch trying to get things done. but my question is this.

what i hear from congressman, the biggest complaint is they have to spend half or two thirds of their time out on the road raising money for the next election. support yourtally ideas of increasing pay for junior staff doing the work, i kind of wonder how much the senior staff of the committees, and the committees are doing a great job, i listened to c-span committee hearings all the time to educate myself about various areas of government policy that impact the financial markets but. in the case of the senior staff, how much of their time is spent on politics? guest: a large degree is the discretion of their chair. you see with the oppression. committee, weons try to identify them. some committees are better able at retaining their staff whether because they are committed to the issue, or they pay the

staffers better relative to other committee staffers. appropriation staffers say an average that stay on average in congress for about 10 years, a long time, compared to junior staffers. that means that appropriations staffers are staying within committees when majority staffers changes, when chairs change, staying committed to the issue these are the legislative engines of congress, insulated from the politics as much as you environment.s they want to do the work and produce good, thoughtful legislation. at the same time, you can understand why a committee staffer, particularly a young one, once to get into a committee position because it makes him or her valuable on the outside. you get connections across offices, not just your personal office, because you are working with multiple members in that committee. those relationships in the d.c. bubble become valuable. host: and it doesn't matter if you are a staffer on the

committee if there is a change in office or party, you can still hold onto the job. guest: again, it is not the case, it is up to the chair and to a varying degree, up to the ranking member on who staff the committee year-over-year. but they have ultimate discretion in hiring and firing privilege. is a wild west in capitol hill especially in personal offices where members can change in a whim, how much you pay a staffer, who you hire, and what they are responsible for. they are bosses. host: if a person on the ways and means committee had a question for the appropriations committee, could they go to a person on that committee and ask questions? guest: absolutely. very few committees have shared staff between personal offices and member offices, which is where you get committees with particularized expertise, because that is what they are responsible for. they are responsible to the members of that committee and to the chair above all else. host: tony in texas on the

democrat line, hi. caller: thank you for taking my call. i think you answered my question about where our deep left is coming from. maybe you can answer my question about why so many washington congressman have a dual citizenships in israel and why and ve so many jews on -- host: we will leave it there. let us go to sonia in florida. ca good morningl. thank youle for your topic this morning. r: -- caller: thank you for your this morning. not only is there equal pay for women, but what about racial diversity on the staffing? it seems to be falling really short on being fair and balanced, and i wanted to hear what your guests thought about that. guest: sonia, that is a great question and it is kind of the next frontier.

we are just getting new and improved digitized data that allows analysis on this year-over-year, where you can conclusions -- racial diversity is a huge topic, particularly right now with the most ethnically diverse congress in history and it needs to be reflected at the staff level. if we know everything, diversity of opinion these two more thoughtful policy. but we just don't have the data yet. d fromn as i go unblin doing something like this that took the last year, ethnic diversity of staff is the next thing. we just don't have the data yet at the staffer level, but i promise, in paying attention to it, and it is coming sometime soon. host: from michigan, susan. the morning. caller: hello. you were saying that you have to have all these staff members and everything because all the money you guys appropriate, but where

could we go look up how much money it costs for all this? these are public records. everything i used, staff or level pay, member office, what they spend, it is all public data submitted to the house registration committee, and they publish these things. they are long pdfs with itemized dollar a month down to the penny. you can see exactly what they on.d money they may not shout how much money they spend of themselves, because that is a politically different topic, but it is all available. please go and look at it, we need all the eyes that we can get on such an important topic. host: we have hearings taking a department are spending money on. is there one that looks at staffing costs? guest: there are committees that do.

they look at what they spend on themselves. again, they don't like to announce how much it is or how much they spend on themselves because the common misperception about how many staffers staff which office, and that they spend too much, and i get it, down there stare funding decisions because they know they are responsible for those 200. 202-748-8000,ans, democrats, 202-748-8001, independence, 202-748-8002. if you are a former congressional staffer, you can give us a call at 202-748-8003. , from michigan. iris, good morning. caller: hello. i am just wondering if the budget they just passed with the two dollar an hour increase to

the federal workers will eat up penny. guest: i am not sure that it will. congressional staffers are starving for resources. they turn over and leave the hell very quickly, which is a are not paidy enough to warrant the tough hill.nment on capitol i would argue that it is a good return on investment to increase funding for those resources because they are the ones wedding policy that you may or may not agree with, so let us try to make sure that it is the most informed policy you can get. in the end, it will benefit all us. host: from florida, harrison's next, he identifies as a former hill staffer. caller: hello. i was a congressional staffer between 1969-2003. i am also a co-author of congressional staffs -- the

invisible force in american lawmaking. i would just like to say that the country is basically run by a legislative staff of the members of the house and senate. so, you have 535 members and tens of thousands of staff, and i just want people to realize that the staff is doing most of the work. host: give us an example of the kind of work load you had back then when you were on a staff. caller: i worked for u.s. senator bill brock. we originated the congressional budget act during the watergate era. we were very interested in bringing checkbook budgeting to congress at the time, they really didn't have any budgeting process. ofworked with a broad range whocrats and republicans,

were instrumental on the project. we worked with house staffers and the committees. the senate rules committee and senator bob berg was really instrument of in getting the bill considered. whenwas another few times congressional staffs were actually the markup. when you look at the bill over christmas of 1975, he said, this bill is too complicated for the members, so she brought together a sickly the staff from all the major -- basically, the staff from all major committees and we went through the bill line by line. guest: this is why c-span is so awesome. i cite your book in every article i have ever written, almost, and academically, i cited it in my dissertation. your book, "the invisible force in lawmaking" is a great book. they are the invisible force come by are the anonymous aides

that keep this place going. your previous caller mentioned how busy was men are with fundraising and whether or not, there are very busy and work hard at their job. that leaves their staff here to run their offices, investigate cells, research, investigate and work with committees. day-to-dayp. which is why on this channel and others, you will always see staff sitting behind members of congress when they give floor speeches. they are often in committee often whispering and passing notes to their boss because they are the best expertise they have. explaining developments to members themselves, it even taking a pencil during markup and changing legislation on the floor, that is all happening at the staff level him and other cameras are focused on the congress member. host: to give you an example, there is a house appropriations committee going on, a hearing on c-span3.

that our staff members sitting behind the congressional member. guest: they did 90% of the legwork, they crushed the numbers in an outcome of a brick to the member, and even things go haywire in committee, they are the ones briefing members on this is how to expect, this is how to react, they are the invisible force. host: jeff, go ahead. big fan ofey burgat, yours, love following you on twitter. i think you produce great data, gives us awesome insight on the workings of the house in particular. my question is, i am a big-time our system. a public educator here in fort collins. i am wondering, what is your biggest opinion on how to make congress great again? thank you, my man, keep up the good work for.

guest: jeff, from my hometown, thank you. the biggest return of investment you will never see is reinvesting in congress itself. for far too long, across parties and for past decades, to have made decisions particularly in 1994 with newt gingrich, the big,ment was ttoo but it really doesn't benefit who is actually making the laws. as the appropriators, that made lawmaking authority in the united states, invest in yourself. invest in the people actually doing your work. it is a small price to pay relative to everything else we spend money on. get good people, recruit them, get a diverse constituency within the bubble letters congress because we will all benefit in the end. it is a small price to pay for how much they are responsible for. the alternative is that we keep ceding power to the executive branch, the special interests who have best expertise,

who are able to pay more and they recruit the best-trained experts and keep them in-house, who are influencing congress members with their agenda. we want that agenda to be benefiting the people, because that is how the system is supposed to work. work,how does typically hiring staff, and can anybody outside the federal government apply for these jobs? guest: absolutely. there are list servs available, but the congressional bubble is hard to break into. but once you do, it is not uncommon to hear people who have worked for three or four members, who have bounced from the house to the senate. once you are in come people like in, but at the same time, you refresh your networks and make yourself more available, let people know of the committees you have worked in. and: another call a ruddy -- coloradian from pueblo. jack. caller: earlier you were talking

about the different levels of pay among staffers and i was wondering, you said it was because there were different positions, higher staffers making more money. is there a way to make up for that? versus 101,000, that is a large pay gap. is that because more females entering in and there are more sin males, or is there another discrepancy -- there are thereenior males, or is another discrepancy we try to? guest: zero in gender or position part? guest per pay. it is hard to find the discrepancy you are looking for. report, youat the will see that on page 16, figure nine, think we have it on the

screen, you will see average salary by position from legislative assistant on the way to senior staff. so we expect more senior aides to get paid more, relative to lower positions, and that is what you find. but then, you start supporting the gender, you will see that senior staff make the same men to women, but when hundred 13 men hold the positions -- 113 men hold senior positions versus 64 women. out are way that women in men administrative positions, men administrative positions, your executive assistance, which confirms a lot of assumptions people have about the hell, particularly former staffers -- have about the hill, particularly, former staffers. read the report, chew through which, there's a lot there and hopefully it can help you answer more questions. host: if you han want to find

out more about the research by casey burgat from r street institute, a senior fellow. thank you so much. here is the testimony of nita lowey. your conclusion is something we have seen before. we have seen it in your legal writing. in june, 2018, you wrote a memo as a private citizen and a former attorney general to the department of justice laying out the president's case against obstruction of justice. your audition clearly one wall. --ook forward to reviewing your audition clearly went well. i look forward to reviewing the report myself and so do my staffers. i understand that portions of it must be redacted as a matter of that youmy hope is will stop there and bring transparency to this process as

soon as possible. the american people deserve the facts. your five fy2019 budget request provides a significant increase for administration judges and a modest increase for most federal law enforcement. however, it either eliminates or significantly cuts respected grant programs at the department of justice that really make a constituents'our daily livesp for example, your request significantly decreases central programs including the cops program, which advances comity policing -- community policing, which will be cut by $205 millionp the dna initiative program, which provides grants to reduce the rape kit backlog

by ensuring evidence that could lead to meaningful convictions, doesn't fit on forgotten that she does not sit on forgotten shells, that would be cut by $25 million. will again, the hearing continue on c-span3, if you would like to see the testimony of william barr, initially designed to talk about the budget of the justice department, but as you heard, there are comments on the new the report and i suspect more to come. you can see it on our website at c-span.org or follow along on app.-span radio for the remainder of the program until the house comes in at 10:00, you can talk about william barr testifying before the house appropriations committee or the work that he has to do on the mueller report. also, there is a hearing taking a look at issues along the southern border particularly in light of recent changes at the top levels of the homeland apartment.

and, laboring iran's military as a terrorist organization. you can comment on all those things in our remaining time, about 15 minutes or so. for republicans, it is 202-748-8000 for democrats, and independents, 202-748-8002. you can post on our social media cspanwj, and on our facebook page as well. is one of the stories will talk about, concerning outbreaks taking place. dwr is saying that the number of measles cases that have occurred since the beginning of the year has jumped to 450 five from 387 in the previous week, that is from the federal center of disease control and prevention, the largest weekly increase in cases in 2019 according to the cbc

most of the cases -- according to the the agency says that -- of the casescdcd according to the cbc, most of the changes involve children. they have surged as a result to exposure overseas, transmitted a must populations that have shunned vaccinations. authorities are now trying to stop the virus spread and change misconceptions about vaccinations. there is more of that story, you can follow along at the wall street journal this morning. also, there are elections taking place in israel. atre's a story taking a look that on the "new york times" tos morning, with nothing hussein that if reelected, he would begin asserting sovereignty over areas of the netanyahu-- with saying that if you got reelected, he would begin

reasserting sovereignty over the west bank. a breach of the accords the committed both sides to the two state solution. to many in israel, mr. netanyahu thenever been serious about two state solution, and this amounts to a creeping annexation. that is on the to your times. you can read that there. best bet is on "the new york times are: you can follow that at c-span3, c-span.org, and our radio app. the best way to find out hearings and a collection of everything we are taking in is if you go to our website at c-span.org on the front page. at the top of the page you can use the search box to search the in.ous things we're taking if you scroll down, there is a listing of hearings and events that will take place. that will be lower on the screen and to the left. you can see everything we are taking in available at

c-span.org. the washington post this morning takes a look at relations between president trump and jerry nadler, the congressman, going back even before mr. nadler in his current position as head of one of the committees investigating mr. trump, the judiciary committee. says that trump and nadler are currently in main foes in a constitutional clash over power in an aggressive move to regulate the president's conduct. but they are a reminder that the animosity between the two dub native new yorkers is possible as well as political, rooted in . decades old fight the fight began in the 1980's , a statenadler assembly man and later

congressman proved to be an obstacle to a real estate development that mr. trump and vision for manhattan's west turf.which is nadler's if you look at our c-span archives, you'll find mr. joe nadler before he was head of the judiciary committee commenting on these things. website, to the lef here is jerry nadler, here he is. >> i would like to offer an amendment to keep valuable taxpayer dollars from being wasted on an outrageous boondoggle in my district of new york. the issue is simple. the miller highway, which is 13 ,locks long, the entire thing half a mile, was a most on aetely rebuilt five years ago at a cost to million. of almost $90 and has a life expectancy of 35-40 years before major work necessary. now, donald trump wants us to spend 300-200 $50 million to tear it down, a brand-new

highway, and bury it so that it will not block the views of the hudson river from some of the apartments in his new riverside south luxury housing development. for $350 million of the taxpayers money, donald trump will get higher prices for his condos. thad flame to the fire, nobody even pretense there is in it is tradition petition purpose for this project whatsoever. the proposal is to replace a straight segment of high weight a curved segment, never a good idea from a transportation perspective. and nobody in the area affected in the community wants this project. it is opposed by every local elected official, the state senator, assemblyman, new york city council member, the borough president, and the planning boards. in past years, the project has been opposed by the buses coalition, the council for citizens against government the national taxpayers

union, taxpayers for common sense, not to mention, the administration. today we have an opportunity to statementsese with actions and to make it worse, this is a project that would not happen. we are wasting money on planning and engineering studies for a project that won't happen. host: if you want to see that, ways.are a couple of if you go to our twitter feed, it has been sent out, if you would like to check it out for yourself, or perhaps you would like to see more than what representative nadler said. c-span.org type in "jerrold nadler" or type in "president trump", and you can see the video and the comments you made. a few minutes before the house comes in. the house appropriations committee hearing with attorney general william barr is going on on c-span3. you can comment on that, as well

the removal of the current homeland security secretary, at 202-748-8001 for republicans, 202-748-8000 for democrats, and 202-748-8002 for independence. one of the other things that will take place on the house side, a debate over what is known as net neutrality when it comes to issues of internet. broadcasting and cable reporting that the house is preparing a debate on the "save the internet act," that would restore net neutrality regulations under title ii, including a bunch of amendments. it wills against blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization. class, general conduct that would allow the f.c.c. to recommend conduct not covered under those walls which include impudent open internet.

those three categories, by the way, came up during yesterday's hearing taking a look at the -- democratic up mike doyle, spencer of the legislation, talked about those issues, and why they are important to him. here is his breakdown. >> think of the internet service providers as the middleman. they sit here and, consumers over here, content providers are here. net neutrality is having a process where consumers can get to the content they want to see without the middleman blocking them from being able to do it, and on the content side, people who have content they want to get to consumers, or products, that it doesn't get blocked by the isps. claim giving an example of blocking. at&t had a mapping service on their phone service that was five dollars a month. then, google came up with a free mapping service. at&t blocked google's free

mapping service from their system because it was competing with their app, that they were charging five dollars a month four. that is blocking, something we don't allow anymore. throttling is degrading a service. a good example of that would have been a netflix. and, of course, a privatization is where someone pays more money to get their product through one way or the other way, faster than anyone else. you can see the implications it would have for innovation, where the next great idea, trying to compete with a large, established corporation getting their product from this side over to this site, because they don't have the money to pay for higher the service. those are the three lines, that by the way, we all agree on. host: more about is available on c-span.org and type in those topics. you can learn all about the

topic of net neutrality on our website. susan in florida on the democrats lane, good morning. caller: hello. i just wanted to say, i really feel it is important for congress to receive an unredacted version of the mueller report, since the million forid $25 this investigation to be done. i think it is on the right that at the very least, that the congress should receive an unredacted version of the the attorneyt from general. host: aside from the cost, why is it important to have the unredacted report released. it,er: because we paid for but it is also important, because it is history, and we need to understand what happened, and we need to make sure we can ensure that our elections are not ever disrupted

again. host: they do except to the attorney general's initial rendering of the content of the report. caller: wall, i thought he overreached when he said that he decided that there was nothing that should be done with in terms ofople affecting the actual conflict that they had, and the things they were doing to try and this route investigation. host: that is susan from florida. again, if you go to our c-span3 channel, that testimony and that hearing is beginning now, with questioning back-and-forth of william barr. you can see that on c-span3. anna in delaware on the republican line. caller: i am calling about joe biden. i don't know how he has the nerve to even run after 2015,

chinad john kerry went to and dealt with the oligarchs about getting a multibillion-dollar business for , and thehunter biden stepson of john kerry, and they got it through. they got money from the chicago bank, and there is a picture in the book that i'm reading about who went. it was valerie jarrett, joe his twoohn kerry and sons, and the granddaughter was there. host: ok. that is anna in delaware. in hillsboro, oregon on the republican line, hello. caller: how are you doing today? host: fine, thank you. were referring to

hamilton earlier on the immigration issue. he wrote at one time, to admit borders indiscriminately to the rights of citizens, the moment they put their foot in our country, would be nothing less than to admit horrors into the citadel of our liberty and sovereignty. to kirstjening back nielsen, you should have adjusted gemara on -- jesse guevara on, or brandon darby. and have their take on her situation. host: what do you think of the president's decision on her? caller: i thought it was right. i was listening to jessica last night on breitbart news on sirius xm patriot, and she spelled it out just right. host: when it comes to the

actual reason, you thought it was the right decision. specifically why did you think that? caller: i think she is a little -- myself. host: we go to that you lie in the democrat line. good morning. hello? is, thisy concern president has been allowed to get away with a lot. one will it stop. and men,graded women women still support him, and i cannot understand that. he has degraded the presidency. he doesn't make good decisions at all, and i believe that all his success are flukes, because

he keeps putting people in place to make his, whatever he is trying to do, successful. evidence atblock every degree. .o me, he is a crook which has been proven. host: that is a viewer from new orleans given comments on these final moments of the program today. we have said it before and i will say it again, on c-span3, that is ready attorney general is, offering comments on questions. can't hear him from our perspective, but if you go to c-span3, you can follow along. there are several hearings today on capitol hill. there is that hearing, a hearing on the southern border, steven mnuchin on the hill, all of those are available if you would like to keep track of what is going on on our website at