trillion infrastructure package. as always, we take your calls i. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ host: the president and congressional democrats want to spend up to $2 trillion to improve roads, bridges, and other infrastructure. some suggesting raising the gas tax to do that and may be charging miles you drive or using public-private partnerships. we are using this first hour of "washington journal" not only to talk about these proposals, but have you tell us about the infrastructure needs in your state or locality. maybe roads and bridges or perhaps there are other needs you want to tell us about and things the federal government should focus on. here is how you can let us know.

in the eastern and central time zones, it is 202-748-8000. if you live in the mountain and pacific time zones, it is 202-748-8001. you can also post on our twitter feed at @cspanwj and our facebook page, about 300 posting this morning, facebook.com/cspan . the american society for civil engineers in 2017 took a snapshot of infrastructure across united states and this to show you a little of what they found. when it came to the topic of roads, the overall grade they gave was a d. america's roads are often crowded, frequently in poor condition, chronically underfunded, and becoming more dangerous. more than 2 out of every 5 miles of interstates are congested. roads. the topic of when it takes a look at bridges, the overall grade in 2017, a c+.

40387 bridges. 56,000 plus of the bridges were structurally deficient in 2016 and there were 188 million trips across a structurally deficient bridge each day. it was last week of the president met at the white house with congressional democrats to talk about infrastructure and the figure of $2 trillion coming up in that discussion. he sent out a tweet last week on that topic saying there is nothing easy about ausa infrastructure plan when our country has spent $7 trillion in the middle east. i am looking hard at a bipartisan plan of $1 trillion to $2 trillion. that is from the president's side. it was nancy pelosi in her news conference before the end of the week talking about discussions

with the president and what democrats would like to see. [video clip] >> my opinion is we will wait to hear what the president has to say. i spoke to him since the meeting -- he said we will look forward to hearing what he has to say. we were pleased the president took it up to $2 trillion. what we would like to see is bey make a commitment to 80-20. in terms of climate, have resiliency in it. you cannot build infrastructure for the future without resiliency relating to climate and we want to see women, veterans, and minority owned in theses to participate prosperity this will bring and wagent to see a prevailing

to be part of it because we have always been about bigger paychecks. --building infrastructure that is what we hope we can do. it was a positive meeting. we advanced to the discussion down the road and i will see what the president has to say when he acts. it is about congress, clean air, clean water, it is a public health issue. it is about the jobs building infrastructure and the commerce it would create. it is a quality of life issue to be people -- to get people out of their cars so they can spend time with their families. host: some of the perspective from nancy pelosi. ink to us about your needs your state or locality. in the eastern and central time zones, it is 202-748-8000. in the mountain and pacific time

zones, it is 202-748-8001. twitter available to you at @cspanwj and our facebook page at facebook.com/cspan. let's hear from a couple of you. this is tom in yuba city, california. talk to us about your infrastructure needs. good morning. caller: good morning. i first want to say i think the president is doing an excellent job. we have quite a bit of issues regarding infrastructure in yuba city and they are being addressed and i think -- thank the president for that. i think we need to really focus on the positive of what is going on in this country and i think the president is going the extra mile each and every day on behalf of the american people. host: tell me the top infrastructure need in yuba city and tell me why you think the president is addressing that need. caller: i can tell you that

comingo the president into office, i am not kidding, our roads were atrocious and we needed help. i can tell you that since he has , just aroundice where i live, icy such a difference in roads being redone. we are under construction in our roads everywhere and i am thankful for that. i realize there is decision-making locally and i get that, but i also understand the federal funds make it more possible to do what needs to be done and i think our president needs to be thanked for that. host: that is tom in yuba city, let's hear from jacksonville, florida, this is william. caller: good morning.

the first thing we have to do is get that plane out of our water. caller: excuse me? can you repeat that? caller: pardon me? host: i said replete -- repeat. caller: we need to get that plane out of our park here in jacksonville. anyway, we need to get rid of the buildings we don't really need in this country. host: when it comes to jacksonville's infrastructure, what would you call for first? what needs to be addressed first thing? caller: get rid of the buildings we don't need, the ones preaching hate like the mosques. host: let's go to mike in north carolina. caller: good morning. feel realsay, i blessed. i have lived in north carolina, i am in the raleigh area. the infrastructure and the roads in this state, and i have lived all over the country, not every state, but in many regions and

the infrastructure here is phenomenal. it is well-kept, it is maintained. i moved here in 2006 and there has been ongoing risk -- ongoing construction during the recession. although we have one of the highest gas taxes in the nation, and i was leery about that. i have to say, they spend it right. they spend it on the roads. they spend it on maintaining roads, building roads, both the highways and the state roads. the communities do great jobs. there are outlying areas that may be have problems, but i am in sales and i traverse the state quite regularly. we have a great airport here. the one thing i would say. i know for a fact because i follow this. many of the states high on the list of complaining about infrastructure should be mandated before they get anything new to audit where

there gas taxes go. many states, new jersey, illinois, new york siphon a lot of money from gas tax revenue pensionpping up public and other pet projects for politicians and that is simply wrong. host: there are some who propose when it comes to that gas tax raising it in order to make new funds for infrastructure. is that something you could get on board with? caller: not initially. as i said, without a clear audit of every state because every state spends federal money they get and they also spend their own gas tax money, we have a federal gas tax, which i think is around $.18. north carolina's gas tax is $.40. you put them together and that is a big chunk.

i think with any new program, you have got to look at what is being done now. is it being managed properly? are the funds going to wear they should be directed to before any thing new is layered on top. host: that is mike in north carolina, that is just some of the opinions people have when it comes to infrastructure needs and their locality. you can add yours to the mix. 202-748-8000 for eastern and central time zones. 202-748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zones. if you are on the line, hold and we will get to you in a few minute -- in a minute. to talk about some of those funding issues, eugene of the -- started with the $2 trillion figure. where did this come from? guest: it comes from direct sources of funding. that is if the democrats really

to look president trump at either existing accounts or if they go toward a way to raise the federal fuel tax, the gas and diesel tax that has not been raised since 1993, the president and democrats and we are expecting democrats to meet in less than three weeks at the white house to talk infrastructure and they are going to work on a way to come up with the funding. democrats, what they are saying is they want trump to lead the way on the funding negotiations. it was actually very telling that last week we learned president trump was not a fan of this infrastructure plan last year and that plan really relied takee private sector to the lead funding infrastructure projects over 10 years to reach topline.illion

that signals to a lot of people on the hill that the president funding open to direct and that would be the gas tax or even looking at other federal accounts. the gas tax will be, if raising the gas tax is in play, that actually will be the biggest source of the challenge because are really not on board and they don't endorse raising the gas tax. host: what kind of resistance has this already met? have you heard from leadership on the republican side suggesting that? guest: yeah. mitch mcconnell's office, the republican leader of the senate, they are really pushing back on a plan that would be very much fuel tax centric. what they are saying is they would be open to a multi-funding

approach. i have been hearing that also from the republican transportation leaders, epw , he is saying about a portfolio that includes vehicle miles traveled, charging people in trucks for the miles they travel, looking at public-private partnerships, which is the minority leader in the house, kevin mccarthy, republican of california, he was advocating public-private partnerships last week. republicans are going toward that end and my sources on the hill say when democrats take up an infrastructure bill either at the end of this month or sometime in june at committee, which it could be lightly -- likely if negotiations this month at the white house go relatively well, a markup could

junen late may sometime in that the republicans will push back on the gas tax and, also worth noting aside from funding, the democrats are likely to push for climate change provisions in an infrastructure bill and that is an area of contention for republicans. not only the leadership saying this, but my sources are telling they want an infrastructure bill to be a messaging platform for democrats. they want the legislation to focus primarily on roads, bridges, the historical thenstructure programs and republicans will also advocate -- look at tolling and that is a scenario where you also have opposition. host: hearing about the

potential of this happening, there are lobbying interests in and around washington, d.c. who will be advocating for this push. who are they and tell me the level of lobbying they are planning to do. question.t is a great there is near unanimous support among the transportation community and i am talking about the big union groups, the chamber of commerce, they are a big player on this. the american society of civil engineers, american trucking association, the national bike league. we are talking almost all the players are calling on the president and congressional democrats and republicans to come together pretty much now, this summer on an infrastructure bill. they are advocating for any sort of funding because they are seeing that the window for myion is right now and

conversations with the chamber of commerce work going to be a big player in an upcoming advocacy forum later this month. they are calling it "the real infrastructure week" and they will be advocating for funding through raising the fuel tax, but ultimately, what the --dership of these groups the road builders, construction firms, what they are telling me is even if they cannot agree on funding, just agree on having some sort of a big policy bill that if it doesn't raise the fuel tax, then it does have some other funding mechanism. this way you can have a directive at the federal level that you can then present to the state so the states can plan long-term for infrastructure projects and that is something

that lacked for several years until 2015 with the current law and prior to getting to that highway law, the 2015 law, you had more than 30 short-term extensions on the highway funding authorization. all of these groups don't want to cover return to that. what they want is long-term solvency of infrastructure funding accounts and this way, from the federal level, you have a strong partner that can team up with states and the states and the long-term benefit will be to reduce congestion on the highways. if you have better roads and bridges, you and i will spend less time in traffic. .ost: eugene mulero can seeom is where you his writing on this and other topics. you can continue to call us and

tell us about infrastructure needs in your state or locality. putting money into these projects. 202-748-8000 for those in the eastern and central time zones and 202-748-8001 in the mountain and pacific time zones. if you go to the association for civil engineers, when it takes a look at the state of texas in 2017 in its overall grade for was the grade- that state got. houston, texas, is next. this is mike. caller: good morning. i am from the houston area and the thing is, this is a national city and -- massive city and there's always needs. the thing that is also necessary ,s better public transportation one or truly -- $1 trillion or $2 trillion budget, they can --

i know they have tried a private rail system -- high-speed rail from houston to dallas. rails are very expensive. may be more integrative public transportation. buses and leading into the city i believe is a good way dealing houston is aially booming city economically. host: is that your main source of transportation or do you think if more people would take public transportation that would alleviate what goes on in the highways? youer: from the suburbs, kind of park your car at a bus stop, but mainly to go to downtown. a lot of offices are in the energy corridor south and west of houston. houston is massive. definitely as houston spreads more and more, there is going to .e more of a need

host: john in washington state. the most important federal infrastructure that needs to be taken care of is our power grid and our nuclear plants, which would be vulnerable to somebody like as ankorea or iran as far emp. got tworea has already satellites passing over our country every day, so who knows what they have up there now. host: what makes you think those facilities are protected against that type of attack? our powerom an emp, grid would be blown out. once the power grid went out, we would have a fukushima type situation where the power plant

that only has a certain amount and it is theble retired power plants plus the ones still running. they would all be vulnerable because they have to be kept cooled until they cool down. we are vulnerable that way and anybody that is interested can coastam.com.o secretary carson knows about it, secretary perry knows about it, newt gingrich knows about it. host: alan is next in maine. hello. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. tell us about your infrastructure situation. caller: i think the person from north carolina really hit it on the head, it is the states that really take care of their roads that don't need the money as much as the people who don't take care of their roads. state is stopping

funding projects because the bids are coming way over what they expected. i work for a general contractor is a believe funding roads good thing to do, but i would not buy them at the height of the market. i would buy them when we really need to generate economic roast. if they want to put $2 million in the bank and the next time we have a recession, spend it then, that is what i would do. host: $2 trillion is one of the price tags for this proposed discussion point on infrastructure. you can talk about that and talk about your local needs, whether it is your state or locality. 202-748-8000 free democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans -- i am sorry. 202-748-8000 for eastern and central time zones and 202-748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zones. you can call and let us know

those things as well as people on twitter and facebook commenting. with the start of monday, a lot of activities going on in the week in washington, d.c.. here to run that dime -- down is greta. awarding the presidential medal of freedom in the rose garden to tiger woods. the new york times notes woods is a hero. the president has named a villa after him. he has also gone into business abroad with mr. woods, announcing the golfer would design a course in dubai as part of a luxury presidential mega product -- project. tammy duckworth will be talking about her experience serving in the country of iraq. csis this morning 3:30 eastern time. we will have coverage of that on

c-span. the national urban league will be releasing their 2019 annual report, the state of black america and that will be 10:00 a.m. on c-span this morning. we will go to that after today's "washington journal." on tuesday this week, chris wray will be testifying before the senate appropriations subcommittee. we will have coverage at 9:30 a.m. eastern time and you can go to our website for more details. go to our website, c-span.org, because wednesday we will be covering the acting defense secretary and the joint chiefs chair and they will be talking about the pentagon's budget request before senate appropriations committee. you can find all of this if you go to our website, c-span.org. davidoff of facebook, says in northwest arkansas, a lot of our bridges are falling apart due to flooding.

we are better off than oklahoma. work -- cityded funded work, haven't seen a dime. luke off facebook saying new business construction and revitalization booming due to the president. that is some of our facebook comments. we will get to twitter comments as well. if you go to the society of civil engineers when it comes to california, here are the grades they offer. when it comes to bridges, c-. transit, c-. when it comes to roads, a d. from napa, david, go ahead. caller: hello. idea tolike to offer an build solar panels along the exterior and side of our interstate highways. add would provide power to

to our electricity needs in our nation and we would be able to fuelinge of that power electric vehicles. in california, it is a very necessary thing to have. that is the biggest problem in california rather than anything else when it comes to climate. host: how open do you think state and local leaders are to that idea? caller: i don't know, but i think it is a good idea. they already do something like this in england, or britain. to help power electric cars in britain. it should be something that should be looked into and evaluated to see if it is worthwhile. also, it might lower the cost of fuel and the states could make profits from electricity or leasing the land to electrical companies. host: this is chris in

frederick, maryland. hello. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i am fine, thank you. caller: we are in frederick, maryland on i-270 toward washington. it is pretty jammed up. i think they are trying to expand this road. .t is quite congested in this area, i have seen way -- where they are building the into to washington out northern virginia, they are building it along the interstate, so that is interesting and good. i wish they would do the same thing here with the metro north into washington. host: would you rather see the -- metro expand first or the expansion you talked about or are they equal? caller: they are kind of equal. i would get up the autonomy of driving for the metro.

it has to go into virginia first. that need some work. defenseomy with so much contracting, the economy keeps --they are always working on i take the amtrak sometimes from baltimore into new york city. that is kind of a rickety system, but it is important and --ot of people host: a local news station, wjla posted a story taking a look at larry hogan. i-200 70ts to expand as you heard our caller just say. here is a little bit of that back-and-forth and the resistance it is getting. [video clip] >> it was standing room only at

the silver springs civic building as the debate over the expansion heats up. >> destruction of our environment and neighborhoods. >> councilmember say under the current proposal, close to three dozen homes could be impacted by the plan under imminent domain. >> we need a full throated conversation about it. hogan blastedrry protesters, pointing out the washington metro area ranks second on the u.s. news & world mostt's list of the congested -- hundreds of thousands stuck in traffic every day. >> we are the experts on congestion in montgomery county, but they have to do with the

right way. and leave 495, the eastern portion alone. they could also widen the western portion of 495, which has a wider right-of-way and would not take property. the governor should keep this promise to work with us. >> a vote is expected in the next few weeks. host: this is chuck saying my eunice appellate he imposed a 1% municipalitying my imposed a 1% income tax. this is dean off facebook saying the fuel tax usage needs an audit in each state. the states that redirect these funds should have federal funding stopped before raising the federal fuel tax. -- you are welcome to add your comments. this is mitch from delaware, hello. caller: good morning, pedro. mitch here in lewes, delaware,

i amarty democrat and blank checkiving a to the federal government. i agree with some of your earlier callers. projectt is a massive light under the eisenhower administration and the muchstate highways, pretty this should be left up to the .ocal municipalities the ones that have their hands out mostly i think are those ont squander their funds general expenditures instead of what they are intended for. what i am surprised that is nobody is bringing up shovel ready. thatve $700 billion to administration and there was not one pothole filled. later ron they asked the former -- later on, they asked the former president he laughed and

said shovel ready projects weren't as shovel ready as we thought they were. i wish somebody would bring up that $700 billion. host: you are saying from that experience, lessons learned to be applied this time around should this effort go forward? caller: that is right. the first thing the democrats come out with his global warming. that is tom stier. i think he has enough money already, personally. host: that is mitch in delaware to talk a little bit about what is going on when it comes to the issue of infrastructure. you can do the same and you can make your thoughts on the phone lines if you want. 202-748-8000 for the eastern and central time zones. 202-748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zones. you have heard from our twitter and facebook community. you can do so and post there at @cspanwj. facebook.com/cspan is our

facebook page. guest: president trump -- host 2: president trump making news on twitter, first on the prospect of robert mueller testifying on capitol hill. they are still negotiating. the reaction from chuck schumer to the president saying yesterday that he should not testify was this on twitter. first donald repeatedly tried to .ire mueller for a man who constantly proclaims his innocence, donald trump is sure acting guilty. adam schiff, who leads the intelligence committee in the house tweeting out today trump announced he is opposed to before testifying congress. he also opposes letting don mcgahn appear. barr's testimony alone is not going to cut it, they will

testify. the american people deserve the truth. the president tweeting out he would raise tariffs on china in a pair of tweets. this morning, he sent out -- this is the tweet he sent yesterday, for 10 months china ,as been paying tariffs of 25% 10% on $200 billion. these payments are partially responsible for our great economic response -- result. it will go up to 25% and this will be on $325 billion in chinese goods that have not yet been taxed. the president tweeting out the united states has been losing for many years, with china, we lose $500 billion. we are not going to be doing that anymore. chuck schumer to the president's stance on china. he tweeted out, hang tough on china. don't back down, strength is the only way to win with china.

the markets open up this morning across the globe and they were down. reuters with this tweet, china stocks fall most in over three years on tariff threats and the chinese currency tumbles. that is a story developing this morning. host: the society of civil engineers in 2017 looked at the commonwealth of pennsylvania and overall, when it came to infrastructure, looking at a lot of things. overall that grade, c-. from clearfield, pennsylvania. you are next up. hello. caller: good morning, pedro. how are you doing this morning? host: i am fine, thank you. caller: i have a question at a comment. the comment i have is pennsylvania wanted to apply for a government loan some time ago and for some reason, they got rejected. why is that?

rejected?rrisburg get host: what do you think about this to trillion dollar figure floated to put the -- fix the roads, bridges, and other infrastructure? caller: like the interstates, even the secondary highways and they are working constantly on these highways and stuff. they are scrambling like mad to get these roads repaired. host: when it comes to where you live, what is the nearest highway and how would you grade that condition? caller: i will tell you something right now, i give them failing grade. in them. bumps i don't know what the township thinks they are doing. see forptown, you will

the most part, pretty good, but there could be improvements, you know what i mean? int: that is calvin clearfield. it david off facebook saying roads are horrendous. flint, michigan, still needs improvement with their water. we need to focus on the roads we have rather than building new ones. many of us live in pothole america because communities claim they don't have money to fill them in, which is expensive. davy crockett saying i don't use public transportation and believe people who use it should pay for what it costs to use us. -- using. why do country folk need to subsidize urban transportation? ofn it comes to this idea private-public partnerships in order to make these efforts

happen in transportation, it was the minority leader kevin mccarthy at his press conference yesterday quickly asked about it in exchange for what he thought about that effort. [video clip] >> public-private has worked in a lot of places and i think you should always use that element as we go forward as one of the options. it is a way you can leverage money further. it can go farther. it works in some areas and there are the areas that work as well, too. it is kind of all the above. host: a lot of topics when it comes to the big topic of infrastructure. if you want to follow what has been said, go to our website. if you go to the search box and type infrastructure, you will find everything we have taken in on our program and our network on the topic. west virginia, next. raymond, hello. lind --my name is ray

raymond. ir biggest problem is the -- have to put a belter on just a park where i live in you would not believe all the stuff that comes out of these lines. in a lot of towns off the area, they have problems with water. we really need to put them back and people need good drinking water. host: why do you think that is the case? caller: these water lines are over 100 something years old and they keep patching them. they need to fix them in the streets, they have a lot of potholes that really need to be fixed. they just keep patching and patching. it is putting a patch job on all

the time and that don't help none. host: have you ever complained to your locality or state about these conditions? that.: they always do a lot of the water, 50% goes into the ground and we have some of the highest water prices around here. host: what do you pay for water? toler: people paying up $120, $130 a month or more just for water. it goes up probably every year, twice a year it goes up and everybody is uptight about that. host: west virginia is where raymond is telling abbas -- telling us about the situation when it comes to infrastructure and he focused on water. you can do that. roads, bridges, maybe it is electrical, nuclear power, all of those up for discussion. 202-748-8000 for those in

eastern and central time zones and 202-748-8001 for the mountain and pacific time zones. it was chris collins quoted in a story when it takes a look at raising that to trillion dollars and the idea of a gas tax to do that. he is a republican from new york and here is what he said in that story. i am not only supporting increasing the gas tax, i support doubling it. i support doubling the airline passenger fee from $4.50 to eight dollars or nine dollars. if you don't want to pay the user fee, don't fly and if you don't want to pay the gas fee, you don't have to drive. he made those comments in a story in the hill. you may agree or disagree, you can chime in. let's hear from steven in connecticut. hello. caller: it is all about tax and spending. they should privatize the metro-north and all the public

transportation train lines. in addition to they should privatize all the road construction and road improvements because all these unions are draining all that money. that to trillion dollars will be another story, just another dollar gone, another dollar taken. host: why do you think privatizing all these efforts is the best one? which case would you make? caller: just fly to bangkok, thailand. they have an air train and their infrastructure is privatized. there roads are incredible. i was driving and i was praising their highway system and their toll system is $.25, maybe $.50 at the most, but they are consistently repaving and improving the roads and bridges, but there air train system is spectacular, it never breaks down. the previous caller who mentioned a train system being

put in the suburbs of virginia, he has no idea what the unions are going to do to the rates of the monthly expense to take that train. the metro-north in connecticut, anything attached to new york city is consistently inflated. it's all about tax and spending, but never helping the consumer or the people. it's all about taxing the people in this region. that to trillion dollars would be used properly and not abused or drained. host: that is the caller from connecticut, stephen, giving his take. sarasota, florida is next. mary, when it comes to that report, the overall grade florida got was a c. tell us about your experience in sarasota. caller: i recently learned the youak had a bus that took to tampa on to orlando where

they picked up out of mobile and north to washington. i rode the amtrak as a passenger to orlando, it was wonderful. the experience was terrific. .he bus had wi-fi it had where you could plug in your charger. it was a wonderful experience. the driver was excellent and i would support and suggested that -- that we increase the amount of trains or amtrak, whatever, throughout the united states. it was very inexpensive. a round-trip was $60. host: that is mary telling about her experience. don in jackson, michigan. caller: good morning. host: hi.

caller: the only two comments i would like to make is one, are the $2 trillion getting -- i hope they are not a going to be trying to pull the same crap they did in the past about digging into the social security fund, which is privatized. two, texas, arizona, all the border -- why isn't anybody figuring out that they can put solar panels on all those states and recoup a lot of energy costs back to the system? host: what is infrastructure like in jackson? caller: jackson, michigan is the pits. it is the worst. you can turn down any side street and you are going to get gobbled up. i can bring up one particular point. i drive a motorcycle at night in lansing. thent down a ramp doing

speed limit. i hit a pothole that almost knocked me off my bike. i had to pull over to the side and i bent my rim. it was so bad, it felt like i was jarred to death. i had to ride that bike home down 127 at 10 miles an hour on the highway. host: on a bent rim. caller: on a bent rim, you got it and the front bent rim at that. the local, the county, all the way up, they spend this money. they spend the money everywhere else but infrastructure. host: that is don in michigan telling us about his personal experience where he lives. sigmund freud off twitter says we need to start charging electric cars for the use of roads, they are not paying the gas tax.

saying -- proposes a weekly lottery sale to raise money. olivia taylor off facebook saying we need high-speed rail to connect communities to others cheaper and more effectively than airline flights while being environmentally conscious. it is better than a bus system. one of the proposals when it comes to raising money for infrastructure comes from the democrat from new hampshire, asked about the topic of a vehicle mile tax or charging for what you drive, here is some of his philosophy. [video clip] >> longer-term in terms of funding roads and bridges, we all agree vehicle miles traveled is a great way to look for revenue. we are driving more fuel-efficient vehicles, so the gas tax has less purchasing power. that is one place we can look. voters across the country have

supported an increase when they can see projects getting done around them, when they see shorter commutes and projects underway. host: william from massachusetts, good morning. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: i am fine, thank you. tell us about the situation in feeding mills. caller: feeding hills. host: sorry about that. caller: there is a town that never got sewers. they are living with septic swear septic's should never have been built. i am hoping there is something for sewers because in the 1980's, the federal government the towns to0% to reimburse sewers, but it does not exist. now you might be able to get a state government for a low interest loan. we have an area of town living with high water table, which means the water pushes up in the

septic, so the septic cannot get the waste out, so it goes to people's houses. when is this a situation you see a lot of rainfall or a constant thing because of that high water table? caller: it is a combination of both. whene spring and the fall, the high water table is worse, it is worse. people can use like their washing machine, but not like their shower. they can use one thing in their house and when they have 5, 6, 7 people, how can they do that? is from-- this problem the 1970's. in 2002, they had an engineering firm that showed through testing that fecal matter from the septic's is going into the water sources and has a high level of fecal matter in the water sources. it is crazy the town will not

spend $30 million to get it done because they did not get it done before the federal government stopped that reimbursement program. that reimbursement program could be included, these people in this area of town would not have to live in such conditions because they have something in the state called title ix when if they sell their houses, if there septic does not pass, they are paying to replace there septic. host: that is william in massachusetts talking about the septic system. buffalo, new york, kenneth, you are next up. caller: hello. i have one issue in buffalo. ,he trains, mass transit amtrak, it is a disgrace. it takes nine hours to get to new york city. for years, they have been talking about increasing the speed and making it -- a high-speed rail. what you have is other countries

like in europe, i was over there last year in europe and i took the train from paris to london. fast.beautiful and it is it is a disgrace the trains we have in this country. aretrouble is the tracks .wned by the commercial carrier the same thing in chicago, going illinois, youo have to stop and wait for the freight train to go by before the passenger train can resume its trip. it is a disgrace. host: when is the last time you wrote amtrak? amtrak?-- rode caller: i always ride amtrak. i would always ride the train to

new york city because i hate airports and all the stress that in awith writing -- riding plane. i really like the train, but -- it is much more comfortable riding on a trained then in an airplane and it has always been cheaper. it takes more time, but i would rather do it. plus, it is environmentally -- we have to think about climate change in this country. existentialge is an disaster waiting to happen and we have a president that is not even talking about it. we need to get with the rest of takingld and start action against this. one thing we can do is mass transit. i have a car.

i drive $2000 a year at most because i use my bicycle. host: how are the bike trails in buffalo, new york? is that part of the system? caller: they are doing well with that. they created the rails to trails and they have some nice bike trails. this is a good place to ride a bike in general except for the wintertime. host: that makes sense. that is kenneth in buffalo, new york, talking about all the modes of transportation he takes. the wall street journal editors, when they heard about this idea of $2 trillion for infrastructure, they wrote who is going to pay for all of this? the annual federal budget deficit is nearing $1 trillion and rest assured democrats do not mean merely roads and bridges. "infrastructure is about

creating jobs immediately, but also about advancing public health, clean air, clean water, addressing climate change, and expanding broadband to urban, rural, and other underserved areas." from san jose, california, gordon is up next. hello. caller:hi, good morning. how are you? host: fine, thanks. caller: i totally support the gas tax. i wish they could figure out some formula for electric cars to be taxed and registration that comes annually in .alifornia the hardest part is getting light rail in. it takes me about 25 minutes to get from my garage to the garage at work and to take public transit thank -- takes about an hour. it is a tough battle to get people to jump on that train.

statesman dealing with the issue of light rail between the state government and federal government. caller: our state specifically? some issues. a pretty bad blunder with our high-speed rail. host: the high-speed rail project, i don't know if it would serve your area, but i know there has been a back-and-forth about that project. caller: it would have except it got cut off to mainly rural farming towns. for my area specifically, silicon valley, they are a little bit smaller cities and they would be underserved to use

the high-speed rail that is going to be finished. host: there has been talk about raising the gas tax read what are you paying for gas in california currently? caller: right now i think i filled up for a little less than four dollars. i am sorry, little over three dollars. i saw a clip where someone was complaining about $3.85 probably in l.a. host: let's hear from greg in a souza -- azuza. caller: they can take that gas tax and shove it. we are already paying $.97 gas tax in california. we have the highest gas tax of anybody and they don't do anything to the infrastructure of the roads or nothing. they don't fix anything. i am not paying any gas tax or mileage tax or any other tax because it does not go where it

is intended, it never does. it goes into our general fund and it is gone. as soon as it gets to sacramento, it is gone. host: if it made its way to azuza, where do you think it should go? caller: fixing the surface streets. you can barely drive, it is like driving through baghdad. it is blown up in the roads are a complete wreck. host: west virginia in charlston, we will hear from dennis. you are next up. caller: hello? host: you are on, go ahead. caller: yeah, i was calling about infrastructure. in the state of west virginia, our governor was elected democrat and changed over to republican and now he is talking about our roads and spending $10 million with donald trump on the road. our roads, our secondary roads are pretty much impassable. host: you are saying the money

needs to be spent on secondary roads first? caller: absolutely. that you almost have to get off the road and places. in some counties, school buses cannot pass the bridges. the kids have to walk across the bridge to go to school. host: massachusetts, though ahead. my question is we gave $1.7 trillionns tax cut and a lot of their prioritieswhere is the money goe from? you know it is going to happen. the working people, the have to go to work, are going to pay the higher taxes, and that is going to happen. the infrastructure is probably not going to get fixed -- host: when it comes to the area

where you live, what needs to get done first, do you think? caller: what has to be done is that we have -- we have one particular road that was created from president eisenhower. that whole road has to be replaced, because it is a main route that goes up and down the coast. and that goes through massachusetts all the way up downmaine and all the way to florida. main roads like that are used a lot of the small towns and cities. a loten you have to have of the roads have to be smart, because a lot of the cars are going to be smart and they are

smarter. so a lot of that infrastructure is going to have to be put in. host: ok. let's hear from one more caller. al in warren, ohio, you are the last call. tell us about the infra structure situation in your estate. caller: good morning. cuts helpede tax all the businessmen so we could get jobs. and now my infrastructure -- we need to spread it out. do not just do bridges, do not just do back roads, spread it all out. do not pick and choose. priority first. then we can get moving on. then there will be even more jobs. people do not understand trump's theory. it is not raising taxes, it is creating jobs, creating revenue for the government. appreciate you.

you are a good man. warren finishing up our topic on infrastructure. and our next hour, two reporters joining to talk about the week ahead in washington, particular what happened last week with william barr. "washingtonon of examiner" running us and melanie zanona. that after a news update from greater power -- from greta. cohen faces a 2:00 p.m. deadline to head to the federal prison in the countryside 70 miles northwest of new york city, a minimum security prison camp that has become a haven for white-collar criminals. charged in thene house payments -- hush money payments. once he goes to prison, he will

be assigned a job, such as mowing the grounds or cleaning up the visiting room, and get a set of clothing, bedding, and towels. at the prison camp, about 115 inmates sleep in bunks instead of in individual one or two man like a higher security facility. include mikemates situation" -- and the fyre festival fraudster, serving a six year sentence. and there is a new poll out with the early primary state voters in iowa, new hampshire, and south carolina. the asked democratic voters in those states about impeaching the president over the mueller report. in iowa, 52% said yes while 41% said no. split,hampshire, also

45% and 45% on the question. in south carolina, 60% said yes to impeaching the president over the mueller report, 32% said no. again, those democratic voters. political playbook this morning with this exclusive piece that numbers usa is spending more than $500,000 on a national ad buy on fox news and foxbusiness we that will feature never brothers, andkoch some senators -- the message is reducing immigration is key to putting american wages first. here is the ad. [video clip] >> never traversed -- trumpers marginalized american workers. but in 26 team, they ran into a wall. >> the forgotten men and women

of our country will be forgotten no longer. president -- the machen people did. reducing immigration, letting wages rise, is what americans want. piad for by numbers usa. numbers usa.ut by happening in washington later this evening, the president will be awarding the presidential tigerof freedom to golfer woods at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. can watch that on c-span. or go to our website, c-span.org . you can also get the free c-span radio app. later this week, the president will be honoring the red sox, the world series champions. in the "boston globe" is alex cora, that manager, would not be joining the team, given what he feels is the president's poor treatment of

his native puerto rico after hurricane maria struck the island. also, something that happened over the weekend, the senator from wyoming announced saturday he would not run for a fifth term. he sent out a tweet earlier i do not plannced to run for election in 2020. he is a former shoe store owner and mayor of that time. he also tweeted, during my life, i followed my mother's advice -- my core values, do what is right, do your best, treat others as they want to be treated. tweeted my friend senator mckenzie of wyoming announced he will not seek reelection.

he serves the people of wyoming well and is a strong leader on budget responsibility. host: joining us now is steve nelson. he reports on the white house for the "washington examiner." melanie zanona. we heard plenty about the mueller report. melanie, what is next? guest: first thing on tap is there could be a contempt proceeding against william barr, the attorney general, if they do not hand over the full report, which we do not excite now. nadler laid out four new conditions for receiving this report. one of them shows democrats easing up a little on demand, saying they are willing to prioritize the material, but they are still seeking executive -- secretive, sensitive grand jury information. we are accepting this to land in contempt. host: if that content proceeding does happen, how far will

democrats go to enforce that? guest: content is largely a symbolic move. it does not have a lot of heat behind unless democrats are willing to go down this drastic route that we have not seen in almost 100 years, directing the sergeant-at-arms to jail or whoate -- or fine people have been found in contempt. but they do not want to risk a backlash. -- stevephen nelson nelson, what is the report from the white house? guest: the attorney general under president obama, eric holder, was held under contempt. he declined to prosecute himself -- that is kind of what happens when you are attorney general, so it is symbolic. the white house wants to move on from the mealy report. the president has been clear that he views the report as exonerating him. there is of course the finding

that there was not a conspiracy with russia, but there is the more problematic session -- section dealing with upshaw action -- abstraction -- obst ruction. host: in the president inserting himself and pushing it forward with tweets over the weekend about robert mueller and possibly him testifying. whot: the president is one likes to express himself on twitter. it is not always serve strategic interests. but the president, and the white house, want this to go away. they want this to move to a different topic. focusing on upshaw action and obstruction in the mueller report will not do him any favors. host: what is the status on that? talks tomocrats are in bring him in may 15, but this

trump tweet throws a wrench into the discussion. does he send william barr to say that mueller cannot testify? says th.g. steps in and at, he would be forced to apply for that is why they are calling to --would be forced host: what in the letter from the attorney may suggest the future actions of the president when it comes to whether robert mueller will testify or not? guest: last week, kellyanne conway was asked on the white house driveway whether mueller should testify or not, and she said if he wants to. i do not think a lot of people could believe mueller testifying. we do not see him speak in public often. this may be something he is not

interested in doing. he has not sought out the limelight or tv interviews. they were more emphatic about mcgahn, who don according to the report was instructed to fire mueller. his testimony seen as more concerning. this whole question of whether mueller will testify is something that people do not necessarily saw coming. guest: and republicans on capitol hill said the same thing. we have no problem with him testifying. in fact, the top republican on the judiciary committee said he should immediately testify. it now appears some of these republicans are at odds with the president's position. host: if you have questions for our guests, call us for their meter of the time we have. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. an independents, (202) 748-8002. thoughts,uestions or

@cspanwj. it was on fox news yesterday that one of the members of the judiciary committee talked with the host, not only talking about the mealy report but things hinted at by william barr concerning investigating the previous administration and their action when it comes to "spygate." here are some of those comments. [video clip] >> don't you think, in the interests of fairness, that your committee in congress should investigate that as well? >> it is laid out in the mueller report in significant detail. eight contactsnd between the trump campaign and russian officials are people connected to wikileaks. we know how the investigation began to what we ought to be focusing on is protecting america. while we are doing that, it is important to note that we are doing oversight work. >> set up a little bit of the behind-the-scenes for the calls for these investigations. guest: we have been hearing the phrase "investigate the

investigators" increasingly from republicans on capitol hill. some of the things that republicans want to look at is whether the fbi is jessica -- justified in the use of these methods. that is something lindsey graham, chairman of the judiciary committee, said he is looking into pit on top of that, you have the inspector general of the doj who is looking into this already. that report could come out as soon as this month or next month. host: steven nelson, this is a driving was for the white house as well. guest: yes. it is not going away anytime soon. part of the reason is whenever there is an investigation by the inspector general of the justice department, there are a lot of loose threads. remember the issue with the fbi investigator trading negative commentary with another agent about trump.

there was reference to a adjustedparty that was --the thrown for a cocktail for a fisa judge. there are always loose ends for people to pull on. buts a talking point, because it undermines the russia probe. host: when may we see revelations on these investigations are looking into these topics at all? guest: the ongoing inspector general investigation is the place to look. people from both artie's think -- parties think the inspector general is a tough investigator. that is where we will see the most developments, more so, perhaps, that congressional investigations. host: democrats already planning their response? guest: right. we will see counter programming

from democrats. and they are pressing ahead with their own investigations. we will see competing investigations. host: our guest you just heard from reports for politico, melanie zanona. and steve nelson of "washington examiner" covers the white house. from our independent line from maine, joseph, go ahead. caller: thank you. thank you for taking my call. my question is simple -- why aren't people addressing attorney general barr as protecting vladimir putin, the 25 russians indicted, the three russian companies. vladimir putin himself is the he did not doays it, and the only one who believes and is you know who. he is protecting him. vladimir putin and the russians have disturbed elections all

over the place, in other countries. why isn't that being addressed instead of this ridiculousness about the fbi investigating trump? why wouldn't they investigate trump? host: melanie zanona, you first. guest: one thing both sides agree on is russia interfered in our elections in 2016, but we are not hearing a lot from the president. in fact, he had a call with the russian president, vladimir putin, and did not bring up russian interference. the reason for trump is he really wants to move on. we have been seeing reports at this is a sensitive subject for him. advisors were told not to talk about russian interference potentially in 2020. host: mr. nelson. guest: i am not sure we could say that the is protecting vladimir putin. i think the russians who were indicted by mueller's team, if

they could be prosecuted, they would be. they are just not in u.s. custody and likely never will be. host: ohio is next, david. caller: how are you doing? i have to ask a simple question. doesn't wa why trump nt mueller to speak. because trump knows that he will mueller,, as far as the russian investigation. we know that trump -- he may not have had anything to do with the election part of it, but he knew what was going on. we all knowlity, the buck stops at the president's desk. host: so the question is, if robert mueller appears, how much do you think you will offer and what do congressional democrats and republicans do with that? guest: it could be unflattering

to president trump. mueller apparently pushed back on the attorney general's four page summary, saying it essentially glossed over a bit. it could be bad for the president. a magazine article that came out formulath bob barr, a -- a former republican from georgia, a congressman, he was the first one to introduce articles of impeachment against bill clinton, and he said that trump's impeachment looks inevitable. that democrats will keep pushing until it happens. that is the worst fear of the white house. they do not want that to happen. i think having mueller testify, even if it was not that bad, it would keep the topic alive and keep mendham going for impeachment, which is what a lot of democrats want, whether they say so or not. guest: i would agree. i would also add the number one democrats -- the number one questions democrats want to ask is if you would charge the

president if you were a private citizen? part of the reason he did not indict was that you cannot indict a sitting president. host: on the flipside, congressional replicants would ask why did you go from the initial point he was set to do it when he was picked as functional -- ask special counsel. guest: exactly. host: let's go to florida, republican line. ander: praise before c-span allowing regular citizens to have a voice on national television. i am a republican who believes trump must go. i want to invite the press to come up with a term or label for those republicans who are willing to maybe use the 25th commitment to retire uncle donnie. i propose the term "moose her ders," in honor of teddy roosevelt. i invite the numbers of the

press to vote -- come up with a term. there were 12 republicans who voted against trump who tried to have that emergency money. and a former senator of massachusetts, william well, wrote a letter in opposition. to join in a bill , withlare trump unfit psychiatrists, former presidents, to form a panel, because this man is a danger to dereliction of duty. seth moulton, representative of massachusetts, says he is a danger -- host: you put a lot out there. guest: he said a lot. i would say this is probably the concern of a lot of republicans now. how much is this russia subject going to weigh in the elections?

talking to some democrats, they say that she does not come up a lot in the town halls. it is kitchen table issues like immigration and health care that are number one on top of a lot of the voters' minds, not the russia investigation. but there are a lot of republicans turned off by the president and this investigation. host: even at this stage, what kind of support that is the president and joy from congressional republicans? guest: there are still letting up behind the president. even the most vulnerable republicans have not come out saying that they cannot enjoy supporting the president -- even the most vulnerable republicans at some of this is not flattering the president, but there was no obstruction or collusion. president is the doing to build upon the support he is still getting from republicans? guest: if the president uses the power of his office to rally the

base -- that is what he does well. there have been plenty of republicans who have proposed it, and things did not work out well for most. they either lost reelection or did not seek reelection because the polls were not going their way. the president likes to take it to the campaign trail, and he is doing that this week. he remains popular among republicans, even though there are some who are opposed to him, but they are not many who defy him publicly. host: from illinois, democrats line, harris, your next. caller: good morning. morning to the american people. investigation, the man should mandated to testify. antirepublican leaders who say there is no collusion, no obstruction -- and to republican leaders who say there is no , thesion, no obstruction

appearance of it and the willingness of people on the campaign to work with russians is a travesty to the united states of america. good day. illinois.call from any response? guest: there is an increasing sense among democrats that the best way to beat trump is not there impeachment but through the ballot box. it may not be breaking a law, but if there is that appearance, maybe there is going to be a push to try to kick him out of office through the ballot box. that is the best way, in democrats' minds, to get him out. host: what -- won out of the exchange of those running for resident? guest: i think kamala harris. -- asked a lot of questions and he struggled to answer that question. it reflected poorly on him.

klobuchar also did a good job. cory booker probably did not make as memorable of an appearance. these are people who really need to make a mark and get momentum in the race. host: steven nelson, you hinted at the president's reelection efforts. talk a little about that. where does it go from here? to replicate his success, where he visits rust belt states and flipped them to the republican column. the white house correspondents dinner that the president skipped, he used that to go to green bay, wisconsin for a campaign rally. the president has been an entertainer his whole life, and he gets people excited, makes them laugh. he draws a huge crowd. he is planning to do that -- it is well out from the date of the election, and he is out this week. host: in what state? guest: florida, in panama city.

it is an area more friendly towards him, and it is an important state, and close enough to draw in people from alabama and nearby. i think the president sees that as one of his areas. host: at this stage, does he still have that kind of support from florida? or is he concerned about it, considering he is stopping in that state to rally? guest: it is too soon to say. he won florida by a fairly wide margin last time. i think the midwestern states are where he is really concerned, because those are the ones he has to win again. host: this just coming in from the president, tweeting that congressman al green saying that impeachment is the only thing that will prevent the president being back in -- you cannot impeach the president -- going on to say there are no high crimes, all the crimes are on the other side. he has all of that in caps.

should beat dems looking at, but nevertheless, the tables are turning. guest: that last line is a reference to the investigative a skater strategy that we are hearing from republicans. this "new york times" article that there was an informant looking at the russian collusion question. but this reflects a sense that the president is getting frustrated. he saw the and of the mueller report, he thought that maybe they would be able to move on in congress, but democrats are still looking at impeachment, still investigating the president. it is putting a chokehold on all legislation. he has not gotten a lot of wins, and ahead of 2020, he need something like a big interceptor bill, especially because he was not able to deliver on the wall and immigration. host: he touts the economy -- will congressional democrats give him any credit on that? guest: yes, and some have.

the question is can he stay on message? there was a great economy in 2018 in the midterms, and republicans still got clobbered in the house, partly because the president started to make it a national election on immigration p if he was talking about caravans, not the economy and jobs. host: and any plans from the white house to tie those numbers? also factor in the tweets he had about china trade and how that may affect the markets today. guest: i am not a business reporter, so i should be careful about that -- host: but there is a political aspect. guest: job numbers and trade doing well is a consistent message from the president. he says it so much that our eyes gloss. it is something that, if things were not going well, would be bad for the president, so he likes to stress that things are going well consistently. he talks about getting tougher on china. as i said, i am not a business reporter, but if that does bad thing to markets, china is a big

trading partner. and ratcheting up trade barriers could be problematic. host: as far as trade talks themselves, what is the status? what does the white house say about the potential of doing something? guest: they always talk optimistically. what is happening behind closed doors, we do not have a lot of good this ability. the vice premier recently visited the white house, and the ,resident had an amicable within. but they do not actually know what they're talking about. and since his tweets since, the deal may not be as close. guest: the president has not been able to get his framework off nafta through congress as well, facing resistance from republicans and democrats. one things about clinton's -- republicans are worried about are tariffs. there are worried that this will hurt the economy, which is the president and gop's crown jewel.

host: michigan line next, republican, we are hearing from bob. caller: for the caller from florida and illinois, you would pass rush limbaugh's coup test with flying callers. we live in a -- with flying colors. it heou say "he not do looked like he did, so we have to impeach him," this country is doomed. host: you are on with our guests -- do you have a question for them? guest: -- caller: are you doing anything to defend the rule of law? are you saying to these callers that we cannot just impeach because we feel like it. host: ok, we will hear from teresa next. caller: there are plenty of reasons to impeach, but the best

result, since republicans have already sold their soul and will not help, is vote him out. that way, he can be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. that is the way i feel about it. him and his kids have been get away with this for decades. they have been screwing the make and people out of millions, probably, in taxes paid we should not put up with that. now we have an attorney general playing fixer for him. host: that is teresa from michigan. a couple of comments there. back to the reelection campaign, what is the behind-the-scenes efforts? what are they working on as far strategy? guest: they want to win, obviously. in order to do so, you have to get the same amount of support in the key states, and the president feels like he has a good message on the economy, particularly in midwestern states that were struggling.

we have seen him in minnesota talking about i was so close in minnesota, bringing the jobs back -- i think the president sees that as the path to reelection. i think he sees the possibility for even more success in the midwest, including minnesota. host: we saw plenty from those opposing the president and running against him. those congressional democrats running, particularly in the senate, are they focusing more on issues rather than the president? guest: it depends which candidate you are talking about. when it comes to joe biden, he has made attacking from a central plank of his platform. he believes that is the strongest card he holds, to say he can beat trump in the midwestern states, winning back industrial white voters who voted for trump. but there are a number of candidates, including elizabeth warren, who is putting out policy after policy proposal. ony booker put one out today

gun prevention. there are some democrats who say we need to focus on the issues, it cannot just be all about trump, using the playbook that republicans used. host: thank you for bringing up joe biden. it seems on the surface they are not worried about joe biden yet. but under the surface, how much are they worried about joe biden? guest: you have to read into things sometimes. the amount of time they spend attacking someone is sometimes an indication of how worried they are. the president says he is rooting for people to judge -- pete buttigieg. but they have been attacking biden a lot. unfortunately for trump, one of isen's kyiv vulnerabilities touching women, and that is something the president does not want to be the face of criticism, for good reason, perhaps.

but he has been focusing on his record in the obama administration. of course with campaign rallies, it is comedy hour, him trying to come up with new attacks on his rivals. wednesday, we may see new anti-biden material. host: from florida, independent line. oscar, go ahead. caller: how are you doing. i have a quick question. considerable a amount of time investigating this entire russia matter. can we have a sense of how deeply he was able to investigate donald trump's finances, as far as any connections with the russian oligarchs? other pending 14 indictments at all related to that? and i had a general comment about reporting. seems to be making a lot of comments about the strength of his current economy,

and i rarely see any pushback from journalists. my understanding is that the gdp average would not put trump in any of the top five presidencies, not even above jimmy carter, who had 4% or 5% gdp growth. and the monthly job averages under trump have been about 200-5000 jobs, which is lower than barack obama's 207,000 monthly jobs. there seems to be no fact checking by the media to say actually this economy is not looming. it is pretty much the same. created lastwere month. only one point 5% came from manufacturing. why so little pushback from journalists? host: we will let our guests respond. mr. nelson, you first. guest: you brought up the president's financials. he said in an interview last

month that he believes mueller dug through his financial records and found no crimes. the president has not released his tax returns. we do not know a lot about this. he has been treating the mueller report as an exoneration of a but also security -- questions about his financial documents. whether that holds remains to be seen, but that is how he is presenting it. growth, a lot job of it is how people feel. about the economy. wellings may have gone under president bush, but they crashed. that is what everyone members. things are going well now with president trump. he wants the emotional connection. guest: and there is polling that shows a lot of voters do not feel the benefits of the economy, so there are caveats

with the reporting. and there are signs the economy could slow down, especially with the trade deals. host: this is melanie zanona just heard from from politico. steven nelson reports on the white house for the "washington examiner." john is next, republican line. caller: good morning. no one ever brings us up, and i do have a follow-up question. for example, fannie mae and hasdie mac's base loan since obama took office when he left, it was 4.17%. since trump took office, has gone up every year. now. it's 4.83% that is a good indication that we are doing pretty good

economically. my question is, if you know of into thetigation server, from the democrats -- you never hear about that. and an employee of nsa, who said many programs -- he there was no way russia hacked the dnc server. it was an inside job, downloaded onto a thumb drive. turn thewould not server over to the fbi. they destroyed it, just like hillary destroyed all her devices and bleached her hard drive. i am wondering if there is an investigation into that and why they did not turn the server over into the fbi. guest: republicans want an investigation into that. hillary clinton's emails is something we heard them talk about. but now we are seeing the

mueller report wrap up, you will start to hear republicans say what about these other issues we do not hear about, what about private email servers, what about the fbi's role and the obama administration's role. you will hear about that, but rep. pence: do not control the house anymore. you will have to hear it in the senate. guest: the caller was referencing a dnc server and referencing a theory that it was not a hack, but it was a leak instead that someone downloaded the documents onto a thumb drive and give it to wikileaks. the person referenced is a prominent nsa person, writing a report adjusting that was the case. the initial claim got a lot of attention, but he ultimately recanted when shown that the data was wrong. obviously, when people make these claims, they generally get

more attention than pro attractions after the fact. so the caller may want to look into that a little more. host: looking at international said what has white house concerning reported launched tests from north korea? guest: the president has not been bellicose about that. he is still trying to work things out with personal diplomacy with kim jong-un. a lot of people were skeptical of that. just from seeing the rabbit -- the rocket tests, it seems for good reason, but he is not given up trying to broker something with kim jong-un. host: will we hear some kind of response from congress concerning that concerning these -- concerning these? guest: we could, but republicans are still out of the house, so we will not hear from them today. host: mike pompeo was on fox and was asked about russian election

interference, going into the topic of the mueller report. let's listen to some of the response. [video clip] >> we take seriously the threat of election interference from every country, russia included. >> i take your point, because in terms of specific policies -- >> i do not get your point -- >> i am confused -- >> you're looking at an initiation that is tougher on russia than any other predecessor, but you continue to be fixated on something mueller wrote down. >> i am thick seated on the president's conversation with vladimir putin and the fact, in conversation, he does not mention meddling in 2020. the question i am asking -- a lot of people are asking it -- is why not? >> i talk to leaders all the time. we cover a broad range of subjects. sometimes conversations are not long enough. i will let the white house talk

to what the president actually said. but no one should misunderstand from your question today. this administration has taken seriously the threat of election interference and will continue to do so. host: to the level of the president's comments on these going forward. guest: the president has a history of problematic public commentary on russia-related issues. helsinkicall the conference where he did not see why the russians would attack. to the question of did you ask russia about it, he pointed to the reporter and said you are very rude. this talk is not reassuring to people who are skeptical of russia, but there are more hawkish people, you could say, in the administration, like pompeo who say of course it is being dealt with. host: the intelligence or

foreign affairs committees, have we heard from their camps? guest: we have heard from democrats, who are concerned about the phone call and that he did not press vladimir putin on these issues. they say this would have been the perfect time to bring it up, and pompeo try to say there are a lot of conversations that happen and did not come up now -- this is the first conversation since the release of the mueller report, so if not then, then went? host: up next, the democrats line. caller: good morning. i wanted to call in this morning to say we need to impeach the president now. he is not showing america is first. he is showing other countries, especially russia, to be the main player here. i do not think he can step down. i think putin has a play on him where he cannot step away from it. i think congress should do their oversight the way they're supposed to do it. i hear the calls every day.

we cannot make it to november 2020 with this president. he does enough destruction every day. that is where the fear is. my granddaughters and grandsons are in school. they are learning about civics. the constitution of the united states does not look, hear, and sound like what they are reading. there is a lot of confusion out here. we have a country to iran, a democracy to protect -- we have a country to run, a democracy to protect. i want to know how many russians are calling in every day to help defend this president. heard reporting that nancy pelosi and other democratic leaders are slow on the topic of impeachment. is that still the same ratio or are lines being blurred? guest: i would say the same. democratic leaders are not

willing to impeach the president at this point, because polling shows the majority of americans do not support impeachment. until the polls change, leaders will not change their strategy. they want to be with article. they are wary of the backlash. pelosi was around when republicans tried to impeach clinton, and they did not have the support of the public, and that backfired in the election. but democrats know that they need to throw a bone to the liberal base. you are seeing them go after william barr a little harder. they're talking about censoring him. they will probably hold him in contempt today. host: steven nelson, what does the president do to move on? specifically what plans does he have a move on from these topics of the last couple of weeks? guest: there is an infrastructure package proposal from the democrats. chuck schumer and nancy pelosi came to the white house last week. unlike during the shutdown debates, when they would give nasty statements about one

another after the fact, they came out pleasantly and said they had come to an agreement on the $2 trillion infrastructure package would would ring roads willroadband internet --it be interesting to see where this goes, because they said they would come in three weeks with specifics, so we have two more weeks. but this is an area of potential major bipartisan agreement. host: and not only have we heard a lot of infrastructure come and go from the white house, but this one stuck. why is that? guest: i would say the president really wants a win. sayings to go andto 2020 that he had fulfilled his campaign promise that he had never delivered on. that is underlying his ambitions to get things done. this is a pattern we have seen with the president. every couple of months, he will get in a room with democrats,

come up with a lofty deal, but the snap back to reality by republicans. we saw this with immigration, with gun legislation. the real task will come when it comes to how will you pay for this? host: and if i am a congressional republican, what is my response to that $2 trillion figure? guest: i talk to republicans they were complaining about this even before democrats got back to the capitol from the white house. how do you pay for it? they do not support a gas tax, do not support any taxes, really. it is hard to come up with $1 trillion in revenue. host: how does the president sell those republicans? guest: that has been the difficulty. trump has proposed and fish after packages before that had sticker shock, but the talk of private-public partnerships is one way.

issue of the deficit is already growing so much. white house officials repeatedly got pressed on the gas tech. larry kudlow saying he does not like it. kellyanne conway saying we pay for things all the time without raising taxes. that will be problematic for them, figuring how to balance books. host: dave from jacksonville, florida, independent line. caller: hi. good morning. i would like to shift gears a little and -- excuse the bad pun -- inquiring minds would like to know why there is not more information coming out about trump's family business while he is in office. i find it strange that he is jack andith tiger and several other people, and tiger

gets ae masters, tiger maybe in someer sort of business deal with him believe, and all of this is going on in plain sight, while he is in office. we do not hear much about what happened with the trump properties in panama. i was wondering if you could or explain whyhat we are not hearing more about trump family business while he is in office. guest: democrats are looking into whether trump is profiting while he is in the property. there is a trump hotel down the street from the white house. i would say the reason we are

not hearing about it as much on capitol hill is because there is so much democrats are looking at, they have had to prioritize what comes first, and they have put getting their hands on the mueller report and on trump's tax returns at the top of the list. guest: that is a correct assessment. i would add that, in order to have we, you have to have -- in order to have news, you have to have something new. time,are reports all the but it is not a drip, drip, drip . on the emoluments, there is indication ongoing, but senator blumenthal, ironically, it is accused of having an emoluments issue of his own. the issue is complicated. it is not just trump alone. host: the caller mentioned tiger woods. he will be at the white house at 6:00, and you can see it live on c-span, c-span.org, and the c-span radio app as tiger woods receives the presidential medal of freedom.

caller: good morning. thanks for having me on. i am an independent. no party affiliation. i was a teacher at stoneman douglas during the valentine's day tragedy. so i am speaking with a little passion and knowledge here. as a teacher, i have always tried to teach my kids how our government works, especially our media, and how it is supposed to cover things and expose them. you brought up a couple of things -- and this is not an attack on any political party or political figure. nancy pelosi has said they are not moving forward with impeachment because of the polls. i remember, back during the nixon era, nobody wanted to have nixon impeached either. but they changed their tune when the media, journalism, dug and exposed things and put out

facts. one caller was mentioning our economy. right now, things are going a little towards the media's side and away from the journalism side. why is there not more of a push for impeachment? we have a mueller report that was only as good as the forthcoming of those involved. the president refused to testify, refuse to go on aoth, refused to answer question. -- questions. 14have no clue whether the -- concerns of obstruction had anything to do with denying mueller and his team the ability to find everything that was truly there. not saying that trump is the figurehead of everything, but have firstd him

possibility to do their job, regardless of the political outcome through their party. the bottom line is we, the people. i want to know that the white house is free and clear from entanglements from anything and any one that could compromise the oval office -- host: got you. we will leave it there. guest: in terms of the role of holdedia, it is our job to the people in power responsible, but impeachment is not our job. a lot of the bombshells in the mueller report were reported by the media. at the end of the day, democrats are not completely taking impeachment off the table. they want to continue investigations. if they come up with some other bombshells or smoking guns, they may end up down that road, but they are taking a slow approach now. host: what is the justification for the lack of press conferences we have been seeing,

at least from the press secretary? guest: the president said he ordered sarah sanders not to hold them. we essentially still do have press conferences, they just happen on the driveway and last five minutes rather than 20. it works out similarly. we have to puzzle out what is going on, because what we have is the president saying come on twitter, that he told sarah sanders not to do it. to be theat we assume case. we do not know if it is because of the optics of the room, they do not like the pageantry of it all, but it is important to have briefings. the reason they are happening on the driveway is because it is more efficient for sarah sanders to stand there and give a statement to 50 reporters at one time than to individually email them the statements, which is what she often does. it is an efficient way of getting information to people. and it allows a chance of

accountability and questions from the reporters. host: aside from that, do you get any access to the white house when you are developing stories? guest: despite the fact there are no briefings, they do respond to emails. their doors are open. any reporter can ask them to comment on a story. and as i mentioned, the driveway is a death factor press briefing room -- that driveway is a de facto press room. sarah sanders, kellyanne conway, john bolton -- it is a weird dynamic where accountability has been drawn back him up but there are many officials giving press briefings all the time. host: steve in illinois, democrats line. caller: hi. i believe this phone call with putin, at this time, after the mueller report is a big red flag putine could be letting

helpingis time to start him get reelected. i do not understand why people would sit there and allow our attorney general, the head of law enforcement, get away with blocking the report and allowing that he waslieve completely exonerated when that is completely false. emoluments thing will be taken care of when he is out of office. and this 2020 thing -- sending a carrier group to iran recently, i believe, to start some sort of fight. so we have less of a chance to not reelect him. i am wondering what they think of this new carrier group going poking aoknig a -- fight with iran. guest: i did not hear a question there, so i may just pass on

that. host: the iran situation, is it suggesting a change of policy? guest: iran is a repeated punching bag for the administration. getting tough on iran is something they will continue to do. host: and we saw a tweet from your colleague at politico, the tweet about china -- they were possibly to get a deal by friday. thet: timelines change all time. jared kushner was supposed to come out with an immigration reform package. he said this the week before last that it would come in a few days, and it still has not come out yet, so i would not put much on the deadline. host: on immigration, the former border patrol chief and the obama administration will take over as the head of immigrations and customs enforcement. will he get a hearing before congress? guest: he will get a hearing for

the question is whether he will get confirmed. they only need 50 senators on board with this nomination, but it will be tough. this nominee will be grilled about the ministration's immigration policies, family separations at the border. now there are an influx of migrants at the border now, the white house is trying to deal with that crisis, asking for funds from congress. this election,n, what does it say about immigration policy overall? guest: it is interesting for you the president said he wanted someone tougher for the position, and the person he originally had in mind -- this is a former obama person who has publicly supported his wall. he clearly likes that. he thinks this is someone who will do his bidding. they really want to get tougher with regulations and enforcement. host: sheila is in florida, independent line. caller: good morning.

i am listening to everyone dogging the president. i just want to say i will never, againote democratic because the way everyone treats our president. look at you guys looking in the camera. you know it is the truth. does for the good he our country, no one will ever give him credit. host: we have these guests on for you to ask questions, so what do you have for the? guest: what is -- solution foris the all the immigrants coming in the country? i was a democrat at one time, but never again. guest: picking up on what she said initially in terms of the president never getting any credit and everyone dogging him, there is a risk for democrats of

fatigue with investigation after investigation, going after the president, especially in the wake of the mueller report, which ultimately said no collusion with russia and no obstruction. that -- host: mr. nelson. guest: and perhaps a lot of people do not agree with his immigration policies, but the president has said multiple times that he things the public does, and this will help him win reelection. he is certainly confident a lot of people feel as you do. host: jazmine is from new york, democrats line. hello. caller: hello? host: you are on. go ahead. like toyes, i would find out why -- host: you will have to repeat that last part. if you're listening to your television, ignore that. just go ahead with your question

or,. caller: i would like to know, the economy is not working for us. -- the those who work republicans, is that because -- and they are not going to get no money for the welfare checks. so the republicans are lying. host: so this idea, even in light of those numbers, that the economy is not going to work for us, is that a thing were going to hear going forward? guest: it is, but it is unclear how much will resonate. people employed got a significant out of money back from the trump tax cuts. even people who do not like him got an extra $1000 because of the tax cuts, and these are high earning people.

if you are employed, perhaps you have a more positive view of the policies trump has pushed. if you are unemployed or are not doing well, you probably have a worse impression. guest: republicans today prettyr job of messaging on the gop tax bill. a lot of people didn't think they did get more money back. things, ourf these voters feeling it in their pocketbooks? will one more call, we hear from jean, leesburg, virginia, democrats line. we need to keep and i on this issue because there is this notion that if the country is at war, that the voters are unlikely to vote a president out of office. i would like the congress to keep an eye or call the

appropriate people up to the hill to ask them what exactly is and for theh iran american people to know what's happening. russia isn issue that allied with iran. the fact that the president doesn't seem to understand that there is this connection where our foreign policy and diplomacy have to address this and we don't seem to have a secretary of state who even understands this. on this've touched topic, we talked about a lot of topics. what is something to watch out for? >> tomorrow, melania trump is having a be best celebration against social media bullying.

aid but something that is stalled in the senate. there could be a deal on the senate side and then on the house side they will vote on their package. melanie from politico is a congressional reporter. stephen nelson of the washington examiner, their white house reporter. to both of you, thanks very much. theill continue on with theme you heard in this conversation when it comes to infrastructure and what goes this to trillion dollar price tag gets discussed. katie from the society of civil engineers joins us after a news update. >> the deadline has come and gone, it is unclear whether or not the justice department has provided the judiciary committee

with the full unredacted version of the mueller report. it is what they want and what they wrote about in a letter to the attorney general on friday and in this letter the house judiciary committee chairman saying at the outset we note the department has never explained why it is willing to allow a small number of members to view a less redacted version of the report subject to the condition they cannot discuss what they have seen with anyone else. the department remains unwilling to work with the committee for a court order permitting disclosure. the department has offered no reason whatsoever for failing to produce evidence underlying the report except for a complaint there is too much of it and a vague assertion about the sensitivity of law enforcement files. the letter states the committee is willing to work with the justice department about the viewing of this unredacted version. the committee renews its request

as it works jointly with congress for disclosure of materials. and third it willing to prioritize the specific defined set of underlying evidentiary materials. in areasr goes on where they are willing to compromise, you can find that if you go to the house judiciary committee website and you can find the letter there. another deadline this morning. craig kaplan with this tweet. deadline today. secretary mnuchin to respond to the house ways and means chair request for president trump tax returns. another deadline today. we will see how this story develops through the day. the road ahead in congress, reporters we were just talking to address this. both chambers tackle disaster relief but conclusion is still

iffy. roll call reporting they hope to wrap up negotiations this week at a bipartisan disaster relief package that can get president trump's support. the house will move forward with their own bill that will provide $17.2 billion in aid to areas affected by natural disasters. $3includes an additional billion to address subsequent floods in the midwest and tornadoes in the south. if you want to read more, go to rollcall.com. craig kaplan tweeting out the houses out to today, returns tomorrow for legislative work. it includes bills on u.s. taiwan relations, health care waivers and disaster aid. notes senate side, he several votes today to advance the nomination of the president second court of appeals nominee opposed by his new york home state democratic leader schumer

and senator gillibrand. he was confirmed to the u.s. district court judge for easter new york in 2005. you can watch the senate floor on c-span2. you learned yesterday from the trump administration a strike group has been sent to the middle east to respond to threats from iran. the associated press with this tweet, the u.s. defense officials tell the ap the deployments of an aircraft carrier strike group in the middle east are in response to indications that iran and its proxy forces were preparing to attack u.s. forces in the region. the response from senators and capitol hill, tweeting out we respond that controls them. any impact by these groups against u.s. forces will be considered an attack by iran and

responded to accordingly. of the year anniversary united states leaving the iran nuclear deal is this wednesday. joni ernst from iowa tweeting the uss abraham lincoln is on her way to send a clear message to the regime, the united states will defend allies, partners and will never back down in the face of aggression. 's co-ceo tweeting out about stan colander. he has been on the c-span network for many years. he passed away, tweeting out no one -- he shared his knowledge with the audience countless times over our 40 years, we will miss him. towas on this network close 40 times and if you go to our website you can find his appearances there. joining is now, casey from the american society of civil

engineers. he served as their senior managing director on their your money segment. good morning. talk about your organization, particularly the role it takes with these discussions. guest: the american society of civil engineers has been around since 1852. states.n the united in terms of lobbying, we have a washington office. we lobby on policy and programs, not specific projects. the issues we focus on are infrastructure related, transportation, environment and water. >> when you hear this discussion of a package, what goes through your mind and what are those questions that need to be answered? guest: it's good to hear a $2 trillion number been bandied about because those are within the contours of the economic studies we have done.

period, thear infrastructure grid -- the infrastructure gap is about $2 trillion over 10 years so that is about $200 billion a year. when you look at the number, about half of that is in the transportation. transportation is an aspect many people feel every day. host: back in 2017 you put out your last report card. guest: the overall grade for the nationstate was a d+. if you go back to 2009, the grade was a d so there has been inching up. some you can point to the states who have taken legislative actions. specifically let me mention the gas tax on the state level. half the states have raised their gas tax in the last five

years, red and blue. specifically the transportation sector. d, bridges or a c plus. mass transit is a d-, the worst grade on the report card. so when it comes to those grades you give, why the consistence even if there is a bit of an uptake, why are we seeing this? guest: underinvestment has been the biggest issue in the country as the aspect the way they have. the other thing within for structure projects as it can take a number of years to get through the approval process. years, itn of four takes a while for it to be safe. >> if the states get money backs -- get money back, where is the

state -- the shortfall coming from? guest: the federal government hasn't touched the gas tax for 25 years. living off a 1993 federal gas tax. people think about the price of gas out there in this country. i know it is spiking a little bit. just $.18 of that is going from the federal level to support infrastructure. the typical state gas tax, about $.29 a gallon. people need to understand we are paying a hidden tax in the country because of the current level of underinvestment. the average family is losing $3400 a year, nine dollars a day because of underinvestment in infrastructure. it takes longer for them to get there as being stuck in traffic. we lose the typical average driver in this country is losing 42 hours a week per year stuck

in traffic. that's like losing a vacation while being stuck in traffic. host: our guest with us to talk about this infrastructure in light of these discussions of $2 trillion for an infrastructure package. 202-748-8000 free democrats, 202-748-8001 for republicans. independents 202-748-8002 and you can also make your thoughts on our twitter feed at c-span wj. you are proposing a raise of the gas tax. to what degree? >> we would support up to $.25 a gallon. you can faze that in a nickel a year over several years. cost theincrease would average motorist when he four dollars a year. mentioned the cost for families. $4are at risk of losing trillion by 2025 in gdp. thisther thing to say is

is a bipartisan issue for decades and we would like to see it continue that way. increases inn see the gas tax under republican presidential leadership. 41.er, eisenhower, bush all had gas tax increases and mr. trump said last year he was going to consider a $.25 a gallon tax increase. host: would it alleviate the roads? we had a lot of callers saying i still have potholes and we are still hitting tax for these things. five: right now, one in road miles is considered in poor condition and those are costing motors 100 to anyone billion dollars a year so the average motorist is losing $4500 a year because of road conditions. host: if the state gets money from the gas tax to they have to use it specifically for transportation. guest: transportation

specifically and about 1/5 of it or 20% can be used for mass transit projects. people have to look at these as complementary systems. mass transit can be helpful in allowing that to perform well. host: a state gets it, it has to be used and can't be shuffled into another fund. guest: you should have tight legislative language saying this money cannot be funneled to a different purpose. the harbor maintenance trust users of the harbors pay a fee into a trust fund, that is being allowed to build up and not expended properly. we have at that case an issue with the trust fund. host: it really depends on the state. guest: citizens and legislators have to be vigilant in making sure there are provisions to say none of these dollars can be

diverted to non-infrastructure. ast: what about this idea of vehicle or miles traveled tax? guest: very interested in that. the way of the future. we have a fairly low percentage, if you look at the entire fleet. the gas tax is probably the way to go over the next five or 10 years. we think about the future and the way cars are powered, we will have to look for a way to see how they drive. and less concerned about how their cars are powered. us, theiry joining senior managing director and we have our first call from ohio. this is todd, independent line. go ahead. caller: you said your name is casey, correct? guest: yes. decision'm making my on who i vote for president based on who has the best

infrastructure repair and update plans and i wanted to ask you, in your individual opinion, if you use new york city subway, what would it look like in a brief description if it were to get an a in your opinion? one was about the presidential, it still too early in terms of the planning phase to know who has the best plan. we have the democratic leaders on the hill and president trump trying to work on a bipartisan fashion. i'm not sure it would be particularly helpful to train handicap one or the other in terms of the election. i've use the subway system a number of times over the years. it definitely needs a lot of investment. it's one of the older systems. host: i think he was try to say what would something look like to get an a grade in your mind?

guest: what i can give you is the grading scale from the report and the definition. exceptional, fit for the future. the infrastructure and the system network is in excellent condition. typically new or recently rehabilitated. elements show sign of general deterioration or requires attention. facilities need modern standards for functionality and are resilient to withstand most severe weather events. host: so for light rail or train, nothing achieves that in the united states currently. guest: if you have a brand-new system. i'm not sure of the most recent command -- mass transit system put in place. a funding gap on mass transit across the country. host: democrats line -- let's go to judy in minneapolis. independent line.

caller: this is judy. hard ona is working raising the gas taxes right now. hope they are building it for the future. severe weather all over the minnesota,es, texas, from new york to california. we can see the severe weather. an already old infrastructure. ismy opinion, my question donald trump traced all over this country, you call us the flyover states. we drive. my point is when donald trump is landing in the hell it -- the helicopter in iowa and promising he would like to buy some land there. host: what is the specific question for our guest? what we got is a tax cut

for the rich. infrastructure should have been broughtt bill that was out into congress. to get financing for infrastructure to raise jobs. what't want to hear about people might make too much money, the average person working. we need infrastructure. host: thank you. guest: i support the comment that it would've been nice if that was the first thing with the new administration. it wasn't. this is the hand we have been dealt with so it is an issue now. a pressing issue. having presidential leadership is very important. host: you talked about electric vehicles. a viewer says they draw a large amount of electric power charging stations, why don't we tax that? guest: that is something you can do or we can look at registration fees.

there are a number of ways to look at that. one thing about the gas tax is very easy to implement roman administration standpoint. in terms of getting into a vehicle miles traveled approach, a bit more challenging. adding in one more comment about technology there is a lot with driverless car's, connected and autonomous vehicles. this is a very interesting scenario. we are still growing as a population. still growing at 1%. we get another 100 million people in the next 30 years. we have to add wider roadways and in some cases we may, but these technologies may allow us to more safely and efficiently move cars around because of the safety technology. you can reduce the number of perhaps we could squeeze five lanes of cars into four in the future. they do offer a part of the way

out. is the cost going to be for upkeep of those roads? guest: i don't have those figures yet. i know there is a lot of research going on in terms of which technologies on the cars will be communicating with themselves. communication between the roadways in the cars. line forublican massachusetts. ronald. caller: good morning. this is ronald from roxbury, massachusetts. i'm an engineer by trade. host: you are on, go ahead. caller: where you going to get the money from? it looked like the wars going to start with a ran. where -- with iran. where you going to get the $21 trillion? host: that's $2 trillion.

guest: it is $2 trillion over 10 years. we are talking about increasing infrastructure investment by two bill -- $200 billion a year. that's not just federal. that state, local and public-private. maybe not to the extent some would like to see. we have this gap of $200 billion a year. that is one percentage point of gdp we are talking about when you think of $21 trillion u.s. economy. you go backvest and decades ago closer to 3% to 4% on infrastructure and that is slipped down closer to 2% so we are try to get that back up. it is not an easy challenge but it is a doable challenge in the united states has met a number of infrastructure challenges before in the united states. it is often with republican presidents you will see an increase in the gas tax. mark inmark -- host: virginia, independent line. i don't think anybody

would disagree in theory, we are way behind in infrastructure. we are way behind in renewable energy. but talking about infrastructure. you are throwing different numbers out which i agree if you look at it per person as far as the population of the united states, as far as parsing out the 25% gasoline tax. then you mentioned something that is really a pet peeve. you've got a perfect trifecta. mentionedup, you increasing the federal tax, you talked about how the individual states increasing their tax and than the worst of the worst is when you talk about public-private partnership, a.k.a. the e-zpass, people

coming in for investment. these states, like here in virginia, they signed one of the worst deals ever where these people can actually go up on the tolls in perpetuity with no lease attached to them. trillion, who is going to follow that money to the point where it just doesn't friends ofenzy of the politicians getting the bulk share of the actual construction money and then dealing with public partnerships that are going to put the american public basically at hostage of being able to continue to charge unlimited amount of toll fees and charges. you've got a lot there. concerned about the price of gas and taxes, you are already paying a nine dollar a day

hidden tax at the current state of the nation's infrastructures we are suggesting an investment of three dollars per day to eliminate that drag on the u.s. family. just think what a family can do without money, start a college fund, do a home project, a home computer and iphone. these are not small amounts of of thend in terms prioritization of projects, i have to have enough faith in the different levels of government to know in terms of their communities where the highest priority project needs to be addressed. host: concerns of public-private partnerships. used inhey are a tool other parts of the world, more in the united states it is still catching on. the advantages of a public-private partnership can be, you have to put them together. you can have a lot of money

frontloaded in the system that might be hard for the public sector to come up with to get something going and then since you have an entity running this they will want a payback over time. so the advantages you can get something -- the advantage is you can get something going. perhaps a more nimbleness or discipline to get these done on time. then you are right. time, theeriod of private entity will be collecting the tolls and then reinvesting those moneys into the toll system and taking a bit for profit. that is what happens when you get the private sector involved. that's the potential advantage. host: toll roads came up at a discussion in baltimore, beltway on a proposed toll. protesters fighting against those, the governor put out a

tweet in response saying pro-traffic activists show no regard for the hundreds of thousands stuck in traffic every day. they have no real ideas to solve the crisis that is hurting the quality of life in the region. think of the larger issue of toll roads? guest: in this region there have been a lot of interesting developments on the virginia side we have a number of hot lanes added to the beltway, to interstate 95 and interstate 66. people don't like paying tolls but in some cases they have created lane options for people to use. it may take longer to make the trip but the option of using a faster lane, i really have to get to the soccer game on time or the business meeting on time. congestion tolls. they will vary depending on what

the traffic is on the free lands so once you see that toll is $10 to go 10 miles, that's a signal the free lanes will take you a long time to get somewhere. it creates an option for people. but it is an expense. host: new york is next in oceanside, republican line. ian. caller: good morning everybody. we obviously -- president trump said six set -- $6 trillion, $7 trillion spent overseas. $200 billion, 10 years. we need to. what i would like to get is the democrats remember he is an illegitimate president, resist, resist, russia, now nadler is going after him yet they want to work with him. is he a nazi, is he a racist, it would be nice to get an apology for the start to work with president trump because they keep doing this and here they are willing to work with this man. is he a good man or a nazi you

are going to work with? let's get that straight and apologized to the president. host: gotcha, ian. curious discussions about the topic of infrastructure. what you take away from that? guest: whenever you spend $1 trillion or $2 trillion there will be a discussion so this is part of the process. the meeting they had, i think it's two weeks from now we should see something out of the white house in terms of funding ideas and let's keep going forward on this. to letoo big of an issue personalities and other issues get in the way. host: colorado, democrats line. caller: hello. i would just like to know why the democrats are trying to destroy the united states? trump has done a lot better than most of our democratic people have, even the republicans. host: we are talking about

infrastructure, what is your question and comment. caller: infrastructure needs to be worked on and the democrats need to stop spending all these to run him trying down. they could put it into the infrastructure. it would help. host: thank you. we saw the previous administration put a considerable sum on shovel ready projects. a quick comment on that. talking about the recovery act early on in the obama administration. that was about $900 billion, a very small slice of that was for infrastructure and maybe 100 billion. so one in eight of those dollars went to infrastructure. there was a misunderstanding i think the public had that that was all infrastructure. it was really quite small. shovel ready.

i can understand the president's position at that time that the economy was so unstable and keeping people at work was his priority so i think that was the focus. i think we can get away from that now. unemployment has been taking down. in the -- taking -- ticking down , except in construction. . host: thomas from texas, republican line. caller: how is it going? overseas lately and seen the systems of infrastructure, they are building everything on time. we need better training for our kids. houston, i'mere in doing roofing again because we can't find anybody to work. we need some training really. the money is there.

if you read the report on afghanistan, we are -- trillions. host: i apologize thomas. we hear comparisons when it comes to other countries and how they compare. comparisons,those what's a legitimacy or what would you say? guest: they are further along on the public-private partnership approach then we are in this country and the other thing i would say. some people don't like hearing it, but they tax gasoline at a much higher rate than we do. even if we were to raise our gas tax by $.25 a gallon it would be far cheaper than it is in western europe and competing nations. carolina,ld in north democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: go ahead.

caller: i would like to make a quick comment about the infrastructure funding. i wonder if it could involve tracking a way of mileage regardless of whether they are hydrocarbon or electric. i feel woman get our tax or registration on these vehicles, they should record the mileage at that time on your registration certificate, that way next year when you renew your registration, you would see exactly how many miles it was ,riven and contacts accordingly except a fair tax against electric would not matter. guest: that's a good idea. this conversation goes forward, what are you looking forward to, what you paying attention to?

we are looking two weeks out and see what the administration has in advance of that and what may be happening behind the scenes indicating they are making progress. the: casey serves as managing director. if you'd like to see the reports he referenced and some other .org forg, go to asce more information and we thank you for your time. we will carry on with infrastructure and particularly how your state or locality are dealing with infrastructure issues, particularly in light of this issue about this figure of $2 trillion to pay for it. 202-748-8000 if you live in central or eastern time zones in 202-748-8001 if you live mountain or pacific. >> npr has the story.

the president's campaign woos big donors who spurred in 2016. exclusive retreats, private conference calls with party leaders, special invitations to leadership dinners. those are a few of the perks the reelection campaign is offering supporters who help gather donations from others. invited.,000, get raise 100,000 get to be part of the builders club. a kickoff event is set for tuesday at the trump hotel in washington, d.c.. 'sr notes the president campaign and affiliated committees raised more than $30 million in the campaign already and his campaign has piled away $40 million in advance of the 2020 election. , tweetingocratic side out in his inbox, joe biden

announces 23 endorsements from key south carolina lawmakers and political and community leaders. vox tweeting out cory booker is out with a plan for gun control, calling it the most ambition -- ambitious one of any 2020 candidate and you can read it on their website. this morning, the washington post tweeting about the announcement from senator enzi that he will not run for a fifth term in wyoming. cheney,don't assume liz the congresswoman from that state and daughter of the former vice president. she told me she understood her father's love of house. a very special place. she got to number three and leadership in two years. took her father eight years to get there. there's a path to speaker cheney in 48 years. that is from paul kane this morning. news outy in political of wisconsin.

ron johnson, the senator, the headline reads the last man is said ton johnson lead the wisconsin gop while contemplating his future. johnson is embracing his new role as the leader of the wisconsin republican party and is mulling a third term or a bid for governor. on the morning of november 7, the u.s. senator from oshkosh woke up as the only republican representing the state of wisconsin to survive the election the night before. the last man standing as he calls it. host: infrastructure for the remainder of our program and your experience with it. if you want to talk about your locality or state, the spending figures you have heard. let us know with the remaining time we have left. 202-748-8000 for those on eastern and central. 202-748-8001 in the mountain and pacific time zones. steve is up first in clayton,

north carolina. tell us about the infrastructure situation where you live. roads are ok and they are doing a lot of work locally on the interstates. so that is ok, but just a couple of things i would like to bring up about the private public partnerships. i will go through a real quick. with the private public partnerships you are taking peoplerom businesses or that want to invest so instead of taxing people that have a lot of payingnd instead them back with profit, we could make it a little cheaper just by taxing a little bit more. nobody likes to hear that, or if you want to do a partnership, what about a state retirement plan that they've always got money coming back in so they

always have the money coming back into it instead of just going out to individuals or corporations that make a profit. that's just privileged versus poor. poor people can't make the choice to take an extra told to go through an easier road. the infrastructure bill, why not earlier when you could've put people to work instead of now to make it look good for the next election. host: that is steven north carolina giving his thoughts. we go next to new hampshire. this is gerald. >> good morning. i don't understand why people don't think thingsthe-box on taxing because if we tax gasoline higher, big business won't allow that because they actually keep the price of oil and everything down. that raise the price of

and also tax -- you are putting cars on the road. i heard on the news the other day they had 11 million to 50 million cars on the road. anyone who has traveled the byways understands that the infrastructure needs a lot of work. so who is going to pay for it? hi and fix then roads, the economy might switch over. i was in europe last year, they are way ahead of us. they have windmills all over the place. germany is looking to be carbon free by 2024. klein has a piece out in the washington post taking a look at infrastructure and discussions going on between the democrats and president trump. he says a huge investment is

needed for infrastructure but every democratic candidate is calling for one but in president trump's hands, it would be dangerous in three respects. speaker pelosi and leader schumer should be prepared for the likelihood very few money will get to california or new york. try aesident would likely package and makes one more point saying if it gets president trump reelected, the spending cost will be his sword in the hand for in-service to cut program such as medicare and medicaid. more to his thinking if you want to turn to the website washington post to read it. go ahead. you got to get rid of prevailing wage laws to cut the infrastructure bill down from $2

trillion to at least $1.5 trillion. usage tax as opposed to gas tax, if you do that, all of these people using chainsaws, weed eaters come all of that tax you are getting from them won't show up anymore so you will have to jack up the usage tax for all the people driving cars. that won't do anything for your clean air so the green deal won't matter. mary from is next, virginia. i was just wondering chargingtalk about those of gas with a higher tax, you have to consider how much electricity is generating. a lot of time is generating using fuel so you really can't

charge that tax being generated using fuel. you have to charge a fair amount of money. can't charge one person a certain amount and someone less money when their electricity could be generated using fuel. where that inwers virginia is and what the infrastructure is like. caller: we are in central mountain virginia and the infrastructure, we have some roads that need some help. but it is notr: horrible. host: do you think other areas of the commonwealth get more attention? probably because there are a lot more people in the northern section in the eastern

section of virginia. the population is much higher. host: darlene is in nevada from hendersonville -- from henderson calling. >> thank you for taking my call. the infrastructure in nevada, although i've only been here for a year, there's so much work happening so you can tell there is a lot of investment going on, where it is not is in the education system. nevada does not collect taxes and so most of the services come with the federal money. with the federal money there's been no following of any guidance. the poor people are struggling. inhink when you are choosing america and i think this is been a republican town for so long. they thought the tax money they were getting for federal dollars

is like their tax dollars but it's coming from the count of poor people and so how many poor, disabled, how many needy people you have to get the federal dollars. with the services you can't find them from the poor people. i'm trying to understand because in california you can see where the money is being spent, there's just so many people. host: i was asking where you would live before or how the infrastructure was compared to where you are now. host: in california there are always roads working. they are not building as much. of course they've got the stadium in sacramento and they are getting ready to have another stadium in sacramento. but still, the struggles with the people. evening california, the poor people are not getting educated so a lot of them never even leave their parents homes and

then they lose their parents homes because they can't afford to keep them. education is the most important thing in america. host: that is darlene from nevada. this was nancy pelosi last week. the house speaker asked about the conversation she and chuck schumer had with the president over infrastructure with the $2 trillion estimated amount and what she would like to see come out of that. [video clip] >> my opinion is we will wait for what the president has to say. he said we will be putting and we look forward to hearing what he has to say. to $2esident took it up trillion. what we would like to see is making a commitment that it be 8020 from the federal government, 20 from localities. --terms of

you can't build infrastructure for the future without resiliency related to climate and we want to see women, veterans and minority owned businesses to participate in the prosperity this will bring and we want to see prevailing wage to be part of it because we have always been about bigger paychecks and building infrastructure. it was a positive meeting. we advanced to the discussion down the road and we will see what the president has to say when he acts but this is so important, it's about commerce, clean air and water so it's a public health issue. it's about the jobs of building infrastructure but also the commerce it would create and so

it's a quality-of-life issue for people they can spend time with their families. president sent a tweet out reading there is nothing easy about the usa infrastructure plan especially when our country has spent $7 trillion over the last 19 years. i am looking forward to the bipartisan plan adding it is badly needed. marilyn, go ahead. caller: thank you -- maryland go ahead. caller: i'd like to see someone call this what it is, privatization. we are losing out on the things we own. what is going to be next, privatizing our national parks? let's name them after the trump kids. host: when it comes to transportation and infrastructure issues, what is wrong with privatization? >> why did we cut taxes on the superrich they don't have to pay their fair share to fix the

roads we all drive on? they don't care about the roads we drive on unless they can make a profit. privatizing education is the perfect example. it has not worked, it will not work. it is pushing us backwards. host: let's hear from ronald in new york. i have a suggestion about trying to maintain the shortng highways by doing stretches where it is needed. in a lot of cases around here, most of the road is in fairly good condition but there are bad areas on that particular highway. instead of doing what needs doing, they do the whole highway and they are out of money. i think a majority of this money, it is an awful lot of money anyway. the majority of the money right

up front to go to bridges where it is really unsafe in some states, bridge systems are almost ready to fail. ,ather than try to do so much start where it is needed the worse. york that is ronald in new giving his recommendation for short stretches of construction and looking at bridges. jeff although her facebook page has a different context to the topic saying fiber-optic cable for high-speed internet, road repair and trash cleanup along roadside and then he also adds electric car charging stations so you can make your comments on our facebook page and post on our twitter feed. for the 10 remaining minutes or so we have left. your topic and conversation about infrastructure and what you think about the current condition and especially in light of this discussion going

on between president trump and house democrats. nebraska, go ahead. caller: they need to get a lot of these heavy trucks off of our highways and put them on the rail, that is what the rail was designed for. i think that would save a lot of our roads and also i wouldn't mind a higher tax, but privatizing is a big no for me. host: you are saying trucks are doing more damage on the road compared to cars? caller: a lot more damage. host: how do you compare that with the number of trucks versus the number of cars on the road? wouldn't cars do more damage over the long run? caller: no. they are lighter. host: ok. list go to indiana. thomas, go ahead. is we spend too much money in other countries,

why are we not taking care of our own first? usedof this money could be for taking care of the roads and we have a situation here, one bad there wereso numerous blowouts on the tires across the bridges i felt were unsafe. too much money has been outside the country. we need to take care of our own first and then we can help others, i think that would be great. host: would you approve of $2 trillion being spent on this. caller: it is probably not even enough to take care of everything that has been let go. i would approve of it but i don't know where the money would come from. host: here is greta. >> political reporting the house judiciary committee has taken its first formal steps to holding attorney general william barr in contempt of congress for defying the subpoena for robert

mueller's unredacted report as well as underlying evidence. the panel noted today it will consider contempt citations against him on wednesday. a vote of approval from the democratic led committee would send the measure to the full house for consideration later this month. also this morning, the markets reacting to the president's decision to raise tariffs on china. the hill newspaper routes -- saying the dow jones plunged 1.6 percent while the s&p 500 dropped nearly 45 points or 1.5%. the nasdaq fell 145 points. the largest one-day market decline since january. the president defended his decision in a tweet earlier this morning saying the united states has been losing for many years. 600 to 800 million a year on trade. sorry, we are not going to be doing that anymore. the president tweeting moments ago on debate in the house and

senate over disaster aid. the president saying this. puerto rico has been given more money by congress for hurricane disaster relief than any state in the history of the u.s.. florida got $12 million and texas got 9 billion for their monster hurricane spread the democrats are saying no relief to puerto rico. the president tweeting that on disaster aid this morning. you can watch the debate this week in the house. they will be bringing up their own pieces of legislation in the senate trying to work on a compromise. more on that this week. host: let's hear from jim, santa fe, new mexico. had, thank you for taking my call. we had a $1.5 trillion tax cut and now they are screaming for more money for infrastructure. why didn't they think about that before the tax cut?

i also want to make another comment. a republican caller said the eisenhower administration, we built the whole highway. only republicans can get this done. back in the eisenhower administration that a 90% tax rate on the superrich. david in phoenix, arizona, good morning. caller: i really liked with a gentleman before me just had to say. i wanted to talk about salem, oregon because this is -- i was backocratic operative there in salem and i had a lot of fun working with people, but if you take the will laminate river, what is on the west side of the will laminate river is 80% republican. on the right side is 90% democrat. between overridge 200 -- 250,000 people.

that leads to horrific transportation problems. many they have had attempts to put a second or even , for someidge in reason, the politics never get done and so when we talk about the division in washington, i and at my hometown of salem i see the separation. like, compareit and contrast what you are seeing in phoenix with infrastructure. caller: phoenix has so much more that they don't need infrastructure money. what needs to happen is the smaller and upcoming important cities like salem, like olympia, washington, they need to get

more of the infrastructure dollars so that they can fix their stuff because the big cities have plenty of money. host: let's hear from joseph in houston, texas. caller: my comment about this becomes anhis opportunity for contractors to charge more and consumers to get less. this example can be proven throughout the nation. i really believe we need to bring this back to employing people, steady employment and doing it ourselves versus hiring contractors. we've gone beyond the 30% to fulfillntractors the lack of personnel in dot.

i'm not for this at all and i appreciate your program and i will turn it over to you. host: california, this is chris, go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. way to dothink a good taxation for roadways would be ofbase it upon the weight the vehicle, the miles per gallon and emissions. host: why those three factors? because the wait for example, the heavier the vehicle, the more damage it does to the road and the more harmful the admissions is -- emissions is, the more damage it does to the environment. couldechnology today they take a picture of your license plate and automatically know what those factors are. host: that was chris in california. this is her second call from

napa today, what is the infrastructure picture where you live specifically? county, we local have voted on a state to fix thl roads. i had a neighbor who told me --t the roads were so bad the suspension companies would make money. there is also a town that is about 18 miles away and conditions are so congested i would say 40% over congested and it might take three times to get through a stoplight. host: that is chris on the west coast. let's hear from peter in massachusetts. infrastructureas there is a bridge between adolor

on and west springfield that is -- being reconstructed. it is a terrible plan on how they tried to do it. they should have closed the bridge for three months and reconstructed it quickly instead of taking four years. i have a complaint about these people who said only the super rich got a tax cut. that is a false narrative. most of every demographic in the united states got some kind of a tax-cut, not only the superrich. that bridge that you spoke about, was there another alternative routes of that bridge were closed? caller: they're all our turn it --e routes but their there is also a railroad that frequently blocks traffic along the way. it is not their fault.