trump administration's plan to change how the poverty line is determined. as change how the poverty line is determined. as always, we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. ♪ night when p.m. last the house was able to pass humanitarian aid to the southern border. 95is bill passed 230-1 although we read it faces a very tough path to enactment. the president vowed to veto and there is a senate version waiting in the wings. we want to get your reaction to the house action and the border issues in general. lots more converging stories. .epublicans call 202-748-8001

democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. we have a separate fourth line for folks living in border states, 202-748-8003 is your number. invitecannot call, we your comments on social media. @cspanwj is our twitter handle and you can post a comment at facebook.com/cspan. here is how the washington times is reporting on all of this. democrats give-and-take on trump border aid legislation. five months after labeling the border a manufactured crisis, speaker pelosi led democrats to approve $4.5 billion humanitarian aid package. democrats took their pound of flesh in the vote, deleting some of the president's priorities such as money for investigators to stop human traffickers and

more detention beds for i.c.e. they packed the bill on new rules on how mr. trump can spend money and conditions migrants face at the border. here is nancy pelosi on the floor yesterday. [video clip] >> today we found out the administration is sending children back to a station in clint, texas, where days earlier those children had been removed after enduring weeks without a shower or change of clothing. when visiting the children, one lawyer reported the children are locked in their cells. they cannot bring themselves to play because they are trying to stay alive. week, the department of justice argued in court the government should not have to provide children in custody with beds.toothbrushes, or this situation is child abuse. it violates every value we have

not only as americans, but as moral beings. our values are being undermined by the president's failed policies, which intensified the situation of heartbreak and horror on the border, which challenges the conscience of america. this legislation is a vote against the cruel attitude toward children of this administration. this bill does not fund the administration's failed mass detention policy. it funds effective, humane alternatives to detention that have a proven record of success. this legislation secures limits on how the money is spent and how the administration treats children. it creates strong oversight by congress so we can protect children and ensure this crisis never occurs again. host: here are some of the details about the bill.

-- $4.5 billion would go to establish health standards for kids and adults in custody, requires the department of homeland security to ensure all migrants have access to translation services. it limits the amount of time migrant children can spend at an arrival shelter and unaccompanied kids can only be moved after hhs notifies congress about a transfer. all these provisions came following back and forth within the caucus in the house monday night through the day on tuesday, which led to this vote. 230-195. democrats will now dive into negotiations with senate gop leaders to get the aid package signed into law before leaving thursday. even if the chambers reach a deal, it is unclear if president trump will sign the final bill

as he demands far-reaching changes of asylum law in exchange for calling off mass deportation rates. here is what the president had to say prior to the house vote on another matter yesterday. [video clip] >> are you personally concerned about conditions at these border securities? president trump: i am very concerned. they are much better than they were under president obama by far. we are trying to get the democrats to agree to give us humanitarian aid, humanitarian money and that is a fair question. i am very concerned. it is in much better shape than it ever was. a lot of these young children come from places you don't want to know about. the way they have lived and the poverty they grew up in. if we can get this bill signed, we will be able to do it. the democrats do not want to sign anything and i think they are going to sign this from what i understand -- i call it

humanitarian aid. this is an about the border. it's a numbers are way down, mexico has been helping a lot. they have strong immigration laws, moving 15,000 people or 16,000 people to our southern border, which is incredible. a lot of signs are coming out where the cartels and bad folks, the coyotes and all the bad people bringing young children and taking advantage, horribly, it is a form of slavery, it is horrible. you reported on it, a lot of that is stopping because of what we are doing and what is happening on the border. i want to thank mexico. we appreciate what they are doing and hopefully they can keep it up. host: betty in florida, democratic line. what do you think about the hack -- house action last night? at the every time i look

border, i think about what our through.es went i cannot believe we are living in a country that mistreats children. children not getting nourishment and they throw their parents in jail. president trump should be put in jail the way he is treating those children. it is awful the way those children are being mistreated. host: is this enough, what the house did last night? caller: if they don't let president trump take it to build a wall. he is not going to spend it on those kids. he is going to prove himself when he gets elected again that he -- david in's move onto north bend, oregon. good morning, david. caller: good morning.

i am not a very fast speaker. i wanted to say something about the immense coverage of this particular subject even as serious as it is and of course, i think we should follow the laws when it comes to immigration. i wonder how many americans realize the serious issue of the deficit. every dollar that goes to the deficit is money loaned by extreme wealth and other countries and middle america. treasury bonds. host: is there a connection between what you are talking about -- the deficit and the border story we are talking about? caller: are you going to let me finish this sentence? host: go ahead, david. goesr: every dollar that

to the deficit is a deprivation on serious interest paid by the taxpayer to these people that loan to the government. ofcourse, it deprives us very serious issues in our own country, spending that money on paying out to the wealth. host: thank you, david. todd calling from brentwood, florida. caller: nancy pelosi's house of representatives is a joke. they are hurting themselves, their party, and the united states. beyond silly, they are absurd. host: what makes them a joke? caller: i am about to tell you that. host: ok. caller: they are spending several days on reparations.

they look ridiculous. they don't know what they are doing. i think the turning point was john dean. you are embarrassed to put him on your tv screen. they are going to have to retrofit every building in the cars andates, ban airplanes in favor of high-speed rail, which has proven to be a complete disaster everywhere it has been. the green new deal contemplates guaranteed income for those unable or unwilling to work. they are trying to move up politically on this kind of issue. host: you are calling from a border state and mentioned a lot of issues, do you want to speak to the house action and the border issues going on? billion is a piece of what i am talking about. they are not serious about helping children. they are not serious about anything. it is all pure politics and

anti-trump. host: one viewer at twitter rights trump will win on this issue if the left does not come up with a loud and detailed solution to stopping economic migrants crossing the border. inwas 230 to 195 happened 10:00 range on the house floor. all but 4 democrats backed the legislation. the loan dissenters on the democratic side, alexandria rashida tlaib,- ayanna pressley, three republicans they point out voted in favor of the bill despite gop leaders' repeated attacks on the democrats for handling this issue and a trump veto threat. will heard of texas, chris

smith, and brian fitzpatrick of pennsylvania. that is in the politico piece. they add tensions have been running high leading up to the vote, especially among progressive and hispanic members. representative jayapal and connie watson coleman got angela heated exchange. each member had the right to oppose legislation based on their own principles. lawmakers, both of them later downplay the message or the exchange. they are talking about the congresswoman from the state of washington. that is in politico. carl is calling from chicago, democratic line. caller: how are you doing this morning? host: good, how are you? caller: i am listening and i

hear republicans want to talk about everything else. what they did in the congress yesterday -- what we need the looking at is the bottom line on this. what we are doing is not humane. we are supposed to be a christian nation. -- he lies and everything else .e says is a lie this should never be happening. donald trump does not care.

walking down that road the germans walked down. i know nobody likes making these comparisons. they told themselves lies about -- thereas doing and were conservative, religious leaders and they should be openly standing up for these children. they cannot present themselves for asylum. so frustrated they tried to swim what is wrong with this country? republicans, i don't want to lyingou stupid, but stop to yourselves. host: carl referring to this photo published in the new york times. some have chosen not to publish

it. here is the photo. horror and heartbreak. that led tophoto widespread anguish. they talk about the fate of oscar alberto martinez were mirrors and his 20 month old daughter. the new york times story says the portrait was captured monday by this journalist in the hours after the two died. it represents a poignant distillation of the perilous journey migrants face on their passage north to the u.s. and consequences that often go unseen in the loud, caustic debate over border policy. the acute suffering of refugees personal stories often obscured by larger events. this graphic photo is making the

rounds both in print and television and elsewhere. tricia, thanks for hanging on. you are in warsaw, pennsylvania. is this is amment .roblem that we created we, the united states through our legislatures and government separated children from their parents. just to take a minute, how would we feel if the government came in and took our children? where is our compassion? where is our empathy? this is a situation we created with the border problem with the children not receiving proper care. .s christians in the first place, you are supposed to follow the teachings of jesus christ.

you are supposed to apply the words of the bible to your life, personally. the just very upset attitude i see and people who go sunday.h on i am grateful for everything you have given me, but i want to withhold that same compassion for people who are trying to come in and get asylum. i am not advocating in any way allowing people to come in illegally. this whole thing is a problem we created. i, again, want to reference the comments made by cherry focal, they are disgusting. that is my comment.

host: the threat by refugees is practically nonexistent. these are people -- people treat them as such. more of your calls in a moment area here is a tweet that came in from the president of the united states. democrats want open borders, which equals violent crime, drugs, and human trafficking. they also want high taxes. republicans want's what is good for america, the exact opposite. here is larry from texas. say all thist to congress, that the house passed last night, why are we paying for their legal fees and all that stuff? sending them money for foreign

aid. and --ernment can use it the way they want. paying for all their legal fees .nd housing this is a bunch of people coming up looking for work. host: let's move on to sylvia in virginia. sylvia, are you there? caller: hello. yes. the reason why i am calling is let thewn there, private sector be a part of

helping these children. my heart goes out to them. previous callers said why don't christian groups do something about it? my church would help me go down if the government allowed me to go in and help these children. i have been trying to learn spanish for a while now and i think it would help me to be able to communicate with these children that mainly speak interpreter,ith an the deficit is so high, but let the private sector go down and help out. i would get on a bus in a minute ago help. host: a little bit more about the state of this legislation the house passed. if you go to the hill, they -- whilemakers argue they believe the upper chamber bill is imperfect, it would

address pressing needs. from kevin mccarthy, the senate has shown what adult supervision can do with bipartisan legislation to get it done. republicans also expressed concerns over the language in the house related to restrictions on detention facilities with others arguing they don't feel it allocates enough funds to address needs at the border or underlying problems. i don't think the senate bill does the job that needs to be done. if you are just throwing money at the problem -- this is from chip roy. he said we are just going to end up putting gasoline on the fire because you are going to continue to encourage cartels to bring in more people, catch and release more and make the problem continue to grow. william calling from south carolina on the democratic line. caller: good morning.

my name is william bishop and i live in south carolina. the only thing i am saying about this is we are all human beings and we came from somewhere. i am tired of these guys talking to the moderator about switching the subject. these are children. you have animal control treat animals like this. if you have a dog and don't feed -- won't let them brush their teeth, don't have anything to brush their teeth. you don't do children like that. animals are treated better than these children. if you have a dog and starve it, they will come and get you and lock you up. we all came from somewhere.

carolina here in south . we don't have real users, real buyers, but not -- you cannot buy a t-shirt, a pair of socks made out of this country and the 1% took all this money and give them middle income for five years. it is a shame and a disgrace. host: let's hear from tom in miami, independent caller. sir.r: good afternoon, all we hear is this is donald trump's fault for it i want listeners to understand this. why are these illegals going to -- coming to america? that is the first problem you have to address. host: what do you think the answer to that question is? caller: i think this is the

democrats trying to flood the voter rolls. they are turning these red states into blue. this is all about the vote. they don't care nothing about the children, they only want the votes. 90% white anglo. we are down to 12%. making thesebout people have a better life, this is about taking over our country, our electoral college. these people should have stayed in their own culture and mexico has some of the greatest -- in the world. thisne caller from texas, is all about jobs and getting money. how much money is being sent back? excuse me, sir. host: sorry to keep

interrupting. you are calling on the independent line, correct? caller: yes, sir. host: what has made you independent on this issue as opposed to maybe a republican? caller: i am independent because i look at both sides of the story. there better life should be their own country and culture. a lot of central american and south american countries are prospering like america. republicans are starting to understand this. is to oncrats want flood this country with millions of people. millions of people have to have cars and water and all of this. environmentalists, we can't have all this -- this is nothing but with allyour country

this illegal, different country, totally. they are not compromising english culture. you really think they care about the founding fathers? this is about jobs and money. host: thanks for calling and sharing your info. a couple more stories, lots on this issue. washington post headline says hundreds of tsa workers are being diverted to airports from the southern border to enforce immigration policies along the border. several -- identified in numerous reports by dhs lawmakers heard tuesday at a house --t the wall street journal if you have not heard and elsewhere reporting on the resignation of top u.s. border officials. he resigns as the house passes the relief bill.

this is john sanders, the acting head of the u.s. customs and .order control -- patrol he did not give a reason to his departure, but people familiar said he had been overwhelmed by the scale of the crisis and frequent changes in personnel and policy direction inside the trump administration. time for a few more calls before we wrap up and begin our guest segment. brent from charleston, west virginia. welcome. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i am listening to people talk about we should react as christians and have compassion and it is all about the children and so on and so forth.

those folksons to because they are acting exactly as the mexican drug cartels want you to react. this is why they have used children and innocent people as -- all you have to do is listen to the people who deal with this every day. while they catch and release all aisleseople supposedly are- drug cartels smuggling in drugs, you are being manipulated. .his is the real disgrace the real disgrace is the hypocritical democrat party. we have speaker of the house, the democratic speaker of the

house talking about the divine children. this is the same woman who openly advocates for taxpayer-funded -- on-demand and yet she has the audacity to sit in public and talk about the divine spark in children. we are scaring children and so on and so forth. ladies and gentlemen, my fellow americans, my goodness. are we going to enforce our own laws or are we simply going to say it is not convenient to enforce our laws anymore so we will not do that? if we begin this, if we -- whath that precedent other parts of the constitution and the bill of rights are we going to ignore because it doesn't make us feel good to

observe these laws. host: thank you for calling and thanks to everybody who called. a short segment here. we will do more on this later, the house about what will happen next. after a short break, we are ourg to continue conversation. our guest will be ben cline and we will also talk about other issues relative to his committee assignments and the trump administration's proposal to address the poverty line. our guest will be g.k. butterfield. we will be right back. ♪

>> i am a white male and i am prejudiced. talk something i was not -- taught, but something i learned. i don't like to be forced to like people. i like to be led to like people through example and what can i do to change to be a better american? >> that was a remarkable moment. i did not realized until i stepped off the set because there were more calls after that and we had to keep rolling, how powerful it was. there was something in his voice that touched me. it was so authentic as he searches for the words to say something to a national audience that most of us will not admit in our own homes. i am prejudiced. >> heather mcgee, the head of demos was a guest on "washington

journal" in august 2016 when gary called. she talked about that conversation and her follow-up. >> part of the reason for that is you remember, this was august. we had this racially charged summer with donald trump's campaign with black lives matter and police shootings and tragic events all in baton rouge and dallas. it was really a time when people felt like all they were seeing on tv about race was bad news manhere was first, a white admitting he was prejudiced which, for people of color, we kind of all went, finally. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern q&a.span's .ost: our guest is ben cline

we will talk more about border and immigration, but other is -- issues related to your areas of work. you voted no last night on the 4.5 billion dollars in humanitarian aid. how come? go far enough not addressing the crisis at the border. all this bill does is continue to fund the ongoing crisis. what we need are not only changes to what is going on on the ground with regards to border security, but also funding for overtime -- for those on the board. we need judges able to hear the cases. we need changes to our asylum laws to make sure children are not removed from their parents custody. we need to make sure this system works rather than continuing the broken system we have got. republicansd house did a news conference where you

talked about the crisis. if it is a crisis, why not at least pass the immediate money needed to handle those humanitarian needs? guest: what the house did was pass money with strings attached that will slow the process from being addressed. the senate bill, which passed 30-1 could be passed in the house before we leave this week if we can get it done and get aid to these people who need it. families coming across the border and children in need of assistance. this is a real crisis we have been talking about for many months and the president submitted his request may 1 and this is the first time the house has even begun to address the problem and they have done so, fortunately, in a partisan way. host: freshman congressman then klein, you got -- ben cline, you got the seat from robert

lighthizer. guest: worked in legislative office as a legislative correspondent addressing mail to constituents all the way to chief of staff before i left to go back to my district and start a law career in 2002. host: 202-748-8001 for republicans. democrats, it is 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. we have a separate line for undocumented immigrants, it is 202-748-8003. what has it been like watching this issue of immigration and border and now humanitarian concerns when you are not a member versus when you are a member? what has the difference been in terms of calculations and what you are seeing and thinking? guest: it has always been an issue that affected my community. in my district, the shenandoah manyy of tenure, we have -- of virginia, we have many

legal and illegal immigrants. domesticecutor of violence, whether as a defense attorney or congressman, these to presentcontinuing themselves and it has been a top issue for my constituents. border security has been a key issue and one that i have been pressing for many months since i first took office. we had a press conference last week where we talked about the need to address this border crisis. we have a record number of individuals coming over, 60% higher than previous years. we have 60,000 unaccompanied minors coming over the border. we need to make changes to the system to accommodate these individuals. host: democrats are angry over the trump administration's treatment of these migrant children at the border.

is this a legitimate issue, in your view? guest: we need to make sure children and adults are treated with respect and care at the border. we need to provide the resources necessary to make sure individuals get to a judge quickly and have the basic health and medical care they need. that there is food, water, and medical available. we need more asylum judges to hear the cases within two years of the date of arrival. that is the length of time it takes to get to a judge. about 600 plus days and that is unacceptable. host: is something going to be worked out this week before you go on break? guest: i would like to see the senate bill move to the floor of the house, but the speaker has other ideas. she wants to force this bill into a conference which will delay this aid getting to the border. host: let's get to calls for ben

cline of virginia. good morning, paul. caller: good morning, c-span. what i wanted to say is i have been watching this with these kids coming from across the border. it seems like the media seems to just keep pounding this drum with trump. why didn't they cover this like this when bombs were dropping on ,he kids in syria, mosul afghanistan, iraq? nobody covered it and all of a sudden these kids are dying, some of them. when large crowds of people move, that stuff happens. it happens when the military moves large crowds of soldiers to another country, soldiers die . all these hypocrites keep calling about these people dying, these kids, they were dying in all these countries when bombs were dropping on their heads. billion you agree $4.5

or more is needed to help the folks at the border? caller: do i think now what is that? host: 4.5 billion dollars was approved in the house last night. is that money worth spending on the border, in your view? caller: i think it is. i think they need the money to do what they have got to do. they need money for that wall, which nobody wants to give. host: let's hear from the congressman. guest: this is an issue we have been talking about for many, many months. theas taken 6 weeks for speaker to find the time on the house calendar to bring it up for a vote. the senate has moved in a bipartisan way 30-1 to move a bill forward. the fastest way to get aid to the people at the border is take the senate bill and pass it and get it signed into law. host: let's go to eugene in michigan. caller: thanks for taking my

call. i am old enough i can remember when they had german prisoners of war here and they were treated better than the people brought up north to work in the farms from the south and the mexicans they brought here to work on the farms, they were treated much better than german prisoners of war were. the mexican kids, they worked in the fields as young as eight years old and got $.12 an hour. this problem they are talking about wanting to bring them here so they can vote, i am sponsoring a stepdaughter from mexico now and she has to be in this country five years before she can apply for citizenship and if she receives any benefit from welfare, medical care, anything like that, that makes it more difficult, if not impossible to gain citizenship and my wife is from mexico and

she came here in 1985 and i herled immigration to get citizenship here. it is costing $4000 for an attorney to get the stepdaughter's citizenship. they cannot vote i get there citizenship and they cannot apply for citizenship until they have been here five years and republicans are using this for an excuse. most republicans are old white people and they are scared to death that once they are in a therity -- when they are in majority, they will treat the white people like the white people are treating them. host: let's get a response from our guest. guest: we want to be a welcoming

country and reform our legal immigration system so we can be that welcoming nation. for the world, we are a shining he can of hope and we want to be that. reforming our legal immigration system is important. we also want to secure our borders so people take advantage of the legal immigration process. that is when you get the dangerous trip or the situation at the border, more than a million people estimated to be coming across the border illegally this year. some of them will be declaring asylum. many of them are not eligible for asylum. for those that are, we want the judges and resources to be available when they get here. that is not happening and the house bill does not provide additional resources for that kind of asylum request for the judges for the military. only the humanitarian aid and we

need more than that for this crisis at the border. host: what is your reaction to the news the head of customs and border patrol resigned, leaving as the border is in crisis? what is your reaction? guest: it is in crisis and it has been in crisis. the failure of speaker pelosi and the house of representatives to address this crisis is something we can correct if we take up the senate bill. host: how about this part of it that talks about john sanders. he sent his resignation to the acting homeland security secretary, did not give a specific reason, but people familiar said he had been overwhelmed by the scale of the crisis and frequent changes in personnel and policy direction inside the trump administration. guest: i cannot speak to his decision-making, but it is unprecedented. we have moved from single

individual adults coming across the border illegally to whole family units and because of certain decisions, the florez decision with the supreme court and the way our laws work, these miners have to be released after 20 days and when they are released, they have to go into health and human services custody and that makes it difficult to reunify. we have to change the laws. the speaker is only about continuing the ongoing crisis and we need to make changes to the laws to make sure we can solve it. host: let's go to bob in philadelphia. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i also wanted to thank representative klein for his -- represent if cline for his vote and his courage. certainly appreciate that. i wanted to point out how the democrats refuse to debate what the real issues are regarding

this invasion, that is what it is. it is an invasion. what they do and what a true coward does is hide behind children. only a coward would hide behind children. they muddy the water. they will not debate what the real issues are, so they cannot get to the root cause and the root problem. what they will do for their own political benefit is hide behind children. it is so reprehensible. somebody in some genteel manner on the house floor or wherever has to point out that is what they do. they literally hide behind children. it is an act of cowardice. until they get to the real root problem of why these people are abusing the system, invading our country at a time when we cannot even pay our own bills. we really need a wall or

something. massive border protection help from the mexicans or whatever. maybe parts of all of that. until we get to that real solution, they are going to continue to hide behind children . again, representative cline, i think. you are a true patriot. keep up the good work. great job. guest: this is an issue we all should get behind. republican, democrat, this is not a partisan issue when it comes to the health and well-being of children coming across our border. there is time to debate border security and the wall, there is time to debate legal immigration reform. we need resources for the military at the border, resources for asylum judges at the border, resources for all kinds of people working at the border over time for our cpb

agents working at the border, not just humanitarian assistance that, quite frankly, continues to exacerbate the problem changesany fundamental to the system and additional resources for the people on the ground. host: are you in favor of a wall at the border as president trump like it to be? guest: i am and i do believe we need to continue pressing for a while at the border and increased border security in addition to technological improvements, drones, forcible entry improvements. there are different solutions that need to be applied, but this is unprecedented. we need to focus on it as a congress and a nation and make sure we can solve this problem as a country. host: this headline says hundreds of tsa workers are being diverted from airports to the southern border. good idea? guest: right and it is.

that is being done without additional resources under the house bill. the senate bill would provide resources to provide assistance to the border without jeopardizing security at our airports. we are robbing peter to pay paul and we need to provide those resources to make sure we can get the job done at our airports and the border. host: moving on to west virginia, david on the independent line. caller: we have hundreds of thousands of american citizens, adults and children living in cities inonditions in west virginia, virginia, and throughout the nation. can they declare asylum and get funding to get out of the horrible conditions they are in and these people are leaving their countries which have no sewage, no plumbing and living in horrible conditions and like

i said, citizens in our country, hundreds of thousands are living in worse conditions than they left their countries and they cannot get any funding to get out of the horrible conditions they are in. the media is not covering that, congress is not doing funding for that, but they are covering all of this. are these people going to move into the same situations, the horrible conditions our citizens are living in and nobody is paying any interest to? what is going on here? they keep complaining for political reasons. those people are being taken care of a whole lot better than they are in their own countries. go back and trace these people to their countries, what they are leaving. no sewage, no indoor plumbing and no people at the border, they are staying in the holiday inn hilton compared to what they are leaving.

thisrats could have fixed problem the first two years of obama when they were king if they wanted to. host: let's get a reaction from our guest. this: we need to remember is a bipartisan issue and we need to address it as a unified government. the senate bill is a unified bill. we should take it up in the house. the reforms to our asylum laws, asylum is for people escaping war, people under immediate threat to their life, drug, and violence. many of those coming across the border illegally declaring asylum are looking for a better life and we encourage people to go through the legal immigration process to pursue a better life, but the asylum process is not for those people simply seeking an improvement in their economic situation. host: just under 10 minutes left

with our guest, republican congressman ben cline. where is this topic of immigration on the list and hierarchy of issues you hear about at town halls and other places? guest: it is an issue i here at the town halls i have been having. 19 cities and counties and we have had town halls in more than half of them. immigration is one of the top issues i hear every time. we have a lot of communities with increases of immigration. harrisonburg and roanoke, lynchburg. we want to be welcoming and we want to make sure there are jobs available, education facilities available for them. it is an important issue for us. host: let's go to jerry in new

jersey. good morning. caller: good morning, everybody. i have one question and a comment. i don't understand why anybody is not asking this. they keep talking about how poor these people are and coming over for economical reason. $8,000s the $5,000, coming from to pay the cartels to bring them over? $5,000, $8,000 per person. if you asked me, i would be stuck in the mud because i would not be able to do it. how poor are these people that they are coming up with this money? my comment is please stand behind the president. i am a registered democrat. i cannot even describe that whole thing. .hey have gone nuts i voted for trump and i will vote for him again. please stand behind him.

he is right with this situation and write about iran. right with just about everything he is doing. thereanother policy out sort of on a two week delay, these massive deportations we have been reading about that were supposed to happen this past sunday, giving democrats in congress two weeks to come up with a solution. is that a good idea right now? guest: the president understands we need to enforce our laws. for those designated by a judge as here illegally and eligible for deportation, the laws need to be followed in this country. he is sympathetic because he understands there is a humanitarian crisis at the border. he proposed may 1 for a funding bill to address the order crisis. we need to get it done. in the senate bill is the

fastest way to get it done. calling on the line for undocumented immigrants. caller: good morning. longtime watcher, first time caller. i apologize if i feel nervous on the line. dreamer. i qualify under the dream act. i am able to stay in this country for the time being. my concern happens to be with the children in these detention centers being separated from their families. if they were to be released and integrated into american society . for many of these kids who from this point on will only know america as their home and grow up essentially american knowing this american lifestyle, the one i, myself, have lived pretty much my entire life, what will congress do to ensure that these

children and other dreamers like to be welcomed into an american society. in my opinion, the president is not doing the duty he is doing to represent americans, documented and undocumented. guest: there is a need to address the issue of those who are coming to this country legally and illegally as children and adults. unfortunately, what the house has passed is a bill to not just but also provide mass amnesty to those who came across illegally who are adults in this country and that is an unacceptable situation and encourages additional illegal immigration. we need reforms to the legal immigration system and the illegal immigration system and most notably, we need to provide resources to the border right now to address this crisis.

host: you are on the judiciary committee in the house. robert mueller expected to testify next month. necessary at this point for mueller to testify and what would you like to learn from him that you may be have not learned from reading the report? guest: i think what we hear from mueller is his testimony is his report. i have a feeling when he is put in the witness chair, that is what we are going to hear a lot of, please look to my report for my answer to this question. we have additional questions. we have additional questions related to how the investigation of the president came about. ongoing investigations into the irs. we have an inspector general's investigation going on right now. we have a u.s. attorney investigating the launch of the investigation into the president prior to the mueller investigation even occurring and these things need to be asked

about and frankly be answered by robert mueller. host: we have a couple more calls and i want to ask you about something, completely different topic, something called the term act and it has to do with prices of drugs, correct? talk about this legislation. guest: one of the other issues i am asked about in town hall meetings is how we will address the rising cost of prescription drugs. one of the issues we are facing is namebrand drug companies all too often hang onto the on their drugs beyond the term of the patent. as they are nearing the end of the term, they will tweak something related to dosage or something like that that is peripheral and get a whole new patent that extends the life of the drug, extends the term of the drug and does not allow it to become a generic. we want to shift the burden of proof to the drug companies,

force the drug companies to come in and explain why this is new and novel, why should it not go generic? if the burden of proof is shifted, hopefully we will have more generics and lower cost for consumers. comments.couple the first question i had is understanding the environment these individuals are coming from from various countries, not just mexico. my question is in these detention centers, what health care screenings are being done because the diseases that are endemic in this countries -- these countries run the gamut of not tuberculosis, it was that long ago that the headlines and mosquitous

abatement programs in florida and the puerto rican numbers of zika virus and that this virus can carry for prolonged periods of time with advisories to males sexfemales to abstain from because it could transmit to their partner and these children are born with severe abnormalities. this a concern that possibility of a massive demand on our medical systems where these individuals are being transported to. and are they being followed? placed somewhere, is there any medical or health department follow up on these individuals to ensure we are not

alonging a medical crisis with individuals that are coming here because employers can illegally employ them send our y home so that they can pay for coyote transporters to send them here. guest: they journey is one with peril for those taking it, it is a danger, not only for the health and safety of the people coming but once they arrive, there are health and safety concerns that need to be addressed. you have drug trafficking, human trafficking, an estimate that 30% of women who make the journey are sexually assaulted. there are problems that need to be addressed to stop the illegal immigration from occurring. the president's proposed reforms

to allow for asylum to be requested back in a home country, we have requested help from the mexican government to turn more people away at their border, their southern border, which is much smaller than the united states border with mexico. we need to not only provide humanitarian aid at the border but also change our laws to prevent the journey from happening in the first place to. host: jack, davenport, iowa, democrat. caller: in this instance i think the republicans are on the right track and there are two reasons for this, president johnson's wenomic expert said that, if open our social benefits to everyone in the world, our social security system will fail and i do not like social security failing.

the second reason is because the study of malaria. i was given it in college. , the cell slows when it cannot control intake of water. if we cannot regulate our border, i think the country -- that is very dangerous and republicans are on the right track. host: final thought from our guest. guest: border security is critically important, humanitarian assistance to those at the border is critically important and we need to act now to provide the assistance. the senate passed a bill, a bipartisan bill that needs to come before the house of representatives immediately and this bill that passed the house yesterday. a from getting to the border -- yesterday will stop aid from getting to the border. host: ben cline, thank you for your time. guest: we have two hours left -- guest: thank you.

host: we have two hours left and we will take a break but when we come back, looking at today in washington, your take on what stories are most important to you. we have been talking about emergency boarding -- border funded and we think senate action is coming this week at a house hearing today of the oversight and reform commission of kellyanne conway and the hatch act. a hearing on the office of fire --counsel president trump gives a speech another this area and decision day of the supreme court. waiting for a decision about gerrymandering and the senses. all that -- census. all that and anything on your mind. democrats call 202-748-8000. republicans go 202-748-8001 --

call 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. we look forward to hearing you -- from even a couple of minutes. >> i am a cold war historian and communism and different ideologies and friends of mine said, why do you want to tackle this issue? marriage and family and you are jumping into the culture war. do you want to do this? >> an author will be our guest on in-depth sunday, july 7 from noon to 2:00 p.m. eastern, his latest book is the divine plan, other titles include takedown and the crusaders and books about the spiritual lives of ronald reagan. george w. bush and hillary clinton. join our live conversation with your phone calls and tweets and facebook question. watch in-depth list sunday, july 7 from noon until 2:00 p.m.

eastern on booktv. watch in-depth next month with author lee edwards, watch booktv every weekend on c-span2. the complete guide to congress is now available with lots of details about the house and senate for the current session of congress. contact and buyer information about every senator and representative and information about congressional committees, state governors, and the cabinet. the 2019 congressional directory is a handy spiral-bound guide. c-spanour copy from the online store for $18.95. "washington journal" continues. call for 20-25e minutes and then our next guest, congressman g.k. butterfield, democrat from north carolina to talk about various issues.

phone numbers, republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002 is your number. a little bit more about the robert mueller story as it washington post says the house judiciary and intelligence committee said that pursuant to a subpoena, robert mueller will appear before a panel on july 17, he oversaw between a two-month inquiry is perhaps the one person lawmakers have been waiting to hear from the most. they point out that he will testify in back to back series -- hearings before a committee led by jerry nadler and house intelligence led by adam schiff. we will cover both of the events , likely c-span3 live events on that day, july 17. 80 house democrats have called for opening impeachment proceedings against donald trump and say some democrats are

already trying to temper expectations as privately some fear his testimony will not live up to the height built around hype bills around him for months. keep in maryland. while -- keith in maryland. caller: it is a complex situation. we have a lot of russians and italians that came to this country that ended up being mafia and you talk about the mexicans with the drugs. why the understand country's do not deal with mexico and the cartels. cartel, that cartel, cartel, why isn't anyone doing anything about the cartels? that is puzzling to me. republicans complain and complain about it but i drive uber part-time and guess who i

pick up in rich neighborhoods cleaning their houses, mexicans. [laughter] host: connecticut, donna. what would you like to say? caller: as far as this border situation which is a terrible situation in my eyes. claims that he's will cut off more aid to follow or doesn't it make sense that the more aid cut off, the more people will migrate away from the situations? considering their living conditions will become more dire and they will migrate here more? host: what do you think? caller: i do. do you think? host: not for me to say, it is for the callers to respond.

jane from west lafayette, , republican line. caller: about the migrant children, they are saying they are being separated by -- from the families, president trump an executive order not to separate families, children from the families of the border. that is why there is a 60% increase of children coming over the border with their families and they do not get separated. the one separated are the ones the cartels send in. the so-called family members, when they come over they are given dna tests to make sure they are with their family, that that child is with the family and if they are not, they are taken away from them.

that is why we have these children in these the tengion ,enters, -- detention centers they are taking them from the cartels. the: what do you make of $4.5 billion approved by the house last night? caller: i think it is a scam because he needs more judges down there so that these children do not have to sit there so long. so these people who are coming over here can be deported back quickly or seek asylum. that is true, i lost my train of thought. , you thank you for calling have made several points and we want to get other viewpoints this morning. there is a lot going on, the

house is back at 10:00 for morning our and new ford legislative business. financial services, government spending is the topic today on the house floor. the senate will work on authorization, for the next year. watch that on c-span2. c-span3 at 10:00, the hatch act and kellyanne conway, the house oversight and reform committee will beholding a hearing on the recommendations on these policies that president trump fire kellyanne conway for violating the hatch act. it is at 10:00 on c-span3. also, congressional baseball game tonight on c-span2, our coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. at nationals park and washington, d.c., republicans versus democrats with first pitch at 7:05.

watch it live on c-span two. angela from richmond, virginia, democrat, good morning. are you there? caller: yes, i certainly am. host: make sure the sound is down on your set. caller: yes, sir. is ancern is that america trained christian country. where i am from, flint, michigan, i have seen teenagers trained to serve the poor in the churches and all kinds of activities. and transforming people that are homeless into christians. america is trained enough to take in these children. in their homes. wellieve they are very occupied with everything they

need to take care of these children. bad not think camps are so as long as they have routines everyday, reading, access to different materials, and a change in diet. people ares bad as putting out to be the situation. that is all i had to say. host: thank you for taking part in the program. and-in washington, -- sammy washington, d.c. commented in the caller. d.c.,my in washington, independent caller. caller: order and security issues, my question -- border and security issues, ron reagan had eight years, bill clinton had eight years, barack obama had eight years, the issue has

been around since early in the 1980's, since the 1970's is, why, my question are you still republicans and democrats? the issue stems from both of those parties. these people who have been elected. what they need to do is look and do soul-searching. speak, a guy from miami his main problem was that miami ,t one time was 80% anglo-saxon now may be 19%. that is the way of the world. they have been moving around. in america, people always move around. they need to do soul-searching.

congress, they need to break it down, the approval of the house of representatives, the approval of the senate, and the american people can move forward. host: go ahead and finish up, sorry. it, do that is about soul-searching about the people they voted top us. on twitter says the migrant crisis has been created by the migrants themselves to come here not legally without respect or regard for u.s. lost, 80,000 americans die from flu complications last year according to the cdc but it makes headlines when to illegals die from the flu. -- two illegals die from the flu. the money passed last night includes provisions in addition , it requires money the customs and border patrol to establish health standards for children's and adults in custody

and requires homeland security to submit a plan to make sure all migrants have translation services and limits the amount of time my grandchildren can andd at an arrival shelter says that unaccompanied migrant children can only be moved after hhs notifies congress about a transfer because of lack of space. politico writes that democrats will go into negotiations with senate gop leaders in a difficult bid to get the long-delayed package signed into law by leaving town thursday on a week long break. even if they reach an agreement this week, not clear the president will sign the final bill, as he demands far-reaching changes in asylum law in exchange for probably calling off massie partition. -- mass deportation. jackie, ohio, republican. withr: i am a little upset what is going on in washington. first of all, $6 billion has

been taken away from the military to work on the wall by donald trump without benefit of congress. thatecond problem i see is mr. mcconnell is not taking up bills that were passed in the house that he has several bills that were passed in the house on immigration that he refused to take up in the senate. everybody is wrong. they are all wrong. they are not doing anything to work together. the republicans, and i am ashamed of that, they have not worked with the democrats at all ,nd have been obstructionists and anybody who says otherwise, they have not been listening to what is going on in washington.

they should watch c-span during thatay and watch the fact the bills are not being put on the floor by mitch mcconnell. two of the most dangerous people in the country are donald trump and mitch mcconnell. they are bringing our republic down. host: you are calling on the republican line? caller: i am, and 40 years as a republican and i am ashamed of them. they have turned into a corrupt party of money and power and they do not care what the public thinks. they do not care about kids. host: when did that happen? when did your attitude change to what you just said? we lost jackie. wanted to find out why she thinks how she does and when the changed happened. kentucky,g from independent line. curious, ifs just

you google or look over the last 20 years of the illegal border crossing apprehensions, it seems like there was a huge drop it has 2000 and 2002, been slowly going down for the last 20 years. in 2000nce 1.6 million and now down to 300,000. why the huge drop between 2000 and 2002? host: what do you think? caller: i have no idea. good job by congress. charged with solving some of these problems and maybe they should look into it and pass laws to fix something instead of just throwing money. host: thank you for calling. just under 10 minutes left. big night of politics tonight and tomorrow in miami as the usa

today features it, democrats debating over two nights, tonight, first debate features candidates including cory booker, amy klobuchar, beto o'rourke, elizabeth warren, this is in miami at 9:00 broadcast on thec and cnbc, telemundo, second day is joe biden, pete buttigieg, katherine harris, bernie sanders, and others. times with campaign buttons featuring all of the democrats, 21 of them here, 18 , this is, 21 democrats a special section in the new york times today which goes over all the issues and questions that the times and others and debate moderators may have tonight. wall street journal has a lead theline, the editorial is democratic opportunity and they say that at this stage of the presidency, donald trump is

arguably the most politically vulnerable first-term incumbent even animmy carter but unpopular candidate can win if the opponent is more unacceptable and none of the democrat candidates at this stage cares as much ethical baggage as hillary clinton but they could go too far left on the culture or economy. the democratic party has moved sharply left even since the obama presidency and date will show which candidate can temper that with pragmatism pleaded to win -- needed to win. jenna calling from louisiana, good morning. -- janet calling from louisiana, good morning -- janice calling from louisiana, good morning. caller: i am reminded of the sign our first lady sprayed on her jacket that she wore when going to the border to see immigrants in prison. , do you comment

, i would like to take in young children from the border who need help for basic care. until we find out where they belong. because i do care. do not tell me about laws, cost, drugs, etc. because there is a higher law that says do want to others as you would have them do unto you and let your neighbor as yourself. aws need to be amended. you should be able to chew gum and walk at the same time. thank you host: -- thank you. host: colin calling from massachusetts. what is the name of your town? caller: scituate, massachusetts. i am calling to say that

congress get together and generate a second social security system where immigrants are given a number and they pay taxes under their own name so they can finance all of the immigration issues we are trying to correct. if they got all of that money from the immigrants that are working here, illegitimately or whatever, they would have enough money to finance these problems. they should require all immigrants to be registered and get a social security number so they know who they are. we as united states citizens all have them and the government knows who we are but they cannot track the people that are here as immigrants. it is ridiculous. they have better rights than we do. host: elizabeth calling from

staten island, new york on the independent line. what is on your mind/ caller: immigrants do pay taxes. to your news as c-spin, because too many people , butin and talk and rant ornot get educated questioned, or interrupted, that ,epublican you had on earlier he said many incorrect things. he was not corrected. certain parts of the country where people do not get many news sources like you do here in

new york. host: anything in particular he said he would like to correct? taxes: immigrants who pay -- do pay taxes. i live in an immigrant community in staten island, where eric garner was killed. we have lots of mexican restaurants and bodegas in our neighborhood. that is the majority. they do pay taxes. they do contribute to our neighborhoods and communities and societies. host: anything else? caller: i just think that people need to get their news from different sources, from multiple sources, and go online and

educate yourself about the very different perspectives happening in this country right now. host: ok. thank you for your thoughts. daytona beach, florida, soanya, democrat line. caller: thank you, c-span for giving me a voice. i would like the american people to know that the republican party appears to be above the law or thinking they are above the law, especially with jeff sessions separation policy which in itself is truly not a separation policy but a kidnapping policy. a government perpetrated kidnapping and child abuse policy. to define kidnapping, to them it is to see and carry someone by fraud and demand a ransom, abducting or holding them

captive and to steal a child is kidnapping. this is what is happening to these children. definition isuse maltreatment of physical and sexual or psychological abuse and neglect of a caregiver. the caregiver is committing this abuse under the law of the united states. the result is, i am a psychotherapist with two years postmasters training in psychotherapy. are prone to get reactive attachments where they will be harmed detrimentally for the rest of their lives. especially the little ones under five years old. because they will not be able to form natural attachments to their caregivers and will have a lifetime of pure hell.

this is what the republicans are standing for and they are standing for this separation policy that they say they stopped. as we see these children playing on cement with metal blankets -- laying on cement with metal blankets, they must come up and have some's -- some sort of a conscience. host: ohio, columbia station, republican, ed. ,aller: i am a conservative republican is a rino like john mccain, i am a conservative, i did vote for donald trump and i will again. your last caller had two years of psycho and she is a psycho, she says we are ignorant, the republicans are traumatized, the kids have been traumatized before they came here.

they came across the border to get here. they are being child abused, women are being raped, they are being sold into slavery and these kids are eight times, 10 3000 cases ofck, parents bringing them fraudulently. donald trump years ago said we had to policy immigration -- pause immigration. where was the fake media when two weeks ago the syrian who just came over here claimed a mass shooting at the church, not one mention. they are crying about the children. your last caller. ,he money they have stopped they will not approve the money because they tack on the money donald trump wants, $350 million

for 3000 that's because they want amnesty on it. the democrats have been using this for 30 years, the system is outdated. nancy policy walking in the white house -- nancy pelosi to have that money for those bets so do not say the kids are traumatized when they get here, they are traumatized for years where they were at an all of the money you legals are make, 99% is sent back home, that is where the cartels get their money, they do not spend their money they make your illegally. back, we willcome talk with congressman g.k. butterfield, democrat from north carolina, a member of the energy and commerce committee. will talk to us about various issues, including the poverty line in the u.s., what is it and what changes are coming up for with how the poverty line is determined. we will be back with your calls.

>> booktv, this weekend, saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern, in his book the u.s. senate and the commonwealth, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell provides a history of kentucky lawmakers and their leadership in the u.s. senate. sunday morning at 10:30 eastern, washington post beijing. treat -- beijing sheet -- >> 27 years old when he took over, he had been able to hold on to the leadership and defy expectations. i wanted to figure out why. as a reporter i tried to report it. i tried to re-create a childhood

and put together as much information as i could about how he grew up, how he became this leader he is today, how he justifies the brutal things he does to remain the leader. afterwards, -- not :00 p.m. on afterwards, -- 9:00 p.m. we had issues with china and russia and see these are emerging forces we have to deal with. , isn't want my president it smart for him to have good relationships with those leaders? ok? isn't that a smart thing? thate comfort in the fact these people are talking to each other. >> this weekend on booktv on

c-span2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: g.k. butterfield, democrat of north carolina, member of the energy commerce committee representing the first district in north carolina. we want you to talk about the poverty line in the u.s. because we have been reading about changes by the trump administration and what your reaction. can you explain, what is the poverty line and what does it mean? guest: the census bureau defines poverty and it generally is in a family of four, the poverty line $25,750, for a single individual, $12,490. in many government programs,

they are based on the poverty line. free and reduced lunches for children at school, children's health insurance, so many of our federal programs are based on the poverty line and if you fall below the carpet line, you are entitled -- poverty line, you are entitled and if not, you are not eligible and president trump is determined to redefine the poverty line and he has put it out for comment and june 21 is the magic date comments need to be submitted regarding this proposal and after that the president has the authority to redefine poverty. that is alarming for low income families in this country and for many of our seniors who live below the poverty level to note many programs that they depend on may be eliminated. host: what is your understanding of what the president's proposal would do, redefine the dollar

amount and what else would happen? line is basederty on the consumer price index, president trump has a new concept called chain cpi, a redefinition of the consumer price index, cost of goods, and other factors. for example, if a family of four is entitled to a federal program, for example, snap stamps, we call it food or if they have their children in head start are -- or are receiving heating assistance, a family of four, if the changed formula comes into effect, a family who makes that amount may not be able to qualify anymore for assistance. it makes a difference. -- president wants to reduce

cut $390 billion over the next 10 years out of governmental benefits to low-income families, that is terrible. i want people to think about that. people who live below the poverty line will be forced further into poverty. host: phone numbers on the bottom of the screen and we will take calls from republicans, democrats, independents. g.k. butterfield, democrat, north carolina. your calls in a couple of minutes. 9:00ll do this until eastern time. poverty rate in the u.s. is 12.3% now. 39.9 -- 39 .7 million people in poverty and between 2016-2017 poverty line for adults 18-64 the client what those under 18 stay the same. how important is this issue for

your district specifically? guest: i have a low income district, in the bottom 10. the census bureau also defines counties in the u.s. counties,ent poverty some 400 counties in the united states with persistent poverty rates and that means 20% or more of the population has lived in poverty for the last 30 years. population that the poverty rate for the county has exceeded 20%, the poverty rate for the county has exceeded 20% for the last 30 years, that is a persistent poverty county and some 400 of those across the country and 12 in north carolina and six in my congressional district. host: a roll call story, multiple experts say it is likely the administration would use the chain consumer price

index which would update the poverty line using a slower growing inflation measure and directore a former cbo that many economists say the current measure overestimates the actual rate of inflation and the issue is it make sense to switch to something a bit more ,ccurate measure of inflation he says change that has been anticipated since the george w. bush administration proposed it in the white house budget. one reason it is being considered now is because the 2017 tax law change the method for calculating the growth of tax deductions and other things and he says they did it on the tax side of the budget, it makes sense to think about it on the spending side. guest: correct that inflation is manufactured, not real, inflation is real and anyone who goes to the supermarket and makes purchaseseverything in the society and the committee is

being increased from haircuts to bananas to coffee to meets, everything we consume as families in america, cost is going up. to use the inflation rate as the basis for determining the poverty line is the best way to do it and to create some type of chain cpi where you selectively decide what is calculated in order to make the formula is disingenuous to say the least. disingenuous to say the least. president trump is trying to get poor people off of the social programs that we have in this country. poor people deserve to have a safety net. they are not responsible for their condition. it is very unfortunate. remember, congress gave the president insistence, a tax cut to the wealthiest people in our

country. just the year before last when he first image office, $1.5 trillion tax-cut but you will redefine what is poverty and kick people off of very important programs they depend on. georgia, republican line. caller: how are you doing? representative g.k. butterfield, you say the poverty level is point $5,000, that is relative to where you live. -- is $25,000, that is relative to where you live, the in georgia is different from new york and to me it is disingenuous, they should have a flat scale, depending on where you live, my mother, i do not think she ever made $25,000 working in a textile mill and

she had 16 kids. problem, the problem of my mother having 16 kids. do you think socialism will fix this situation or how do you feel about that? guest: the poverty line for a single individual is $12,490, the $25,000 is for a family of four. whether you live in georgia or san francisco, you cannot meet your needs as a single individual based on $12,000 per year. i-8 knowledge big -- i acknowledge the coast -- but theliving changes safety net is not socialism but providing help for those who find themselves in poverty. we need to give a helping hand to poor people. that is the american way. we have done it for generations.

it has been done in my community and in your community and we are stronger because of federal programs we have. we do not want children going to school and not being able to eat. you do not want low income children not having the benefit of childcare and head start. the list goes on and on. we are a country who cares about the least of the in our community. host: you said was the common time is done the president can make the decision, is it a unilateral thing he can do or does congress get involved? guest: it appears he can do it executive order on june 21, after comments are in, if the president feels he have the ability, the legal authority to redefine what is poverty. host: do you and fellow democrats plan to push back legislatively? will: i do not know, we have to see what legislative authority we have over this issue. i would hope the congress would

step in in some way and express itself. if we cannot do it legislatively, at least say it should not be done. host: how are you preparing your constituents, the one in your district most affected, what are you saying to them? not only tob is come to washington, d.c. and listen and debate and cast votes but go home and educate an average and i get i will go to the 14 counties in north carolina i represent and talk about the whole concept of cpi, itpi -- chained does not resonate with a lot of people but when you explain the $12,000 poverty line for racing or individual, may be reduced to $10,000, that means if you are in $12,000 per year you cannot qualify for anything. your cost of living adjustment or social security check, that will be less.

a challenge and we will have to educate the american people so they can see what is at stake. host: ricky, michigan, democratic caller. caller: i realize what you said about the poverty line but, you know something, even the republicans are taking away our schools. it is like when -- i work at a school and i see the kids, how many kids get fed with government subsidies. that means that they will take away the kids school, too, the programs we give kids food to take home and to have lunch during the summertime? lunchesree and reduced will be on the chopping block for some families. it will not apply to everyone.

line andt the poverty the president redefines what is poverty and lowers the number, a child right at the poverty line now may not be in poverty after the new destination comes into effect. this stems to the budget. trillion every year in funding our government but we only taken about $3.5 trillion, so we are running $1 trillion deficit. when president obama left, the deficit was $.5 trillion and now the deficit is at $1 trillion. president trump is trying to find some way to reduce the way is tod the worst try to balance the budget on the backs of poor people. while at the same time presiding over a tax-cut of $1.5 trillion for the rich and superrich. it is not acceptable and we will

fight the chain cpi concept if it goes forward. host: republican line, illinois, good morning, you are wrong with the congressman. -- you are on with the congressman. man who has young come from the ghetto, the slums of detroit, michigan where there is nothing left, we have been waiting for this for years. just raise money and stole money, you never helped out the poor, the poor are still there because you are fighting, where are the results? you said you have 12 districts in your state that are poor, poverty stricken, what have you done in your term in congress to speak up for these people? you have not improved anything and that is why donald trump is change the poverty line would be great, people could get off

there behind and find jobs, get out and work because as a democrat you will sit there forever, as long as the government feed you, you will take it, free money. guest: my friend, most of the people at the poverty line and below the poverty line work every day. these are not people who are sitting home watching television all day long. poor people work in this country. they work in hotels and restaurants and they clean the streets and engage in construction trade. they work every day. democrat party through the years has bought for low income families, starting with frank roosevelt in the 1930's with social security and lyndon johnson in the 1960's with medicare and medicaid. the democratic party is the party that has fought for low income people. we brought in these programs that are lifting people out of poverty.

the republican party has to for special interests and businesses in our country and trying to grow wealth and create wealth for rich people. we are the party of working people, my friend. ast: g.k. butterfield is wage,sor a $15 minimum what is the status of the legislation? guest: it is working its way to the floor and it should be on the floor within the foreseeable future and i believe $15 per hour is not enough but it is a level i am willing to vote for. anyone who works in this country should make at least $15 per hour. some states have already gone to $15 per hour. guest: what is appropriate -- host: what is appropriate? guest: we need to index it towards inflation and we need to do the math anti-collations and see where it would have been had we indexed be $7.25 and two

inflation, it would be more than $15 per hour. host: are you hearing from the business community in your district that the minimum wage will hurt them? guest: it is not an immediate increase, it is phased in over five years and most is mrs. i know have business plans -- most businesses i know have business plans and they have plans for things like this, if they know they have two pay $15 per hour in five years they can make a plan and if they cannot, maybe they need to find a problem with the business. guest: independent -- host: independent line, florida. caller: i just want to say that all of this stuff is linked together. i listen to you all the time and constantly hear republican complaining about the democrats and the democrats calling in to

complain about what the republicans are doing. one thing about history, america, america has the appetite for cheap labor since its inception, since first called america, from africans to chinese, indians, cubans, anybody who comes to this country. when these people come here, they come here for money. you are talking about the minimum wage and how it is down. that is cheap labor. nobody is talking about doing anything to the employers. we have laws that say, if you employ somebody who is not legal , you lose your business license. who has lost their business license? who went to jail and has been fined? nobody. but you constantly hear how

these people keep coming, they are coming for jobs and are working at jobs, hotels, construction, working at warehouses, in agriculture. how do i know these people are working there but the people who are supposed to know and enforce the laws do not know their working there. congresspeople, until you put them in jail, finding these ,eople, doing what the law said enforce the laws we have, do not need more laws. you are constantly pointing the finger at the other side. both are bad. guest: when you talk about pointing the finger at the other side, that is the form of government we have, to political parties and where constantly solving issues so do not hold that against us. that is the way our country was

founded. the way the legislative branch does with two political parties, republican and democrat, i have great friends on the republican side and i tell you we engage in intelligent debate most of the time. sometimes it goes off the rails but we take a vote at the end of the deal. --se by the majority democrats are the majority in the house and republicans in the senate and we are trying to find common ground. we work every day to find common ground with our friends in the senate. sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. holding businesses accountable, we hold them accountable, can we do a better job? we can but we need to demand businesses are accountable and pay their taxes, treat their employees with respect and care, it should

be a fringe benefit for every worker in america. thank you for the comments. i understand your frustration but please know that anytime you see a debate in the congress of the united states, that is the way it is supposed to be as we must debate the issue. where we fall short when we are unable to find common ground. hopefully after the 2020 election and american spiegel out the and we reject donald trump and the republican policies, hopefully our friends in the republican party who are in the center will be able to work with us more in getting many of these issues resolved. we have great issue speech in our country -- we have great issues in our country and we can solve them with bipartisanship. issuesupreme court, an close to your life and work in north carolina, a couple of decision days left in the supreme court and we are waiting for a decision on a gerrymandering case that

involves your home state of north carolina. explain what the case is and the impact on your state. guest: the gerrymandering case is very profound, not only affecting north carolina but most states in the country. every 10 years we have to conduct a census in this country and after it is complete, each state legislature is responsible for redistricting and redefining the political boundaries. the reason is that, under the constitution, every district has to be about the same size. years, in my state of north carolina, 13 states were 2011,ted in 2010 and in the legislature drew political boundaries. our legislature at the time and still is a republican legislature and they drew the boundaries in a manipulative and strategic way to advantage the

republicans. it is what we call political advantage, they drew these lines for advantage. years ago we did not have commuter technology but now we do and whoever is responsible for drawing the maps can't employ computing technology -- can employ computer technology to favor districts -- to favor their party with districts. we can determine with certainty how a voter is likely to vote. with that data, maps can be generated. in north carolina, even though democrats and republicans are mapsly situated, on the there were 10 republican leaning districts and three democratic districts. during the debate, the chairman of the committee, a republican, made a profound statement, he said that the republican

congressman were better than democratic congressman and he drew the maps in such a way to favor republicans. not drawreason he did 11 republican districts is because he cannot find a way to do that. that is political german during -- gerrymandering. a case that it violated the constitution and we are waiting for the u.s. supreme court to make a pronouncement as to whether political germinating -- gerrymandering. hopefully the supreme court will say what is and is not political gerrymandering. if the court rules that what happened in north carolina was a political gerrymander, the state legislature will have to immediately draw the boundaries again. if they fail to do that, the court has the authority, and i

am confident will use the authority to draw the maps using -- this is a game changer, not only affecting north carolina but a maryland case that is pending, and ohio, pennsylvania, michigan case waiting for this decision. i know five states will be impacted immediately by this ruling. host: jimmy from santa cruz, california, democratic caller. thank you for waiting. mr. butterfinger, why did we get rid of the common law? law, iare in this roman am sure he was part of it. it goes back and forth.

divide and conquer. why is that? he knows when talking about. guest: inequality exists in the united states of america, yes, we are the most powerful and superior country on the planet but we still have inequality, racial inequality, gender inequality in our country. if we will be a perfect country and strive for perfection, we have to find ways to stop the messages of inequality. i hope you are not saying that inequality does not exist has anyanyone who understanding to what is happening in this country knows there is inequality. we do not need to be governed by common law but need statutory law and i am a former judge and lawyer. we could not thrive as a democracy based on common law alone. host: you voted yes last night

on the house bill to provide $4.5 billion to border humanitarian aid. why is this money so important? guest: we have thousands and thousands of refugees coming into our country and have always been a country who welcomed refugees. these people are coming for a better way of life, many escaping violence and bad conduct in their country. they are fleeing their country's and looking for a way to protect their lives. they are coming to the southern border and these are human beings. they are not being treated appropriately. what we did last night was --ropriate for $.5 billion, $4.5 billion, the senate will vote tonight on what they think the level will be, this is

humanitarian aid and not money to build a wall but taking care of children and families who have come across the border. to keep families together and provide a safe and senator a place to live. host: the president was not necessarily against the money but he's threatening to veto over policy provisions that restrict him and what he's able to do broadly in this situation. what do you make of what he is looking for? guest: president trump is out of control on this immigration thing. there are viewers who vehemently disagree with that, but we need to find an immigration compromise. there needs to be a solution. president george w. bush was in office, we were just a few seconds away from having a comprehensive immigration bill. each side had to make compromises but we were able to bring the undocumented people out of the shadows and give them legal status and protect our dreamers and do great things to incorporate this population into our way of life.

but the deal fell apart. we are still struggling to try to find common ground. the least we can do is take care of families and children who have crossed the border and living in deplorable conditions, often times separated from each other. host: one more question on this. one of the themes on the gop side in the house was if this was such a crisis, why did it take so many months with democrats to act with coming up with money? guest: it is a crisis. we will continue to say it. we don't disagree it is a crisis but it's a crisis for a different reason. people arecans think illegally entering the country. we think it is a crisis because families are being torn apart and being mistreated and not given the decency of health care and a place to live and food to eat and dry clothes on their backs. it is a crisis but we are going to continue to fight the fight.

our undocumented population knows the democratic party has fought for them and will continue to fight. host: tony from texas, good morning. caller: thank you very much. that is the problem. the problem is that our congressman, our president, he will keep lying to us. you have proven you were all in bed together. we put our president trump in thate because we promised he promised there would be no more wars and conflicts, yet he flat out lies to us. here we are abusing iran, killing millions of people because israel once those people dead. -- wants those people that. host: is there any part of that comment you want to reply to? guest: he said the politicians promised no more wars. there was no politician whoever

promised no more wars. we have to keep america safe. we have 5% of the population. there are enemies to the united states and we have to always be proactive and have a defensive-minded posture. never would we say there would never be a war. war should be the last alternative for sure, but we would never make that announcement. we have got to keep the american people safe. host: good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. i will deal with the elephant in the room. that is we are literally bankrupt. this has happened in the last 20 years. i will balance your budget. you can balance your budget in one month if you take down the debt by 50%. the military -- if you don't think we are spending too much of the military, it was a 200 million dollars drone shot down from the sky.

drone shot down from the sky. cuts.ird part is the tax repeal the tax cuts. let the billionaires pay 50% and go down the line. to take the debt down, go overseas to the off-season, offshore accounts. there are trillions of dollars sitting over there that they don't pay no taxes on. that would cut our debt by 50%. none of you, not a single one of you are facing the elephant in the room. you should not spend one more dime until you balance this budget. that is my comment and things for taking my call. guest: thank you for talking about the elephant in the room. i wish this question had been at the early part of the program because it would take me five to 10 minutes to give you my position. i don't disagree with what you said. we spent $4.6 trillion is a

government, we taken $3.6 trillion. president obama tried to get it under control and he did an excellent job. he brought the deficit to $1.5 trillion. it was very painful but he did it. now president trump through his tax cut has taken the deficit back up to $1 trillion. over the next 10 years, unless something changes, we will see an increase in the debt from $22 trillion to $32 trillion. that is unacceptable. we have got to find a way to deal with it. do we cut services for poor people? no. do we raise taxes on billionaires? yes. you suggested we take the tax of the 50%. i'm not sure i agree with 50% but i certainly agree we should have substantial increases in taxes for those who can afford to pay it in this country. we should not, must not balance this budget on the backs of poor people. host: representative

butterfield, thanks a lot for joining us and for your time and your insights. just under an hour left in this wednesday addition of washington journal. when we come back we will go back to the immigration issue. we have been talking about it a lot this morning we will spend the rest of the program taking your calls on what the house did last night. they passed $4.5 billion in he military and eight, but that does not -- on humanitarian aid. that does not in the story. we will take your calls on all of that when we come back. ♪ >> i am a white male. i am prejudiced. something it is is

that i learned. i don't like to be forced to like people. i like to be led to like people through example. what can i do to change? to be a better american? >> that was a remarkable moment. i did not realize until i stepped off the set. there were more calls after that. we had to keep rolling. there was something in his voice that touched me and you can hear it. it is so authentic as he searches for the words to say something to the national audience that most of us will not admit in our homes. i am prejudiced. >> sunday night, heather mcgee, president of the public policy d emos was a guest on washington journal when he called. she talks about the interaction enter follow-up with him. >> this is august. we had this sort of racially

trump campaign and black lives matter and the police shooting and tragic events all in baton rouge, dallas. it was really a time when people felt like all they were seeing on tv about race was bad news. here was first a white man admitting that he is prejudiced, which were people of color, we all said finally. day.nday on human -- q&a. >> we will take more of your calls to round of this edition of washington journal on the border issues, specifically with the house did last night. $4.5 billion in humanitarian aid past. we are waiting for word on with the senate might do with this. we will continue to take your calls and hear from various voices in the house and

elsewhere until 10:00 today. they will do more spending bills today. washington times talks about the house bill. "democrats give and take on trump border aid legislation." they write five months after labeling the border a manufactured crisis, how speaker pelosi led democrats to approve a $4.5 billion humanitarian aid package. president trump requested it to deal with the record surge of illegal immigrants. democrats took their pound of flesh and the vote, deleting some of the president's priorities such as investigative ors. -- when they arrive at the border. here is some of the commentary from the floor in the house last night as they went back and forth. [video]

>> today we find out the admin station is sending children back to a station in clint, texas, who just days earlier those children had been removed after enduring weeks without a shower or change of clothes. when visiting these children, one reporter said the children are locked in their cells. they can't bring themselves to play because they are trying to stay alive in there. last week, the trump department of justice argued in court the government should not have to provide children in custody with soap, toothbrushes or beds. this situation is child abuse. it is an atrocity that violates every value we have. not only is americans, but as moral beings. today, sadly, our values are being undermined by the president's failed policies which intensifies the situation of heart break in horror on the

border which challenges the conscience of america. this legislation is a vote against the cruel attitudes towards children of this administration. this bill does not fund the administration's failed mass detention policy. instead it funds affective detentionernatives to that have a proven record of success. legislation,is secures limits on how the money is spent, and how the administration treats children. it creates strong oversight by congress so that we can protect children and ensure this crisis never occurs again. host: speaker pelosi on the floor yesterday. we move on and we will hear from president trump and other members of the house as they debate it. a little bit of background from julie grace, capitol hill reporter from the help.

they -- the hill. explain how democrats got to the point where they could pass the bill? bill, a4.5 billion manager's amendment was added earlier in the day. it may changes to the bill. nancy pelosi met with progressives and congressional hispanic caucus members on monday evening. they had a caucus meeting on tuesday morning. they discussed changes were she -- for democrats, the changes included certain requirements for health standards and time limits for how long minors could be held and inflect shelter's. -- influx shelters. take us over to the senate. they have a bill but it's a

different, separate version of the bill. what are the key provisions in the senate bill and what is next over there? guest: the senate is inspected to vote today or tomorrow on the bill. nancy pelosi said it was good. she prefers the house version. they expect after the senate bill passes to go to conference on it. whether or not they can come to agreement ahead of the fourth of the fourth of july recess remains unclear. probably unlikely given there are only a few more days. ultimately, cbo said yesterday did not think there was enough funding for ice in either bill. likely changes to the bill on that front. that is still in the works. host: take us over to the white house. they put out a veto threat against the house bill. ultimately where do you think they will be positioned on this? obviously the house bill

is treading water over there. if the two chambers are able to conference, my guess is they probably will support it depending on what is in it. it's unlikely at this point nancy pelosi does take up the bill expected to be passed in the senate. it is kind of a wait and see until what ultimately comes out of the conference committee. host: are there any preconference meetings or discussions in the house or between the house and senate to get a conference to happen this week? that is kind of the expectation is. you can check with sources this morning. the bill passed late last night. that is the expectation from the sources i spoke to early this morning. thank you force, your time and the backend on this. let's go over to your calls now. georgia, brenda on the democratic line.

chickamauga, georgia? caller: yes. my question is why are we paying private companies to do this? that is a lot of money every day. second, if these children have families that will pick them up, why not let them? this is so ridiculous. there are mothers and fathers, keep them together so they can take care of the children. this is so cruel. i don't understand why they're in a prison situation. why wouldn't they let communities come in and help the children? tries, and toile read to them and church groups. this president is crazy. done, no idea what can be but something has to be done better than this. host: moving on to mike in north carolina. republican line. what do you have to say about what the house did in this

broader issue the border situation? caller: they are not giving proper funding to the ice, which all the democrats don't want ice because they go and track criminals, the traffickers. the other thing is they don't define extra beds because the democrats want immigrants to ride at the fair. overall a million deportation orders in. people that did not go to the court hearings. first of all, when they come across the border illegally, that is a crime. they drained the resources from our education, our health care. i'm from north carolina. that butterfield you had on, i'm glad i don't have him.

i have patrick mchenry. he said they have housing. they need food. they need medical. they need clothes. there are people in this country that need that stuff. look at san francisco, l.a., all the homelessness. that's just the big cities. people in this country need all them things. we cannot accept them because they are draining all of our resources. they talk about the birthrate of america down. costs socause america much for an american have a baby. when they come over here they have babies one after the other. who is paying for it? the american taxpayer. host: moving on to kevin in michigan, independent line. what would you like to say about the border and immigration? caller: my first comment would be is how come the democrats have said for months there was

no manufactured crisis on the border? yet all of a sudden there is a crisis on the border. haven't theys why come out a lot sooner? maybe they could have avoided all these problems. i think the democrats wanted these problems to happen so they can come up and say, hey, we will be the people to rescue you because of the bad republicans that have let everything go. host: now that the house democrats put their build on the floor and they got it passed, what do you see happening next? can they bridge the divide between the senate bill and the president? caller: the way i see it is i don't think the democrats want any kind of win for president trump, period. all they want to do is deny, for, deny any kind of win him because apparently they just don't like him. for all these democrats out there, this immigration is going to drive our wages down again.

we just saw them start to go up. now they will start dropping because you got one million people coming in. we can't get rid of them because they won't leave even if they are supposed to leave. host: frank from bayside, new york. republican. caller: how are you doing? i think ite to say is a total disgrace to the country what we are doing to those people on the border. it, my question is why is they just don't send them back to mexico rather than keep them conditions?rible i think that would help for two reasons. it would put the problem in mexico's lap. they would have to shore up their borders and not let them come in in the first place to receive notice states. were going to go

when the detention business and start building what they passed last night? that's just throwing money at a problem that is very easily fixed. -- you areallow catching them comes to put them back to their country. send them back to mexico. isn't that simpler? host: more of your calls coming up. the reporter from the hill mentioned crossover votes on each side of the aisle. politico went further here. all but four democrats backed the legislation in the house, which passed 230-195. four democrats said no. ocasio-cortez, ellen , and ayananesota presley of

massachusetts. texas, brian fitzpatrick, republican of pennsylvania. here is a little bit more as we mentioned of the back-and-forth from the floor yesterday. we will show a couple of pieces of video here. republican of arizona debbie bosco. [video] >> i have some major concerns with this bill. i wish we had worked in a bipartisan basis. to give you one example, there was a young girl that died in arizona. was found dead. seven years old. yes you helped rescue the other members of the party? it was the arizona national guard. none of this prevents any funding from going to the department of defense that will help with the arizona national guard and other national guards helping of the border. wish that weeally

could work together in a bipartisan fashion. get something done. go back to rules. let's send it to the senate tonight. let's help solve this crisis now. >> we don't agree. we don't agree with the crisis that the president has been talking about for years and years. the derogatory fashion and the way he refers to immigrants. it being about manifestation of immigrants, we are being invaded. the crisis he created, that this administration created which are quite frankly cause more outrage on the other side of the aisle was separating children from their parents. as we gather today, there are countless children who may never be reunited with her parents. the crisis he created was denying these children in our

custody basic things, basic necessities like soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes. little kids were being taken care of. by other little kids this is an outrage. it is a crisis he manufactured and he created. we need to fix it. that is what this bill is trying to do. if my colleagues on the other site of the aisle don't want to support it, fine. we will do what is right. that is why we ran for office. that is why we won the last election. people were horrified at what was happening at the border, the way we were treating other human beings. host: some debate from the house yesterday. right around 10:00 is when they voted on this $4.5 billion. we are waiting for senate action on a separate bill. the senate is doing a defense authorization bill, but they may call to action on their own bill.

we are not sure if the conference is going to happen before congress goes to break on the fourth of july starting friday for an entire week. steve from florida, democratic line. caller: hi c-span. i want to thank you for this outstanding program that we have every day. i listen to it constantly. my message today is i would sincerely suggest that next thursday, the fourth of july, the entire trump family takes a trip to the el paso child detention center and see for themselves with their own eyes what is going on. thank you. host: robert calling from pennsylvania. republican caller. caller: hello. host: good morning. caller: i wonder what is going to happen here with these

sanctuary cities keeping these criminals that come across, aiding and abetting. when the civil war happens, what are they going to do? i don't know how close you think it is. i've only ever heard it a couple of times, the words "civil war," other than saying it was all about race last time. it was about states rights. this is what is going on. this is all bad. i don't know why anybody is not picking up on it. this place is going to pop. i don't live with you all in the big city but this place is going to pop. but what are they going to do? host: what does that mean, you were prepared? caller: i am prepared. it is going to happen, bub. host: linda in fort worth, texas. what do you make of the house action last night? caller: i don't really know.

i was calling in to tell people they don't understand. i had 70 illegals back in the late 1970's, early 1980's working for me. me -- he had just turned 18. he had been working for me for two years. came that when he they told him to say that he had six to 10 kids. 16 becauseworking at he had just turned 18. taxes but they pay they don't pay the regular taxes because they say they have six to 10 kids. thank you. host: carl from nashville, tennessee. democrat. applause really give

to the democrats and republicans that worked together. they looked and saw humanity. you have some people that are standing around talking about sending people back. you have people talking about they are criminals. but for a person who don't have a toothbrush or a person who don't have health care or a cloon who doesn't have thes, that is wrong. i applaud the people who passed the bill. i hope to the devil this dumb president don't mess with it. thank you. host: washington times follows up with some of the details elsewhere in washington about all this. the health and human services department which is responsible for caring for some of the children at the border could run out of money early next month, making any delay a risk. the house is out next week and the senate. -- we aren't finish

out of money said alex lazar on tuesday. tuesday.zar said on the action on the hill came as turmoil gripped homeland security. john sanders, who had been serving as active commissioner revealed he is leaving july 5. he had been in office for only a couple of months. is replacing is mark morgan. ice.organ leads history placement will be the current deputy. grim reports continue to flow in from the border. we have can really on the line from washington, pa. caller: good morning. i was born and raised here. my biggest point today would be

we had people in congress, in the senate who have been there for over 30 years and have done nothing. i am assuming and hoping for a change we would keep an eye on these people and the next time they are up for a vote, get them out of there. 30 years is too long to let this go on. mineola,ial i -- texas. david. caller: i read an article in the texas tribune today. people are trying to donate on the border food and toothpaste and the needs for these children. they are not accepting them. the border patrol is turning them away. it seems like the president can just give an executive order to accept these donations. it would help right now. right now we are waiting for congress to do this. people are trying to donate.

that is all i have to say. "what i'm noter, hearing anymore or anyone talk about is the long-term effect that will have on the kids. usa?ey now hate the here is a little bit about the president had to say yesterday at the white house at an event unrelated to immigration but he talked about the situation and the action in congress before the house took up their bill. >> are you personally concerned about the conditions? i am verytrump: concerned. they are much better than they were under president obama by far. we are trying to get the democrats to agree for humanitarian aid and money. that is a very fair question. i appreciate the question. i'm very concerned it's in much better shape than it ever was. a lot of children from young

places you don't even want to know about, the way they live, the party they grew up in. if we can get this bill signed we will be able to do it. the democrats don't assign anything. now i think they are going to probably sign this. i call it humanitarian aid. this is not about the border. you see the numbers are way down. mexico has been really helping us a lot. they have strong immigration laws. they are living 15,000 people or 16,000 people to our southern border. they moved 16,000 troops to their southern border which is pretty incredible. a lot of signs are coming out with the cartels, the coyotes, and all the bad people bringing in young children and taking advantage horribly. it is a form of slavery. it is horrible what they are doing with the children. a lot of that is stopping now because of what we are doing and what is happening on the border.

i just want to thank mexico. they have done a great job. we appreciate what they are doing and hopefully they can keep it up. host: the president tweeted that the democrats want the open border. that equals violent crime, drugs and human trafficking and very high taxes, like 90%. republicans want what is good for america. douglas from virginia. good morning, douglas. host: i think -- caller: i think the problem at the border could be solved. the people voting for these people to come in, the way to solve is have them put them in their homes, pay their bills and take care of these people. i have done adoptions myself with kids. that is the way we have to do it, when you do local adoptions. let them pay for it. have them put them in their homes. there are people with plenty of

money to have them adopt these kids. that goes for everybody in congress. everybody sits back with her white callers on. don't let the taxpayers have to pay for all of this. host: here's the story of the earlier caller mentioned about local folks in texas who want to donate to help the situation with people at the border. people want to donate and buy toy toiletries for children at e border. they are being turned away. a border patrol official told the state lawmakers the agency does not accept donations for facilities where children are reportedly being held in substandard conditions. there is a photo here of megan and ashley. they live here. they are attempting to drop off diapers and toys for the kids and clinton, texas. there is this in the washington post. hundreds of agents are being

diverted. they plan to divert more than 600 workers from airport security to enforce immigration porter -- policy along the .outhern border the hearing was intended to raise questions and it remains unresolved. that was a hearing we covered yesterday. let's go to larry. good morning. larry, are you there? caller: yes, i am here. i would like to see president trump throw his hands up in the air and give it to the democrats and say it is all yours now, take care of it. host: what does that mean? whatever they decide to do with the children, let them do it. if they want to send them back. put them in foster care.

startthe house did yesterday with 4.5 billion dollars in humanitarian aid. is that enough? caller: hi don't know how much is enough down there. we have a democratic governor in illinois. we are a sanctuary state. maybe i will feel some of that later on. i just think president trump ought to say i give up. whatever you democrats want, you can have it. it is your ball, you play with it and you figure it out. maybe that would save a lot of lives. maybe that would help everyone get back together and work together. that is all i have to say. the democrats should have it and the democrats should get away from it. york.alan in new caller: it seems to me the climate problem is both connected to the mexican immigration problem as a cause because of the droughts in mexico and middle america

countries are forcing people off land that is being less productive. then also connected because we need all the labor that could be coming across the border both for existing jobs in harvesting farm products where we are now reliant on that, but if we really recognized the climate problem is a serious issue and requires an urgent response, we will have more than enough work for both american and migrant workers in converting to solar and wind and conservation, building sustainable communities, building sustainable transit to meet the challenge of getting off carbon within the next several years. i was really struck when i visited west palm beach a few months ago. i was traveling past the area of mar-a-lago. looking at miles and miles of roadside, beautifully manicured lawns on properties like trump's and thinking to myself, if he really got what he wanted, they

could never have the population of skilled gardeners. many of them are from this part of the world that they rely on to keep their standard of living in the west palm beach area. that's almost trivial compared to climate change. there is such hypocrisy in denying the climate issue and the contribution that these workers and other american workers could make towards meeting that challenge if we stopped denying the reality of climate change. host: catherine, new york. good morning. caller: hello? host: you are calling on the independent line. caller: good morning. what i was thinking was how can we are not mentioning that the bill, but we were spending was $750 per bed or per person, per child there. it just blows my mind. the person who was directly

affiliated with trump who was let go is not running the program for that and receiving the benefits. $750 per person and they still need more money. up,ink the bill that is set al -- all the contingencies, everything needs to be looked at. you are not going to get kids a frozen burrito. ofy need to be taken care any needs to be under a microscope because it has not been. host: anything else? caller: i just think we are not working appropriately. we need to work on sending money because we are spending more money now instead of working on the northern triangle.

we are going to spend so much more money on the long run because of the trauma we are in inflicting on these children. host: appreciate your voice this morning and your participation in the program. a couple more headlines from papers and elsewhere this morning. iran called the was desperate and confused. --mp valves "a better ration "obliteration." we will see what happens in the coming days and weeks. illinois has become the 11th state to a recreational pot. the governor signed the bill that legalizes recreational marijuana in illinois. it also means nearly 800,000 people with criminal records buying or possessing 30 grams of marijuana or less may have their records expunged. here's is the story of duncan hunter, congressman from california. thewashington post says

prosecutors are alleging he used campaign funds to fund affairs. here is the story that goes with it. federal prosecutors allege a new filing this week that congress and hunter used campaign funds to help facilitate extramarital affairs. monday, republican of california used campaign money to fund trips, dinners and dreams with women with whom he was romantically involved. three lobbyists, a woman in his office and a number of house leadership said this is all going to trial. you have criminally clinical prosecutors in this case. this is a personal smear campaign. he declined to address the allegations of affairs. i look forward to battling this out in trial. this is the washington post story on all of this. back to your calls. avi from stockbridge, georgia.

caller: thank you for taking my call. i just want to say that i feel sorry for these children but who in the world with send their child thousands of miles to another country not knowing they will be taken care of? thosek the people in countries should band together and revolt against their leaders. i don't think the united states the physicaln responsibility of raising these children when they don't even want to assimilate after they get here. plus we have got to pay someone to teach them english. our children are being deprived of their lunches in school because there is no place to sit down because all of these migrants rn here now -- are in here now. give me a break. we are united states citizens. i am a veteran and i fought for this country. i will be darned if i want to

see it taken over by a third world country. thank you. rry from new paris, pennsylvania. democratic caller. caller: how are you today? i am upset. every time i listen to any of the news, whether it is cnn, --, msnbc, these little kids it doesn't matter if you're republican or democrat. they don't deserve to be living like they are. whether it is in mexico were here. it is really sad they are going without showers or toothbrush. the simple little things. it does not matter whether it is their parents or whoever is detaining them here should take responsibility if they are going to hold them prisoner here. i think some of these people think there is nothing wrong with this. they should spend a weekend down there without a shower or a toothbrush and see how they like

it. host: john from mississippi. independent caller. caller: i have nothing against immigration but i'm from a sanctuary city, chicago. it is ridiculous. chapo had his drug organization there for a reason. he has 3 million illegal immigrants to distribute his drugs, bring crime to my neighborhood. then the police come their police presence. it destroys the black community. when they come into this country they don't bite off nobody else's pie. thecan-american pie, foundation of this country. people talk about states rights. the right to enslave and rape people. they say there is no need for reparations. on the white man owns 15 times

as much as the whit black man, -- about theme ask you es that wereraid supposed to start on sunday. they are being held for two weeks by the white house until he says congress should act. what do make of that news? caller: i think the democrats are dragging their feet. they are giving it to get votes. life is a limit set early, they are the ones -- like the gentleman said earlier, why are you fighting for noncitizens? we cannot take care of our own world. i am a veteran. i have broken feet. the v.a. is 200 miles away. that is the only way i can get them health care. there are no jobs in this area. i'm in the poorest part of america and i can't come home.

if i go home, i have to get an application for somewhere. the first question is you speak spanish? if i don't speak spanish, i don't get the application. i am educated. imagine the uneducated. imagine the poor. goes to other nations. come on, america. we have been the foundation for every other race to come here to say my people never had slaves. yeah, but somebody else had slaves and build this for you. the land was already cleared. the clothes on your back were it because my ancestors put it on your back. man has 15 times as much as a black man and you say slavery is over. who is going to be working for who? sharinge first lady is an aide to replace sarah

sanders. stephanie grisham will be the new white house press secretary. person."ink of no mp offered her the job in tuesday morning and she accepted it. to do it,eople wanted trump said from the oval office. i think she is going to do a great job. ham will be the third press secretary in three years and will succeed sarah sanders who is leaving at the end of the month and will return to her home state of arkansas. that is in usa today. we have tina from kansas. good morning. caller: yes, i have a comment on the border problem. i believe the whole problem should have been resolved on

001.ember 12 of 2 our politicians have totally betrayed the american people. that is all i have to say. host: a couple of fiscal stories. the cbo is reporting government on a path towards physical pain. they say the federal government is heading for deep physical pain. just how much depends on what congress does. if left on autopilot, spending will sort over the next few decades. rising from 20% of the economy now to european levels of nearly 30% by 2049. the government debt will reach record levels when measured against the gross to mystic product. that's essentially a good scenario. if lawmakers attempt to extend the trump tax cuts and erases automatic spending cuts, the situation gets worse.

financial times has this front-page story about jay powell. the fair chairman fights back as trump attacks. he defended the fed's independence, saying they were insulated for short-term political pressure as he responded to donald trump's latest attacks. he spoke about all of this. here's what he had to say. [video] >> the fed is insulated from short-term political pressure, often referred to as our independence. congress chose to insulate the fed because they saw the damage that arises when policy bends to short-term political interests. central banks around the world have similar independence. along with this independence comes the obligation to explain clearly what we are doing and why we are doing it so the public and their elected representatives in congress to hold us accountable. the real accountability demands more us any clear explanation.

we must listen and engage those who serve we served understand and faithfully use the powers entrusted us. openingwhy we are up to suggestions, criticism and critique. this is a good time to undertake such a review. host: jay powell at the council on foreign relations. you can watch that at c-span.org . just type in his name, jerome powell. you will see the whole event. the stock market went down quite a bit as he was talking about all of this yesterday, this pushback being reported. this morning the dow was back up 100 points of the open after the treasury secretary said there is a path to complete a trade deal with china. says we were about 90% of the way there and

there is a path to complete this. he did not provide details on what the rest of that 10% would be. the president and the chinese president xi jinping will meet to talk about this at the g20 this weekend in japan. we will see what happens out of there. it looks like we will be covering news conference over the weekend from the president. standby for an airtime. joyce is calling from pennsylvania. welcome. from oldy dad came country. he never got assistance. there is work here. find work as soon as you get here. i am old, too old to work. these are young people looking for free money. my money that i worked for. i am a democrat. why don't we make a road from schumer's house in

new york and pelosi's house and california -- in california? they could get to schumer and lucy and say i need a toothbrush, i need this, i need this until they find a job. why should we be giving them money? on $2000. on my social security they deducted a third of my social security because i won $2000. that is ridiculous. i have to suffer for a year. that $2000 went like water. but they took the social -- they took a third of my social security away from me for a year. ask any senior citizen who was old and gets social security and

if they got money, what did social security do to them? you find out they took away their social security. these people on the border and are walking all this way, they are young. i could not even make the trip because i'm too old. penny. collected a never collected a penny, and yet they took a third of my social security away because i won $2000. that is ridiculous. that's right. there is work here in america. if these people come over the border, they should find a job like my dad did. my dad found a job in the coal mines. he worked. he had his children and he supported them until he died. and he didn't collect money. and he was an immigrant. this is ridiculous. why are we supporting these

people? we should not be supporting them. we have veterans here. i remember telling my neighbor who is a veteran -- he was on the street and died on the street as a veteran in this country. what is happening here? go into all these places and find were all these homeless people are. find how many people are veterans within the homeless area. you will find out they need help. host: thank you for calling from pennsylvania. a couple of items to let you know about. house oversight and reform committee will be taking up the issue of kellyanne conway and the hatch act. this is a hearing on a recommendation by the office of special counsel that the president should fire her for violating the hatch act. kellyanne conway will not be

there. the members will be. you can watch that at 10:00 a.m. on c-span3. later today on c-span2, the congressional baseball game. they will be playing at nationals park in washington, d.c. our coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. eastern time. the first pitch is that 7:05. play-by-play will be provided by wto radio, a local station washington. coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. a story about the federal trade commission on an issue we have been covering over the years. it has to do with robo calls. the ftc said they blocked more than one billion illegal robo calls in a cracked and coordinated with the justice department, as well as state law enforcement agencies. actions the actions included new cases, including

settlements. consumers get tens of billions of calls annually. the latest enforcement action is a drop in the bucket says the ftc consumer protection bureau director. the agency will continue with coordinated effort to stem the scourge of illegal robo calls by pursuing individual cases and coordinate them with policymakers. ftc blocks one billion robo calls. the last couple of minutes of this program, ray from maryland. caller: good morning. outs calling to throw this to the people in america. we have an organization of american states that is supposed to work with all of north american countries. frome yet to hear anything the democrats or republicans consenting -- concerning their working together to take care of the humanitarian immigration

problem that not only is a problem with america but for all the countries in south america. host: anything else? caller: i just wanted to make that point. nette from hartland, wisconsin. caller: i would not have a problem with $4.5 billion in humanitarian aid if the democrats would even talk about the wall. we need to stop the bleeding. how many little children does it take to build a wall? i have my own kids to pay for. that's it. host: if you're watching any of ic debates tonight or tomorrow, you can stick around because the late-night shows are going live with postdebate analysis. for the first time the tonight show will go live in its entirety after major political

event. the daily show will go live for two consecutive nights for the first time. what is believed to be a first, two late shows, jimmy fallon and stephen colbert will go ahead live -- go head-to-head live for a full hours. live as thewill be jokes continued into the we our. that is the urgency this calls for. ist is rather striking that where we are in 2019 compared to recent cycles. there is a lot of extra talk going on tonight after the debates happening on nbc. they will talk more about them hours.to the wee working from tennessee. -- dorothy from tennessee. you are on the air. caller: this is the way i look at it about the border issue.

nationnot safe in this with open borders. this is why. if they can get a person across that border or get drugs across that border, they can get a nuclear weapon, a football across that border into this nation. that is what is my biggest issue. that is my statement for today. fairfax, virginia. you were up now. caller: i feel like the republicans don't have any policy positions. it seems clear to me they always find a distraction to keep people distracted from the fact they are giving tax cuts to the rich people. wouldly reason americans might other people coming in is because they already feel as if

wages are not going up. there is more money now but everyday working people are seeing none of it. ce they haveans, on trickle down economy, and now they have trump with the reality show going on, there is no policy position for anybody who is trying to understand. that is not to say the democrats theither, but at least democrats will tolerate the debates. bernie in a single there is a long way to go. host: that was the final call for this program. we will take you to the capital now for a session of the u.s. house of representatives. they will start with morning our. members can speak on. any topic

at noon they will come in for legislative business. it is more for spending, and funding for the treasury department, judiciary, executive office for the president and other independent agencies like the small business administration. election security is coming up tomorrow. last night, they passed 4.5 billion dollars in border humanitarian aid and we are waiting to see on c-span2 this morning if the senate will take up its own version of that bill. another busy day in washington leading into a week long fourth of july break, which is expected to start tomorrow. we thank you for joining us on this edition of the washington journal. we will be back tomorrow at 7:00 eastern. we now take you to the floor of the house. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019]