tv Washington Journal 07132019 CSPAN July 13, 2019 7:00am-10:02am EDT
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the 2020 campaign. as always, we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter as well. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning and welcome to "washington journal." images of crowded detention centers have worried washington. democrats and republicans have blamed each other for the conditions for those picked up by immigration and border officials. just as president trump promises more immigration enforcement across the nation this weekend. we want to know what you thought about those pictures and videos and what we've been seeing of these detention facilities. what do you think about the conditions of migrant detention centers and what should be done about it, if anything?
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democrats, we want to hear from you, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. isependents, your line 202-748-8002. you can always reach us on social media, on twitter and facebook. house members on friday in the house oversight committee described what they saw during their tours of the detention centers and they also sparred with each other about who was to blame. one of the first senators -- lawmakers to talk was representative alexandria ocasio-cortez. here's what she had to say. [video clip] >> much has been made about cbp agents in this hearing as well. this is not their fault. agree. respects, i woul
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it is the policy of dehumanization implemented by this administration laid at the feet of stephen miller causing the violence and dehumanization where hurt people hurt people. i would like to seek unanimous consent to submit the record of 17 women i met during my trip to the border. universeswo different and it feels like we are speaking in two different worlds. one of the reasons for that, i believe, is because when we took our tour of the border, one of the first things we were told was that we were not allowed to speak to the migrants. we were not allowed to have contact with them, that we shouldn't. this was given for reasons of "their safety."
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after we were asked to surrender our cell phones at the beginning and oneour, we went in -- a secretfficers members group where cbp were planning to harm or encouraging harm of myself and mocking the deaths of migrant children. we walked into this facility. we were asked to surrender our phones. we went in and one of the officers attempted to sneak a photograph of myself and other congressional members. at that point, we asked to enter one of the cells.
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we were allowed to speak to the women. it is their handwriting. while we were asked to only speak to officers, we are not getting the accounts of migrants of mistreatment, of what they are experiencing. when these women tell me they were put into a cell and that working andot they were told to drink out of a toilet bowl, i believe them. i believed these women. sores ied the canker saw in their mouths because they were only fed a nutritious food. were forcedhat they to sleep on concrete floors. host: house members have also toured some of the detention facilities. roy's texas republican chip talking about what he observed
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at these detention facilities. [video clip] >> i represent texas 21 off the san antonio. texas 21 is 95 miles from the border with mexico. i've been to the border multiple times. i didn't just come recently, putting on a show for the media. it's been a career of trying to secure the border and do our jobs. my chief of staff went to the border after hearing all the horror stories. my chief of staff had a very different experience in terms of what he saw, in terms of the cleanliness of facilities, in terms of border patrol trying to makingjob, in terms of sure they do have portable water
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where we were told they didn't have water to drink. having the toothpaste, the food, the diapers, the things that are necessary to take care of people after a long, hard journey. after we created the very magnet that is causing these migrants to come through and be abused by cartels while this body cowardly sits in the corner while doing nothing about it. as certainhe stories station gangs or the trains and demand a toll. they said they would hold us until we arranged to pay. if you couldn't pay, they would throw you off the roof. ago, a 19-year-old woman fell from one of these trains. the train stopped and the woman hopped off to buy cheese and roles.
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-- and rolls. yards.in dragged her 100 coyotes take advantage of our system. one in three women are sexually assaulted. this is the reality of what's happened between the northern triangle and texas. because we refused to do our job. host: let's go to the phones and see what arguers think of this -- what our viewers think of this issue. joe, good morning. caller: good morning, sir. 10-30 adults have died. hypocrite is such a for saying they are taking care
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of very well. the hypocrisy of these two persons -- i thought the gop were christians. i cannot believe it. hitler exactly how adolf did his country. they are not humans for god sakes. somebody needs to help us. for privateson prisons? this is not right. come on. host: dean calling from louisville, kentucky on the republican line. caller: good morning. i've heard about the people drinking out of toilet. when i went to the va hospital , they told me to give a stool sample -- they said open up the sink and the towel
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comes out. sink.p part of that was a people do they -- in vietnam,e they called me baby killer. here come the gis mistreating them. the democratic party -- thank you. host: and calling from washington, d.c. on the callingic line -- ann from washington, d.c. on the democratic line. caller: i think the blame goes all around. we send our children to these good schools, these colleges, they go to cambridge, they have harvard, yale and we are
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behaving in this way toward another country. to theme goes also people who are helping the .eople at the border they know all about germany. they know what happened in germany to people. they know what the conditions are like in the concentration camp. the blame goes to all of us. our leaders in the last 30 years have not made good laws about people coming into this country. we have sent them to congress, we have sent them to our government and they have not worked, they've been not working. they've been sitting on their hands and doing things to one another instead of making laws that protect and keep our country a good place to be. host: what do you think should be done? what do you think are the steps that need to be taken right now to help solve this? caller: as an emergency thing,
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there should be some -- i hate to say this, but to be honest, i think that all -- i'm not a trumper and i would never agree to anything except you have to all of laws -- you can't a sudden start making laws. those laws have to come from the beple we've set that can't overturned. it was presidential preference. he had to do that. we are allhing is responsible and we all know what we are doing when we begin to hold people in that way. you cannot tell me everybody in that congress does not know about hitler and all that mess . aspect is in any
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wrong for this country. host: mike calling from rocky point on the independent line. caller: good morning. who has workedd since 16 and paid taxes, social security is the third rail of politics. these illegals are coming over here and working and not contributing to the social security and orderly society that our politicians put in place for us. illegals of allowing over here hoping that sooner or later they will become democrat voters, they are liquidating the and theity of a future democrats want to turn and use these people as a pawn to turn this country into a socialist nation. host: speaking specifically
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about the detention facilities, what do you think should be done about that right now? there seems to be a crisis going on right now. caller: we should put more pressure on mexico, honduras and guatemala and all those places to stop the crossing of the illegals coming across the border so that the laws that are ,nacted can be used properly not just to gain access to our border so they can walk across it. host: let's go to george calling from inglewood, florida on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. bring to yourto attention that all the responsibility of the border and the people coming through mexico , do they have responsibility? i never hear the mexican -- it's like he's
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obsolete from any responsibility. if they cannot control their country, should and they step aside and let somebody run their country? everyplace is supposed to have their policeman, their army, whatever. thereook at america, theident is letting -- ir president is letting these women and children come through and nothing happens. host: what should be done about the condition of migrant detention centers for those in this country right now? -- they areow working on that. i'm talking about the border problem with the people being held and the people coming up in
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droves, thousands and thousands of people coming through the country. not anye countries responsibility -- do they have any responsibility at all? , to thecan president leaders not hold any responsibility down there? i never hear them mentioned. host: walt calling from pittsburgh, pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm really disgusted with my party. this is in the democrat party anymore. it is communism. trump tried to stop this two years ago. if they had worked with him, -- i don't believe that cortez. she's an airhead who got elected. these children wouldn't be there if it wasn't for the democrats. they get dropped off.
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who dropped them off there? it's not trump's fault they got dropped off. the money we are spending on these people -- i'm on social security. i'm getting cut while in california, they are getting free medicare. look at california. 16,000 people living on the streets in los angeles. san francisco, right outside nancy pelosi's place, they don't see it. the jewish people would have to get out of nazi germany. host: we will be talking about homelessness in america later on in the show. what should be done for the people in the detention centers right now? got $4.5 billion.
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that would have built that wall. stop everything right now. put them up for adoption. happen,'t going to either. host: bill calling from maryland on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to pick up on an earlier comment. i think we need to send our military into mexican territory and interdict these caravans before they reach the border. host: are you talking about invading a sovereign country? caller: yeah. the purpose is this is a crisis. this is a lose lose for everyone, for the migrants, for the u.s., for all parties involved. once we go into mexican territory, that will light a fire under mexico. your prior caller is right. what country allows caravans of
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people to enter the country with the intent of violating the border of its neighbor? what if we allowed these migrants to go up to canada? would canada tolerate that? this is a situation that cannot continue. regarding the abysmal conditions in these camps, we need to have fema set up some temporary camps. they have the resources to set up some temporary holding facilities until we can get this problem under control. this is just a total disaster. pencevice president mike and several members of congress went down to tour some of the facilities on the border yesterday. here's a bit from vice president pence's tour. [video clip] >> by shortchanging ice, it's forcing you to keep people here
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at the border patrol stations. -- lack ofbility ability to take them requires us to hold them longer. this station is designed to hold 382 individuals. >> where did the general go? you are not going to let these folks go. >> no, sir. >> unlike the families we saw. these are adult males, mostly. they are not going to be let go. if you start letting these people go, we will get everybody in the world coming here. that's why we are fighting hard on the ice side. that's why it's so important -- >> we need to have more ice there. you are not going to let these people go.
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tents and senators talk with migrant children -- pence and senators talked with migrant children. pencecility that tends ured was a processing facility. in may onty opened the border just yards from an international bridge connecting the united states and mexico. it was broken into four 8000 foot plots that resemble a high school gymnasium. there's a space for intake processing and restrooms with showers and laundry facilities. every family i spoke to said they were being well cared for, pence said, decrying the harsh
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and talk to todd, calling from west virginia on our republican line. caller: good morning. i'm all about god and country. as far as the atrocity going on along the southern border, it is lack of the congress doing their control security as well -- ronald reagan stated a nation without borders is not a nation. administrations to not lock this thing down and get our country secure. as didn't have this problem, withrlier caller stated, migration to canada. they know when they get to this country, they have a free ride. it is sickening.
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it is a trojan horse of all trojan horses. host: what should be done about the conditions at the centers right now? --ler: i was corrections it's all about safety and security as well as dignity and respect. they want to clean these places out, mexico needs to hold their line and they needed to stop them there. they will go for asylum. they can go on asylum and weight. there is no reason for these people to be coming to our country with a false line. -- they can go on asylum and wait. they understand they have a free ride. miss alexandria cortez, they can go ahead and take all these people. why don't they take them into their homes? host: let's go to mike calling
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from new york on the democratic line. caller: good morning. i'm a democrat. i opposed the immigration stuff. good, butaren't too you really shouldn't expect much. there are nursing homes that people are dying in that aren't good. this could have been solved. trump had a deal with the wall with loads of money a year ago and he said i will do it and then someone told him don't do it. if they don't have immigration as a campaign issue, they won't be elected. they had the house, they had everything for two years. they could pass a tax bill but couldn't do anything for immigration. if trump and his friends in the hotel industry like adelson didn't hire these people, they
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wouldn't be coming up. host: let's talk to richard calling from philadelphia, pennsylvania on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. let these bleeding heart liberals and people that are complaining and protesting about the immigration situation down there -- they needed to go down to the border and pick one of papersamilies and sign saying they will bring them back for the hearings, but in the meantime, be responsible for them, take them into their homes and feed them and everything like that and let the politicians do the same thing, bring them into their homes and feed them until they have their hearing. if they don't bring them back, then lock them up. they shouldn't be coming into
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this country illegally. ok? host: let's go to alan calling from washington on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. there is one thing they could do. they could just stop feeding them when they come to the border, take their pictures, take their fingerprints, take their dna, then send them on their way. you would stop that caravan immediately if they didn't get food and clothing at the border. host: what do you do with the people who have legitimate asylum claims? caller: turn them loose. take their pictures, take their fingerprints, turn them loose. don't feed them, don't clothe them. just like when they are coming up there mexico. maybe the politicians will wake up. is thatat you're saying
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-- are they not being fed coming across the border now? what would change? caller: don't feed them, don't clothe them, take their pictures and fingerprints and turn them loose. host: who do you think is feeding them and clothing them now? caller: u.s. government/ host: let's go to deborah calling from camden, new jersey on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. ok?ack in history, when they got put out of their , they were murderers, warmongers and thieves. aren't they immigrants? is immigrants.
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they came here is immigrants and took over the country. -- as immigrants and took over the country. wait a minute. where did they come from? host: what do you think about the conditions at the detention centers on the border right now? caller: we should let them go. if they've got families, let them go. didn't they come here on a boat and do what they had to do to make their lives happy, too? come on, now. host: dan calling from woodbridge, virginia on the independent line. caller: good morning. i understand the need for compassion migration. a lot of people are coming from countries where it's tough. --ot of people overlook we've had two republican presidents who gave amnesty and said come on over.
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what are we going to do? you want to have hope, but at the same time, people want to lock down the borders, you can't just give away amnesty. used to say ife you want to come over and you're here already, why not give them a tax they had to pay into the system so it's not a free ride? host: chuck calling from dayton, ohio on the republican line. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. t pence to the border. all these christians are forgoing to other places to help people. where are these christians now? why aren't they standing up for americans? they have a crisis at the border.
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we can solve it by using the christian faith, but they failed to do it. where are your christians? thank you for c-span. houseduring friday's oversight committee, a member referred to the plight of the children she met at the facility and blasted the immigration policy. [video clip] >> while working at human service and community advocacy organizations, i learned early on that you have to bring people in the room who can't be here. i'm asking for jacqueline, age died from guatemala who from sepsis while in our care. she the same age as my son. when i heard about it -- mr. speaker, we do have a crisis at our border.
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we have seen this current sending a hate filled message that those seeking refuge are not welcome in our america and that the rule of law and human rights will not protect them here. ideology thatus rules our nation right now. i've been so deeply haunted by the unforgettable image of a four-year-old boy coming up to andhrough a glass door asked me in spanish where his papa was. boardd a very small dry to me so i could write something on it. i'm not sure what he needed before an agent asked me to stop engaging him. bringing those who can't be here
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into this room, i asked a colleague to see one of the drawings from one of the children and i want you to not look away. i beg you to not look away. the suffering isn't just limited to those children. something i learned, mr. chairman, i was able to travel to clint, texas and meet mothers and fathers and grandparents who are suffering, ripped from their children. i will never forget a father from brazil who held onto his son with tears in his eyes as he told me, in english, he just wants his son to be an american boy. host: new haven, connecticut. democratic line. caller: i'm calling because i
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watched that entire hearing yesterday. i watched something the day before yesterday where the republicans are blaming the democrats. in there in power majority when this started happening. this is a crisis created by trump. -- iin our constitution research and follow this -- it's in our constitution that we treat people seeking asylum from those countries where people are getting killed, over run by drug ,ords, whatever the problem is we have a 1967 treaty about how you treat refugees. , thatchildren have died is shameful. the republicans are making excuses and supporting trump in the house and senate and they
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are blaming the democrats. muellere talking about coming to the hearing next week on the 17th and you put the subject at the bottom of the screen, what this program is about, so these people c wallg in talking about the and how these people are coming over here don't work, we will be supporting them, they don't know the constitution. we treatcountry where people fairly, we have compassion about people. this reminds me of what happened in world war ii, what hitler did to the jews. these children couldn't take a shower. they have on the same clothes, they have vomit and stuff on
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their clothes, they are not being fed properly, they are places are, these getting $700 a day per person, i heard $300, regardless of what they are getting, they are mistreating these people. host: rachel calling from fort lauderdale, florida on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i a retired registered nurse for many years. this has been going on for many, many years. -- i am a retired registered nurse for many years. it's at the forefront now because of the influx. i believe the drug cartels have a lot to do with the number of people coming to our borders. most of the central american countries are corrupt. it is advantageous for the drug
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cartels to do this. up jewishbringing people in germany, please. those poor people were seeking asylum here legally. we need to change the immigration laws in this country. host: scott calling from annapolis, maryland on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. in 2006, the irs published a document that their estimate of the legal presence in this country was 20 million. there is no way in the last 15 years that the number of illegals has stayed at that level. if the president issued an executive order to make e-verify mandatory for all businesses, we would lose a lot of incentive for people is to come here to get jobs.
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host: tell the people what e-verify is. caller: it is a system that my company uses. we use it to verify that the thate who we are hiring their social security number matches who they are. the system exists. it could be ramped up to be used across the country. thecongress could do it, president has the executive issue an to tomorrow executive order to make it mandatory for all businesses to use it. if we enforce the penalty, it would this incentivize people to come here to take advantage of our free services. i think we should temporarily close the border until we can get a handle on this. it's not fair that these innocent kids are getting stuck in the middle of this political problem.
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and on friday, arizona republican representative testified. here's what she had to say. [video clip] >> the crisis at the border, they say, was manufactured. we heard it for months. in january, speaker pelosi said it was a manufactured crisis. witt laughedts and said absolutely not. they sent a letter to leader mcconnell requesting that congress end this manufactured crisis. in my world, president
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trump and republicans have been sounding the alarm for years. my goodness. we will have over one million illegal immigrants that we that's more than one congressional district a year. arizona, hundreds of pounds of meth -- last year, republicans led to two immigration bills we thought were a compromise. one of the bills gave daca recipients a pathway to citizenship. not one of my democratic colleagues voted yes. not one single one. democrattely, in my world, i heard over and over again how cbp are child
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abusers. one of my colleagues said they are getting treated worse than prisoners of war. really? let's get down to the business of solving the problem. everyone to watch a chief patrolrder agent. it shows clearly that there are supplies at the detention centers. this whole issue of drinking out of the toilet is wrong. no one drinks out of a toilet. no one is being asked to drink out of the toilet. there is a combined unit where at the top, you have drinking water. the border patrol chief drank the water. they are not drinking out of toilet. there is no one asking people to drink out of toilet. from let's look comments our social media followers. here's one comment that says --
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i'm waiting for the gas chambers to start opening up. a crisismanufacturing that did not need to happen. all he had to do was approve the judges to give these people legitimate reason, but no, he's confounded things, dehumanizing folks for no reason at all but his own personal gratification. host: let's talk to robert calling from maryland on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning, sir. we have to remember that in january, the democrats put out a bill that reduced the number of reduced border patrol funding. that's who you can blame for this. , howthe last segment said
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many months did we hear them say this was a manufactured crisis? if you get caught going 80 miles , you get arrested and pulled out of your car. you get separated from your family. peoplekes these any more special than any person in this country? they did knowingly break the law of the united states and entered this country. theyey want the option, should say we want to go back home, you can gladly go back home. you broke the law knowingly. you must now accept the consequences. there are consequences for your actions. host: bob calling from new york
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on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i've been a registered republican since i could vote. that more on in the white house -- moron in the white house is the one who caused this problem, not allowing these people to seek refuge. this country is a free country. it always has been. to flora's go calling from pennsylvania on the democratic line. caller: good morning. all these people comparing this to the holocaust and saying that the detention centers are nothing more than concentration camps needed to take a look at the documented evidence of what happened to those people, the jews taken at gunpoint.
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they did not have a choice. trains,e forced, put on take into these camps where most of them were executed in a gas used fornd then fertilizer. of tons ofctures glasses and clothing, they used the remains of the people they murdered and the ones that were lucky enough to not be taken to the gas chambers were forced to work at labor camps. and they are complaining that they are not getting three meals a day? these people are coming here by choice. yes, things are bad in their country, but do something to fix your own country. host: michael calling from stanford, connecticut on the independent line. caller: good morning.
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a lot of this funding for these countries in south america has been cut off by trump because he didn't want to help them. anything obama did, he's got to get rid of. gone, sothat help is they have nothing to live for, so they come up here. i was watching msnbc and i saw michael steele. he said this happens all the time. when trump says a lot of people are telling me, the next thing out of his mouth is made up. he does not say the truth about anything. you see these pictures down there with people wearing masks over their faces, that's horrible. they are in horrible conditions. the reason they don't want to give more money for more feds, they don't want this to go on.
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host: president trump was asked by reporters about the conditions that some of the migrant detention camps. here's what president trump has to say. [video clip] -- comeommon illegally in illegally and then it's crowded. they are clean, they do a good job, they do a great job. they are crowded because the democrats won't give us any relief from these loopholes. we have asylum that is so bad. many of them are incredible, really well-run. trained tool did not be doctors and nurses and train to bedid not doctors and nurses and janitors. host: let's talk to bradley, calling from arkansas on the republican line. good morning.
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caller: thank you for c-span. i have a quick three step solution that could work. ofneed to stop the flow immigrants coming in. we could put up a wall. e-verify.be the immigrants in place, the new arrivals after we stop the flow, we can build facilities on the campus that we would pay for initially and then they would pay for once they start to work. we would add taxes on top of their wages because they are working under the table, maybe 5% so they can repay their facility. the campuses would be split up sections -- red,
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white and blue faced. they would be based on their ability to speak english and their past historical record. one group may be in the blue phase is ared thatlong -- however long e government needs to -- they canperly , give into the country them some pride and solve our problem. host: been calling for massachusetts on the democratic line. calling from massachusetts on the democratic line. americans calling in
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-- settle down a minute and understand the situation rather than simply acting out emotionally. we have international laws. the united states of america since world war ii has been propagating more international regulation and law than any other country in the world. the president may not know this, but asylum laws are in place, agreed to by the united states of america. tougee laws have been agreed by the united states of america as official policy. people are not illegal who apply for asylum. they are not illegal when they come to this country and apply for asylum. they are not illegal when they come to this country and come through these channels to let people know that they are applying for asylum.
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refugeee various statutes we have to abide by because we agreed it to them. they are not eligible for anything. people need to know that. most people think they are getting some free stuff. you are not free when you don't have papers. you don't get free medicine, free health care unless you go to the hospital. that is a charitable kind of thing, not paid for by the government. we need to settle down and recognize that human beings are human beings. the children that are involved are not going to be working anytime soon anyway. they are applying for asylum. thank you. made toy change will be keep those people in a humane fashion. host: let's talk to reggie
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calling from chattanooga, tennessee on the independent line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i would like to make a comment about the plaque on the side of the statue of liberty. give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. the wretched refuse of your chores. -- shores. i lift my lamp beside the golden door. this is a border issue. the people trying to get here are coming here for a reason. it's not always free stuff. they are looking for a better life. if we are going to do this to this group of people, we need to take this plaque off the statue of liberty.
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newsis being shown in the doesn't reflect that plaque on the side of the statue of liberty. host: let's talk to frank calling from caldwell, idaho on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to talk about the prior caller. take a kid to the welfare office and they get anything they want. they can send them right back to mexico. send them to prisons in mexico. host: chuck calling from colorado on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. the previous caller was right about these people seeking asylum. is the highest civilian homicide rate in the world in honduras. there is climate collapse down there with the drought.
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-- weooled the cartels sent them through fort benning, georgia. now, the chickens are to. roost.ng home to gave amnesty to break up the unions. he busted the airline controllers union. they want cheap labor. that's why they won't use e-verify. republicans love cheap labor. they don't give a dam about asylum -- damn about asylum. they only know how to rule. they hate the government. you have to take the profit motive out of this whole fiasco. donald trump is using it as a
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campaign issue. terrorizing refugees unites my party is the acronym for trump. host: bonnie calling for maryland on the republican line. republican, but i'm disgusted with all of this. trump keeps saying they want to use e-verify. his mar-a-lago place just had 18 illegals -- they've been there eight years. he says he didn't know but he's such a businessman. all his employees come to india. they are illegal. his trump towers were built by illegals, he didn't pay them. this man keeps going, everything he's touched went belly up. his productsl being made in china? what wasn't made in china is
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made in mexico. why did he get a free pass on everything? i'm tired of it. accountableold him and these politicians accountable just the same as we do other people. it's ridiculous. have a nice day. host: let's talk to carrie, calling from las vegas, nevada on the independent line. caller: hi. i'm really concerned about the people calling in talking about concentration camps and whatnot. the government right now, if they can't run these right, you can't ask them to do more things. they don't do obamacare right. they don't do anything right. i want to share a section of the book, "auschwitz." the dish was 50 yards long, six yards wide, a welter of burning
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bodies. holding small caliber used for millimeters, administering a bullet to the back of the neck. at the end of the pathway, two commanders seized the victims and drag them for 20 yards into position before the ss, their cries of terror covered the sounds of the shots. even before he was dead, the victim was hurled into the flames. 50 yards further, a similar scene was being enacted. you guys need to tamp down the rhetoric. we can't even have a rational conversation about what needs to be done without being called nazis. host: next up, we will talk about homelessness in the united states with nan roman from the national alliance to end homelessness.
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ther on, we will discuss college graduation gap between those living in rural and urban areas in the united states. we will be right back. ♪ announcer: democratic presidential candidates are campaigning throughout new hampshire this weekend. c-span has live coverage today at 5:00 p.m. eastern from exit or, new hampshire with cory booker. on sunday, live at 115 eastern -- 1:15 eastern, kamala harris speaks. watch democratic presidential ondidates from new hampshire
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c-span. announcer: sunday night on u.n. a, formerer -- q& inspector -- a former inspector talks about his time growing up. >> my father left us after the third grade. in my book, i have a picture of me in the fifth grade and i'm sitting indian style in the front, and i'm holding my feet because i have holes in the bottom of my shoes. i had cardboard in it so my socks wouldn't get wet. so, i had a rough upbringing. i got involved in the streets, and friends were selling drugs, .t is the thing to do c-spaner: for 40 years,
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has been providing unfiltered ofrica -- america coverage congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy issues from around the country so you can make up your own mind. 1979, c-spanble in is brought to you by your local cable or said light provider. c-span, your unfiltered view -- sidelight provider -- satellite provider. ofpan, your unfiltered view politics. announcer: we talk about that -- host: we talk about the state of homelessness in the united states and the causes of homelessness with the nan roman -- with nan roman from the national alliance to end homelessness. what do you do? guest: we look at data and evidence to figure out the solutions to what homelessness are, and we work with congress and the administration to get good policy support, and we work
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with communities to implement those solutions. host: where do you get your funding? guest: the organization started in the early 80's when homelessness first started to emerge in the country. it is a bipartisan, nonpartisan organization, and we get our funding from foundations, corporations, individuals, and contracts for technical assistance. we have conferences also. host: what exactly is the current state of homelessness in the united states? is it getting better? is it getting worse? peoplethere is a 550,000 -- there is a 550,000 people homeless every night in the united states. we first7, when started collecting data across the board on homelessness, homelessness has gone down. this is despite the fact that things that cause homelessness,
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which we will talk about, have worsened, and it has to do that we are investing more in solving it and communities are doing a better job. in the past two years, it has been pretty much flat, and we expect it will go up this year when we get the data in from 2019 counts. host: to make sure we are on the same page, define homelessness. guest: homelessness is a situation in which people either are living unsheltered, so they don't have a shelter bed at night, or living in a shelter or transitional housing or some kind of program. host: what age groups are we talking about? are most of the homeless of a certain age group? how many children? 550t: we are talking about thousand people, the majority of them are individual adults -- 550,000 people, the majority of them are adults.
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40% live in families or are people living in families. has: president trump something to say about this earlier in the year. listen to what president trump had to say about this earlier. pres. trump: -- >> you come to osaka or tokyo and the cities are clean, no graffiti, no one going the bathroom on the streets. very different from our city. pres. trump: isn't it nice? it's very sad. >> why is that? pres. trump: it's a phenomenon that started two years ago. it is disgraceful. i'm looking at it very seriously and we are doing other things you probably noticed some of the important things we are doing now, but we are looking at it very seriously, because you can't have police officers
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getting sick just by walking the beat. they are getting very sick. people are getting sick. people living there are living in hell, too. some of them have mental problems where they don't even know they are living that way, perhaps they like living that way. they can't to do that. we cannot ruin our cities. host: what is your reaction to what president trump had to say? guest: i appreciate he is expressing his concern about homelessness and recognizing the seriousness of it. it definitely is not a problem that emerged two years ago, it emerged in the early 80's. prior to the early 80's, we did not have widespread homelessness in the country. about 30% of homeless people, overall, are unsheltered, meaning they are living in places not meant for human habitation. it is not by choice. it is because either they are not shelter beds -- there are not shelter beds where the beds --e so many areas of
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barriers to area of entry that people can't get into them. also said the government is not equipped to deal with homelessness, the federal government. actually, the federal government has been doing a great job dealing with homelessness. that is one of the reasons numbers have gone down over the past 10 to 11 years. even though the drivers, the causes of homelessness, have gotten worse. host: if you want to join this conversation, we will open up regional lines today. if you are in the eastern or central time zone, we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8000. oryou are in the mountain pacific time zones, we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8001. keep in mind, we are always reading on social media, twitter, and on facebook.
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nan, is homelessness a problem in every state? is it a problem in certain regions? what is the geographical breakdown of homelessness in the united states? guest: homelessness is a problem everywhere, and urban, suburban, and rural areas. it is more of a problem, more people are homeless in urban areas. it plays out differently in these different areas. at the moment, the problem is much more serious on the coast. the states with the highest rates of homelessness are new york, florida, texas, and the states on the west coast. it has a geographic dimension to it. host: i want to get to this before i forget you said it. you targeted the 1980's as being the era at which homelessness exploded. what changed in the 1980's that caused this problem? guest: the big thing that changed was the equation around housing affordability. housing affordability is the driver of homelessness.
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people are homeless because they can't afford housing, people with disabilities are more likely to be poor at a disadvantage when they compete for scarce resources. that is why a lot of disabled people are homeless. an adequate we had supply of housing, so we did not have widespread homelessness emerge until the 80's. the reason we lost housing, there was many reasons, but there was a big reduction in federal spending on affordable destroyedrban renewal or tore down a lot of affordable housing, replacing it with housing, and the conversion of multifamily housing, rental apartments, into condominiums. prior to the 80's, multifamily housing apartments, except for new york city, was pretty much all rental. aw, there's a great deal
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multifamily housing owned by people. it was changing the housing equation. oft: the largest number homelessness is on the coast, and the large number of homeless are in new york city, los angeles, seattle. we have some of the nose -- some of those numbers. is homelessness just an urban problem or is it a problem in rural areas as well? guest: it is definitely a problem in those areas as well. when you say housing affordability or the equation has two pieces to it. one, people portion comes. people don't make enough money -- people's incomes. people don't make enough money. in rural areas, a lot of people are challenged in terms of their income. it plays out differently in rural areas, because there's not as much infrastructure to help homeless people, not as many shelters.
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so, you see more people living in places, may be campers or barns, or doubling up with other people. it plays out differently, but it is still there. host: let's let some of our viewers join the conversation. gilbert is calling from birmingham, alabama. gilbert, good morning. caller: thank you for c-span and for your guest. there is an old cliche that you have to walk a mile in a man's shoes to understand him. i've been homeless in america. i was displaced in 2001 when the storm came through birmingham. let me tell you, when we think about all of the natural disasters that happen in this country, a lot of people become displaced and homeless because of it. as god would have it, ironically, when the financial crisis happened, houses were so cheap in birmingham that i was able to pay cash for a house with my income tax. that is the way it is.
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what i'm saying is that, until we realize that every natural disaster puts people into homelessness more than any other -- and homeless veterans we have out here. who cries for the homeless? the previous show you are talking about the displaced immigrant workers. who is crying out for the homeless community? guest: first, in terms of congress, we do have a lot of support in congress, actually, for homelessness. there are a number of bills introduced this year to support homeless people, and i think there are people who care. ofcifically, also, in terms what the color set about natural disasters. it is very much on my mind this morning, driving in, hearing about what is going on in new orleans. thenational alliance -- national alliance to end homelessness and i did work
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after katrina to get federal support for housing and people who had been homeless before the storm into or made homeless during the storm. sinks today and worry for what may happen there if things are as bad as they could be. we will be praying for people in new orleans to not become homeless as a result of this. peoplehat percentage of who are homeless are homeless because of natural disasters? any idea? let's talk about other groups as well. what about veterans? are there any significant portions of veterans that are homeless? guest: in terms of natural disasters, i don't know. i don't know a number, but i don't believe it is a huge driver, in terms of the overall homeless numbers. obviously, when something happens, there are a lot of homeless people for a short period of time, but it doesn't tend to be the people who are
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homeless and the longer term. in terms of veterans, yes. there are 550,000 people per night homeless. it used to be that 70 or 80,000 of those were veterans. but, there has been a big investment from congress in ending veteran homelessness, and significant resources have been poured into it. that number has been cut by more than half. people, about 38,000 veterans, who are homeless. i think it is well within our ability to end homelessness for veterans altogether. host: let's talk to rosetta calling from new york. rosetta, good morning. caller: good morning. i'm calling because i want to know, since you are the ceo and president, what are you exactly doing about the homeless problem with the people from the time you see them on the street to a
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place where they can be sheltered? an apartment or something like that. guest: national alliance to end homelessness is an advocacy and education. we do not deliver any direct assistance ourselves. we are trying to get the resources to support the largely nonprofit organizations, pretty much all assistance to homeless people is delivered by nonprofit organizations. we are trying to make sure they are resourced well enough that they can do their job and get people back into housing as quick as possible. also, they understand what is working better to do that, what is more effective. we don't have enough money. 30% of people are -- you are homeless are unsheltered. we are not helping everyone, and we can't waste a penny.
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the federalch does government spend on homelessness every year? is that a major part of the budget? guest: it is not a major part of the budget, no. i wish. i don't wish, because i don't which we had to spend anything, but it is about $6 billion per year spent on targeted homelessness assistance. there is also money spent on programs that are for poor that isr health care not specifically targeted to homeless people. host: hugo is calling from california. good morning. caller: the reason i'm calling is that, since we have been talking about homelessness, especially in the west, since 2007, nobody has looked at the role of wall street in homelessness.
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black rock, in 2011, when obama , the reasonroblems why there were problems was some wanted wall street to come up and by all of the homes in the west that were foreclosed. obama refused. obama wanted to handle it the way bush handled the debacle in the 80's, where, instead of taking people from their homes, they are handed those homes and letting people stay in their homes, and spend what they could. obama inherited that from poppa bush. handled the situation, [indiscernible]
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thaty up all of the homes were foreclosed from the banks. does, theylackrock hold more than 5 million homes in arizona, new mexico, and california. what they did was they split those homes in 2015 -- 2050 sections. guest: housing affordability is the driver around homelessness. when the recession happened in 2008, actually, we had expected to see a big uptick in homelessness as a result of that. housing, at, rental the beginning of the recession, there was an adequate supply in wasn't as much of a shortage. we didn't see a lot of entries into homelessness. then, congress ended up making a significant commitment to preventing people from becoming
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homeless during the recession in the homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing act. it helped a lot of people avoid homelessness. but, the caller is correct in pointing out that affordable housing is a big driver in homelessness. there are lots of different reasons why we have a shortage of that. host: one of the things we haven't talked about is whether mental illness has a part to play in homelessness. or, how much of a part does it play in homelessness? guest: homeless people have more mental illness than the general population. 26% of homeless people in shelters having serious mental illness, and 35% of them have substance abuse disorder. whether always clear the mental illness and substance abuse are the cause of homelessness, or the result of them being homeless. depressioness causes
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. it's not a good situation. people self medicate with substances to deal with it. so, there is a cause and effect both with those. host: let's talk to judith calling from clayton, delaware. judith, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for being there. i appreciate you guys. i have been homeless by choice, and i've worked with a lot of homeless people in the mental health field. evense to be homeless, though i was making good money, because i wanted make sure -- wanted to make sure my kids were provided for first. i lived in my car for a little while, at the v.a. for a little while, and i've been homeless in southern california and in delaware. southern california, i found, one of the biggest problems is
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that it is hard to be homeless if you don't have some kind of a problem. you are down on your luck and kind of hard, they really don't look at you as much as if you have an abuse problem, domestic violence problem, or a mental health problem. one of the worst things southern california ever did, or california period, was disband the state mental health system and decide people needed to be in the community, because there's a lot of people that would be much more -- that would be well taken care of in the state system, and i don't think they did them any favors. in terms of people with mental illness and homelessness, most of the deinstitutionalization of the countries took place prior to
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the emergence of homelessness. one of the reasons so many people who are homeless or mentally ill is that they are not adequate treatment -- there are not adequate treatment services for people. that community treatment that was supposed to be available after deinstitutionalization in many places never emerged. i will say, about the colors point, of people with higher -- withr's point, of people higher disabilities getting more attention from the homeless system, that is true. there are not enough resources in the homeless system to help everybody, as witnessed by the fact that 30% of people who are homeless are unsheltered. increasingly, at the local levels, the homeless organizations are coordinating more, and are prioritizing the people with the highest needs because people who are ill, with substance abuse, mental illness,
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people with young children shouldn't be living outside. no one should be living outside, but if you don't have enough resources, it makes sense to prioritize the people with the highest needs. there are many people who need housing that are not getting help through the homeless system. that is true. not for lack of want to help them, but they don't have the resources. host: what is the racial breakdown of homelessness in the united states? guest: african-americans are very overrepresented in the homeless population. they are 13% of the u.s. percent, and 40% of homeless people are african-american. hispanics have been underrepresented in the homeless population, but that has recently changed. u.s.are 18% of the population, and 20% of the homeless population. whites are underrepresented, asian a mute -- asian americans are underrepresented.
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because the feeder systems into homelessness, the ,easons people become homeless also have racial disparities who disproportionately affect african americans. criminalvolved in the justice system, disproportionately african-american. the foster care system, the rates of poverty, health care , so the discrimination and racial inequity in our inger systems is resulting racial disproportionality in the homeless system. we are trying hard to make sure the homeless system itself is not having a disparate impact on people. host: let's talk to jack was calling from tennessee. good morning. caller: good morning.
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two points i think are flaws with the system. fond ofe cities are boasting -- like chattanooga, 20 years ago, received a grant that said we would end homelessness once and for all. what happened? a lot of neighboring cities encouraged their homeless people to come to chattanooga, so our population went up. the burden we had went up because of our hubris. number two, how do you count the homeless? what are the real standards? we empower the university here and others to count them, and they came up with about 4000 homeless because they counted college students that were no longer living at home with their parents as homeless. people that shared apartments were homeless if their name wasn't on the lease. the county fair went from over 4000 -- i don't know who made
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them rein it in, but to less than 200. i think they were angling for grants. the more people they counted, the bigger the grant pots would be. it was scandalous. host: your response? guest: two points. one, ending homelessness -- i come from an organization, national alliance to end homelessness, so we believe homelessness can be ended, and there are communities that have ended it for certain subpopulations. in terms of the count, there are decent data sources we have. one, the federal government data, that if any community receives federal funding for homelessness, which every community does, that they have an administrative data system and collect information about the people that receive services. we have a lot of data about that
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, with what people's characteristics are and what kind of services they use. secondly, they also require every other january, and most communities do it every year, communities across the country do a point in time count, where they count everybody in a homeless bed, shelter, transitional housing, and they have a system for counting unsheltered people. so, we have those counts. they are consistent. they are not perfect, but they are consistent over time. there has been an argument, policy argument about the definition of homelessness and whether double that people should be counted as homeless. it sounds like that is what is going on in chattanooga, where some people are using a broader it's aion where definition used by the department of education. host: one of our viewers wants to know the effect of gentrification on homelessness.
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do we see more people becoming homeless because of the gentrification of our urban areas? guest: gentrification results in the loss of affordable housing in areas, resulting in homelessness. host: let's go to gloria calling from oklahoma. gloria, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for accepting my call. host: go ahead, gloria. wanted to sayi that i think the baby boomers and white people are ignored in the homeless. i was one that was discriminated against, and pushed out of the job market. media and, i think, the count, like the tennessee person that called in, i think
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that's count is ignored. i live in a small town in oklahoma, and i don't think they count the urban areas. i think they count the large cities, and ignore the small cities. town, that housing is really very bad, destructive. the housing is -- we have a lot and ieless in the city, just wanted to make that point, that i think the white people are ignored, that there are a lot of white people that are homeless and are not counted. host: how do we do the count? is everyone being counted? guest: everyone is being counted. that's probably in
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rural areas and smaller towns that have less infrastructure, like fewer shelters and so forth, that the count might be less accurate, but i think everybody is being counted. african-american. host: we can get one more call in before we run out of time. laurie is calling from north hollywood, california. caller: thank you for letting me talk to you. i want to say i was in california, los angeles, and we have very much population of homeless people, especially children. our governor was saying he was going to give more than $1 million to illegal aliens for health insurance, instead of helping out children who are homeless. i want to know, what is going on
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in here? this is not fair. this is not right. guest: there are always priorities, and i can't speak for the priorities of the but her of california, also has been leading. when he was mayor of san francisco, he prioritized homelessness. since he has been governor, he has been trying to do something about it. i appreciate that. host: we would like to thank nan roman, the president and ceo of national alliance to end homelessness, for being with us today. thank you. guest: thank you for having me. host: your phone calls on camping 2020 are coming up with several candidates hitting the trail this weekend. the atlantic's .agazine's adam harris we will be right back.
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announcer: this weekend on american history tv, leading up to the 50th anniversary of the apollo moon landing, watch nasa's apollo 11 prelaunch interviews tonight at 10:00 on reel america, featuring neil asked drone -- new armstrong, buzz aldrin, and neil collins. >> i was charged equally with the lunar module pilot in the operation of that lunar module systems and control of the vehicle during dissent. >> we will go through the planned two man excursion on the surface. neil will exit the spacecraft first, and as he goes down the letter, i will take pictures of him with a camera through the window. a television camera will be regarding his activities. myuld difficulties arise,
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job is to rescue the lamb, and i find myself becoming the active partner in charge of a very complex job. announcer: watch tonight on american history tv, on c-span3. announcer: washington journal continues. host: we will open up the phone lines and talk camping 20 in a few minutes. we want you to know that you can call in and you can talk about what is going on in camping 2020, so we want to to be ready to call in. democrats, your line is (202) 748-8000. republicans, your line is (202) 748-8001. independence, your line is -- independents, your line is (202) 748-8002. we are always reading on social , and, on twitter @cspanwj
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on facebook, facebook.com/c-sp an. there are a lot of democratics on the road and we will talk about that. first, let's see what pete -- had tohas to say say in new hampshire when talking about is douglas plan to counter the systematic racism. here's what the candidate had to say. withenever we sit down immunity members to talk about it, we talk about not just about policing but about justice. and not just about justice, but economic empowerment. our plan includes provisions to increase black entrepreneurship in this country, includes health equity, it includes a 21st century response to the homestead act, the community homestead act supporting homeownership in our communities, and for black americans. and, education, where we need to do a lot of work.
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to support black colleges and university, affordability, and make sure title i gets the help they need. you are asking about criminal justice reform, and we are the most incarcerated country in the world. it does not make us safer. announcer: the democratic -- host: the democratic challengers for the democratic nomination are out and about this weekend. can watch these events on c-span. is example, ned roots nation gathering in philadelphia with elizabeth warren and others that are speaking. you can listen live on the free c-span radio app at 2:30 or watch it later tonight on c-span at 9:00 p.m. cory booker will be in new hampshire this afternoon with remarks and a meet and greet. you can watch live coverage of that on c-span at five a clock p.m. tomorrow, -- 5:00 p.m. tomorrow, kamala harris will be
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live, and we will have coverage at 1:30. keep it tuned to c-span to keep up on camping 2020. let's talk to our callers who want to talk about the campaign promise. colleen is calling from florida on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. , on theing because campaign trail, last night on the news, they showed vice -- i lost his name right now, and reporters down at detention -- a detention camp in texas. they were saying these people were laying on the ground, and how overcrowded they were, but i paused it right there, and i looked at the people, and the men's mustaches were trimmed,
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they were clean, and they were saying they don't have water and had been there for 45 days, they can't get clean close. they were clean. they were trimmed. -- couldn'tfinitely have been there for over a week -- that isthat of the picture you are showing right now. host: let's go to how we calling from the philadelphia -- from philadelphia on the pennsylvania line. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm probably going to support trump again. some of the democrats, i don't control,hey are out of but on my side, the situation -- i--, i don't can't believe there aren't people standing up for them. i think there are more socialist
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in my party then we have prisons. withhing i have a problem is my party. my party, something is going on with my party. i really don't like what is going on. we seem to have this disease where we want to go back to reagan and fdr to regroup. i don't think any of these people know, like representative people some of the fighting against taking your gold and silver away, these are the people -- reagan and fdr didn't like people like lungs worth -- longsworth. thank you. we are straightening this party out. they are trying -- turning the party of lincoln into a liquidator. the truth is going to come out. these republicans, if they don't want to talk to people in the city, there's no way they will
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win in 2020. up, we have, on the line, michelle price, a political reporter for the associated press, and she is here to talk to us about iowa who areda caucuses going to vote by phone, which will be a new process to them. good morning. guest: good morning. host: tell me about what this changes for iowa and nevada. why are they changing to go to vote in caucuses by phone. guest: both of these states are trying to address the mandate from the democratic national committee that any state offering a caucus in 2020, as opposed to a primary, needs to find a way to open it up to more participation. there has been long-standing concerns about the caucus system where it requires people to turn up on a certain day, certain time. for an hour or more, to express their -- to the president.
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this year, asked any state sticking with the caucus system, to find some way to have remote participation. nevada, and two early caucus states were going with virtual online app-based options that both decided to stick with the old school technology and do a vote by phone. they are still offering the traditional caucus meetings, but this is a new, additional way people can express their preference next february. host: how do they secure this system? how do you know the person on the phone is the person they say they are and they are a member of the democratic party and not someone time to spoof the system? guest: some of that is still remaining to be seen. party officials say they are working through these issues and have experts from the dnc security team helping to
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test when they are up and running later this year, but the broad outlines of far is that somehow, when any democrat in the state wants to participate in this option, will have to sign up early. they can't just decide on the day of. somehow, they will have to prove themselves to their parties. the parties don't know what that will result, they still have to go in person -- if they still have to go in person and show an id, but they have to prove who they say they are. we have asked, what information would that be? that of information parties have on hand is public information. somehow, they said they would find a secure way to determine the person signing up is indeed a democrat, and they will then issue them a phone number to call and when it is time to vote, and a pin code that will probably be about 10 digits. on the day of their caucus, they
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will call in and enter their pin in order to participate to cast their vote. host: so based on what you are saying, phone voting will only be open when the physical caucus is open? will they be able to call in early, or later, or only when the caucus is going on itself? guest: they are early. early, inoffering person voting. this is another way to open it up to more people. they will casting these before the main event starts on february 22. i think it's about five days out from one they will do early virtual concha sing -- virtual caucusing. host: is this only for the democratic primary? are they thinking about doing that for voting overall in the states or just for the democratic party and for this party? guest: it is just for the democratic party and these
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caucuses. theytate governments, when run primary elections, they are concerned they have people wondering if they will vote by phone. they will either be party run in these states, and they are fairly pioneering. iowa has runn -- something like this. we haven't seen much like it in a while. host: how did the results from the 2016 iowa primary impact the decision to use this system? talking about the long-standing tension over the caucus system, 2016 put a fine point on it. there are supporters of hillary clinton who felt she was disenfranchised -- that her voters were disenfranchised and unable to attend in 2008 when she placed third in the caucus. in 2016, bernie sanders supporters were upset clinton won a really big margin in the state.
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there was a lot of confusion about the process, too. and nevada, a couple of weeks later, when democrats went to vote -- again, for new voters it is a confusing process. caucuses are really complicated. there was a lot of heartburn afterwards among folks who said it was not an open or transparent process area is not easy for people to cast their vote in it -- process. it is not easy for people to cast their vote in it. host: do you see any states looking to do this in their own caucus or primaries or are they sitting back and waiting to see what happens in iowa and nevada? guest: i think they will probably let these states be the guinea pigs. they will get a lot of attention because they cast their votes so early. a lot of other states, because they don't -- they might not be the early states with prestige that comes with being the early caucus states, they are just shifting away from caucuses altogether. the closest thing we have seen to this was the republican party tried to run an
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online caucus and they were plagued with all sorts of technical trouble. some of which we might see in these states, people overwhelming the health line, struggling to enter their pain, so the party officials and i in nevada are looking at that and trying to troubleshoot that. host: we would like to thank michelle price, a political reporter for the associated press, for being with us and iowa andbout nevada caucus vote by phone for 2020. on thursday, at the league of united last citizens presidential candidate form, bernie sanders was asked what he would do to mitigate violence in social america, to ease immigration concerns. here's what he had to say. >> everybody here understands it is only under the most dire circumstances that a mom would take a baby, by foot, and traveled 1000 miles.
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that mother is fleeing the violence and drugs and cartels in honduras and elsewhere. here's my problem to you. very shortly, i would say on the first day, but i feel like it would be a very busy first day [laughter] but very shortly, we have to deal with this crisis hemispherical he. hemispherically. bring the immigrants into the oval office and said, there is corruption, no question about it, but how can the united states play a positive role in dealing with the violence in the tear -- and terrible poverty that exists. everything being equal, no one wants to travel 1000 miles. it would rather stay at home and live in peace and security. host: matt is calling from richmond hill, new york. democrat.
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good morning. caller: good morning, sir. democrat, however, regrettably to say, at the rates democrats are going with their campaign, i feel like they are going nowhere, and i believe mr. trump is going to go into victory in 2020. this is all i have to say. host: let's talk to marcus calling from corpus christi, texas on the independent line. marcus, good morning. caller: good morning. i'm very displeased with ever candidates running for president. you have individuals with checkered pasts that have abused and misused the black community, yet you go into our communities and ask for our votes. we are not going to show up at if tangiblese 2020 are not presented to us and legislation that is not put on
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the table to give the black community a fair shake up, to level the playing field as far as money is concerned. we are the most abused community saidis country, yet, as i before, candidates, we want you to vote for us. but, it won't happen this time. host: let's talk to damon calling from colorado on the republican line. damon, good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to say that, if you look at this democratic party nowadays, they all agree on the same issues, but they are constantly fighting with each other. who wants to vote for anybody like that? kamala harris is their front-runner, and she is angry, pointing at everybody and they are all angry. you have cory booker, who had his spartacus moment. these people are nuts, and i
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don't understand who in their right mind would vote democrats. democrats used to be a good party, and they did have the older democrats in line. these new social democrats, or whatever they call themselves, are ridiculous with green new deal and all of those things. former vice president joe biden gave a portion of his foreign policy speech on thursday in new hampshire. let's hear what he had to say on foreign policy. >> we believe in freedom of religion. that is why i will and the muslim ban. we believe in free speech, that is why i will end the global gag rule to prevent money from getting to ngo's. we believe in the power of free press. that is why i will return, immediately, to daily press --
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in the white house, the state department, and the defense department. we are a nation of immigrants. president trump took those literal words, a nation of immigrants, out of the statement. the mission statement of our citizenship and immigration services. i will restore those words because it matters. host: let's talk to bob calling from oklahoma. bob, good morning. caller: good morning to you, sir. telequa. host: i was can ask you if i got that right. go ahead, bob. caller: in regarding to the reporter that you had on earlier, miss price. host: go ahead. caller: she was talking about the coverage of the election, and this is one of the problems a lot of people are having with
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the media and, keep in mind, i'm calling on the democratic line and i am democrat. think there are a lot of good candidates running. they have a lot of good reasons -- people have a lot of good reasons to be angry. on the coverage of election, she was referring to the people who feel that ms. clinton was disparaged in the last election. it is proven that a lot of votes were not counted, so it is not just a matter of how people feel. bey are facts that need to -- there are facts that need to be followed up on. mass corporate media is what i'm referring to. they are not quick to get away from this disparagement of one side or the other. whereas life is not just a two-sided coin, there is a lot more going on in the election.
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people need to listen. the previous color from colorado needs to get some perspective. thank you, sir. host: let's go to kenneth calling from coleman, florida on the independent line. ken, good morning. caller: good morning. after listening to the show the whole morning, especially the first segment of it, i look at it like this. was electedk obama president, when it came to elections, like men was the boogie man. now, it is the illegal immigrants. i wonder, and i'm surprised you don't see commercials like the willie horton and all of that, so now they are showing the illegal immigrants. at the end of the day, when it comes to illegal immigrants, it is not that they are afraid of the illegal immigrants coming now, they are afraid of all of the babies these people be
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making in the future. that is my comment. host: at the lulac presidential candidate forum in milwaukee, elizabeth warren decided to explain her details of her wealth act and how she would invest those revenues into education. there is what senator warren had to say. >> let me go back to where i started a few minutes ago. that is to talk about a wealth tax in this country. i want to underline this for everyone. this is a tax on the 1/10 of 1%, the greatest fortunes in this country. it is about 75,000 fortunes. it says your first 50 million is three and clear -- is free and clear, and i see some of you relaxed with that. [laughter] but after that, you have to pitch into cents for every dollar after that. that produces enough money to
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start making real investments in our kids. i started with universal childcare, universal pre-k for every three-year-old and four-year-old raising the wages of preschool teachers and childcare workers, but it also carries through what we need to be doing in k-12. i have supported, while i have been in the senate, more investment in schools, and making sure those schools, that that money goes to the schools needing it to most and have the children that needed to most. host: let's talk to mohammed calling from sterling, virginia on the democratic line. mohammed, good morning. caller: yes. i believe [indiscernible] his right. we have to go down there and solve the problem first. when threes fall on threes, the [indiscernible] should be removed. the other reasons the republicans will not solve the
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problem, they have to go down there and solve the problem. they know that immigration is the only campaign issue they have. if they so that problem, they will never have any issues. that's the only reason. this is not a big problem. if they are able to solve the issues with the states down to the south, the problem is solved , but they don't want to solve it. 2000 15, they had a comprehensive immigration bill and they never brought it up. it died in the house -- 2015, they had a comprehensive immigration bill and they never brought it up. it died in the house. this is just politics. host: let's go to the next caller calling from wisconsin on the independent line. myron, good morning. caller: i called in as an
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independent and traditionally i would be considered a democrat. i think with of the trump administration and extremity, there has been a lot of polarization making the democratic party cutthroat and made a lot of candidates, who are trying to defame one another. it is horrible for the democratic party, and i feel they are in a rough spot right now. i say this too because i live in milwaukee so the democratic national convention will be here next year. there is a myriad of problems in milwaukee, which i don't hear any candidates talking about the problems reflecting across the grady united states. 53206 is the most incarcerated zip code of african-american in the nation, here. it would be interesting in 2020, next year, to hear of any democratic candidates will make mention of this and the school to prison pipeline. these issues down throughout the
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country. i have yet to hear intense rhetoric and discourse about these specific issues. i look forward to hearing that year. host: let's talk to lucy who is in kokomo, indiana on the democratic line. lucy, did i pronounce your name right? caller: luis. host: luis, got you. go ahead, luis. caller: i would like to send one thing about registering to vote. when i had to register to vote, i went to the courthouse. i think everyone should register at the courthouse, and if you can't register at the courthouse, open up the white house and let everyone register. thank you. host: let's talk to barbara calling from salem, new hampshire on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you. it seems to me the democrats now have two sets of rules. one for illegals or people who break the law, and then those
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who follow the law. it is not our responsibility to care for those who break the law. we would like to thank all of our callers. up next, atlantic magazine's jeff hunt -- adam harris talks about the gap between those living in rural and urban areas in the united states area later on, centennial institute's director, jeff hunt, talks about the western conservative summit this week. first, this week, on c-span's newsmakers, the nasa administrator was interviewed and here he is talking about what lessons can be takin -- taken away from celebrating apollo. >> celebrating the 50th anniversary of apollo, we know that when america does stunning achievements, its get celebrated for years to come.
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when we celebrate the 50th anniversary this year, this month, the whole world is watching all of this programming with us, celebrating with us. this shapes the perception of people all over the world, towards the united states of america, in a positive way so young people can maybe see a protection -- a perception different than in their home country. one example i like to talk about is when we landed on mars back in november of last year. it was in a newspaper in tehran. the newspaper was "the heart line newspaper of the islamic revolutionary guard corps." they don't write nice things about the united states, but this case, they showed the stunning achievement by nasa. children in this country, young people in this country, were able to see a great story about nasa and our international partners. a great story. we need to think about the future.
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one of the stunning -- what are the stunning achievements we can do that people will be celebrating 50 years afterwards? i talked to the president a few short weeks ago. "i know youarly, have to go to the moon to get to mars and talk about mars. mars is the generational achievement that would capture the attention of the american people." he's absolutely right. going to the moon is the proving ground for the mission to mars. the challenge with apollo was that it ended. it was not sustainable because of the costs. when we go to the moon, we are driving commercial opportunities into it, reusability into the architecture, driving down the cost, learning from apollo what not to do. we need it all to be reusable, need to drive down the host: we are back for our spotlight on magazines. we are talking to adam harris of articlentic about his
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on education deserts in rural america. what made you focus on this issue? guest: the author of this incredible book essentially remarked on how educational opportunities aren't the same for people in rural america as they are for in the cities. that comes back to this research that was done from the department of agriculture that show how the gap in college attainment has grown between urban environments and rural environments. what you see from 2000 to 2015 environments, the closing of the gap of people who have high school degrees. you are about as likely to have a high school degree in world america.
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that gap has grown if you think about college attainment. 15% to 19%.om it's a small increase. the gap for people in urban america has grown more. you are up to 33%. that is widening. places like the university of alaska where they've lost 41% of their budget and rural american education options are declining. the gap between completion of high school degrees has rural,between urban and that the gap between people who finish college is increasing from urban to roll. -- rural. guest: if you are thinking about
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to your degrees or other credentials, that gap may look a little different. if you are thinking about a four-year college degree, that gap. host: we have always done a lot of moving from rural to urban areas. is that have anything to do with increasing the gap? that: there is a thought maybe this is for people who lived in rural areas getting their college degree and moving out of the area. that says a lot about the job opportunities in rural areas. thinking broadly, there are still opportunities in rural america. my family was the same way. there are some concerning factors, particularly the investment in higher education. in montana, one in three people
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live 60 miles away from the nearest college. you have the outlines of a very serious problem. host: i'm a third generation college graduate. so many are going online, is that going to have an effect? guest: people can take classes online. people do click -- take classes online. the governor of alaska suggested after they made the 41% cut to the budget, he said people can live stream classes. report,g to a recent only about 53% of people in rural areas have broadband access in their homes. that would require going to a library to do that.
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in terms of this being at ease it can be aing, systemic problem. what is going on with higher education in alaska? what exactly are we talking about? guest: late last month, the --ernor of alaska vetoed 135 $130 million of the university system budget. elijah slater had to override that veto or the university was going to have to start cutting removing senior professors , close campuses. they had about two weeks to do this. yesterday was the deadline for them to override the veto. they failed to override the veto. the university of alaska system
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lost more than $130 million of its budget. that's going to be disastrous for the state and the system. they may have to start cutting programs and faculty and campuses. host: if you want to join this conversation about education deserts, we want to open up the regional phone lines for you. if you are in the eastern or central time zone, your phone number is (202) 748-8000. if you are in the mountain or pacific time zone, your phone number is (202) 784-8001. keep in mind, we are always on twitter. this is a question we are always
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asking, why does this matter? why does it matter that there aregaps between people who getting degrees in rural areas versus urban areas. thinking you are wrongly about what education was be, the founders estimations of what education could be, you had people like george washington arguing for national universities were people could learn the arts and sciences and get practical skills. they would also learn to be citizens. colleges can be places where people learn how to be good citizens. they used to be seen as a public good. itve drifted to where we see as a private good. businessour driving -- degree so you can make money. it stimulates the accounting.
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they've invested in higher education is they've seen the practical benefits through the economy. economic stimulation of the country, more educated people, the more stimulated the economy is. host: i'm glad you brought up tennessee. several states are now offering those free community colleges, free first two years. statesseeing more rural moved to this form of getting people into the universities? does it even matter if they try it? guest: it's a patchwork in terms of where precollege programs of popped up. a dozen states of launched free tuition programs for committee free programs for
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low income students in particular. texas said it of would offer scholarships to any student whose families made less than $60,000 per year. picture,e thinking big there has been an explosion of free college programs leading to this democratic primary were several have proposed a national model. of right now, the states are doing it. host: let's go to the phone lines. good morning. caller: i want to talk about the online courses. i'm a senior citizen. that the choice of like chemistry or engineering, more of the fine arts courses are very reasonably priced.
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course sign up for a from a really great university. they are so well structured. on the a reading book side. it's a really good idea for people that want to take courses that are too far away or that may not have job opportunities. like literature or history. host: before he answers your question, it doesn't matter how old you are. you can always go back to school. knowledge is always a good thing to have. guest: universities have been building out for online education for the last several years. southern new hampshire university, arizona state grown into they have this enterprise. the way they are thinking about access and affordability and
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, they arecation trying to figure out how to have that classroom experience like chemistry and make sure the online experience is as robust as the experience in the classroom. how the student loan issue affects college attendance. get loans into rural areas than urban? are they difficult to get all the way around? guest: since the federal government switched over from bank based lending, all student throughe going to go the federal government. students will be able to get their subsidized loans up to a certain point.
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this, are thinking about it's less expensive than a private institution. you're not looking at $20,000 per year for tuition. typically, your student loans will be able to cover that. i think that right now, people are rethinking the way that student loans are being factored into how to pay for college. whatu are looking at student loans were supposed to be, they were supposed to be a tool to pay for college. now it's necessary to take out student loans. candidates and policymakers are this can remain something you don't have to go into debt for. more privatere universities or public universities that are available
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to students? it's a mix. you do have your small private universities, you have your small regional public universities. one of the issues we see, especially state funding being cut, the smaller public universities are having to reduce their program. they might get rid of some liberal arts programs or become singlesed around a issue. getof the other programs what resources are left over. we see the strangling of university budgets. have to pick and choose what they are doing in order to serve students. the chronicle of higher education ran an article the other day about the term cannot be everything to everyone.
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university near you might be cutting a geography program. what do you lose when they get cut? host: let's talk to gary from virginia. good morning. caller: actually, it's barry. thank you for this program. i did a study for the commercial real estate industry on reducing the workforce gap. that's an economic development issue. i think the fact that most of these rural communities in the united states are concerned about the labor shortage they have. they are trying to find ways to keep their talented people in the rural area and not moved to the city or the suburbs. that is the issue.
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development, the education gap will follow once you get the kids involved in the local economy. the business community knows they are not going to survive without talent coming back to them. i've looked at three or four programs in rural areas were many kids never thought they were college material because they got involved in the local economy. economic development is the goal, not going to college. with: that is one argument economic development. there is also the argument that one of the reasons why amazon may have come to virginia is because there are more educated people there. of thes a question chicken or big situation. is talent following the
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development? i don't think they have to be mutually exclusive. economicou can have development and also invest in education. if you are looking at arizona state, they partner with industries in order to develop programs that tie some of those skills companies will need to the curriculum. there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of economic development in rural areas. there is a lot of work to be done in terms of college attainment. host: one of the things we haven't talked about is the role of private for-profit universities. do we see those schools trying to fill in these gaps between the private university and the public university? gapthey slipping in that
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where people want the education? decade, youthe last did see an explosion of the for-profit sector in rural areas. you see the constriction of those. itt tech closed. most recently, another school closed. i spoke to some students in alabama after the closure of virginia college. what to doondering next. this seemed like a path forward. there credits may not transfer. institutionsit have moved into these areas to fill the gap. there is still a need for a public affordable option. education is a public good. to ryan fromalk maryland.
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good morning. caller: private colleges have particularly high dropout rates. with people spending large amounts of money and not getting degree, do you see that service is still valuable? guest: one of the biggest problems we are facing right now done a littlehave bit of college and taken on debt and of not finished their degree. they are responsible for paying off that debt without the benefit of the college degree. a very serious problem that a lot of people are trying to figure out how to deal with. there's an interesting program out of wayne state university. essentially, they are helping people who have done a little bit of college and dropped out and are interested in returning. they are helping them get in the door and get through college.
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they have thought about what to do about the prices. if you are dropping out, you may be coming back. how do you get those people back? the debt burden isn't just sitting there without the benefit of the college degree. host: this is washington. everything has a political bend. this is what you wrote about this issue. confidenceshown that in higher education has decreased. the survey found that 61% are collegesbout the past and universities are on. republicans overwhelmingly saw negative views of the sector. 73% thought higher education was going in the wrong or action.
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39% oftold found republicans had confidence in the sector, down 17 points. they see colleges and universities of having a liberal bias. liberal professors outnumber conservative ones on campus. is this what causing the problem? guest: you are seeing this mistrust of institutions, of higher education spilling into how they are viewed by politics. if you are looking at president trump executive order about campus speech, threatening universities with pulling federal research dollars if they didn't protect free speech on
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campus, colleges and universities are one of the fundamental reasons we are here, to protect free speech broadly. you have seen this mistrust saying if you don't believe what we believe you should be doing, you should attack their funds. a battle between political viewpoints, a battle over education. guest: it's a mix of things. education isings, a very easy thing for states to cut. if they are looking to balance the budget, higher education will be one of the first places they go. it's easier than cutting k-12 and health care.
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the place you will see the most the mistrustuts, of the institution and if you're not aligning graduates to jobs as well as we think you should you should not be getting doitional resources to malicious things toward one side or the other. host: elizabeth is calling from new jersey. and morning. caller: i have some familiarity with rural areas. my mother hails from them. , she came toft philadelphia. got employment and skills in the medical field. she had to uproot herself, her father before her went to ohio.
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we had to stay there five days a week to work for a railroad company. this is not an affluent family. they had historical roots in northwestern pennsylvania. all the industries up there that paid anything related to coal, steal, and oil. since they are on the decline close down a lot of factories, they have some small priceyolleges, some colleges. unless the family has money right now from when they had real jobs in that area, their children and grandchildren have a hard time getting to a college
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and paying for it. it's not around the corner. milesverage about 100 from places like pittsburgh and cleveland. do as --hat we need to be can't some of those jobs done in places like the rust belt? people who are capable of learning it. childrenmy cousin's have advanced degrees. they had to leave the area. you have baby boomers aging with their children. guest: i think this gets back to one of the earlier questions about economic development in rural areas.
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businesses moving to these areas in order to provide stimulus. it does have to be a two-pronged thing where the business has to get into those areas and states have to shift to say we believe an investment in the education of people is important in order to help attract. one of the interesting things around colleges, they become economic drivers for areas on their own. the people in the area worked for the university, businesses will want to,. .- come there is a partnership. it's linked fundamentally. .hat needs to be addressed if that's something i will watch on the campaign trail going forward. host: once the solution?
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guest: greater investment in higher education is one of the first answers. states have to be viewing college not a something that only helps the individual, but something that helps people more broadly. when we are thinking about education deserts, we should be also thinking about the two-year colleges and the community colleges. places where people can go and get skills to get a job or leapfrog into a four-year institution by whatever path is best. providing that opportunity for ultimately help states with their economic development and growth. host: we have a call from alabama. good morning. caller: good morning. conversation,ur
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you mentioned the higher percentage of people that had college degrees of the total population stimulates the economy. i'm questioning that. can you tell me where you got that from? i will get your answer. photograph of the one-room schoolhouse that accompanies your article looks exactly like the one i went to when i was a kid in rural kansas. thank you for your response. if you are looking over stateswth of the united and as the united states has had aboom in its economy, it couple is a growth in college attainment rates. to georgia.talk
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good morning. i love c-span. i am proud to be an american. education is the key to success. in the united states of america, we have devalued the preciousness of education. you made a great point when you first came on. the founders envisioned education as being the roadmap to being an informed citizen. put education on the back burner. it's all about self gratification. until we are able to put the priority, i don't know what we're going to do.
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talk to you later. guest: thank you so much for calling in. if you are thinking about the reasons why we see large-scale government investment in higher education, even pell grant and the g.i. bill and the monroe act, they did exclude classes of people. if you're thinking about why made, thestments were people who were investing said we need a more educated this.tion or to have education is seen as a public good. until that shift happens where we view it as a public good, we may continue to see the problems we have right now. host: let's talk to one more caller from staten island, new york. everybody wants pell
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grant's. s. columbia is $55,000 a year. books are more money. thank you. host: it's getting more expensive. --st: the cost of college the sticker price is outpaced inflation. really looking at what happened to some of the smaller private institutions, you see a constriction of the sector where they become more tuition dependent.
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are going to need to pay more tuition to attend school. they are discounting it more. their budget lines aren't matching up. that's causing problems for small private colleges. going toschools are see a difficult path. host: we would like to thank adam harris for talking about his article in the atlantic. thank you so much. coming up next, we will talk to jeff todd from the centennial institute about the western conservative summit. we will be right back. >> here's what's coming up this weekend on book tv. today, in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the apollo 11 moon landing, buzz aldrin
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recalls his life and career. no dream is too high. james donovan took phone calls about the space race and the 1969 apollo 11 mission. his book is shoot for the moon. a historian recounts president kennedy's commitment to space exploration and the moon landing. charles fishman recalls the efforts of 400,000 men and women responsible for sending astronauts to the moon. 9:00, joy and reid argues that president trump is damaging american democracy in her new book. she is interviewed by an author and journalist.
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>> i'm surprised that people elected. what about health care? that's the message of the 2018 elected. rain in this president so he won't take my health care, so he won't stop the horrors at the border. the democrats come in and say we will go for his taxes eventually. eventually we will get to that. defense ash carter reflects on his career. >> we've got to stick up for ourselves. china is a communist dictatorship. when they come to the business scene, they bring a combination of political, military, economic tools that we don't possess.
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>> book tv is on c-span2 every weekend. >> washington journal continues. hunt,are back with jeff who will talk to us about the state of conservatism and the western conservative summit. good morning. guest: good morning. it's great to be with you. host: tell us what the centennial institute is an talk about the summit. tank ate are the think colorado christian university. the summit is a big event that we host every year, it's the largest gathering of conservatives in denver, colorado. we have a wide range of speakers. donald trump, jr. spoke last night. crenshaw -- dan
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crenshaw. family and rally for freedom each summer. it's the largest gathering of conservatives outside washington. why are these summits so important? for 363 days a year, from most of the media and other likeicians, we hear things our beliefs are backwards. we need to abandon our biblical principles. they are old. we need to leave them behind. conservatives get to rally with each other and support the founding principles of this country and things we care so deeply about, like faith and family. in places like colorado where conservatives got routed in the last election, it's an opportunity to fight act and
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take our state in the direction we need -- think is more line with what makes colorado great. free markets and personal responsibility. for many of us out here in colorado, it's a tough legislative session. we thought the state lurched in a very liberal or action. it's an opportunity for us to write for the ideas and principles we care deeply about. nonpartisan convention. it's really about conservative runcible's versus more liberal ideas. that's why it's conservative for conservatives to rally together. host: your theme is defending freedom. why pick that theme this year? guest: that's a great question.
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freedom is facing challenges on two fronts. you have a baker in colorado who went to the supreme court. he is still in litigation. you have many of those religious obamam battles during the administration. internationally, we will have leaders from the church in china that will be speaking. we had religious leaders from a variety of different faiths. they were all together, affirming the importance of religious freedom for all people. when you look at the founding principles of what makes america, you can make the religious freedom made america. it's important we defend the religious freedom of all faith and no faith.
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in light of the threats we are facing both the masterfully and internationally, we thought it was important to gather intellectual leaders on the importance of religious freedom and affirm that is conservatives we will stand for religious freedom for all people. westernis is the conservative summit. is there a difference between western conservatives? guest: that's a great question. i think so. i think it's a conversation we need to have. when you look at different voting blocs, we talked about southern voters or northeastern voters. there's not a lot of discussion about the nature of the western conservative. there will be a lot of senate races at stake. it's important for us to look at this dynamic.
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colorado was a purple state. elect republicans and democrats. in the last election, it shifted to the left. montana has a very competitive senate race as well as arizona. it's important for us to look at how to have a conversation about once important to western voters. we don't like government involvement. createdcratic party has an interesting coalition. you have the governor talking about how he is the first pot governor. colorado is one of the first legalize wreck dies -- recreational marijuana. this is a very important conversation in light of the upcoming election. host: we want to let our viewers take part. we will open up the regular
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lines. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, your line is (202) 784-8001. independents, we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8002. we are always on social media. i want to go back to a point you were just talking about. colorado byump lost five points. since then, you've got a democratic governor and a state legislator -- legislature. is colorado out of reach? guest: i don't think so. i think the left is doing a lot of things that will make coloradans angry. last night, there was a big rally at in ice detention center. they took down the american flag and raised the mexican flag.
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i think a lot of coloradans will look at this as a contentious issue. that's a bridge too far. if that's what the left is pushing right now, when you look at the debates among the democratic candidates, the argument is going to come down to those types of issues where we are disrespecting the american flag or we want to provide open borders for everybody. colorado is going to be in play. i think it's very much up for grabs for the candidate who is willing to come to the state, willing to engage. colorado has a very strong liberal leaning right now with regards to leadership and demographics. guest: you said ben carson and donald trump, jr. were two people participating in the summit.
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out earlier came this year. he has not been since he was elected. you tweeted out a note from the white house. thank you very much for inviting donald trump to be the keynote speaker. he will not be able to attend at this time, we are pleased that ben carson will be participating along with many outstanding conservative leaders. are you disappointed the president didn't come? guest: we would love to have the president. we are a non-partisan at that. we invite both republicans and democrats. for the first time, we've been doing this for 10 years, we have
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a democrat addressing the summit. it was our governor. we were so grateful that he came. we were eager to have him. what was very fun to watch was how the crowd reacted. he received a standing ovation from many in the audience. we need places where conservatives, liberals can dialogue about issues that are important to our country. of our crowd.ud i was proud of the governor for speaking to the summit. i hope we can have more of those. i hope we can have the president. whoever the democratic nominee is, i hope they will come as well. host: let's open it up to our viewers. joan is calling from new mexico. good morning. guest: good morning.
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i just turn this on. what a lovely young man. are so thrilled that there conservatives out there who are excited about religious freedom and willing to stand up for it. tired of the fighting with each other. this is wonderful. this is what our country was founded on it, religious freedom. you were saying the crowd was very respectful when you had the different groups up there. there were no picking on one religion? no.t: we were glad to have muslim speakers, we have had jewish speakers.
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these are important issues. these are challenges in the communities. we will not shy away from it. happened,ook at what he was the pastor that was imprisoned for two years and president trump was able to negotiate his release. we will not shy away from the challenges that certain communities may have. we are happy to have those conversations. part, it was great to be able to recognize religious leaders. colorado, here in recognizing the importance of religious freedom. we've been in some type of situation where we've been persecuted against. that's a common threat. look what happened to the catholics during the 50's and
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60's. at some point we've gone through some type of intimidation. it's important to stand together. whether you are the most popular or least popular, we recognize your right to exist and approach god is your conscience sees fit. that was very exciting. host: there's been a lot of talk about the future direction of the republican party. do you see a difference between republicanism, conservatism, and trumpism? the conservative movement has been a big tent for a long time. there have been different factions. conservative summit is very much a broad coalition. that areonservatives at the highest levels of
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academia. we have conservatives that care about social issues, national defense issues. we highlight their issues. you may not agree with what some of the speakers are saying. they have different points of view. they will share their positions. that's part of the conservative movement. partisant particularly in any way. if you happen to be a conservative democrat, we want you at the summit. those factions always have been. is conservative movement supportive of the work the president is doing.
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this is where the conservative movement is. to north's talk carolina. good morning. caller: i just want to make a joan that came on before i did. i'm tired of the bickering and fighting. illegal is illegal. ,hen you talk about immigration they should not be given any rights. i'm not prejudiced or anything like that. politicians need to stop making promises they know they're not going to keep. everybody wants to talk about what their neighbor is doing. do ismerica needs to repent and turn back to god.
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we ought to heed to biblical principles. i would say as the host support of are in returning our country to the biblical principles. place where we can have a great revival again. as you've seen in past history, crime goes down, fathers returned to caring for their children. those are the issues we care deeply about. if we can get people to understand the importance of a relationship with jesus christ. that is something we care deeply about. with regards to your comments on illegal immigration, the democrat party will face a
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challenge if that becomes a major platform. i think the american people are a rule of law people. we are pro-immigration people. we just want you to come in the right way. becomes a major policy the democratsink will face real challenges with the voting public. debby from talk to washington. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to let you know that i'm so tired of being called the democrat party. we are the democratic party. it's an insult to not call us the democratic party. about -- weyou talk were not founded on christian values.
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we were founded on values of humanity and that any religion was welcome. religious, we were welcome. our laws are not made to follow the bible. they are made to protect people from murder and bad things and bad people. sometimes christians to that things. pushing your values on me doesn't make you right. i didn't mean to offend. we will further to our democratic friends. to our faith and values, it's important to understand that all of the principles you just talked about , loving the individual, embracing humanity, definitely
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not murdering, those are values that we think are rooted in the teachings of the bible. i think what important is to recognize that america is not set up to be a theocracy. is peoplent to have of a variety of different fates don't abandon their faith at the door of the house. they bring it into the public square. we hope that our jewish friends our muslimy jewish friends will be able to practice their faith in the public square in the christians will be able to practice their faith in the [ the brilliance of what we experience in america is we can do that. a lot of countries in the world are theocracies.
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>> important is we are not trying to implement that in america. we want to create a place where we can openly practice our faith without retribution from the government. host: we've talked a lot about national politics. rates coryal report gardner's reelection as a tossup in 2020. what does he need to do to win next year? guest: that's a great question. to corey to win, he needs connect with the conservative base. that's going to be critical, to make sure they are engaged. to supremeelivering court justices that are interpreting the constitution according to its original intent. leadership providing funding
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on border security and the crisis we face down there. connecting with the conservative base is important. and moderates are the largest voting block. a lot of it is going to come down to what the national issues are. tohe's able to appeal moderates, if the democrats tend to head in that direction of , amnesty,open borders i think that's not going to play well. they recognize the importance of the rule of law. if the democratic party goes
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that direction, it's going to be easier for cory gardner to be victorious. once critical for him is to appeal to moderates and independent voters. since you are nonpartisan, i will ask you a question. you've got to coloradans running for president. what is your thought about their candidacies? guest: it was interesting to watch the debate. polling is not who will they support, which side of the democrat field are they likely to support. debate, watch that there is a spectrum. hickenlooper and michael bennet represent the free market democrats we see here in colorado.
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john bennett is a business owner. he's very liberal on social issues. you saw that during the debate. they represented the uniqueness of the colorado liberal that tends to have libertarian tendencies. they will generally support the free market. when you compare them with other people like bernie sanders or elizabeth warren who want to embrace a socialist agenda, we saw john hickenlooper booed for rejecting socialism. about theeness democrats, they stand out on the stage. the national is democratic party has embraced socialism to appoint where john hickenlooper and michael bennet don't have a chance.
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i think the polls reflect that reality. host: let's see if we can get a couple of more callers in. good morning. i wanted to ask this religious conservative if he liees with president trump about pain of cornstarch. does he agree about he's immigrants and how he's separating families from their kids. does is religion tolerate that? -- is religion tolerate that? guest: it's all about coalition building.
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they need to put together coalitions. for many years, people of faith felt attacked. when you look at what the obama obamacaretion dead on and religious people had to sue just to have the right to be able to practice their faith privately. withears, combined that planned parenthood abortion. we feel like our values of been sidelined. trump and and donald the republican party have embraced those values. we are nonpartisan. if i'm speaking anything partisan, it's only from a personal perspective and not the organization. any people of faith felt sidelined for years. donald trump came along and said we are not going to disappoint you. i was at the national prayer breakfast.
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we are going to fight for religious freedom. we are going to fight for the sanctity of life, things that we care deeply about. faithk many people of recognize that all people have inherent dignity and need to be treated with dignity. the question is do we have the right resources to be able to deal with the crisis at the border? i think donald trump was right when he said there was a crisis at the border. many leaders said there is no crisis at the border. now with these reports coming out, we do have a crisis there. the question is do we have the funding to deal with those who want to seek asylum and make sure they are taken care of and to prevent those who are not following the rules properly from coming to our country illegally. we need to be able to address it.
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the gospel of jesus christ calls us to care for all people across the globe and to bring the good news to them. i have gone down and built houses in mexico to care for them. many faith communities lead that effort to care for people in many countries. it's a both ends situation. host: let's get one more caller in from washington. good morning. caller: good morning. on the democratic voter. i am 85 years old. when i was a teenager, my dad was a union man and a democrat. you support the things on the platform. if you can't do that, you can't
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call yourself a democrat. we have had caucuses and people like howard dean and bernie .anders i am a 30 year retiree from the navy. i used to work on the line with a lot of good people. i am a catholic choice. a roman catholic, i would prefer to still be saying the mass in latin. i was a scoutmaster for five years and had a troupe in corpus christi texas totally integrated. quick question before the show ends. caller: i am very irate. why is it that you and so many others seem it is your prerogative to define what i am? i am not a socialist. but i believe in supporting
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social programs that care for people. there is a difference. host: go ahead and respond. guest: the only way i will define you is as a red-blooded american. if you served with country and help with the boy scouts and serve your committee, that seems like you are a red-blooded american. that's the only way i will defined you -- to find you. host: we would like to thank jeff hunt. thanks so much. for havingk you all me on. god bless you all. hank: we would like to t all of our guests, callers and viewers. join us tomorrow at 7:00 a.m.. have a good day. [speaking foreign language] ♪
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