on the presidency, not -- sunday at :00 p.m. eastern on the presidency, the national portrait gallery's new exhibit, every eye is upon me, first ladies of the united states. exploring the american story, watch american history tv, this weekend, on c-span3. ♪ >> c-span's washington journal. every day we are taking your calls live on the air on the news of the day and we discussed policy issues that impact you. sunday morning, we take your calls, texts and social media comments on the opening day of the 117 congress. watch c-span washington journal live at 7:00 eastern sunday morning. ♪ caldwell back with dan , the senior advisor for concerned veterans for america

and he is here to discuss his groups priorities for the new congress and incoming biden administration. sec. albright: dan, -- host: dan, good morning. is thatell us, what mission of concerned veterans for america and how are you funded? guest: we are an advocacy organization that advocate that preserves the prosperity we thought and sacrifice for in uniform. we did this by educating and mobilizing americans to advocate for policies with their electric officials and engaging in paid media campaigns and direct lobbying on capitol hill. lobbying on capitol hill. in terms of funding, we are part of the stand together committee. -- stand together community. we are funded by donors across the country and we are very fortunate to have their generous

support. host: tell us about your military service and how you ended up working with concerned veterans for america. guest: i served in the united states marine corps for four years in active duty. my first two years, i was part of the presidential support program. i spent some time in marine barracks washington, downtown d.c., and almost two years at camp david, the presidential retreat in maryland. ofeployed in support operation iraqi freedom. i deployed in northern iraq, western iraq. host: what do you think, and what does your groupthink are the biggest issues facing today's veterans? guest: the veteran community

faces a lot of the same challenges that the population as a whole faces. one of our messages is, yes, there are unique challenges the veteran community faces, particularly with getting access to health care and other benefits from the department of veterans affairs, which is a big issue we have engaged on, but we are affected by policies, that effect the economy and the country as a whole. our main focus is on three issues -- reforming the department of veterans affairs, moving the united states toward , meaningforeign policy we view the world as it is, not necessarily as we want it to be. in terms of restraint, being more restrained in the use of military force. it has been overused in the last

20 years. part of that is advocating for an end to our endless wars. we focus a lot on the national debt. we want to see that reduced. we take that is our greatest long-term national security threat. those are the three issues we focus on. they affect not just veterans, but the population as a whole. host: let's focus on the first thing you said, which is reform of the veterans administration. what type of changes would your group like to see done? guest: we have been very supportive of some of the reforms that have been implemented under the current administration, under president trump. we were big supporters of the v8 mission act, which expanded health care choice for veterans. it gave veterans access to private urgent care clinics, more options in the private sector. they face barriers accessing care through the department of

veterans affairs, brick-and-mortar medical system. we supported a v.a. accountability act, which made it easier to fire bad v.a. employees. we supported other initiatives at the v.a. that increases transparency around things like wait times, the cost of health care and the quality of health care when compared to the private sector. we have seen a lot of progress over the last four years but we think we need to go further. we think veterans need for health care choice, meaning they can choose to go to a v.a. health care facility or a private health care facility without any middlemen at the or. and without any barriers access standards that currently exist. that is what we ultimately want to achieve. it is choice about privatization, to have a good choice, you need to have a good v.a. and good private-sector options.

that is what we will be focused on, preserving the gains we have made over the last four years, improving on them encouragingly to grow choice and accountability through the department of veterans affairs. host: the executive director of concerned veterans for america said this on president-elect biden's choice to lead the department of veteran affairs. i will read a statement and i want you to react. the current state of veterans health care is improved significantly since 2014, with a greater focus on the needs of the veteran, as opposed to bureaucracy. we encourage the biden thenistration to continue important transformations as the department of veterans affairs and not reversed the progress that has been made with the v.a. missions act and other reforms and progress under the current administration. by committing to shared goals with the v.a. to meet the needs

of a rapidly changing veterans population, we can improve the lives of veterans today and generations to come. we must put the veteran ahead of the institution and we look forward to working with the next secretary to best serve and empower our nation's veterans. what are you trying to tell the incoming v.a. secretary? wast: our main message trying to get across is continue to build on the progress made under the trump administration in regard to the v.a. mission act and v.a. accountability act. there is still a lot of work to be done to implement the v.a. mission act and want to make sure the biden administration is continuing that work and not going backwards in terms of reducing health care choice for veterans and reducing accountability for v.a. employees. if you look at where the v.a. was in 2014 under president obama, to where it is now, there

has been a lot of improvement. we really want to work with the biden administration to continue that improvement and continue to grow health care choice for veterans and accountability for v.a. employees. host: i want to remind our viewers that they can take part in this conversation. we will open up special lines for this segment. we first want to hear from our veterans. if you are a veteran of our armed forces and want to take part in this conversation, we are opening up a line just for you. we want you to call (202) 748-8000. if you are active military, if you are currently serving in our armed forces, you will have your own line. active military, we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8001. ourou have not served in armed forces and want to talk about this issue, you have a line as well, your line will be

(202) 748-8002. veterans, (202) 748-8000. active military, (202) 748-8001. everyone else, (202) 748-8002. keep in mind, you can always text at (202) 748-8003. we are always reading on social media, on twitter and on facebook. further, i want you to listen to something that was said last month on his nomination to be the v.a. secretary and they want you to react. [video clip] >> the men and women of the v.a., many of you veterans your -- your cells, your demanding jobs have been made even more difficult by the pandemic. to you and the many dedicated vets service organizations, that

includes vets, survivors and your families, i look forward to being your partner, one united team in delivering care and support that is second to none. finally, taking care of our veterans is not a job for the v.a. alone. every federal department and agency has a role to play and i will fight like hell to make it happen. even though only 1% of americans wear the uniform, under president biden, every american will be called upon to embrace our responsibility to support our veterans and military families. host: go ahead and react to the incoming secretary. first off, i think that the pick to be the v.a. secretary was unexpected and out

of left field. i don't think he was on any veterans advocate's list. i want to be clear, that is not to mean he is unqualified or should not be v.a. secretary. he is an interesting choice with a lot of possibilities. even though we disagree with him a lot under the obama administration, we want him to be successful. we want to partner with the v.a. to continue to make sure the institution serves veterans and military families. a lot of people do not know this, but in many cases, the v.a. provides services to non-veterans. it is also the nation's emergency health care that was used a few times during the pandemic. i think what he laid out there was good. i hope he will partner with groups like concerned veterans for america.

there was not a lot of policy substance. what not entirely clear the biden administration will do in regard to the v.a. mission act, v.a. accountability act. we hope they embrace those policies and continue to implement them and fix some of the issues that have emerged with both over the last year. we want to be successful. if they are going to take the v.a. back to where it was pre-2014, when you had the massive wait list scandal and widespread misconduct across departments, we will oppose that. we will say when they are doing the wrong thing in our view. repetitive,of being we want them to be successful and i really hope he does a good job as v.a. secretary. host: the concern veterans of america was supportive of

president trump's veto of the defense policy bill. i want to read from nate anderson's statement on support of that veto. the fiscal year 2021 defense authorization act is flawed legislation that has become a vehicle for making political statements rather than setting defense policy and authorizing funding for our armed forces. president trump is authorized in vetoing this because it circumvents executive power, powersve branch's war and keeps troops in afghanistan, perpetuating endless wars. why was concerned veterans for america supportive of president trump's veto? guest: i think the biggest issue for us with the provisions that attempted to restrict the ability of the president to withdraw troops from afghanistan , south korea and germany.

we believe it is time to bring all of our troops home from afghanistan. we accomplished what we need to after 9/11, long ago, and afghanistan. we killed osama bin laden, the overthrew the taliban, we won the war that we did too but lost the war we did not need to fight in terms of building a democratic society within afghanistan. for far too long, that has been our main focus in afghanistan and we have lost sight in doing what we need to do to keep america safe. insertedsion that was by representative liz cheney, congressative -- it is trying to force the president to keep sending troops to die in afghanistan for admission that is not essential to our national security.

likewise, the restrictions on trying to remove troops from south korea and germany, that is sending a message to two wealthy countries that you can underinvest in your own security and the united states will continue to defend you know better what. that creates the wrong incentives. it restricts our military ability to focus on the threats of the future and more pressing foreign policy issues, but also domestic policy issues, as well. overall, the national defense authorization act does nothing substantial to try to reduce waste in the military. it does nothing to try to reduce spending where it is no longer needed in our military. it really makes it harder for the military to focus on the threats of the future. we think the veto was more than warranted and we were disappointed to see

for openingomorrow day of the 117 congress. our live coverage starts at 7:00 a.m. at noon eastern the house and senate gavel into session. usualill take longer than to accommodate members, socially distance, the vote for the next speaker is expected at 1:15 eastern. newly elected the house speaker addresses the members. followed by the swearing in of members. watch all day coverage on c-span, c-span2, online on c-span.org, and listen on the c-span radio app. on tuesday, the balance of power of the senate will be decided by the winners of the two georgia runoffs. republican senators david perdue and kelly leffler are defending their seats.

the democratic challengers are jon ossoff and raleigh op -- raphael warnock. races in the final campaign of 2020. c-span, c-span.org, and the free c-span radio app. >> here's what's coming up tonight on the three c-span networks. at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, the lgbtq victory institute honors house speaker nancy pelosi for her work on the repeal of don't ask, don't tell on the 10th anniversary of the legislations repeal. two, watch book tv where authors discuss what they have written about the potential effects of the coronavirus pandemic on society. this discussion begins at 8:15 p.m. eastern. american history tv is on c-span3 at 8:00 eastern, north

carolina professor kathleen do ball looks at the american revolution and the 1783 treaty of paris. great britain has officially left the european union and is no longer governed by european law. british lawmakers have voted to approve the trade agreement which was implemented on new year's day. we take you to the british house of commons for a debate and votes on the agreement. >> second reading. >> members will know that there will not be time. nonetheless, i should