including charter communications. charter communications support c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> on washington journal, we will take your cls and rents on the air and look at the news of the day. in an hour from now we will speak with republican presidential candidate asa hutchinson aut his policy platform. washington journal starts now. ♪ host: good morning, it is thursday, may 20 fifth and president biden, house speaker kevin mccarthy have not reached

a deal on raising the debt limit. one week from a potential default. we want your reaction to the ongoing negotiation. democrats, you can dial in at (202) 748-8000. publicans, -- republicans (202) 748-8001, independents (202) 748-8002. all of you can participate with a text on -- at (202) 748-8003, or send us a tweet. front page of the wall street journal, the headline "default threats markets deeper in red." warning if we default on june 1 or around that date, it can

cause catastrophe. are you concerned about where things are headed jericho have you checked your retirement fund and seen that go down? we want to hear from you about what is happening in washington over the debt ceiling. let's begin with kevin mccarthy, he talked to reporters yesterday and spoke about the redline for his party. >> when have i ever said it you have to agree to 100% of what i want? all i have said since february 1 two the president is let's talk. there are a couple things i will not do. i will not raise taxes. because we are bringing more revenue in even to the gdp, not just of the 50 year average but the history of america. only two other times have we brought in 20% of the gdp. i will not put a clean debt ceiling on the floor. why?

because we have spent more than we have ever spent before and we have the highest debt -- i don't think that's right. that may finish the question. then i said but everything else is on the table. for 97 days he would not talk to me so we passed the bill. we are not getting everything in our bill. i am negotiating with the president. we passed the bill that raised the debt ceiling. host: that was kevin mccarthy yesterday. negotiations continued throughout the day yesterday. negotiators for the speaker were at the white house yesterday. republicans in the house announced that the house lawmakers would go home after today's legislative session for their memorial day weekend as talks continue. the wall street journal this morning, the article with the headline about default threat dragging the markets deeper in

the red, they report the republicans have said any deal with democrats must result in lower levels of discretionary spending. it makes up one third of the budget. with the balance of the spending on mandatory programs like social security, medicare and interest on the debt. democrats say they gop demands to cut spending is unreasonable especially after the white house has signaled it could agree to freeze spending next year and increase spending by 1% in 2025. on freezing spending, the washington post reports the concession by the white house, it is projected it would cut deficits by as much as $1 trillion over the next decade. so freezing spending would cut the deficit by $1 trillion over the next decade.

we're looking for spending cuts. house republicans appear to be willing to drop some revisions in the bill, they call for biden to abandon the student loan forgiveness program which they repealed yesterday in a vote on the house floor and to cancel green energy tax credits. they are also determined to push for concessions that were not in the legislation. not only have they ruled out the proposal to increase revenue for tax controls, but they insist on increasing spending on the military homeland security and veterans bent -- veteran services while cutting funds for to mr. programs. that would be a change for how the similar standoff was resolved in 2011 when the last -- there is the defense and nondefense budgets equally.

republicans, do you agree with the negotiating tactics here? democrats, what do you think the president should do? melissa in cleveland, tennessee. democratic caller. you first. good morning. (202) 748-8001 -- [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]-- -- caller: i don't want to be a debbie downer but republicans are not honest about what is going to happen. when there's a default, veterans will not get paid. there will be people who cannot pay their rent or mortgage, cannot pay their bills like utilities and they get cut off in the summer. and they have to stay cool in june and july.

on top of that, you have medicare benefits being cut off. which means if you have elderly parents or grandparents in nursing homes, they won't do that. on top of that, all of these people will not be getting food. the people in food bank lines like during the pandemic, we keep people waiting for hours just to get a bag of rice and some beans. it's -- host: finish your thought. caller: even though it is tricky and i initially opposed it, i do think at this point the president -- house republicans are planning to have their picnic by the lake on memorial day everybody else. he should impose the 14th amendment. the one who change my mind was

hearing jamie raskin talk about that and he said what is going to happen, republicans are going to sue the government because they paid the bills. host: they appear to take the 14th amendment off the table this week. caller: i heard jamie raskin say that and i was like wait a minute. maybe they are right. the 2024 election begins in january with primaries. so they are going to have time to waive some bright shiny object in front of voters to distract them from their suffering. host: melissa in cleveland, tennessee, democratic caller. it's picking up on what she was saying, the debt ceiling is a moot point, both parties need to pass that bill and protect

medicare and social security. they always go back on their word, are for the course. the washington post talked about what this means for social security payments. they loomed large on seniors who rely on social security. many on a fixed income. if congress and president biden don't reach a deal in the next week, the government will run out of money to cover expenses, causing unprecedented harm to the economy, stocks, bonds and the u.s. dollar would plummet. an estimated $10 trillion in household wealth. the vote on social security, which accounts for 20% of the annual spending, is expected to be militating. it's 60 million people rely on social security benefits this month making it the largest

program. chris in simpsonville, kentucky, independent. what do you want to see? caller: good morning. can i mention the terrible waste of taxpayer money i have ever seen? we have a retired prosecutor. host: stick to the topic. what are your thoughts on the debt ceiling in the negotiations? caller: i think it is too much. host: what is way too much? caller: it seems like it is an awful lot of money. to this fbi got and retired prosecutor -- host: moving on to john. good morning. caller: i am a nixon 74-year-old republican, ex democrat, but nixon. i vote republican all the way, i believe in all of their values,

primarily because i'm afraid of democrats. i only voted for one democrat in the 70's, i adopted children in new jersey and bob rowe gave us a flag when they became citizens. but that is it. host: but your point. caller: sorry. spending, i am not a crazy republican on spending. there are times when it is good, the bailouts in 08 and covid were terrific. i think saving bank accounts were terrific. i'm not sure. host: let me ask this. do you think republicans should agree with the white house offer of freezing spending? according to the paper, that would cut the deficit by $1 trillion over the next decade.

caller: that is reasonable, i would go along with that. it is hard to defined spending. what is good and what is bad. it has become partisan. we are locked in to our ends. but what i'm hoping for, the one thing this country seems to be missing lately is wisdom. it is built on wisdom, if we lose that -- and i think we are because of partisan rancor -- we are in trouble. that is how i judge our ability. do we have the wisdom in the places where it counts? host: you mentioned covid spending. the new york times reports the congressional budget office estimates that total spending just under 21% gdp from 1980

22019. before the pandemic hit, it surged above 30% in 2020 and 2021. this year it is expected to be over 24%, falling over the next several years and beginning to grow again in the waning years of this decade. it passed 25% in 2023. military spending, which republicans have refused to reduce, should took down. discretionary spending outside the military is 3.6% but is expected to fall to 3.2% by 2033. republicans have said they want to cut this discretionary funding. but they are taking the military

, any cuts to the military off the table, veteran programs as well. that would leave the other discretionary spending programs, and that is already expected to fall according to this new york times article that quotes the congressional budget office. virginia in philadelphia, democrat. let us hear from you. good morning. caller: good morning. i think the democrats should not negotiate with the republicans. they're not really mature negotiators. they stole two supreme court -- they did the debt ceiling without conditions three times for trump. now they want to put conditions

for this. of they put the whole economy down just to make biden look bad. i think that is on american. host: do you think that republican -- they president has handled the negotiations so far? caller: yes i do. you can't negotiate. i think matt gaetz, one of the representatives said, we don't negotiate with hostages. he is calling the american people hostages. host: he is calling the white house at hostage. caller: no, he is really calling the american people because we are the ones that are going to get hurt by this. host: understood. the washington post front page, a plea for biden to publicize this debt site. democrats want more visibility from the president. representative lee, who has

served for almost 30 years in the house, encouraged minority leader hedge team jeffries -- hakeem jeffries to address the nation, detailing how republicans are toying with the economy, explain how a default would have catastrophically affected their lives. democrats, do you think that should be the president's next move? what do you think? caller: to publicize the negotiations -- yes. because he might be giving away too much. you can't negotiate with unfair people and they are unfair. they stole two supreme court's, they raise the debt ceiling three times. we can't negotiate with them. host: philadelphia. more calls coming from democrats, republicans and independents this morning. can also send a tweet with the handle at c-spanwsj.

join us on facebook.com. we will switch to campaign 2024 for a minute. the headline of the washington post, ron desantis joins the presidential race yesterday. kickoff on twitter plagued by technical issues. an awkward start to a campaign that had already hit numerous roadblocks this spring, even as many republicans view the florida governor as the most formidable challenger to donald trump. here is what the launch looks like, a little of this on twitter yesterday. >> i am running for president of the united states to lead our great american comeback. we know our country is going the wrong direction, we see it with our eyes and feel it in our bones. our southern border has

collapsed, our cities are spiking in crime. the government is making it harder to maintain a middle class lifestyle and the president lacks vigor, flounders in the face of challenges and takes cues from eight woke mob. american decline is not inevitable, it is a choice and we should choose a new direction, a path that will lead to american revitalization. must restore saturday to our nation. host: ron desantis announced glitches, before the governor finally spoke headlines on it, dead air and eventually desantis speaks. donald trump, jr. responding on twitter to the announcement,

calling it a disaster, spelling it desaster. we will talk to our second presidential candidate on the program, former governor of arkansas, asa hutchinson will be joining us in our second hour of the washington journal. the house will gaveled in 9:00. hutchinson is 72 years old, the 46th governor of arkansas, elected in 2014, reelected in 2018. the youngest district attorney in the u.s. in 1982. he served in the house of representatives, the third district of arkansas as a republican from 1997 to 20. he was the drug enforcement adminirar for the bow segment -- bush administration and became the transportation secretary from 2003 to 2005.

we will be talking to him in our next hour so get ready with your questions or comments for asa hutchinson. back to our conversation about the dead negotiations. paul in kentucky. what you think the republicans should do? caller: they should stick to their guns. there is so much money out there , billions of dollars from covid, the needs to be given back to the american people are put on the deficit. as far as the military, biden has messed up the world so much and started so many wars, we should not cut the military now. he started war in ukraine, he is trying to start a war with china. we got to keep our military strong. he is the worst president in history of this country. i think he is a traitor. host: let me ask about the cuts

republicans are focusing on. from the new york times, it says the party would concentrate budget cuts on education, environment protections and other government services that physical experts say are nowhere close to being primary sources of spending growth in the years to come. caller: it is going to take a long time to get the budget under control. but first, you look at the education department, education has gone downhill since the education department has been in. it is a disaster. destroying this country, destroying the energy and everybody else in this country. it is going to take probably 100 years to get this under control. to start small and work up big. if we don't reform social security, medicare and medicaid, we are all going to go broke. everybody is going to be hurt. but the democrats, the demagogue is the issue, the democrat

party. this country is going to be a third world country. democrats want people hurting. i think that gives them power. the democratic party is one of the most evil parties in the history of the world. host: mark in philadelphia, a democrat. what do you say? caller: morning. i think the republicans don't want to come to a deal. you saw the townhall meeting on cnn where trump had instructed his minions, his lackeys in the house not to come to a deal. so the leader of the republican party instructs his minions, the freedom caucus clowns, that circus from the freedom caucus clowns, not to sign a deal. that cable news yesterday, i was at the gym on my treadmill. it was unfortunately under fox

fake cable news. one of these freedom caucus guys go on there and starts questioning whether june 1 is a real date. the freedom caucus guys are not even talking about june 1 seriously. they want to default. they want to blame it on biden. host: what were you going to say ? caller: when trump goes on to tell his people about a default, how are you going to blame that on biden? host: do you have concerns on how the president has handled the negotiations? caller: no. the republicans want more cuts in that phony bill. host: madeline, texas, a republican. caller: i just want to say the

people of the united states are really in bad shape. they keep putting the blame on you know who and we all know who did it. biden has got so buried down in it, he just make sure he gets patted on the back for bringing the united states to his knees. but they put him in debt and they will take it away from the disabled and the owed networked alder life because they spent too much money giving it to the other countries, and we have to suffer. one of the old people going to do in five days? what are they going to do, how are they going to live?

he could not take it from them because he has the right to do so. as old as he is, don't you think he has lost his mind and they are going to -- with the rest of the united states. host: host: ryan in san bernardino, california. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. there are a couple of things that come to mind here. i'm sure a lot of people will get these quick references, penny wise and pound foolish. it is like the scene out of heaven can wait where they are driving toward the cliff in the end up dying. the only difference is we are the car and people driving it are mccarthy and not even so

much biden but trump because biden doesn't have much of a choice. you run into the numbers in that 24% with the military, they are not even talking about that. no one is talking about the elephant in the room. i agree with the caller says the freedom caucuses -- host: host: what is the elephant in the room? caller: we need to raise revenue. there are two ways, cut spending or raise taxes. or you close loopholes. like you mentioned earlier. host: so you don't think that you address the nondiscretionary spending, social security and medicare which are the drivers of our debt and deficit? caller: those are serious and we need to address those.

but there are ways to do that and you can increase that pay caps or close tax loopholes. there is a lot you can do to change the formula. all people want to talk about is the hot button issues, the money being spent here or there, too many regulations or too little. it is off the point. host: ryan in california. thanks for waking up early and joining us. diane, minnesota, democratic caller. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. i want to talk about the debt ceiling. it affects me. i am 73, i am retired and still working with my businesses. i have never made more than $120,000. the state of minnesota is taxing

me $13,000 on my pension plan, aided by social security, my work. so i owe them $13,000. it is the federal government already -- it is not the federal government hurting me, it is the state government. host: tie that to the discussion over the debt ceiling. caller: right now, how can republicans come in and talk about not raising taxes on the people who pay the less taxes in the country like donald trump, paid $750 on his taxes? i'm paying $13,000 on mine. host: the front page of the wall street journal, we showed you at the top of the hour, default threat drags the markets deeper in red. the dow jones industrial a fourth straight session of losses, the blue-chips following

-- six points. the s&p 500 dropped .6%. the composite slid .6%. have you checked your retirement funds or the investments? are you concerned as we are one week away from the potential default??? david in massachusetts. caller: good morning, how are you doing? (202) 748-8000 i am well. -- host: i am well. your thoughts. caller: yeah, i think it is convenient when biden has some any options, like the 14th amendment, minting the coin, that they are in this little fight. my friends said maybe have a

rodeo or a big sale to raise the money because it is crazy. it is unnecessary. we should go forward and do this and stop making this fake emergency. host: what are you calling for? a clean debt ceiling vote? caller: yeah. and if they don't do that, biden should either enact the 14th amendment or have janet yellen miss the platinum coin and be done with it. this is also silly. what i like about republicans, if we were in charge, you know we would do this. we don't wait for consent. we do what we want. host: are you saying if republicans were in charge, there would be a clean debt ceiling? caller: of course there would be.

that is what i love about being conservative. we do whatever we want. host: they are in charge in the house. i see. david in williamson, massachusetts. a previous caller mentioned matt gaetz comments yesterday, referring to the democrats as the hostage. take a look at what he told the senate floor reporter. caller: would you say conservatives -- >> would you say conservatives are -- there is a bipartisan deal maybe? how are you concerned now? >> my conservative colleagues for the most part support limits and they don't feel like they -- we should negotiate with our hostage. host: the white house picked up

on that hostage line at the white house yesterday. here's the press secretary. >> this is a manufactured crisis, plain and simple. that is what we are seeing, what we have been dealing with for the past couple of weeks. a manufactured crisis. don't take our word for it, listen to members of the house freedom caucus. they have been very honest about this and are now openly saying the quiet thing out loud. referring to the full faith and credit of the united states as a hostage. but reverting default -- averting default is the response ability of every member of congress. think about what is at stake here. that is what we have been doing, laying out for weeks, months what is at stake. a default would have catastrophic impacts in every single part of this country, whether you are in a red state

or a blue state. it does not matter. every single part of the country. we are talking about millions of jobs lost, devastated retirement accounts and a recession. we've also heard some house republicans refer to preventing default as the only concession they are willing to make. but preventing a catastrophic default is not a concession. it is their job. period. let's be clear about what we publicans are demanding in a change were doing their job and preventing a default. earlier this year, they put forward an extreme package of devastating cuts that would slash support for education, law enforcement, food assistance, the list goes on. by what would now be about 30%. that is not at all what the american people want.

that is not what they deserve, that is not what they are asking for. the president has made clear that that is not happening on his watch. house republicans have said we need to make these cuts in the name of fiscal responsibility and deficit reduction. but that is not what this is about. that has never been what this is about for them. even as they fight to got investments in hard-working families, they want to turn around and protect tax breaks, skew to the wealthy and corporations, and guess what? just last week, the nonpartisan congressional budget office said those tax cuts would add $3.5 trillion to the debt over the next decade. host: from the white house yesterday, the press secretary responding to conservative matt gaetz and his comments about the white house being the hostage in

these negotiations over raising the nation's debt limit. one week from a potential default. that is our conversation this morning. this into the house speaker yesterday when he talked to reporters. he placed the blame on democrats for this current situation. >> every democrat voted against raising the debt ceiling. nothing has happened in the senate. i'm not a senator, i don't control the senate. the president did not talk to us for 97 days. so don't blame me for reaching out to the democrats, for begging the president to meet with me or trying to find it. don't blame us, republicans, when we put a reasonable bill together, that we took democrat ideas. we put spending for government and increased it 1% each year to cap it so the slow growth of government, so the economy can catch up, that was a democrat idea. when we put work requirements in

to help people get a job, that is something senator biden voted for and president clinton signed into law. that was a democrat supported idea. it is not my fault of the democrats have become so extreme , so far to the socialist wing that they are now opposed to work requirements and saving one dollar less than used by the year before. host: speaker mccarthy yesterday in the capitol. after he talked to reporters, his negotiators work at the white house talking about -- talking with negotiators and the new york times described it as a marathon session that ended with no deal insight. negotiators met for roughly four hours at the white house and were silent upon leaving, which some regard as a hopeful sign in the days of public posturing on both sides. patrick met -- patrick mckendry north carolina, a key bargainer,

saying no news. ed in pennsylvania, no news. what do you want them to do? caller: i want them to strip me naked and cut me. host: good morning. caller: i have been a lifelong democrat and i live in the deep south, which mixes difficult. i want the democratic party to stop being the more enlightened party and explaining things with reason. they are appealing to a base who can already read what is in the bill. just pass the bill republicans past and then make needed. we are member sequestration -- we remember sequestration. we spent a month rolling things that were in it, it was so bad.

maker publicans either bill and start spending of the bill. this sitting congress has control over any other subs when congress, that idea is laughable. stop pretending like it means anything, just pass it and watch them undo it and squirm as they have to go back to their lawyers -- voters and explain why they put it the bill. as soon as they passed it, they found the closest skimmer. make them eat it. host: interesting to listen to alexandra coffield cortez, new york congresswoman. she told them yesterday they would not sign onto the demands. >> the reason why anyone is asking anyone on this stage about what we would vote for is because kevin mccarthy needs our votes. because kevin mccarthy does not have the votes. because kevin mccarthy is going to the white house without a majority of his caucus. he does not have what is

necessary to negotiate. for any question about what anybody would settle for, he has responsibility to concede. if he wants any democratic support, he has to come to the table and we have seen him over and over again say that he will not negotiate. that they are engaged in hostagetaking, not negotiation. extortion, not conversation. that is not something we can establish and reinforce in this country. the proposal we see on this table right now that kevin mccarthy and republican caucus have put down has been an absolute rejection of the same reckless tax cuts that were passed in 2017 that we said at the time would explode the debt ratio and the deficit. now, several years later, we are in this scenario. instead of them recognizing the error of their ways, they want to protect tax cuts on yachts

and private jets and make single moms pay for it. that is where we say no. that is where we say the american people did not elect house progressives so that we can lay back while people's food benefits are cut. we are here to fight for working families. this is the last caucus to ask what are we going to give up in terms of people's food, health care, veterans? the time is to ask the republican caucus why they are valuing billionaires over veterans and single mothers. host: progressive congresswoman acosta cortez along with other progressive democrats yesterday. now washington post, republicans unite in rejecting biden debt, rises, the white house offering to freespending next year, increase it by 1%. republicans are saying we are not looking for a freeze, we are looking for cuts.

joseph in howard beach, new york. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. something that people on both sides, republicans and democrats, are forgetting is it is a two-party system. for one party to come in like joe biden did not want to talk for 97 days -- that is ridiculous. it is greed, to be arrogant enough to say i don't even want to talk to the other side. that is why we are where we are. you have a two-party system and you have to work together. not to say that one side is going to win and the other is going to move, you've got to make some to -- some concessions. the democrats don't want to make zero concessions and that is where we are today. host: what about the concession of freezing spending for next year and increasing by only 1% the following year? caller: it is a start. i don't disapprove.

the republicans, where they put the bill out that they did, it set a high bar. they know they know they're not going to get -- most americans know they are not going to get what they are asking for 100%. they are setting a high bar so they can meet in the middle. it is a negotiating tactic and food -- the woman from astoria -- host: aoc. caller: she talks like it is their way or no way. it is politics, you have to give a little. if she thinks it is a fascist system, that they are in power and it is only their way, she's got the wrong country. host: what if they cannot find that middle ground and it is tuesday next week after the memorial day weekend? to they do? -- what do they do? caller: that is the same

negotiation that goes on with unions over the years. it is always what can they do, it is not working. we are not in the meetings itself. it seems like that from the outside. but every big negotiation, unions, anything else, it will find common ground. this is just the way it works. it will work out, but they have to concede. biden waiting for 97 days to talk was a bad start. host: remember, there is a discharge petition out there. if all of the democrats, akeem jeffries, the leader of the democratic party in the house, says there is unanimous consent within the party to sign the discharge position and put the clean debt ceiling on the floor, they would need five republicans to break with the party and sign the discharge position.

thus petition. what do you say, donna? caller: they're are not that many unions left. the republicans know the billionaires that pay for their campaigns are not going to be too happy with them if they don't pass, if they don't raise the debt ceiling. it will cause the stock market to go way down, which a lot of retirees and rich people won't like. secondly, it is not surprising with all of the covid checks during the trump and biden administrations that the debt would go way up. but it was an emergency and that save the economy. no one who is not a u.s. citizen -- and no social security or medicaid -- medicare -- no votes

for republicans because the campaign comes from these billionaires. all i can say is the economy is going to go down the tubes, whatever, and it is not going to be too good for anybody in this country if they can't get their act together and raise the debt ceiling. host: ralph, rochester, new hampshire. democratic caller. caller: thank you for taking my call. i guess i am a simple person. it seems to me we should rollback tax cuts and decrease spending by 1% and take a year and see with the deficit looks like after a year. while we are taking that year,

look at some of the spending we are putting out. anyway, i also think that this probably creates something that we should have term limits on congress people. another thought is stop paying the congresspeople until they come to an agreement on this. host: they are leaving for the memorial day weekend after today's legislative session. the gop says house lawmakers can leave for memorial day despite the debt ceiling talks, the newspaper reporting the house is scheduled to adjourn today. they are not slated to return until june 5, four days after the deadline set by janet yellen for a possible default. they have said if they come to a deal, they will call lawmakers back to washington. take a look at what happened on the floor yesterday, when the

majority leader steve scalise announced this decision to send lawmakers home. >> following tomorrow's votes, if some new agreement is reached between president biden and speaker mccarthy, numbers will received when he four hours notice in the event we need to return to washington. additionally, we will allow them to review any legislative texts that may cover for is related to the debt ceiling, before final passage of that bill. [applause] >> does the gentlelady asked to yield? >> thank you for yielding. i don't know how my colleagues across the aisle who voted for the default on america act are

going to look our veterans in the eyes. [applause] you have presented our country with a impossible choice, devastating cuts or dub sitting to fold, hungry families or homeless seniors, kids without classrooms or parents without jobs. now you are spending with no resolution. that is the plan. the default, to run out the clock. i have some good news for you. 213, every member of the democratic caucus has signed the discharge petition. [applause] before you go home -- before you

go home, it only takes five patriots, five patriots to join us in the fight for the american people. join us. sign the petition. stay here and fight for american families and their american security. i yelled back. >> reclaiming my time, madam speaker. [applause] >> the house will be in order. the gentleman from louisiana is recognized. >> thank you. maybe my colleagues on the other side are having buyer's remorse, or voters remorse, that every single one of them voted against addressing the debt ceiling over a month ago when we brought that bill to the floor. madame speaker, there is a remedy.

if anyone in this chamber, including my friends on the other site, would like to see this problem addressed, they should go over to the senate side -- there is no one there. they should get on the phone and call the democrat senators who run the senate and chose to be out this whole week because they took this is so seriously, or call the white house and mr. president why he took 97 days off after the first meeting with speaker mccarthy when the speaker was ready to negotiate. we are still here. we have done our job. we have acted. we are the only body in this town who has actually taken steps to address the debt ceiling and the spending problem in washington. i would encourage the senate to take up the bill, i would encourage the president to get engaged and address this problem. we already have. the votes are on the board. let the house be in order.

and there be some to corum on the others. >> the members are reminded to abide by decorum of the house. [indiscernible] host: on the house floor yesterday, when house republicans announced lawmakers could go home after the legislative session, he called back with it yield between the white house and kevin mccarthy. you have heard democrats shouting during the back and forth, sign the bill. reforming -- referring to the discharge petition emanating five republicans and democrats to get it to the floor and pass a clean debt ceiling increase.

we are getting your thoughts on washington's negotiations am a over the debt limit, rap, in virginia, what do you think? caller: if your child was hanging on a rope and you are going to let him walk out over the grand canyon, you can't do that. you have to do whatever you need to do to get rid of the debt. the problem is our illegal immigrants, with almost 100 million illegal immigrants. even some americans are displaced, probably more than we would ever get to know, in order for illegal immigrants to be taken care of. you can't invite 20 people to sit at their three tabletop in your house and then pay for them. the democrats and my ignorance are going to literally destroy everything that references have

enabled us to come to the ability to know how to conduct ourselves over the last hundreds if not thousands of years. you have thrown out all references and you are just willy-nilly. it is too much for everyone. all of the individuals that i have seen in both parties are corrupt. thank you. host: iowa, and independent. paul, what do you say? caller: thank you for taking my call. absolutely we need to reduce the deficit. at this point, even freezing it would be something. but there are things we could reduce. i would almost got the department of education, especially the goal would be to try to break the teachers union. it is disgraceful the way we

have what our students -- the amounts -- i don't know what the percentage is. but it is way up there, the kids that can even read their grade level, and for example, the department of defense we can cut as well. we wasted a trillion dollars in the debacle leaving afghanistan, probably another trillion dollars for the 20 years we were there. to leave them better armed than when we first started the war there, a before that, vietnam before that. the waste alone. if we could get that under control, we would not have to raise taxes. host: but as an independent, it sounds like you think republicans should take the offer from the white house to freeze spending for next year and increase it by only 1% the

following year. caller: you never hear either side talking about reducing the debt ceiling. that is what has to be done. if i were republicans, i would be willing to take that at this point. bidart is not going to bend. host: let's hear from stephen in coconut creek, florida. stephen, you are next. caller: the date the treasury secretary yellen estimates that the debt ceiling must already have been raised is june 1. interestingly, there is $12 billion in marine pensions also on june 1 that are not going to be paid. their constituents should call the republican congressman in the house and tell them if they

don't get their pensions, his job is toast. host: sabrina, with texas, republicans. your turn. caller: i wish you all at least could point out with graphs or whatever that they are trying to freeze spending at covid levels. and covid levels were an anomaly. that happened because we were -- the country was falling apart because of the covid rules. so freezing spending, it is freezing it at a level that is unaffordable. i also agree that we should not be paying all the money that we are paying, we don't know how much it is because they won't

reported, for all of the illegal immigration. i am in texas, a very small town in texas. we are absolutely decimated down here. because of this. it has not been just the last two years. it has been for the last 30 years. our schools are overrun. our housing is unavailable. everything is affected this. our hospitals, doctors, everyone gets screwed by this. it has got to stop. we have to put americans first. thank you. host: in florida, john is watching, and independent. you are next. caller: i have been listening. a lot of good callers. i think that c-span commentators

, yourself included, there are no conservatives in your group i'm confident. the way questions are asked and answered weeds the people down -- leads the people down a path. america should pay the bills they incurred. but the problem is the bills we have incurred, we have not received the product yet. they pushed the budget out. like the last lady said, it was a covid year. everything was overspent, food given away, salaries increased, no unappointed given away. it has got to be -- we had to draw that back down. it is very disheartening. have not received the product yet. we need to cut them. we don't need those things. they're making people got used to them. they like it for lunch, but it is over, time to get to work. host: john in yukon,

pennsylvania, democratic caller. caller: we are coming down to the line, it is like a hollywood production. will they sign, won't they sign? i will tell you why. the coke brothers -- koch brothers, corporations who pour money into congress will tell you they will sign. we had no idea what is in the bill to begin with. it billion dollars over 10 years. they put that much in ukraine in one year. so i would tell all of the people out there, don't get all excited. the country is not going to default. it will come down to the line, like in a hollywood production. oh my god, they signed. don't worry about it.

have a nice day. host: we will be joined by 2024 republican candidate asa hutchinson and his path to victory in an increasingly crowded field. the former governor announced his bid recently and c-span covered it. if you missed it, you can find it on c-span.org. here's a portion of his official announcement for april of this year. [video clip] >> i was born in the old bentonville hospital. my law office was across the square from where we stand today. i tried jury trials in the courthouse behind us. i build bentonville's first fm radio station, served as bentonville's city attorney, but most importantly, this is where

susan and i started our families -- our family and spent some of our happiest years living on 15 acres west of town in a double wide mobile home. it was here on these steps over 30 years ago that i announced my run for senate. at the time, arkansas was a blue state and the republican party pretty much nonexistent. i stepped up to take on runaway federal spending, to fight for a strong national defense, to support the lives of unborn children, and unleash the private sector of our economy. in other words, i ran as a conservative republican when being a republican was like having a career ending handicap. in fact, lawyers told me that. i continued to fight the

establishment and over time, guess what? we won. [applause] that was the beginning and, since then, i have been a consistent conservative through my time as leader of the party in the congress and as governor and now i bring that same vigor to a fight in another battle and that is for the future of our country and the soul of our party. [applause] today, i am announcing that i'm a candidate for president of the united states. [applause] >> washington journal continues. host: 2024 presidential candidate, former governor of arkansas, asa hutchinson at our table this morning. thank you for being here. guest: it is good to be back on

c-span and i remember when c-span came to arkansas when i was governor. it was on your 50 stator to host you and it's good -- 50 state tour to host you and it's good to be back. host: let's talk about the latest candidates to enter the race. glitches disrupt desantis's campaign launch. your reaction? guest: i know he is disappointed that he did not get more of his message out yesterday but it's the very beginning of a campaign and it will be a slog for all of us so you pick up and move on and i am excited that this -- that in this phase now you still have candidates entering the race. you probably will have a couple more that perhaps will enter the race. and then you push toward the debates in august. that is when you can really show some differences between the candidates. we are off and running, welcome

governor desantis to the race, and i think it will be a good one. host: many of the headlines with the governor entering the race have compared him with the former president, donald trump. it appears that this is a two man race the way this is being portrayed in the media, so how do you cut through? guest: first of all, i don't see it as a two man race at all. you have donald trump, very high in the polls, and then you have ron desantis that has dropped significantly over the last two months and he is in second place. then you have got another tier of candidates, including myself, in single digits, but we are moving in the right direction, moving up, so i think it's a question as to who will be the number 1, 2 and three challenger to donald trump. you are looking at iowa next --

presumably january-february. they will narrow the field as they historically do. they might narrow it to five. if you go to new hampshire, south carolina, nevada and someone. the media tries to make this a two man race now the media tries to make this a two man race now. who knows what it will look like a month from now. time will tell. host: where do you need to be? what are your metrics for staying in the race until the iowa caucus and new hampshire primary? guest: my goal is to be in the race on super tuesday. that is when arkansas will vote and many of the southern states will vote and i expect to be alive and well in competing then. that is why i was in south carolina this last week, and

even though we have nikki haley and tim scott from their, a bunch of colleagues there in south carolina, i have roots there and these are important territories to me and a great opportunity. you focus on iowa, which we are. new hampshire, we are going back next week. but in the end, i want to be there long-term. you ask about metrics. i do believe the candidates will self evaluate as time goes on and if you are building support, raising the money that you need to keep in the game and keep alive, then you will go to, actually, where the votes count. so do not expect people to be making decisions the next two or three months as to whether they are viable or not. this will be up to the voters. host: speaking of money, nikki haley also in the race, raised around $8 million in her first few weeks. according to desantis's camp, they raised around $1 million yesterday.

what are your coffers looking like? guest: i am not in the league of donald trump and we are raising money. very proud of the response we are getting. the first report is due in july, so stay tuned on that. host: not going to share the number? guest: i'm not going to share the number. we are raising money and it is asa2024.com. host: how are you different from ron desantis? guest: he is following the model of donald trump. it is the same pugilistic style. it is creating a little chaos. and, you know, we all as governors are problem solvers, but there's different ways that you do that. i believe we need to be a fighter for our values, our consistent conservative principles, but at the same

time, let's solve problems and do not create unnecessary conflict. and, for example, i disagree with the way that governor desantis has taken on disney. i disagree with what disney said, but since when does government use the power of government to punish a business because they exercise free speech? to me, that is non-american. it is not a conservative principal. so we can disagree and even vote as consumers. i am not going to go there. but to use the power of government to go after your largest employer or a significant employer in the state does not make sense to me. so there's a disagreement as to what a conservative is and when you use the power of government to accomplish a goal. host: what are some other, two or three other, policy differences between you, the florida governor and the former president? guest: another one i will point

out is the differences on our support of ukraine. governor desantis's diminished it, has more of an isolationist view of the world, as does president trump, and i believe united states leadership is important in supporting ukraine and bringing the european allies together to help us oppose russia in their aggression. sure, we need to have accountable funds, audits, controls over it, but it's important that we support them and both governor desantis and former president trump have diminished that support. so that is a difference. we are not trying to focus on those differences because we have many more differences with president biden and his policies, but those are a couple clear things that will come out in the debates and i disagree with the way they have

handled that. host: before we get to calls, how would you handle the debt talks that are happening between speaker mccarthy and president biden right now? do you agree with republicans on the spending cuts? guest: i agree with the republicans that the president should agree to a framework for bringing the excessive federal spending under control. that is important. president biden should simply say yes to that. yes, we are going to work together and reduced spending down the road because -- and reduce spending down the road because it is uncontrollable now. you can negotiate the terms of that framework but it is important you establish that framework for reducing spending. host: would you agree with this offer by the white house yesterday, which was to freeze spending for two years? that nonpartisan group estimates that that could cut deficits by as much as $1 trillion over the next decade.

would you take that offer? guest: i will not get into the nuances of that negotiation now. i think the republicans look at that and say is this the right framework for controlling federal spending. so give them the flexibility to negotiate that. what's important is, one, we have to extend the debt. it is a legitimate debt of the united states. secondly, we have to have a framework, some controls overspending in the future. this is what happened during the obama years. this is not perfect at all. whatever they agreed to will have some difficult challenges for the budget but it's a necessary belt-tightening. so the lesson to me is start earlier. let's try to avoid brinksmanship. and as president, i would try to work with congress to make sure they pass their budgets, that

they do their work early aren't, and that -- early on, and that the president sends a budget on time as well. the question is whether or not we will pay our debts. that is not a good question to even ask or being in the newspapers and media. host: we will go to gregory in annapolis, maryland, first caller, a republican. go ahead. caller: good morning, mr. hutchinson. glad i got a chance to talk to you. how are you? guest: i am good. glad to talk to you. caller: i am a lifelong republican. i have never voted for a democrook, but joe biden, i have followed his career -- i am not as old as you but i am up there -- and he's almost a conservative. this idea that he is some crazy

leftist is laughable when you look at his history and what i wonder is why would you guys all be trying to make this fight over the debt ceiling when the democrats -- they raised his debt ceiling. let's get through this and we can talk about fiscal conservatism another time. why would we risk all this damage -- and i will tell you what. host: can i jump in? do you think republicans will get the blame if there's a default? caller: of course they will. i will tell you a. if my 401(k) crashes or the economy crashes, i will be voting with my grandson as a far lefty in the next election. everyone knows it is the republicans holding this up. raise it and you can talk about

budgets the next time. also, why don't we cut the military? we just got out of 20 years of war and we are giving the military more. i am third-generation army but that sounds crazy to me. host: two issues there. guest: probably three. first, my take on biden. i have known president biden for many years and he was more conservative in terms of law enforcement, in terms of security issues, but something happened whenever he got elected president and he shifted to the left and yielded to the progressive left of the democratic party in governance. so now what we see is energy policy is weak. it is an all green energy policy that he started with. i believe we have to produce more energy. he has a weak border security policy i disagree with. he was weak coming out of afghanistan.

that showed weakness and gave russia and china a reason to be more aggressive. so on and on down the list. i have disagreement and i think he's demonstrated that he's governing to the left so those are the reasons that i am fighting hard for a republican alternative to the left-leaning, anti-growth policies that we see in president biden, and i do believe extensive federal spending is part of the problem. to your point on the budget impasse right now, as i said, this should start earlier, but you have to use what leverage you can to control federal spending, which is a serious national issue, and this is the same thing that happened during the obama administration and president obama agreed to spending constraints. this is exactly what president biden should agree to.

they will work it out and they need to do that but a framework for spending is appropriate. host: cutting military spending was the other thing he brought up. guest: i don't think that is good although there is an impact even in the republican proposal that will impact defense spending. but we are not spending at the level that we did during the cold war. we have a need to make sure that we have particularly the subs, submarines, that we need, our naval ships -- not as robust as we need to protect our interests in the pacific. so we have to invest continued in our military. that is the best prevention of war and war is expensive so let's invest to keep peace. host: governor asa hutchinson joining us.

we are taking your calls. we are taking your text messages. text with your first name, city and state to (202) 748-8003. send us a tweet with the handle @cspanwj or post on facebook.com/c-span. here's a tweet. you served in the bush administration. how did your service -- how does your service there help you as a candidate now? guest: tremendously, because as you look at my experience in the u.s. drug enforcement administration, i understand the challenge of fentanyl in our communities and what needs to be done, what it means to work with mexico to go after the cartels causing human suffering along the border. when you look at my service under the secretary -- service as undersecretary for border security and also transportation security, i understand what it takes to protect our country from terrorist.

it is a big responsibility. that experience was very tough post 9/11. it continues to be a large responsibility. that makes me suitable to meet the challenges we face today. i will also add i was a former federal prosecutor, so whenever you look at crime in our streets, the challenge of federal law enforcement and the need to reorganize federal law enforcement to be more effective and accountable, my experience yields effective results that i can bring. host: headlines on the wall street journal. children on the border, many fleeing dire straits, face peril in hopes of a silent. what would you do about kids coming to the border? guest: it's a human tragedy, again, whenever you have children coming across the border, and you have to take --

human tragedy, again. whenever you have children coming across the border, you have to take care of them. you have to help children in a way that first determines whether they have a legal presence and should be in the u.s., whether it would be safe to return them to their home country if they do not have a legal reason to be in the u.s., so it depends upon the unique circumstances. the bottom line is they are children. maybe the parents let them go, but also, maybe, the cartel was hired to bring them in, and a lot depends upon their age as to exactly what would happen, but you have to protect the children. they are uniquely vulnerable and you have to show a great deal of compassion even though they are being misused other cartels and those who want to traffic in human beings. host: sharon is next in

minnesota, democratic caller. caller: good morning. mr. hutchinson, thank you much for your time. excuse me. back to that military and the budget. every time we go through this, you republicans never want to cut a thing from the military but you want to make it sound like every penny that is spent on the military is spent to protect us. i have done my research and i know that 85 million dollars annually is spent on the military on viagra. that is not to protect me, is it? my second question -- i hope you will talk about that first point, though -- as i make $12,000 a year. i'm a single person on disability. i am legally blind. i cannot drive a car. i am stuck. i make $12,000 a year. i can barely make it. you make $175,000 a year and i

know every time you guys come on, and not just the republicans but the democrats say the same thing, that, yes, we make $175,000 but we have not had a pay increase in years. i look at my pay, i look at your paying, and i look at, coming up on june 3, i might not get paycheck -- not get a paycheck. am i going to have to commit suicide? and i am serious because i cannot afford to live anymore. because you are playing this game and you think it is a game and in the real world, where i make $12,000 a year and i can barely afford to pay my bills and eat a decent meal, and i am asking you what i'm going to do on june 3 if you continue to play this crazy game and i don't get a check. host: we will have the governor respond. guest: well, first of all, those

are difficult circumstances, and your first point was about defense spending, and absolutely we should always be looking at any waste, whether it's the defense department or other programs. you want to make sure that money that the taxpayers invest in our military programs is wisely used, effectively used. that's always a challenge and we need congressional oversight and make sure we are aggressive and appropriate spending and controls as well. secondly, in terms of jeopardizing your income, that is exactly the reason the debt needs to be expended -- to be extended. no one's income, whether social security, medicare or disability, should be jeopardized. that is why we need to extend the dead and that's the first

obligation of the united states of america. i would say i am not in congress so i don't get a congressional paycheck. i am in the private sector now and working for a living but obviously, whenever you look at disability income, we want to make sure that you are taking care of and i hope that you contact your congressional office or social security administration and make sure you are getting the benefits you are entitled to. host: she sounded desperate and what you said about taking your own life, i would encourage you to reach out to the suicide hotline if that is a serious thing you are contemplating. get help and we hope that you do. mark in florida, independent call or. caller: how are you doing today, greta? you are just as beautiful as you were years and years and years and years and years and years ago.

i would say that everything i hear is a bunch of crap. if i walk into a bank and i rob a bank, i go to jail. if the people in the bank rob me, they have no problems. back in the reagan days, i recall going up, and after the reagan days, we were promised all these things were going to get less expensive. everything is going to get cheaper. the only thing that was the trickle-down effect -- and your stock market. you want to stick everything in the stock market that has destroyed retirees because of the prices. now come on. this is capitalism at its finest. the rich get richer and the greedier get greedier and we sit here and just have to suck it up after putting all the money in there and not getting enough to survive. thank you.

host: governor hutchinson? guest: he's addressing issues of the economy and to me that is one of the most important issues of 2024 as to how we are going to strengthen the economy, which is reducing inflationary growth. interest rates are hurting the average family. one study showed that just because of the increase in interest on credit card bills and car loans, the average family could be paying $300 more a month. so it all starts with, again, excessive federal spending, because that is what led to the inflation and the federal reserve putting in higher interest rates, so we have to be able to control federal spending. we have to produce energy in this country. so we cannot have a progrowth economy that cannot lift all the boats -- that can lift americans so they can make sure that jobs are secure for the future. a good income comes their

direction and there a lot of employment opportunities. we have to make sure that people are properly trained for those and have those opportunities. i believe in the spirit of work and self-sufficiency with an appropriate safety net and people are hurting out there. we ought to have a good safety net because we are america. whenever they have the ability to work, let's increase the training. let's increase the opportunity and tried to match those that want to work with good paying jobs. if you are in a low-paying job, let's see if we cannot up skill you so you can get a better job to compete. that is help government can give that calls upon americans to move up that ladder and that should always be our dream. host: caller in columbia, mississippi, a republican. hello, eva.

caller: i did not hear your announcement. if you have a wife, what will be her platform? did she a lawyer, doctor, teacher -- is she a lawyer, doctor, teacher? in the last years, some of the first ladies have tried to overshadow their husbands. guest: thanks for asking. my wife, susan, we have been married for 49 years. i am very proud of her and as first lady of arkansas she did have a platform and that was to push the emphasis on protecting abused children. we have a children advocacy center in arkansas and i know you have those in mississippi. she raised a lot of money for them. she supported them. she is on the stateboard. that continues to be her mission. as she looks at opportunities,

if we are blessed to be at the white house and she is first lady, she would be the first to say she wants to continue her work with children, making sure those that are abused or struggling in life have the support they need and i am very proud of her, proud of our relationship. we come from a blue-collar background. we both had high school educations and worked blue-collar jobs and we have been blessed to have more opportunities but we actually met in college and i dated her hitchhiking back and forth to memphis, where she taught school. i do not recommend that as a dating pattern but it just showcases that we understand struggles in life and hard work and also the opportunity our country bring -- country

brings. host: what was her reaction when you announced a potential bid for the white house? guest: she is all in on this because she believes as i do that as long as god gives us breath on this planet we are here for a purpose and to make a difference. as you pointed out earlier, i have a lot of experience, so when you see your country in need and you see your country that wants to get back on track , i think i have a lot to offer there. she is supportive of that and it gives her an opportunity to impact children's lives, so she right now is back in arkansas but she will be on the campaign trail with me. she's actually from georgia and so we will be speaking to the georgia republican convention coming up and susan will join me. she was born in atlanta so she's very supportive and i'm excited to have her out there with me. host:

caller next. caller: is he aware that donald trump raise the debt more than anyone else before him and when he was out there giving gigantic tax cuts to himself and his other very wealthy people, where was the hue and cry from the republicans about that then? on the military, we really should watch -- how can we watch with being spent when there is no audit being done? the last auditor we had was never replaced. how in the world can we know that money is being spent properly when there is no audit? thank you. guest: first, your point is well taken that the current debt that we have of over $31 trillion is

the result of both democrat and republican administrations including the donald trump administration. and there was a lot of spending in there. the borrowing capacity increase during that time. you are right, that is something that will be pointed out during the course of this campaign. we just spend too much. while we went through a pandemic and we had to have some stimulus packages, it went far overboard and that's part of the problem we have today. in terms, i will say a couple of things i want to do in terms of the spending side -- as part of my platform, i will reduce the federal nondefense workforce in the government by 10%. when i was governor of arkansas, i reduced state employment, state employees by 14%.

that's 3000 fewer workers in state government from the time i started to whenever i ended. that's one way of tightening the belt and making our government more efficient and responsive in utilizing technology in our delivery of services as well. finally, on the military, we have inspector general. i don't know whether that slot is filled now but there would be someone acting in that capacity. congress is oversight responsibility and i'm sure they are having hearings, looking at the spending side by the military. that's a responsibility that both the auditors and congress have. host: we are speaking with the former governor of arkansas, presidential candidate asa hutchinson. he is with us until the top of the hour. i want to bring up another topic that is gun policy. yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of that school

shooting in uvalde, texas. the president called on congress to act. do you share that sentiment? what do you think inc. to be done? host: it was an incredible tragedy from a lot of different perspectives as to what happened there. the tragedy of the greatest of courses with the children. secondly, the law enforcement response was not what it should have been. what came out of that also is a bipartisan bill that was enacted. senator cornyn of texas and i think it was senator murphy joined together and they tightened up some of the background checks for juveniles to make sure that whenever they became adults, you could look deeper into the records. our country did come together and produce a result that hopefully will make a difference.

i am a second amendment advocate , i'm a second amendment believer and the rights and citizens to protect themselves and bear arms. where you can have a commonsense solution, it makes sense and that's what happened after you've all the and i applaud this -- after uvalde, texas. host: do you agree with those who want to repeal that gun law? host: i haven't seen the reasons for wanting to repeal it. guest: my understanding of that law is that it allowed a more comprehensive check. if someone seeking a firearm after you become a legal age, you can have expanded time in order to make sure that any adverse or violent actions in a juvenile record would be discovered and be reasons they

should not receive that firearm. to me, that's a reasonable approach after what happened in uvalde, texas. unless there is some technical deficiency in the law that i'm not aware of, to me it made sense and i applaud it and did bipartisan work on that. host: new york, independent, good morning. caller: hi there, i want to say that i have questions about immigration and abortion, particularly your record. first, i want to say that i think your record on these issues is very dangerous and i question whether or not you should even be running at this point. arkansas has the highest mortality rate, maternal mortality rate in the united states. from 2019, it has the most restrictive abortion ban.

when you served at your role at nths that most of the deportations you over so were actually noncriminal. the point about migrants bringing these things and crimes , i want to know why you decided to run based on these legacies. thank you. host: thank you for the question. there are about three issues there. one of them is about the maternal health and the more charlie rate and you -- and the mortality rate and you're correct that in arkansas, we had a historic legacy in generational poverty and that impacts the welfare of moms and their health care.

we worked hard to expand the health care into our rural communities. arkansas was one of the southern states that had the medicaid expansion which i kept is governor. than we actually got a waiver in which we expanded specifically in our rural communities, additional care for moms as well as the infants up to one year after birth. we wanted to expand the care of about mom and the child in our rural areas. we did that. that should have an impact on birth rates and survivability but also with maternal care. in terms of the abortion restrictions in arkansas, there was a law passed where roe v. wade was reversed and abortion would be prohibited except in cases of the life of the mother.

i expressed my belief that there should be three exceptions which is life of the mother and in cases of rape and incest. that was the will of the people of arkansas and that law was passed. i'm a national perspective, i am pro-life and i believe life is represented in the womb and that there is -- they are pretty deserving of protection but there should be some exceptions. to me, the public is generally approving of exceptions of rape, incest and when the life of the mother is at risk. we hope we can come together in a broader national sense on this issue but right now, it's left up to the states in arkansas determined its rules. i know the other states, michigan, pennsylvania will be able to determine its health care policy in that regard. you did mention one other thing which is my record on homeland security and deportations.

i believe in the enforcement of the law and that determines that somebody is in the country illegally, they are subject to deportation. there is a lot of appeals involved in that but that is the responsibility of the law. we generally focus on those who have a criminal record in our country. there are other instances that when someone exhausts their appeal, they don't have appropriate asylum in this country. they are not entitled to legally be here. our enforcement officers have to remove them from the country. that is the law of the land. my job as an executive is to enforce that law. host: carol, republican -- caller: good morning, governor hutchinson, how are you today? host: i'm doing great and it's great to hear from jonesboro.

caller: we are doing just fine. we learned how to budget our money. several topics, no time at all. one topic is our military. without military, we wouldn't be able to call into the show. for me, i feel like our military members don't get paid enough because they have family that are left at home and they need their pay higher to be able to support their family members left at home. another thing is, because their family also serves. when they are a family member that has been transported to go somewhere to serve, then their

families left behind also serve. when we get an income, it doesn't matter what we draw each month, we need to learn how to budget our money. it doesn't matter. another thing is, we all need to give a little grace in this world. if you see someone hurting, then you need to lend a helping hand in this world and stop learning to put people down. host: governor? guest: great comments and probably the last comment is the most important, that we need to give each other grace. i think that grace is probably appropriate whether you are in social media whether you're speaking at a public venue or whether you are working with your neighbors we have to have more understanding and more appreciation on the struggles that people go through i

appreciate your career -- support of the military area that's what we've done in arkansas about by providing licensure, easy access for military families when they follow a spouse in the military. we have supported our military installations. little rock air force base close by, we have a number of those in arkansas. the most important point is also about the budget. in arkansas, we balance the budget for eight years in a row. we do that every year. we tighten the belt when needed and we make the adjustments and are required to balance that budget. families do that and i think that was your point. the governments have to do that as well. the federal government has to have more flexibility but we been loosening that bill for a long time and we will have to tighten it. host: peer is a text from marie in silver spring, maryland --

host: that is a very broad brush. all i can speak to is why. i prosecuted a violent extremist group. we lock them up and put it -- put them in jail. we passed a version of a crime law in arkansas to further punish those that have racially motivated crimes. in arkansas, under my leadership, i didn't like the idea and it didn't seem appropriate that we would recognize robert e. lee day on the same day we recognize martin luther king. so we separated that so dr. martin luther king could have

his -- his own day of celebration in honor in our society. i think it is very important that the party of lincoln, the party has made mistakes but we need to be a part of equal opportunity. i had one of the most diverse administrations of anyone in history in arkansas and i'm proud of that. we need to make sure that everyone understands it's not just the economic message but it's also a fundamental message of equal opportunity and equal treatment under the law that's important. host: how do you describe what happened on january 6 at the u.s. capitol? guest: i described january 6 as a terrible thing for our democracy. it was an attack on her democracy and our institutions of government. it hurt as globally, people

looked at the united states and the country that historically has transferred power from one administration to the other without violence, without controversy and peacefully and that disrupted that. there is a responsibility that goes with what happened on january 6. guest: was it an insurrection? >> it's sedition and people have been convicted of sedition on that. it was an attempt to disrupt the lawful flow of government of the united states. and that was by violence. caller: michael, mount vernon, new york emma democratic caller. how are you today? great. caller: i really don't believe anything you are saying because for the simple fact that all politicians do the same thing. they have this feel from what

they will do about when they get in office and once you get elected, i understand but the state of affairs in this country in the way the congress and the senate act is totally unacceptable. you cannot get together on the debt ceiling, you have all this conflict between each other. when the american people are the ones at risk. you guys go back to your home and do whatever you do, but us small people, the ones that pay the taxes and make the country work, we are the ones that get stuck. it's terrible. host: let's have the governor respond. guest: that's what we had to do is to build greater trust

between elected leaders and the voters, the people of america. we have to trust our institutions and build that trust, and you are right that the most important element is to do what you say you will do. when i ran for governor, i made a few promises i said i was going to lower taxes. we wound up lowering taxes over the course of time by $700 million per year, putting minor -- money and taxpayers pockets and the government treasury. i promised we would put computer science and every high school in arkansas. we did that and we went from 1100 students taking computer science to over 23,000 students taking computer science. i said i was going to make government more efficient. we reduced state employees, government employees by 3000. we made it more efficient. the result was we left a $2 billion surplus when i was term limited and left office last

january. i hope you will look at the record and say at least when i was governor, i did exactly what i said i would do and it is important as you look at candidates for president. you should ask what they are promising or saying they will do and if it's feasible and are they being honest about that and saying what is their plan to accomplish that so i hope you will follow us and that determination. host: we have a little more than 10 minutes left with governor asa hutchinson, 2024 presidential candidate. florida, independent. caller: how are you doing? good morning mr. hutchinson. you are from arkansas so don't take it personal if i don't particularly understand what a republican from arkansas is now running for president again. we had one president from arkansas.

don't take it personal because he applied and good standard and didn't happen to be republican. he left the government in good shape. you arkansas people are good about looking at budgets and economy but the federal government unlike arkansas come in florida, we are spending more money. spend more money, spend more money, spend more money. we even have election police to protect the elections. all 15 million to protect the election. please, explain to the audience why the economies of arkansas will work better than what the republicans and democrats -- i am an independent. i don't see you guys reducing

anything in federal government. explain -- host: i think he's got it. guest: thank you, you're right to acknowledge that we had a former president was elected from arkansas, bill clinton. he was the presidency and i was in congress at the time. between clinton and bush, that was the last time there for balanced the budget. i was in congress ambushes there we had a balanced budget. we have to return to a more disciplined effort in our spending and budgeting. in arkansas, we created 100,000 jobs. when you look at the leading entrepreneurs in the world like walmart and tyson foods and jb hunt trucking, we have

incredible entrepreneurs interstate that grow business not because the government helps but because they believe in the free enterprise system but it's hard work and have a product that consumers want. i am very proud of that. there is a plan to do better in washington from reducing federal civilian employment to being able to be more disciplined in the budgeting process. i want to put people to work and one thing i have not said is those people who are age 62 want to take social security and retire, they should not be penalized by the government for working. that could put a million people back into her workforce. they could get their social security benefit and work at the same time. those are the kind of change that makes sense and will help our economy and host: host: help our budgeting. gary next, newport, kentucky,

republican. go ahead. caller: good day, sir. i see you running for president and isa hope that the end of the tunnel. joe biden on his inaugural address promise nonpartisan -- bipartisanship. i watch that from the house just before c-span played. it looked like a bunch of third-graders in the schoolyard. guest: i cannot address the picture on the screen in congress but i can obviously right now, you got a partisan divide, hopefully they can come together on the day extension. it is important that we not only

use the rhetoric of trying to work together to accomplish something good but we actually try to do that. i the bipartisan bill, couple of them have been passed this year. the infrastructure bill that was bipartisan, you had come together that came together from senator cornyn on strengthening background checks. some things have been done but it's the rhetoric and i think we can fight really are -- hard for our campaigning and showcasing different things but to do it in a more civil discourse. to be able to respect the other side, think of ronald reagan. a lot of listeners probably don't like some of that history the idea he worked is your.

he was able to work across the island get things done and we need to get back to that. we will certainly strive to make that happen. host: we will go to st. paul, minnesota, dave is a democrat, good morning. caller: good morning william a hutchinson the second. i'm not sure why you go by asa hutchinson. you vetoed house bill 1570 in arkansas but it's still weird that you picked a name instead that of using your given one. i wanted to ask you why the u.s. military keeps needing more money when after the recent 60 minutes thing, the oil pressures which cost $328 to make, they charge over $10,000. the average item they sell to

us, they are making 40% profit margin. is it not possible we could cut the defense spending and put that money into things like veterans benefits? we are serving your catholic agenda and then you are cutting our benefits away from us. host: we will take those two issues. 5 let's start with veterans and we need to express our gratitude for those who have served our country. we look for ways to do that, to strengthen the veteran services in arkansas. we put a priority on that. military retirees, we exempted military retirement income for state income tax. those are steps we took just the appreciation to those who have served in the military.

in iowa, i met with incredible veterans support group. as i talked to the veterans, they really want to improve health care through our veterans administration. it's something they camped on in the mental health services are a big part of that. there's more to be done to show our appreciation and improve our policy toward the veterans. let me say again that it should be way says below that. even general eisenhower understood the dangers of military-industrial complex mh have watchdogs and highest level oversight over them. i don't disagree with any of that. that's why we have audits, that's why we have inspector

general's, that's why we have a congress that has hearings that are aggressively looking at that kind of waste. we have whistleblowers they can call in whenever you see abuse and thank goodness, we got protections for them as well. host: the caller mentioned a bill you had vetoed. it was a transgender bill to prohibit doctors from providing gender confirming homerton treatment. to anyone under 18 years old. why did you vetoed the bill? guest: they didn't have a grandfather clause which means that if a parent makes a decision for treatment for their minor, that would be disruptive is there is no petition i also would've signed a bill that were prohibited surgery i vetoed that

bill because it was overwritten. as one of those tough issues. arkansas is a state picking up first on that topic. i don't engage in groupthink. i think through these things myself and look at the constitution and try to make the right decision. host: there is a primary debate scheduled for august in milwaukee. time magazine reports the rnc is slowing the requirement of polling at 1% or higher and has had at least 40,000 donors. would you meet that criteria? host: i'm glad we met the polling criteria. our numbers have moved up so that should be well handled. the 40,000 donors is more of a challenge because i come from a small stage. when i ran for governor, at 3000 donors so i've got to have 37,000 more donors and that's

where you go toasa2024.com. we need to have participation in order to make that goal. host: where is campaign headed next? guest: the only primary is an caucus states. next week, i will be in new york city. i will be in new hampshire and iowa all next week. i'm very excited about being in those states and headed to georgia to the state convention for breakfast. it's a full schedule. i'm looking forward to being in the state. at this stage, we are moving beyond simply being in the early states and anticipating super tuesday and some of the western states. i will go to colorado this next month as well. expanding those opportunities. what is host: your ground game look like at this point? guest: it looks good. the ground game is me.

we've got a great field director in iowa. we will add a field director in new hampshire and build that ground game. we've got some doorknocking going on. i'm very pleased with where we are. host: we appreciate you coming on the "washington journal" and talking to our viewers. guest: great to be with you, thank you. host: the house will gavel in for the early morning session. we will bring into the house floor with live coverage here on c-span. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2023] the speaker: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by the guest chaplain