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>> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we're funded by these television companies and more. including buckeye broadband. ♪ >> buckeye broadband supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers. giving you a front row seat to democracy. washington journal c. 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 >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more including mediacom. >> we believe whether it is here, here or in the middle of anywhere you should have access to fast internet. >> mediacom supports c-span as public service along with these other television providers. giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> a look now at what is coming up on c-span. next, president biden announces his nominee to chair the joint teams of staff.