. >>> we're joined by bob bixby. he is with the concord coalition and serves as their executive director talking about funding of the federal government and other matters. mr. bixby, good morning. >> good morning. >> a little about the concord coalition and the approach you take. >> we were started in 1982 by former commerce secretary pete peterson. the idea was to be a bipartisan public education organization focused exclusively on the federal budget and the rising debt and things that we could do to prevent that. >> mr. bixby, leading up to this point, there were concerns about a government shutdown and if that would take place. could you walk our viewers through about the concerns of why we came to the point -- why we're coming to the point of potential shutdown? >> every year congress needs to pass 12 appropriations bills to keep the government agencies funded. that total is about 30% of the federal budget, so it's important to keep in mind that there are other parts of the federal budget, too. but this is about

host: robert bixby, bob bixby hear from the concord coalition. first call comes from houston, texas. republican line, this is gene. caller: that was quick. i wasn't expecting that. good morning, guys. my thought about when they start talking about the spending bill and not ok and this because of this -- the main thing we have to get done is get the bill okayed so all the bills are paid and we do not have a government shutdown. -- i known would be it is only a third of our total --get, but i am thinking they are talking about the wall. the wall is not going to solve the problem. if these people coming over here -- idifferent countries know it is a different issue. pay taxesre made to through these companies they are working for, we would not have to worry about money. we would have plenty of money. if thetion would be -- spending bill does not pass because of the wall, why wouldn't we have an option to raise our budget? guest: that is an interesting question. -- immigrants that come into the country and work here illegally obviously do pay taxes.