christopher mihm will be with us until the bottom of the hour. this chart shows the three biggest drivers of long-term fiscal spending, health care, social security, interest on the debt. which of those is the easiest to bend down? guest: it would be great if any of them were easy to bend down. the viewers with the last segment saw the challenges we have on health care costs. medicare, just on social security and interest on the debt, we are projecting a $3 trillion increase in federal spending over the next decade, two thirds of that increase will come from those three kind of broad program areas. and so, you know, i would not characterize it as being easy, but to the extent we can begin to pay, or piling less debt on and decreasing the ratio, we are about 76% debt to gdp now, that is money that comes back without any other different choices that need to take place. host: what is the tipping point? you talk about using hard decisions, these fiscal pictures look decades into the future. when did these decisions need to be made? guest: we need to

christopher mihm will discuss what we can do about it.will be right back. ♪ ♪ part of our capitals tour, the c-span bus visited alaska with encourage the final stop on the tour. >> anchorage plays a critical role in making sure that democracy is functional and provides an understanding of what is going on, but also provides a window into being a farc, this distance away, can see what is occurring. >> we think it is important, because we believe in the mission of the network to be a chested media source. we probably support their effort to inform and educate the nation on policy, politics, history and current events. announcer: join us on july 21 and 22 when we will feature a visit to alaska. c-span,aska weekend on c-span.org or listen on the c-span radio app. announcer: c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television company. and today we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington dc and

fromater christopher mihm, the government accountability office. theu.s. debt -- how does u.s.to pay back a $21 trillion debt? our guest on "the washington newsmakers" is up next. our guest is the ranking democrat on the house armed services committee. have a have a great weekend ahead, and a happy fourth of july riyadh♪ [video clip] ♪ . >> here on c-span this morning, newsmakers is next. with democratic congressman adam smith washington state, followed by deputy attorney general rod rosenstein and fbi director wray, testifying before congress about fbi's handling of the hillary clinton email investigation during the election. later, president trump and members of congress react to the news of supreme court justice anthony kennedy retiring. >> "newsmakers" this week is pleased to have congressman adam smith of washington. it is home to the air force base and he is the ranking democrat on the aed