secretary dennis mcdonough discussed the ways the v.a. been changing its practices with the hopes of providing better care for veterans. here's a portion from august. [video clip] >> we are fitting our care for service into veterans lives, not expecting veterans to build their lives around us. if we are going to keep our promise to vets, we need to meet them where they are when they need us without exception. we have reached out to vets and listen to what they wanted using a veteran centered design approach, we developed tools to ensure vets and their caregivers have positive, productive experiences when engaging the v.a. we overhauled v.a..gov to make it the digital front door for all services the v.a. offers vets. medical appointments, applying for education benefits, all go through that same front door. the new v.a. health and benefits mobile app gives vets access to the digital front door, meaning that's with a smartphone can have all their -- vets with a smartphone can have services in the palm of their hand wherever they are. while

host: that was secretary of the v.a., dennis mcdonough. what unique of those numbers? is it started to trickle down to veterans? guest: it is a lot of big numbers. v.a. services are in demand and the number of veterans in america is steadily declining. the big wave of veterans is older generations. we are seeing her folks come in but they are not replacing. a few years ago, 23 million veterans, now we are talking about 18 million veterans. v.a. services seem to be even more in demand than they have been. more folks reaching out, more folks with more complicated medical histories. as the secretary said, they are seeing more disability claims. they are processing more claims than ever before. even as the number of veterans in america is going down, we are seeing because in demand continue to rise. host: let's talk to callers. johnny is first in south carolina. caller: i am a 77-year-old veteran. my benefits have cut down from 60% when i was 62 to 30%. i tried to get help from my congressman, no results. i have no idea why they want to do that to me because i have had sto

leo shayna deputy editor of military times will talk about his recent interview with secretary dennis mcdonoughhe impact veterans. c-span's "washington journal" joined in the conversation alive 7:00 a.m. eastern friday morning c-span, c-span now or online at c-span.org. ♪ up next on c-span2 supreme court oral argument whether to california school board members the right to block people from the private social media accounts. transportation industry leaders testifon roadway safety and challenges to the trucking industry. later a discussion on employment opportunities for veterans with testimony from business leaders representing various companies including home depot, walmart, and verizon for that's all coming up here on cspan2. ♪ c-span is your unfiltered view of government we are funded by these television monsters including comcast. you think this is just a community center? it's way more than that. it's part of 1000 committee centers to create students from low-income families can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. comcast support-span as a public service ang with these other

secretary, dennis mcdonough, but first, more of your calls. it's open forum. democrats, (202) 748-8000, republicans, (202) 748-8001, and independents, (202) 748-8002. we will be right back. ♪ >> when you read about the political history of illinois, yooften see the word corruption. for stce, from january 1961 until january 2009, illinois citizens elected a different meant to be their governor's. four of those eventually went to prison, all convicted after they were out of office. robert e hartley has written 11 books about the politicians of illinois, including one titled power, purpose and prison. mr. hartley writes these men met their downfall under different circumstances. he asks, where did they go wrong and were they able to recover self-respect in spite of their punishment? >>obert hartley with his book on thiepode of book notes plus. but notes plus is available on the c-span now free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. if you ever miss any of c-span's coverage, you can find it anytime online at c-span.org. videos of key hearings, debates and o

. >> john: we'll be watching to see what secretary dennis mcdonough does, if anything, with that one individual. >> sandra: arkansas republican senator tom cotton, member of the collect committee on intelligence. weigh in on gillian's report there. >> well, i think these reports are very troubling, especially the cia officer. why do they have a social media page expressing political opinions of any kind. they are not supposed to make policy and post a picture of a palestinian flag waving the day the israeli defense forces goes into gaza is not some innocent expression of sympathy with the palestinian people. obviously expressing hope for their victory over the israeli defense forces. akin i would say to having an intelligence officer in the department of war on december 8, 1941, posting someone waving a japanese flag or nazi german flag after they declared war on us and vice versa. so these people should be at a minimum suspended and have the security clearance suspended until an investigation can decide what should be done with them. >> sandra: to the degree that the agency had to r

please join me in a warm national press club welcome to secretary dennis mcdonough. [applause] >> thank you for the nice introduction. it is great to be here, good afternoon. stakeholders, partners, veterans. this year marks the 50th anniversary of america's withdrawal from vietnam. this year and every year we remember the 58,220 americans, american patriots who were killed or are still missing in that war. and we honor the 9 million americans who raise their right hand and committed to serve and defend our constitution, members of the armed forces during that time also was period in our country's history. one veteran, everett alverez, ejected from his skyhawk, shot down over north vietnam, landed in the water him and his fleet of vietnamese fishing boats were be he became the first of 766 american prisoners of war in vietnam. lieutenant alvarez endured over 8 years of captivity in the infamous hanoi hill. marking the passage of time on the walls, celebrating his own catholic mass, he chose to hang onto every motivation he could muster. took home the strength of fait

at a point in the second term dennis mcdonough had to perfect the art of governing by executive order. it was almost impossible to do anything on the hill in any bipartisan way. at least that is the way it appeared to me. xo first about chris proves me wrong about being able to report in real time it's very well reported it's very much has things would look at on the daily newspaper thank you for embarrassing. but to d add to your points bute have seen here at the difference in the first term in the second term as they'll be divided between the first two years in the final six years is a difference between legislating policy and executive policy. the first two years congress entirely in democratic hands a 60 vote majority in the senate, imagine that today we have not seen anything like that in quite a while. doing with a done with a 50/57 and 5049 on not sure how some are out with concussions and shingles and wheat may not really want to be democrats or what have you. the count is not all that easy. they had a 60 vote supermajority at one point they got a lot done in the first years b

secretary dennis mcdonough discussed the ways the v.a. been changing its practices with the hopes of providing better care for veterans. here's a portion from august. [video clip] >> we are fitting our care for service into veterans lives, not expecting veterans to build their lives around us. if we are going to keep our promise to vets, we need to meet them where they are when they need us without exception. we have reached out to vets and listen to what they wanted using a veteran centered design approach, we developed tools to ensure vets and their caregivers have positive, productive experiences when engaging the v.a. we overhauled v.a..gov to make it the digital front door for all services the v.a. offers vets. medical appointments, applying for education benefits, all go through that same front door. the new v.a. health and benefits mobile app gives vets access to the digital front door, meaning that's with a smartphone can have all their -- vets with a smartphone can have services in the palm of their hand wherever they are. while

then leo shane, deputy editor of military times will talk about his interview with secretary dennis mcdonough of the v.a. join in the composition live at 7:00 eastern on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. >> friday, a number of legal scholars discussed the u.s. constitution and the right to citizenship established by the 14th amendment. you can watch that beginning at 2:00 p.m. eastern live on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we're funded by these television companies and more, including cox. >> the syndrome is extremely rare. but friends don't have to be. when you are connected, you're not alone. >> cox support c-span is a blic service, along with these other television providers. giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> king charles iii formally opened british parliament, announcing the priorities for the coming months. this was the first king's speech in more than 70 years since it was delivered by his grandfather, king george vi. he previously gave the queen's speech on behalf of his mother elizabeth in may of 2022