it seems like people like rob portman, he hasn't done nothing.olumbus used to be a booming place and now when you go out to the poor section, are officials sit back and don't do nothing. it's a said situation. host: you mentioned the clintons, what were your thoughts about nafta which went into effect in 1994 when bill clinton was in office? caller: with all of this trade agreement stuff that's going around, let us take care of our own people. one general and said the jobs would not come back, if we could doing all this agreement stuff with other countries, bringing contaminated stuff to the united states, the jobs will come back. host: kenneth is up on the line for republicans. caller: good morning. i would like to ask the question why do we send our jobs to china who trashes the air and the soil and the water? if the left was worried about climate change, wit and they bring those jobs here? -- wouldn't the left bring those jobs here? host: is your concern the environmental issue? caller: that is one of my concerns. china has no epa. they are po

this puts republican senator rob portman in a pretty tough spot as well. the senator is up for re-election in 2016. polling shows that if portman voted for fast track and tpp, 67% of voters in the state of ohio would be less likely to vote for him. only 23% would be more likely to vote for him. hillary clinton needs to take a position on this trade deal definitive, exclusive, where is she? and this is not foreign territory for the candidate. the former senator from new york when she was the senator from new york she voted to deny fast track authority to president bush. 2016 is a whole new ball game considering the trade deficits we have right now. the people of ohio deserve to know where the lead candidate stands on the trade before the primaries. these voters deserve to know who is exactly on their side. the bottom line here is every democratic representative, senator and representative in the state of ohio is rallying with workers, pushing the president to say no to this. in the meantime the president, like a campaign style, is going to a nike factory? i

majority in 2000 17 unless things that -- that are done that benefit mark curran, mark johnson, rob portman. i think that covers it right? so if you think of it in political terms, things change and things change. i think the politics are a little tiny bit different now than they were before. the republicans are getting in the house used to a situation that unlike with the speaker keep your to be in force lockstep. speaker weiner does not seem as effective. that is no criticism for his ability to lead. it is the nature of the coalition. it may open up opportunity for cross party agreement. i think we have party seen some in this congress. >> the polarization along party and ideological lines. i would refer to the party extras in the room on that. a separate question whether that degree of low functioning congress is reputable. there is more variation. we will see variation here. it does not typically last that long because the majority party tends to overreach. i think there is ample room for more change along the way. you look at this and think this time is different but you might overstat

the very final vote was cast by senator rob portman former u.s. tradenive for the bush administration, who is in a tough re-election cycle. he voted yes. 12 democrats voted to end debate to remove president obama from the party. harry reid and elizabeth warren were among his opponents. the senate trying to wrap up work on surveillance and highway bills before departing for a week-long memorial day break. you can see live coverage of the senate on our companion network c-span2. this weekend, c-span presents commencement speeches from around the country. you'll hear from veterans affairs secretary, robert mcdonald, catherine sullivan head of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration and from south carolina state university, republican senator tim scott. here's a preview. >> back in 1983, when i was graduating from high school, the song that's stuck with me for the last 32 years is called "hold on to your dreams" by a group called ouija. you're all too young to know ouija. maybe somebody out there don't know ouija either. anyway. all right.

you go rob portman normally a guy that is a pretty consistent free trader but he's in ohio he has found so are you saying the only people that are against this have their own course in the race? is that really what you're saying? that they know what's good for the country, but their own constituencies they're trying to dissatisfy. >> you have to look at this at the best point of the view for the country and the aggregate. >> you don't think eelizabeth warren wants the best thing -- >> elizabeth warren is saying look she came out swinging yesterday and said look you look at what happened with our existing tradebacks and there are countries that are violating what they have agreed to in terms of child labor and in terms of union leaders who were murdered in other countries. what do you think about that? >> economic activity is occurring everywhere in the world. if you think about the united states in that process, you want to make sure we participate where we can. recognize trade today. so the southern hemisphere trade, that's actually growing at a much faster rate than what we're doing i

cosponsored bills and worked with ted cruz, elizabeth warren, gary peters, orrin hatch, steve daines, rob portman, angus king, rand paul jeanne shenshaheen kelly ayotte and ron johnson just to name a few. i didn't have to sacrifice my conservative values but did have to admit anyone can have a good idea. just because we disagree on one thing doesn't mean we have to belittle people. i told my wife several years ago when i came into the house of representatives i had the deja vu moment thinking i felt this way before but i'd never been in congress but i know this feeling. after six months i called her and said i finally figured out what this feeling is to be in congress. it's the emotion in middle school lunch. it's that feeling of i get more popular by sitting at my table and making none of everyone else at everyone else's table. and if i ever say something nice my table says why would you do that a? if i say something unkind, everybody says way to go. welcome to congress. only we can turn this around. we will strongly disagree on areas but we should find the areas of common ground where we don't

the majority in 2017 unless things are done that benefit ron johnson, pat toomey, kelly ayotte rob portmancism of his ability to lead. as the nature of the coalition and it might open up opportunity for cross party agreement. think we have seen some in this congress. >> it is almost two separate questions. the polarization whether that is immutable. but it is a separate question. my hunch there is more variation. we will see variation. party control has a way of on jamming the work and unified party control typically does not last that long because the majority party tends to overreach. there are examples. in some sense we think this is different but i think we might overestimate. >> to you wish to comment or ask the last question to lead us to the end of this panel? >> i am not as optimistic, i guess. it strikes me that we are seeing the variation that we're seeing. >> am not saying it's a good or bad thing. >> small baby steps, right? just the broader ideological partisan polarization is difficult to overcome. also strikes me that it is chilling. we are moving toward a less competitive s