a few more moments left with congressman scott rigell. jamaal. caller: how are you doing, mr. ll? guest: good morning. caller: i have a two-part question -- first, how do we get to this point with where our economy is right now, and i think it comes from the time when we had the surplus in the clinton years, and unfortunately, with 9/11, i think president bush took our armed forces in the wrong direction, and my question is does this coincide with the money that we spent and where our budget is right now? ok, well, jamaal, thank you for calling in. let me say right up front that both parties have failed the american people as it relates to our budget. you mentioned the economy and the budget, and i think you know and would make the distinction between the two. principally, i think of the the economy as jobs and how we are isng overall, and our budget what is our check book look like, do we have more coming in than going out, and right now we have far more going out. bothn the context that parties have failed the american people here, i have not seen the discipline on the democr

--are joined by scott rijo scott rigell and my guest host, bob benmosche. upport this spending bill? >> i certainly do. we are kicking off this year in better shape than last year. we have reduced spending to 2009-levels. it is somewhat competent. it might be interesting for you to hear me say we have gotten positive results here in washington, but as it relates to discretionary spending, it is true. like you,r ceo's washington has been a big part of your story. now, in 2014, is a nonstory or a story? >> washington is important because of what happens to our economy and our country, and it is important to recognize we are competing in the world arena, and for america commit is not -- america,it was it is not the same as it was 40, 50 years ago. this is the first step. we have to become solvent. back something like this is important. >> it is an important first step because we have big issues to face and we have to get this one behind us to deal with the other issues. you and i have talked about finding areas of bipartisanship, agreement. thisyou might suppor

host: talking to congressman scott rigell of virginia in the norfolk area. guest: virginia beach. host: a member of the budget committee and the armed services committee. here to take your calls, several folks wanting to talk to you. john in delaware, ohio on our line for democrats. you are on with congressman rigell. caller: please, bring our troops home from afghanistan and stop spending money on those ungrateful afghans. spend the money here at home on americans who need it, like our veterans, like our unemployed. please. thank you. guest: thank you for calling in. you called on a democratic line, i want you to know the issue you brought before us is not a partisan issue. i essentially agree with you. in fact, i offered an amendment to the national defense authorization act that would defund completely infrastructure spending in afghanistan. let that soak in. it passed with bipartisan support, it did not seem right to make that massive investment of over $1 billion there. i am not an isolationist. considering the totality of all the investment in that country and where it was h

we will be talking with congressman scott rigel about the 2014 federal spending on the bus will on "washington journal." and then we will speak with a l aboutntative nick rahal a chemical leak in his state of west virginia. then a discussion of how many doctors are needed to implement the health care law. plus, we will be taking your calls, e-mails, and tweets. >> the case as i see it is one of the bigger cases that could transform communications. michael powell, the former chairman of the fcc, current ceo said the because thing that would change our case is the ariel case. potentially the supreme court take this up and find out one way or another whether area service is legal under copyright law. what the fcc does this year will be determined i -- >> what the fcc does this year will be determined by a very dynamic chairman, tom wheeler. he is not afraid to come out swinging. the biggest issues for the tech world will be surveillance reform. it will be up to a year for a bigllance -- 2013 was year for surveillance because of the snowden leaks. president obama will put forward recommendations.