it is the 30th year of the washington business journal. >> if yes, we are really honored and humbled that we are here for 30 years i joked that people left when they met me and said you are the publisher of the washington business journalal is that not an oxymoron? we approve there is business in washington. >> as someone whoho cered politics for decades, i have to tellou i find there are so many more interesting people in the world of business than polilitics. where some of your favorites? >> the dow is a great question. >> did not war i would ask you that. >> i could remember sitting 15 years agot the aol headquarters with the head of communications. we were talking to khaki bush and --athy bushkin and whether aol could support a c corporate initiative. she walks to steve case's office. he said i would be happy to support that. >> that is interesting. i think ted leois is one of my favorites. i did -- another one is a plan. >> beforee that, he was a great realistic person. >> he stayed in -- he saved downtown d.c.. >> people still say about the verizon center, and his ability to p p

she joined us on this morning's "washington journal." >> joining us on "washington journal," diana beget, a democrat of colorado, a member of the energy and commerce committee and as well as co-chair of the house choice caucus. correct? >> the house perfect choice caucus. >> right. and she is here to talk about some of the issues around planned parenthood and the rules regarding contraception with the health care law. first of all, i want to ask you about the investigation that the chairman of your subcommittee on the energy and commerce committee, cliff sterns, has instigated against planned parenthood. a letter sent back in september to cecile richards of planned parenthood saying he was investigating. were you aware of this investigation, and were you supportive of it at the time? >> well, as you might recall, there were some allegations that planned parenthood had actually commingled public money and private money, and planned parenthood, 97% of what they do is prevention and well-woman visit, breast cancer screenings, things like that's and they're allowed to use public money for ar

congressman chris van hollan, joining us tomorrow morning on "washington journal." the federal government employs 2.5 million civilian workers, 1.7% of the u.s. workforce, that according to the congressional budget office. the government spent an estimated $200 billion to compensate federal civilian employees. the proposal being put forth by congressman sean duffy would extend to nonmilitary federal employees a pay freeze into the third year saving an estimated $26.2 billion. he is supporting the measure, representative chris van hol len is opposing the measure, we want to know what you think about this idea. 202-626-7962. your thoughts about freezing federal pay salary for the next year, would also impact members of congress as a way to offset the budget deficit. 202-626-7962. this is "washington today." more from the director of the congressional budget office, doug elmendorf, who announced yesterday the government bull run a $1.1 trillion deficit in the next fiscal year. a slight dip but high by any measure. the budget office reporting annual deficits will remain

." >> tuesday on "washington journal," we'll examine the government's settlement with the nation's largest banks over charges of mortgage fraud. our guest is massachusetts attorney general martha coakley. and we'll discuss the proposed budget with kevin bridi, a member of the ways and american s "washington journal" is on every day. >>> with president obama releasing his $3.8 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2013, a number of his cabinet securities will be heading to capitol hill to testify about the kneely restaged. with treasury secretary tim geithner and on the defense department's 2013 budget. it called for 54, a 1% do crease from last year. that gets under way at 9:30 eastern. >>> there's been honest contention, spirit and disagreements, and i believe considerable hot arguments. but don't let anybody be misled by that. you have given here in this hall a moving and dramatic proof of how americans who honestly differ, close ranks and move forward for the candidates shoulder to shoulder. >> we look back at 14 men who ran for office and lost. who had a lasting impact on american p

"washington journal" live on c- span. during this week's "question time," david cameron answered questions on the economy and on proposed changes to the national health service. operation leader david miliband talked about bonuses and said the government should propose legislation asking the banks to disclose all employees earning more than 1 million pounds per year. >> order. questions for the prime minister. paul farrelly: thank you. >> i am sure the whole house will wish to join me in sending our deepest condolences to the families and friends of signaller ian sartorius-jones from the 20th armored brigade headquarters and signal squadron too legit, and lance corporal gajbahadur gurung, attached to the 1st battalion of the york sure regiment. these are dedicated soldiers who were highly respected by their colleagues. they're courageous, selfless service will never be forgotten by our country. this morning, i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. >> may i associate myself and all house with the prime minis

"washington journal" is next. >> well, the president was in the northern virginia suburbs of washington, d.c. yesterday to announce a new mortgage relief plan, which could affect 3.5 million homeowners. we want to hear from you this morning on the "washington journal," your reaction to a new mortgage relief plan and more broadly what role the federal government, in your view, should play in mortgage relief and in housing industry. use twitter, and no hyphen if you want to make a comment, continue the conversation on our facebook page, facebook.com/cspan. here's the front page of the "washington times" newspaper, obama floats second plan for underwater homes, only three months after proposing a mortgage relief plan. president obama went back to the drawing board with another proposal paid for by a new tax on big banks that would allow millions of underwater borrowers to refinance home loans. and on the jump page, goes on to say -- here is the president as the day. >> it is not designed for those who had acted irresponsibly but it can help those who acted responsibly. not those who bought

our guests on "washington journal" include nolan finley. at 8:30, will speak with virginia republican governor bob mcdonnell who is participating in this weekend's meetings. he recently changed his position on a bill in his state requiring

"washington journal" is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >>> just so i'll remember, here is that wonderful moment when senator lott revealed his nostalgia for the state's right segregationist south. take a look. >> when strom thurmond ran for president we voted for him. we were proud of him. >> talking points memo fpt com josh marshall on the internet and the website's emergence into the breaking news business. >> the media is such a different system than it was years ago. i think things like that happen all the time now. and i know that's -- there's certainly big stories that tpm has had over the decade. and we have 20 editorial people so we're breaking stories right and left. i think it's almost become -- it's almost become common place and it's not nearly as surprising today as it was back then. >> more about tpm and josh marshall at 8:00 p.m. on q&a. c merkel discussed the future of europe with students at the hertie school in berlin. it was hosted by the financial times and the broader european alliance agenda foundation. foll

"washington journal" is live on c-span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> when president lincoln was shot on april 14, 1865, he was wearing a black coat made for his second inaugural by brooks brothers. it's cared for the national p parks service. american history tv documented the process of removing a replica coat and placing the original coat on display for the public and learned how the artifact is preserved for future generations. lincoln's coat on american artifacts in sunday morning at 8:00, also at 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3's american history tv. >> the head of the transportation security administration, john pistole testified about aircraft security. this hearing. house homeland security subcommittee on transportation security is an hour. >>> the subcommittee on transportation security will come to order. we're meeting today to examine the transportation security's administration screening partnership program. i apologize for the delay, but they don't let me have any say-so when votes are called on the floor. i appreciate y

. >>> we will continue the conversation as we always do tomorrow morning on c-span's "washington journal" 4:00 on the west coast. a chance to call in with questions for congressman barney frank. and the ranking member former chair of the financial houses committee. and two coauthors of a book called "the tea party patriot: the second american revolution." we'll take your calls about the tea party and its role in politics. tune in tomorrow. thanks for joining us on this wednesday. i hope you enjoy the rest of your evening. ♪ >>> in a few moments, more about the administration's 2013 budget request in a hearing with treasury secretary tim geithner. in a little less than two and a half hours, defense secretary leon panetta and general martin dempsey justify about the pentagon's 2013 budget request. then another view of the 2013 budget from the acting director of the white house budget office testifying on capitol hill. >>> on washington journal tomorrow morning, barney frank of massachusetts will take your calls about the president's 2013 budget request. we'll be joins by mark meckler and j

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] "washington journal" ♪ ♪ host: good morning.is presidents day monday, february 20, 2012. congress is on recess. the campaign for the republican nomination for president is heated and in full swing. our question for you is about occupants of the white house. who do you think has been america's most influential first lady? here are the numbers to call. host: you can also e-mail in your comments. you can also find us on twitter. we can share that on the air. you can join the conversation on facebook. let's take a look at comments that have been coming in on our c-span page talking about who the most influential first lady was. paul writes -- barry says -- "the white house host: here is a comment on twitter. we are talking about the first ladies in honor of presidents day on c-span. let's take a look the clip of the tour of the first ladyies. [video clip] >> why are we interested in what the first lady wears? we look to her clothing for clues about what she is like as a person, about what the administration may be like, both in its

friday morning, the washington journal, heard every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern time on c-span radio. we're asking the question, is washington paying enough attention to the year to year-deficit and the overall debt now approaching close to $16 trillion. give us a call here at c-span radio. it's our listener feedback line. here's the number. 202-626-7962. we ask that you leave a message, tell us where you're calling from, we'll use some of your comments tomorrow and friday on "washington today." 202-626-7962. >> more "washington today" in just a minute. first, other news. on wall street the dow fell 97. nasdaq down 16. s&p down 7. federal officials plan to kill a private company's plans to start a national high-speed wireless broadband network after concluding it would in some places jam personal navigation and other gps devices. the federal communications commission said it's going to seek public comment on revoking light squared's permit after a federal agency that coordinates wireless signals, the national telecommunications information administration, concluded there's no way to mi

. >>> on washington journal tomorrow morning, we'll focus on chinese vice president's trip to washington. our geruests will be the co-chas of the chinese working group, representative rick larsen of washington and louisiana republican representative, charles boustany. kelly field, the washington reporter for the chronicle of higher education, will look at what's in the president's proposed budget for community colleges. and you can call in with your questions about the pentagon's budget to anna mulrine, defense correspondent for the christian science monitor. washington journal is live on cspan every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >>> in january, president obama headed up mr. cordray. it is being disputed who said that congress was not actual until recess at the time. this on us oversight and government reform hearing resounds the recess appointment. >> good morning, the committee will come to order. the oversight in government reform committee's mission is that we exist to secure two fundamental principles. first, americans have the right to know that the money washington takes from them is

. >>> we'll continue the conversation tomorrow morning on the "the washington journal" and among our guests, talking about the issue of energy member of the house energy and commerce subcommittee and a republican from louisiana, he's one of 154 cosigners of the house bill sending a letter to the president asking the president to reverse the contraceptive mandate and talk about that excel keystone pipeline and some of the issues tomorrow morning on "the washington journal" heard live hire every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern time and 4:00 for those of you on the west coast. enjoy the rest of your evening. >>> business executives testified today about whether they'd be willing to give up all corporate tax breaks in exchange for a lower tax rate. that hearing is next on cspan3. after that, a look at security issues at u.s. chemical plants. later, federal reserve chairman, ben bernanke testifies about the economic outlook. >>> in the morning, the senate judiciary komt will debate a measure that requires u.s. supreme court proceedings be televised. in addition to the legislation, lawmakers and

"washington journal" live saturday at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. oh >>> army secretary john mccue testified before the house armed services committee friday on the budget request. the overall army budget request of $184.6 billion is down from 2012. but includes a 1.7% pay increase for soldiers. and a housing assistance increase of 3.9%. the total defense department 2013 budget request is $525 billion. a 1% decrease from 2012. this runs about 2 hours and 15 minutes. >> we just got notice that the role was voice voted. they were going to have a vote about 10:00. so they said final votes will be at about 10:45. so we'll get as far into it as we can, and then we'll go vote, and with your patience, we'll be back as quickly as we can. good morning. thank you for joining us today, as we consider the president's fiscal year 2013 budget for the army. general mchugh, general ray odierno, thank you for your service. general, 38th chief 6 staff with the a.m., welcome to your first of your many posture hearings. i'm sure you're glad to hear that. our nation's v

you're on the washington journal. >> caller: good morning. i'm almost sorry i called this lady speaks so well, i don't want to take up her time. she's just amazing. >> why? >> she's so clear on it. it's so sad in this country individual liberty is frowned upon by republicans. i don't understand that because they're always talking about liberty. institutional liberty, big corporations and wall street, big churches, they're all for that. i just -- i don't understand that. i don't get it. it doesn't make any sense to me. i'm 63 years old. i've worked in a catholic institution when i first got out of the service. let me tell you, that's a very authoritarian place where a lot of the lower paid workers have nothing. i mean nothing. no freedom, no ability to organize, fear to organize. it's just so sad. i just don't understand it. this is america. >> you know, there are about 3 million american women who would be affected by this rule who work for religious organizations that are not -- as i say, not the core church-type organizations, but for the c

some of the issues tomorrow morning on the washington journal heard live here at 7:00 a.m. eastern time and 4:00 for those of you on the west coast. thanks for joining us. i hope you enjoy the rest of your evening. >>> negotiations for a second bailout package for greece and the senate panel looks at the economic outlook for europe. and then we talk with congressman tim ryan of ohio about u.s. manufacturing. and later, house and senate republicans talk to reporters about the federal budget. >> for the last 60 years, every president since dwight eisenhower has attended the national prayer breakfast and tomorrow, president obama will be on hand at this year's prayer breakfast. watch live coverage at 8:00 a.m. eastern on c-span2. >>> u.s. officials continued to monitor europe's economy and debt crisis. up next, the senate budget committee looks at the economic outlook for the eurozone and we'll hear from economists and financial analysts at this hearing chaired by north dakota senator kent conrad. >> i want to welcome everyone to the senate budget hearing and today's focus is

welcome to "washington journal." >> caller: thank you. the comment just made, i'm a republican. i grew up a democrat and i've bn been a republican ever since n a i've been an adult and i'm contemplating going somewhere back in the middle, i think. anyway, the comment about the trade schools. when i was in high school, i graduated in '83, we went to trade school in high school. not serve going to go to college. not everybody wants to go to college. and it's actually a waste of money. they don't have that anymore. i'm not sure offering trade school in college is the most economical way to do it.igh i think what we did in high school was very cheap.ople t it offered people the ability to go to work right out of high school. the other comment i wanted to t make to your guest is that, and i went in the military as an intelligence analyst and i currently have a masters degree and two bachelors degrees. i've never been laid off until the last five years. in the last five years, i've ys been laid off three times. each time, and what i do is i design servers. i do highly technical work.

"washington journal" continues. host: dave levinthal writes for "politico" -- super packs emerge as campaign gonzalez. dave levinthal welcome to the program. guest: good to be with you. host: explain the phrase campaign godzilla is? guest: nobody expected them to exist. here they are, playing an incredibly upsize role. compared to what a lot of people thought they would be playing. you have to remember that back in 2008, the superpac did not even exist in the presidential race. nobody had ever heard of it because the term superpac was not in the english lexicon. here they are and they are outside groups that are nominally independent from presidential candidates. at least the ones that are supporting presidential candidates directly. they can raise and spend unlimited sums of money that can take from -- they can take from corporations and individuals. they can spend that money on communications that are over the advocating for or against federal candidates. it can be presidential and also congressional, house, senat

. >> could morning and welcome to washington journal. congressional dealer -- congressional leaders have reached a tentative deal on the payroll tax cut. what you think about the deal? do you like it or not. in other news, the president traveled today to milwaukee, wisconsin to talk about manufacturing. then he will go to los angeles. also on the campaign trail, the battle heats up for michigan which holds its primary in two weeks. first, the payroll tax deal. where is your opinion? here are the numbers to call. the number to call for our republican line is 202-737-0002. the number to call for our democrat line is 202-737-0001. the number to call for our independent line is 202-628- 0205. if you're outside the united states -- you can also e-mail us, journal@c-span.org. we're also on facebook. look for c-span and join the conversation there. to get more details about this tentative deal, we go now to take sherman. congressional reporter with political. good morning. guest: good morning. host: tell us where we are at right now. can we cal

and welcome to "washington journal" on this monday, february 27, it 2012. the house and senate return to work in washington today. both will be in session this afternoon. america's governors continue their winter meeting in downtown d.c. the national governors association, this morning, president obama, vice president biden will deliver remarks to the n.g.a. the fight for the republican nomination for president continues, with primaries in michigan and arizona tomorrow. a lot of rampup heading into that. and as we look at campaign 2012, we'd like to hear from you this morning, what you think about negative ads. do you think they're effective? do they work? do they ultimately hurt the party? republicans, democrats, you can call and weigh in. here are the numbers. republicans, 202-737-0002. democrats, 202-737-0001. independent callsers, 202-628-0205. and outside the united states, 202-628-0184. you can also email in your comments, journal @c-span.org. share your thoughts by twitter, and we'll get that and share it on the air. or join the conversation on facebo

we'll continue the conversation tomorrow morning on cspan's washington journal. a republican from louisiana, both part of the u.s.-china working group, and we'll be talking about the visit of the chinese vice president here in washington, what it means for trade and economic issues, also human rights. your calls and comments tomorrow morning. kelly field will also be joining us, the chief washington reporter for the chronicle of higher education, the white house denouncing a plan that would forge a partnership between community colleges and businesses to train workers for higher paying jobs in the u.s. just some of the issues we'll be talking about, and of course more politics tomorrow morning. a look at the primaries in arizona and michigan, which will be coming up at the end of this month. so tune in every day 7:00 a.m. eastern time, 4:00 for those of you on the west coast. thanks for joining us on this tuesday. i hope you enjoy the rest of your evening. >>> next on cspan 3, massachusetts attorney general martha coakley talks about the recent settlement with ban

the ceo's of major corporations talk about their role in the global economic recovery. >> "washington journal" continues. host: a spotlight on magazines takes a look at a recent magazine article. this week, we turn our attention to "gq" magazine's the 50 most powerful people in washington. reid cherner is a contributor to "gq" magazine. why do you do the list in the first place? how do you define power? guest: not all of our readers -- most of our readers are not in washington. there is a constant running conversation here about who is powerful and who is not that often runs contrary to what you might think of who is really powerful and who is not. every two years, the magazine takes a look at talking to insiders and journalists to see who is making a difference. host: you do an informal survey of washington insiders. guest: yes, we do. than our editors go through the list. -- then our editors go through the list. this is a snapshot. if we did this list right now it would probably look different. we are doing a weekly power list on our website for who is important this week. as you know, it t

. >>> on our next washington journal we'll talk with rob woodall and chris van hollen about the latest congressional budget office report. and later, robert jones of the public religious research institute joins us to discuss politics and religion. "washington journal" airs each morning at 7:00 eastern on c-span. >>> republicans have introduced bills in the house and senate that would revamp the federal budget process. the legislation would make it more difficult for congress to pass spending bills without first having passed a budget. some of the bills gop supporters spoke to reporters about the legislation. >> a good group, isn't it. thank you all for coming. the american peopleot happy with how congress and the administration manages their money. and i have concluded that they are basically right. first and foremost, we are borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we spend. that's so irresponsible as to produce no real argument in return that this is legitimate. second, in our budget process, we've known for years it's filled with a whole lot of gimmicks, techniques and methods that have

"washington journal" continues.ost: so often on this network we talk about the politics of elections. we want to turn our attention to the process. rob richie is the executive director of an organization called fairvote. you've been with the organization for 20 years. thanks for being with us. let's talk about the basic questions that come up every four years and first and foremost, the electoral college versus the national popular vote. this debate was front and is it in november of 2000 as al gore won the popular vote only to lose the electoral vote to george w. bush and nothing has changed 12 years later. >> there has been one big change, there's been an ongoing debate about reform and we've seen tremendous movement in states towards reform so the rules we're going to use in 2012 are the old rules we've had for a long time where states allocate their electoral votes so the winner of the statewide popular vote. that happens in 48 states so that rule will be in place and whoever gets the most electors, if they have

. >> let me ask you the obvious question that we hear so often on the "washington journal." can these folks agree on anything? is there anything that they can work on in terms of domestic policy issues in which there is bipartisanship? >> that's a good question. i think that fundamentally, they all want to extend this payroll tax cut. they all want to extend unemployment benefits. that is something that they agree on. when it comes to measures that would reduce the deficit or in this case measures that would pay for an extension of those policies, anything -- any amount of pain there's a fundamental disagreement, you know, democrat you've heard it a thousand times, want to increase taxes, republicans cut spending. and they're just very far part from each other. >> sam goldfarb of cq roll call. thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you. >> you're listening to "washington today" being simulcast on c-span3. check us out at c-span radio.org. a long-term outlook that many say congress needs to work on, one of the issues that senator ron widing put forth as ben bernanke

"washington journal" is next. host: good morning. when the house of representatives meet this week, they will take up the insider- trading bill. this was spurred by a "60 minutes" ps. mitt romney is the winner in nevada. now the campaign goes to colorado, missouri. at the u.n., the security council failing to take action against syria as russia and china blocked the resolution. in syria, calls for president assad to step down. good morning, it is february fifth on this edition of "washington journal." our phone lines are open. >> you can also send us an e- mail or a tweet. russia and china veto the u.n. resolution on syria. let's get the news from nevada. wrongness springs -- romney's brings to a nevada victory. the slick at the results from the silver state. mitt romney getting about 43% of the vote compared to 26% 4 newt gingrich, 18% for ron paul. mitt romney campaigning in colorado and then in head back to nevada to declare victory. >> president obama demonizes and denigrates almost every sector of our economy. i will instead mak

"newsmakers -- ""washington journal," live on c-span.ohn cornyn's remarks are about 15 minutes. >> thank you very much. i am glad to see so many texans and other great americans here today. it is great to be with you. i want to start by thanking my friend and our friends at the american conservative union for hosting us. i want to thank all of you who are involved with cpac for what you do all year round. i will be brief. i am one of the last speakers standing between you and sarah palin. i want to talk about someone who enjoys his complete confidence. i am talking about attorney general eric holder. three years ago when i was on the senate judiciary committee, i was one of the two republicans who voted against his nomination. [applause] i have to confess. looking back on that vote today, it has to be one of the best votes i have cast in the united states senate. under eric holder, the justice department has been led by an arrogant, incompetent, dangerously ideological and transparently political attorney general who seized it to twist t

we will and "washington journal" -- we will end "washington journal" early today so that we can bring the senate armed services committee. the secretary will face three days of growing on capitol hill. today before the senate. on wednesday, he will be back up before the house armed services committee. we are learning today -- this is likely something that will come up at the hearing today. this is a bloomberg news with this headline. the pentagon may have to oust troops in voluntarily in order to meet their reduction in the budget plan. this is the first time since the aftermath of the cold war. guest: i hope that is not the case. the pentagon is facing a $10 trillion cut over the next 10 years. the cuts are serious. you can only go so far in reductions before it lands on the troops. i think that is a mistake. i think we ought to keep the troop levels and troop- operations support whole. we ought to focus on procurement. the sequestered that is in place today is very damaging to defense -- the sequester that is in place today is very damaging to defense. host: we're winding down the w

what is an ultrabook, and the latest on smartphones, tonight at 8:00 eastern on c- span 2. >> "washington journalcontinues. >host: we're back with the director of the congressional budget office from 2003-2005. you are prominently displayed on the front page of the washington times this morning. guest: let's find out what i've done. host: his budgets have never added up and he has a propensity it as a very powerful campaign trail. that's on the front page. what you mean, it has never added up? guest: my concern is this. the first budget he put out showed the u.s. going into a spiral. we were borrowing simply to pay interest on previous borrowing. that's not sustainable. world credit markets say forget it to that kind of thing. crisis, they said, we have to do this. the next year they put out a budget that did exactly the same thing. he said this is really a problem, we have to address this. so he appointed a commission that came forth with a set of proposals that made sense. it said the fundamental problem is spending, so republicans need to get over the fact that there is defense spending and yo

washington journal continues. host: every wednesday in our last hour on "washington journal" we look at a peace. this is about prison gulf states and nuclear energy. you right there is a choice that they are facing. do they make peaceful programs? focused on just having nuclear energy to meet their demands? or do they respond in kind to iran? guest: the answer right now for the program that exists is this is kind of a gold standard for civilian programs. s find every protocol for transparency. the u.s. government backs it. think about the program in iran. the whole world is saying, this has to stop. the u.s. is actively supporting it. it is sort of fascinating the way the probe -- the world is treating it. that program is peaceful. if it tried to get a nuclear weapon, you'll see dominoes start to fall. and then you have this kind of nightmare scenario. to thee're talking congressman who is the vice chairman of the committee earlier, he said that if i were a neighbor of iran, i would keep my options open. it is ver

"washington journal" continues.aller: -- host: at the table now, neera tanden president of center for american progress. guest: we have always supported a balanced approach to deficit reduction with economic growth. we have hopeful signs in our economy, but it's important that we continue and that our government policies help support economic growth and not hinder it. we want to make sure the proposals of the president supported economic growth, growing jobs, keep the economy growing. we also look at a balanced approach for deficit reduction. if there is an approach with spending cuts and balanced with tax changes and increases in revenues and that is something we applaud. this is a shared time of sacrifice. host: what are the democrats' grip strength right now in the election? guest: the president has accomplished a lot on behalf of the american people. we look back got a time when we had a range of policies that helped stave off the great depression. it's time to communicate to the people about the things we avoid

"washington journal" is next. . screen. you can also e-mail your comments. also today in washington, cpac, the gathering began yesterday. you will hear from a number of speakers, including former alaska governor, sarah palin. let's look at the "wall street journal" coverage of washington. a number of organizations weighed in with their opinions about this change. the united states conference of catholic bishops came out it is today saying -- house speaker john painter briefly weighed in. -- john boehner briefly weighed in. he said -- others had a more positive reaction. nancy pelosi said -- let's hear what you have to say. maryland and joins us on the democrat's line from columbus, ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. i think this whole thing has been blown out of proportion. the president does not have award against religion. -- howff a war against religion. why do the catholic church and the right-wing fundamentalist church have the right to go to the government to go to -- to have them legislative laws that infringe on our religious or non-religious b

"washington journal" is at 7:00 a.m. on c-span. >> tonight eliot spitzer joins the debate about whether to prosecute banks for mortgage fraud. >> i almost hate to bring up occupy wall street but they had a sign that was very accurate. they said we will no corporations are people when the texas execute once. [laughter] the problem is that we have given corporations of the upside with none of the downside. we have given them rights and privileges we extent to individuals and yet when it comes to holding them accountable, becomes of the ways offers are built in, 00-- buffers are built-in we said you keep the upside and we will guarantee you are too big to fail. we say you do bad things, we do not have a way of holding you responsible. >> see his remarks as part of our presidents day lineup. it also includes a former navy seal on the mission that resulted in the cape -- killing of a osama bin laden. it all starts tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span. >> and joined american history tv for 24 hours of america's first ladies inclu

in a few moments, today's headlines and your calls live on "washington journal." the annual conservative political action conference continues today. rex santorum is scheduled at 10:25 eastern and mitt romney is before 1:00 p.m. and newt gingrich will be there a little after 4:00. in about 45 tons, james lewis, former director of the president's commission on cyber security will talk with republican senator john grasso at 8:30 and he is a member of the conference committee trying to work at an agreement on extending the payroll tax cut for the rest of the year. we look at how the government measures price increases and how inflation index -- affects programs like social security. programs like social security.

"washington journal" is next. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] host: good morning this monday, february 6. looks like another busy week shaping up in the nation's capital. in the middle of all of the super bowl blog, you may have seen an interview president obama did with nbc in which he said out right -- "i deserve a second term." we want to get your reaction to the president's remarks yesterday to matt lauer. again, if you missed it, president obama said yesterday "i deserve a second term." this interview, that the same time as a new poll published by "the washington post." the headline says obama opens clear lead over romney. this is what the president said yesterday. [video clip] >> i deserve a second term, but we are not done. when you and i sat down we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. we found that just a few days before we sat down that we lost that much. now we are creating 250,000. we created 3.7 million jobs over the past 23

and are spent -- and spend our way into a better tomorrow. >> c-span.org/thecontenders. >> "washington journalntinues. host: we're joined now by melanie sloan, executive director of citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington, who is leading a petition asking president obama to fix the federal election commission. guest: citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington -- the federal election commission in recent years has refused to act on almost anything. five of the six commissioners are sitting despite expired terms. it's up to president obama to nominate new commissioners. host: what is the purpose of the federal election commission? guest: this is one of the important government agencies americans do not know about. fec was created post-watergate to deal with campaign finances and it monitors are campaign -- campaign contributions. they are supposed to monitor to make sure everybody plays by the same rules. they are doing a lousy job of it, frankly. we're seeing millions and millions of dollars -- this presidential election will undoubtably run to over $1 billion because of

"washington journal" continues. host: charlie heard back to the table. let's talk about campaign 2012. upcoming primaries in michigan seems to be -- all eyes are focused on that state. we showed a poll to our viewers earlier. rick santorum beating mitt romney in that state. why is this important? a couple of papers saying this is a critical week for mitt romney. guest: adding it is a board for a number of reasons. chief among them, it is brit romney's weakness there. -- mitt romney's weakness there. he should do well. his father was an executive in the auto industry and has a long history there. his father was a well-known politician there. it is crucial in that respect. even four years ago, he spent a lot time court in the state. it would be added boerse the -- it would be an embarrassment to him if he lost. it is crucial for more reasons as well. it is one of these midwestern telex that will determine the outcome of the election, much the way that there were so crucial in the democratic primary. they always are. i

"washington journal" is next. ♪ good morning, today is saturday,

we want to hear from you this morning on "washington journal."our views on china -- friend or foe? you can also contact us electronically via e-mail or twitter. finally, you can continue the conversation on china on our facebook page, facebook.com /cspan. no hyphen in c-span in that case. this is "politico's" article. host: it also goes on to say "the three u.s. senators, the gop senators, have not signed off on this bill." the have not signed off yet on the payroll tax cut issue. that is from "politico." also from "politico," is this story from tuesday. host: those are the headlines out of this new poll. we want to hear your view, whether or not you think china is a friend or foe. we begin with a democrat in texas. brenda you are on the air. caller: good morning peter. thank you so much for taking my call. china, because it is a communist nation and i could never be friends with someone who treats their people the way that they do. the problem with china -- is not a problem with china -- my problem with china, i should say, it's the corporate gr

"washington journal" spoke with the massachusetts attorney general for about 45 minutes. >> we're back with martha coakley, the state attorney general from the state of massachusetts, a democrat and joining us from boston talking about the $25 billion mortgage settlement we heard about last thursday. ms. coakley, let me get into it. first, who will this benefit? >> it's going to benefit, frankly, from my point of view, the whole economy but where it's focused is real relief for two kinds of homeowners who have loans with the five banks that were involved in this particular agreement. those who have been delinquent. they haven't been foreclosed yet and they're behind in payments and they're preforeclosure. and the second group are homeowners who are under water. they have homes that are now worth less on the market than the value of their mortgage. and so they're not in a position to refinance or, indeed, to be able to get out from under that. so those are the two primary sets of homeowners who will be helped. keep in mind, what this does is avoid what we believe are unnecessary foreclo

if the right track numbers go up, and the "washington journal" had it up to -- the "wall street journal" had it up to 30%. >> it is going to go up, not down. >> this guy is worth $250 million apparently. is that a problem? we have had wealthy presidents, who somehow were able to connect. reagan was pretty nwaelete. they were able to connect because they found through war-time experiences because of suffering. f.d.r. everybody knew had polio and had gotten through it. is it a romney problem that he has no scars of battle, no evidence of having suffered, no evidence about except his wealth? >> there is the famous story about f.d.r. of the guy in overalso in the west virginia overalso, and he was weeping. they said did you know him? he said no, but he knew me. people felt he understood them. >> that is why you are editor of "time" magazine, by the way. i will remember that. >> a more recent example, mike bloomberg, who often does have the average person's appeal, but within instance of that susan koman controversial, he forked over $250,000. it showed that he does know how to use personal

thank you for being here for c- span's "washington journal." here.uchanan will be you russ feingold, we will also be talking about campaign finance. in our last segment, we will be looking at america by the numbers and college education rates. as we begin this morning, president obama announced a new corporate tax proposal this week. that is in addition to the various plans proposed by the gop candidates on the campaign trail. we are going to talk about america's corporate tax rate this morning. to much or too little? we would like to hear your thoughts on this. we will show you the marginal tax rates, the effective tax rate, and compare what's the united states corporations pay compared to corporations around the globe. here are our phone lines. host: good friday morning to you. you know, you can also participate in our discussion this morning on facebook. we posted the question. tweet us @cspan. thes take a quick look at top line proposals among the candidates for president on corporate tax rates. president obama made his announcement this we

in the meantime, we'll show you a little bit of this morning's washington journal. >> we want to introduce you to a man, mr. skbroens, from the public religion research institute. >> we're based here in washington, d.c. >> how are you funded? >> we're funded mostly by foundation report. the fo the core foundation is our larnlelarn largest supporter. >> what is your goal? >> how religion is influencing american values and influencing, particularly this year, the 2012 election campaign and politics in general. >> and if you were to write a press release about the recent study you did, what would you write? >> well, i would say that it's very interesting this year. we're looking at a lot of changes that i can talk about more over time and we're going into the election with some kind of stable coalitions that have been on the ground for the last few election cycles and look to be pretty stable going in and, of course, we've had religion playing an interesting role in the republican primary so far. >> what percentage of americans consider themselves to be christian? >> that's a good question. a

we'll continue the conversation tomorrow morning on the washington journal. rick larson is a democrat from washington state. part of the china working group. we will talk about the chinese visit in washington. what it means for trade. your calls and comments tomorrow morning. kelly field will join us. the white house announcing a plan to forge a partnership with community colleges and businesses to train up to 2 million workers for higher paying jobs in the u.s. more politics tomorrow morning. a look ahead at the primaries in arizona and michigan which will come up at the end of the month. tune in at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. 4:00 in the west coast. thanks for joining us on this tuesday. i hope you enjoy the rest of your evening. >>> president obama's acting budget director was asked today on capitol hill if the new white house budget spends more money over the next ten years, then what would have been spend under current law. that senate budget committee hearing is next on c-span 3. >>> in case you just missed, we'll show you washington today from c-span radio