Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 07112019 20240714

Future of the Affordable Care act. And later, john scott from Pew Charitable trust talks about the potential for Retirement Savings reform legislation. Retirement savings reform legislation. Host good morning. It is thursday, july 11, 2019 and this is washington journal. Following emotional migrant testimony yesterday, and news report says the u. S. Begins raids on sunday. We will start the program looking at u. S. Asylum laws and asking you if they need to be tightened or changed and here is how to join us. Democrats call 2027488000. Republicans, 2027488001. Independents and all others, 2027488002. You can send us a tweet at cspanwj and we will look for your posts as well on our facebook page, facebook. Com cspan. Here is the report from the New York Times posted at nytimes. The u. S. Prepares to arrest thousands of family members. Nationwide raids have been scheduled to begin sunday according to two current and one officials. Security to the final details of the operation remain in flux. The operation has been postponed partly because of resistance among officials at his own immigration agency. The raids, which will be conducted by immigration and customs enforcement, i. C. E. , will include collateral deportations, according to the officials because of the preliminary stage of the operations. The authorities might detain immigrants who happen to be on scene even if they are not targets of the raids. Moaning ontion this asylum laws, lets set the baseline with what are those basic asylum laws and these facts from the migration institute. Demonstratel must they have experienced persecution or have a credible fear they will be persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. Asylum is granted to people already in the United States. Refugee status is provided to people vetted abroad and approved for resettlement and resettled refugees and those granted asylum are eligible to apply for a green card one year after that. That is where we stand with asylum laws. The president talked about this when he signed the bill before the july 4 holiday. The 4. 5 billion dollars in emergency border eight and here is what President Trump had to say. [video clip] to restore the integrity of the United States asylum system. Without these changes, more than one Million Immigrants will arrive at the borders this year, many of them launching frivolous asylum claims to gain access into the country. They are totally bogus claims. We apprehend these people, but because of catch and release, we have to apprehend them, take their names, sometimes bring them to court, sometimes they are criminals. Often times they have to be released, but they are all coming out of the country because that is what we do. Up, may be here for short while, but they are going back to their countries. Host question for you this morning on washington journal. Should the u. S. Tighten its asylum laws . Republic democrats, 2027488000. 2027488001 for republicans. Independents and all others, 2027488002. On twitter we are cspanwj. The asylum laws as being a powerful magnet, attracting people to come here. Yes, the law needs to be changed to reduce the attraction. Lets hear from john first in florida on our republican line. These people invaded our are you there . Here. we host we are go ahead and make your comment, we hear you fine. Caller they are giving them all of our tax money for food and everything. To say the Border Guards have to and theyby diapers dont have a knife illegals have enough illegals in there to change diapers . Host people come to the border requesting u. S. Asylum. What should be changed . How should the law be tightened . Only walk in here to get the free stuff on the American People. Host thanks for your comment this morning. Republicans, 2027488001. Democrats, 2027488000. For independents, that is 2027488002. We will go to our independent line next and hear from christine in chicago. Good morning. Caller i would like to make a comment about all these illegals. They are not undocumented, they are illegals. I have three people i know murdered by illegals. They are not allowed to ask them if they are illegal and now the mayor we just elected is saying she is not going to let i. C. E. Or the police cooperate with the police. This is absolutely disgusting to me. My father wasnt in the air force for 30 years. My friends did not get killed in vietnam for this to happen in our country. I dont understand it. Girlshow a man and little dead. 69 got shot in chicago. Nobody is putting that on the news. Host lets go to colorado, talking about asylum laws. How should they be tightened or changed . Aller good morning, america i think asylum laws should stay the same. We already have enough european white people coming into our country that come in with visas and you never hear of any europeans getting deported. Are too many racists in this country and you cannot be a christian and a racist at the same time. Au are either a christian or racist. That goes for mormons, protestants, catholics. If you are racist, you cannot be a christian. Thank you. Testimony,ntioned emotional at times on capitol hill before a House Oversight subcommittee on detentions at the u. S. Mexico border. Migrant relives a journey to the u. S. I watched my baby girl die slowly and painfully. [video clip] spanish] [speaking spanish] i was terrified by the time our plane landed. We took her to the pediatrician as soon as we could and a few hours later, to the emergency room. She was admitted to the intensive care unit with a viral lung infection. She was transferred to another childrens hospital. My little girl suffered horrible pain. She was poked and prodded and eventually needed a ventilator to help her breathe. I could not even hold her or hug her or console her when she asked for her mother. It was a terrible pain to see my child in a situation and circumstance like this one and as a mother, i wish i could have taken her place. Spanish]ing all the hard work of these doctors came too late. She died on what is mothers day in my country. When i walked out of the hospital that day, all i had with me was a piece of paper and pinkes handprints me. T the staff created for it was the only thing i had left and the nurses had given it to me as a mothers day gift. Host just a bit of the House Oversight subcommittee yesterday on border issues. You can search immigration at cspan. Org. What should the u. S. Do . Should the u. S. Tighten or change asylum loss . 2027488000 for democrats. For republicans. And for independents, all others, 2027488002. The president weighing in on the broader Citizenship Question which may or may not be included on the 2020 census. The white house will be hosting a very big and important social media summit. What i have become president without social media . Yes, probably. We will all go to the rose garden. On asylum, represented of scullys broken asylum laws are a migrant for immigrants. A magnet for people to come to the United States illegally. Steve scalise said after meeting with kevin mcaleenan. He made the point to say when mexico finally engaged after President Trump hung tariffs over their head, they said we crisis. P with the they put thousands of their own agents at the southern border and it has had a 20 drop. There are still too many people entering illegally and that is because the Current System encourages them to come and bring children with them. Lets hear what john has to say in illinois on our republican line. Caller how are you doing . Host fine, thanks. Caller i am kind of upset at the way we are tackling this illegal immigration problem. We have not looked at the people who are truly responsible and that would be the employers giving these people jobs. I wonder if we utilize the same Asset Forfeiture laws we utilize against people against corporations hiring these people, if it would stop. This is why we set up the repo kingpins. After mafia instead of going after the people, which makes us look like crap, why dont we go after the people who are responsible . Iseover, if we think this such a humanitarian crisis, why are we using our military to go down into el salvador, guatemala, and honduras where the living situation is so people and go down and put a stop to it . Instead of playing games with the iranians or north koreans. They are not affecting us, these people are affecting us. Host this is jim saying trump still hasnt mandated everify, the employeremployee system. On our democrats line, in oklahoma. We lost terry. We will go to virginia. Go ahead. You are on the air. What i want to do is tell all these people running to america that we are not hello . Host you are on the air, go ahead. Caller okay. You are running to america to work your butt off. It is not a free ride in america, you have to work your butt off. Who ever they are getting rides from and everything else, you we have to work for after taxes six dollars an hour. You are not going to make it. You have a nice day. Next in go to gail california. Republican line. Caller good morning. I have been fighting illegal immigration in california since early 1990s and i was one of the people that passed proposition 187 in the state of california when we try to say we were not going to pay for medical benefits and what have you. The next day, the ninth Circuit Court of appeals ruled date unconstitutional on the grounds that states cannot write immigration laws. Therefore, all these sanctuaries are already ruled unconstitutional because they are immigration laws. States, local towns, cities, counties cannot write immigration laws. Sanctuaries are out. These people are being coached what to say. Dont you think it is strange millions of people signed up and they all have the word asylum . From a video of a man guatemala who said the newspapers are advertising for people to come to the United States, that we are giving benefits, that we have jobs. They are being set up and sent, these people. They are being used. I used to be really angry at them and now i feel sorry for them. We have to get to the bottom with what is going on with the newspapers down there. Host on a related issue, this is the story we see on the front page of usa today. Toifornia opens health care immigrants. Gavin newsom signed legislation making california the first state to provide coverage to targetingented 100,000 people. What are your thoughts on that new measure . Caller the thing that really aggravates me is i am a disabled person and i get inhome support services in the state of california and those people are state workers that come in and keep me safe on my in my home. They are state employees and get anybodyal benefits like else in sacramento that gave these 90,000 illegal aliens health care. Why would we give them health care over our own state workers . 370,000 by hhs workers in the state of california. That dont have Health Insurance, that only make 11 an hour. They get no sick days and have no benefits whatsoever and yet gavin newsom turns around and gives 90,000 people here illegally the benefits and he is going to fine californians that dont have medical insurance in order to turn around and give it to the illegals. For yournks so much comments. We will go next to democrats line. Caller i dont believe there is anything wrong with immigration laws. I think it is the government and the system they are presently working under. History shows us people came from all over. All over europe and parts of the world. I dont think there is anything wrong with the migrants coming up. Let them come in and do good jobs. We have laws to protect us. Separate the good from the evil. This is more than just immigration laws that need to be changed. This is racism and it is not the american way and not the america i have been used to for 60 years. Host does it concern you and you hear stories like the woman from california was saying that she has heard saw a report on the news that newspapers, et cetera in Central America encouraging people to come to the u. S. To claim asylum . Caller i dont think anything is wrong with that. I really dont. That is the way our system is set up and that is what america is about. Like your previous caller said, the crisis is not at the border. Maybe want to maybe we want to send our military down there. Host thanks for your comments. The numbers of refugees according to the gratian policy Institute Going back a couple of ands 50,000 refugees reduced the levels set by the obama administration. Up000 currently just wrapped wrapping up fiscal year 2019 and it has been 30,000 approximately 50,000 refugees resettled during the first several months of this fiscal year. Your thoughts on u. S. Asylum laws . Should they he tightened . Sir. R yes, i am calling because first off, there are too many of them coming in here bang and they are speaking english. They came in with better clothing than the kids i see waiting for the school bus. How bad can it be . Send our newspapers over there and show how bad it is in guatemala. These people dont look like they are in bad shape at all and some of the people, they are bringing them in because they are sick and they can complain about how bad we are treating them. These people are democrats and some republicans are writing newspapers for them. They are doing it to make our government look weak. Forer thank you very much taking my call. Most people calling have no idea thisp administration caravan to come to the United States to have donald trump scare the American People. This is all for donald trump to build a wall and have conservatives accuse the ofocrats of being in favor all these people coming to Central America. The United States responsible creating many years revolution, overthrowing government, creating wars. Millions and millions of weapons for people to fight each other while the United States brings Natural Resources the countries. Host what do you think is driving the current spike that developed earlier this year . Caller the Trump Administration took over. The first thing he promised to the conservatives, that he was going to build a wall. The best way to build a wall is s can to scare the American People. Experience on the way back, he stopped in guatemala and got the administrations from these countries, what you call the triangle. Keepstructed them he would aid to these countries if they sent caravans to the United States. No one is coming from nicaragua. Host we showed you emotional testimony from the House Oversight hearing yesterday. This was congressman chip roy, Ranking Member on the civil rights subcommittee offering condolences to the woman he testified. Here is what he had to say. Caller i am frustrated with the title of the hearing. It is setting a tone that does not allow us to come together to address this difficult problem in a way befitting of the United States and our welcoming nature as a country. It is a hearing entitled kids in cages. What we say and the hyperbole we use matters. As a member from texas and a former staffer on the Senate Judiciary committee and member of congress, i have been to the border many times. I have never seen a kid in the cage in a cage the way those words indicate. Lets look at the advertising. Or the hearing is fromure on the left 2014 when president obamas dha should secretary jeh johnson was giving a tour of a facility put upou have barriers in facilities in a way to deal with a crisis at 2014 time of unaccompanied children riding on trop of train cars. We remember those stories and trying to deal with the problem of massive numbers of people coming across the border oftentimes with parents that are not the parents claiming to be the parents of the child, which is horrific. Oftentimes in facilities dealing with situations where you want to separate children from bad actors. . Ow do you deal with that under the most Generous Service circumstances of trying to figure out what to do. Release them in a safe way, care for them, give them food and health care. How would we have them do it when we deny them the resources to do it . Host should the u. S. Tighten asylum laws . 2027488000 free democrats. Epublicans, 2027488001 and for independents and all others, 2027488002. To frank in tennessee, republican line. Go ahead. Caller yeah. I kind of think we dont have a border problem, we have a democratic problem. With open borders, we are going to be a third country. We should have immigration, but do it the right way. We are taking away from all those people who have fought for years to do it legally. We have 52 Different Countries invading our borders. We cannot take everybody. Host specifically on changing asylum laws, what would you do . We will take your application, but you have to go back to your own country and we will consider it there . Especially if they are fleeing, according to law they have to experience some sort of religious or political persecution. How would you change it . Caller do it from your own country. Mexico opened up to where they can apply for asylum from mexico. Even mexico got to the point they are being overrun. We cannot take every country here. Mexico they are finally getting it together and they are no longer struggling as bad as they used to. If they keep getting invaded, they will be a third world country, too. Has athe Washington Post story on mexico and the asylum issue. U. S. Returns asylumseekers to dangerous mexican state. Just across the border saying when the United States began sending asylumseekers to wait in mexico earlier this year as claims were ross, many regarded the dangerous northeast state as a worstcase scenario. Samest all travel the risk level assigned see her and afghanistan. Doctors without borders reports 45 of recent patients in this city were migrants who had suffered at least one episode of violence while waiting to cross the u. S. Border. On tuesday morning, the United States sent 12 migrants back under a program known as migration protection protocols. Mexican authorities dismissed the group from the Immigration Office without any transportation and assistance. The Trump Administration developed the Migrant Protection Protocols Program to reduce of the number of migrants who live and work in the United States while they wait for their asylum hearings in some cases for years as a result of the backlog in u. S. Asylum courts. 11,000 migrants had been sent to awaitexico hearings. Deal. S. Mexico i gratian allowed for the programs rapid expansion. Mexican Officials Say they expect tens of thousands of asylumseekers to be returned over the next several months. There is no way to accommodate them without launching the program where migrants have been targeted for years. This is jasper, indiana. We hear from charles. Morning. Jasper, indiana, you are on the air. Caller yes. Overpopulated. We cannot really have any more people coming in and the ones that have come in that were illegal, it would it would be nice if they would talk our language, the english language. Thank you. I dont want to talk very long. Most callers talk too long. In maryland. Jay caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I wanted to say people who are leavingasylum, they are their country because they are in danger. You need tosaying file from your own country from one of the things you just read. That is totally outrageous because while they are filing in their own country, they are being killed. I have a friend who came from columbia and he said if he and his mother did not leave within dedrs, the government had rai their house trying to look for them and thank goodness the u. S. Ise took them in so he safely here. You if younk we lost are listening to the radio. Thanks to your comments. We go to joseph in silver spring, maryland. On the republican line. You are on the air. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. Immigration law needs to be fixed. The border is being overrun. What i see on the news, our gressmen and senators [indiscernible] up, too. Are breaking appreciate you listening to cspan radio, assuming you are, 91 ap exclusive, officer accuses general of sexual misconduct. A senior military officer accused the air force general tapped to be the next vice chairman of sexual misconduct, potentially jeopardizing his nomination. Congress members have raised questions about the insufficient evidence to charge him. T is general john heighten allegations have been alleged against general john hyten. Subjected her to a series of unwanted sexual advances. On a very related note, the general has been tapped to be the next chairman of the joint chiefs. General mark millie and the confirmation hearing coming up at 9 30 eastern and you can follow that on cspan 3. And it is on the radio app. Just under half an hour of your calls and comments on the issue of u. S. Asylum law. Should they be made tighter . Democrats, 2027488000. Republicans, 2027488001. For independents and others, 2027488002. Some reporting from pacific standard, what will happen if trump speeds up the asylum process . They write a new policy will speed up the asylum process. The procedural change first reported by buzz speed will remove the 48 hour waiting period asylumseekers used to have before the initial asylum screenings. A spokesperson for the United States citizenship and Immigration Services told buzz feed in the change is intended to make the process more efficient and effective, but advocates raised an alarm speeding up the process could mean people who have viable asylum claims might nonetheless be returned to their home countries. This move is clearly aimed at preventing people seeking asylum from conferring with attorneys, something we know increases a refugees chance of winning asylum. Isk to your calls and this joe in upper marble, maryland. Caller good morning. The asylum law is probably well written now, immigration laws at. To be looked people coming to our country dont speak english and dont necessarily need to speak english. Of youngtial immigrants and their ability to earn income and provide value to our nation. The problem people have is not understanding the country has a lot of resources and probably what we do lack our new, fresh backs and minds to help us achieve what we want to achieve in the future. Thanks very much. Host thank you, joe. We say good morning to show in carolina. Republican line. Go ahead, joe. Caller i think this whole immigration business and the asylum laws as a preface for that are a farce. We live in one of the most liberal areas of North Carolina, durham and the triangle. At present, you cannot frame a house here without a bunch of who areho speak spanish dominating most of the major ,omebuilding firms in this area showing up and getting all the contracts. Presently, they are putting a facade on a Harris Teeter on a street that goes from durham to roxborough. Inre is a working crew there a city that is 60 black and 60 democrat. All of the employers framing the facade at the Grocery Store are spanishspeaking. Input in a state prison raleigh, the capital. 75 of the employees are spanishspeaking. What is going on is republicans are using the importation of cheap labor as a way of increasing their political stock. And if what is going on we apply everify and other employment laws, we could stop the nonsense and stop the scare tactics. Thank you. Host that is joe in North Carolina. Should the u. S. Tighten its asylum laws . 2027488000 for democrats. 2027488001, republicans and independents and all others, 2027488002. Thats go to kyle in manassas, virginia. Republican line. , cspan. Ood morning thanks for taking my call. I believe our asylum laws are a little bit lacks. You can see it on the border when we have 100,000 people every month coming across illegally. They know they can get through and they know they can get in and they know there are resources here to take care of them and get them in line in the front of the line so they can become citizens, the problem being we dont actually know if these people have asylum cases. The reason they should have to go back and wait in their countries is we need time to go through these individuals. So long as we continue to allow these people to come over and wait in these camps, we are going to continue to have this argument and waste resources. These people do not need to be coming here, for the most part. Areones that need asylum obvious cases, many of them being children, sometimes women. For the most part, we have tens of thousands of men able to work and provide for their families in their own countries, but they choose to come to america to take a vantage of these laws and take advantage of our welfare program. I believe we need to strengthen our laws and borders. If we dont, we are going to continue to see hundreds of thousands of people come across and we cannot take care of all of them. From decatur, georgia, democrats line. Caller thank you for taking my call. You just follow the money. The way i understand, these concentration camps they are keeping kids in is privately owned. 7000 500 and another thing, the statue of liberty. Do we remember what it says . Give us your tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to be free. You know what liberty means. Liberty means freedom. Is it time to take the statue of liberty down . President trump is from new york. Lets see what happens with the statue of liberty. Host here is what we are seeing on twitter. Barbara say some people talked about this, penalize the employers, not the workers. Obviously this is not about asylumseekers, but about enriching the asylum industrial complex. Yes asylum laws must be changed and the birther law also. Taxpayers do not want to support these illegals. This is luke in new jersey, independent line. Go ahead. Caller i think it is really that thisto note being the year whole gate is taking over, lets go get it. Host debbie on the republican line. Caller good morning. The asylum or i would even say application for citizenship and changing laws, why dont we get back to like in the 1880s when my greatgrandparents came from , theynavia and stuff applied, they did things the correct way and it took 14 years of them living here before they were granted citizenship. That is in our constitution, actually. I think we should get back to that and as far as south americans, the United States is not at fault for any other country, their bad Living Conditions or anything like that people down there in guatemala thehatever that would fight criminal fascist government people, man up and take care of their own. Free themselves like we had to. O in the revolution war we are not at fault for any third world countries. If nothing else, if they wanted to just come in, i think we have a responsibility to stop breeding. I think we should sterilize them. Host you are talking about sterilizing immigrants . Caller the criminal element and all that kind of stuff, i just they goink why cant through things like all of our greatgrandparents did . Caller a caller from south carolina. A topic about asylum laws in the u. S. We started the program mentioning the news reported first in the New York Times that the u. S. Is preparing to arrest thousands of immigrant family members. Ken cuccinelli is the acting director of immigration and customs enforcement. The white house who was asked about the potential of those raids. [video clip] when are those ice raids going to begin . Matt is in control of that at ice. There is approximately a Million People in this country with removal orders and that is not what ice will go after, but that is the pool of people who have been all the way through the process of change. Ohio, jim on our democrats line. You to dowould like something for cspan. Trump went to court one time five countries from migrating to the United States and the Supreme Court made a ruling. I would like you to play what their ruling was. If i am not mistaken, they ruled the president has a right to determine who can come to this country and who cannot. If that is right, trump has every right telling people not to come to this country, even if it is temporary. That is my comment and i wish you would look that up and put it on the air for me. Caller you can look that up yourself, too. All of our coverage at cspan. Org. We hear next from nate, independent line. Your thoughts on the asylum laws in the u. S. , quite i believe frankly, they are too strict. Whatever is going on in Central America is atrocious for families to be venturing all the way from there to the border just to be victims of trumps strict border policy. The house of representatives 2016 to pass the hr address the root problem and make sure there are opportunities for working families in Central America to be safe and have Job Opportunities and be lifted out of poverty in their own homes. Host do you think the central problem driving people to the u. S. Border is at least partly due to u. S. Policy . Caller yeah. I believe the u. S. Isnt involved. I believe the u. S. Could help out a little bit more. I believe there could be better trade policy with the region. Not to mention if we are able to lift the region out of poverty, crime, that would indirectly benefit the u. S. As well. It would benefit our domestic exporting business to those countries and benefit our National Security overall. Host this is from the on page this morning of the New York Times. Ace overcrowded shelter sees stark new figure, no arrivals. The nonprofit shelter run by Jewish Family Service of san diego held more than 300 migrants, dropped off by United States immigration authorities after they crossed the border from mexico. Some days were so busy the new arrivals had to be sent to overthrow overflow sites. Now the shelter is almost eerily empty and the number of people arriving plunged in recent weeks amid a precipitous decline in arrivals where the department of Homeland Security said apprehensions dropped 28 in june while migrant arrivals typically decline as the hot, hazardous summer months set in. The drop in june was much larger than the 11 drop in june last year. The difference suggested the Trump Administrations push to curtail the arrival of migrants at the southern border is finally showing results and there is some visual reference on that, too in the following chart in the New York Times about where the apprehensions have taken place or how many have been apprehended at the border. The monthly averages from the bush administration, nearly 82,000. The obama administration, nearly 35,000 per month and the Trump Administration, 42,000 average apprehensions per month with 95,000 apprehensions reported in june. That particular story focused specifically on the san diego area. Of you a caller from arizona. Caller good morning, world. Arizona. I am trying to shed a little bit of light on a very complicated situation. This situation about asylum deals mostly with tax cuts for people that have money and want to be able to invest in commodities and they want to be able to invest in futures for commodities. The only way to make that work is to have labor and the labor that is available down in Central America. Mostly republicans, they would to be capturedat as ready to do the work. When you have investors and investments, big investments, they need protection. They want to be able to play what you might describe as house money on the kind of tax cuts. They want stability. They dont have stability because something very strange is going on all the time. What it amounts to is this is a great, great country for many things, especially sports and entertainment and these people from Central America want to be able to keep playing soccer and have a little bit of relaxation and their labor worth something, but investors want to make a big profit. That is the way america was built. I am telling the truth because here is the bottom line, okay 1971 still a lot of chinese, so they were probably the second ranked economy in the world. Host let me ask you about the current situation. Somebody asked earlier about the number of hispanics and immigrants possibly working on construction sites. Do you think the current push at the border this not only request for asylum, but the immigration issue is being driven by the relatively healthy economy in the u. S. And the low job Unemployment Rate here . Caller absolutely. That is another factor, the fact that there is going to be a great need for more labor and these people are chomping at the bit for a better life. Let it go on because nixon built that up, leverage for rich people to get richer by exploiting all the worlds labor. Very very good for people who have a lot of money. Caller we will let you go and go on to kevin in baltimore, democrats line. To speak tost want the democratic politicians. It seems like all this crap going on in the inner cities and young Black Brothers cannot get jobs. I see on these construction sites, they are getting all the good jobs and you are not pushing the issue with these contractors and people that get these contracts to do these jects and then they host you are calling from baltimore. Why cant africanamerican young men in baltimore get those jobs . Amler that is what i saying. And isnt anybody speaking up for them. Black politicians are not doing nothing. Host we want to let you know about our Coverage Today across the cspan networks. We will bring you a hearing looking at the state department budget, that is a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing coming up on cspan 3 and cspan. Org. Later, we will bring you a discussion with freshman members of congress, House Democratic freshman. 6 of them speaking about their experience getting elected and working on capitol hill at 6 45 eastern and also today, coverage from the campaign trail. Democratic president ial pendants candidates at the annual convention in milwaukee. Speakers include senator Bernie Sanders and elizabeth warren. Castro the majority leader in the house announced the house will vote on reauthorization of the 9 11 Compensation Fund set to come up tomorrow on the house floor 9 00 and eastern here on cspan cspan radio and we will let you know the house is in at 10 00 for morning speeches and resuming debate at noon on the Defense Authorization bill. Ohio, we hear from scott on the independent line. Caller thank you. As we call from relative comfort in our cars and homes, i think we all realize over 95 of us americans are not from america in 1916 myrecall grandfather traveled with my greatgrandfather when he was 12 years old and passed by the theue of liberty and saw sign on the statue of liberty. Tired, poor, huddled masses send these, the homeless to me. On noon, on this panel, there is a meeting about a 733 billion Defense Budget meeting and not talking about money to the affected countries, money the young man was talking about in baltimore or st. Louis or other cities where we are talking about money needed for affected areas that need jobs built. We are talking about defense. Iraq and going to war with are pushing at and poking at that really dont matter. Bolton and other people are just pissed off at that dont matter. Host lets go to wisconsin next. Think the asylum laws need to be increased and do like President Trump wants on a merit basis. You have qualifications and something that is going to help you become an american and a citizen and contribute to this country. I think there is nothing wrong with that idea. The present state where everybody gets to come in when we dont know who they are, if they are carrying diseases or if they are criminals and just let them into the country. What is going to happen when all of a sudden we start having the same problems like england and the netherlands with the refugees doing all the crime and citizens of those countries . You know . That is going on right now. All you have to do is look at it and you can see. A couple comments about the other callers about what the statue of liberty said, that was during a time when this country needed population and hand had land to give away and wanted people to come in and prosper and work the land and work through factories and stuff like that and they did not just get to come in, they had to pass through ellis island. Host here is what some of the current broadly asylum rules and laws are in the u. S. An individual must demonstrate they have experienced persecution or have a credible fear they will be persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. Asylum is granted to people vetted abroad and approved for resettlement. Those granted asylum are eligible to apply for a green card one year later. Pennsylvaniajo in on our democrats line. Caller hi. I really just want to say is republicans, let your racism and everything drop for a minute. We do need workers. Off,boomers are dying retiring at a rapid rate. Younger generations are not having babies, particularly not having large families. I think it was 25, 30 years ago there were 17 workers for every person on medicare and Social Security because we are always working for the generation ahead of us. Ow there are 2. 5 people that is one reason why medicare is not and Social Security is going to run out of money. If we made all these people already here and the dreamers would have to have standards before they can even qualify as a dreamer, they have to be working, going to school, never in trouble, all that kind of stuff. If they all have green cards or some sense of legalization and all had to pay taxes, federal taxes, Social Security taxes, look think of all the money that would come in and they are not eligible for benefits and stuff, they are really not, they have to be here so long and go through a bunch of stuff and everybody thinks anybody walks over the border all of a sudden gets food stamps and housing and all that stuff is just crazy. Host helen tweets about our question this morning, follow the law on the books now and tighten the law. We will get a question or call or two more, but a quick look at the headlines, financial times. U. S. Stocks soar. 3000 p crossed the threshold for the first time after jay powell fueled Market Expectations of a u. S. Interest rate cut this month and testifies today before the Senate Banking committee. We are covering that. One more story from the financial times. Accused ofship betraying ambassador to the u. S. Boris johnson, the front runner to become the next Prime Minister was accused of throwing the countrys u. S. Ambassador, under the bus after he refused to back him and ultimately fatal row with donald trump. Quit yesterday, saying the leaking of a cash of diplomatic emails in which he called the Trump Administration incompetent made his job dysfunctional. Failed to pledge to protect him from washington. He said it was quote, a factor. Lets hear from columbia, south carolina. Caller hi. Good m morning. I appreciate you taking michael. In 1980, i had a College Professor that was very active in the democratic party, and he said all that would take to overwhelm our government and bring down the court system and the Social Security and hospitals and everything and bankrupt the country would be if people from the south america area started marching across the border. That was in the 1980s. He was a professor at francis marion. He was right on the money. It is ok to have compassion for these people but this country is more important than that. We dont need to let people just come unchecked across our borders. In the past they did it in smaller numbers and the country needed people. It is not just about letting people come in anytime they want to. A country has to have borders and they have to protect them. Host we will let you go but we will continue the conversation about the border and more here on washington journal. We are joined next by congressman Adriano Espaillat of new york, a top member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, talking about border policy. Later on we are joined by republican congressman and medical doctor Larry Buchson, here to talk about the Affordable Care act and what may lie ahead. Stay with us here on washington journal. Live today at 9 30 a. M. Eastern, the Senate Armed Services committee will consider the nomination to the joint chiefs of staff. Watch live on cspan three, cspan. Org or listen free with the cspan radio app. This weekend on American History tv, leading up to the 50th anniversary of the apollo moon landing, watch nasas apollo 11 prelaunch interviews saturday at 10 00 on railamerica, featuring astronauts neil armstrong, buzz aldrin and michael collins. Equally with the operation of the lunar module system and control of the duringring dissent dissent during descent. Neil leaving with first. I will be taking pictures of him with a 16mm camera through the window. A Television Camera will be recording his activities. Should difficulties arise, my job is to rescue the lamb. I find myself becoming the of ae partner in charge complex vehicle with a complex job. Watch the saturday on American History tv, on cspan3. Washington journal continues. Host new york congressman, democrat Adriano Espaillat is with us this morning. He is the whip of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. We spent the first hour talking about the asylum process but as you look at the issue on the border and you have been there a number of times in the past number of months, what are the biggest issues facing the border today . Guest first and foremost, we in the minute United States often think the migration issue is a u. S. Only issue. The fact is it is happening all over the world. If you go to europe, there are great challenges. Even in central and south america you see migration patterns. You see guatemalans migrating to mexico, nicaraguans migrating to costa rica. The dynamic is a worldwide dynamic of the have and the haveknots havenots. Primarily people from guatemala and hunter us are fleeing very Serious Violence in their country and honduras are fleeing very Serious Violence in their country. Far less are from salvador. Hondurashem are from and guatemala because of these acute crises in their countries and we must look at the root causes. Host we read in the New York Times and elsewhere that the numbers are starting to trickle down, even though they recognize it is the hot months of june and july at the border. Would you say some of the Trump Administration policies are having an effect on limiting people coming to the border . Guest i dont think you can really stop a mom or a dad from trying to save their children. The numbers may have gone down because of the weather. Familiesigrants, these cross very rough terrain. Often deserts and mountains. Know what has contributed to what might be a trickledown of the members, when a mom fears her son is being recruited by violent gang or a small businessman is by atened and extorted very violent gang, nothing will stop them from saving their lives. That is just the nature of this. Host this is a posting from last year, you at the border and your fathers day visit. Your office has been successful at reuniting several families. How do you go about doing that . Guest we have a center in this in the district which was processing the children. They. Found out about it, we had dozens of children, over a hundred of them. In arizona,s were three month 3000 miles away. With some nonprofits that were able to transport state through state, the mothers of these children. Connect with the children and they had not seen each other for months and imagine a mom that has lost sight of her children and now has to travel 3000 miles to reunite with them to new york state in this case, the kind of emotional moment that was. Host new come to this issue with experience in it. You are the first dominican american to serving congress. Tell us briefly about that. Guest i came here back in the mid 60s. My grandparents were here before i was born but we came on a business visa. We overstayed the visa and the rest is history. We came with our luggage and very little clothes but dreams and aspirations and this is a nation that gives you all of these opportunities and the values of our nation is exactly that, providing the opportunity to do better. Host there was fear that your parents were going to be dissed going to be deported. Guest obviously. Had we not gotten our green card we would not have been able to come back and perhaps i would not be sitting here. Host we are talking to Adriano Espaillat, a democrat from new york who represents manhattan and the bronx. We welcome your calls and comments. 202 7488000 for democrats. Republicans, 202 7488001. For independents and others, 202 7488002. Just before the july 4 recess, President Trump signed that emergency supplemental for the border. You voted in favor of that. Why did you do that . Guest i voted in favor of the original bill, the house version because i felt it had provisions that would strengthen our health andprovide Legal Services for the children at the border. Thesenate version which was one that was passed i voted against because i felt the did not have those provisions and it was a bit heavyhanded against little kids that we should be providing water and food and pampers and other kinds of basic services that i think should be given to anyone seeking refuge. Host we spent the first hour asking our viewers about how u. S. Asylum policy should be changed. What are your thoughts . Guest if you are seeking asylum, you should be given a shot to make your case. I dont think children should be placed in cages or in a detention center. Very often these Detention Centers are privately run. Enterprises, and as such, the profit factor is the main factor in that formula. First and foremost, these children should be kept with their parents. I have introduced a piece of legislation, the family reunification act. As well as body camera legislation that will ensure Border Patrol and ice will be documented every time they engage with someone. I think it is good for immigrants and i think it is good for Border Patrol and ice as well. Now Everybody Knows that everybody is within the parameters of the law. These pieces of legislation i think will go very far forward. Host do we have enough personnel at the border in your opinion . Guest i think we do but the problem is, i dont know if Border Patrol is equipped to provide medical services, for example that were needed to save downife of who i went to the border to see when she was treated. She was treated in a small room with a flat aluminum table and a small supply cabinet that had bandages and gauze. They did not have the medical supplies that were needed to save her life. That is tragic and that is not descriptive to what america is. In thehe headline Washington Times this morning, pelosi has no regrets for admonishing rebels, intraparty feud aired on twitter, putting a strain on democrats, talking about the differences the speaker has has has had and has made known about at least four members of the mckenna caucus. She spoke to your carcass yesterday. What do you take away from her comments . Guest i respect our leader, nancy pelosi. I think she is a veteran and an adult in the room. I am not going to secondguess her strategies for her ability to keep a caucus together. I am a progressive. I am a member of the andressional West Congress the hispanic caucus and my voting record is very progressive but i also understand that she has to listen to everybody in the room, and that includes some members of our party that are more moderate. She has to listen to them as well. I think she does a good job at keeping us together. I am not going to get into the back and forth of it because i think we are a strong democratic party. We should behave as such. Host we will go to breezewood, pennsylvania first. John on the republican line. Caller hello and thank you for taking my call. First off i would like to comment that this is a very complicated issue. Chair ofsten to the the federal reserve, he said one of the reasons was that there was one of the reasons we dont have any labor inflation is the mass influx of individuals coming across the border, lowering wages. [cutting in and out] guest you are breaking up sir. Host you are breaking up john. Ask your question. How are we going to that is created through host you are breaking up too much. Javier go to stacy or in connecticut, independent line. Caller thank you for taking my call. Host you bet. I think it would be a lot better for our immigration policy if we were focused on deterring migrants if we switched from deterring migrants from entering the country to diverting resources to the countries they are coming from. As the congressman said, these acute crises are forcing people to emigrate. We can help these people out in a much better way than just deterring them. Guest i think you are right. We see some progress in el salvador where the homicide rate has dropped from 103 homicides per thousand people to 50. We have seen a dramatic drop in the number of salvador in migrants trying to cross the border. We have seen a consistent number from honduras, primarily from guatemala. President ,vador in very much inspired by young people there, where there is much hope and aspiration, someone that told us that he needs the United States to be a full partner to engage in economic development. He wants jobs. He is recruiting young people away from the gangs. He is engaging in a drop on the homicide rate but he needs our assistance with regards to economic development. If we leave that vacuum, guess who is going to come in. China. When he inherited the government, he was sworn in back in june, he found out that china was trying to purchase 75 of the coastline of el salvador. While we were there visiting him, the president threatened to take away help, financial assistance. He said he has not even been sworn in yet and he was back in washington and everything was fine and dandy and he gets back and is now being threatened. Foreign aid is less than 1 . We are not giving away the kitchen sink when we help other countries across the world. We should find the root causes of it. Unemployment is dramatically down and the economy is doing well. I heard from the mexican president , tell me that in some places near the future, we will be asking him to send us workers so that the economy can move forward. Host we had a caller earlier those jobs are going to immigrants. Is there a similar situation in new york . Are those jobs that American Workers cant get being taken by immigrant workers . Guest i dont think that this is a zerosum game where a gain for one is automatically a loss from another. Know who is going to pick grapes or tomatoes. I dont know who is going to wash dishes in new york city or take care of the frail elderly or even our children. Immigrants do their work. I think we must engage the young africanamerican males who represent harlem and proactive job creation and training. We should train young people. Right now i am engaged with former congressman charlie wrangle and putting together a Training Institute that young men and women in the district will be able to access good jobs , if and when we pass an infrastructure bill. Host lets hear from joe in san antonio, texas on our democrats line. Make sure you mute your television. Him whyi wanted to ask should things go on like the way they are going on. Thrown over the boat and they came here and they built this still ared they treated like second rate citizens. They cant hardly get work. Know what goes on on these jobs. You have latinos here that own businesses, they will not be hiring any africanamericans or anglos. Another kidd tell that this was their country and they were going to take it back but this time they were going to do it with knowledge and not bullets. Thank you. Host congressman. Guest i think there is a toxic environment in this nation. The venom is coming from the white house. This nation is deeply divided right now. I think it is tragic. That is why we as democrats need to set a different tone. That is why we need to go back to a civil discussion about the nots. And the have we need to address the sources of violence in the urban sites. That does not come as a result from them from immigrants trying to save their children from violence in guatemala and hung doris. And honduras. Host the president earlier tweeted that he would be holding a News Conference later. Two Senior Administration officials confirm that the president is planning on announcing executive action today to add the Citizenship Question to the 2020 census. Guest the courts have spoken on this already. Once again the president is trying to circumvent an equal branch of government which is the judicial system. The Supreme Court spoke loudly about it. We have to print this form to get an accurate count. I dont believe the question if the question is included in the census form that it would only hurt one part of america. It will hurt everybody. If the Citizenship Question is added and immigrant moms and dads dont respond to the census form, all children in the classroom will be impacted because if we have a severe undercount, it will not only hurt undocumented or immigrant children, it will hurt everybody. I dont understand what the logic is of putting a question there that will hurt us and prevent us from getting an accurate count. Host lets hear from minnesota, next. Robert on the republican line. When i see these immigrants coming across the men, why lot of young dont the cia take half a million of them and military trained them and then send them back to their homeland to take their homeland back over . We should not be involved in it. I would be willing to pay the taxes for military training but send them back and let them take their country back and take the bad people out. They can do it. Host your thoughts. Guest first of all, i have been down to the border and when i see is predominantly moms with children coming across the border. I was expecting to see what the caller described but that is not what i saw. I saw moms with five dingyearolds on cold floors, packed like sardines in what amounts to prison cells. That is not what i visually saw on the border. I think those countries are waging their own efforts to get rid of violence and in some cases, some have been successful and others have not. We are not isolated. This is not the cold war. We are looking to engage parts of the hemisphere that we have abandoned for a long time. As such we have seen a vacuum of leadership created that has been trying to be filled by countries like china. We must reassert ourselves in the hemisphere as the leader and to do that, we must engage with those nations constructively. That is the legacy and tradition of the United States. Host here is our next caller from iowa, independent line. Some of the callers, theyve got it all wrong about collectingnts welfare and other stuff. 1979 and i here in started washing dishes. But i never id imed any what is the main problem of the countrys anduse they take the money they become the autocrats and they lead the next when theyve got pay,olice, they dont even so they dont have no choice but government corrupt and you start dealing with the cartels and the others. , you can see all the politicians, they took billions of dollars and right now they criticize this president , lopez over door lopez obra door lopez obrador. Host where did you emigrate from . Caller i am from mexico. Host you have your citizenship now . Caller yes. 1986. Host thank you for calling. Guest congratulations on being part of the history of our nation. It is a nation that embraces everybody and i agree with the caller, there is corruption and other kinds of problems in some of those countries. It is critical we engage that and help those countries overcome those hurdles. As he said, the new president in job inis doing a great addressing corruption. Didan on that platform, as the president in el salvador and he is beginning to clean up that nation from corruption. Corruption is where you often, at the core of the problem that these nations face, but we as the leader of the hemisphere must establish our values and our standards in terms of good open and transparent government. Host couple more calls. Jerry in new jersey on our democrats line. Caller i am listening to the conversation and one of the questions i have is, why would anyone want to go through the process of coming here legally when you are encouraging us to help the illegals. Remember this. There are legal people trying to come here. I understand they are upset with this process so you are not getting all the spanish people agreeing with you. You just talked about the corruption in other countries. Why would we continue to give money so that they can take the money and not even help the people in their countries . Two people from puerto rico just officialsed, two high just got arrested for some kind of corruption. Until you clean that up in those countries, i cannot see us giving any more money towards that. Host we will hear from the congressman. Guest puerto rico is not a country, it is a territory and the Puerto Ricans are u. S. Citizens. We have in congress, the duty and the ability to not only provide assistance but also to ensure oversight and make sure that that assistance is spent appropriately. I know there were some arrest yesterday of some corrupt officials. I think they should be held accountable for their illegal actions and the full weight of the law should fall upon them if they are found guilty. That is one issue. I agree that there is corruption in the western hemisphere. There is corruption all over the world. There is corruption in europe, in the middle east, there is corruption right here in the United States. We must strive every day to combat corruption and make sure that government is more transparent. We have standards we meet on a daily basis and you should hold us accountable to that. That is not exclusive of any nation. Some of those countries in Central America have a greater degree of corruption and we must work with the civil society, those government groups that exist, in making sure we clean that up. Host a quick question about legislation the hispanic caucus supports. The chair of the Homeland Security submitted legislation establishing humane conditions for shortterm detention and protecting family unions at the border, transferring responsibility for feeding and caring from customs and Border Protection to licensed and vetted contractors requiring ongoing vetting of the team and facilities. Begun we have already discussion of immigration. Immigration is a very complicated issue. It is not a one issue debate. We passed the dream and promise act. You also have the border issue, making sure we keep families together, that we dont have children caged up in inhumane conditions. That bill addresses some of those problems. We also have a broader comprehensive Immigration Reform debate that we must bring making that talks about sure that families are reunited. If you are a mom or a dad and you have a child back home and he or she is six years old, you must have a path to reunite with them. That is the values of our nation. We must have a broader Immigration Reform debate that i think that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and other members of congress are willing to have. The low hanging fruit in this debate was dreamers and promise act. We passed that in the house of representatives. We are waiting on the senate to pass it and the president should sign it. Eight out of every 10 americans believes that dreamers should stay here. That they provide positive things for our nation. Police officers, teachers, nurses, members of our armed forces. They have been living here pretty much all their lives. Why cant they stay here . Tps recipients who are fleeing violence. They should be able to stay here. Most americans feel that is the right thing to do. 80 . Yet the senate is not acting on it and i think the president is not willing to bring support. Host let me get one more call for you. Tony in texas on our republican line. Are you there . Caller yes. Hi, congressman. I have a couple different issues. I look at everything every piece ofet information i can about what goes on. I see the language that comes out of your mouths on the democratic side. The things you call people, insinuations that you make. A little taco ways you put in place on things that you know will not pass, you hide things that should pass, very important items that are very important. These polls you people want to cite, they are garbage. People and think that is good for the United States, over 300 Million People, and you think 1000 people represents that . That is baloney. Host we will let you go. Think that aggressive language is one that will help further divide our country. I wont engage in that type of language. I have strong beliefs that i think are deeply rooted in the values of our nation. They are very simple. Protecting family values, ensuring that a child is not ripped away from their mother or father. Being helpful to the needy. These are things that are embedded in our nations values rights andre basic privileges that should be extended to everybody. A humanitarian crisis is at the border. We should address that. I will not engage in language that i think will further divide us. Host congressman Adriano Espaillat who represents the bronx and parts of manhattan. Glad to have you with us. Guest my pleasure. Host up next, it would a different conversation on what is going on at the capital. Republican congressman and medical dr. Larry buchson will be joining us to talk about the Affordable Care act. Later on, congress is considering legislation to help americans boost Retirement Savings. We will take a look at that with john scott of the Pew Charitable trusts. In 1979, a Small Network rolled out a big idea, let viewers make up their own minds. Cspan opened the doors to washington policymaking, bringing you unfiltered content from congress and beyond. A lot has changed in 40 years but that idea is more relevant than ever. Cspanvision and online, is your unfiltered view of government so you can make up your own mind, brought to you as a service by your cable or satellite provider. There has been discussion about an appearance before congress. Any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report. It contains our findings and analysis and the reasons for the decisions we made. We chose those words carefully and the work speaks for itself. The report is my testimony. I would not provide information beyond that which is already in anyany parents appearance before congress. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is set to testify before congress on wednesday, july 17. Later in the day he will take questions from the house intelligence committee. Both are open sessions. Our coverage of the testimony will be live on cspan3, online at cspan. Org or listen free with the cspan radio app. If you would like the complete reading of the mueller report, volume one airs on friday and saturday at 7 00 p. M. Eastern and volume two will air monday and tuesday at 7 00 p. M. Eastern. Washington journal continues. Host indiana congressman Larry Buchson is here with us to talk about the Affordable Care act. In particular we are talking about the aftermath of that case in new orleans at the fifth circuit yesterday, the challenge by texas and a number of other state attorneys general on the Affordable Care act and the constitutionality. Thank you for joining us. I will ask your thoughts on that. What do you think the outcome will be . Guest ultimately it is going to go to the Supreme Court. The court down there is likely to rule very similar to what the judge down in texas did. The Affordable Care act was upheld in the Supreme Court based on the taxation ability of the federal government and now the tax for the individual mandate is zero dollars, which we did in the tax legislation. The bottom line is, we need to make sure whatever happens that these people dont lose their Health Coverage because approximately 20 Million People have Health Coverage either through the expansion of medicaid or through the federal exchange. Both parties are concerned about making sure whatever happens, people dont lose their Health Coverage. Host potentially what could that look like . When republicans were in power in the house, there were many swings of the Affordable Care act, passing a number of laws to make changes or in some cases ending the Affordable Care act. Looking ahead, if the Supreme Court does make a decision that is a major blow to the Affordable Care act that requires congress to act, one of the sorts of things you are hearing or perhaps working on that could be implemented to preserve some of it . Guest the biggest thing is we have to make sure the people who are highcost individuals, people who have highcost preexisting conditions dont lose their coverage, because that is one of the things the Affordable Care act did was try to address a problem that i saw my own practice, people with previous conditions that could not be insured at a cost they could afford. When republicans passed over health care bill, that is one of the things we addressed through state exchanges. Let it there is a difference in opinion on how to deal with that, but i think we are all in agreement that we have to find a way to do that. One of the first things we will have to address is people who have highcost medical problems not losing their insurance because the Affordable Care act is not in place. I think you will see congress act. The other thing is, the medicare expansion, medicaid expansion, i dont think people who are on that will lose it. I think congress will make sure people who now have insurance through the Medicaid Program from the expansion including in through theexpanded healthy indiana plan which was a hsa based way. I supported it and now Vice President now Vice President pence supported it. To do is get the cost of health care down. We will try and go in that direction. Justroduct of care, not insurance costs but health care in Self Health Care itself is too expensive. It is not a truly free market. There is not transparency. The American People dont know where their money is going and why it is so expensive. We want to make sure they know. Host we invite our viewers to join the conversation with Larry Buchson, a former physician with us to talk about the Affordable Care act and what may be next. 202 7488000 for democrats. 202 7488001 for republicans. Independents and all others, 202 7488002. You were on the hill tv the other day, expressing your concerns about if obamacare is overturned but politically in terms of doing anything next year, an election year, getting a measure through the house or the senate seems impossible. Guest i dont think it will be if the Affordable Care act is found to be unconstitutional and people are going to lose their coverage. Like i mentioned earlier, i think most people in congress dont want people to lose their coverage, particularly people who have highcost medical conditions. This is not something i think is acceptable to either Political Party. I am optimistic. If we need to act, we will we will make sure that people have their Health Coverage. Even if it is on a temporary basis until we can find a larger solution to the uninsured in this country or the people who have highcost medical conditions that insurers wont ensure. I am optimistic that congress will act. Host do you still practice as a doctor . Guest i set that aside. You cannot do both. I was a heart surgeon before. I essentially retired in 2010 to come to washington. Host was if the issue of health care . Guest it was. I felt like we needed more Health Care Providers in the government because we had problems with high costs. Wascost of Health Care Rising beginning a couple decades ago. I was president of my medico of my medical group and we would look at the Health Care Cost of our practice. It was going up every year, 10 , 20 , all the way through the 2000s. I thought my perspective on health care would be helpful to the federal government. Host eight years in to the formal care act, how is that medical group doing . Guest they are doing fine. They are still clipping along with new surgeons and cardiologists and the program is still going along. I miss doing surgery, but i am really i feel strongly that the voice of medical providers in government is important. It is not the only opinion but i think it is a very valuable opinion to try and get the cost of health care down and make sure everyone has adequate coverage. Host lets go to indiana and hear from larry, republican line. Son is ar. Buchson, my physician out of boonville, indiana and i have a couple questions for you. Why doesnt congress ever have a Congressional Panel to talk about the Affordable Care act instead of all of these politicians talking about it . I would love to hear doctors talk about the Affordable Care act and i would also like to hear your discussion on health care as a privilege, not a universal right and you can look at britton and the system they have which is socialized medicine. And i as art surgeon heart surgeon under socialized medicine being paid the same. Why should i improve my technique . Guest let me address your first question. We do have doctors here testifying and have for a long time. We hear testimony from across the country about their views of the Affordable Care act and honestly their experience with it in practice. There are a variety of opinions but most doctors right now i would say are frustrated by the paperwork and the bureaucracy of health care which has been made worse by the Affordable Care act , but congress does hear the opinions of physicians. As far as health care and access to health care, in the united kingdom, about 10 of people have private Health Insurance coverage and they get quick coverage and about 90 are on the National Health service and they dont have any choice and they have long waits. Oursbelieve a country like , as wealthy as ours can find a way to cover everyone and make sure everybody in this country has Good Health Care coverage that they can afford and have access to Quality Health care. Host is health care a privilege or right . Guest right now it is more of a privilege around the world. States,d, in the united a country like ours that is wealthy can find a way to make sure the people have adequate Health Care Coverage. If you look at the rest of the world and you compare us to the rest of the world, we are very privileged in this country to have access to Affordable Health care. In the unit states, you have to look at what we do here and i believe there is enough money in the system that we can provide coverage for everyone. Districty is just mal did. Distributed. Host lets go to david next. Caller good morning. We must pass it before we know what is in it. You know that one. Guest i do. Caller i think that the responsiblearty is feel that we should be able to go wherever we want to go to get medical attention. Guest let me answer that question. The goals of getting more coverage for everyone are good. Done has been proven to be a failure and the reason is is because primarily we put everyone into the same risk pool. Insurance is about risk. To try and cover the highcost individuals in the same risk pool as everyone else clearly is not going to work. Eliminated thee ability to assess risk in the marketplace. That is why the high risk and highcost individuals, about 5 of the population are roughly 40 of the overall cost. That is why republicans pass legislation that would help fund high risk pools at the state level with federal subsidies, to make sure we can get the high risk individuals covered and get the cost down for everybody else. I think the goal of getting everyone covered is a good one but when government gets involved, it does not help create a free market system. It is a failure and health care is not a true free market. That is why we cant get the cost down. It is very complicated but i agree that the way it was handled with the Affordable Care act has not been a success. Host this is an issue that has come before several congressional committees. Topital groups gearing up fight on supplies medical bills and you are supporting a bill protecting people from surprise medical bills. It would ban the practice of billing patients for unanticipated outofnetwork care. It would implement arbitration models that guarantees reasonable bills and requires health plans to clearly identify in Network Providers and patient deductibles. It sounded like it was something everybody was on board for. What pushback are you getting on it . Guest the key is we need to take the patient out of this equation. If you go to the hospital to have surgery and your hospital and your surgeon are in network, but months later you get a bill from the pathologist and it turns out the pathologist at that hospital was not in your network and they are outofnetwork care and your Insurance Company will not pay, we need to find a way to make sure that the patient is not responsible for that bill. There are a couple ways to do that. Some people have suggested we rate that baseline would be paid without any arbitration or what i would call independent dispute resolution process. What the state of new york has done is they created an arbitration process where the physician provider or the provider in general and the Insurance Company can come to a decision about what they think is a fair rate to pay, taking the patient out of it. If the federal government mandates that a privatesector Insurance Company pays a certain rate, that is pricefixing and the providers will end up being paid less and less over time because then the networks which is the in Network Payments will start to drop because there will be no reason for Insurance Companies to keep doctors in network because there outofNetwork Payments will be much less. Host was it ever hard to make that call to treat or not treat when in the back of your head, you are thinking how is this patient going to pay for it . Guest it has nothing to do with the way you will take care of patients. I never looked at what type of insurance patients had. That is up to the Office Business people. As a physician, i can say for probably 99 point 9 of physicians, whether or not people have Health Care Coverage when you are treating them for emergency conditions does not come into play at all because that is our job. That is what we signed up to do and that is what we want to do. Host in terms of your legislation you are proposing, do you think it will get passed . Guest there is a large debate at the house and the senate and the white house. I am hopeful we will come to a resolution of this that does include an independent dispute resolution process so that it can be fair where both the provider for both the provider and the Health Insurance plan. The main thing is that patient should not get unexpected medical bills, unbeknownst to them because the provider was not in their network. Host lets hear from carl in california. Caller good morning. Could you talk to me about Medicare Part b and tricare for life . I have been on both for 15 years, no problem and i have had er and theyes and would send the bill to the physicians out on the west coast or in michigan for 13,000 and medicare says cant do that. Tricare for life kicks in about 100 and thats it. I have been on it for 15 years. Could you explain a little bit about both . Medicare program has been wildly successful over the most physicians sign up for medicare assignment where they agree to a preset fee schedule that medicare comes out with every year. That is why it has been a program that has worked. There are some physicians that dont take medicare assignment and if you went to them on the elective basis, they would tell you that and you might be responsible for more of a bill. If you sign up for medicare assignment, you cant what is called balance build balance bill a patient. Tricare, very similar. It is a program that has renegotiated fee schedules and what we talk about with surprise medical billing with the private sector and the commercial isurance plans, what happens if you are outofnetwork, which is a large number of physicians outofnetwork even in your own hometown, half the doctors might not be in the network that your plan covers and if you went to them, your Insurance Company would not cover you at all. What we want to do is make sure that patients, unbeknownst to them, go to a provider accidentally that is not in their network that they are not responsible for that bill. A Medicare Program and tricare have been successful. Host andre on the independent line in maryland. Caller good morning. Guest good morning. Caller my question is, before the Affordable Care act, a lot of people with preexisting conditions could not get coverage by the private Insurance Companies. In to help us poor people with those conditions. Although the Affordable Care act was not perfect, why dont the republicans work with the it mores to make affordable for the middle class . Guest what has happened with the Affordable Care act is people like yourself that may be high cost individuals with preexisting conditions could not get coverage. That is totally true. No one disagrees with the fact that we needed it to address that situation. I have patients like that. They could not get affordable Health Coverage. No one disagrees that that should be addressed. The disagreement is on how. The Affordable Care act essentially eliminated healthcare underwriting which is assessing risk for the insurance pool and said everyone has to be covered at a certain rate, regardless of whether you are sick or healthy or what your age is. That has been a failure because anyone who understands insurance knows that if you put all the high risk in the same pool, the cost for everyone else has to go up. Even though the people that are benefited,ave everyone else has had really high deductibles which are putting people out of the marketplace. But republicans want to do is have highrisk pools to cover the people like yourself, potentially and others that have high cost medical conditions and allow them to have private Health Insurance coverage but help subsidize that. Maine and a number of other states have done that. It has been historically underfunded at the state level which is why republicans propose dollarsit with federal to mandate states to set up highrisk pools. The manner in which we address it. Host as the cases being heard in the fifth circuit in new orleans, here, the House Oversight committee, with the potential future of the law, should it be overturned. The executive director of the consumer advocacy group, families usa had this to say about what he thought might happen if the aca is repealed. [video clip] if the aca is repealed by these judges, senior medicare costs would go up, premiums would go up in the Medicare Trust Fund Solvency would be weakened. It would have a very specific and negative affect. Pathwayion, the entire to provide lowcost highvalue biologic to treat leukemia, lupus would disappear because that was also part of the law. It would have a very negative affect. Healthscussion about plans and other forms of new insurance. Lets be clear. But we are talking about there is hurting people with preexisting conditions and letting Insurance Companies play tricks on consumers. Allows Insurance Companies to play tricks. We have done work across the aisle on surprise medical bills. The American People are fed up with buying insurance and then not getting financial protection. But we are hearing today is a description that would exclude hospital care or prescription drugs altogether. It is letting Insurance Companies play tricks on consumers again. Host several issues late out there. Any of those that you want to respond to . Guest he stuck to every possible liberal talking point on what would happen with the Affordable Care act. He touched on the fact that medicare is going to be damaged because medicare is a popular program. Seniors wanting or going to be scared by what he said. He says some people that have cancer that all of a sudden wont be able to get treatment. Host the experimental drugs. Guest i disagree with him. When you go to testify in front of congress, what he said and you put every possible bogeyman out there to scare the American People, to try and get them to go in one direction or the other, it is disingenuous. I dont think any of those things are going to happen because congress will act. Is notordable care act working for most of the American People because their costs are so high and deductibles are through the roof. Host republican line, we say hello to don. Caller you are a breath of fresh air and i would like to congratulate you and say dont get discouraged, stick in and we need you, thank you. Guest thank you very much. Host we will hear from claudia next in cincinnati on our democrats line. Caller you are my favorite commentator on cspan. A couple points. One, when i look at mr. Trump when the british soldiers came back, they wanted a health care service. [indiscernible] one of the problems i do not wer republicans talk about, need more general practitioners. We need more gatekeepers. We need more physicians in the breach who act as guides so that host thank you for bringing that up. The need for general practitioners. Guest churchill lost for a variety of reasons. The reality is, she is right. We do have a shortage of physicians in real america reticular. Particularly. If you want a bigger shortage, go to a singlepayer Government Health care system where physicians are reimbursed at a low level. Take away the Health Care People have through the commercial program. There is not a disagreement we have a physician shortage. If you want more physicians, there also has to be some financial incentive. I went in to medicine to help people. Mean thaties of life if people are going to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in educational debt, cannot go into primary Care Medicine because the reimbursements are so low. Host claudia also brought up the political implications for winston churchill. The conservative columnist Ramesh Ponnuru wrote in bloomberg about the potential overturned of the Affordable Care act. He said it would create a political problem for the republicans. Making sure that those with preexisting conditions have affordable coverage. If the lawsuit succeeds, voters will have to will make will i think congress will act. What that will become i do not know. I would highly doubt even if the Supreme Court, who is ultimately going to make the decision on it Affordable Care act, rule is unconstitutional, there will be a temporary stay on the law itself until congress can find an adequate replacement. I do not believe either Political Party once millions of people to lose their health care covered. I think it will be a political problem for both parties. People are unhappy with their high deductibles and the fact they cannot afford prescription drugs. What i am hearing is the vast majority of people want both Political Parties to get the cost of health care down. Host are you pleased with the administrations efforts . Guest i think they are going in the right direction on many things. I do not think they should set prices based on an International Price index. I think the goals they are doing are very positive. Host here is a read on here lineed on the republican from washington state. Caller want to thank cspan for being on the air. That the biggest problem in this is that we have allowed our federal government to take over sectors of our country where they do not have the legal right. The 10th amendment states this goes to the state. I do not understand why the democrats did not do it that way. We have a laboratory of states in our republic. If you turn it over to the states with tax breaks and let the states provide incentives, you can get far better results. The prices are too high. I am 60 years old. I went through recent problems with diabetes. The. Annot imagine prices caller called in two months ago and stated he had three injections i the clinic. 275. You asked him, what about the drugs . He said the drugs were separate. Minutes, three injections cost him 275. They call it the Affordable Care act. How ironic it is. It made it unaffordable for the nation of night. It is the biggest tax increase in history. Where prices are posted transparently, that is a great idea to make sure we can see what it is going to cost relatively. It is ironic that my side of the aisle did not repeal it after stamping their feet for 10 years. Host thank you for the call. Guest i agree with you on the state issue. Plan isple, the indiana an hsa way to cover the medicaid population. That has been widely successful. The people in the program like it. We have covered almost all of our citizens through statebased hsa type programs to cover the medicaid population. I agree with you on the fact that the states can be a laboratory. That is why the Republican Health care bill we passed through the house created statebased high risk rules to cover people with preexisting conditions. The second point you made about the cost of health care is spot on. The cost of the product, health care is way too high. There is no transparency. No one knows where the money is going. There is no consumerism to drive down the cost. I close the situation with lay sick i surgery. Insurance does not pay for it. Now, i cost you 400. Quality is better. There is no thirdparty payer. Consumers have driven down the cost. The quality has gone up. We need more transparency. With that, the cost of insurance will go down. Sean congressman larry big buchson. Ssman larry of next, what are the top issues in the Nations Capital today . We will talk about a number of them. 202 7488000, for democrats. Republicans, 202 7488001. For all others, 202 7488002. Well be right back. Has cspans three president ial leadership survey, Woodrow Wilson drops from six to 11th place. Bill clinton arises from 21st to 15. What is your favorite president rank . About theat and more lives and leadership skills about the executives. It is great vacation reading. Available wherever books are sold or cspan. Org. Live today at 9 30 a. M. Eastern, the Senate Armed Services committee will consider the nomination of army general mark millie. Cspan three, online at cspan. Org, or listen. Ith the free cspan radio app washington journal mugs are available at the new online store. Go to cspan store. Online cspan store online. Org. Washington journal continues. Host lots going on in the Nations Capital. We would like to talk to you about the stories you are following here on this thursday. Democrats. 000, for 202 7488001, for republicans. For all others, 202 7488002. Among those issues, the call for secretary acosta to resign. We will read about jay powell testifying before the Senate Banking committee on the economy. The White House Social Media summit set to get underway at the white house. President trump will speak to that group and hold a News Conference from what he tweeted this morning. Another hearing includes the confirmation hearing for general drug general mark millie to be the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. We are joined by cassa christie, who is Technology Reporter for the Washington Post. Tell us about the nature of this. The white house has done this before. What are they focusing on . Who are they inviting . Guest thank you for having me. Lotys summit will focus a on the president s repeated accusations that social Media Companies are biased against conservatives and centering conservative voices online. Widely claim based on disputed evidence and that the companies themselves have repeatedly denied. President was tweeting a lot about the summit this morning. He had tweets that were some of his biggest threats to date of the Tech Companies. He said a big subject at the event will be a will be the tremendous dishonesty practiced by certain companies. He said we will not let them get away with it much longer. A critical tone of these companies is the conference gets underway. Things is the Tech Companies themselves are not on the guest list. Facebook and twitter will not be in attendance. We will see a lot of President Trumps most ardent online supporters there. Some of these people have engaged in some controversial tactics on social media. The white house is drawing some criticisms for the guest list. Host you mentioned the tweets this morning. There are a whole bunch of them promoting the event. The president tweeting, a big subject at the white house. It will be the tremendous dishonesty and bias practiced by certain companies. We will not let them get away with it much longer. Fake news media will be there. You mentioned that facebook and google will not be at the summit. What have those organizations done towhat has twitter address these allegations of bias from the white house . Guest the companies have largely dismissed these allegations. They have said that while there have been none of the things that comes up is there are individual instances where the companies have removed a tweet or a post, and there have been times where conservatives have pointed to those incidents as an example of these companies being politically biased. The company say they are a result of how their algorithms are working. And that there is no evidence their algorithms are biased against one Political Party or another. It gets at a broader issue for the Tech Companies because they are facing a lose, lose situation in washington. They are under immense pressure following the 2016 election and incidents like the shooting in new zealand to do a better job of monitoring content on their website. Particularly from democrats and groups concerned about hate speech. They are under pressure to not let it reallocate hateful to notread widely let vitriolic and hateful content spread widely. They are facing more criticism, particularly from people on the right. Obviously, the president. Cruz, senator josh hawley, who say these companies have gone too far and that the largely liberal employee bases are centering conservative voices are censoring conservative voices. This is an ongoing debate that has been coloring many of the tech hearings we have had. Host as the technology for the reporter of the Washington Post, how are you going to cover the summit . Please be following postings and tweets and instagram postings as well . Personally will not be at the white house. There are colleagues who covered the white house day in and day out. My colleagues and i on the tech team will be closely following social media. Well be talking to people who will be in attendance at the event. I will also be talking very frequently with people who are on the ground in Silicon Valley and the Tech Industry about how they are responding to the news. It is going to be a big team effort for us at the Washington Post. Host we will look for your tweets. Cat zakrzewski, Technology Reporter for the Washington Post. Thanks so much. Guest thank you for having me on the show. Host looking forward to your calls and comments about today in washington. Stories you may be keeping an eye on. The wall street journal focusing on one of those. Their headline, powell sets the stage for a rate cut. Signaling the bank is ready to cut Interest Rates to cushion the u. S. Economy against the risk of the slower Global Growth and trade policy uncertainty. Mr. Powell said the Economic Outlook had not improved in recent weeks and emphasized several risks. He played down developments that might have believed expectations and the recent trade truce between the u. S. And china. He said, the bottom line for me is the concerns continue to weigh on the outlook. That is his testimony yesterday. You can find it online at cspan. Org. We are also covering today Senate Banking committee. We will be streaming that life. This is austin, texas. We will hear from jacob on her democrats line. On our young on our democrats line. Caller good morning. I wanted to make a point about the Immigration Crisis we have. Abhorred by the treatment of the migrant. Fleeingt they are terrible circumstances in Central America. If we have better foreign aid to those countries, if we are able to help end that poverty, you are able to take a burden off of the immigration system. I think that can be a bipartisan solution to help deal with the matter. Host i appreciate that. This is ann in carrollton, texas on the independent line. Caller my concern is the national debt. It seems we are barring a Million Dollars a minute. I do not see how we can sustain this. No one seems to be addressing this. We keep spending and spending. Somewhere along the line, this cannot go on. That is my concern. Host waukesha, wisconsin. We hear from jamie. What are you keeping your eye on the news . In regards to the topic of the Affordable Care act, we need to talk about that along with a Foreign Policy stance of getting other countries out of poverty and using the International Affairs budget to raise that budget and use it to help other countries get Affordable Care as well. Host did you hear our conversation with rep. Larry buchson . What did you take away from that . Caller i love to stand. As a republican, i do not look to them to be supportive of general Affordable Care. I do like his more moderate view. Bipartisanget a agreement on the Affordable Care act and around the world, we need to be more moderate and come together. Washington, what are you watching . , for democrats. 202 7488001, for republicans. , independents. On the front page of the Washington Post, alex acosta defended his role as federal prosecutor in brokering a decade old plea deal for sex offender jeffrey epstein. Leaders for crime victims to sized his explanation and democrats called for him to appear at a congressional hearing. Here is some of what secretary acosta had to say. [video clip] the goal here was straightforward. Put epstein behind bars. Ensure he registers as a sexual offender. Provide victims with the means to seek restitution. Protect the public by putting them on notice a sexual predator was in their midst. Said, was people have unusual. It was. It was complicated by the fact that this matter started as a state investigation. Brought that jury single completely unacceptable charge. Epsteinofficial allowed to self surrender. It is unusual because, unusual for a federal prosecutor to intervene in state matter such as this. We have seen cases recently, different set of facts, i do not anyone to think im comparing these cases. Different cases where state prosecutors let folks go with no sentence. People shake their heads. In this case, the federal office intervened before the plea was taken and said, stop. If that plea was taken at the state level, you are going to face serious federal issues. Host all of that News Conference available at cspan. Org. Lets go to nicole in massachusetts on the democrats line. Caller hello . Host you are on the air. Caller i was just wondering if you think that the u. S. Is doing enough to fight global poverty and how, if the u. S. Provides more foreign aid, how that might affect u. S. National security . Host do you think the u. S. Is doing enough to fight property . Caller i personally do not. The u. S. Defense spending is a lot more foreign aid is only one per se of the u. S. 1 of the federal budget. The u. S. Could increase that and decrease defense spending. Aid, provide more foreign there would be less of a need for defense spending for National Security. Host and how that defense spending is spent will come up for a debate in the house. They continue a debate on the authorization bill. That is coming up at noon eastern. Live coverage on cspan. Donald is next in los angeles. Caller i have lived in Downtown Los Angeles for 65 years. I have seen the demographics change from 75 white to 25 black, roughly, in my neighborhood. I live in Downtown Los Angeles. I am seeing that over time, we as americans, have acquiesced guys panic population over here. The demographics have changed acquiesced the hispanic population over here. All of a sudden, we have to take in theme ourselves Current Population and the slip in demographics. Not only in my neighborhood, but all over the nation. That is what i wanted to say. Host Dennis Donald in los angeles. Reaction to the news readers read about. Secretary acosta. On twitter, secretary acosta needs to be fired. Epstein needs to go to jail for life. Onm our discussion earlier immigration and border security, i keep hearing people say we need to fix the countries in south america. We can send all the money in the world. When the money is corrupted, it is not going to help the people. We send millions of dollars. A story from u. S. Today on the president ial 2020 campaign. The headline, moderators tweak the rules for the democratic debate. The next debate, featuring 20 of the two dozen democrats seeking nomination is coming up. Cnn has announced changes. The debate in detroit will be divided into two nights to accommodate the large field of candidates. Both will air at 8 00 p. M. Two hours. Will run in terms of the changes, and other change will be that candidates who interrupt consistently will be penalized. Of did not specify the level interruption that would trigger the penalty. Our coverage of the president ial Campaign Continues this evening and into the weekend. Tonight, we start with the leak of latin american citizens. Of latin the League American citizens. Cspanverage tonight on two getting at 7 00 p. M. Eastern. Lets go to michael in new york, the independent line. Caller good morning. I have two or three topics. We were talking about immigration. Host yeah. Caller the other lady was talking about the debt. Someone talk about poverty. Before forget, cspan used to have both sides. You guys used to have two people always on your forms. I think that was more advantageous for us to get both sides rather than just getting one side. Persontion, every poor in this country should be up in arms. We need to take care of our own people. We are broke with debt. Nobody is talking about it. We have to take care of our citizens. If we go down, how are we going to help people . We have debt, immigration, but no one is talking about this. How can we take care of the rest of the world when rio 21 trillion . In durham,is up next North Carolina on the democrats line. Go ahead with your comment. Watkins. Y name is mary woman with 30old bragging about how great the economy is is not so with me. Policies tookps myy my good credit from and gave it to the stock market. To them so they could have more. Been in office only two years. Good not get my experienced credit this year. Pension said it was because of the volatility in stock market. Obama was in for eight years. Ily one of those years did not get my pension. He lying, talking about how great things are. And that this is making america mine from aing away 77yearold, 30 year widow. Host from the wall street journal, this is the headline. Court rejects trump emoluments clause suits. A federal Appeals Court throughout a lawsuit alleging President Trumps ownership of private companies that accept business violates a constitution. The Fourth Circuit of appeals in richmond, virginia ruled on wednesday that the state of maryland and the District Of Columbia lacked standing to bring their claims against mr. Trump. Here is new bedford, massachusetts. We say good morning to cecelia on the republican line. You are on the air. Caller hello. Good morning. Is, if the country falls on the democrats, it will be a disaster. Freshman, women democrats, they should be fired. Thank you very much. Host robert next upon the independently in greenville, texas. Caller good morning. I would like to offer in a suggestion. I think all of the viewers would agree, regardless of their political affiliation. Of the seen an erosion constitutional norms over the years between the separation of powers in this country. I think it is high time political candidates get out on the stump and start abdicating for a separation to occur between the Justice Department understand the word justice to be out of the executive branch and in control of the tradition or a branch of government. Is, we haveon that three ranges of government. TheSupreme Court is deciding factor on laws that affect all citizens of this country. All government instituted policies. Of theould be in control and implementation of laws in this country. Thehould not have it in control or in the pocket of the executive branch. They have no right to implement and execute laws. We have many crises going on. We have the immigration policy. The executive branch has taken it over. We have the senses problem, which initially was instituted for congress. Not the executive branch, to oversee. Beenf these things have power grab by the executive branch. They are clearly they should be under the judicial branch. Host appreciate your input. News reports indicate the president may make an announcement on the census question. This, from oklahoma city, oklahoma. Caller thank you for taking my call. I want everyone to pay attention. The previous guest was being 100 disingenuous. The republican claiming he cares about health care for the people. If you listen to his words, he said two important things. He said medicare is working great. He also said the best way to bring down cost is have people in risk pools. There is no greater risk pool then bringing all of the American People into all into the sample. Pool. O the same if you are interested in health care, you only have one choice in this next election. That is to vote for Bernie Sanders. I know a lot of black voters listen to the show. Trust me, laras is 8 Kamala Harris is a wall street person. There is no question. Joe biden is antithetical to anything progressive. There is a website everybody can go to. See where they get their money. It is called open secrets. Org. Host appreciate that. Or washington journal ad. We are going to focus on retirement next. We will look at the measure congress is considering to help america boost Retirement Savings. We will speak with john scott, the head of the Pew Charitable trusts. Sunday night on q a, for per new York City Police deputy his book,talks about once a cup. Cop. Was once a my father left it after the third grade. I have a picture of me in the fifth grade. Im sitting indian style in the front. Im holding my feet because i had holes in the bottom of my feet. I had a rough upbringing. I got involved in the streets. My friends were selling drugs. Host sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspans q a. This weekend on american actress tv, leading up to the 50th and nursery of the apollo moon landing, watch saturday night at 10 00 on railamerica. Featuring the alarm, buzz aldrin, and neil collins. The operation of the lunar module system and the control of the vehicle during dissent escent. D spacecraftting the first. I will be taking pictures of him with a 16mm camera through the window. The Television Camera will be recording his activities. Host should difficult should difficulties arrive, my job is to rescue it. I find myself becoming the active partner in charge of a complex vehicle. Watch this saturday on american actress tv on cspan three American History tv on cspan three. Washington journal continues. Host we are going to talk about retirement. Savingstt is retirement director with Pew Charitable trusts. He is going to talk about what is called the secure act. That has passed the house. What changes are proposed . Guest it covers a broad range of topics. It is a large and comprehensive bill. In general, it makes it easier for employers to offer Retirement Plans to their workers. Approximately 25 to 30 of working americans do not have access to a Retirement Plan. The idea is to provide additional tax credit to employers who start a Retirement Plan or allow employers to group together and pool their resources to start a plan. Another area is to encourage the release of annuities. Then there is a host of other provisions that are designed to make it easier to operate Retirement Plans. Host why was it deemed necessary to do this . As the old 401 k and the old system creaking with old age . Guest a little bit. The 401k system has been successful in bringing in workers and getting them to save for retirement. Quarter of the workforce does not have access. This is a voluntary system. Employers sponsor Retirement Plans. While americans can save on their own through an individual retirement account, it is difficult. Have to go through a few different steps to set up an ira. If we can get more employers to offer the plans, and these are typically small businesses, according to our research, Business Owners find that the start up cost of a Retirement Plan is the biggest challenge. If we make it easier to set up a plan, more americans will get coverage. Host it is called a secure act. As i recall, it seemed fairly bipartisan support for this matter. Where is the objection coming from . Retirement policy is generally a bipartisan issue. , 4173. D the house that is a massive bipartisan show of support. It is now in the senate. There is an equal amount of support in the senate. Under senate rules, individual senators can hold up legislation if there might be some additional provisions they want to see in the act. There are some negotiations going on. We expect it to past. There is no indication it will not. We will see. Host as we talk about retirement and potential changes to plans congress is pondering, we invite your phone calls. If youre between the ages of 18 and 35, use 202 7488000. If you are 35 to 60, 202 7488001. For everybody over the age of 60, including folks who are retired, 202 7488002. Give us a brief history of the ira. Why was it considered necessary . The individual retirement account. Guest as i mentioned, we typically save for retirement through our employers. There was a recognition 30 or 40 years ago that americans do not have Retirement Benefits in their workplace. It is crated for those kinds of workers as well as selfemployed workers. Traditionalwho have employment at this point to fill in that for people. Area lot of folks who retiring, they move their 401 k assets to an ira when they retire. For someone who has multiple jobs over there career, can consolidate your savings. Is there enter a any indications that this move to indicationounts is a of where Social Security is in terms of the potential depletion of the trust fund . Guest i do not think they are that closely connected. Everyone understands if nothing is done, there will be a big cut in benefits in 10 or 15 years. It is a recognition that Social Security is an antipoverty program. Does not provide a lot of income beyond the bare necessities. Achieve away we middleclass lifestyle in retirement. There is a recognition we need to bolster both security and host john scott as our guest. What is the biggest interest for gettinging in started in the first place . Guest there are a couple issues. One is that you have to set it up on your own. When you go to work at a company, it is all done for you. You do not have to do it do it do a lot. Going to a bank, you have to fill out form. You have to set up the method of moving the money from your payroll into the ira. There are a lot of steps. For a lot of folks, that might be offputting. That is one of the issues. The other issue is affordability. A lot of people feel, i have always built these bills. The secureentioned act looks to boost the use of annuities. What are those . . What would that mean for consumers . Guest annuities are a financial product. Money andmp sum of converts it to a monthly stream of income guaranteed for your lifetime. You will have a monthly check, a set amount. Usually, it depends, but indexed for inflation. You will have that protection of knowing you will have that check every month. It provides security in addition to Social Security. Host if you have an ira when you retire, will you be able to put that into an annuity . Guest that is right. You can purchase an annuity from many different Insurance Companies. We will hear from host we will hear from michelle who was in austin, texas. Caller thank you for shes been. I really for cspan. I enjoy the programming. I question is about annuities. I had heard they are not that for the ordinary middleclass. A lot of times, it is wealthy people who have annuities. I was wondering if there is some push for the employer to offer annuities, meaning the cost would go down . Guest that is an excellent question. There are a couple issues. We need to accumulate a certain amount of savings to make an annuity worthwhile. You do not want to get a check of five dollars each month. You need a certain level of saving. You are right. Having the employer be the group buyer of the annuity as opposed to you, the individual, you can get a cheaper annuity that way. The secure act does have provisions to offer annuities in 401 k plans. Host a question on twitter. It is another brilliant idea by the government to force saving for the future . I do not think the secure act has any forced savings provisions. It is focused on how can we get employers to offer Retirement Plans or make it easier to offer things like annuities. Host say that money goes into an annuity, you are paid the monthly rate. Do we know what level it would be taxed at . Guest anytime you take money out ok Retirement Plan, your tax. It depends on what age you are. If you move the money into an annuity, you will be taxed. It gets a little comic it appeared and really speaking, you are spreading out the payments over time. Host on the line for those over 60, this is pat in iowa. Caller i heard on the news yesterday they are taking away the possibility to transfer my ira to my children. Why are they taking that away . What is the reason . Guest these are referred to as stretch iras. It is a Financial Planning tool that has the ability to move assets from your ira and transfer them to your children. The provision would generally limit that ability. There would still be some ability to transfer some of the assets to your children. The time would be compressed. There would be some other restrictions. The basic reason is that, going back to the prior question, it is a tax issue. It is meant to raise revenue to pay for other provisions in the secure act to make this revenue neutral as possible. It is limiting the Financial Planning tool to raise some revenue to pay for other provisions. Host differ between 18 and 35, call 202 7488000. Those of you between 35 and 60, 202 7488001. The line for over 60, 202 7488002. Jim is in san pedro, california. Caller great subject. I was going to ask mr. Scott why he thinks Financial Planning is not taught in Public Schools the same way we get english and history et cetera. If Financial Planning was taught, everyone would be a lot more savvy about money. Guest that is a great question. When i look at my daughters math homework, i wonder why they did not have more Financial Planning examples, other than the ones they give her. Idea toit is a great provide more Financial Planning education. There is some debate over whether that is more effective later in life. It is something americans to be cognizant of throughout their life. Host just a snapshot of where people are on their savings. Anyone present americans in 2018 no Retirement Savings. Thanditional 10 had less 15,000. Less than 5,000. On the secure act, you are surveying at Pew Charitable small andst mediumsize Business Owners support ira. Nearly 90 of small Business Owners. What are they seeing that they like the most . Guest this was a survey done from small and midsized Business Owners who did not have a Retirement Plan at their business. They see this as a way to effectively offer Retirement Benefits for their workers. When we talk to business odors, they make it clear that while it is a nice recruitment tool, they see Retirement Benefits as a way to help their employees. They want their employees to be financially whole. Host has it been too cumbersome for some small Business Owners in the past . Guest i think the administration of a Retirement Plan it is the number two reason why employers do not offer benefits. These are small Business Owners. They are wearing multiple hats. It is a little daunting. Host francis is calling from pennsylvania on the over 60 line. Caller regarding the stretch ira, this is about well three distribution. It is also about tax revenue. People who did save, now the rules are changing. To not going to be able to have the we are not going to be able to have the stretch. Also, the nonspouse has to empty the ira within 10 years after the ira owner passes away. The rules are changing dramatically. I would not advise anyone to put much money into an ira. The rules change after your account goes up. Host john scott. Guest it is a concern for those using the Financial Planning tool. There will be some questions about how we transition if it passes. It still has not moved out of the senate. That is a concern for those using the technique. It is not clear from the data i have seen, how many people are affected. This is generally for iras that have a lot of assets. There is a concern. Host we have diane on our 35 to 60 line from ohio. Caller if im not mistaken, it was a house version that was having the change where the rmds would not go into effect until age 72. Is that what we would expect if this passes . Guest that is correct, at least in the current version. This is referring to the required minimum distributions. You have to start taking a small amount of money out of your retirement account. The bill would extend that to age 72. Reflective of the fact that people are living longer. Some are working longer. Host we hear next from west virginia. Mike is on the over 60 line. I have two things. I was watching cspan yesterday. I am a retired federal worker. The Trump Administration is trying to get rid of opm. That would be a disaster for federal retirees. My other question is, tip oneill and Ronald Reagan fixed Social Security in 1983. I am sure it can be fixed again. I am not that familiar with the federal Retirement Benefits. I am not a federal employee. There have been some issues with the change in benefit structure. That is entirely different from what is going on with the secure act which is more for private sector workers. There is a lot of controversy around the issue. Back in 1983, there was a bipartisan agreement. That is the kind of thing we need going forward. Host from usa today, head to the heartland to retire. Nebraska, iowa, and missouri lead a survey. If you are daydreaming of nevada, to arizona and here is one word of retort. Nebraska came out on top for the annual ranking of state ranked for their retirement help. They considered affordability, weather, wellness, culture, and crime. Were iowa,ebraska missouri, south dakota, and fort appeared as any of your research indicate where people save the most . Guest we know people have access to Retirement Savings in parts of the upper midwest. Higher rates of access to Retirement Plans, greater participation in the northeast. The pacific northwest. Lower access and dissipation in the west and participation in the west and south. We are not sure why. It might be related to industry and demography. Latinos typically have lower rate lower rates of access. Here is dayton, ohio. Judys neck. Judy is next. Caller good morning. Regarding the employeebased Retirement Plan, that sounds wonderful except for a couple thing. When they go into bankruptcy, all that money is lost. People lose their health care. That is it. That is not the solution. Number two, regarding Social Security, there is a cap in contributions. Nothe time you make 125,000, lug or pay into Social Security. All they have to do is raise the cap. Thank you. Guest thank you, judy. It is always a concern when your employer goes under. When we had pensions that were funded by players, there were many instances when those pensions were at risk. The vast majority of employer sponsored plans today where the fun where the employee funds the plans, it is their money. Those assets are safe when there is a bankruptcy by the employer. There are some protections with the current plans. Host there was a poll about retirement. Andof workers, nearly two 10, of those over 50, do not expect to stop working. 29 said they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday. This is one of the charts from pew. In terms of participation in plea sponsored Retirement Plans prizes with age. Millenials, not so much. 52 participating with no plan. 38 participating nine 38 prickett what do employees have to do . Thing going on in the private sector is automatically enrolling employees when they started job. It adds up over time with investment return. Sometimes, they get an employer match. Getting them in plane early and saving on a regular basis, that is the biggest thing a lot of folks can do. There are employee match one inn for a 401 k s. Does this do anything differently . Guest these are very specialized plans where employees can set up an ira for their workers. It is typically through a 401 k plan. Lets hear from kandi in clifton, virginia. Question onve a this secure act and how it is going to affect roth iras. Passing that on as an inheritance. Taxes have already been paid. What is the plan to do with that . Host there are about 50 or 60 different provisions. I am not aware of anything that would greatly affect iras in terms of the inheritance aspect. I think that largely, that tool will be available. I would have to go back and check. I am fairly certain about that. Guest ron is on our 35 to 60 line. Ron is calling on our 35 to 60 line. Caller thank you for an interesting topic. I have a comment. Regarding iras, i have been under the feeling iras became a methodology of transferring responsibility of saving for retirement from the employer pensions to the individual. As ira for the most part, you are putting your own money into the retirement whereas in the past, pensions were funded by the employers. Regarding the new sledge the new legislation that they want to accelerate though withdrawal the withdrawal. The American Public constantly screams about taxes. They do not realize that when you have a broad range of taxes to fund the government, and you tax and you cut back on that, this is whether you are talking about the local level, the state level or the federal level. All the other forms of taxation and fees go up. Forbade we increase taxes god forbade we increase taxes by one or 2 . That is my comment. Guest thanks, runandshoot we have seen a big thanks, ron. We have seen a big change. 30 of retirees are receiving a traditional employer funded pension today. Only about 10 of active workers are in traditional pension. That means the vast majority of active workers are having to save for retirement on their own. Sometimes getting a matching contribution from their employer. We have shifted the burden to an Employee Savings system. This goes back to bills question about how we get people into the program earlier. It is getting to save earlier and offered Retirement Benefits more cheaply and automatically. Guest victoria host pretoria is next. She is on the over victorias neck. She is on caller when your guest mentioned those areas of the country that have access to pension and Retirement Benefits, these are mostly areas that have collective bargaining. I think that makes a huge difference. Ive been a member of a professional union for over 40 years. I am getting a pension now, although i still work a few days a month. I have a really good pension. I have about 2500 a month in Social Security. I have a Million Dollars in tsa account. I was in a collectivebargaining organization and able to save. I had a good salary. Host let me ask you a quick question. Does that union still offer those benefits to new employees . Caller yes, it does. They have bargains for that. We have our whole organization around the country has the same union. Basically, that is always part of the bargaining plan. Host im going to let you go there. By thethat is great, way, to hear that you are in such great shape. That is probably true. Regionally, we have seen higher unionization rates in the midwest and northeast as opposed to the south and west. That is probably a factor. Host a couple quick comments on twitter. This one says, do not touch iras and visual function lisa says, how many washington how many segments has washington journal done about too many People Living paychecktopaycheck . That is what annuities are. Try to get one more call for the u. S. House comes in. We will go to daniel, calling us from manassas, virginia. We were on the air. You are on the air. Go ahead, daniel. Caller i never had a retirement account. Day, i would put savings in the bank. No interest. We are losing you a little bit. Sorry about that. The house is coming in momentarily. Back to the act, it is past the house. It is said to be taken in by the senate. Your thinking is it will pass . Guest i think the odds are there